i have (well had) an extremely small circle of jw friends.
lots of acquaintances and associates but 2 or 3 i would consider my true friends.
that list is now 0. yup, once i told them i no longer believe in the org and haven't for a long time, and their attempts to encourage me thru jw lingo and terminologies to "rely on jehovah" and not to "stray away" failed that was pretty much it.
Simon: It's sad realizing that your friends weren't real friends or they are willing to put unknown watchtower writers ahead of their personal relationships.
Well said.
If it's conditional, then it is not love or even friendship.
On the other hand, once you leave the cult you are able to make real friends: people that love you for WHO you are and not WHAT you (pretend to) believe.
It gets better!
i know we are all anonymous for our own personal reasons, so i understand if you would rather not say.
but if you don't mind sharing that would be cool.
i currently live in georgia, usa.
i joined the forum yesterday and made 2 angry posts which received encouraging replies.
i spent a good chunk of time today browsing various posts, and i can't get enough!
i'm doing things backwards now and taking a moment to introduce myself.
Welcome and tell your sister "Thanks!" for unwitnessing to you!
new to the board, first time posting a topic.
i just wanted to say how refreshing and sometimes funny it has been lurking here.
so much so that i decided to sign up to this message board.
Welcome and enjoy your day celebrating the people you love!
was just checking out the jdub website and came across their "legal developements and human rights" page.. http://www.jw.org/en/news/legal/.
notice the glaring absence of one paticular kind of "legal developements"?
pbrow.
The WTBTS's lack of journalistic integrity is just one of the many things wrong with this organization.
at the latest co visit something very strange happened.
during the meeting with the elders and servants he passed out a copy of a hypothetical publisher card and asked us what we could learn from it.
upon receiving it i saw that the average hours were pretty good, it had return visits and quite a few bible studies.
LTPF: Like John Aquila would say, 'let's review, it's a cult!'
Ummmm, that's not his tag line!
i don't go to many meetings now.
i still feel the need to go every now and again for my husband's sake.
i usually go on a sunday, maybe once a month or so and i look at the wt article under discussion to see if i can stomach it before i go, a lot of the time i feel i just can't do it.
TA, I don't worry about you, but I do feel for you. It's painful to listen to all that drivel in the WT.
Again, what SparrowDown said!
i am inclined to start this thread in response to some comments made in other threads.
i have been coming around these forum for quite some time now so whatever you find in here is not just related to something someone may have said this week.
it can go months back as well.. i have seen many who claim to respect the belief of others but when it comes down to applying it into practice, things take a whole different tune.
STA, thank you for your sincere and thoughtful post.
I've been thinking about this myself.
It seems that many here feel that you can't disagree without it becoming a personal issue. I have enjoyed many excellent discussions on this forum where people are free to express their differing viewpoints with respect and are respected in return.
I have also experienced the exact opposite. Unfortunately there are quite a few members of this forum that respond to any questioning, disagreement or criticism of WHAT they post with PERSONAL attacks of the person that dared express a differing point of view. Just the other day I was blasted by one poster simply because I found his OP unclear and I asked for clarification.
Some of the attacks I've seen here are quite vicious in nature. I can't help but make the comparison to the kind of toxic, unhealthy, abusive relationships that I deliberately left behind when I severed ties with certain family members (not JWs) and also left this religion.
We don't need that here!
Great OP. Thanks for starting this thread,
Oubliette
i don't go to many meetings now.
i still feel the need to go every now and again for my husband's sake.
i usually go on a sunday, maybe once a month or so and i look at the wt article under discussion to see if i can stomach it before i go, a lot of the time i feel i just can't do it.
recently at a funeral for an active jw, death was sudden and tragic.
was surprised that that one of the disfellowshipped children of the deceased was comforted by the jw's at the funeral.
i would say the majority hugged and said a few short words to the disfellowshipped child on the recieving line to comfort the family.
When my father-in-law died, three of his disfellowshipped adult children came to the funeral. There was quite a lot of hugging and crying by the active JWs.
The disfellowshipped ones came over to the house later for association (ironic, no), food and drinks. They hung out for several hours.
That was more than a decade ago. As far as I know, none of the active JWs have made any attempt to reconnect with their brothers and sister since. None.
Let's review: It's a cult!
