I just went over to see what was being said on the last legs of the old JWD and I found the BEST NEWS that there is now a NEW forum! I could not be happier to see this! THANK YOU SO MUCH SIMON & ANG! I only regret staying away so long, but I had to, because it tore me up knowing the days would be coming to an end and I didn't feel I could deal with the finality of it all.....and now it feels so terrific to know all those who I have come to know and love....will still be here after all! The only bright spot in my absence, is that I have made some very sweet friends (two of which have left the WTS within the last ten months after decades of servitude :o) on another forum, so I will have to let them know about this great news! Hoipefully they will join us on here. (SIGH) ....I am one happy camper tonight! hugs, Annie
Sunspot
JoinedPosts by Sunspot
-
1
I Am So TICKLED!!!!
by Sunspot ini just went over to see what was being said on the last legs of the old jwd and i found the best news that there is now a new forum!
i could not be happier to see this!
thank you so much simon & ang!
-
-
-
23
How Life Can Change
by Sunspot ini don't come by here very often any more (trying to wean myself away from this board in anticipation of when we cannot ever post any more.
in the last couple of years, and leaving this mess in jesus' hands, things have not only begun to emerge as "fixable", but have most definetely been fixed at long last.
i was invited to the youngest grandchild's (of this son) sweet 16 birthday party last summer and i teared up when i realized that this was the first birthday party of all three of these grandchildren that i had attended.. we have been invited to thanksgiving dinner ( for the fourth year) with our whole family and that of my dil's family (she is one of seven) and to spend a few days at christmas at another son's home.
-
-
Sunspot
I don't come by here very often any more (trying to wean myself away from this board in anticipation of when we cannot ever post any more) but since walking away from the WTS 1999 and some six or so years afterwards, my life was filled a series of changes and adjustments with my family. A lot of bad feelings were being dealt with because of my shunning my oldest son and I have three grandchildren that had never laid eyes on me or knew me at all except for being "the grandmother who does not have anything to do with my Dad". Living a in very small town and having my DIL's many relatives everywhere.....added to the bad rap I was forced to live with. It has been a rough road.
In the last couple of years, and leaving this mess in Jesus' hands, things have not only begun to emerge as "fixable", but have most definetely BEEN fixed at long last. I was invited to the youngest grandchild's (of this son) Sweet 16 birthday party last summer and I teared up when I realized that this was the FIRST birthday party of all three of these grandchildren that I had attended.
We have been invited to Thanksgiving dinner ( for the fourth year) with our whole family and that of my DIL's family (she is one of seven) and to spend a few days at Christmas at another son's home. We attend a huge 4th of July party with our family and everyone's friends at another son's house, and a big end-of-the-summer party that includes several of our birthdays and anniversaries etc are all celebrated together. It has been great.
The WTS rules had left this family shredded to bits. But these gatherings have done wonders to cement the gaping hole that being in the WTS had left many of us with, and no longer is there any worry about somebody showing up that will not be able to sit down and eat with the other one, blah blah blah....YOU know all those hideous WTS rules, regulations and requirements we HAD to live by to be "pleasing to God" ....They no longer apply to ANY of us any more....and what a marvellous difference this has made in bringing us closer together AS the family we should have been all the time. We have one daughter that remains a JW and has nothing at all to do with ANY of the family....even those that were never JWs, just a general blanket shutting off of them all. This does not advertise the WTS in a very good light....but that's okay.
I can deal with family members on a whole new level now, with no problem of who is worthy of my friendship or who is not. Being a JW is SO downright judgmental and mentally isolating. ALL of that is gone now and we can be COMFORTABLE with one another now....and it feels SO good to feel this way! I can say that I am more at peace with myself and everyone around me, more tolerant, more forgiving of others, and more deeply happy than I ever have been. (I still speak out about the evil WTS on the online forums though, LOL! I have ZERO tolerance for those that try to puff up the Borg.)
