I read on AOL today that the Morman church is inviting former members to return to the church. Food for thought....would former Jehovah's Witnesses return to the organization if the invintation would be extended from the society? Would you go back if being disfellowshipped or disassociated was not an issue any longer? What is going on at LDS aside from new leadership? I would not go back to the congregation under any circumstances, yet perhaps some would....Any thoughts?
Thechickennest
JoinedPosts by Thechickennest
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LDS-New leader invites all former members to return to the fold.
by Thechickennest ini read on aol today that the morman church is inviting former members to return to the church.
food for thought....would former jehovah's witnesses return to the organization if the invintation would be extended from the society?
would you go back if being disfellowshipped or disassociated was not an issue any longer?
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Shunned by a JW leading a double life
by misspeaches ini seriously do not understand how some people reason.
if they do reason at all.. my boyfriend has been friends with a couple of guys since highschool.
it turns out that both these guys are jw's.
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Thechickennest
Ms. Peachi:
This reminds me of the time when I was trying to expain to my psychiatrist about some of my JW friends (when was still a JW) In total frustration one day he finally asked..."Don't you have any "normal" friends?!" I do now of course after getting loose from the JW's! JW's really do some bizzarre stuff, all the while trying to maintain the bizzare JW required behaviors in addition to the double or many lives thing.....My wife works in a small doctors practice. She left JW's when I did and we are known as the 'apostates" in this area. Two of my wife's coworkers are JW's. They try to shun her, then they try to maintain a certain behavior of modesty and appropriateness around her and in the community at large they are known to live on edge of what it takes to be witnesses. One of them is married to a registered sex offender! He is a witness! Then they try to act so high and mighty! My wife is a gem, she treats them with way more respect than they deserve. Thanks for sharing! I found it most amusing!
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How many left the JW cult after.....
by AK - Jeff inthe age of 40?.
seems like a lot have left after 1/2 or 2/3 of a lifetime.
what accounts for that in your mind, if you left in later middle years or older?.
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Thechickennest
I started to fade out in my mid thirties and was officially done with it by the time I was 43. I waited for my wife to come along with me, it took longer, I love her dearly and it was worth the wait! I gave up in my heart on the organization when I seen there was really "no true love among these people", yup, they did not have the identifing mark of true christians after all, A rude awakening, but a valid one. With JW's it was all about money, judgeing, disfellowshipping, abusing kids and adults alike, No health care, no retirement plans, just give, give and give more. I did not want this for my young duaghter, wife, or myself any longer, it all was a lie. I am somewhat resentful of the wasted years, but at the same time life is a series of events, some which build character and give us somthing solid to build the future on. For my family the weakness of a cult in the foundation of life has been removed!
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Does the WTBTS still control your life?
by Honesty indo you follow the arrangement dictated by the governing body of jw's regarding df'd and da'd individuals?
do you shun the jw's like you are expected to by wt leaders or do you speak to jw's and greet them with a smile even if they shun you when you do so?
in complying with wtbts rules of acceptable behavior for da'd or df'd persons do you think that you are showing unconditional love to your neighbor?
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Thechickennest
No, the Watchtower has no further hold on me. It's over. I resigned two years ago. Since I am not a JW I do not have to exercise or participate in anyway in the shunning practice as a participant or a recieptient of the poor manners. I usually see a witness or two everyday out in public. If I greeted them when I was a JW, I still greet them with a smile and a warm hello. It makes some of them turn away which is their choice. Usually they smile and go on by. At anyrate I do not stoop to their level of bias and poor manners. I never really honored the shunning practice when I was a member of that group (25 years) because I was not raised in it. I knew from my upbringing that such a practice was poor manners, mental, cruel and nasty. If a witness responds postively to my warm smile and hello I know the victory is theirs. It is their first small step at breaking away from the control even if they don't know it.
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This Month's KM: Family Calendar?
by RichieRich inas many of you might have noticed, the may 2005 km has a group of 4 or 5 articles about scheduling family activities.
it includes a blank week long calendar and little slips that you can cut out and paste onto the calendar.
i think this is another crazy, last ditch effort to try and grab the remaining witnesses into the protective brood of the gb.
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Thechickennest
This in shameful. What about time for a bowel movement? How much T.P.? What kind of T.P.? What wiping method will work best? What is the cost? What do the kind do the elders use? How much time to you take for each swipe?
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The Money Is Drying Up In The Organization!
by minimus inmy mother told me that the congregation has been pretty much begging for money for the local kingdom hall.
after the presiding overseer expressed the state of debt and severe lack on contributions, he then asked the congregation to approve a resolution to send mor money to the society!!!
i don't know how they are able to function.
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Thechickennest
People in middle age or over are playing a game of catch-up trying to save money for their retirement!
