Victor_E

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Posts by Victor_E

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  20

  Why JWs and ex JWs Return to Watchtower

  by Victor_E in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with recent events of the wtc bombing some ex jws and inactive jws are returning to meetings and all the customary rituals.

  some wonder what could drive such individuals to do such irrational acts.

  i will outline some of the factors and i admit that it could be one or more or none of these because in the final analysis only the individual person knows why.. fear: as jws we were programmed to have a pervasive fear of a god that was punitive and blood thirsty with his creatures.

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  Victor_E

  The answer is :
  To transcend our humanity
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  20

  Why JWs and ex JWs Return to Watchtower

  by Victor_E in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with recent events of the wtc bombing some ex jws and inactive jws are returning to meetings and all the customary rituals.

  some wonder what could drive such individuals to do such irrational acts.

  i will outline some of the factors and i admit that it could be one or more or none of these because in the final analysis only the individual person knows why.. fear: as jws we were programmed to have a pervasive fear of a god that was punitive and blood thirsty with his creatures.

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  Victor_E

  All good reason Mega but that is not it. Any more takers ?
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  20

  Why JWs and ex JWs Return to Watchtower

  by Victor_E in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with recent events of the wtc bombing some ex jws and inactive jws are returning to meetings and all the customary rituals.

  some wonder what could drive such individuals to do such irrational acts.

  i will outline some of the factors and i admit that it could be one or more or none of these because in the final analysis only the individual person knows why.. fear: as jws we were programmed to have a pervasive fear of a god that was punitive and blood thirsty with his creatures.

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  Victor_E

  Hi Mega,
  Very good observation on your part! I would like to know if the Tower membership would be what it is if fear, shame and guilt was removed from rank and file dubs. In one university study researchers wanted to know why people join religions any takes on what they discovered ?

  "Great spirits have always been violently attacked by mediocre minds" A Einstein
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  12

  The Hypocrisy of the Governing Body

  by radar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if the rank and file members of jehovahs witnesses reject the watchtower's thinking on bible doctrine in some way, they are considered apostate.. yet the governing body of j.ws, themselves have rejected teachings of previous governing body members who have long since died and have proceeded to change interpreatation on things many times over,from russell to fred franz.

  guess what they call it..........apostasy?.

  no, this is called new light.. .

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  Victor_E

  He who rules makes the rules, my rules for me my rules for you is the gb mentality.
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  20

  Why JWs and ex JWs Return to Watchtower

  by Victor_E in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with recent events of the wtc bombing some ex jws and inactive jws are returning to meetings and all the customary rituals.

  some wonder what could drive such individuals to do such irrational acts.

  i will outline some of the factors and i admit that it could be one or more or none of these because in the final analysis only the individual person knows why.. fear: as jws we were programmed to have a pervasive fear of a god that was punitive and blood thirsty with his creatures.

  1. 
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• 

  Victor_E

  With recent events of the WTC bombing some ex JWs and inactive JWs are returning to meetings and all the customary rituals. Some wonder what could drive such individuals to do such irrational acts. I will outline some of the factors and I admit that it could be one or more or none of these because in the final analysis only the individual person knows why.

  Fear: As JWs we were programmed to have a pervasive fear of a God that was punitive and blood thirsty with his creatures. This was masked over with all the beliefs of justice on the part of this God, the belief of JWs being the sole channel to salvation with their preaching, the belief of Satan and his worshipers being the cause of all bad things that happen to humanity and especially to JWs. These fanatical thinking processes at work with people drive them to have tribal thinking. Tribal thinking does not permit an individual to have their own original thoughts, the tribe’s beliefs rule supremely in an effort to protect itself from outside enemies. Groupthink leads to a false sense of security inside the fold.

  Doubt: The structure of doubt is a frame of reference of the person not being sure of beliefs they at one time felt certain about. In the frame of doubt the person holds on to two or more conflicting beliefs. This of course will create an insecurity and anxiety not having a solid foundation of their own beliefs. In this state they are highly proned to be influenced especially by JW family members.

