Posts by jwundubbed

30

How Many Masks Will You Wear?

by minimus in

jw
friends

there are recommendations that we should start doubling up on masks.

some have even suggested that tripling masks would even be better!

what’s your opinion of wearing numerous masks?

I have what is called MCS or Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Basically, I'm allergic to most pollutants in the air. I'm allergic to most types of smoke, but particularly all the cigarettes, e-cigs, vapes, and pot smokes and I'm most allergic to wood burn. This has been a tough year, having lived in Denver during one of the worst burn seasons on record. I have had this for decades. I have a mask that has a filter that works with chemicals which are smaller than particles. It is a stronger filter than the N95. It is expensive. The mask is 75$ and the filters are 15$ each. The particulate filters are cheaper. All of those protect against Covid.

The medical masks and gaiters and bandanas that people wear will not protect them from Covid. Never have, never will. They will mitigate the risks nominally. Wearing multiples of these masks will do nothing more than wearing one will do. They will make it harder to breath and to be understood when talking.

What would actually do some good is if people would wash their hands with soap and water more often, whenever they have the chance of catching germs from transference. That means that if you touch a surface after someone with a contagion touches that surface and the contagion is still potentially alive. The chemical process of turning soap into bubbles actually destroys Covid. So, the best thing to do is wash your hands with soap and water after touching a surface that could carry a contagion. It really is that simple. And this has been the truth of it for centuries. It is nothing new. This is how contagions spread.

What wearing a mask in public does, is to encourage people to be considerate of others and to take precautions. When someone wears a mask you don't know if they are contagious and you are more likely to wash your hands after being near them and you are more likely to keep your distance from them. We have been conditioned for these behaviors for decades. So, again, it isn't anything new.

If everyone wears a mask, then people will take precautions around people they don't know, and who could be infectious. That is the most we need to do. Because Covid is a virus. It is the same as other viruses we have been around. We all learned how to live with HIV/Aids. We all learned how to live with other viruses. And we will learn to live with Covid.

Quite frankly, the US is way behind other countries when it comes to taking precautions against infections. You see it in TV shows and movies from other cultures. Because of this, people are being stupid. They are getting riled up with fear because they don't know what they should already know about sickness. Nothing we are learning right now is new. Not one bit of it. If you want to know what to do, educate yourself on what sickness is, how it works, and how to mitigate the risks. Stop acting like it is a conspiracy because you are being asked to do things you should have been doing anyway. And be smart enough to know when what you are being asked to do is stupid and being encouraged by morons. Yes, even governments can feed into fearmongering and get stupid.

Everything in moderation.

20

Are faders like me just cowards? Should I show my face?

by Witness 007 in

i feel bad i just faded away and did not "come out" as an apostate hater.

my mum died refusing blood and still i hang back my wife still has witness friends and goes to the memorial every year..

jwundubbed

What is cowardly about not giving them power over you? Revoking their power actually takes courage. You aren't slinking away. You are choosing your way out. The way that works best for you. Allowing them to guilt you into doing what isn't right for you would be the cowardly way.

When people define heroism they say it is doing something even though you are scared. You are clearly scared and yet you taking action in your own way, anyway. That is what courage is. Don't let a cult tell you what is courageous and what is cowardly. They don't know one from the other.

26

Wife told me a tale about a letter writing experience and my BS meter was like "uhhh ya rightttttt"

by goingthruthemotions in

so me and my pimi wife are driving today and normally we don't talk anything about her stupid cult.

because it will end up with me saying something and her getting p.o'ed.

well anyways i have been trying to just ignore the bs and keep my mouth shut.

jwundubbed

Well, to be honest, that is one of the ways that JWs draw people in. They call on, send letters to, and visit people who are at risk. They draw in the lonely and people who need help. I saw this happen all the time. It is very possible that an elderly woman received such a letter and carried it in her purse. It is highly unlikely that the person who helped her was the same person who sent her the letter. The JWs often inflect truths with non-truths. That is part of the indoctrination. But it is also true that regular people who are in the cult lie for attention. Seen it and did it all the time. They are harmless white lies in and of themselves. People in dysfunctional lives often lie, for no good reason. Children of dysfunctional adults often make stupid little lies for no good reason. You learn about this if you ever go to an AA or ACOA group. I've personally found it to be true of the JWs as well.

