Posts by problemaddict

18

We're both out 2 years now- crossroads

by LittleMac in

jw
friends

this is a personal post, so be warned!

this is what leads me to post today.

during our first year out together, we had so much to share and to have in common, the enemy of the organization now, birthday parties galore, going out and making friends with people.

problemaddict

Hey Mac,

Why not propose a do over? What connected you both was your relationship to a high control group. That contains alot of challenges. But you both got out together. Still, so late in life, it can be hard to change the pathways in your mind that have been set for so long. Sometimes without those checks that have been in place for so long, people just kind of go buck wild.

Why not have a real discussion about where you are going to go. I mean there are only two roads. Divorce, and work that out so your kids and you both can have an unconfusing life going forward, or you she can come back, treat each other like new, have some conversations and try to start over.

Just a thought.

73

New Member...

by sosoconfused in

jw
friends

hello everyone, just wanted to say hi and introduce myself.. i am a mid 30's just stepped aside elder, who just couldn't handle it anymore.. i am a 3rd generation born-in and former pioneer and bethelite.

it has been a log somewhat confusing ride for me, but i am finally settling in to realizing that i need to really look at what me and my family are doing.. .

its funny though what really got me here... it wasn't the 40 year old men telling me they were looking at boobies on the computer and hoping not to get in trouble, it wasn't the watching young people bail left and right, it wasn't the ever changing new light etc... but a simple thought.. .

problemaddict

Welcome,

Most of the elders I knew that were worth a dime, ended up not remaining elders. As a well meaning MS, pioneer, need-greater, regional builder, and all around numb nut, I thought if I stood up for things I saw that were wrong i could effect change. i thought I had a "voice". Well that came crashing down.

Fortunately, it was the final straw since I had already started to wake up over the blood doctrine. The teaching of Jehovah prefering you die over accepting blood, and the communal shunning that occurs if you act with your conscience to the contrary, is the single most indefensible teaching of the faith.

Like you, I am fairly new out, and the big dogs are starting to sniff. I am fairly well known, so as it gets out there slowly that I am not going to meetings anymore, I know there will be reprocusions that I have no yet considered. We have almost identical situations with you and your wife. My wife smells the BS, but it is her only support group, her only friends, and all of her family. She just can't do it. So that is making it interesting. We will see eventually. We have a very young child, and I have made it clear that even if we don't celebrate Christmas or something (which I honestly don't care about), he will not learn that following 8 dudes in Brooklyn as though they speak for God, is what God would ever want him to do.

Hang in there. Glad to have you around.

27

JJ Abrams to direct Star Wars Episode VII

by cedars in

jw
friends

simultaneously breathing life into the two biggest sci-fi franchises?.

http://news.sky.com/story/1043186/star-wars-episode-vii-new-director-revealed.

as he boldly goes where no director has gone before, may the force be with him!.

problemaddict

As an official Star Wars nerd (my sons nursery is star wars themed completed with a "the force is strong with this one" above the crib), may I weigh in and say I am not sold on this.

As much as Lucas fumbled the first 3 episodes, his input is key because like it or love it, it is his baby. You can't screw with Star Wars too much. You stick to the same directorial style that has already worked, and keep the same vibe, but you enhance the WRITING and CASTING.

I could quite possibly direct a Star Wars if those two most important factors were already handled.

31

How do these Hard Core JW's Function?

by Zordino in

jw
friends

i am a fader and through the years i've known and spoken to jw's who live their entire life around the religion.

they live as though they speak with jesus himself!

what really got to me was the other day me and my wife had to stop by some elder's house and it was a saturday night.

problemaddict

I was always a "student" of the literature in the same way. As an adult, I realize how elementary the publications really are. They have only been dumbed down since then.

When you only know one way of being, and you have no other possibilities you are open too, it seems perfectly logical to do this.

15

My friend Stirling...

by Londo111 in

jw
friends

my friend stirling, who lives about an hour away from me, has started making some videos.. .

part 1 (his intro):.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3kzci3gb2o.

problemaddict

One piece of advise to all out there making videos. Peoples attention span is not very long. Watching 50 minutes of a guy talking about his experience, is hard to get people to do.

Consolidate your thoughts, then make the video. Get the point out, and get it out concise. Otherwise the video just seems like therapy.

I appreciate his willingness to be so candid.

38

33 %

by Theredeemer in

jw
friends

so, my mother in law who is still active went out in service with the group that had the co visit and came back with some very interesting news.

first off, she knows that we are fading and is ok with it and has some doubts herself.

anyhow, she said that the co went off track during the meeting before service and mentioned how we are now allowed to receive up to 33% of blood in a transfusion.

problemaddict

That quote is fantastic. I marked it and plan to print it out. It is just madness.

Pterist, do you have any back up for your assertion? I do not believe anything has officially changed, and this is a subject fairly close to me. I could see an "allowing" of doctors to make their decisions, to technically absolve the person getting blood of the sin involved since they are not making the decision. I love these loopholes!

Marvin has on his blog a particular form that is along these lines for children, that comes from Canada. Pretty interesting. None of this changes the fact, that the same ol same ol blood policy is still in effect.

15

Former Bethelites, please settle this argument

by Resistance is Futile in

jw
friends

i was recently talking to a friend that's a former jw, and she argued that there are just as many women that live at bethel as there are men.

admittedly, we're both slightly ignorant on the subject, since neither of us have actually lived at or even visited bethel.

i've made the assumption that there are significantly more men than women at bethel, am i correct?.

problemaddict

^^^^Forgot to mention, single women need not apply to begin with.

15

Former Bethelites, please settle this argument

by Resistance is Futile in

jw
friends

i was recently talking to a friend that's a former jw, and she argued that there are just as many women that live at bethel as there are men.

admittedly, we're both slightly ignorant on the subject, since neither of us have actually lived at or even visited bethel.

i've made the assumption that there are significantly more men than women at bethel, am i correct?.

problemaddict

Not even close. Its a total sausage fest at the headquarters. I would say 80-90 percent and that is being generous.

119

An experiment: Open House for Demons

by return of parakeet in

i feel cheated that never, not once, as a dub or as a ex-dub, did i experience the presence, manifestation, or just-things-flying-around, of demons.

not so much as a teacup levitating from its saucer.

no inexplicable cold spots.

problemaddict

The biggest debunked "demon" thing is the ole hold em down trick.

There is a perfectly reasonable scientific explanation for it. It can be very scarey and feel real, but it has nothing to do with demons. So if you are one of the people here that thinks they have been held down, please do a little research on that.

24

Just yelled at my mom today

by trujw in

sorry to post this but for some reason after a year of not talking i got drunk this morning(yeah i know no lecture) and called my mom and blew up.

i tolded her she was a false prophet and a horriable christian mother who never even came to her grandson's birth by my wife.

my words came out like a river of rage from which i never knew.

problemaddict

Hey man. Reach out to your mother to apologize. You have to be the better person here. No lecture, and no judgement. Only you know what she put you through. But here you are, alive and kicking. She kept you alive and did what she thought was best. Your life maybe would have been better, maybe not. Don't hold onto that anger, and don't make your aging mother bear the brunt of what the GB is responsible for. It would be better for you to call the service desk and go off on them. Your mother is a victim as well.

No judgement. Just try to think it through, and lay off the liquid courage my man.