Julia Orwell

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Posts by Julia Orwell

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  42

  The December 2013 study WT is up at JW.org

  by Mickey mouse in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=20131215&output=html&pub=w&langwritten=e.

  here's one extract:.

  9. why should we be on guard if someone begins to speculate or to speak critically?.

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  Julia Orwell

  It's becoming like North Korea or Stalinist USSR.
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  37

  Are Baptism numbers going down?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Julia Orwell

  Now that's a much better result and much more usual in my experience. Maybe the Bendigo one was an anomaly.
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  55

  *Facepalm* What do you make of this cultish email I just got from my JW friend? What do I say to her?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a bit of background: she is a sweet sister who has hard a really hard life: mum killed in an accident when she was young while once-an-elder dad was off having an affair after having been released from jail after serving time as a pedophile; she spent months in hospital after the accident which killed her mother; brothers jailed as pedos, ex husband left her cold with their 6 month old son- she's had a tough life and is a really sweet lady.

  she's intelligent, caring, forgiving and articulate.

  far too good for jws.. she 'brought me into the truth' as they say, and as such we've always had a pretty good bond.. now, after the gossip/slander fiasco of another so-called friend running around telling everyone i'm an apostate and not to talk to me, i unfriended my jw friends from facebook with an explanation.

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  Julia Orwell

  Thanks :)
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  37

  Are Baptism numbers going down?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Julia Orwell

  Whoops, hit some button before typing my piece. My bad.

  I saw this news article from Victoria, Australia, about the latest DC held there :http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/1776702/delegates-descend-on-bendigo-for-baptism/?cs=80

  Of 3000 people attending, 7 got baptised. Seven! We used to get that many or more at the SADs and CAs with about 800-1000 people.

  Does anyone have any other figures that may indicate baptisms are going down? I extrapolated that figure above for the JW population of Australia, and came up with 140 people baptised nation wide over 23 DCs this year. I remember years ago you'd get heaps more than that.

  Now I'm not very good with maths and figures, so feel free to give a better estimate.
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  37

  Are Baptism numbers going down?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Julia Orwell
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  74

  Are JWs more negative than normal people?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  compare a typical conversation with a jw to one with a random non-jw:.

  run into jw in the shops.. .

  jw:[surprised] julia!

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  Julia Orwell

  Every thing bad is Satan's fault.

  Magical thinking! Oh yes, I'm so familiar with that! A sister I knew had some major disagreements with her non-JW mother. Mind you, the non-Jw mother is no bed of roses, but before she was a JW, an argument would be, "Had a fight with mum again. Gosh she's a difficult woman. She drives me nuts!" Now it is, "Satan's using mum to get to me! Mum's persecuting me because I'm a JW!"
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  55

  *Facepalm* What do you make of this cultish email I just got from my JW friend? What do I say to her?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a bit of background: she is a sweet sister who has hard a really hard life: mum killed in an accident when she was young while once-an-elder dad was off having an affair after having been released from jail after serving time as a pedophile; she spent months in hospital after the accident which killed her mother; brothers jailed as pedos, ex husband left her cold with their 6 month old son- she's had a tough life and is a really sweet lady.

  she's intelligent, caring, forgiving and articulate.

  far too good for jws.. she 'brought me into the truth' as they say, and as such we've always had a pretty good bond.. now, after the gossip/slander fiasco of another so-called friend running around telling everyone i'm an apostate and not to talk to me, i unfriended my jw friends from facebook with an explanation.

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  Julia Orwell

  I believe you're dead right. She really is a great person, but is in the Watchtower's prison. Even some very good people are so tightly held they will err ont he side of caution because of fear of displeasing her god, while all the time it's tearing her up inside. A lot of well meaning people are being torn up over these sorts of things: they're just the pawns, "Theirs is not to reason why..."
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  19

  A jehovah's witness life is a hard life

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the fear, guilt, poverty, shunning make it a hard way to go through life..

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  Julia Orwell

  The Jw life is a burden but when you feel that vague unsatisfying feeling or feel stressed or trapped, they tell you it's because your hobbies, work, family or other area of life is crowding out 'spiritual' things. How many talks you heard on 'buying out the opportune time' from other activities to do all your study, witnessing, meetings etc! And those happy people on the stage at assemblies who solved their problems by pioneering. Yeah, it's hard being a Jw cuz you have all this crap to do, and when it wears you out you're told you're only warn out because you are watching too much tv or working too much, and need to get out witnessing more, and before long you're staring down and endless dark tunnel of meetings, witnessing, meetings, witnessing and your spirit quails within you and you feel like escaping so spend all your days fantasizing about holidays!!!
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  74

  Are JWs more negative than normal people?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  compare a typical conversation with a jw to one with a random non-jw:.

  run into jw in the shops.. .

  jw:[surprised] julia!

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  Julia Orwell

  Outsmart the System probably just summed up the Jw psychology in a nutshell.

  Isn't it amazing how 'the pressure of this system' seems to ease up once you're no longer a Jw? Gee, you'd think it would be harder to keep on top of your bills and obligations when you leave cuz you no longer have 'Jehovah's' help. Guess it was Jehovah putting the pressure on me and not 'this system'. That's not to say life is easy by any stretch, but take out the whopping great slice the wt demands of you, and you suddenly have time to do things that make life easier like sleep in on a Saturday morning and chill on the couch after work on a Tuesday night.
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  40

  Now I'm not a JW, is it ok for me to...

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...drink a lot?

  gosh i love wine.

  i like a good bottle of wine each night, and i have a high tolerance to alcohol, though i never drank much (except for a couple of times with the vodka, but i don't keep that stuff in the house anymore, way too dangerous) as a jw because getting slightly happy is a 'sin'.

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  Julia Orwell

  Funnily enough, none of my grand parents were drinkers. But my father is, and his sister is too.

  I've been cutting back lately, and I've been feeling better.

  I suspected I have a problem as has been pointed out, and I am really grateful for the support I've l ve received here.