well a picture says a thousand words!
i had a tattoo done today.. it was actually interesting because as i was chit chatting with the tattoo artist, she asked me if this tattoo symbolized anything....well actually it does i told her.. me: i was a jw and they are strongly against tattoos or anything that is really "normal" for people.. tattoo artist: i know all about jw, my ex-girlfriend's family was all jw, and i remember one time going over to her parents house and her grandma sat us both down and made us read some scriptures from her bible as to why we were going to hell.. me: actually you will due at armageddon, that is the jw thing.. tatt artist: oh right that is what her grandma said.
i forgot about that, you're right.. so then the rest of the conversation was just me telling her it's a cult and i told her never listen to any jw who comes knocking.. something else interesting that happened just before i came on here.
I love my tattoo. I can still remember how excited I was when I decided on my design and planning it out with the artist.
Of course, I got some disapproving remarks when my JW parents saw it... I had anticipated the reaction and was able to smile sweetly and say, "Well, I'm forty-(something) years old and as I recall, I don't need your permission and didn't ask for it!"
Besides, they didn't ask their kids' permission to join a stupid cult 40 years ago that would ruin the family.
the mother who says having these two children is the biggest regret of her lifeisabella dutton, 57, says she wishes she had remained childless'i resented the time my children consumed.
like parasites, they took from me and didn't give back'.
isabella dutton would have been happier not having children.
You know what? This is the kind of thing childless people need to read before they have children. So many young women think of all the goo-goo and ga-ga cute baby stuff, without taking into consideration the enormity of the responsibility of raising children. They go into parenthood completely clueless - the baby is just another accessory that gets them attention.
While my first reaction to reading this woman's experience was horror for her children, there were parts that I could certainly relate to as well. Sadly, our society tends to label mothers as "selfish" when they try to make themselves a priority once in a while - to look after herself, her well-being, her social life, her career and expecting dads to step up and co-parent the family equally, or ideally, in a manner that empowers both parents as partners and as individuals. Nobody should have to feel resentment toward their children, and if they do, it would seem that negotiating an arrangement that allows them to take feasible steps to mitigate those feelings is in the best interests of the parent and of the children as well.
I'm kind of scratching my head though regarding this lady's admission of realizing that motherhood was a mistake for her within the first week of her firstborn's life... and then proceeding to have another child later on. At this point, she lost my sympathy because she compounded her own misery of her own volition. Martyrs get no sympathy from me, sorry.
i have never been a jw, but i have lived literally surrounded by them since i married my wife, almost 20 years ago.
since i never raised a fuss before, i guess i was also brain-washed into thnking that their religion was harmless and the leaders were well intended.. i have been reading your comments for many months and have come to realize how harmful the religion is.
your comments have been mostly about the pain inflicted by shunning, deception in the literature, and the views on higher education.
Well, I was one of the lucky ones. I was informed that I came very close to bleeding to death after childbirth, because I was led to believe that the WTS's doctrine was correct.
I was unconscious for several hours afterward, had a hemoglobin level that was barely compatible with life, had IV fluids pumped into me for a couple of days and needed an extended stay in hospital.
The severe blood loss impacted our lives afterward too - despite hourly feedings, my body wouldn't make enough milk to breastfeed my newborn. I had to stop trying after a few weeks, because I wasn't recuperating due to lack of sleep, and my newborn wasn't gaining weight.
In the years that followed, there have been numerous statistical studies on the subject, one of which was published in a medical journal where it was reported that JW women have a 65-fold risk of death during childbirth for lack of blood transfusion. That is not statistically insignificant, as the WTS would have JWs believe. (See: http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/PMC3496240/)
I have said this before and I will say it again here: If it were JW men whose lives were on the line due to obstetrical haemorrhage, this doctrine would never have materialized. The WTS has, time and time again, proved its disdain for the lives of women and children by compelling women to put their lives at risk at one of the most vulnerable times in a woman's life.
when a jw from your area dies, do you attend the visitation or funeral ?.
since i have da'ed myself, several people that i have known for years have died, and i have attended both the visitation, and or funeral.. but everytime, i have been treated like i don't even exist.
just trying to follow normal human emotions, by attending and showing my feelings to the surviving family has been alot like running into a brick wall.