As Sweet Tea says: They have a dilemma: better educated people make more money - but people who are educated can see through them better but they can't have that. They want ignorant downtrodden adherents. They don't want an educated congregation. They feel educated people can't take counsel.Yes, I agree. I was trusting enough (and stupid enough) at 18 years of age to join this cult and shared in it's sins for another 25 years! The whole damn 25 years I was broke, suffered from depression, and disowned my extended family. I used up about 30 4-door sedans, 50 suits, 1000 notebooks, gained about 100 pounds on all the damn donut breaks in the "service", and every bit of discretionary money I had!
Then I went to college, got a good job, health insurance, 401K, my extended family took me back...(I don't know why, I treated them like shit) The depression subsided, I resigned from the cult after figuring out the folly of it all...No more downtrodden adherent here!
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Have you expanded your entertainment choices post witness?
by Thechickennest inwe live in a small ranching community in western south dakota where chicken roping on saturday nights at the local redneck steakhouse tavern is the feature entertainment in town!
if we drive about 80 miles north we have more choices.
without 5 meetings, door to door, assemblies, study, study, study, etc, etc, that kind of frees up quite a bit of time.
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Thechickennest
It's a start!
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Have you expanded your entertainment choices post witness?
by Thechickennest inwe live in a small ranching community in western south dakota where chicken roping on saturday nights at the local redneck steakhouse tavern is the feature entertainment in town!
if we drive about 80 miles north we have more choices.
without 5 meetings, door to door, assemblies, study, study, study, etc, etc, that kind of frees up quite a bit of time.
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Thechickennest
We live in a small ranching community in western South Dakota where chicken roping on Saturday nights at the local redneck steakhouse tavern is the feature entertainment in town! If we drive about 80 miles north we have more choices. Without 5 meetings, door to door, assemblies, study, study, study, etc, etc, that kind of frees up quite a bit of time. We are middle aged couple with a teenage daughter and we need stuff to do. I can tell you from first hand experience what we have done has really assisted us with our healing process after 30 years of watchtower! We are members of a local church which has about 100 members. There is choir, youth groups, bible study groups, sunday school, quilting, sportmans club, mens club, womens circles. We pick what works for us alacarte, no obligation, no worries. Its great. Then we like to set an example for our daugter concerning meaningful community service. We belong to the Lions Club, IOOF, Rebekahs, the local theatre group, and I recently run for city council and was elected for a two year term! Then there is the group of motorcyclists we ride with in the Black Hills in the summer time. The more you do, hence....the more you forget about the past! We faded from the witnesses for about a ten year period and then we resigned and got busy with these other things. I wish we had severed the ties sooner and just got on with our lives like we have the last couple of years. No, we did not die, miss the end of this system, miss out living in a pardise, miss the resurection of dead loved ones, ba, dump, ba dump, ba dump..... We just started living! Go for it and never look back is our recommendation!
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Have you purchased your Girl Scout cookies?
by Thechickennest ineven when i was active with the cult i always bought the forbidden cookies....my mother-in-law a lifer in the borg, always forbid my wife to even take a bite of one, let alone purchase them!
my wife works in a small doctors office everyday with two witness gals.
gets real dicey at times with my wife being dissassociated.
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Thechickennest
Even when I was active with the cult I always bought the forbidden cookies....My mother-in-law a lifer in the borg, always forbid my wife to even take a bite of one, let alone purchase them! My wife works in a small doctors office everyday with two witness gals. Gets real dicey at times with my wife being dissassociated. The poor Doctor who is not a witness has a hard time swallowing all the witness issues. Today the witness coworkers each purchased 10 boxes of cookies from the Doctors young daughter as did my wife. I have to wonder if these witnesses are struggling tonight with there conscience! I hope so!
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Shunning via US Postal Service
by Thechickennest inin today's mail came a envelope from ms. b[edit] c[edit] of rawlins, wyoming.
betty and her family were our longtime associates while were in the cult of jehovah's witnesses.
enclosed were photographs of my wife, daughter, myself and my wife's sister.
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Thechickennest
There's a blatant sense of manipulation behind her actions. JW shunning amounts to little more than emotional blackmail - pure and simple.
Steve2: Thank you for this. I think this sums up the JW shunning about as well as I have ever heard...Emotional Blackmail. I really appreciated hearing from all of you and your experiences and advice. I am ready to become the apostate from hell from this point on! No mercy! The Christmas cards are going to fly! New photos of God only knows what are going in the mail! I have been happy up to this point to quietly move on. Joined my old church, Serve on the church boards, teach Sunday School, the whole nine yards. Now after all these years we get pictures back in the mail...Holy Crap! I have an additional mission now! Let me add one more antedote about this: Our teenage daughter took a look at the envelope this evening that came in the mail... and low and behold the mean spirited former friend used a Catholic themed Christmas stamp to send it!