Posts by Bonsai

104

The Secret is out....but nobody cares

by MrTheocratic in

i've been looking on this site for some time but never posted.

i'll give a little about myself, but not too much.

i'm a ex-bethelite ( brooklyn )and currently serving as an elder (10 years) (thinking about stepping down) on the service committee.

Bonsai

Welcome Mr. Theocratic.

I have found your observations to be exactamente correcto. I recently revealed to my two close friends why I have stopped attending meetings. They both acknowledged that my reasons were legitimate. One said that he wasn't in a hurry to leave because he had family in and he felt like even if "the truth" wasn't the truth, he viewed it as a kind of life insurance that may or may not give him a chance to survive after death. The other one also said that even if everything was a lie, at least being a part of the organization gave him a place in society. For him it's like the bar in the Cheers sitcom where "everybody knows your name". That was what was most important to him. People are in for various reasons, but not necessarily because they believe everything about what they are told.

Sooner or later I need to get around to formally introducing myself as well. I'm just not quite ready yet.

Thanks for adding your thoughts on the forum.

145

Why attack?

by newqatarjob in

as someone brought up as a jw and been an elder and been disfellowshipped (twice!!!

) i find it difficult to understand why ex jws have to attack the religion, yes religion, not cult or sect.

i am no longer disfellowshipped just do not want to practice anymore.

Bonsai

When In Doubt, I guess I don't see what the problem is here. This is not a forum for hate discussions about Jehovah's Witnesses. Many people here are for reform, change and seeing the organization start to take more responsibility and accountability for some of its actions/mistakes that have hurt us, our family or our friends. It's not about hate. We don't wish for the death and destruction or physical harm of any JW or their leaders. I know I don't hate them. They do rile me, disgust me, disappoint me at times.But so have my friends from time to time. Yet, when my friends take accountability and express sorry with a heartfelt apology, then I am more than willing to forgive them. Many of us are waiting hopefully for the day when Watchtower will do that. But hate? I think you are overreacting a bit here.

Throughout history there have been many organizations/societies/ religions that have been oppressive in not allowing free thought. They used fear, guilt and the massive weight of social/religious obligation to exhaust the people into submission. As a result an equal and opposite reaction has taken place. Those that were stifled by communism, dictators, popes,regimes and the religious elite, were forced to find a safe outlet to vent their frustration and anger so as not to build up rage to the point of committing hate crimes.or actions they would live to regret. They did so within their community, or in their home or in secret meetings to vent.

I feel this site is just Newton's third law of physics in that its a natural reaction to an oppressive regime that stifles its sheep with guilt and fear. Somewhere along the stream of time the true Christian love that Jesus talked about at John 13:35 was lost and replaced by a synthetic, artificial love that just doesn't sustain its members anymore.

145

Why attack?

by newqatarjob in

as someone brought up as a jw and been an elder and been disfellowshipped (twice!!!

) i find it difficult to understand why ex jws have to attack the religion, yes religion, not cult or sect.

i am no longer disfellowshipped just do not want to practice anymore.

Bonsai

"Live and let live."

Boy, you are preaching to the quire here. Most of us are on here because they won't leave us alone when we chose to fade away or take a break even. I have avoided "attacking" many times even though they have come to my door or sent me emails attacking my motives, sanity, morality, manliness for leaving. I'm not even df'd or da'd! Why the attacks on me? Take your self righteous email and send it to the society instead of here. Do something productive.

16

Tomato or tomoto? Is it geehovah or jahovah?

by hoser in

jw
friends

how do you say it where you are?

geehovah or jahovah?

Bonsai

I went from a country where they pronounced it "Yeah-hugh-hwa" to a place now where they say, "eh-hoe-bah".

Now I'm too superstitious to say the name so I remove the superstitious title of adonai from the tetrogrammamegatron and i get... i get... I dunno. Sigh.