I've never attended a JW funeral since leaving the JWs, and I don't think I would. Not just because of the potential for shunning, but because I would be so offended by the paltry excuse of a Memorial Service™ that spends more time pimping for the WTS than it does expressing warmth and the sense of loss for the deceased.
I'd rather send a card. That way, the person has to read the sentiments (i.e., associate with you) before seeing the name you sign the card with. You get to express your condolences, a nice memory of the person who has passed away, and sign your name in love and friendship. They can't shun it.
wow... the irony is amazing.
so here we have a cartoon about how to deal with bullying, which in itself is a positive message.
what's incredible is that it's brought to you by a religious organization that dominates your life, and requires absolute, loyal submission from its members.. if you should dare stand up and question its unique, ever-changing, brand of contradicting "christian" doctrine, then you will be labeled as "weak", "worldly", "bad association", and possibly an "apostate".
BTTT
wow... the irony is amazing.
so here we have a cartoon about how to deal with bullying, which in itself is a positive message.
what's incredible is that it's brought to you by a religious organization that dominates your life, and requires absolute, loyal submission from its members.. if you should dare stand up and question its unique, ever-changing, brand of contradicting "christian" doctrine, then you will be labeled as "weak", "worldly", "bad association", and possibly an "apostate".
I just saw this animation today. The irony didn't escape my notice. They touched on being the target of bullying because of what you believe. They identified social exclusion (i.e., shunning) as a form of bullying. They identified negative labelling (i.e., name calling) as a form of bullying.
They also state that the victim is not to blame. "It's not your fault."
Too bad they don't recognize their own culpability as an organization that not only practises bullying In the forms of social exclusion and name calling, but promotes it as a good and proper and righteous thing to do to someone who either makes a mistake in their estimation or doesn't agree wth their beliefs.
I think, if done correctly, we could use this to our advantage.
A spoof would be wonderful. Satire, parody and editorial comment are protected against copyright infringement claims.
BTW I wonder if frivolous lawsuits claiming copyright infringement is a form of bullying. LOL
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20130319_11_0_twowom831238.
It isn't "volunteering" if your Eternal Life™ on Paradise Earth™ is at stake if you don't go Door-to-Door™ in Field Service™.
One of my elderly JW relatives slipped on some ice and had a head injury while going Door-to-Door™ a few weeks ago. Got ripped a new one for missing the Meeting™ the next day due to the massive headache and goose-egg on their head. I wish something like that would have woken them up. *sigh*
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Sorry to hear that.
If you have other family members who are JWs, she may have felt compelled to 'unfriend' you in order to prevent a cascade effect by other JW family members unfriending her. The social pressure to toe the line is strong, perhaps more than your mother could stand. I'm not defending her behaviour, just trying to look at the situation through her eyes. She may think that all of her JW friends can see what you "Like" and panicked, believing that her stance regarding The Truth™ would come into question if she didn't react as she did.
I understand your feelings too - it's good that there's some physical distance between you that prevents easy access to your wife and children. When your JW parent show such disrespect for you, she doesn't deserve access to your children on any level. Period. I'd have a conversation with your wife about making any updates or pictures of your family that either of you post on Facebook be blocked from your mother's view via the privacy settings. Any JW who has ever snubbed me or creeped me on FB in order to access mutual non-JW friends gets blocked.
larsinger thinks we are.
i have to answer this because it makes my blood boil.
this is one of the key things that trapped me in a religion for the first 30 years of my life.. we were told the archaeologists have found ur of the chaldeans, babylon, nineveh and evidence for the existence of the hittites.therefore the other things in the bible must be true.. archaeologsts have also found troy in modern day turkey.
im not afraid of it, it just bores me to death
so giving your fertilized egg to a surrogate is pornia.
By the way, the WTS has always had a hate on for Artificial Insemination. As early as March (?) 1993, they expanded their hate of reproductive technology to IVF and the use of donor eggs and surrogacy, even though the practice of surrogacy was not only practiced, but permitted in Bible times (Abraham & Hagar, for example), and you could make the argument that Mary was merely a human surrogate for Jehovah in order for Jesus to be born. Never mind the fact that Mary was already betrothed to Joseph when she became pregnant, which was considered adultery at the time and was punishable by stoning.
How convenient for Jehovah that he was a spirit and unable to be tried in a court based on his own laws.
