https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhc1sqiaqum.
Thanks for sharing your expressions. I really see the harm of shunning and deplore this type of action.
By the way, I noticed that you have Ray Franz's COC and ISOCF wedged between the NWT reference Bible and the Proclaimers book on your bookshelf behind you. Nice .
More power to you!
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
marilyn manned the helpline for many years, and touched the lives of so many effected by the wt.
she will be missed.. coffee .
When going to a DC in 1990/91, there were ex-JWs picketing out front and one sign caught my eye, 1-800-WHY-1914. So easy to remember. It was within a few weeks that I managed the nerve to make that call while I was at work. Being very nervous because of the warnings inculcated in my mind during my life's tenure as a JW, I hung up when presumably Marilyn answered the phone.
But it wasn't in vain. In fact, it was the very start of me exercising my freedom to investigate the WTBS outside of the recommended publications that were encouraged to be the only source of research. I didn't have access to the internet because it was at its infancy, so I was unable to investigate through that avenue. It was shortly thereafter when I was assigned jury duty in a city 20 minutes away. I then went to the local library next door to the court house and checked up and read books written about JWs during every single one of my lunch breaks for the entire two weeks of my duty.
Needless to say, here I am now. What a journey thus far!
And yes, it all started with that picket sign 1-800-WHY-1914
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
going forward from my other thread, on the unhappiness of jw's, and thanks for your contributions to that, do you sense the opposite with xjw's ?.
not simply the happiness that we all exude, external and obvious, but an underlying serenity.. all that i have met face to face, and as far as i can tell those that are on here, have a certain serenity, due i think in the main to having the conviction that our leaving was the very best of decisions.. yes, we still have our daily struggles, perhaps the frustrations of trying to free loved ones, health problems, financial difficulties, personality faults of our own we are working on, any or all of these plus ones i haven't mentioned.. and yet i detect a peace, and contentment, that comes from being the real "you", no longer having to put on the cult personality, no longer having to suffer the noise of cognitive dissonance, no longer feeling we are not "doing enough".. that inner peace is what makes you all such lovely people..
As Phizzy & losingit noted, building new social networks (friends ) is paramount in getting on with our lives.
I'm at that point where my social circle can be counted on one hand, seriously. Yes, there are those non-JWs that "I know", but can't really be considered friends. However, I'm working on it. I found that once I started my fade, my interactions with strangers and those non-JWs that I'm acquainted with has been more quality with a sincere motive to really know them better. When I was an active JW, I was only cordial to these ones.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
it's been over 3 months since i first posted after years of lurking:.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/253883/1/my-story-a-kinda-newbie-from-the-uk#.ukhopt-yza8.
and what a 3 months it's been.
Hello wizzstick!
I'm on a successful fade of four months and my wife is really understanding my situation (a topic for another thread). She goes to the meetings about 60-70% of the time now and tries to see whatever positive she can glean from the meetings. However, I feel that she is seeing a host more about TTATT and will uncoil to her authentic self once she gets home, disrobing the cult personality.
Slowly, but surely.
Yes, I'm glad to hear about your family's current progress in your direction in life.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
hypothetical scenario.
you are a city manager in a major metropolitan city with a population of 3,000,000.. .
if the governing body was truly convinced themselves of the impending disaster and the fact that the end is imminent would they not focus their efforts in spreading the message through effective means such as telephone, television, internet, social networks etc?
He He!
About a year and a half ago during the Memorial invitation campaign I was in the same car group with the CO. I brought up this very point and directed it to the CO. There were five of us in the car. I was in the back seat with two sisters, the driver was a former CO substitute (who had a breakdown several years ago and is now a MS) and the CO in the front passenger seat.
There was a silence of what seemed like hours before the driver chimed in and that he also wondered the same. With the urgency at hand, even with the holy and righteous campaign of inviting everyone to observe the Memorial, could the efforts of the WTBS be heightened?
The CO said, "we follow the directions of the brothers (GB)"
Yes, one of several nails that confirmed the closing of the coffin of being a sheeple to the WTBS.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
cicero,illinois 1970's.
our four day assemblies in the 1970's through the 1980's were pure torture.. they were held at a horse race track in cicero,il in the smoking hot and humid month of july.
they charged around $2 for parking.
William Lloyd Barry, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, died at a JAPANESE District Convention in Hawaii. He was fluent in Japanese since he once was a missionary in Japan in the 50's.
all documents of important nature such as, our kingdom ministry, boe letters, forms, or other materials will now be sent only by email or private message communications.
they will not be posted out here on the board.
if someone else wants to post them, be my guest.. .. we have no other choice in this matter, and sending out confidential documents is better when it is done privately.
PM sent! Thanks Atlantis
a born ins challenge to develop a post cult personality.. mentally leaving the organization can be traumatic for a number of reasons.
one of the biggest challenges for born-ins in finding their pre cult personality is that our entire personalities are based on the religion.
there is no such thing as a pre cult personality for us.
Excellent opening post.
I can relate 100%, as I remember first stepping into a Kingdom Hall at 5 years of age.
I'm in the midst of locating my real identity now in my mid-40's. At first it was tragic. Now I try to view it as a wonderful journey. Being able to try something just a little different keeps my sanity in check.
Thanks again SIAM for putting in words what many of us feel.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
yup.
let's begin.. i went to the kingdom hall yesterday for the first time in awhile.
the public talk was something like "trust in jehovah" and the speaker (whom i know personally and is a tad "off") was rambling on about the persecution that we are going to face imminently.
Falcon,
I would like to know where you got that image of the early Christians in the Roman arena that you posted initially. It's the one with the mass of Christians huddled together with some impaled around the perimeter. Is this from a Watchtower publication? If so, would you mind letting me know?
I'm thinking of using this for future reference on a slightly different topic. Thanks!
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
i got a copy of the recent kingdom ministry the other day and it reminded me of something in the book the orwellian world of jehovha's witnesses by heather and garry botting.
it's on the front page of the december issue of the km, they have a heading called "not 'alternative' witnessing" where they explain that the term is no longer considered appropriate and "public" witnessing should be used instead.. in the orwellian world of jehovah's witnesses the bottings discuss the importance of the particular language jws use to set themselves apart from other people.
they redefine common words to give them a particular slant, such as "brother", "sister", "literature" and so on.
Circuit Overseer was called Circuit Servant back in the days.
In fact, one older brother still uses the term Circuit Servant and nobody has yet dared to correct him otherwise. This older brother is a Gilead graduate and of the annointed. Most of the congregation calls him "old school". He even identifies the Sunday Public Talks as sermons .
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
