Posts by Seeker4

26

How did you build a new life outside of the JWs?

by Sirona in

"if you leave jehovah's organisation, where will you go?".

no doubt many of us have been asked that question.

so where did you "go" when you left the jws?

Seeker4

1. How did you build up a new social structure after leaving the JW religion?

I have a lot of interests, so I found people with similar ones. I've joined a few groups online and locally. My girlfriend is very much a loner type, and I've gotten used to not always having to have social activities going on all the time, which I did as a JW. I go out of my way to meet people and spend time with them. That's my personality. I've been developing an extreme level of physical fitness through this winter, and will become active in some extreme sports this year, which should open up some new social avenues.

2. Have you made fulfilling friendships and where did you find those friends?

Yes, but I need to work on this more. I've found that there are lots of people you know and enjoy throughout your life, but you will only have a very few close friends. I lost most of those when I left the JWs. So now, I'm enjoying the people I know and meet, and searching out the few who will remain my closest friends in life. I have two right now in addition to my girlfriend - one also a faded JW whom I've know since my teens, and a guy about 20 years younger who has a similar range of interests and intellectual pursuits as me. I'm actually cultivating these friendships.

3. Do you have a spirituality now and if so, how do you compare it with the JW religion?

I'm a very happy atheist. I cultivate my spirituality, if you want to call it that, by developing an extremely close relationship with the world I live in. I spend a lot of time outdoors. I'm increasing the amount of time I spend fishing, hunting, wilderness journeying, growing my own food, swimming, biking and running through the very beautiful place in which I live - Vermont and New England as a whole. I read a lot. Certain books, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," "The Tao Te Ching," and writers as diverse as Henry Miller, Ken Wilber, Gary Snyder, Ed Abbey and Thich Nhat Hanh have all helped.

4. What is the best advice you can think of to give to someone who has recently left the JWs - in terms of how to rebuild their life?

The advice above is great: Take the time to find out who you are, what you love to do, and then find ways to do it as much as possible. You have a life, and it is your responsibility to use it to the greatest possible level of enjoyment and satisfaction that you can create. Coming to understand that you are responsible to create your own life, and that success can really only be measured by yourself and how well you've enjoyed your life, is a huge step for an ex-JW. I would advise any new ex-JW to contact and talk with those who've been out for a while, in order to get a sense of perspective. The Witnesses have such a powerful control over one's mindset, that it can take years to rid yourself of that sense of control by them. With help, you can come to see the JWs for what they truly are, and shed their control over you very quickly.

S4

41

My life - A brief history. Part 1

by Galileo in

this post has gotten quite long so i decided to break it up into at least two sections.

i hope it doesnt come across as rambling.

i should start with a confession: it was my smurf that walked out of the kingdom hall in the early 80's.

Seeker4

Galileo, welcome!

I was baptized at 11, you slacker! I'm another one of those gifted, 99-percentile JW kids who passed up college to bore myself to death starting a janitorial business.

Great story. I now make my living as a writer. Living well is the best revenge.

S4

22

"Encouraging" Emails

by Not Feeling It in

maybe you still get some "encouraging" email forwards with cute stories and anecdotes.

this one i saw really hit a nerve with me.

i think so-and-so needs to read that.

Seeker4

This probably is used by all the churches that lack a creative imagination - just substitute Baptists, Adventists, etc. for Witnesses.

How well I remember that District Overseer Dennis Raftopolis used to plagerize stuff like this from the churches mercilessly and present at the assemblies like it was his own!

Ugh. I don't miss this drivel.

S4

14

Please find this picture!!

by cultswatter in

see how the left rear hoof casts a shadow ...a shadow upon a dirt track (check out the hoof prints).

a poor horse with a broken radius (a clean break).

bethel artist(s) creaming his/her/their jeans.

Seeker4

I think I know the artist that did this drawing - Sau Ling Chain - and I think she told me that she had a hard time with this horse due to the perspective.

I'm not positive, as the conversation was years ago in her studio in the Bethel art department. It was either this painting or a similar one.

S4

43

Elders in their 20's?

by Princess Daisy Boo in

my little sister called me just now.

exciting news - stop the presses - her husband has been made an elder.

she is 27 and he is 26... is that not a little young to be an elder?

Seeker4

I was made a MS in 1972 when the elder arrangement started. I was 20 and had actually been doing the work of a Servant for a few years.

I was appointed an elder in 1978 a month after I turned 26. I became the Assembly Overseer about 5 or 6 years later.

It was and is unusual, but certainly happens.

S4

22

"Deal Buster" beliefs which prove it ISN'T the truth

by gaiagirl in

what convinced you personally that "the truth" wasn't true after all?

for me, it was several:.

the claim that humans have only been on earth for about 6000 years.. the claim that evolution has not occurred, in the face of overwhelming evidence that it has.. the claim that the bible is inspired by god..

