Have You Had Any "Blessings" Since You've Left The Truth?
Every minute of every day is a blessing when you're out of that mess.
I love a very dear Man...
You go foxxy grandma!!!
( laying flat on the floor so your rocks wont hit me LOL)
Mouthy, silly! No one here would throw rocks at you...and if anybody tried, we'd kick their ass
this is my baby grand daughter, her name is aunna.
she turned a year old three days ago when i shot these photos.
the good looking guy is my oldest son nathan, her daddy.
You know...I'm not normally one to gush over babies or kids...but she is really adorable.
(it just occurred to me - JWs like to claim that us bitter apostates have nothing better do than hang about on message boards and talk about JWs - but this kind of stuff is really what we do more, I think)
Edited to add...I just showed my husband the pics, and we were talking about how spoiled grandpa is going to have her....she looks like the type that would do something really naughty (something grandpa taught her, as a matter of fact), and then look up at you and giggle with those little pigtails bouncing...and grandpa will say stuff like, "Awww, that's ok, we needed a new house anyway..."
i have noticed that most jehovahs witnesses and many who have left are very immature.
could you please give me your oppinion on that.
do they go as far as controlling your maturity ?
If, by immature, you mean someone who has never learned to think for themselves, make their own decisions or trust their instincts or their conscience - but instead to run to a group of religious leaders or a bunch of books - then, yes, I think it's pretty obvious they are immature.
I mean really...look at some of the 'counsel' we've talked about on this board...are fireworks OK? How about pinatas? What movies is a grown person 'allowed' to see? Should I be a pall bearer at my grandmother's funeral?
Well, I can't decide these important issues on my own - I'll have to look up what the society says, or ask an elder.
I mean, really...how absurd is this when you look at it from the point of view of 'normal' people???
I've seen grown men worried that they'll 'get in trouble' (w/ the elders) if they buy the car they want - a 2 door. Does anyone else remember a convention drama (maybe it was an illustration, not a drama) from the late 80's where a young married couple got counseled by the elders for buying a fancy new stereo...with their own money - rather than living economically and spending more time in service? Even as a dub I thought that a bit extreme.
i had to take my dad to the va hospital for a doctor's appointment and in almost every waiting room there was magazines not even recent issues.
you have to wait for freaking ever at the va hospital so i decided to do my civic duty and i went around this huge hospital collecting magazines and would throw them in the nearest trash can.
nobody cared until i got on the 4th floor.
They leave mags lay around outside on campus (I ask you, is this good stewardship?). It really peeves me that they are basically littering and counting time! I always throw them away when I see them.
When I visited the medical clinic in Seward, NEJeff! We used to live in NE (Falls City)...and later drove for Seward Motor Freight! Wonder if we ever saw each other at an assembly or convention??
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i know its been awhile...i dont have to much to say right now.im at a loss for words..im dissfellowshipped now..the announcement will be in 2 weeks.i just need some support..
Hey, Sweetie...I vote for making today the first day of your life in which you do what you want...not what some group of religious fanatics wants!! And every day from now on!
Are you still in high school? Can you go talk to a guidance counselor about what you're going through now? Perhaps you can get some support there. Be prepared for them to be horrified at how you're being treated by your "church", if he or she doesn't know anything about the JWs.
Also, that's a great way to get some info on how to pay for college, as well.
Get even with them - go out and have a great life and don't give them the satisfaction of 'crashing and burning out in the "world" ' like most JWs expect us to.
i already know how some of you will answer.
i realize that some dear friends here have lost their spouse due to their jw "awakening", but for those of you where both of you are now out, do you feel you are a better husband or wife because of the experience?
even if your spouse is still in, do you feel you are a better husband/wife?
Well, first for the outside relationships. Since none of our families were JWs, yeah, there's less strain now that my (fundamentalist Christian) parents aren't upset that we're in a cult and going to hell (we're still going to hell but at least we're not arguing over religious doctrine). I feel bad for all those years we didn't attend my grandma's holiday meals (we came later because I just couldn't totally hurt her feelings, but I wish we'd been there for the whole thing).
As for the marriage...well, before we were ever JWs we had our problems. Hubby is from an old-style German American farm family where the women wait on the men hand and foot. He can be a bossy and domineering little fart, as well as passive-aggressive. Then he became a JW...and a few years later I did. I'm amazed now we didn't get divorced. He can be snide and hateful when he's convinced he's right and you're wrong.
