Posts by Gojira

42

I am new here and need help...or just a listening ear

by Fallingaway in

my husband and i have two small children, one of which recently became an unbaptised publisher and joined the school.

my husband is an elder and firmly committed to our family and loves me deeply as i love him.

i would like to find a way for all of us to fade away as we have family in the organization that we do not want to lose.

Gojira_101

Dear Falling away. My heart and prayers go out to you and your family. I have recently started researching my "nagging questions" and 3 months ago I decided to stop turning in service time. I'm truly sorry about the hardships you have been going through in your life as a JW. It is stories like these that have always made me question the "love" because what you have experienced is not love. I think you are at the point I was at 3 months ago. You are having the internal conflict that I had and still have. One thing that has helped me....read the bible and prayer....and to use a line from the WT. "Apostates tell half truths and lies", so if you are finding things that are half truth and lies being taught by the WT...then what are they?" I know that is very judgemental on my part, but even just simplely think about this....The truth on ANYTHING will always stand...no matter what lies are said about truth, it will stand. But the lies on the otherhand, lies will crumble and fall under the truth. The only truth out there is the bible. I understand with how you are with your husband. I had to and still have to do the same thing with mine. Tell him things in small amounts. We both have stopped going and in the beginning, I had to do it in small doses with him beause he would physically become sick. Research the WT history "outside" of the WT. Whatever you and your family decide to do, stay or leave, don't ever just blindly follow the WT, because there have been so many times I have heard them go against the bible and Jah and they think it's okay. What does the bible say about lying...is not Satan called the father of the lie? Or I can't remember the exact wording but something about there is no untruth found in God....why would Jah support someone who is lying? Most JW don't realize this the first sin was based on a lie. Satan lied to Eve and look what happened. So why would Jah "back" anything that is a lie? That is why Jah hates lying so much. Your aunt is right, this is a cult and once your eyes are open to that and/or you leave. You can see it. I'm not bitter towards the fellow JW's, I'm very sad by what the common publisher goes through. I'm bitter towards the fact of the mind control and fear the organization has put me through. Once you are in, you can't leave without losing something. Just last week my grandmother told my aunt that we are inactive and my parents and I have been labeled apostate and my aunt forbid my grandmother from talking to me and my mom. We are labeled apostates and now our mutual friends won't even listen to us to say we are not and all we really are is inactive. Also remember too, Jesus said you cannot hate your fellowman or brother and love God....(I'm probably wrong on the wording on that one too), there is hate among the JW, my aunt proves it and from what you said in your story to on how the "friends" treated you. If you want you can sent me a private message and since I'm still researching and trying to deal with the fear of leaving (yes even after 3months, I still have moments where I think I'm going to die and have fear of the ogranization, the organization, not fear of God, which there is something wrong with that, I know that, but then I pick up the bible and just start reading and there is something to bring me back in line with Jah's thinking and not the organizations thinking), so maybe we can help each other and with the experience with my husband, I had to take it very slow with him. As a side comment, I've come to realize that the PTSD my husband has, it's all but gone now since we have left and whenever he thinks we are going back to the JW's he starts having PTSD symtoms again and I have to tell he over and over, that we don't have to go back...So now I understand where his PTSD is from. Welcome to the board and I hope the wonderful folks on here can help you. I will be praying for you and your family. I know how hard this is. Jah bless you and your efforts.

24

Life after WT????

by Gojira_101 in

jw
friends

i'm just curious how many of the wonderful people on here have gone to another religion?.

i recently left the wtb$ and the non-jw friends of mine are all inviting me to their church.

i politely decline the invite saying i'm not ready.

Gojira_101

Thank you for the comments. I'm not really looking to any religion because what more can they teach me. I've been reading the bible and just making sure in my own mind what the bible says. Being on here has helped a lot for my healing. I keep trying to get my husband to start posting on here because he has a lot of things the WT did to him and he needs to start healing. I know he needs time too.

I know one thing, since leaving the WTBT$ we both haven't had the fear like before. It feels so great to be free.

