Posts by scratchme1010

43

Which Things Did Your Overzealous Parents Ban?

by pale.emperor in

we all know the gb like to impose rules upon the rules... but did anyone else out there have parents that implemented rules upon those rules?

mine did.

my mum tended to copy whatever the elders wives were doing and took it to the extreme.

scratchme1010

...did anyone else out there have parents that implemented rules upon those rules?

Yes, the list of things that were banned in my family is too long. I can actually provide the stupidest things that my weirdo born-again father banned.

Vitamins - He said that Jehovah will keep us healthy and the new order is around the corner anyway
Exercise - He said that house to house preaching is plenty of exercise
Bicycles, skates and skateboards - No reason given
Attending congregation social gatherings - This was more over his political fight with the other moron, equally abusive elders in that congregation who were doing the same shit to their children.

My mother forbid pretty much everything she didn't like hearing about. She used the Jehovah crap as an excuse to be a controlling bitch.

15

Making real friends

by KindEyes in

jw
friends

hiya, firstly i’m new to this website, so sorry if this topic has been covered before.

i have been out of “the truth” for almost one year.

i live with my non-witness mother, have an amazing boyfriend, work and am in college.

scratchme1010

Welcome, KindEyes. I'm glad that you are doing well, and have the support of your mom and boyfriend.

College is a great place to make friends. There are plenty of extracurricular activities that now you can get involved in to share with others, lay back and just enjoy. Friendships will follow.

I was born in, and at first I was afraid an awkward in social situations outside of the dysfunctional socializing I learned from the JWs (see here for details). I learned to just relax and not come across as awkward, anxious or too forward. Fake it until you make it. Always careful with who you let in your life.

The WT is a very socially isolating organization, so at leas in my experience, I needed to learn to be more social.

31

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

by UnshackleTheChains in

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.

scratchme1010

So what is your experience?

As a JW it was very isolating. There were social gatherings in the congregations I went to, but they were stupid, boring, full of people I can't stand, talking all kinds of crap I don't care for, and looking for any way to assassinate somebody's character just for fun.

Then after, there were whispers and all kinds of comments about who said what, what this person said, did, what some people were wearing, blah blah blah.

It was just a waste of time.

In the last congregation I attended, the whole thing became very segregated by social status and culture. It was disgusting.

In fact, those gatherings played a role in my decision to fade.

19

Satan in Heaven

by pleaseresearch in

this has always baffled me.

that is why was satan and his demons allowed to be in heaven for so long after they split from god?.

if we did that then we are out of the congregation, members are shunned and also kicked out of families homes.

scratchme1010

The whole thing is a made up story. There's no Satan, there's no Jehovah.

36

What phobias do you have?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

so this is just a general question.

call it curiosity.. what sort of phobias do we have?

heights?

scratchme1010

Cars. I control my phobia to moving cars (have to, living in cities most of my life). I still am extra careful crossing streets, though.

102

If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

by venus in

many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

scratchme1010

Many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of God by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

Here we go again with people treating atheism as if it's another religion. Right off the bat, you're wrong. I for once, as well as many others, didn't "jump into" anything simply because I believe that the Bible is a completely useless book full of bullshit. BTW, believing in God and believing in the bible are not the same thing.

In either camp, God is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents God, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without God). It is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake. Mathematics exists whether mathematics teachers understand it or not.

That is just so badly reasoned at so many levels! I could go on and on and on over that nonsense salad you just tossed at this forum, but I think that a good start is to simply Google the term "faulty logic". Another good term to research is "simplistic reasoning". Start with those and then take a look at your post again.

9

Watchtower Organizational Structure

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

does anyone know of any diagrams online that show the current hierarchical structure of the watchtower compared to the previous hierarchical structures of the past.

i know they have complicated it on purpose to try to protect themselves legally from lawsuits.

i would like to try to understand their current structure compared with the past.

scratchme1010

That picture pretty much sums it up. Accurate.

11

Those of you who can explain mathematical concepts, please reply.

by compound complex in

jw
friends

i know who you are; you posted, rather eloquently, on venus' thread regarding a teacher making a mistake in mathematics.. my brain is not wired to explain concepts that come to you naturally.

certainly, it is a combination of both your innate ability as well as training in a field in which you excel.

my question centers on those of us who did well in mathematics but cannot explain what we are doing.

scratchme1010

I'm going to generalize, when I taught something like differential equations, matrix analysis or complex numbers, the issues with explaining and transmitting knowledge in a way that flows is hindered (at times) when the students lack or barely understand the foundation for whatever concept you are teaching.

Math concepts are progressive and incremental, meaning that lacking a basic skill or concept harms understanding the next. Many times it's not what/how you are explaining, is making the assumption that the foundation to understand a given concept is there when sometimes it's not.

In Engineering school I had a lot of professors who were great Engineers but horrible teachers. The number one issue that I had with them was them not knowing how to review or introduce a given concept.

When you teach art, many times you have to introduce some context to understand a concept. The same applies to math, only that the context is something that is supposed to have been learned and practiced; it's more implicit.

They way I used to explain math when I taught it was showing some practical application when I could find it (There were many things that were more applicable to developing the analytical skills, not directly applicable knowledge per se). As I explain a concept, I give an example, show step by step how to arrive to the solution, explaining in each step what is needed to know from previous math material. And then repeat, repeat, repeat. I give a few classroom practice exercises and discuss them, them leave them on their own and hope I gave a good class.

93

Higher Education

by Brian J in

just spent 8 hours in a 1 day elders school last weekend.

clarification given: "moving forward any elder, ms, or pioneer who themselves or someone under their roof enrolls in higher education, may no longer qualify for privileges in the congregation.

their qualifications will have to be reviewed by their boe.".

scratchme1010

This is a frekin joke right? The grape juice keeps getting more purple.

Not only it's not a joke, the most pathetic part of the whole thing is that that's what they call progress. Before it was "no, no , no". Now that added a "maybe". In their minds they are being flexible.

Here's their most pathetic joke about it: That's how they expect to make money from their people.

28

Should I stay or should I go?

by BlackWolf in

jw
friends

hello everyone, i haven't posted anything on here for a while and today i just really felt like i needed to get my thoughts together.

(if you don't know me please read some of my previous posts).

so pretty much not much has changed in my life, i'm still living with my parents and going to all the meetings and service.

scratchme1010

Hello, and good to hear from you. I remember your previous posts. I don't like giving advise since I know that I may not know all the details, but something that I notice in your post is that it makes several statements about what your parents think immobilizing you from taking action. Though you want to be respectful to your parents, you cannot make good decisions for yourself always considering what they think. If they want to force you to remain JW, obviously they are not thinking about what is bet for you, as much as the JW thing works for them.

Removing from your parents may help you feel less depressed. If your situation with your non-JW aunt helps you feel less depressed, it sounds like a good option. Nothing worse than looking for work while under pressure and depressed.

Whatever your parents make of your move, if they don't believe it when you tell then what your reasons are, and if they take the position of accusing family of manipulating you, that's their issue, their nonsense, and any action they take over their misinterpretation of the facts is their responsibility, not yours.

Try staying with your aunt for a week, a month or some time (if possible). You can get a better sense of what that move will look like to you, and if you feel that it may work for you to be there in a longer term, then make the move. Just in case, make sure that when/if you move with your aunt, you have a very good grasp of what living with her is.

I hope this helps.