we just had a letter read in our cong.
informing us that the society will no longer be sending out the magazines by subscription.
the letter said that this brings the usa in line with the rest of the world.
I never minded getting a subscription as long as I wasn't being stalked by JW's but now I wont be renewing my subscription.
That's all I need.... being held hostage in my house for 2 hours while I try to explain that NO I dont want a Bible Study, dammit!
grrr....
just a funny memory...... my sister and i, once we reached pre-teen, were highly critical of almost all the congregation members.
we'd get home and mercilessly mock and make fun of elders, kids, you name it.
some of our fonder nicknames (warning: some may be weird, but we didn't get out much!
LOL too funny!!!!!
I didnt have actually names for everyone.. but I know the 'types':
We had one black elderly sister who would always sit in the very front row. Then she would proceed to fall asleep and her head would fall more and more forward.. forward.. until her forehead was almost in her lap. I swear I thought she would fall right over and onto the steps of the stage!
There was always the sister who sang horribly off-key and thought she was an opera singer...
There was always the elder with the roving eyes.. who just managed to have his eyes in the right place when I bent over to put my Bible down.. plus whenever I turned around during song his eyes were firmly planted on my ass.
The 'screamer' kids- this was the family that had 8+ kids and they all managed to scream through the whole thing. The mother or dad would drag them out many times during the meeting.
We always had the 2 or 3 elderly single regular pioneer sisters...they were severely obese and one would wear knee-high pantyhose that kept riding down her 'cankles'. Her skirts were always riding up high to reveal her vericose laced bulging thighs. *shiver*
good memories..
if i have to sit here and listen to the father reading any more experiences from the yearbook i'm gonna puke.
hes all happy cause they are such great experiences.
they hold on so desperately to hear something exciting because their own daily lives are so bleak.
LOL your post made me laugh because it is SO TRUE!!
I can remember my family getting the new Yearbook with glee and reading to us stories of how people made it through adversity (walked 15 miles to the Hall, tread through 8 inch deep manure to preach in the boondocks,etc...)
My family would sigh and praise the endurance of the Witnesses in the Yearbook and remark how we may find ourselves in such circumstances. Yeah right!!
It's their own twisted way of making the hell you have to go through actually look wonderful, in comparison. (See kids, we have a car to ride to the Hall in.. and no manure to walk in while we go in service all day!! Arent we lucky?)
i went to the kh yesterday afternoon.
i met a friend there that i haven't seen in a while.
she and her husband used to be regulars there until her husband died, then she moved back to california to live with her daughter.
me three!!
:)
Tera
whilst tidying up the ol' hard drive i came across "the purging of my soul", which i wrote as an intro to the philia group.
sounds very raw (i probably was) and thought i'd share it.... .
where do i start?
Yes, good story! Very interesting.. makes me wonder about all the MS behind the counters? ;)
So are you married or with the woman you got disfellowshipped over? How are your kids? Is your ex in the truth?
Are you still experiencing the loneliness? I hope things have gotten better for you..
Yours,
Tera
hi there... as you probably knew (not), i'm no longer a publisher.
however, my brother, even though he never was, and only 14 years old, stills clings to the borg.
or so i thought.. you see, only recently we went to a restaurant, and while me, my brother and 13 year old cousin were eating some good grub, our discussions fell upon *gasp* the jw's.
I can totally relate to what you guys are saying.
The bad thing about this is, if they 'leave' due to the fact that they want to do 'bad' things, or out of simple lack of interest, the religion WILL pull them back in if they do not replace it w/ something else, or at least learn the 'truth about the truth'.That is sooo true. Being raised in the 'truth', I didnt really know how to relate to people outside of it. When around 14, I lost interest in going to meetings but when I stopped, I had nothing else to really do. I never was allowed to participate in sports or after school activities or have 'worldly' friends, so eventually I would go back to my normal routine of meetings and service. I remember my girlfriends and I in service hoping to meet cute guys and spending most of the time driving around listening to music pretending we were on a call. *sigh*
I definately think your brother and cousin dont have much of a choice right now.. since any sign of independance will cause their parents to drag them in front of the elders for being 'weak' and they will just be stigmatized in the congregation as 'trouble'.. like I was.
Their only real chance for doing what they want is after 18, sadly.
Tera
i'm still me whether the org is a fraud or not.
its too late now to make myself into a different person.
a person is a result of their environment and the way they were brought up.
Flower,
Reading your post makes me sad because I've felt the way you've felt. I believed that when I left the meetings that I left Jehovah. I was in such turmoil over raising my son as a Witness or in the World that I made myself literally sick. I suffered from panic attacks .. you name it, I felt it. I never felt for a second though that I wasn't capable of raising my son. You see, he is a Gift from God.. and by looking at him I realize how much God does love me. My whole life I was treated like crap by my family... but I knew one day God would ease my pain. And he has. When I see how my husband and son love me unconditionally, I see how much of that love is from God too. He wants us to be loved and happy and full of peace.
