pometerre21

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Posts by pometerre21

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  76

  In one sentence, can you pinpoint a single event that woke you up?

  by Brian J in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my turning point: serving on a child abuse judicial case.

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  pometerre21

  Mentally, it was when the $4,000 fine article from the San Diego Reader popped up on my news feed and I started investigation the child abuse that this religion was responsible for covering up.

  Emotionally, a couple of weeks after the above, I watched a video on the vestigial traits that humans have because of evolution. There was one that talked about how our ears have muscles that cause them to "perk up" or move at a sudden sound. I have always wondered about this because my ears do it. I would ask other people I knew well if their ears did this; I thought it was strange. Come to find out that there is no other reason our ears do this other than we descended from a species for which this was necessary during their hunting days. I wanted to cry when I saw that video. It seems like such a small thing, but it was such a simple, sensical answer to this tiny thing I had wondered about myself.
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  51

  Please Switch Off Your Critical Thinking

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have an uneasy feeling inside that something is coming this year or the next.

  perhaps a new big announcement that turns jwdom on it's head.. we've seen the statement in the watchtower november 15th, 2013 which said:.

  watchtower november 15th, 2013 - page 20, paragraph 17.. .

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  pometerre21

  Even when I was still mentally in, whenever they would spew this whole "obey us whether it made sense or not" I would automatically think of Jonestown. Honestly, though, I don't think it would be that crazy. This is a company after all; they're more interested in making money than killing followers if things go south for them.

  I also think straight up tithing is a little too obvious. @SummerAngel said they might start charging for certain things, which I think might be a little more realistic. Maybe start charging for a JW Broadcast subscription or the new releases at the convention. You know that little box that pops up on the app for the Convention Releases? The one that says "Have you attended the 2017 convention yet?" They could put a charge on those maybe.

  Due to New Light on overlapping generations, maybe they'll come up with another 1975-like situation. That overlapping generation has to die out sometime, so whether they realize it or not, they are most definitely setting a date for Armageddon. Maybe they might publish when that year is? Like the overlapping generation has to die out by 2080 or something.
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  10

  monthly broadcast "serving while raising a family"

  by road to nowhere in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  don't know if this a belief or scandal.

  did you get the guy who had raised his family while serving?

  it didn't say how he or his wife became witnesses, but;;;;;; he is a doctor, was invited to be a doc for the wt, sold out his home (at loss ((i bety)), moved, but you can be sure he didn't get a room at bethel.

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  pometerre21

  Yup. The JWs that preach to younger ones about not going to college are all middle to older aged ones that grew up in a time where a high school diploma might have been enough to get you in to a steady job. I can't tell you how many times I have seen this. I know particularly one sister that got into an excellent government job with just a HS diploma and now she makes upwards of $80,000 a year. So of course because she did it without college, all the younger JWs can do it without college...never mind that her job description now requires a college degree.

  Whenever I see those "____ Explains His Faith" I want to scream, because they are glorifying educated ones, but refuse to have their own young ones be educated. But when they need someone's convoluted "expert testimony" they'll go through the R&F to find someone who's educated to stock the bill for them. How can they villainize higher ed to young ones and then call for "expert testimony" from people who went through years and years of higher ed??
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  20

  What is attractive?

  by Freedom rocks in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  has anyone found that since leaving the borg that their tastes have changed in what they find attractive in the opposite sex?

  beards, long hair, tattoo's, etc).

  i don't now if it's just my taste changing as i get older or if it's coz beards were frowned upon by the society that i find them attractive now and didn't when i was younger 😊.

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  pometerre21

  I always was attracted to guys with tattoos on their arms or shoulders or back even when I was PIMI. Now I'm also attracted to guys with well-manicured beards.
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  15

  The Red Headed League

  by dropoffyourkeylee in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am sitting here watching my pioneering wife get service time ‘writing letters’ to not-at-homes.

  she has a long list of names and addressees where the jws in field service never got anyone home.

  the letter is simply a word for word copy, handwritten on note paper, then sent in the usmail.