24

Life after WT????

by Gojira_101 in

jw
friends

i'm just curious how many of the wonderful people on here have gone to another religion?.

i recently left the wtb$ and the non-jw friends of mine are all inviting me to their church.

i politely decline the invite saying i'm not ready.

Gojira_101

I'm just curious how many of the wonderful people on here have gone to another religion?

I recently left the WTB$ and the non-JW friends of mine are all inviting me to their church. I politely decline the invite saying I'm not ready. But honestly the reason is because I've been in the JW cult for almost 30 years and I don't see any religion on earth that is teaching "truth" per say. I also don't trust any other religion to not lie to me. I just left one controling religion and I'm not running to another one. I hope that makes sense.

I'm just curious how many other people on here have this same feeling or if they were able to find a church? Or did the JW's ruin you for life from trusting any other religion?

Peace!

152

How Long has it Been since you Last Attended Meetings and What Caused...

by flipper in

jw
friends

..... you to stop attending ?

injustices ?

disagree with the teachings ?

Gojira_101

I was born and raised a JW. I've had a health problem with going into the KH because of all the perfumes...etc, so I made sure to listen in on the phone line and make sure I left mags in the laundry mat so I could count an hour each month. So I've been doing that for the last 6ish years and being isolated has helped me to open my mind to the things going on and all of the questions I always had about the beliefs became stronger. And 3 months ago My husband and I decided that was it. We tried listening to an MS friend of mines talk and I was so mad because his talk was on why we can trust 1914 and 607....I was ranting the whole time during the talk (nice thing about listening at home, you can openly ask your mate...did you hear that BS? or you can rant). That was the last time, I couldn't stomach it. That was end of Oct I think.

My husband and I are both so much happier now, even though I'm still dealing with some of my family shunning me. Oh well, I knew it was coming. I actually think it's funny because of how much hate they have for me and all I am is "inactive" although not officially inactive, I'm still just irregular and they are already calling me an apostate. LOL.

Since we have left my husband's PTSD with the JW's is almost all but gone now and he doesn't have the stress like before and myself. I don't have the deep down to the core tiredness I always had.

We both feel great.

I forgot, what caused it for me was my parents telling me to check out JWfacts....etc. and the final straw for me was seeing all the satanic images in the lit. For my husband it was the most recent thing about not even using the bible in service, just use your phone and type in a question on JW.org to have the householder questions answered by the WT.

43

Anyone here who is still a Jehovahs Witness and havent given up yet, Please answer me!

by Vienna Angelika in

jw
friends

i am wanting to connect to current jws who are going through a tough time and are going through a similar time as me.

not any jw haters, just balanced concerned jws who havent quite given up yet..

Gojira_101

Hi Vienna,

I don't think there are to many haters on here...plus if there are, they are easy to see by their comments. I guess I'm still considered in, but haven't reported any service time for 3 months...It's hard because I was just going to go inactive so I could still talk to my family and now my aunt found out I haven't been in service for 3 months and right away I was accused of apostacy and she has forbidden me from talking to my grandmother and now it's spreading among my JW friends and they won't even talk to me now so I can tell them it's not true. I don't hate them, I actually feel bad for them that they are so afraid of me because "I'm an evil apostate" when it's not even true. I have my doubts and I have learned things about the JW history, but I've kept those things to myself and I haven't been spreading it around.

I understand your doubts and all I can say is read your bible, and also get a few other translations too just to compare, and keep your eyes open and if something goes against what things should be, goes against the bible, question it. The "truth" about anything will stand up against the lies, but the lies will crumble away. There are things the JW's teach that are lies and they will crumble away because the BIBLE will always stand against the lies.

I hope and pray you can find your way and most important ask Jehovah for guidence and to see what HIS truth is.

