Posts by Faithful Witness

13

other forums

by Hortensia in

jw
friends

i look at three forums pretty much every day, this one, a knitting/crochet forum and a weight-loss forum.

the weight-loss site has loads of useful apps, but the forum consists of posts by people who are mostly pretty young, self-absorbed and ill-informed except on a narrow range of information, mainly weight-lifting, working out, and starving themselves.. the folks on the knitting/crochet forum are extremely polite, politically correct, and obey rules very carefully.

other than that, there are some seriously creative people with amazing artistic talent that expresses itself in fiber arts.

Faithful Witness

I like your analysis. Thanks for the fluffy post.

I love knitting, crochet, and other needle arts. I have one of those expensive embroidery sewing machines, but never use it. Someday, I will make time for crafts again. My daughter, now 7, is also a crafter. She collects things out of the kitchen trash and makes creations out of them. Haha... that is becoming frustrating sometimes. She's taught herself to crochet, and can do plastic canvas also.

I am actually trying to cut back on online message boards, but I am susceptible to this type of social network. I don't work outside the home, and I love getting the perspective of others on issues that are important to me. I like this forum, because the likelyhood that anyone here knows who I am is pretty slim... If you are a JW who is reading this, and know me, please stop by! I won't tell.

In other words, I have no friends. Sometimes the whackadoodles hurt my feelings, but I find this message board to be extremely helpful. The advice and criticism I receive here have honed me a lot, as I make progress toward learning how to deal with JWs in my life. (Or maybe I am one of the whackadoodles... if so, I'm happy to add a little spice to conversation. Personally, I love drama.)

Happy knitting, Hortensia! What do you like to knit?

I really want to start knitting socks, and have it become such second nature, that I am always carrying my knitting with me. I've made a couple of sweaters, several hats and a few mittens. Just one pair of socks (they matched!!) I just don't seem to spend much time sitting around lately. I'm always doing other things. I long to knit and crochet. Until the day I have time to sit still and do it, I will continue adding to my yarn collection. I see Michael's has a big sale on Lion Brand yarn this week.

18

I want to send a nice note to my sister

by Faithful Witness in

jw
friends

it's been about 5 weeks, since my sister sent me the email telling me she no longer wants to communicate with me (at this time).. i was never a jw, so i am not going to agree to those crazy terms.

i explained to her that she can do what she wants, but i will continue to be kind, and that i forgive her cruel treatment toward me.. i have given her some space, and i feel like i am ready to send her another note.

instead of bringing up any hard feelings of today, i was going to share some memories that i have of our early, pre-jw days.

Faithful Witness

It's been about 5 weeks, since my sister sent me the email telling me she no longer wants to communicate with me (at this time).

I was never a JW, so I am not going to agree to those crazy terms. I explained to her that she can do what she wants, but I will continue to be kind, and that I forgive her cruel treatment toward me.

I have given her some space, and I feel like I am ready to send her another note. Instead of bringing up any hard feelings of today, I was going to share some memories that I have of our early, Pre-JW days. I am the oldest, and she is the youngest in our family, 12 years younger than me.

Before I send it, I wanted to run it by you all and see if anything is going to pop out as controversial. These are all inside jokes, and probably won't be funny at all... but tell me if this is too much, or if something I am saying is going to sound an alarm and make her raise her cult spikes.

I don't expect a reply from her, nor do I think anything I say to her right now has a snowball's chance in Africa to reach her... but I still want her to know that my feelings for her have not changed. What do you think?

Hi R,

I just wanted you to know that I've been thinking about you.

It's been about a month since you sent your last email, so I thought I'd just check in and say hello to you and the family.

Lately, I've been remembering some old times, and have some really cute memories of hanging out with you. A few of them are from when you were just in preschool. You have always been such a sweet-hearted person.

I remember when you used to come up to me, turn around, and in your cute little voice would say, "Will you cratch my back?"

You have always been so cute, Rl!! I could never help but adore you. "One time, I said..."

Remember when you gave me that French manicure when I had a broken arm? I remember sitting around at Mom's house, waiting for you to get home from school. Haha. Those were the days!

$*o|\~ sing$ "Loving you is easier than falling off a log... A cat is still a cat, and a dog is still a dog... dog..." $*o|\~ sing$

Anyway, I just want you to know I will never stop loving you, and I will never stop being your big sister. Maybe some day you will be able to see things from my perspective. I love you forever, my little applesauce spiller!

10

JW's at my inlaw's door yesterday

by Hillary in

here in the northeast it is freezing.

a father and son team brought over the outside garbage cans from the end of the driveway and offered to salt my inlaws' driveway.

my f-i-l was very impressed and said they're very nice people.