  Denial: This is perhaps the most powerful mechanism that we tend to run, oftentimes outside of our own conscious awareness. The function of this defense is to keep us from feeling unpleasant emotions or to face the consequences or pay the price for being “real” with ourselves. If a person is using denial they will rationalize all the reasons of why they left or became inactive in the first place. In this state the person will deny and block out the panoramic perspective of bad things like this happening all the time in different parts of the world. Through their tunnel vision they will only believe what the JWs tell the person to believe.

  Cognitive dissonance: This happens when the person is divided inside, they are split with two or more sub personalities having opposing beliefs, values, feelings, and motivations. The person may have a part of them that believes the JWs to be what outsiders view them as, a fanatical apocalyptic group that control their members and keep them enslaved to sell their literature and recruit other members. The other part though believes without question all the programmed theology of Russell and company. It’s like no other theological beliefs can get through to this part to create a counter example to at least consider the truthfulness of this belief system. This in my opinion is the most insidious and evil acts of JWs, the programming of the person through hypnosis to believe and obey orders without ever questioning whether it’s for the person’s highest good or within divine will for them.

  "I just want to know God's thoughts the rest is details" A Einstein
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  1

  People Come Here for a Reason or a Season

  by Victor_E in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.. when you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.. when someone is in your life for a reason, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.. they have come to assist you through a difficulty,.

  to provide you with guidance and support,.

  to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually.. they may seem, like a godsend and they are.. they are there for the reason you need them to be.. then without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person may say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.

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  Victor_E

  People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
  When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.
  When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.
  They have come to assist you through a difficulty,
  to provide you with guidance and support,
  to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
  They may seem, like a godsend and they are.
  They are there for the reason you need them to be.

  Then without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person may say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
  Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.

  What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desired fulfilled, their work is done.
  The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

  When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
  They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
  They may teach you something you have never done.
  They usually give an unbeliable amount of joy.
  Believe it! It is real!
  But, only for a season.

  LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
  those things you must build upon
  in order to have solid emotional foundations.
  Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (any way);
  and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
  It is said that love is blind but friendship is clarivoyant.
  (author unknown)
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  24

  I'VE BEEN EXECUTED TODAY!!!

  by exodus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a side of relief for me but angry for what happened after the announcement of my disfellowship from the wts.

  i urged my mother not to attend because of the emotional trauma and agony you experience.

  she's diabetics and any emotional let down can cause her serious problems.

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  Victor_E

  If the metaphor of being executed matches your experience then use it. Your JW life has just been killed and now you can resurect to a new begining. I want to pigyback on Farkel's advice, when I got dfed I said to myself "now that I have been dfed what shall I do?". The answer that came was "go to Disneyland of course". As silly as this sounds I took two weeks off to go play. I went skiing in Santa Fe, went to the grand canyon, ended up in California, just touring and reflecting.

  I made the following decisions.
  I would fight back only when I was good and ready.
  I was willing to lose everything I had including my JW wife if that was the price for mental freedom.
  I would tower over these petty tyrants but it would take time.
  I would use my experience to help others, my experience would not be in vain.
  I would expose the truth about the "truth"
  These men had dfed me but God had not so with God on my side I would move on.
  Attached is an article I wrote sometime back, hope it helps.
  THE RECOVERY PROCESS OF LEAVING THE WATCHTOWER

  by Victor Escalante
  [email protected]

  The emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical turmoil of being disfellowshipped or exiting JWs is very traumatic on an individual and their extended JW family. I once met a woman who went into an emotional/mental psychosis (a nervous breakdown) right in the disfellowshipping meeting. She begged the elders not to disfellowship her, all to no avail. She told me how she just fell to the floor in the fetal position in an age regressed state of a little girl. That night she attempted suicide by slashing her wrists but fortunately a friend found her bleeding and rushed her to a nearby hospital. I worked years ago with a middle-aged couple that was second and third generation JWs who at my urging, read Ray's book Crisis of Conscience. He had been a former elder and the effect it had on him literally made him sick. For one week this man lived in an emotional roller coaster of fear, dread, paranoia, clarity, anger, hurt, and vindictiveness. In my own personal experience I felt like my heart had been ripped out of me. I wanted to understand why and how God's people could be so cruel. What follows is an article that addresses some of the issues created from exiting.

