Posts by Xanthippe

Sorry OODAD I didn't mean to offend you I think I read that you have lost children to this cult. I cant even imagine the pain of that. I lost lots of family and friends but thankfully not my daughter because I had her post-cult.

I was just trying to make a comparison between disagreements in families and, as you say, institutionalised shunning. Good phrase. I was thinking about exclusion, shunning and exile in anthropological terms as a product of the evolution of human society. Thinking back to ancient Greece and the meaning of the word ostracism. I suspect the practice is much older. I suppose it shows how primitive fundamentalism is. Apologies for not being clear, I was kind of thinking through an idea as I was writing it.

64

Post Pictures of Beautiful Sceneries-Sunsets, Sunrises, Flowers-Anything !

by flipper in

jw
friends

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i'll start.

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Xanthippe

Lake Como, Italy - I took this in April.

64

Post Pictures of Beautiful Sceneries-Sunsets, Sunrises, Flowers-Anything !

by flipper in

jw
friends

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i'll start.

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Xanthippe

23

Shunning - I just can't get my head around it

by jambon1 in

let me first state that i have never been shunned.

i faded from the org very quickly & my life hasn't been blighted by this practice.. i have been out of the organisation for over 6 years.

most of the things i left the religion for, i have came to terms with.

Xanthippe

I totally agree with everything others have said here that shunning is shameful and a cult control tactic.

Have you found though as you meet new people in 'the world' that lots of folks say they have relatives they don't talk to?

I think it is a very ancient tribal device to control family that you dont get on with.

Some say they haven't talked to their brother, father, mother etc for years.

It is quite primitive and a device used by dysfunctional families to punish or manipulate people they dont agree with.

Sometimes when I look at my family I can see the dysfunctional personalities and the grudge-holding that has been there for years.

Of course cults target damaged people so it is hardly surprising that they adapt to weird ideas.

Nevertheless it is a wicked thing to do to break up families that are already suffering from past trauma.

It is hardly ' binding up the broken-hearted' is it?

More like give me your broken heart and I will turn it to stone so you will never hurt again.

34

Your reaction if they drop the shunning policy?

by jam in

jw
friends

how would you react toward those family members that.

have treated you like you had leprosy.

for years didn,t.

Xanthippe

Good question. I think metatron is right. If shunning was dropped officially some individual JWs would do it unofficially. Speaking personally, I would only find out about it from this board and then I would wait and see what my family did with (I hope) an open mind. I suspect they would just continue leaving me to rot though.

Years ago when my sister got married I was introduced to my new brother-in-law's d'fed brother at the wedding and I shook his hand. When my sister's MIL got d'fed they still went out for meals with her. So when I phoned that sister after I left and asked her husband if I could speak to her he said no. I reminded him of his d'fed family that he still associated with and said 'so am I the only ex-JW you don't speak to? His answer was, 'are you taping this conversation?'

So they pick and choose how and when they apply the rules. They always have done. I would like to think I would be open-minded if they made overtures to me but I am not sure they would even if they were allowed to.

27

Ever just want to run away.

by LouBelle in

jw
friends

just give up the job, the house and go somewhere where life moves at a slower pace and there are not as many electronic intrusions?

only thing to get to a place like that costs money.. if i had my way, give all of this up for a quiet life on a little small holding that can look after my needs..

Xanthippe

Yes Lou I sometimes want to do that especialy after a bad day at work. Somewhere in the mountains in a little log cabin with a wood burning stove. Just grow veg and keep a few chickens.

Ooooh yeah

9

outdoor Christmas decorations

by finally awake in

jw
friends

i have some!

just ron has put up christmas lights on our front porch!

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Xanthippe

finally awake - Christmas lights in the porch, how lovely

TOTH - surely snowflakes are pagan!