it was in october of 1987, as a 19 year old, raised as a jehovah's witness, that i disassociated from them.
i have had countless emotional, relationship and professional struggles that i know came from the years of mental control, training to be judgmental, and the culture of everything being all right or all wrong.
when i disassociated, i promised myself that when i reached the point where i had more days out than in (it's about four years from now) that i would truly celebrate my freedom-the crossing point when i can no longer say i was a jehovah's witness for most of my life.. .
Hi!
As soon as you pass the bar mail me your business card. I could always use a good lawyer, and you sound like you're on the way to being one of the best!
Cyrus
P.S. I was born of ethnic Jewish parents who became Witnesses before I was born. I, too, feel the pull of Judaism pulling me back 'home".I can't explain it, but it's there.
Take Care and I'll see you at Temple
Cyrus
folks.
we did the positive spin about being a witness.
now let's see if we can come up with anything negative about being a jehovah's witness....now, put your thinking caps on!
Hi!
I can't believe that no one has mentioned
Field Service!!
Yuck!!
Cyrus
i've been away for some time - lots of work and family stuff keeping me busy.
i was reading through a lot of the posts this evening catching up and there are so many new people here!
so to all of you who are just now searching for an answer, to those that are scared of leaving, or scared that you've been df'd, or scared of armageddon - i want to let you know what it's like on the other side - when you've finally made it through all the fear, the guilt, the sorrow, and have healed.. there is a feeling of freedom now that i can not explain to anyone still in - in fact, even people who were not once jw's don't understand because they don't know what it was like to be in "chains".
Dear Dawn,
Thank You. Your post made my day.
Cyrus
finding this forum is the best thing that has happened to me since i decided to slip the chains of the wt org.
yes, i've been lurking and reading your great posts.
so many times i've said "thats exactly what happened to me".. i'm a senior citizen and the use of a computer is not easy....please be patient.
Hi!
A very warm welcome to you!
I'm new here myself. I've already learned so much being here and I'm sure you will too.
I look forward to hearing more from you!
Again, welcome
Cyrus
i've had a chuckle at all the "dumbest counselling" anecdotes.
now, what was your best/funniest comeback line (and the line that inspired it) when you were being counselled by someone who plainly didn't know what he was going on about?
Hi!
Zev's comment above reminds me of one time when I was an elder I spotted one of the mike handlers taking advantage of his position to look down the fronts of the sister's dresses while holding the mike. After the meeting I took him to the back of the hall and said, "You had better be sneakier than that or somebody's gonna bust your a$$" I think he got the message, but he never looked at me the same way again. I stepped down shortly after that so I assume he went back to his evil ways.
Cyrus
.
we have had some pretty amasing classic comedy in britian over the years.. faulty towers, the office, alan partridge,ali g etc.mind you weve had some very crap sit-com 2.4 kids etc.. who does it better the brits or the yanks?.
sorry ozzies cant think of any from down under.
The British, no doubt about it. I live for British comedy, although the Canadians come in a close second. Must be a Commonwealth thing...
Cyrus
<rant>when i was a teenager and in my early twenties, there was nothing better than knocking off afternoon shift at the steelworks and riding my motorbike into wollongong to one of the many pizza bars and tucking into a large plate of scaloppini al vino bianco (veal in white wine) as a midnight snack before going home to bed.
in fact, just about every pizza bar everywhere served scallopini al vino bianco back in the early eighties - i was spoiled for choice.
now, it's a rare pizza place that still makes the stuff - if you find one that serves scaloppini, more likely than not, it'll be scallopini al marsala!
Hi!
Stop It! Stop it! Stop it!
I'm on a diet for heaven's sake! All this talk of scaloppini al vino blanco, roast lamb a la Greco, pizza bars and wine make me yearn for my Big Fat Elder days when we would go to restaurants after the meetings (to get some real food after choking down all that spiritual food, no doubt).
Please help me I'm slipping...
Cyrus
P.S. I'm no longer a Big Fat Elder, I'm now a Slim Svelte Apostate, and I'm gonna stay that way, so there!
mrs ozzie prepared the lunch and i made the drinks!
our visitors were baptist folk, so there was no shiraz today, out of respect for their sensibilities!
we enjoyed our conversation about dateline/panorama/sunday and they are taking a tape of the sunday program to various church groups in the south of sydney.
Hi!
Note to Blondie:
I always enjoy your well researched posts! I wish I'd thought of that back in the early 70's when that 1975 crap was floating around!
And thanks for the warm welcome everyone!
Babylon will rise again!! ...Oh wait, the Persians don't like the Babylonians. Never mind.
Cyrus
mrs ozzie prepared the lunch and i made the drinks!
our visitors were baptist folk, so there was no shiraz today, out of respect for their sensibilities!
we enjoyed our conversation about dateline/panorama/sunday and they are taking a tape of the sunday program to various church groups in the south of sydney.
Hi!
Number 7 & 8, Even as a kid in the "truth" I never really believed it.
Cyrus
while reading through and posting in unbeliever's thread, this topic came to mind.
personally i do not have any sense of obligation to jw family that still holds to such dogma.
that means it doesn't matter to me that my mother ignores her grandson; and her great-grandchildren.
Hi!
I understand where you are coming from. I just recently became disillusioned with the "truth" and recently reconnected with a long disfellowshipped cousin with whom I had been close as a child. It was heartbreaking all the things I had missed out on in his life. I am sure that many JW's are acutely aware of the things they will miss when they choose the meanderings of some old men in Brooklyn over their families and loved ones but they do it anyway. Poor saps. When they are old and grey and the paradise still hasn't come I wonder how many will realize that they missed out on the true paradise with their loved ones.
Cyrus
P.S. First post btw!