10

Anyone else like Radiohead?

by LoveUniHateExams in

over the past couple of weeks, i've discovered the 'alternative rock group' radiohead.

of course, i've known of their name for years and years but never, until recently, bothered to check out their music.

i'm also quite a big fan of damon albarn and admire him not only for his substantial musical output but also for the different 'feel' to his songs - oasis, in contrast, seem to have just one beatles-esque style.

Bonsai

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here.

One of my favorite songs that I can totally relate to right now. It's how I felt at meetings. It's how I feel now. Whenever someone asks why I've faded, no matter how rational or logical the response that I give is, they give me the look that I'm a creep and a villain for entertaining doubts.

Great band.

8

A View of China you may not have seen before (grin-especially for guys-well! most guys)

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

in the city of hefei, in anhui province, china, there is a park planted with 20,000 cherry trees (of 40 different varieties.

(cherry blossoms are culturally significant in east asia and popular).

its not quite blossom time yet, but to get an early start to spring these beautiful girls and some artists introduced another form of cherry blossom displays.

Bonsai

Forget China. Japanese girls are waaaaay hotter and much more into foreigners. Come to Japan! Just don't come in early spring.

Sigh. Every February and March we get yellow dust filled with industrial shit from China and Mongolia that hits Japan and wreaks havoc on the lungs. Thanks China!

9

JW.org is sponsoring now??????

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

please pay close attention at the beginning 0.36-0.47 when sponsors are seen.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8yaxdra8f9q#t=47.

Bonsai

That isn't Japanese. Pretty sure that's Thai.

21

Constructive hobbies

by zeb in

hm have a hobby?

im not asking what.. hm have taken up a constructive hobby since leaving?.

Bonsai

Studying the art of bonsai. Making and studying Japanese gardens. Planting in a butterfly garden. Collecting specimens for my butterfly display case. Climbing mountains on the weekends. Making moss terrariums. Working and playing with nature really soothes the mind.

13

New Picture for Memorial Season

by Doctor Who in

i think this would work well.... .

Bonsai

Man I love me some zombies. I gotta say, watching The Walking dead (I just got to season 4) has been so therapeutic for me. I relate so much to the survivors who are struggling to stay sane, preserve their morals, all while the world as they know it has collapsed and deteriorated to the point where you can trust nothing and no one. Losing your core beliefs is like having the world as you know it morph into zombie land. Yet they fight on hoping that some clarity and good will eventual come out from all the madness.

Hershel Greene:"I can't profess to understand God's plan, Christ promised the resurrection of the dead. I just thought he had something a little different in mind." LOL

37

Advice needed on Crisis of Conscience

by cappytan in

so, some of you may have seen my thread from yesterday about my wife waking up.. we had further discussion yesterday evening after i sent her the pbs video on the abuse scandals plaguing the watchtower.

she was so furious and pissed off at wt hq.

apparently a close relative of her's was abused by an elder and the only reason he was reproved and removed as an elder was because he confessed.

Bonsai

What really made my wife wake up was her seeing how shielded and inaccessible the GB are. You can't talk to them or ask questions. There are layers of procedures necessary to get through to them It's about as hard to get to them as it is to ask Kim Jong Un directly why his country is such a backward mess. Jesus didn't hide from critics. He answered their accusations often times putting himself in great danger. These guys hide in their Ivory Tower behind their army of body guards and lawyers. There are never any "live" press conferences where questions can be asked and answered without a script. Everything is controlled. Everything is scripted. Everything is sanitized. It was revealing to me when John Cedars actually got through to Anthony Morris's office phone. Here was a chance for Anthony Morris to defend the faith, yet as soon as he knew the guy on the other line wasn't a company yes man, he chuckled to himself and hung up like a coward. People who put up complex fire walls like this do so for only one reason-- They gotta lot to hide.

When I first "woke up" to the reality of things, I stopped everything. I went AWOL. Nobody knew what happened to me. It was very stressful for my wife as she was still in. Trying to rush her almost got me kicked out of the house. It's best not to hurry these things. You can lead a horse to water, but they have to be the one to decide how much to drink and when to drink it.