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  pometerre21

  I welcomed letter writing when I was PIMI because it didn't involve disturbing people on a Saturday when they were enjoying much needed rest and relaxation from a work week. I agree that letter writing is a colossal waste of time, but even now that I am PIMO I would prefer it over door to door. I don't think I've ever heard of an experience where someone was converted to JWs because of a letter. I've been reading Conan Doyle lately but I haven't gotten to that story. I'll be thinking of your point now when I read it though .
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  7

  hijabs

  by road to nowhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the news had macy's or some higher end store showing hijabs.

  i made the mistake of showing wife.

  her only comment was it was about time they made some modest clothing.

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  pometerre21

  I know an elder who used muslim girls as an example to young JW girls. He was like, if those girls could wear hijabs and burqas in hot weather for their religion and their god, why can't you (speaking to a JW girl) dress modestly for Jehovah? After all, you have the only true religion anyway.
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  46

  What Makes Someone Become a JW?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my excuse is that i was born in the religion.

  but if someone wasn’t, why would they become one?.

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  pometerre21

  I’m really curious about this too. Especially since when I express any doubt PIMIs tell me that educated people (scientists, doctors, lawyers, professors) are coming into the Truth, so therefore it must be true.

  Any thoughts on this?
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  31

  Do you (or did you) have much of a social life as a Jehovahs Witness.

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i ask this question out of interest, because as a jehovahs witness for some 26 years, i have always felt that there is an 'all work, no play' culture within the organisation.

  the organisation doesn't promote social gatherings.

  i could count on one hand each year how many get togethers we have had.

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  pometerre21

  I have basically no social life. And the worst part of it is that I’m made to feel guilty. It’s my fault that I don’t have friends within the organization. I have a lot of academic and intellectual interests, which needless to say do not line up with most JW interests. I’m always the one that has to change in order to “have friends” and I’m constantly being told that all that matters is that we have the Truth in common. Or that I should just be content to have friends in their 40s and 50s. Or I’m told that we do not want to partake in the “world’s” version of fun (which I get, to an extent).

  So yeah, no social life. Sorry if it sounded like I was whining.
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  2

  The Opinion From the Appellate Court Regarding the Padron Case

  by pometerre21 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  thought i would post the link to the actual opinion regarding watchtower's refusal to release documents:.

  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4214443-padron-appeal-opinion.html.

  i sat reading all thirty-nine pages and it made me sick afterwards.

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  pometerre21

  Thought I would post the link to the actual opinion regarding Watchtower's refusal to release documents:

  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4214443-Padron-Appeal-Opinion.html
  

  I sat reading all thirty-nine pages and it made me sick afterwards. They are the ones bringing reproach on Jehovah's name by acting like this. To be called "recalcitrant," "obstinate," and to be accused of using "specious" arguments should be disgraceful to an organization claiming to have the Truth.

  I'm not versed in the law. If they have been given the freedom to redact information and have entered into confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements, what would be the implications of turning over these documents? I don't get the reasoning behind this other than that there has to be something to hide.
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  37

  My Cognitive Dissonance is Eating Me Alive (Intro Post)

  by pometerre21 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking here for a couple of weeks now.

  i'm starting to "awaken" and it is all that has been occupying my mind.

  i've always, always had doubts, some of which i expressed to family members who always had the same replies:.

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  pometerre21

  just wanted to touch on your concern for your family if you were to leave. Many here can certainly relate, and you'll find that folks have different ways of dealing with that. Some are PIMO (physically in, mentally out), some have faded and managed to be careful enough not to get DF'd while others simply walked away. Some have disassociated themselves officially, turning in a letter to that effect and some have just let the apostate accusations run their course, recording their judicial committee for all the world to see on YouTube.

  Where you go from here is up to you but I would suggest that it's quite an unhealthy way of life to stick with it while being in full knowledge of the wickedness of the organization. Even for the sake of family, it will be stressful and tremendously weighty, dragging you down until you can loose yourself from the seven men on Kings Drive (Tuxedo Park, New York, disingenuously referred to as Warwick)

  It is incredibly stressful. I can't eat or sleep anymore. I've become so disillusioned. I don't know how to do it. To fake it now that I know what I know (and I'm nowhere near being finished in research). I don't know how to live my life now. I still live at home; I'm still young (I'm in my twenties). I want to be able to be free to do normal things, and have normal friendships and relationships, but I feel sick because I know I will eventually lose my family. What if I want to get married to a non-JW? They won't be at my wedding.

  What Phoebe said is so true. Once the bell is rung, you can't unring it.

  But thank you all for your support thus far. I didn't expect an intro post to get so many replies!