sorry for the long post but i need help.
ive been a jw for 20 years - still active and attending meetings, baptised at 18, i have recently become very dissillusioned.
a few reasons: ill treatment of my kids by a prominent 'assembly speaker' elder, then my son left the truth at 15 (not baptised) and was 'dropped' instantly, despite this community having been his whole life for 15 years.
Hi LHS123. I know this is difficult just take a deep breath. You are an open- minded person who really cares about others. Like you I grew up in this religion, I'm in the UK too, pioneered because I thought I was saving lives. Sorry I know this is hard but it isn't the 'truth' just one of many thousands of religions.
Take your time don't do anything in a hurry. Just keep reading and keep venting here if it helps you. Welcome to the rest of your life.
joined the site, not that i have much to share.. i'm married to a jw (wife).
i never have been or will be a jw, i honestly hate the wt (not the jws).
being married to a jw, can sometimes make you crazy, i never believed any of the bs.
my wife is a jw, and is teaching our eight year old daughter jw beliefs.
i am trying to teach her about evolution and critical thinking skills.
here is a conversation we had today (as best i can remember it):daughter: "why do bad things happen?
I think your answers were brilliant. Children just need their questions answered at that age and you did that. Even though I had my daughter after leaving the cult she still had teachers at school talking about Bible stories. I just answered each question, made her think as you have and let her form her own belief system.
She is now an atheist but when she was small she believed in Jesus because that's what she was taught at school. I never forced her to stop believing in something she liked at the time. Young children can be very stubborn. I think you are doing great just answering her questions.
the borg's tactics on most jw work.
they put fear into their mind, they guilt trip them and basically make them scared to do anything when they are away from the kingdom hall.
it allows them to control every aspect of their life.
i found this very interesting article by t. m. luhrmann in todays edition of the new york times (i've highlighted a few parts i 've found most interesting):.
it seems weird to deny them.. and yet a broad group of scholars is beginning to demonstrate that religious belief and factual belief are indeed different kinds of mental creatures.
people process evidence differently when they think with a factual mind-set rather than with a religious mind-set.
i found this very interesting article by t. m. luhrmann in todays edition of the new york times (i've highlighted a few parts i 've found most interesting):.
it seems weird to deny them.. and yet a broad group of scholars is beginning to demonstrate that religious belief and factual belief are indeed different kinds of mental creatures.
people process evidence differently when they think with a factual mind-set rather than with a religious mind-set.
Comments?Apparently when someone is hearing voices either through mental illness or it can be because of a fault with their ears, the auditory part of the brain lights up during a brain scan showing that their brain is reacting as though they are actually hearing, but they're not. So what would your experiment prove?
Personally, I would like to see an experiment that scans the brain while the person is making a factual statement: 'I believe my dog is alive'; if there's a difference in brain activity or area of the brain activated when saying: "I believe Jesus is alive".
i was just thinking the other day why is there not service meeting part like my title says.
i mean that would really be helpful to those who totally believe the no collage thing.
since they do not want anyone to have any education why don't they at the very least try to help them to be happy living a life of poverty with service meetings parts, since everyone would be in poverty if they really listened to the fds.. like a part on how not to be upset when anther brother buys a new car parks it two blocks from the hall so as not to get door dings in it and rides all day in your car and does not give you a dime for gas.
Faye, thank you! It's great to get some feedback. Yes I can understand you not wanting to hurt your parents. I didn't want to hurt my JW mother when I left. I remember her teling me people kept asking her why she was crying in the KH. Not emotional blackmail at all! Living authentically can be hard can't it?
i was just thinking the other day why is there not service meeting part like my title says.
i mean that would really be helpful to those who totally believe the no collage thing.
since they do not want anyone to have any education why don't they at the very least try to help them to be happy living a life of poverty with service meetings parts, since everyone would be in poverty if they really listened to the fds.. like a part on how not to be upset when anther brother buys a new car parks it two blocks from the hall so as not to get door dings in it and rides all day in your car and does not give you a dime for gas.
Yeah I know many believed it whole-souled like us Doc - that expression's a blast from the past isn't it? I am not so sure about there being no animosity about it on the board. Sadly the ones who make the most noise often want to say that people who worked hard were glory-seekers and hypocrites. Can't tell you how much I resent that. I have never sought glory in my life and I certainly never had any in the cult. Far from it!
i was just thinking the other day why is there not service meeting part like my title says.
i mean that would really be helpful to those who totally believe the no collage thing.
since they do not want anyone to have any education why don't they at the very least try to help them to be happy living a life of poverty with service meetings parts, since everyone would be in poverty if they really listened to the fds.. like a part on how not to be upset when anther brother buys a new car parks it two blocks from the hall so as not to get door dings in it and rides all day in your car and does not give you a dime for gas.
I know the answer of course but thinking about it now I realize that even the GB didn't want anyone to really follow their stupid rules. If everyone pioneered and had no kids, no money, etc where would the religion be. The GB are relying on the kids, of the kids who they told not to have kids to support them now.I know what you mean. I pioneered ten years and looked at the other elders and their wives who had somehow found the time to have lots of children and buy a big house. I wondered how they could do it and not worry about all those people who would die at the big A if we didn't preach to them.
My husband said at elder's meetings when he said things that showed he really believed it all and was sincere about the 'Truth' the other elders would look at him with pity as if to say, 'you poor fool you really believe all this don't you.'
So I know where you're coming from Life is too Short. Glad to know my husband and I were not the only ones who put our money where our mouth was. We had just enough time left to have one baby, so glad we had her!
It's funny I was not popular when I was in for pioneering, being a goody goody, whatever. Now I don't feel popular on this site for saying I really believed it and lived by my convictions. Seems more popular to say you didn't really believe it, thought pioneering was crap and hated all the pioneers. Hey ho! Such is life. Still glad I lived the way I believed. Think it got me out and saved my life.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/187163/getting-my-ged-can-go-college.
i started this topic 5 years ago letting everyone know i had decide to get my ged and go to college in hopes of getting an education so that i could have a career instead of just a job.
i wanted fulfillment and a future, not just another job that has no really future in it.
Fantastic news Noni, well done you!
:)