I buried a LOT of pain and sadness as a JW.....while waiting for "Jehovah" to fix things in the new order and while putting my life and my dreams on hold for three decades. Finding out that the WTS was a sham was also painful, but leaving that mindset and that WTS-approved ratrace was the best thing I have ever done. I never left God (as the WTS teaches) but have FOUND the Savior that had also been waiting for ME all that time. Without his hand in things, who knows where I would be today....but he IS there and I don't have to wait for him. I have SEEN, firsthand, what he has done for me! Once the way was cleared, many things took off in flight!
I just wanted to put all this down so that others who are seeing all the horrible things this cult has done in the past and IS doing at present....while making all it's absurd claims of being the "only pure religion on earth....and if they are thinking of walking away from it....that there IS a wonderful, meaningful and fulfilling life after leaving! Do not let FEAR of the WTS stand in your way. The world is NOT as awful as they tell you...and there ARE some pretty great folks EVERYWHERE you go, that won't measure your worth OR their friendship towards you, by what faith or religion you may happen to be.
I wish you ALL the best and I will be seeing many of you on other forums in the near future.
hugs,
Annie
-
-
-
Sunspot
Yes, October 11, 1999 when I sent them a copy of my letter of disassociation that listed the many reasons why my conscience would no longer allow me to remain as one of Jehovah's Witnesses after thirty years. I sent the same letter to the PO of my former congregation.
Farkel helped my with the final draft and formatting and he and others were more than instrumental in proving to me that the WTS was a farce, was never "the truth" and never had been.
I did not hear directly from WTS headquarters but I was stalked and harrassed by phone and at my door, and at my husband's place of empoyment....for weeks and weeks by the local WTS representitives who wanted to suddenly "discuss" my letter after ignoring me for several months when I became disabled. It's the Watchtower Way ya know.
Even if my letter was never read at Bethel, it felt good to make a clean break and be able to express my views to them.
hugs,
Annie
-
343
Defence of watchtower society Links
by reniaa ini thought long and hard before making this thread, that many will not agree with it but i think there needs to be balance and people to realise there are alternate viewpoints out there on many of these subjects, the ones that are most spoke about on this forum.
i was recently sent a full message containing mary's book and these links give the rebuttal to many of her points.
those that are still open-minded enough feel free to look over them even if in the end you still don't agree at least you have heard both the defence as well as the attack as they are on the internet.
-
-
Sunspot
Jeremy C said:
~~~I served at Bethel, and I now know that I was not serving God, but the interests of a publishing corporation masquerading as a Christian congregation. You don’t have to be sad. People like us are now in a unique position to help others gain their freedom.~~~
A wonderfully refreshing and honest observation from one who had been there and lived the life of a publishing operation's slave.....an observation that should be taken very seriously.
hugs,
Annie
-
78
MY PROJECT IS (FINALLY) FINISHED!
by Mary infor those of you who are interested, the project i've been working on for the last few months is finally finished.
i originally did a thread about it back in april: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/156497/1.ashx.
it seems that alot of us still have family members in the religion and have not infrequent arguments with them about some of the beliefs and practices.
-
-
Sunspot
Sorry to see you are feeling so crummy. I am sure getting these copies out to people can wait until you are much better! hugs, Annie
-
2
My Top Ten Favourite Posters I want to hear from in any 'new' forum.
by ThomasCovenant indon't want me?
no prob, i have many others to choose from, anyway;) .
.
-
-
Sunspot
There are so many funny, wonderful, insightful and compassionate posters I have conversed with over the years, and so many more that were there to offer advice when I asked questions of all types, LOL! I have had some great and very thoughtful gifts sent to me, I have had my heart broken by others as they told of their sad experiences both by PM and on the open forum, and my heart has been filled to the max when sharing their joys and successes with them. I could not possibly name them all.
Knowing ME, I will forget to mention some excellent posters, but I especially look forward to posts by Auld Soul, JWfacts and Propmin. I still fondly remember the days of Corvin, Valis, Brummie, Little Toe, Gumby and a couple of posters that never failed to make me sit here and giggle. (One had "shot" in his name and I just cannot remember his full name!) I have not seen Ian from the UK on here lately either.