81

Would Elders You Knew Have Ordered Stonings If They Could Have?

by Cold Steel in

for those of you who used to be jws, or who are active, if the society was in charge of the earth, how many people do you think you would have seen stoned during your lifetimes?

i realize some elders can be zealous about their work, but if they'd actually had administrative authority to have kh members stoned to death, how many elders did you know who would have been zealous enough to really order them?.

did you know any elders who would have ordered stonings, even if the condemned people had been willing to repent?.

Gojira_101

Many good comments so far and I do want to add my two cents.

I guess one of the reasons why the JW's are so afraid of people going for higher education is for the fact you almost always have to take Psychology classes. One of the basic things you will learn about human beings is the majority of people have the herd mentality. So with that is mind if you have one powerful elder or say even 2 or 3 elders who were to start "stoning" the herd mentality or the fear of how others would respond to us not joining in...oh wait doesn't the WT talk about this...what was it called....Oh yea, peer pressure....even if certain elders were against it, I think in some cases they would join in because everyone else is doing it. But there also might be some who would not join in. I know Psychologists have studied this A LOT and it's pretty compelling to see these cases. If you look at some of Philip Zimbardo's work he conducted some experiments that delt with this very thing of "power" It's interesting stuff.

Would elders stone someone? In a "non violent way" do they not do that to those who are DF'd? My family if we lived back in bible times would have stoned me just this week because they found out I was inactive and have all shunned me.

Have I known some elders that would stone someone? Yes. Almost ever elder I have met, I think would be capable of stoning me.....I have been in 3 congregrations over the years and everyone was the same. Men in power wanting full control and loyalty from the congregation and when my family or I would question them because they went against the bible....I can't even count how many times we have been threatened by the elders.

Those are my two cents

10

"I got you something special," she said.

by irondork in

i was sitting at the computer reading posts at jw.net when the spousal unit told me she got me something special.. .

"you're really going to like these cookies.

" then she put the plate in front of me.. .

Gojira_101

I wonder when the WT bought peppridge farms? LOL. Now you can be indocternated from the inside out! LOL

12

Elder Doofus????

by Gojira_101 in

i would like to share an experience from my younger days, which now as i sit here i can't believe it's almost been 10 years now since this happened.

it still feels like it was yesterday.. so my family and i moved out of our old hall and wanted to start new because of the crap we all went through in the old hall.

this is a link of my story ne posted for me http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/244665/1/one-experience-in-our-old-kingdom-hall-that-still-haunts-me .

Gojira_101

I've come to realize most elders are just power hungry and want to control people. What's the saying "absolute power corrupts absolutely" And unfortunately the elders are in a position of power and most of them start abusing and controling people. On my home from work yesterday I had the thought pop up that the reason why some JW's have problems and others do not....my family and even my husband has had problems with elders and when you question them when they are wrong, you are abused because you are not easily controled. But like my both of my grandmothers, they are so easliy controlled and they have never had problems with elders. My grandmothers have never questioned anything they do.

I'd rather have someone question me and correct me because it keeps me honest and true to myself!

52

One experience in our old Kingdom Hall that still HAUNTS me

by Newly Enlightened in

the following is a true experience and my daughter gojira101 will verify that it happened to her.

an experience from our family's past that still haunts me and started my questioning whether this is the true organization of god or not.. my daughter, who has always been a good kid, never gave us any problems [she's an adult now] started regular pioneering.

within a few weeks of her starting, she fell on a steep hill and tore open her knee and had to have several stitches.

Gojira_101

I'm just courious if AuntConnie is an active witness and her husband is an elder, than what is she doing on a website the WTBTS has deemed as apostate. I've had elders tell not to go to this site because it's apostate. I'm just surprized her husband allows this. It seems to me that because AuntConnie is an elders wife she hasn't had the mental, and spiritual abuse the elders do on us rank and file.

12

Elder Doofus????

by Gojira_101 in

i would like to share an experience from my younger days, which now as i sit here i can't believe it's almost been 10 years now since this happened.

it still feels like it was yesterday.. so my family and i moved out of our old hall and wanted to start new because of the crap we all went through in the old hall.

this is a link of my story ne posted for me http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/244665/1/one-experience-in-our-old-kingdom-hall-that-still-haunts-me .

