Posts by Emery

77

Distrust and paranoia among faders

by cedars in

jw
friends

hi guys.

i'm interested in knowing whether any other faders out there ever find themselves feeling a little paranoid about establishing contact with other faders or former jws, just in case the unthinkable happens and things turn sour.. personally, i'm now fairly comfortable with the idea that i will be disfellowshipped or disassociated within the next year or so.

i see it as inevitable, and an essential transition in order to do what i want to do with my life.

Emery

Yes much paranoia indeed.

There are some disfellowshipped friends of mine who still believe its the truth, yet paradoxically are not doing anything to actually come back. They are living contrary to the "truth" they believe. I have recently contacted and visited a very good friend of mine who was DF'd 6-7 years ago for being a sexual man whore at 19. He's now happily married, with 2 kids and recognizes his past mistakes. I only contacted him because I knew from previous emails throughout the years that he was never coming back. Once I told him where I now stood, he almost cried. It truly was like a real resurrection, our friendship picked up from right where we left off, no awkwardness, just a lot of apologies. However, I had to educate him on what I can and can't do right now and how important it is that he keep our friendship out of conversations with his jw mother and step father. His step father happens to be my best friend's uncle haha, so the possiblity of it turning ugly is very real.

You have to explore the risks but in the end, if you know you're going to be gone soon then there is no point in delaying inevitable friendships.

26

I MADE A HUGE MISTAKE

by iclone in

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Emery

I feel for you man, it really does suck to go back for even one meeting.

The last meeting I attended, I realized how effing boring it all was. You're basically there to hear somebody else's public reading skills. It immediately felt like I was in 4th grade english again, listening to some kid read paragraphs out of a book I could care less about. This is what makes someone spiritual-- sitting in a lecture hall listening to window washers read recycled paragraphs from a stage, finding the answer in the paragraph and saying it into a mic, well done brother holy!

160

I've Come To Realize That "Facts" Don't Mean Much If A Person Refuses To Accept Them

by minimus in

jw
friends

...and that applies to religion as well as politics.. if someone simply believes such and such is true, it doesn't really matter whether you "prove" it or not.

people will believe what they want to believe..

Emery

People change their minds when a crisis happens, whether it be: emotional, economical, financial, health, spiritual, etc.

From my experience, it first takes a JW to have their ass kicked emotionally by either the elders, friends, or family. When this happens, especially to the Yes men of the borg, they start waking up. When they lose their spiritual status, paradise and/or advantages of being in the org they will become more critical.

Politically speaking? Not very familiar with it, but I have seen people change their political views when something negatively affects them aswell like; wars, laws, taxes, etc.

IMO it all bascially revolves around the element of injustice hitting close to home before the facts are looked at. I know this is not the case for everyone, but it seems to be the trend for change.

28

Has leaving the truth( i hate that word) caused you to do things now that you would not have normally done ?

by sieborg in

jw
friends

although we all know that there are many disadvantages of being brought up ( vomit sound) in the truth.

but would you say that leaving has maybe caused you to do some things that you would not have normally have done in life ?

for me personally now i have lots of free time ( mine all mine, evil laugh) i have almost finished my first novel.

Emery

Oh wow, yes I managed to to accomplish a lot in just a year.

I am finally reading books that I actually enjoy and have interest in reading. I've read 4 books already and will be finishing my 5th one shortly ( on web development).
Now that my JW friends have no time for "irregulars" I find myself being around family more and more. I have re-established old friendships from high school and old friends who are/were disfellowshipped long ago. I have found much happinesss being around relatives again who I had once pushed away because they were not JWs. Once I told my aunt and uncle that I no longer wanted to be a JW anymore they were so thrilled! Although they respected my beliefs in the past, I always knew they hated our involvment with the witnesses.
My wife and I actually get bored quite frequently now with all this time on our hands. We consistently keep our house very clean and organized. We schedule random vacations and activities we never had time for because of the rigorous JW schedule.
Since I have lost my belief in an afterlife, I now pay closer attention to current world problems. Being awake and aware of ways to help my neighbor live a better life is what I aim for. It makes life more valuable and you cherish the moments more as you won't know what tomorrow brings.
Compared to the prejudiced and condescending view I had of people with different faiths, views, and life styles-- I am now more open minded, loving and understanding when it comes to diversity.
Observing holidays happens to be a lot of fun. When I was a witness I wouldn't have imagined the day I would have said such a thing. I use to love throwing this into people's faces who claimed to be a Christian. I would open up my reasoning book and drop the pagan bomb all day during the Christmas seaso. Until I realized that JWs hypocritically observe many pagan traditions and modern day customs themselves! (anniversaries, wedding ceremonies, rings, cosmetic make-up, braiding hair, Sunday worship, etc.) Only to see WT leadership shrug these customs off to say, "Well we don't do it for those particular reasons".....Well guess what Watchtower?? Neither does the general public! I don't celebrate them either to honor a false god or worship paganism. I observe them as human tradition which just so happens to be a lot of friggin fun, ya buncha jerks.
Movies: I watch whatever the heck I want now without some mental guilt trip if the movie so happens to drop an eff bomb. (same goes for music)
Missing meetings, service, conventions, special day assemblies, kingdom hall cleanings, CO visits, KH builds, and the memorial saves me a lot of money. I spend it now on things I have always wanted but never tried to buy since I was trying to keep a "simple eye".

Thats all I could think of right now, but yes its amazing when you become mentally and spiritually free from this organization.

9

Don't know if it was mentioned already, but now you can be Auxilliary Pioneer with only 30 hours for both March & April.

by Theocratic Sedition in

jw
friends

just got my hands on the letter from a service committee brother this morning.

if this was already posted, my bad.

i did a quick search, but didn't see anything.

Emery

I agree, its pointless. When I was a believer, I had more return visits and door step studies in my 3-6 hr a month routine than many of the pioneers at my hall. Of course anyone with the "IT" factor in presentation and selling can accomplish much in less time.

25

Who is the faithful and discreet slave? Is a RHETORICAL question

by villagegirl in

what brought me out of the wt , was one day it dawned on me, mathew 25:35,36 ..i was hungry and you gave me food;i was thirsty and you gave me drink;i was a stranger and you took me in, i was naked and you clothes me,i was sick and you visited me, i was in prison and you came to me.

i was being told this was some "symbolic action" we were supposed to take towards the wt version of the faithful and discreet slave.

and something inside me just said, "no it isn't" its real.

Emery

Great thread. Larsinger, smh.

12

APOSTATE 'NEW LIGHT'?

by The Searcher in

at the special assembly day (s.a.d.

) last weekend, the district overseer had us all read matthew 5:22, which in part says, "whoever addresses his brother with an unspeakable word of contempt will be accountable to the supreme court; whereas whoever says, you despicable fool!

will be liable to the fiery gehen na.".

Emery

I'll say it, they are despicable fools. And I do not say that to disrespect scripture, but to humiliate the Watchtower.

They were the first ones to ever apostasize from their very own standards! False prophecies; 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, the generation teaching, UN affiliation, erroneous interpretations, and removing Jesus as mediator for mankind. What greater apostasy is there?? The audacity to still demand respect and God's favor is despicable. Throw that in any CO or DO's face and see how quickly they will storm out of the room, they are nothing but cowards living in cult bubble with their fingers in their ears.

I will say that this admonition from the DO is not going to stop JCs or Witnesses from calling those who disagree apostate/despicable/etc. This is just another discourse and example of WT leadership speaking out of both sides of their mouth.

16