Posts by Xanthippe

65

Withdrawing community support in the congs

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

i've noticed in the past 10 years that the social support that used to be available in the congs, a shoulder to cry on, elders to help with family/marriage issues these seem to have been purposely withdrawn.

counsel is even heard from the platform that the elders are not there to help people with their problems.. so first in the 80s-90s they take away the congregation get to getters and social events and now they seem to be going one step further in taking away the emotional support for people too.. this will take away an aspect that i'm sure was keeping alot of people in the borg, the community support.

if that's not there and its just about meetings and ministry how many will start to get their emotional support elsewhere?.

Xanthippe

Elders in some congregations specifically tell married couples in trouble that they are not counselors nor therapists. Their focus is helping the "sheep" spiritually not emotionally. - Whynot

Interesting Whynot, they're telling people they're not therapists now? They don't help the people spiritually though, you're not allowed to even ask questions about teachings without being labelled an apostate. So if they don't help people spiritually, emotionally or practically like a clergyman would, what is their function!

33

Do you miss that initial "high" ??

by stuckinarut2 in

do you remember the first time you found out "the truth about the truth"?.

yes, it was confronting, shocking and life altering.

yes it was hard to deal with.. but, along with that, many have said that they experienced a sense of thrill, euphoria, or joy when realising the facts about the religion that held us captive mentally and physically for so long.. it was liberating to learn some of the controversial teachings etc.

Xanthippe

But stop and try to answer this question- Did you feel a huge sense of "justification" for any anger or doubts or actions?

Yes OTWO I did feel vindicated that my doubts, particularly the times when people treated me as if I was crazy when I was actually making a lot of sense because I thought about the teachings and questioned what I was taught instead of being indoctrinated by the cult. It has taught me to trust myself, eight million people can be wrong!

23

I sometimes wonder what the world would be like if "Religion" had never reared it`s head.?

by smiddy3 in

can you imagine what the world of mankind would be like if their was never any concept of a god or religious beliefs ?.

for the love of me i can`t ,maybe i don`t have an imaginative mind equipped well enough to do so .. how about you guys ?

any takers ?.

Xanthippe

We looked for answers for thousands of years, how we got here, why we die, why there are natural disasters, what's the point of our existence. Sometimes people say religion prevented us looking for answers and hindered the development of science.

The history of science course I studied at university theorised that people's belief in God lead them to look for laws in the natural world because they were sure a creator would have made laws. This, they think, lead to science as we know it. It's an interesting idea.

Personally I wish the whole world would see that we've grown out of organised religion but I guess that's going to take some time.

33

Do you miss that initial "high" ??

by stuckinarut2 in

do you remember the first time you found out "the truth about the truth"?.

yes, it was confronting, shocking and life altering.

yes it was hard to deal with.. but, along with that, many have said that they experienced a sense of thrill, euphoria, or joy when realising the facts about the religion that held us captive mentally and physically for so long.. it was liberating to learn some of the controversial teachings etc.

Xanthippe

I remember starting to read CoC and staying up until 2am because I had to finish it and then I couldn't sleep all night. It was such a shock I felt like my mind was slipping. At some point in our exit my husband came home and I said to him, so it was just another religion then? He nodded and looked very sad. I think so, he said. It was shattering to be honest. We pioneered our entire adult lives. Where now?

Anyway the highs came later, the birth of our daughter, buying a little house, our graduations, travelling to beautiful parts of the world.

50

You Know You're Starting To Wake Up When...

by pale.emperor in

you start listening to music deemed "unsuitable for christians".

you pretend to knock on the doors.

you explain a jw teaching to someone and realize how ridiculous it sounds.

Xanthippe

When the WTS objections to evolution, as in how could these pretty birds have come about by chance, start to sound ridiculous.

4

site will not let me post picture whats up?

by nowwhat? in

i get the spiral of death for 2 days now.

Xanthippe

Seems okay now, this took one minute to post

4

site will not let me post picture whats up?

by nowwhat? in

i get the spiral of death for 2 days now.

Xanthippe

10

I think I was terribly wrong...

by sinboi in

i have once commented under the topic "are you better off as a worldly person or a jw?

i am a born-in but left nearly a year ago at age 16. i would say when i was a jw and was still fully convinced that it is the truth, i was happier.

i have a hope then.

Xanthippe

It's true if you quit spending all your time believing in a fantasy hope you can then start living and learning about reality. We have to work with what's real and what we have rather than pretty dreams.

31

Jehovah Misses Me

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

made the mistake of opening the front door today...i was expecting someone to service our central heating...oh dear, it was a sister instead :(.

she tells me jehovah misses me.

it seems god only sees me if i go to the meetings.

Xanthippe

Jehovah misses me

Poor thing, doesn't he have any friends. He's a jealous God that's the problem, can't stand any competition, makes him lonely.

17

They've given themselves a out for refusing to give you your data if you ask for it

by purrpurr in

from the jw.org global data page.

"upon receipt of your written request, after you provide sufficient evidence of your identity and enough information to permit us to identify your personal data, the applicable data controller will fairly consider granting the request by balancing the interests of the individual in gaining access to data or correcting or deleting data against the legitimate interests of the organization, including whether granting the request would endanger the organization’s right to religious freedom and practice.

we will also notify any third-party recipients of the necessary changes.. please note that your data may not be erased if processing is required by law or if the data may be kept on other legal bases.

Xanthippe

The GDPR, the General Data Protection Regulation that comes into force in the EU on May 25 is the biggest change in data collection and storage for many years. My experience in local government is that most organizations are shitting themselves about this because the fines for failing to hold data correctly are enormous.

Really, I can't give you the details but it's getting beyond a joke the lengths we are going to in my department to prepare for this. It's about being fined an arm and a leg for failing spot inspections after May 25, 2018. I think this is all it's about with the WTS in Europe.