I speak Dutch as well ;-)
Anders Andersen
JoinedPosts by Anders Andersen
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45
The story of my exit
by mrsObfuscate ini have been lurking here for about 6 months, and being the last day of the year, and ready to start the new one afresh, i want to share the story of our exit from the org.
i have found the personal experiences of others of immeasurable value, (and its been a while since a good exit story has been posted) that i hope this can be of benefit to at least someone.. .
my mother became a jehovahs witness when i was about 9 or 10. i remember initially hating all of the new sanctions put on our lives (no birthdays and christmas anymore) but for some reason i soon after joined her in attending the meetings and eventually got baptized at the age of 14. my staunch catholic father converted a couple of years later.
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Anders Andersen
mrsObfuscate,
Thank you for sharing your story.
My position is similar to your husband's. I'm 3 months out now. Your story gives me hope my wife will join me sooner or later.
Thanks!
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Anders Andersen
Sorry , wrong reference. Last one is from Asleep! June 2013.
Can't edit my post on Android.
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Anders Andersen
December 2015 WT:
Manipulation. Some use the silent treatment as a means to get what they want. For example, imagine that a husband and wife plan a trip and the wife would like to take her parents along. The husband objects. “You’re married to me, not to your parents,” he says. He then gives his wife the silent treatment, shunning her in the hope that she will break down and concede to his wishes.
But when it is used as a means to retaliate or manipulate, the silent treatment not only prolongs conflict but also erodes the respect [people] have for each other. How can you prevent that from happening to you?
The first step to ending the silent treatment is to recognize it for what it is—a tactic that, at best, works only short-term. True, not talking may quench your thirst for retaliation or compel [the disfellowshipped person] to give in to your wishes. But is that really how you want to treat someone whom you have vowed to love? There are better ways to resolve conflicts.
The silent treatment runs counter to the Bible’s admonition: “Let each one of you individually so love his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33) Why not make an agreement with your spouse that the silent treatment is unacceptable in your marriage?
(Isn't the congregation compared to a marriage in the Bible? If shunning is bad in a marriage, why is it good within families or between friends?)
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Anders Andersen
And then they have the courage to say something about people who react strongly when a loved one might end up in this cult:
July 2009 Awake article “Is It Wrong to Change Your Religion?”
“No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.“
Awake 2003, 11/08, “When Loved Ones Do Not Share Your Faith”
“Many who are not true Christians love their parents and other relatives and communicate regularly with them regardless of their religious affiliation. Should Christian Witnesses do any less?”
Watchtower 2002, 01/01, “All True Christians Are Evangelizers”, $15
“Pressuring people to change their religion is wrong. Certainly, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not act in such a way.”Used these quotes in a letter to relatives who decided to shun me without me being marked or dfed. They probably won't read it, or don't see the hypocrisy.
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What did being a JW teach you?
by punkofnice inthese are some of the things the wbt$ 'taught' me:.
dishonesty is fine if it's to trick people into joining the cult.. if your spouse stops believeing, the best thing you can do is break up the family.. the laws of the governing body overrule any other laws...or else!.
my friends are conditional.. avoid loving people, they'll only let you down or get df'd.. unintelligent dumbos are better than intelligent ones if the dumbos are elders or above.. hate is better than love.. i am not good enough and god will probably enjoy killing me.. demons will appear in my room at night.. ignore practicallity if being practical or loving prevents the leaders getting money or praise.. god hates.
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Anders Andersen
I learned that...
- people disagreeing with your views are always vicious, lying, destructive and Satanic animals.
- hearing only one side of a story really is more than enough to get to the bottom of things.
- thinking leads to death.
- absolute truth being replaced with different absolute truth does not mean the first truth was actually false. It was 100% perfect, and now it's improved.
- two people together in a car or house will always have sex within 5 minutes of being together. So don't bring yourself in that situation.
Thinking about this whole mind control shit they pull, and many otherwise intelligent people falling for it....I suddenly start to understand how something like Nazi Germany was possible :-(
If humble and kind people can be made to shun their closest relatives, imagine (or remember) what can happen when an even more evil group is in control.
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Writing my Disassociation letter
by Bebopin intoday i am working on writing my disassociation letter.
i successfully faded a year ago.
but i feel like i can't keep looking over my shoulder anymore i just need to be completely rid of this cult.. any suggestions on letter and it's content?.
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Anders Andersen
You can be honest with your mother.
Even if she goes to the elders, no problem there.
If elders contact you, politely but firmly refuse to talk to them, ask them to never contact you again. Don't offer any explanation, they are not entitled to hear it.
With only one witness (your mother) and no confession, there's nothing they can do.
You told your mother, played the elders but not by their rules. You win.
At least, this worked in my situation (replace mother with wife).
YMMV.
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Do Jehovah's Witnesses dedicate themselves to an organization or not? Which one is it?
by RULES & REGULATIONS inanyone that is/was a dedicated jehovah's witness knows that the worship of the ''faithful and discreet slave'' is the only relationship we know.i don't remember having a personal relationship with jehovah without the governing body being in the way.they make all the rules on every matter.anyone who thinks that jehovah has any control on your daily matters is a fool.jehovah's witnesses only answer to an organization!.
"we do not dedicate ourselves to a religion, nor to a man, nor to an organization.
no, we dedicate ourselves to the supreme sovereign of the universe, our creator, jehovah god himself.
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Anders Andersen
Does it really matter?
I dedicated myself to Jehovah, tried to follow Jesus, and trusted JW GB for being Jesus" brothers giving me spiritual food at the right time.
Now I know Jehovah does not exist, Jesus is dead (if he ever really existed), and JW GB are dishonest liars repeating themselves ad nauseam.
My dedication 'contract' cannot possibly be binding, because all the other relevant parties in the agreement (Jhwh,JC) do not exist, and the party that assisted in setting up the contract (JWorg) is a fraud.
So even if a baptism question was 'do you swear you will sacrifice your firstborn to Satan'....I wouldn't care anymore :-D
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CO visit; going to meeting.
by SG098 inhello everyone!just a little background info, i haven't been to a meeting in over a year.
my wife has asked me to go with her tonight to help watch our son since it's the circuit overseers visit...my wife wants to be able to pay attention and get something out of the meeting since our son is 1yr old he can be a handful some times.. a few things of note about the situation:.
- i'm going to the meeting no matter what.
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Anders Andersen
Kudos to you for showing your wife what unconditional love looks like!
Now for some bad answers:
Missed you! - Well swing by my home any day! Coffee ready!
Start coming back? - *pinch* Oh wait, my kid is crying! :-p
Wasn't that a wonderful meeting? - With Jeff and the ARC? Best meeting ever, hands down (under)!
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"Theocratic Warfare" still alive and well within Watchtower in 2016!
by ILoveTTATT2 init seems like the watchtower is still encouraging "theocratic warfare".
in the no.1 watchtower of 2016, they (ironically) printed an article on honesty.here is something they said:"lyingwhat is it?
saying something false to someone who is entitledto know the truth.
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Anders Andersen
I guess soon JW will get their own dictionary for these words and topics.
- Lying
- Neutrality
- Generation
- Humble
- Voluntary
- Increase
- Improved
- Science
- Evolution
- Love
- Child abuse
For each of these they have either stated their own definition already, or they show their own definition by their behaviour.
BTW I know dictionaries are normally in alphabetical order, but they might have their own version as well? Just pick and choose and you'll end up with Alef, Beth, Gimel, D,EA,F,.......,Omega