It took us years to get our equilibrium back to "normal". What's normal for us is certainly not acceptable for the JWs, and having someone else tell us how our relationship should work was disastrous. I have to meet him head-on or he tries to bulldoze me completely (he has very little empathy, and can be a selfish sh*t sometimes). People think I'm a dragon lady if they don't realize how I have to stand up for myself.
Actually, what I think saved our relationship (so far ) was when I started telling him - "What makes you think I give a F^#% what you think???" and meaning it! Sounds bizarre, I know, but he needed to be shaken up. Being, in no uncertain terms, willing to do what I wanted and live my own life without having to ask his permission or even care if we were together, I think made him realize that if he wanted to keep the relationship he needed to start taking me into consideration sometimes.
He doesn't like what movie I want to go see? Fine, I go by myself and he can sit home by himself. I've had too many years of not getting to do what I wanted because he didn't want to (or dragging him along and listen to him complain until he ruined it). It shocked the crap out of him the first time I said, "Fine. I'll just go by myself and do whatever. I'd rather you stay home than go and complain and ruin it for me." Now we do things on our own that we enjoy, but we do things together because we want to and enjoy them. It's not perfect but it's much healthier than never getting to do what I want and being very resentful.
you're out somewhere, shopping maybe or in a restaurant or bus queue, whatever.. you've not been to the meetings for a couple of years, you are now an inactive person.
you might even have da'd yourself or got df'd.. you suddenly realise you are facing or stood next to someone that you know is a jw.
you also know that they know that you were once a jw too.. the person greets you and starts up a conversation with you.
This will normally take the form of you being asked if you ever feel that maybe one day you will return to the truth.
My reponse would be, "I stopped considering it 'the truth' when I found out most of the things the society said about themselves were lies. I just can't be a part of an organization like that."
I still get occasional 'pass around the joke' emails from someone whose whole family we had been close to. If she ever asked I'd tell her the truth (gently), but since she doesn't ask I don't bring it up.
Another former friend who is an elder's wife who was also on the 'joke list' apparently saw my name among those being forwarded, and sent me one of those "are you approved assocation?" questions along with a "I hope you haven't fallen into false religion, come back to the hall" comment.
I told her that, when we were studying with JWs, we were told that, no matter how difficult it was, and no matter how much it upset our friends and family to become JWs, that you should not stay in a false religion just to please others.
I told her that, no matter how difficult it was to upset and disappoint our friends who were JWs, once we had found sufficient evidence that the society was not who it claimed to be, we could not in good conscience remain JWs just to please others.
They never know what to say to that, using their own arguments against them...
since half of them ended up at my house on friday and saturday nights i was given a very shining report card.
he then told me that he would knock on my door bright and early in the morning to take me to breakfast with him and his wife.
a couple of them told they enjoy the articles i write in the art magazines and they were really happy to meet me.
Wow
I think that was one of the longest posts I've ever read straight through, but it was great!
Hubby and I loved "The Razor's Edge" too, btw!
...what would you choose.
i'd pick japanese over my polish/german/scottish heritage any day.
i'm watching iron chef....damn, those japanese can cook a live octopus better than a mofo.
damn, those Japanese can cook a live octopus better than a mofo
Braaaaadleeeey!?!? WTF, mate?
So, if you're Japanese you're born knowing how to cook live octopus, but if you're Polish/German/Scottish, then you can't learn??
Jeez, dude, no wonder you lost out on the hundred mil...
Don't change your nationality, take a freakin' cooking class! (j/k)
an elderly jw lady that i love dearly passed away this week.
i didn't find out until today when i called my mom.
my father knew but didn't tell me when i spoke to him on wednesday---nothing to do with jwism, he's just forgetful.
So today I went to the service. Many people were there, especially from her family. At the entrance to the hall there were tables with photo albums and frames of her. Her younger daughter made up a pamphlet with her photo on the front cover and a short bio. That was also distributed inside the hall, but only 1 per family. There were also mini-collages displayed along the walls. The photo albums contained pictures of her dating back to 1939. There was even a hand-written recipe for turkey stuffing displayed on the front cover. She loved to cook and was excellent at it.
This is wonderful. I am amazed that this was allowed (I bet it would have never happened at our hall - creature worship, you know), but I'm so glad they did it!