Gojira_101

I would like to share an experience from my younger days, which now as I sit here I can't believe it's almost been 10 years now since this happened. It still feels like it was yesterday.

So my family and I moved out of our old Hall and wanted to start new because of the crap we all went through in the old Hall. This is a link of my story NE posted for me http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/244665/1/One-experience-in-our-old-Kingdom-Hall-that-still-HAUNTS-me . True story here.

So we moved out of state and almost to the other side of the country wanting a new start, in a new Hall, where no one knew us....etc. There happened to be a deaf person in the Hall and I became very interested in sign language and wanting to sign the meetings. So the kind sisters (she says in a mocking tone) started teaching me signs and really soon I was signing the meetings. The deaf person tells me after awhile that I'm really good and I should become a professional signed language interpreter. Well I knew that wasn't going to happen if I didn't go to school to learn how to interpret. (Just to clarify, "signing" and "interpreting" are two very different things.)

So little ol' me desides I want to be an interpreter so I find the nearest program, which the school is 70 miles one way for me to go, but I still keep up my meeting attendance and my service time still averaged about the same. I did have to miss 6 weeks of Thursday night meeting because it was one required class, and yup it was on Thursday night. So I told the elder who was handling the schedule that I'd be gone on Thurs night for 6 weeks but I would be back and mind you this was a good month in advance that I told him, way before he did that months "signing" schedule for the sisters.

Jumping ahead now. My class was done and that semester was done also, well I ended up getting sick and I was sick for about 2-3 weeks and I came back and signed the meetings a few times, but I kept having relapses and was missing meetings so I had to keep telling them to have another sister sign the meeting. So the elder told me for the next month schedule he was going to take me off so I could get better. Okay thank you Mr Elder that is so kind and thoughtful. I got better and the next semester started and guess what? I had a class late Thursday afternoon and I would be arriving to meeting late so I talk to Mr Elder and told him I'm still coming but not to put me on for the first part of the meeting, but I can handle the last part. Jumping ahead again. I started noticing my name not being on the signer schedule as much and then I was gone completely from the list. It was all good though because I was coming into the last part of my training and I was starting my internship....etc and I missed a lot of meetings.

Jumping ahead again. I finished school and graduated with honors and my meeting attendence was near perfect again, my service time came back up....I waited about a month of "showing" the elders I was back and I'm ready to be the perfect witness again....and then it happened.

Did I mention that Mr. Elder's wife was one of the signers? The funny thing is, now that I had gone to school and knew what a real interpreter was suppose to do. I could see how badly the sisters signing SUCKED!!!!!! So to be helpful to them and the deaf person. I started sharing my school knowledge to help the sisters and the deaf person loved it. They wanted interpretation and not signing. After a few months of not being put back on the signer list, I went up to Mr. Elder and told him I knew my meeting attendence has improved and my service time was up again, it has been since I finished school and I'd like to interpret the meetings now for the deaf person.

His exact words. "Well I can see you don't have the right heart condition to be able to sign the meetings for so-and-so deaf person. Your service time can still come up some so if you can get more service time, then we can add you."

This was the only time I got in anyones face. I slamed my fists on my hips and I got right in his face and said "Since when has service become something other than voluntary. Is it still not voluntary? Than the amount of time I get in service shouldn't matter."

Again he said "well I'm sorry but you just don't have the right heart condition to interpret." And then he quickly got out of there.

So I guess this elder was Jesus if he could read my heart....what a doofus! I just spent 3 years of my life going to school to learn how to interpret (I'm still an interpreter today) I'm willing now to donate my interpreting services to the KH for this deaf person free of charge, and I don't have the right heart condition.....What a doofus!!!!!!

I've come to realize that the whole thing probably boiled down to the fact Mr Elder's wife felt threatened by me because I was a real interpreter and she knew I could see how badly they all sucked as signers. Which they did suck badly.

That's my story.

Gojira_101

Posts by Gojira_101