just for fun - and on a more fun/lighthearted note - i have a few questions to pose:.
1. what was your very first car?.
2. what car are you driving now?
1st car: old blue Datsun that died on the way home from the car dealer-took it back and made them fix it free!!!
Car I have now: a 1993 White 4-door Ford Explorer..we bought it from a guy dying of some terminal disease who sold it to us waaay below book value. He had kept it in mint condition. Runs like a dream.
My dream car: I really love those Chevy Suburbans. We rented one for a week when we had visiting relatives and I didn't want to give it back.
30 that seems to put jw's at a cross-roads?
i've known so many who have decided to abandon ship at either the age of 30 or either after 30 years of being baptized.
i fall into the former category.
Well I got out of it at the age of 18 but the stranglehold of years of twisted brainwashing didn't begin to fully melt away until I was close to 30, now that I am 5 months shy of 30, I feel I am now completely FREE. I only now fully realize what a load of crap I had been spoon fed and believed for my entire youth. I am just happy that I have another 30+ to really enjoy my life!
i'm wondering how many here are "active jws," "inactive jws," "x-jws," or "never jws.".
i don't mean to be nosy.
i'm just wondering how many are in a situation like mine (still in, but struggling).
Mom was recruited via door to door in early 1970s when I was a toddler. I spent my childhood as a JW. There was physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse my entire childhood. Can you blame me for leaving the second I turned 18? I even tried to get help, but the elders always took the side of my jerk stepdad. I will NEVER go back. I have two boys and they are allowed to have a normal happy childhood complete with holidays and birthdays.For years after I stopped going to meetings, I still believed many of the teachings thanks to the brainwashing (I always wondered why there were sooooo many meetings! I hated it!) I thankfully never got baptized (though my JW friends turned the pressure on in my early teens)It wasn't until I got on the internet 4 years ago, that I found that there are SO many people out there with similar stories like mine, it can't possibly be coincidence. And all the sites that use the WTS OWN literature to point out all their lies and errors finally helped me break the chains totally. I don't think I can be any happier, I have a fulfilling life free of guilt and fear. I will NEVER go back.
someone asked me to post some of the material i have collected regarding how jws treat kids during their meetings.
the following was culled from my raw files.
those with tender sensibilities might want to read with caution.
I am the older sister of the boy who was beat in the parking lot for blinking too many times. Thanks so much for posting this. People need to know what goes in the witness religion. The abuse children suffer is beyond comprehension. I was beat AND molested by the same man. Yet, he walks free.
Chris
just a couple of quick questions, the first directed at exjws - could you ever see any reason for you to return to the organisation?
what would have to happen for you to return?
under what circumstances would you ever go back?
No WAY would I ever go back. I cannot even conceive of a circumstance or situation which would cause me to want to go back. But like another poster stated, I would love to seek out friends I once had when I was involved in the org. if they would someday drop their insane shunning policy.
C
for me i think it was the sunday meeting.. just wanting to stay home and sleep in.. but i think the watchtower study was the hardest to sit threw... you had to have it studied before hand.. and highlighted.. then sit there and listen to it all over again..
All of them. They all had their bad points. I HATED the Sunday talk, sooo boring. But I think the Watchtower Study was worse cause at least there was a visiting speaker for the public talk so he was something different to stare at while he drivelled away. But the Watchtower Study was so bad cause it was the most boring material. And we had to study it the night before just to hear it ALL OVER AGAIN the next day! UGH! If I HAD to pick which meeting was the least bothersome it would be the Tuesday night bookstudy cause it was only an hour long. Thursdays were bad, too. Then in our cong they changed the Thursday to Friday and I freaked out cause I didnt want to miss watching "Miami Vice" haha. Thankfully, we got home in time to watch it. We didnt go out in service much (thank goodness) but when we did I freaked out because I am terribly shy and just the mere thought of knocking on a strangers door and trying to engage them in discussion made me become nearly paralyzed with fear.
When I was real small and lived with my non-jw grandma for awhile, she would take me to her church; I absolutely loved it cause all the kids got to go into the basement, have cookies and draw pictures of moses and jesus and the ark, etc. I learned to appreciate the bible more from that than all my years of sitting there at the meetings.
reading mulan's thread about her daughter-in-law's experience in the bathroom, i couldn't help remembering what happened at one district convention in jacksonville.. a sister brought her little 2 year old son in to spank.
she whipped him for so long with a thick comb and everytime the little boy would cry she would spank him some more because he was crying.
i went back to my seat crying.
I have seen horrible things too at the KH and conventions. Stuff that made my stomach turn. Children as young as babies being beat. One time I overheard an elder (huuuge guy too must have been 6 ft 4 and 300 pds) laughing with another guy after the Sunday meeting that he "hurt" his hand spanking his tiny 2 yr old daughter during the meeting. I wanted to throw up on his shoes.
I have two boys now, and they have never nor will ever be hit. I am very much against physical discipline of children. I employ positive parenting methods. My boys are well adjusted and charming and fun to be around.
i saw the post on "canadians" and thought we should have one too!!!.
i'll start.....i live in connecticut, usa.. if god dropped acid, would he see people?
-- steven wright
Austin, TX
i am new here trying to figure my way around...... i would appreciate it if you could say which of these fits you..... 1. still a jw.
2. if you dont agree with the jw doctrines any longer do you belong to another religious organization now?
3. are still religious and have no religious affiliation.
number 5 for me.
it seems like to me the majority of people who are in the truth, are were in the truth was a result of either a family member are a friend witnessing to them and not many seem to have been found in the door to door work.. from my years of associating with the borg i cannot recall many coming in the truth from the door to door work.. how were you sucked in?
for me it was my aunt who has now even though i am not disfellowshipped decided to write me out of her will to the tune of about $150,000.00 (maybe i should hang around a couple more years)dont think i will.. please respond .
thanks.
My mom was sucked into it via the D to D work in 1973 when I was 2; I left at 18 but she is still stuck in it.
