Thank you Terry for sharing your story. I remember as a young girl how so many of the young brothers were sentenced to prison. My older brother quickly pioneered and then went to Bethel so that he could obtain some kind of exemption, another one of my brothers was sentenced to work in a hospital. I can remember driving to a prison one time, with one of the sisters in the hall, to toss something over the fence for her husband. I was young but it was something he wanted and wasn't allowed to have. My point is that there were so many young men sentenced to prison then and even at a young age, I remember them coming out of prison changed by the experience. Some came out all fired up for "the truth" but many others probably experienced horrors that we cannot even imagine and were never the same.
TweetieBird
JoinedPosts by TweetieBird
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59
My Life in Jehovah's Service - VERY INTERESTING STORY
by Dogpatch in" the overseer made it quite plain..
"if i can't say i have been advised not to serve in alternate service--why are you actually doing it?
i was there to serve jehovah; consequently i was doing jehovah's will.
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The truth about the donation arrangement
by Wolfgirl ini never knew this...just found it today.
made me giggle.. payment of sales tax on literatureon 17 january1990 the u.s. supreme court made a ruling that sales tax must be paid on religious literature.
the following month, a letter from the watchtower society went out to all congregations stating that there would no longer be a set price for literature but that they would be given to the public on a donation basis.
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TweetieBird
Don't forget that they instituted the donation arrangement after going to the defense of Jimmy Swaggert. When that failed they were only left with the alternative of the donation arrangement. When I found out about that little piece of hypocrisy, I was greatly disturbed.
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So, was there ever a big announcement?
by TweetieBird ini don't get to check this board too often and if it has already been discussed, i apologize.
just curious if there was ever a big announcement.
if so, can someone post the link?
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TweetieBird
Thanks, Blondie...I knew I could count on you.
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So, was there ever a big announcement?
by TweetieBird ini don't get to check this board too often and if it has already been discussed, i apologize.
just curious if there was ever a big announcement.
if so, can someone post the link?
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TweetieBird
I don't get to check this board too often and if it has already been discussed, I apologize. Just curious if there was ever a big announcement. If so, can someone post the link?
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"Leaving the Truth" The Easy Way
by metatron ini noticed that we have a lot of new lurkers here - and, in particular, some elders who are agonizing over how to get free.
from the watchtower without causing too much damage to themselves.
here are some suggestions that have worked.
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TweetieBird
We haven't been to a meeting in over a year. The elders stopped by a couple of times to see how we were, to tell us that they missed us, blah, blah, blah. Then we moved again about 20 miles away. So now they are not sure where we live. Also, when we moved we couldn't take our old phone number so they don't even have that. Life has been great. I use to dread Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, not they are just another day. What a great feeling!
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My son no longer goes to meetings
by TweetieBird ini have one son that chose to get baptized last year.
he faithfully went to all the meetings, even auxillary pioneered one month even though the rest of us stayed home and carried on with our normal life.
we never tried to discourage him, even though we hated seeing him get sucked into it.
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TweetieBird
I have one son that chose to get baptized last year. He faithfully went to all the meetings, even auxillary pioneered one month even though the rest of us stayed home and carried on with our normal life. We never tried to discourage him, even though we hated seeing him get sucked into it. Anyway, he hasn't been to a meeting for about 3 months now, just stopped going. At first we though it was because of working so much but I think it has more to do with the fact that he has a girlfriend now. I suspect that he's probaby been sleeping with her, since he stays at her house overnight sometimes. I'm so proud of him!
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Is it really that difficult to leave?
by smily inmy friend is a jw born and raised and has been disfellowshiped.he is unsure if he wants to go back or not but it seems to be such a heart wrenching decison which as a non-jw iam having alot of trouble understanding!
he still goes to meetings and seems to have alot of trouble letting go...i have met alot of his friends and he does not seem to hide me away although he is careful to only see me at certain times.. iam afraid to encourage him to leave as it seems so difficult.i know he feels he would be letting alot of people down but he already does alot he should not like drinking and sports...and seeing me?!.
is it really so difficult?.
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TweetieBird
The difficulty in leaving is due to not wanting to lose your family and friends. However, if he can develop good friends outside of the organization, he will eventually find it easier to leave. For me, it took a move to another state to finally be free, even though the relatives all think that we are still good little witnesses. As more time goes by and communication with the relatives becomes less and less (you do grow apart when not around them), I foresee a time when I will actually be able to come clean with them and tell them that it is all BS. Help your friend to make lots of new friends. He's probably been brainwashed to believe that all non-JW's are evil. Once he finds out that there are really great, kind and honest people on the outside, he may find that leaving is not all that difficult.
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Still doing Book studies before you left?
by truthsearcher ini just wondered how many of you were still doing books studies with potential converts and door to door work when you had already decided the organisation was not the truth?
how did this feel?
did you alter your approach?
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TweetieBird
My dad use to study with this guy before he actually disassociated...the guy's wife was a witness. Anyway, my dad was actually studying the truth about "the truth" with him. The guy never did become a witness. Hmm!
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Are there any former COs or DOs here?
by exwitless insorry if this has already been asked before.
i was just curious, because i think it would be really cool to have a former "big wig" jw post here.
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TweetieBird
candidlynuts, I started that thread (my old name was OrangeBlossom). As far as Maximus is concerned, he enlightened many of us to the inner workings of the society. I know personally that he was for real. Unfortunately, he took some negative hits from other posters and quit posting. Our loss! Someone else mentioned a while back that he was having health problems, I hope he is doing well.
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"I Felt Really Betrayed When I Found Out it Was all a Lie."
by scout575 in"yes i have anger.
i've been angry at christianity for years.
that doesn't mean i don't love the people who've been brainwashed though.".
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TweetieBird
I think all of us are angry at first and then I was totally disillusioned about religion, God, everything. Fortunately time does heal many wounds and now I'm at a really good place. I try to focus on the good things I learned while in the organization...for me it wasn't a bad experience. I may feel differently if I had gone through really bad stuff but I still have all of my children, none have abandoned me because of no longer believing the lie. For those of you that have lost children, grandchildren, parents or someone really close to you, my heart goes out to you.