Posts by pronomono

23

2022-April-Elder Manual and Addendum--12 Files!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

several files in the folder including:.

2022-april-elders manual.. 2022 april addendum.

working together safely12 files total.

pronomono

Thanks, Atlantis! It's been a number of years since I've logged in here, but it's nice to see you still keeping the community supplied with resources! You're much appreciated!

10

My wife blew my mind, Seth Andrews, and more....

by pronomono in

so i recently had the opportunity to hear seth andrews speak in person at a local unitarian universalist church.

for those of you who know my past, i've had a bit of a difficult time dealing with the emotional aspects of a fade with a wife that says she believes but doesn't put forth the works that demonstrate that faith.

we've kind of been in a rocky point in our relationship because we've both been afraid to test the waters on where each of us stand.

pronomono

Diogenesister, I emailed Seth to let him know. I'll have to start listening to his podcast and see if I get mentioned. :) I mainly want him to know how much what he does means to me though. He's a great influence in the freethinker/atheist/agnostic community.

Steve2, I was worried she might turn me in too, maybe not directly, but there is a good chance she could share it with someone that would turn me in. A year ago, I couldn't have handled it, but I'm in a much better frame of mind now. I like to think that I'm stronger now, but I hope I don't have to test that theory. Anyways, best to start getting things out in the open. It's a lot less stressful than hiding it.

10

My wife blew my mind, Seth Andrews, and more....

by pronomono in

so i recently had the opportunity to hear seth andrews speak in person at a local unitarian universalist church.

for those of you who know my past, i've had a bit of a difficult time dealing with the emotional aspects of a fade with a wife that says she believes but doesn't put forth the works that demonstrate that faith.

we've kind of been in a rocky point in our relationship because we've both been afraid to test the waters on where each of us stand.

pronomono

So I recently had the opportunity to hear Seth Andrews speak in person at a local Unitarian Universalist church. For those of you who know my past, I've had a bit of a difficult time dealing with the emotional aspects of a fade with a wife that says she believes but doesn't put forth the works that demonstrate that faith. We've kind of been in a rocky point in our relationship because we've both been afraid to test the waters on where each of us stand.

So I hear Seth Andrews will be speaking locally and I really want to attend, but I realize that this will be my first public display of apostasy. My nerves were on edge but I told my wife that I wanted to attend a talk that evening, that Seth Andrews, founder of the Thinking Atheist, was giving a talk at the Unitarian Universalist church. She said okay but seemed a little uneasy about me going. But I went anyways. This was my first time in a Unitarian Universalist church. It was a plain, small building and not as weird as I thought it would be. The crowd was incredibly diverse, from well-dressed educated people to misfit type people (who could have also been well-educated, no stigmas here!) that you'd expect to see at a heavy metal concert. There were very few Unitarian Universalists there, which I found odd, and a handful of people from the local atheist group, but for the most part, the audience was unaffiliated with any group.

So I find my seat. Seth goes out of his way to come shake my hand and thank me for coming. I had the opportunity to talk to him, share a little of my story, and thank him for the large influence that he has had on me getting my bearings and maintaining a cool head as I fade from existence from the JW religion. He sympathized that he never knew just how bad the religion was until he studied it. For a long time, he saw JWs as a happy people, but never knew what we had to go through in our exit.

He gave a new talk about his friend Corey that suppressed his true personality for a long time. When Corey finally revealed that he was gay, Seth went through a difficult struggle to accept this because his Christian upbringing had taught him that Corey was going to hell. Seth discussed this struggle and how he ultimately overcome his reservations, accepted the lifestyle that Corey led, and still calls him a friend to this day. And this friendship has led to experiences that Seth wouldn't have had otherwise.

Seth also introduced us to the liberal redneck, Trae Crowder. Watch him if you get a chance. I about laughed my ass off. Liberal Redneck - YouTube

So when Seth was done, I go back home. We have some family over and nobody really says anything about where I've been or what I did. I assume they all knew, but didn't know for sure. When they leave, my wife asks how it went and I share with her what Seth talked about. We talk about JW stuff and the upcoming convention. She mentions the shunning talk and I tell her the real talks the witnesses will be talking about are the bunker talks. I tell her about how there's a whole series of videos they are using to instill fear in members yada yada ya and that I saw it on YouTube as well as the shunning video, and I discuss some of the points from that video too.

Later that evening she keeps asking me who I went to see again and says she watched the videos and starts to condemn them for using fear tactics and the image that they are presenting of themselves in these videos, and starts to mention some of the other videos she saw on YouTube. So she shows me one and backs up to show me another, and when she backs up, what site do you think she lands on???? Avoidjw.org

So she went to an apostate site to view drama videos which she was then critical of, shared this with me, and has since been reaching out to people that she had previously cut off for being disfellowshipped/disassociated.

And then my wife asked, "So, does this make you an official apostate now?" I told her "No, I was that a long time ago, but it does give them something official to disfellowship me for now. That and me talking to disfellowshipped people." Her reply...."Bring it."

This was the complete opposite reaction that I was expecting from her. I never expected her to come this far in being released from the clutches of the Watchtower. Seth is an amazing speaker and person, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to experience him. And I'm glad that through this experience, I've have a positive experience with my wife.

----------------------------

TLDR; Seth Andrew came to town. I got to hear him speak and this opened the door for me to have a great experience with my wife. Things are slowly but surely getting better.