Things change.
Sometimes it is for the better and (sigh) sometimes it is not.
hugs and apologies to those I missed mentioning,
Annie
Edited to add I just remembered the poster's name-it was Shotgun's posts that I always looked forward to reading.
-
19
H2O remains an option
by Marvin Shilmer inmany of old timers here migrated from a web forum known as h2o.
when that site had to close down the concerns recently raised here were raised then, by the old h2o group.
jwd was to a large extent the beneficiary of that group's migration.
-
-
Sunspot
I don't have a hard and fast recollection of when it was that I actually began to connect the dots and see through the farce that IS the WTS. I signed onto H20 in July of 1998, as a dub, and frankly I was appalled at the comments by some of those horrid apostate posters () and did my very best to stand up for and mightily defend the WTS teachings.Within months I saw that there WAS no defense that made sense, and by Oct 1999, in good conscience, I had written my DA letter to our PO and to the WTS head offices.
H20 left the internet and it was some time later that I had heard there were archives of the old posts, where I thought it would be interesting to look back at and actually SEE my progression and realization in the posts I wrote as thirty years of scales fell from my eyes. Unfortunately it seemed that a significantly large chunk of postings from that time period (July 1998-Oct 1999) were missing for one reason or another..
If anyone knows where I might find these I would be most grateful. H20 and a few key posters played such an important part in my life and helped me to be where I am today, and of course, after H20 died, the transition over to here on JWD was vital to this too.
hugs,
Annie
-
46
Good lord people!
by John Doe in[rant]yes, the board is closing.. no, the world is not ending.. no, the posters on this forum are not vanishing.
.
no, simon does not have that kind of control on mine or any of your lives.
-
-
Sunspot
Perhaps not control - but this place has been like an oasis for many. It is rightly going to be missed by many.
I just got a call from a long time poster here who broke down on the phone. She was able to get her family [mom and dad and others] out of the organization due to JWD. That is nothing to make light of to me.
Though this is but cyberspace - it is real. Many of us have shared our lives, found a healing pathway away from the injury brought by the evil religion that we have left, and found a community made of real people.
Some can just ignore the depth of what this place was - but it was important and will remain important in some ways as Simon works to maintain a DB of information, research, that is likely unequal anywhere else on the net at this point.
Jeff
Dear Jeff---my hugs for the one that called you---I was pretty shaken myself when I saw the news that JWD is closing its doors.
For anyone who care to make light of this (if John Doe's comments were said in jest then ignore this) but it IS and was a lifeline for many....now and over the years. Let's try and be a bit more sensitive to those who feel this way.
I have to leave the house now for a few hours and I don't want to leave my computer! Guaranteed I will be back on here when I return to catch up with what everyone has posted.
hugs,
Annie
-
36
Posters I'll miss the most...
by Jringe01 inthey say that with any trip the destination's not important but rather the journey itself.
during my journey out of the wts and thru my time on this site here are some of the people who have caught my attention in one way or another even though i never really interacted with them.
i posted this list on simon's thread announcing that jwd was winding down but then i thought about it and decided to start a topic because i want to make sure these people see that i'm thinking of them and that they meant something to me even though we never met.
-
-
Sunspot
There are so many new ones here that I have not gotten the chance to know----and so many old timers (posting wise ) that I have grown to love and appreciate since I joined in August 2001. We all share a common thread....and how grateful I was to find where I was understood and helped to cope with the aftermath of walking away from the WTS after 30 years.
I could not possibly sit here and list my faves....so many ARE for various reasons....and I KNOW I would leave somebody out by accident so I will trust that you know who you are and why I love you.
hugs,
Annie
-
62
Most Haunting Voices in Music
by stillajwexelder inok - so after a few threads in the last few days i started listening to some of my old music.
some artists just have voices that are hauntingly beautiful and stick with you forever.
for me - the top three are.
-
-
Sunspot
Enya was my first choice when I read the topic.....the lead singer of the old Moody Blues would be my second. "Nights In White Satin" was the best!!!