Rainbow_Troll

Joined

• started 20 topics
• posted 463 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Rainbow_Troll

• 
  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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  Babygirl30:

  AMEN!! Everything that my parents said I would FAIL at - I have succeeded in. EVERYTHING. And as stated above, my growth as an adult and how I've matured, the responsible lady I've become - all 'missed' because my parents believe shunning is the way to go! So much so that they have walked right by me and literally acted like I do not exist. It's really pathetic...
  

  Congrats!

  I wish I could say that. Basically everything I was warned would happen if I left the bOrg has come to pass—except for the hardcore drug use and multiple sex partners. Damn!
• 
  15

  Spiritual paradise or proverbial straitjacket?

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  noas a current or past jehovah's witness, do you / or did you feel part of a spiritual paradise with full liberty in christ as the watchtower society/organisation describes?.

  or do you / did you feel you were wearing a proverbial straitjacket in the sense you feel / felt restricted and controlled by the watchtower society / organisation?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  I felt anything but free. What could a JW concieivably be free from except independent thought?

  I never had any spiritual experiences in the context of being a JW. The last thing the elders and GB want is for any JW to experience "Christ within" or "the kingdom of God" because this undermines their authority. Someone who feels that they have a personal relationship with God doesn't need a GB, pope, or priest to lead them around by the nose.

  When I was being interrogated by the elders I mentioned that I sometimes felt the presence of God when I prayed and that I could not accept that a being of such pure and infinite love as I experienced God to be could possibly send plagues upon the Egyptians or order the genocide of the Cannanites. His reply is very telling of the whole JW mindset:

  "Why you? Why would Jehovah choose to reveal himself to you of all people? What makes you think you are so special?"

  I tried to explain to him that there was nothing special about me. That the only difference between us was that I was open to knowing God directly, while he relied upon a book and an organization. He then concluded that the only thing I was experiencing was demonic possession and the conversation ended there.

  Fortunately I was already pretty well-read by then. Experiencing a warm, loving presence during prayer is a fairly common experience that cuts across denominational barriers. Madam Guyon, George Fox, and Saint Augustine all felt it even though their beliefs were very different.
• 
  19

  Making life and death/life altering decisions based on commands from someone you're not sure exists

  by jambon1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  straight from the off, i will say that i'm 100% atheist.

  i have no faith.

  however, it occurred to me while thinking back over my involvement with the jw religion and especially when i take into account personal and family situations where people have made life altering choices due to being jw's, just how crazy it really is.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  I think that much of it is based on fear of being shunned should they accept a transfusion. How many people would choose to live if it meant never being able to see and speak to their friends or family ever again? And, considering that Armageddon is always just around the corner, why risk even the possibility of eternal life in paradise with everyone you have ever loved for the certainty of a few more lonely, miserable years or decades of life in this shitty world?

  Don't get me wrong. I think the no blood policy is one of the worst things the GB has ever done; but I understand why most JWs choose to abide by it.
• 
  26

  My Story

  by WeatherLover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm a 4th generation jw.

  i started to realize it wasn't the truth over 2 years ago in late october/early november 2014. i don't know how exactly it happened.

  i remember i had just heard about confirmation bias, and it hit me: i realized that i would be guilty of confirmation bias if i didn't look at the other side.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  All of this happened about 7 months after I was baptized.
  

  Wow! Horrible timing! But as another poster said, it's much easier to leave when you are young and not so invested in the cult. Avoid getting DFd if at all possible. I don't think the elders can actually do anything until they've established your guilt through a judicial committee, so under no circumstances should you consent to speak with them.

  I know you didn't ask for advice, but if I were you I would play a good little JW boy until I'm accepted into college; then I would leave and begin my life as a worldly person in a new town where nobody knows me yet.

  Congratulations on being gay!
• 
  70

  How do you shut your mind down so you can get a good night sleep???

  by jam in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the more i learn about jw's the harder it is.

  to sleep at night.

  the wife hit the pillow and within 5 min.. she is snoring.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  Glass of wine + 10mg of melatonin + masturbation + an audio recording of The Book of Mormon = a good night's sleep.
• 
  22

  If you had the power ....

  by Landy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ...would you choose to ban the jw religion?.

  if you wouldn't ban them what, if any, changes would you force upon them?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  Persecution only leads to even worse fanaticism.

