@stuckinarut2 I think many of us can attest to the erosion of our self esteem while in the organization. Throw in a dormant, biological predisposition for depression and the flames of mental illness will be fanned by the smokescreen of WT. Some of us do rise from the blaze like a phoenix by waking up. Others continue to smolder among the ashes of their existence by remaining "loyal" to the organization. And then, sadly, there are those whose lives are snuffed out completely because it got too much.
Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
JoinedPosts by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
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6
Deadly Discipline
by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho inhttps://www.openmindsfoundation.org/loving-memory-laura-ann-gracey-father-remembers/.
the death toll from watchtower increases with the latest suicide report of laura ann gracey.
here, her father recounts the events leading up to his daughter's taking of her own life - undoubtedly starting with her indoctrination from birth into this stifling, doomsday cult.. i see many similarities to myself as laura.
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Deadly Discipline
by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho inhttps://www.openmindsfoundation.org/loving-memory-laura-ann-gracey-father-remembers/.
the death toll from watchtower increases with the latest suicide report of laura ann gracey.
here, her father recounts the events leading up to his daughter's taking of her own life - undoubtedly starting with her indoctrination from birth into this stifling, doomsday cult.. i see many similarities to myself as laura.
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
https://www.openmindsfoundation.org/loving-memory-laura-ann-gracey-father-remembers/
The death toll from Watchtower increases with the latest suicide report of Laura Ann Gracey. Here, her father recounts the events leading up to his daughter's taking of her own life - undoubtedly starting with her indoctrination from birth into this stifling, doomsday cult.
I see many similarities to myself as Laura. I internalized the pressure brought on by the Watchtower and had even attempted suicide at the age of 19 due to the perfectionist standards I inevitably kept falling short from. Coupled with the gruff injustice I was subjected to by my elders, I eventually snapped and left the organization a couple of years later to self-destruct with every vice possible.
Of course, I never drew the parallel to my dangerous lifestyle choices and depressive behavior to my religious upbringing and encounters with the elders. Although I had left, the seeds of my childhood indoctrination were firmly established with gnarly branches strangling me from the inside out. This was evident when I was careful to NEVER reveal to my then-therapist that I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness for fear of giving the organization a "bad name". I couldn't have her associating Jehovah's Witnesses with drug abuse and promiscuity, now, could I? It would hinder her from ever speaking to the Witnesses one day if she was contacted. With this vital piece of information left out of my blueprint, nothing my psychologist could say or do would penetrate through the thick sediment of delusion, misery and self-hatred that I was harboring.
Eventually, the organization beckoned. I'd hit rock bottom. Where else would I go? I returned at age 24, ready to be freshly programmed. I welcomed my child into this world in 2015 as a sister in good standing. And then 2016 rolled around and brought with it the Remain Loyal convention. I woke up. Hard.
I am thankful every day that my infant will NEVER grow up with the harrowing milieu of the society to envelop and encumber his mind and heart, as it did mine. Sure, troubled times may hit him later on in life, but I know he will never look up at me accusingly with the painful realization that he'd been lied to by the religion his mother raised him in and leave me with the one tortured question I'd asked my own parents after waking up: How could you?
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"Circumcision is a sign to set you apart from the people of the nations"
by stuckinarut2 inwe know that the hebrew scriptures, or old testament states that the practice of circumcision (of males) was supposed to be yet another sign that set the jews apart from the "people of the nations".
but apart from so many odd things, how dumb is this?.
i mean, how did someone know if a male was circumcised or not??
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
Did you hear about the short-sighted Rabbi?
He got the sack.
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Grocery Store conversation with an elder
by problemaddict 2 ini'm inactive here to the local jw's as i have faded.
i've been slandered and all that, shunned by some but not all, but the elders basically leave me alone.
i still run into to people all over though.
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
@Nevuela I think it's the abbreviation for @ProblemAddict2's handle :).
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"We don't venerate idols or images!"
by stuckinarut2 inhow often did we as witnesses say something like this : "unlike members of false religion, who venerate or worship through statues or idols, we give our focus to jehovah!".
members of religious groups focus their religious adoration via an image or statue.
they do this in order to provide some sort of focus to their need to worship.. witnesses give extreme focus on the name "jehovah" .
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
@Amelia Ashton A car pulled up at a McDonald's parking lot with an A4 print out of the JW.org logo pasted to one of the back windows. I nearly hurled my takeaway coffee at the car. Knee-jerk reaction. It took me a while to come around and realize that it would have been a really terrible and damaging act...
to the environment.
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"Circumcision is a sign to set you apart from the people of the nations"
by stuckinarut2 inwe know that the hebrew scriptures, or old testament states that the practice of circumcision (of males) was supposed to be yet another sign that set the jews apart from the "people of the nations".
but apart from so many odd things, how dumb is this?.
i mean, how did someone know if a male was circumcised or not??
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
Since public nudity isn't a mainstream part of modern culture, maybe JW brothers can start identifying themselves as a part of God's nation by snipping the ends off their ties.
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"Circumcision is a sign to set you apart from the people of the nations"
by stuckinarut2 inwe know that the hebrew scriptures, or old testament states that the practice of circumcision (of males) was supposed to be yet another sign that set the jews apart from the "people of the nations".
but apart from so many odd things, how dumb is this?.
i mean, how did someone know if a male was circumcised or not??
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
Yes, "God made man in His image"... except the penis part. That part he f*cked up.Quick, someone pass us a knife.
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question: Pinky rink, the ring i have seen on alot of the GB resembles a Masionic ring
by goingthruthemotions ini get infuriated when i see the god's (guardians of doctrine) sporting pinky rings or rings on there right hands.
like a club association.
when i try and take a look at the ring it resembles a masionic ring.
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
Boom. Got the original hard copy of the Learn From the Great Teacher book. There it is, folks: the pedophile with the that trademark pinky ring. Can you see it catching the light?
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Debating a Christian at work.
by pseudoxristos ina christian at work has been after me for more than a year to go to his church and be saved.
i like the guy and consider him a friend and have been politely trying to avoid the subject.
i have recently decided that enough is enough and i told him i would discuss religion with him.
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
@Diogenesister Interesting vid! At around 11:00 she says that Richard Dawkins "is quite rude to people" and calls people "stupid". I don't know if I'd call being direct "rude" per se. And as for calling people "stupid"... I mean, if someone is willfully ignorant, not open to any reason, dogmatic and denying history IN SPITE of the surmounting evidence and irrationally rejects ideas they haven't even heard or examined yet...
Then sometimes you just have to call a spade a spade.
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"We don't venerate idols or images!"
by stuckinarut2 inhow often did we as witnesses say something like this : "unlike members of false religion, who venerate or worship through statues or idols, we give our focus to jehovah!".
members of religious groups focus their religious adoration via an image or statue.
they do this in order to provide some sort of focus to their need to worship.. witnesses give extreme focus on the name "jehovah" .
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Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho
Well, that's no good because a name is not tangible. Quick - give me all your jewelry! We'll melt it down and mass produce some blue and GOLD CALF rings.
There. That's better. We need a name we can SEE.