18

The best way for a witness to wake up, is to simply read the societies own older publications!

by stuckinarut2 in

once again the society is on a push to scare witnesses away from doing any research, or "stumbling" upon any "apostate" material (from workmates, neighbors, or online).

however, the most enlightening, mind blowing and eye opening things are found simple by reading the early publications themselves!.

read how ct russel, (the supposed channel god was using) had the most far fetched and laughable ideas, such as obtaining pivotal dates by measuring the pyramids of egypt!...

pronomono

All of these played a part for me. Changing teachings led me to look at old teachings. I realized these old teachings were batshit crazy. Then when I found out how they obscured the truth about these teachings by using half-truths and misleading quotes, it pushed me over the edge and I started searching for everything I could find wrong about the organization. Not to mention many of the new videos (bunker ones included) that are filmed in a soap-opera style when we are told not to watch soap operas. Why imitate something that you denounce?

I remember as a kid reading the Life book on how even Charles Darwin thought evolution was preposterous and laughing at how stupid evolutionists were. Now I realize the jokes on me, and I'm not laughing anymore.

24

Ever-changing teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses - probably the most comprehensive compendium about Watchtower doctrinal changes

by WTS Archive in

two days ago a new book was released for download, called "ever-changing teachings of jehovah's witnesses".

it was originally written by a polish jw scholar (who never was a jw himself) włodzimierz bednarski, with a help from szymon matusiak, who was a jw and an elder, and is a result of years of labourious work to compile quotes regarding every single doctrine the book describes.

it covers the most important changes in years 1879—2015.

pronomono

Many thanks for this great resource and all the resources on WTS Archive!

18

Regional Convention

by raven in

so how many are not going to the regional convention this year?

it will be my first year not attending as part of my fade.. i remember going for all of my childhood into adult hood, participating in stage parts even.. however, last assembly i was already mentally checked out.

i remember looking around and seeing all of people bobbing & nodding at the program talks that had been previously repeated time and time again.. almost seemed like hypnosis.. i also had a hard time with the fact that we're all supposed to be "friends" and everyone had always seemed to be so judgmental.. especially at conventions & assemblies.. things like who had the best outfit for the days, who looked the prettiest, who can snag the single ms brother.. who took the most spiritual food out of the program, how many times can you tally mark jehovah's name.

pronomono

This will be my first year not going where my family actually know I didn't go. This past one was my first missed one, though. It feels quite liberating knowing that you're not wasting your entire weekend. Back when my wife still wanted to go, I tried going with her but the stress of being around judgemental, religious bigots was too unnerving. So I stopped and haven't been back since.

27

Hi everyone!

by cognac in

jw
friends

was just listening to a song that made me think of the jws so thought i'd say hi and see how everyone is.

i'm doing ok. kids are fine.

i'm good, making tons of friends, very successful in my career, bla bla bla.

pronomono

Cognac,

Glad to see you're doing great! Adjusting to the world does take some time, but given how far back we were set with our JW upbringing, it sounds like you're doing just fine. It takes some time to undo years of deeply engrained thinking. I'm sorry to hear about your siblings, but am glad you still have some contact with your mom. I know that means a lot to you.

Quite a bit has changed on my side since we last talked. Not only did I come out completely to my wife, but also to my family and friends. It's now common knowledge that I no longer attend any meetings and am an unbeliever. Oddly enough, no one that I care for has shunned me yet. I think most of them are still reeling in shock since this was so unexpected to a lot of people, especially many of them finding out two years after my fade began. I'm sure once the shock is over, shunning will begin, but I've become strong enough to handle it. And my wife has come around tremendously and faded with me although it sounds like she still clings to the faith somewhat. I'm not sure whats in store for the future, but I'm looking forward to it.

I hope your future continues to get brighter every day. And avoid those clingy guys. From my observations, clingy worldly guys/girls have just as many issues as the worst JW guys/girls do.

21

I`m on Windows 10 and my mouse keeps dying , any suggestions ? what to do ?

by smiddy in

hi friends.. as the op states lately my mouse keeps dying on me while i`m in the middle of typing a post or whatever and so i lose all that i have laboured to type.. i keep resurrecting the mouse but now it`s dying more frequently .. any suggestions on how to get around this problem , or am i flogging a dead mouse ?.

i await your suggestions.. smiddy.

pronomono

I had something similar happen to me when I upgraded to Windows 10, except my mouse would die and come back within a few seconds. Turns out there was an incompatibility between a Realtek program that gets installed with their HD Audio called FMAPP.exe . I killed this program and the problem was solved. No more dying or lag. I also made sure to remove this as a startup app under msconfig.

If it's a wireless mouse, try using a wired USB mouse to see if you have the same problem. If it's a touchpad/wireless, try downloading the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website. Also, is it just the mouse, or are other peripheral devices dying as well?

If all else fails, become a power user and learn all the bajillions of keyboard commands so you can impress your friends with superior knowledge and wizardry of how to control a computer without a mouse.

26

Start your own Prince rumour!

by purrpurr in

i see the jw rumour mill is going into mad overdrive about prince.

the stories seem to be more and more unlikely.

so i thought as a bit of fun how about us here try to make up our own rumours?

pronomono

Jehovah must be preparing a helluva victory song!

57

Did you participate in a Drama?

by Hecce in

i am bringing this up because even it was a lot of work, for the majority of the friends this was a rewarding experience.

camaraderie, joking, costumes, props and when the time came the celebrity status of being in the drama.. back in the 50s and 60s, conventions could be as long as 8 days and from about 1966 the dramas became an integral part of the program.

we had one per day and the brothers looked forward to their presentation.

pronomono

I played in the last two dramas. They were a blast. It was the only thing I ever did that was enjoyable as a JW. I didn't really see celebrity status, but we became a pretty close knit group of friends and were sad when it was over. It does take a lot of time. My biggest problem with it was we were spending 10:00am to 3:00pm on most Saturdays, which was my only service day. The elders had the nerve to council me about not going out in service more. The drama was fun, but I wasn't about to give my whole weekend up by making up service on Sunday. As far as I was concerned, the drama was my service.