Whenever I feel filled with turmoil like you do, I pray for peace and calmness in my heart. He always answers my prayer.
Remember this:
Whether you believe it is the 'truth' or not, it is not Jehovah's will for anyone to feel pain like you do!
He is a God of love.. he wants you to be surrounded with happiness and kindness. Look at your son, your blessings, your friends. They are there because Jehovah wants you to see how much he loves you.
Your name says it all.... flower. How can anything precious like a flower be bad or a mistake? Human beings are miracles in every sense of the word and not ONE is a mistake. You are precious. Maybe you werent taught that growing up, which accounts for your unhappiness?
I'll be honest with you.... you will find happy and sad people in the Hall and happy and sad people in the world. Just understand that it is up to YOU and you only how you feel.
I was a 'real witness'. I went to meetings regularly, had studies with people, service, everything. I wasnt any more happy then than I am now. Except for some reason I like myself more now. Back then I didnt feel like I was liked for me, but more for the work I did.
I still pray, still love Jehovah, and even if I am not doing things that are 100% right in His eyes, I know He will work with me. I am his child and very precious to Him. You are too. Dont forget it!
Your son needs you more than anyone. You have so much to teach him and show him that others can't. Dont forsake that wonderful gift.
email me anytime flower.. I keep you in my heart and thoughts!
Tera
why are so many of us hung up on the fact that we are disfellowshiped or disassociated .... this crazy organization that we all use to belong to is nothing more then a human board game like monopoly and these old guys (angels in the flesh) make up the rules as time goe's on, it brings chills down my back when i recall how my father would say "the faithfull and discreet slave" as if these guys are stuck away in some most holy room in bethel in the very presence of god in order to uptate his world wide organization of a new or revised rule.
being df myself means just about as much to me as the rule that who ever lands on free parking gets all the money ... all it is is a rule that a bunch of old guys (now dead) agreed on years back.
as we have seen the society has changed it's tune about a lot of stuff .... would it really surprise any of us if they decided for what ever twisted selfesh reasons to change their policys on this issue of ousting members.
Just tossin in my 2 cents:
I agree with ya. I notice some seem 'hung' up on being DF'd and sometimes it seems like we're all talking like people that got rejected out of a great Club. Far from it though.. I've never thought of myself as any type of 'reject' and have a happy life. Sometimes, though, reading other posts I go down nostalgia lane and start feeling my bitterness and anger rise up. I'm guilty of having a pity party too and venting my frustrations as well as anyone else.
What I've come away with though, is that this is a good place for people that have been through alot of the same circumstances that most people in this world would never, ever understand.. no matter how hard we tried to explain it. I know myself, I've tried to make my husband see what I went through, but I've read here in posts the EXACT way I feel. In that way, this is a wonderful support forum.
Another thing I like about it is that it keeps me informed. There are a few things I've learned in the past 2 days that I never knew about the Organization. It helps me not feel so guilty. The guilt is there sometimes due to the talks my family has with me on an almost weekly basis.
I dont like seeing people slamming others in here though.. it just feels wrong. Even if we agree to disagree, it would be better than being cruel. I understand how that could be a turn-off for some that see it... alot of us have seen enough ugliness to last a lifetime.
I enjoy getting to know you all and will continue to throw my 2 cents in when you allow me...
Note: if you want to read the funniest thread of the day, go to Witness memory #2332 by Naeblie.
It really put a smile on my face! I could use more posts like that..
:)
Tera
(cause even i like to post witness stuff at times).
* names have been changed to protect the innocent.. "tim!
get to the hall as quick as you can tonight.
LOLOLOLOLOLOL....
ok you guys, you did... I am peeing all over myself! :D
Those descriptions were so right on the mark that I have to wonder if we all went to the same congregation?!
We had Bill and the 28 yo virgin in our cong too.. except you forgot to mention that while they lived with their 99 yo mother, they were also faithful regular pioneers.. getting no less than 100 hours a month each! They NEVER EVER had children. If you ever invited them to a gathering, they would be the first ones with a Boggle game in their arms and get all giddy while they yelled out,"okay everyone, lets see how many Bible words we can find!"
Believe me, I knew them. I studied with her for over 2 boring years!
Tera
(cause even i like to post witness stuff at times).
* names have been changed to protect the innocent.. "tim!
get to the hall as quick as you can tonight.
Shitting out a shitty talk while shitting on the pot.
LMAO indeed!
