Posts by Flossycat

322

My son was murdered today

by truman in

i have been on this site daily, almost from its beginning, since i left the jws in 2001, but i have been more of a reader than a poster, as you can see from my post count.

i know few here know me, although i know many of you through reading your posts.

maybe it is not right to ask for support, when i generally stay quietly in the background of this forum, but i want only to speak a human misery of the deepest kind.

Flossycat

SO SORRY FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. YOU HAVE MANY FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD WHO ARE THINKING OF YOU, AND WHO CARE.

PLEASE STAY IN TOUCH WITH US HERE.

39

Are the JWs were you are getting worked up over having a to go bag (Armageddon bag) ready?

by life is to short in

ok where i live in the pacific northwest in january of this year this elder from the hall called a special meeting and gave everyone some papers that he had gotten from some government place on what to put in an emergency bag to grab in case you have to flee your home in seconds.

i thought it was just my husbands hall being all strange and stupid over this.

one older sister said that the elder told everyone they needed three bottles of water for 14 days that is 42 bottles of water plus whatever other stuff they put in there not sure if she got that right because 42 bottles of water is a lot of weight.

Flossycat

Can't help but see this as a kind of adjunct to expecting the big A - you know, a reminder of bigger things to come? Like in 1973 in Australia, the WTS had us all practising to meet undercover in case the new Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam who was keen to develop trade relations with China, turned the Aust Labor Party into communists and had all JW activity banned. I've mentioned this before on a thread long ago: picnics in parks were really WT bible studes - WT mags hidden inside worldly mags; we were encouraged to wear reversible coats, bags, hats (to reverse in nearby toilet block); there were secret code words if/when the police closed in on us. Like something straight out of Get Smart.

Apocalyptic religions use these mind games because it not only heightens the sense of the nearness 'of the times', it serves to draw the congregation closer to each other - coerces 'weak' ones to be more 'vigilant' in serving their god.

62

A new member of the thinking class

by Captain Obvious in

jw
friends

this is my first post on this forum, though it feels like i already know some of you here.

i have been lurking for a couple of months now, and i must say, there honestly seems to be more love and respect here than any forum i have ever seen on any forum of any kind.

i am 25 years old, married 3 years to my wonderful wife who is 22. we had a somewhat classic jw upbringing... which i now know has been our biggest problem.

Flossycat

Hi Captain O and welcome. Great advice given already.

Something else to consider - whenever Mrs Captain talks about scriptural/JW doctrine, let her know you are really appreciative of her views and input. (Even though they're not really her views.) Show her you're listening carefully. Over time she might realise just how much more you love and care for her than the JWs ever could. And maybe, over time, she'll realise she's merely been parroting, and never had a mind of her own. You've already woken up, but she needs to begin to learn to wake up. Baby steps for her for a while.

Look forward to seeing more of you here.

Flossycat, Melbourne, Australia.

25

Interview with former Watchtower P.R. man Robert Jankowski

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

last week i took a trip down to santa ana, ca.

and met robert jankowski, a name i heard very often at bethel in the late 70s.

robert was one of the voices of many watchtower drama characters in the 70s, along with tom cabeen, who he often worked with.. in addition, the watchtower was allowed a slot on local radio stations every sunday (allowed by law free of charge to churches then) , which he provided to the radio stations in cassette form in advance.

Flossycat

LOL on the license place, Randy.

Will go listen to Bob, now. Thanks from Melbourne, Australia

40

Special talk earthquakes increasing really?

by tootired2care in

jw
friends

i had to sit though the the special talk yesterday "is it later than you think", the brother a good deal of time making the case that major earthquakes are on the rise, and how i should believe it is "later than i think" based on that fact.

i took a bit of time to research this today, and sure enough they are not.

the link below has a chart of major earthquakes since the mid nineties, and it clearly shows they are random and all over the place.

Flossycat

Hi TT2C. With regards to whether or not to print out the info and show it to an elder or another JW at risk of being labelled an apostate - that'll depend on how 'strong' you're seen within the congregation? And it depends on the kind of elders and congregation you attend - some seem more lenient than others. If you're just showing up at meetings, not doing much field service etc, you might be seen as in need of a pep-talk or 'counselling'. It's a long time since I've been a JW. Maybe 'cos there's been so many doctrinal stuff-ups on the generational thing, and other failed prophecies, the elders are more stringent these days?

I know a now-ex-elder who, in the lead-up to 1975 at the monthly elders' meetings, voiced his doubts about Armageddon arriving circa 1975. (I was in the same congregation.) He was viewed as almost apostate, and the other elders started having speicial private meetings without him, about him. It wasn't till the mid 1980s he and his wife and children left the org.

Just by-the-by, I bumped into a JW some years after that, who'd known both me (we'd been best friends) and the elder and his family v well. She told me she'd heard this elder and his wife had begun their own religion. That was a load of crap - but illustrates yet again how those who question and leave the org are often falsely labelled. When I tried to reason with her about one of the JW doctrinal stuff-ups she just cut the conversation and walked away. And we had been such good friends...

Tread carefully if you want to remain in contact with any JW friends.

Love James' comment, above.

40

What made you leave?

by CuriousUK in

jw
friends

apologies if this has been discussed before, but i am really very interested in finding out why members here left their congregations for lives away from jw?.

was there a "lightbulb" moment where you just woke up one day and realised that you had been brainwashed?

or a slow realisation over time?

Flossycat

BTW - Go, oompa! That was brilliant.

PS my website is jehovahsmysteries.com

40

What made you leave?

by CuriousUK in

jw
friends

apologies if this has been discussed before, but i am really very interested in finding out why members here left their congregations for lives away from jw?.

was there a "lightbulb" moment where you just woke up one day and realised that you had been brainwashed?

or a slow realisation over time?