Seeker4

It was science that convinced me as well.

In addition to the ones you listed, which were also major factors for me, were three other things:

1, The arctic ice fields, which provide essentially a year by year record like the rings on a tree, go back 160,000 years or so. Ice core samples have been taken and studied going back through that time span, and the core samples prove there was not a world wide flood 4,000 or so years ago - or ever. They also prove that the earth was never a tropical paradise under a water canopy.

2. Bones, fossils and skeletons have been uncovered going back tens of thousands of years, and they provide ample evidence that animals have been eating one another for all of that time, and didn't just start after the flood.

3. The eyes, feathers, bones, and even the facial shape and ability to handle huge G-forces in raptors like owls and falcons are all highly developed for one thing - finding and killing prey. All of those things would be unnecessary for an animal designed to eat berries!

There are about 1000 other examples like that.

S4

47

Did You Find Many JWs As Being Not Very Intelligent?

by minimus in

jw
friends

were most witnesses very intelligent, in your honest opinion?

Seeker4

You make a good point Pionsp... JWs are only a foot off the ground and think they are on a mountaintop.

Let me illustrate this another way. The JWs think they have this great body of Truth and Knowledge. It's vast, covering the whole earth, as it were. Why? Well, in their minds they have an answer to everything. EVERYTHING. The KNOW how all problems will be solved, what the future for humanity and the Earth is, etc.

BUT, in actuality, their huge Ocean of Truth is only an inch deep. Sure they've got an "answer" to everything, but it's the shallowest of responses.

Their body of truth is broad as it were, yet it's incredibly shallow. IT'S ALL SURFACE AND NO DEPTH!!

Their "ocean of knowledge" turns out to just be a big puddle. Once you step back from the JW-mindset, you can see that very plainly.

49

found in the ASPEN TIMES...Editorial

by hillbilly in

jw
friends

in election 2008, dont forget angry white man.

gary hubbell.

february 9, 2008. .

Seeker4

Thanks for posting this, Interesting.

I identify about 75% with AWG.

I can build my own house, change my own oil, or a motor for that matter. I hunt deer and turkey, and I keep my guns with plenty of ammo. I'm in a wilderness search and rescue group, and I keep my family safe - I wouldn't have drowned in my attic in New Orleans.

The other night, when my girlfriend got her car stuck during a bad snowstorm in the middle of the driveway we share with neighbors, I shoveled my driveway AND my neighbor's to get her out. Her car was safe in our garage at 1:30 am, and I didn't wake the neighbors and ask them to help. I took care of it. My responsibility. I still got up and to work later that morning.

When I see some rapper bragging about treating a woman like a piece of shit, I think what a disgrace he is to his race, black or white, or to men in general. The same about gangbangers or hoodlums of any color. But than I feel the same way about someone who would write that he "knows his wife is more emotional than rational."

I also know that our economy would collapse without the millions of hardworking aliens here - legal and illegal – and that a lot of them pay taxes and contribute in other ways to this economy.

And one final point: If we could go to Canada and make $1000 or $2000 A DAY, or better, a lot of Angry White Guys and some not so angry white guys, like me, would be slipping across our northern border to find a way to support our families and build a better life.

S4

78

JWs: Biggest Turnover Rate of Members! "Masked churn" rate of 2/3rds!!

by Seeker4 in

jw
friends

an article just out this afternoon said the following.

note especially the second paragraph about jws: .

for some groups, their relatively steady number of adherents over the years hides a remarkable amount of coming and going.

Seeker4

Warlock,

For Christ's sake, man, you took a thread about an important survey that revealed some important information about JWs that coincides with the experience of many of us, and hi-jacked it into a blathering on and on about your not very insightful take on polls.

When scientists take water samples or soil samples, do they drain the goddamn river or dig up the entire landscape to measure every molecule of soil??? Of course not! And guess what, we understand that. We also understand that by taking several thousand samples, they get a VERY accurate picture of the soil or water conditions.

If you were saying something new or important about polls and surveys, I wouldn't mind, but hell, man, it's 2008 and we've all heard about a few thousand poll results at this point in our lives! We understand how they work, trust me. So WTF if this only applies to 95% of Witnesses/ex-Witnesses? It verifies what many of us have thought for a long time. Sorry the pollsters missed talking to you and your family, but I really don't think it matters!

No offense meant, but how about dealing with the substance of the poll. If you think it's wrong, let's hear a good reason why.

S4

10

Anyone get disfellowshipped for voting?

by Olin Moyles Ghost in

according to a questions from readers in the 11/1/1999 wt, voting in political elections is technically a matter of conscience.

of course, the article lays out numerous reasons why "mature christians" would choose not to vote.

nonetheless, the article concludes that it is up to an individual's conscience.

Seeker4

I have a friend who was disfellowshipped for joining the Republican party.

He probably would have been OK if he'd decided to become a Democrat...

S4