12

What to say? Death of an adult child.

by jwundubbed in

my father married b when both her children and his children were grown adults.

b had two children, a son d and a daughter m. my sister db, my brother rh, and myself got along well with m but not at all with d, who was a very christian person but not a jw.

my siblings and i do not have much to do with our stepmother though we are civil and we don't have any hard feelings between us.

jwundubbed

@ShotWhileTryingToEscape, @3rdgen, @jhine, @BrockTalon

I am sorry for your losses, but I'm grateful that you are willing to share your experiences. Thank you so much. It has been very helpful to me. I've never been able to have children so I can only imagine what that loss is like.

12

What to say? Death of an adult child.

by jwundubbed in

my father married b when both her children and his children were grown adults.

b had two children, a son d and a daughter m. my sister db, my brother rh, and myself got along well with m but not at all with d, who was a very christian person but not a jw.

my siblings and i do not have much to do with our stepmother though we are civil and we don't have any hard feelings between us.

jwundubbed

My father married B when both her children and his children were grown adults. B had two children, a son D and a daughter M. My sister DB, my brother RH, and myself got along well with M but not at all with D, who was a very Christian person but not a JW.

My siblings and I do not have much to do with our stepmother though we are civil and we don't have any hard feelings between us. She just isn't someone we are particularly compatible with. We are distant relations and we live in different parts of the country. My dad and stepmom and all her kids and grandkids live in Pennsylvania. My siblings and I live in Missouri.

In the last week D was diagnosed with Covid and admitted to the hospital. It happened so fast but he died just a day ago. My father and stepmother were unable to be in the room with him because they are high-risk people. D's children and wife were able to be in the room but had to wear hazmat suits. My stepmother was able to watch on video and talk through an audio link. I know that losing a child is hard no matter the age of life or how it happens but I think it must have been even harder for B to be unable to be by his side.

I'm sending a sympathy card. I know the basics of what to say and that nothing will help, but I'd like to do my best not to say the wrong thing. I grew up as a JW and sometimes my instincts are incorrect in social situations.

So my question is this... to anyone who has lost a child was there anything that was said that helped you feel better? Was there anything that was said that was particularly hurtful? Do you have any advice for offering support at such a time?

6

Larry King died of COVID

by pistolpete in

the reason i familiar with larry king is because of all his wives.

king became well known for his repeat trips to the altar, marrying a total of eight times .

in the resurrection, which woman does larry get?.

jwundubbed

Larry King isn't getting into the new system.

But for the sake of conversation, lets suppose Larry is a good little JW boy. Except he isn't a good little boy. He would have been marked 7 times for getting divorced. And since he keeps doing the thing that gets him marked, he clearly isn't remorseful. He is disfellowshipped.

Lets imagine that he makes large financial contributions to his KH therefore making him immune to being marked and/or DF'd. His first marriage was annulled. So the doctrine would say that his first marriage is the only one that counts. But being that the JWs are allowed to forgo doctrine for a hefty purse... I would guess Larry would actually not be forced to marry any of his previous wives and would instead have his pick of the proverbial litter once he gets to the new system. They could still use his celebrity in the new system after all. Can you imagine the interviews he could give?!

17

The JWs don't like Chess

by mickbobcat in

i can remember when i joined the chess class in middle school.

my mother brought out an older watchtower article about how chess is a game of war.

since i left the cult in 95 i have slowly lost any connection to the cult.

jwundubbed

I was raised as a JW from birth. I also left in '95. My father played chess. I was in the chess club in middle school. I knew kids that took small magnetized travel chess boards to play on the way to and during the intermissions of conventions. There was nothing wrong with playing chess in any of the 12 congregations I attended in my youth.