Flossycat

Hi Curious,

I was a 20 year old Pioneer; grew up in a rural Australian congregation that was v friendly - eccentric in a lovely way . Then moved to Melbourne to another really good congregation, with one of my sisters. I loved it. Met a nonJW at work (one of Melbourne's biggest hospitals) who pretended to want to know about the JWs. He began a bible study with one of the elders. Within 5 months we were married, so we wouldn't commit fornication. As soon as we married - the very next day - he wanted nothing to do with the WT Society. Turned out he was the classic psycopath. Life with him was hell - I attempted suicide 3 times; but ultimately, after he was jailed for rape (not me) he was my ticket to freedom. I tried to go back to the JWs, but couldn't hack all the conditions. I'd had a good taste of life on the outside, had met some wonderful people who accepted me regardless of my lifestyle, (I'd become a prostitute, but that's another story), and knew being a JW wasn't for me. Wasn't till I met an exJW deprogrammer when I was around 40 years old that I realised the WT Society's full of s**t. Yep - I'm a slow learner.

My autobiographical novel was published 2 years ago in the UK (Melrose Books, Ely, Cambridgeshire) 'A Little Lower Than Angels'. Editor of the Victorian Writers Centre said she couldn't put it down, and said it will be very helpful to nonJWs interested in knowing how and why the Watchtower Society and its people think and behave the way they do. A major Melbourne newspaper journalist said 'What a book! You're a fabulous writer with an amazing story to tell.' It's only a few pounds sterling - v cheap if you'd like to get a copy. It will answer many questions for you.

10

My Own Family

by TOTH in

jw
friends

i am happy today.

a few days ago i spoke with my sister and she brought up how some friend of her son's has been bashing the wt.

she was asking me what i knew about the nwt and russell and pyramidology.

Flossycat

Fabulous news. Made my day, Toth & Mind-blown

12

Funny Conversation

by TOTH in

jw
friends

so i was outside today cleaning the inside of my car and up stroll two jw's.

they have been around here a lot the past couple of weeks.

lol anyways i don't know either of these two clowns and they ask how i am and i said not to ask.

Flossycat

ROFL

55

How Many Years have your JW Relatives Shunned You ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i felt with newer members coming on and other jw fence sitters lurking it might be a good thing to explain what many of us have had to go through in regards to being shunned, cut off, ostracized from our jw families in an unjust way .

whether we are dfed or inactive - many of us have shared this same fate and ill treatment.

for many of us- it makes us stronger, more firmly entrenched that the decision we made to exit the jehovah's witness organization was the correct decision as no organization that claims to be " christian " would ever commit such horrid atrocities or justify it !

Flossycat

First wanna say, 'wha happened':- since joining the forum late January I just love your commentaries

Since writing my autobiographical novel 2 years go, about life in and out of the JWs, I've become the apostate - self-explanatory.

Before that, particularly between 1980- 2002 (when my dear, gentle, 'sit-on-the-fence/torn' dad passed away) I never knew what kind of reception I'd get from my JW mother, bros&sis's and JW in-laws. Sometimes it was cordial; other times got the door slammed in my face (figuratively speaking). Here's just a couple of instances:

In my early 20s when my non-JW husband went to jail I didn't tell them. He ended up on a prison farm outside Melbourne - in one of my sister's 'territory'. One evening I get this phone call from her.She hadn't spoken to me in a couple of years because of my 'unchristian' life style. And she starts accusing me of being a liar because I hadn't told the family my husband had gone to jail. It was a time of my life when I really could have done with some comforting words like: is there something I can do to help you? Nope - accusations, lectures and ultimatums: "If you don't tell mum, I will." I just said, I'm not going to tell mum. She didn't speak to me for 12 years. It was me who eventually wrote a letter to her asking her to bury the hatchet. I found out through mum that she'd said 'ok'. btw when we were JWs my sister and I had been very close. It was a shock how she just turned on me.

After I got divorced and got a new boyfriend, even though he wasn't a JW either, she was relieved, and ok about me coming to visit with him - told us we had to sleep in separate bedrooms Boyfriend found it highly amusing. Couple of months later I rang mum and dad to say we'd be up country to visit. Mum said, apologetically, sorry, no can do - the CO or DO (can't remember which) and wife were staying with them that week (in their own caravan in back yard). It would put everyone in an awkward situation if I was there. I (still believing the JWs were the true religion) understood - but my boyfriend was livid: "They call themselves Christians, and they're ostracising their own daughter for some upstart minister. Your mother needs her mouth washed out with soap and water. No - make that her brain washed out!" This was his first real taste of JW-the-chosen-elite type thinking.

When my Dad was hit with aggressive cancer and didn't have long to go I spent weekends with mum and dad. During this time my whole JW family were nice to me. At his funeral most JWs I'd known since childhood were friendly to me. 2 reasons: 1/to put on a good face in front of nonJW friends and family; 2/because they were hoping their friendliness would lead me to repentance... After Dad's passing things quickly went pear-shapped: Visiting mum one weekend, on the last day a MS showed up out of the blue. Mum and I were sitting in the kitchen almost finished lunch. She told me I had to leave the room. With spoon still in hand I looked at her wide-eyed and asked, "Why?" She said, "You know why - because you're disfellowhipped, and Carl can't speak to you." And I said, "But I haven't finished lunch." And resumed eating.

That was the beginning of the end between mum and my JW family. More s...t went down but won't go on here. The bottom line was I found out - whilst Dad was alive he'd stipulated to mum that I was welcome home ANYTIME. Once he'd gone, she had full control. She'd always called herself a spiritual widow. Little did she realise Dad had a billion times more spirituality than the JWs.