whats everbodys favorite band, or song?
i like rock.
favorite song of all time is jumper from third eye blind.
Eric Clapton, Eric Clapton, Eric Clapton!!!!!! My God, his guitar-playing is so awesome!!!
Eagles, Def Leppard, Tom Petty's "American Girl" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance"
Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart (especially the Turkish Rondo)
Vince Gill, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson--"Home" makes me cry everytime
Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong
I just don't like rap.
maybe that's a stupid question.
i always thought you could get disfellowshipped for associating with ones who are disfellowshipped.
however, i seem to remember something in the "secret" elders manual (which my husband found in it's entirety online a couple of years ago, but which we haven't been able to find again) which said that a person would not get disfellowshipped for associating with a disfellowshipped family member.
thanks for your replies. and, thanks auntiem for your post--that was the one i was looking for!
maybe that's a stupid question.
i always thought you could get disfellowshipped for associating with ones who are disfellowshipped.
however, i seem to remember something in the "secret" elders manual (which my husband found in it's entirety online a couple of years ago, but which we haven't been able to find again) which said that a person would not get disfellowshipped for associating with a disfellowshipped family member.
Maybe that's a stupid question. I always thought you could get disfellowshipped for associating with ones who are disfellowshipped. However, I seem to remember something in the "secret" elders manual (which my husband found in it's entirety online a couple of years ago, but which we haven't been able to find again) which said that a person would not get disfellowshipped for associating with a disfellowshipped family member. But that if the DF'd person was NOT a relative, then you could be disfellowshiped for associating with him/her. Can anyone set the record straight for me?
was it family, friends, the belief that this all was really true?
It was all I ever knew, and I believed it. Then when I finally stopped believing it, I stayed in because of family. And I'm still in, but trying to fade without losing the family. Very sticky situation.
looking for a good way to escape the watchtower?.
go nuts!
this works especially well for women.
I have actually considered this, so now that I see I'm not the first to think of it, maybe I'll give it a try. I am seeing a therapist already, just to try to sort out some feelings, but if I could pull off faking a real disorder, maybe that would be my way out. Seriously!!! I know a woman who had a hysterectomy, then later got an "unscriptural divorce" and remarried even though she wasn't "free". Some witnesses I know said "she had a hysterectomy and lost her mind!" So the mental health/female thing could work I suppose. I'm so desperate, I'm to the point where I'm considering ANYTHING. I even told my husband maybe if i got pregnant again, i could miss all the meetings for a couple years (difficult pregnancy, difficult recovery, difficult newborn/toddler). Isn't that terrible?!!!! I'm really desperate, and really crazy, and really almost to the point that i wouldn't have to FAKE a mental illness!
Anyway, thanks for a great post and a great idea.
how many of you on this forum were born into the jw faith?
do you think this put you at a disadvantage when leaving the org.
do you think that someone who becomes a witness later in life would have an easier time adjusting back to a "normal" life?
I was born in and naturally never exposed to any other way of thinking. Nearly my whole family is still in and therefore I don't wish to be da'd. It makes it really hard because I still attend meetings once in a great while just because of the pressure and the guilt trips from my family. But I don't want to go at all, yet I can't seem to get the courage to break away. I attend so infrequently that most JW's don't socialize with me anyway, other than family. I don't fit in with JW's, and I don't fit in with anyone else either. It's hard making worldly friends because I feel so different. Then when everyone starts talking about the holidays I sit there like a bump on a log and feel like such a weirdo because I can't participate in the conversation. Then someone says "What church do you go to?" I don't want to say JW because I certainly don't feel like one anymore, but I don't go to other churches either, so again. . . WEIRDO. And I would LOVE to celebrate holidays and do all the normal stuff, especially now that I have kids, but I don't want to get "found out", so I either don't participate or if I do participate, then I have to hide it from my family and the congregation. What a weird, weird life when you have to lie to your mom about buying a Christmas present for your kids. Yes, I think it's definitely harder to leave if you were born in, unless all your family leaves too, which rarely ever happens. Someone on this site put it well when they said "it's like they're holding family members for ransom." It makes me sick and miserable, but I stay in because I can't stand to even imagine the look on my 70-year-old mothers face if I ever told her I was going to leave. I was already DF'd once and then reinstated and she told me if i didn't get reinstated it would KILL her.
10 things i learned in 2002
1. sometimes life just sucks, take it and move on.. 2. scarlett was right, some things are best left until tomorrow.. 3. never count on someone else to look out for your best interests, if its important follow through yourself.. 4. home is where you lay your head down at night, wherever that is.. 5. dont even think this is the worst day of my life, it can get worse and you dont want to know how.. 6. keep your greatest treasures in your heart, youll never run out of storage space.. 7. give more love than you think you can, broken hearts do heal and heal stronger.. 8. everyone has two families, one they were born to and one they chose.
9. you can always make friends, start with hi.. 10. the greatest measure is not what you have, its what you are willing to give.. happy new year!!.
Numbers 8 and 9 really hit home with me. I feel really uncomfortable trying to make friends, feeling like i'll never fit in with anyone. I don't fit in with JW's, but I still have enough JW hangups to make me feel like I don't fit in with anyone else either. This forum helps so much, and your post has inspired me to keep trying. Thanks!
a few days ago someone wrote about a new rule that came out in elders school this summer about inactive ones still being accountable to jehovah's (watchtower) rules.
does this mean that they are going to start disassociating ones who have been inactive for years who are not upholding the rules?
i know of a few people who have not attended meeting in several years who either celebrate holidays or in other ways break the rules and everybody knows it.
What if you just never meet with them? Can they DA you without talking to you first?
a few days ago someone wrote about a new rule that came out in elders school this summer about inactive ones still being accountable to jehovah's (watchtower) rules.
does this mean that they are going to start disassociating ones who have been inactive for years who are not upholding the rules?
i know of a few people who have not attended meeting in several years who either celebrate holidays or in other ways break the rules and everybody knows it.
A few days ago someone wrote about a new rule that came out in elders school this summer about inactive ones still being accountable to Jehovah's (Watchtower) rules. Does this mean that they are going to start disassociating ones who have been inactive for years who are not upholding the rules? I know of a few people who have not attended meeting in several years who either celebrate holidays or in other ways break the rules and everybody knows it. Nothing is done to them because it has been so long since they've attended that they're not really considered witnesses in the community anymore. So does this new rule mean that the elders are going to start tracking these people down?
I just started the fade away a few months ago, moved to a new town hoping for some anonymity, although my mom (not knowing at all how I feel) has informed the elders of my new address. Anyway, this sounds like it will make the fade, and especially any hopes of living a normal life, very difficult. Unless you don't mind getting da'd, which I'd hoped to avoid since my whole family is still in.
Can anyone provide more info? Thanks!
well, i panicked, i prepared and had excuses ready.
strategies and contingency plans up and running.
i have been awaiting, nay willing my "inactive persons' shepherding call" (whatever) and it hasn't happened yet!.
***The Elders school last summer made it crystal clear that no matter how long one has been inactive, that person is still under "God's" (translation: "Watchtower") laws. This is a complete turnabout from the Flock book in which elders could consider how long a person has been inactive before they DA'd.
Are you for real!!!? I thought if you'd drifted away and hadn't attended meetings for several years, you could pretty much do what you wanted with no repercussions. So that's changed? I know quite a few people that are living however they want, for example--a former MS with a live-in girlfriend, but he hasn't attended meetings in so long that nobody does anything about it. So are they going to go after him?