  I have a strong dislike for most of the Abrahamic faiths (with a few notable exceptions: Anglicans, Methodists, Quakers, and Ahmdiyya Muslims), but instead of banning them, I just choose to disenfranchise them as much as possible.

  I don't do business with known Christians, Muslims, or PRACTICING jews nor would I vote for them in an election. If I owned properties, I would not rent to them and I would not want them to be my employees if I ran a business. Whenever any of them try to preach to me, I strike back with facts and reasons which prove that their particular holy book cannot be the word of God.

  I think this is about all a person can do within the limits of the U.S. Constitution and I would like to keep it that way.
• 
  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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  it's interesting to see how many JWs love, love, love to shun and hear how much people are sad and in pain for it, but hate, hate, hate when the people they shun agree with being shunned, don't want the JWs in their lives and are happier for it. That's not supposed to happen according to the JW crap they are taught.
  

  That's an interesting perspective. It never occurred to me at the time of my initial shunning that I could reverse-shun my friends. Instead, I became a clingy stalker and tried everything to get them back (other than the one thing that would have actually worked: recanting my heretical views).

  For the last 3 years I've been shunning my JW mom. To be honest I've always felt a little guilty about it, but I do it anyways because I just personally cannot stand being around her now that she's become super-JW.

  Also, I suppose I'm getting back at her for getting me informally DFd in the first place. Her tattaling made it necessary for my friends to shun me to protect themselves, so now she gets to experience being shunned by someone she loves. I hope the sweet karma of her plight isn't lost on her.

  Does this make me just as bad as the JWs? Maybe worse, since I'm not being coerced like them.
• 
  35

  "would you drink a glass of water if it had just a tiny bit of poison in it?"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  no doubt we have all heard that well used "illustration" in public talks etc over the years:.

  "if you were handed a glass of water that looked pure, but were told it has just a tiny drop of poison in it, would you drink it?".

  the society has used that illustration at length to say we should avoid all influences of every part of the world.. but, as we know, the society has had a track record of errors, false ideas and doctrines.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  "would you drink a glass of water if it had just a tiny bit of poison in it?"

  Isn't that what homeopathy is all about?
• 
  21

  Sometimes I think the WT is mocking the masses

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as in today's study.... 18 to lie is to say something untruthful.

  (as in millions now living will never die, this generation will by no means pass away, allegations of pedophile abuse of children in congregations is apostate lies) however, jehovah wants his people to go beyond not telling outright lies.

  he urged the ancient israelites: “you should be holy, because i, jehovah your god, am holy.” then he gave examples of being holy.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  Oh, they ARE mocking us. And very brazenly as well.

  I already explained in a former post how their "memorial" is really an understated black mass. Then of course there are the not-so-subliminal occult symbols to be found in their publications. They know that most of their followers are too brain dead to notice any of it; but that outsiders, especially ex-jws, WILL notice. It must be truly hilarious from their point of view.

  Forgive them not, for they know PRECISELY what they do.
• 
  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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Rainbow_Troll

  My dad had me baptized in the Church of Scotland as an infant. Consequently, my soul was already spoken for by the calvinist God long before a JW baptism would be permissible. And since I was never baptized in the JW cult, they could not legally disfellowship me. You would think that this fortuitous legal loophole would have protected me from being shunned. Not so.

  After foolishly consenting to follow the two elders into the back room so they could determine my guilt, I was shunned informally. Again, since I was not baptized and thus not DFable, they could not announce anything during a meeting; but news of my apostasy spread just as quickly through word of mouth.

  My friends (who had been aware of my apostasy all along, way before the elders or my mom caught on) stopped talking to me, but my mom (who is the only JW in my entire extended family) has always stayed in contact. Sometimes JWs from the local congregation will say hello if we meet in public and an older brother will still engage me in long theological debates which I am all too happy to humor, as they allow me to share my own knowledge with him.

  All in all, I think my shunning experience has been pretty mild compared what I have heard from others. It's rather ironic (downright baffling, really) that only those whom I was closest to actually shun me now, while JWs whom I barely know will gladly converse with me. Maybe it's because the congregation here is not the same one as that which I grew up in. They didn't actually see me "DFd", so it's not as real to them.