Xanthippe

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Posts by Xanthippe

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  42

  Happy Birthday to Me!

  by Iown Mylife in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there's a beautiful sky this morning.

  it's my birthday, today i'm 64 and look every inch of it, but i appreciate my life and feel fortunate to be cult-free.

  also very fortunate to have a purposeful and entertaining existence here in gorgeous north georgia (in the usa).

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  Xanthippe

  Happy Birthday

  🎂🎈🎉🍾👍
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  41

  Anyone read the latest Awake (on the supernatural)?

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just read some of this latest awake on the org's webshite.. it begins by talking about the 'supernatural' - wizards, witches, vampires, etc.

  - their popularity and why they might appeal to people.

  then it goes on to state the wt belief that someone is 'behind it'.. now, i like a few horror/scary films - when i was a kid, i always actually liked being a bit scared by them, tbh.. the silence of the lambs, a nightmare on elm street (1984), the ring, the witch, the thing (1982) and a few others are all great, imo.. they are just genres and subgenres of film, that's all.

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  Xanthippe

  Kids forbidden to watch Harry Potter. My daughter read all the books and loved them. What a horrible thing to do to kids, separate them from all their friends who are reading the books and going off to see the films. These kind of rules prove it's a cult.
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  3

  AUSTRALIAN ROYAL COMMISSION: Lawyer Representing Jehovah's Witnesses Child Abuse Survivors Reveals Trauma In Dealing With Cases

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  article on angela sdrinis who represents jw abuse survivors in victoria, australia.. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-15/lawyers-reveal-trauma-of-representing-child-sex-abuse-survivors/8270008?wt.

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  Xanthippe

  Thanks for this. I like that she says children have been silenced and made to feel ashamed that they've been sexually abused and have carried that shame I nto adulthood, when it's the religions that have hidden the abusers that should feel ashamed. Hopefully the ARC will bring that shame down on JWs and other churches.
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  6

  Through legalism, has the WTBT$ and their followers lost their moral compass?

  by LarryCope in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in december, i lunched with someone who was at one time quite close and is still a jw.

  the topic of the arc ( australian royal commission ) and pedophilia came up.

  the two things that was immediately voiced by this person was the two witness rule and that it was homosexuals molesting witness boys parroting the plastic faced stephen lett.this person is not online and has not seen the arc videos or know anything about the silent lambs movement.

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  Xanthippe

  They never had a moral compass Larry, they just followed a three thousand year old book. No attempt to work out what is right and wrong, what will bring the most happiness and prevent the most harm. Just strictly abide by ancient rules made by people who viewed women and children as property.
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  31

  Endure or Enjoy??

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have we ever noticed how witnesses are constantly being told that life is something that needs to be "endured", rather that "enjoyed"?.

  life is always so tough, so hard, so difficult in "these last days".

  "persecution and trials abound".

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  Xanthippe

  The cult demands they live a weird life that deliberately separates them from family, neighbours and colleagues. No birthdays, holidays, college, constant KH attendance and FS. Being forced to be no part of the world their lives are hard, being different from all non-cult humans is hard. So the cult turns that into persecution and endurance. Result - fear, paranoia and more separation. Trapped for life.
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  28

  I would like to rant about how I get really upset when I get some weak invitation back to the cult.

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother wanted me to know that the co gave a talk that kinda-sorta reprimanded an elder in her hall.

  he is not the reason i left at all, and this does not address anything to do with me or our family.. my mother-in-law sent me texts which i ignored and now she has sent a picture to my wife on facebook just for me, and it's a prodigal son meme that says, "you see the signs, come back it's not too late".. yeah, it's not too late to accept a global flood in 2370 bce, or that man was created in 4026 bce from a golem spell, or that an us-and-them cult mentality is at all healthy or loving, or that religion is going to be banned by the un, or that i should expect anyone else at the door to accept these stupid ideas in the information age.. what am i supposed to say?

  i usually just ignore them, but before i do that, i see that shit and i storm into this weird internalized rage where i start writing a response and deleting it.

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  Xanthippe

  I hear you. In my experience one of the hardest things I've had to do is have mentally challenged cult members in my family treat me as if I'm insane because I don't believe this bloody stupid crap about the end of the world and living forever in panda paradise.
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  63

  2017 Circuit Assembly: Lesbians at school demonstration

  by darkspilver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  steve2: is there some way this can be presented so that it is crystal clear what was actually in the demonstrations and what was added?

  i guess some will think it should be obvious - but this is where misunderstandings arise because we end up wrongly attributing something to jw organization that was never said.. circuit assembly theme: maintain love for jehovah!.

  note to speaker: warmly encourage young ones to prove their friendship with jehovah by observing his commandments and defending his standards.

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  Xanthippe

  The outright dishonesty of saying we respect people's right to be gay, lesbian or smoke cigarettes but God doesn't respect them enough to let them live. What they're saying is they have the right to choose the way of life they want right up to the moment God kills them. How does that discourage prejudice? Total brainwashing.
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  45

  What has been your own personal experience of shunning?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am interested in finding out on a small scale the extent of which shunning has impacted on you personally.. my own experience is that when i faded about 12 years ago.

  the woman whose house the book study was held at (and who was virtually a neighbour) walked right past me in my own street.

  i remember it so well.

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  Xanthippe

  My mum is gone now but she had nothing to do with us for years and virtually ignored her granddaughter. I saw one sister at my cousin's funeral last year but we didn't speak. My other sister I havn't seen since my dad's funeral in 2004. My brother came to my husband's funeral but dropped me later on again. Sometimes it would be nice to have a 6'2" man around to help me but he told me after I D'aed he's only interested in hearing from me if I'm destitute or desperate.

  Yes I've had people walk past me in the street but we moved here twenty years ago and there isn't a JW congregation here, hooray, so we don't see witnesses. The nearest cong. is five miles away and they have us down as a do not call, which suits me.

  I didn't see my nephews grow up. We weren't invited to my nephew's wedding and we will never see his son, almost two now I think. Of course my childhood friend, my pioneer partner and everyone I knew from childhood to thirty years shun us.

  It's their loss. I have a beautiful, intelligent daughter they will never know. People in my life like me and have been there for me so who needs them.
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  52

  My families shunning has gone to a whole new level

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  8 months df'd.

  loving a life of freedom.

  however, my family are all shunning me.

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  Xanthippe

  The only way I found to turn this crap into something positive, is that it steeled my resolve to provide my children with a WT-Free childhood. This poison ends here. - Hybridous

  This is exactly what I decided too. My dysfunctional mother joined a cult because she grew up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father. Now my siblings have become dysfunctional to the point they can't leave this crazy cult and they shun me and my daughter.

  Misery in families can go on for generations due to events years ago and long forgotten. I have always said the pain stops here with me, I refuse to pass it on to my daughter. Which means keeping her away from that cult and my crazy shunning family.

  Pale.emperor your mother is very mentally ill in my opinion to wipe you out of her life like that. You are so right wanting to protect your daughter. Your mother will start preaching at her soon, Bible story book, and turning her against you. If she stays strong and rejects the cult she will be shunned too. I know this is hard, I feel your pain.

  I'm glad you've made friends outside of the cult. Your daughter will make her own friends at school. Kids choose their own friends you don't need to worry about that. She'll have a great life with you as her dad.

  
  
  
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  28

  Birthday Wishes Welcome!

  by LifesNotOver in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of you don't know me or won't remember me.

  i left the jw's and my husband and my home last september - forging a new life in a new town.

  i haven't posted here for many months, but have been reading most days.

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  Xanthippe