  Physical Issues:

  You develop poor health from a poor diet and/or lack of appetite due to depression from your emotional pain or from emotional numbness, which affects your neuro-chemistry. You must realize that you are what you eat. If you eat greasy starches you will not have the proper nutrients for your body to produce the necessary neurotransmitters for you to have clarity of mind. You can educate yourself by going to the poor person's university the local library and read books on proper nutrition.
  Neurochemical imbalance, due to altered chemistry, which results in thinking and emotional problems. This can produce such a panic that you may think Satan is attacking you, when in reality you may just need to supplement your neuro-transmitters such as dopamine and the like. You need to see a physician to prescribe medication for you to help your body as it repairs itself from the emotional shock.
  Sleep disorders such as problems falling or staying asleep, sleeping too much or at inappropriate times, or stressful dreams/nightmares often related to the issues your unconscious mind is struggling with to reconcile. If this is the case you must seek professional help, because if you go without sleep for an extended period of time this can cause a nervous breakdown.
  Physical coordination problems that make you feel clumsy, poorly balanced, dizziness and slow reflexes. You must be kind to your body and treat it as though it just had surgery. The body has an inner wisdom to heal and sometimes just letting rest is all it takes.
  Stress sensitivity such as overreaction to stressful, hypersensitivity, and poor self-regulation or discipline. Again, just realize that this is quite normal after taking such a heavy emotional punch. For this a body massage is excellent to stimulate your lymphatic system to remove body toxins.
  Mental Issues:

  Denial. This is one of the most pervasive and powerful mental defenses we have. Its utility is avoidance and distortion of our painful reality, while this may protect us from painful feelings and appropriate behavior, if we don't face reality sooner or later we end up trading one spiritual lie for another one of our own making. An example of this is in my personal experience, is when I lied to myself thinking that this was not as bad as it was. The reality was, my experience was very very very cruel and ugly. These were not God's representatives but human monsters that were blindly following orders. I masked my pain by using humor, I remember telling my ex-wife all kinds of silly things to change the meaning of being disfellowshipped.
  Rigid/Repetitive thinking. This in my case this produced inflexibility in my thinking and I got locked into running in my mind memories that lead up to my dfing. This is very counter productive and it produced unnecessary stress and confusion and difficulty leading to self-pity. If you suffer from this I highly recommend you journal your experience. This worked for me because it got my thoughts out of my head and into a neutral detached piece of paper.
  Difficulty with concentration. In this stage you will have problems with concentration on tasks, instructions, conversations, and responsibilities. I remember being absent minded many a time in this stage. I was there in body but in spirit I was years away into the future. This in time became a problem because it was more comfortable to live in the future than in real time.
  Impaired Judgment In this stage I had problems with decision-making, problem solving, and impulsive behavior. I made poor business decisions and this spiraled into a lack of integrity. I did not realize until recently the great damage I did to myself.
  Memory problems. Problems with short term and/or long-term memory.
  Emotional Issues:

  Mood swings that cause you stress and difficulty functioning. It's not uncommon for you to feel good leaving the JWs in the morning and by the afternoon feel like you have made the greatest mistake in your life leading to your impending death. You need to understand that this is just a phase you need to go through.
  Emotional numbness that makes you feel strange. You may experience problems expressing feelings and at times shutting down, this is just your unconscious mind running a defense mechanism.
  Difficulty identifying/tolerating feelings, this often makes you feel lost, confused, fearful, hopeless, helpless, and many others. There are more than seven hundred fifty feelings that you are capable of experiencing and leaving the JWs will force you to at first, cycle through heavy and at times painful feelings. The good news is that in time you begin to recover all the positive light feelings and tremendous clarity.
  Difficulty expressing feelings in contexts that in the past you had no problems with. You may find yourself unable to find the appropriate or accurate expression of your feelings. You may have difficulty in your relationships, you find that people don't understand you and you don't understand why people treat you the way they do.
  Phobic response to ordinary feelings, this is due to a deep fear of experiencing painful feelings, which leads to avoidance anxiety. You need to understand that it will take time for you to open up emotionally. This is where a skilled therapist is invaluable in helping you sort out your feelings once you are ready to deal with them so you can open your heart.
  Spiritual Issues:

  Isolation that makes you feel separated from God, others and from life in general. In the JW environment you were conditioned to have "group think", now that you are alone you must learn to think for yourself and put your interests first ahead of others. You were told that you must put God and others ahead of yourself; this belief was useful to control your decisions and keep you enslaved.
  Emptiness that makes you feel no sense of self. This often leads people to trade one group for another before they spend time alone discovering who they are and recovering the pieces they gave of themselves to the JW culture. Once you discover that a benevolent spiritual being resides in your body you are on your way to finding your place in the great divine plan.
  Disconnection from the process of living that makes you feel "what's the use" of living. In the past your purpose for living was to promote the business interests of the Watchtower. Now, you must find your own purpose for living, this will take time and you can enjoy the exploration process. I have experienced first hand and in other ex JWs the need to help others as a purposive release of their painful emotions. This too needs to be transcended in your efforts to find your own mission in life. Once you do this, all your past experience will be understood and appreciated in the larger context of God's plan for you.
  Fearful and angry at defining self in relation to life and others. As I write these words I am listening to the soundtrack from the movie Evita. I remember soon after being dfed seeing the movie and identifying with the benevolent self-serving tyrant that she was. In my mind I wanted to be like her with all the vast power to squash and incarcerate my former enemies while handing out help to my ex JW compatriots. In a way, I identified my own anger that I wanted and needed to vent out, the movie was useful for me to think about doing it in constructive and helpful ways. Give yourself permission to let your own mind use fantasy as a means of trying out different roles in an effort to discover who you are.
  Lacking meaning or purpose to pick up the pieces and move forward. Ask yourself this question; "What is important to me about my life now that I am no longer a JW?" Or "What do I value about my life now?" It's a simple question but many will have difficulty answering it. Once you have identified your values next ask yourself, "What will having or attaining these values do for me?" Your mission in life will be strongly linked to these higher values. In my experience I valued freedom to think and do what I wanted, when I wanted, where I wanted, how I wanted and with whom I wanted. This gave me propulsion to move forward as a means to an end. Anytime I had thoughts of going back I remembered my mission, this quickly snapped back to reality.
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  2

  From Mail Bag on Destruction of Families

  by Victor_E in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read your article on "jehovah witnesses a threat to the social family fabric".

  i am writing a book on the way this group has affected families in a negative way.

  would you be willing to write a couple of paragraphs of what you know about how this movement has actually brought about divorces.

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  Victor_E

  Hi Piolo,
  You can find the article at http://www.freeminds.org/psych/victor.htm.
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  From Mail Bag on Destruction of Families

  by Victor_E in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read your article on "jehovah witnesses a threat to the social family fabric".

  i am writing a book on the way this group has affected families in a negative way.

  would you be willing to write a couple of paragraphs of what you know about how this movement has actually brought about divorces.

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  Victor_E

  Greetings,
  
  I read your article on "Jehovah Witnesses A Threat To The Social Family Fabric". I am writing a book on the way this group has affected families in a negative way. Would you be willing to write a couple of paragraphs of what you know about how this movement has actually brought about divorces. I know that I am asking a favor and if you do not have the time I will understand. But I feel like with your experience with these folks it would be effective if I could use what you write.
  
  Thanks!
  xxxxx
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  9

  Political Cards Malawi/Mexico

  by troubled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone know where i can access copies of these political cards with wording in english?

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  Victor_E

  The green cover with the Mexican eagle emblem reads
  Cartilla of identity
  National Military Service

  The inner page reads

  Remiso (This is a class of exemption from military service due to the fact that I grew up outside of the country of Mexico)
  Department of National Defense
  National Military Service