We also played Risk which actually mimics war. What we didn't have that other kids did were games like Candyland (too magical) and Twister (involves bodies intertwined).

Now that you mention it, it seems very strange to me that magic and social games were more censured than games of logic and strategy, i.e. war.

Everyone I knew growing up that could afford it had a Nintendo. My younger brother had a Gameboy. My parents didn't pay attention to what games he had once he started buying them on his own. I'm guessing parents aren't much more involved now than they were back then.

23

JWs Were Right About Something

by minimus in

jw
friends

they used to say the world governments would turn on religion.

i think this part is coming true.

however they also said since jehovah’s witnesses were going to be the only religion left the governments were going to focus on the “eyeball”of jehovah, his people.

jwundubbed

just like everyone else.

Have the Witnesses ever been right on anything???

Yes.

1. Don't do something just because everyone else is doing it.

2. Don't worry about what outsiders think of you.

17

What are the Society's rules when confronting a disfellowshipped person at a funeral service?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

what are the society's rules when confronting a disfellowshipped person at a funeral service?.

are there specific rules or watchtower articles that must be followed?.

i have been to three different wakes/funerals where a disfellowshipped person attended with different results.. 1. ten years ago my first cousin passed away.

jwundubbed

My uncle, my cousin, and my grandmother (100 yrs!) all passed last year. They are all on the JW side of the family. They have been shunning me since I was about 20 years old. I found out from someone on Facebook that they had passed... months after the fact. I'm not even DF or DA. My dad and my brother are DA. My elder sister is inactive like me (we refuse to act like they have any power over us by DAing.) But we all left at about the same time and the family has been shunning all 4 of us ever since. So, I doubt we will find anything out.

My brother was diagnosed with cancer this past year (we just found out he is in remission!). My younger sister is still a JW and she was so incensed and hurt that no one had told her about it. Dude... you are shunning us. If you want to know what is going on, you can't shun us. We can't be dead to you but alive enough to tell you we are dying. Seriously.

Aparently my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time in 30 years. I doubt I will be told if she dies. I know we wouldn't be welcome at the funeral. I think it makes a difference when everyone in attendance is JW. When it is mixed there is a lot more likelihood that people will behave nicely towards DF'd folks. When just a DF shows up and the rest are JWs it is a lot easier for them to be mean.

But I also agree that it depends on people. My elder sister and I never felt it was right to be spiteful and mean to disfellowshipped people. I never treated them like they were dead to their faces. I didn't treat them like they were dead behind their back either. I just was selective about how much time and what context of activities I spent with them.

Everyone deserves to grieve for their loved ones. Having said that, it is often just better to have a personal memorial outside of the JW funeral. The funeral is used in such a morally wrong way by the JWs to advertise their religion. That isn't what a funeral should be. It should be a celebration of a life and a chance for people to grieve.

20

You have to admit if there were to be a 2nd coming of the Christ, now would be the time!

by nowwhat? in

i'm not talking about armageddon, but a chance for all mankind to "reset" and come together.

just sayin.

i know i'm going to get nailed, but that's ok. i still consider myself a christian..

jwundubbed

Why now? What because Americans are feeling it? You should get nailed for that kind of self-centered thinking. The state of the world today isn't much different than it has been in the past. Ebola at it's worse happened when there was more political conflicts happening. HIV/AIDS struck when the Cold War was still going on. If you compare recent events to other similar events in the past... you will find that the world right now isn't worse than it has ever been before. The big difference? US citizens are feeling it. I'm pretty sure God/Christ isn't American. I'm pretty sure God/Christ claims all nations on earth.. not just the most privileged nation on the planet. So until things are worse than they have ever been... everywhere, then NO it isn't a good time for that kind of ignorant remark.