Faithful Witness

What a nice thing to do! ... and a good way to get some time in, where they actually are doing something that has some value. Good ahead and let them waste time shoveling sidewalks.

They were clearing a path, so they can come back for a return visit.

I agree with the question raised by Blondie. My mom was in the hospital for 5 days in January. I was expecting gushing stories of all the JW's who went to visit her, cleaned her house or came over with hot meals for her and my dad. I didn't hear any such thing, but I do plan to ask her how much attention she got from them when she was sick.

She has mentioned that she has been "slacking" lately, and really "needs" to get out in service more! This statement breaks my heart, since she's using it as an excuse to spend less time with her grandkids who see her so rarely... but I'm also glad to hear that she is slacking!!

I am trying to take on a "glass half full" attitude in this JW situation with my family. I refuse to give up hope.

About the random JW, who comes and does you a favor, beware the wolf in sheep's clothing! But then again, maybe they are awake JWs, putting in time, making it take much longer than necessary to distribute the poison that comes down for public distribution.

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Faithful Witness

impala: my avatar comes from my wordpress account. I had no idea my guilty dog face would show up, when I joined this site.

Good luck today!

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Faithful Witness

One thing I find ironic in the JW world: If you leave your church to become a JW, you are "Brave." If you leave the JW's for ANY reason, you are now an apostate working for Satan.

valkyrie: That thought crossed my mind, too. Maybe they will keep coming around... but it's hard to hold out hope for anyone who regularly attends meetings. The indoctrination language is so strong.

Joe: I believe that they never told him about the details he didn't need to know about the JW's. I studied on and off for more than 3 years (we had long spells without studying, then would go back to it)... They never once told us about the faithful and discreet slave. NOT once. We heard comments about the slave at meetings, and just thought, "WTH is that? That's not in the paragraph..."

problemaddict: Our BS conductor cornered my husband one time, while I was putting our babies to bed. He tried the "tough guy" act on my husband (an Army veteran with 2 college degrees). He said, "Make some progress, or the blood of your family is on your hands..." or something very similar to what you described. I had his wife one time, whining about how she would have "blood guilt" if she didn't help me.

There were red flags from our teachers, but people are quirky sometimes... I really gave them the benefit of the doubt, UNTIL I asked some serious questions and they refused to answer.

To this day, NOT A SINGLE JW that I have seen, has EVER asked me WHY we stopped attending the meetings! ??? For 2 years, I waited for that question to arise... NO one. I saw my "friend" that I still dearly love, last May. I said, "Don't you want to know why we stopped coming?" She said,"I heard some stories, but I don't know the whole story. If you want to tell me sometime, I'm glad to listen..." but she quickly changed the subject. At the time, she was GLOWING with excitement over the New Light that was being revealed in the July 2013 Watchtower. I was so shocked by her cult response, I didn't know what to do at that moment.

I have run into JW's from the KH we attended for over a year, at least 20 times, either AT my door (racking up service time by "checking in on me") or crossing paths in public (like at the grocery store, where I literally have to touch them to get them to look at me - their blinders are very thick in public). We get the same line every time... "We miss you at the meetings." Never once, "What happened? Are you ok? Why don't you come back?" I have gone through so many emotions in recovering from the whole JW affair... I am finally at the point now, where I just feel sorry for them and wish I could help them wake them up. Too bad there isn't a pill that would take scales off eyes! :)

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Faithful Witness

Impala: What are your intentions at this point? Would you like to continue your Bible study?

If so, you can simply tell them you were concerned about some comments made to you at the meeting. You could tell them you read the Watchtower lesson, and that it raised some red flags for you.

Pick 1 question from the current Watchtower, one that bothers you most... get them to examine the Bible with you, and show you a scriptural basis for the thing that is bothering you most.

Don't allow them to cherry pick verses out of context to justify their beliefs. I would NOT tell them you have been looking things up online, nor that you were communicating with ex-JW's. It sounds like you have a good relationship with these folks. Exposing the fact that you've looked at apostate information, will ruin your standing with them. You will no longer be one they can trust.

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Faithful Witness

Blues Brother: That is exactly what I noticed about this week's WT lesson. The scriptures they were reading aloud, 3 passages from Thessalonians, all mentioning "letters from US." Since the JW's are so used to getting letters and instructions, and "adjustments" to their understanding of what the Bible "really" means to us today, instructions that come down from the slave, they are going to make the consicous or subconcious connection regarding these letters. The slave does claim to speak for God, so why WOULDN'T their letter be equal to those of Paul to Thessalonica??

Also, after visits to the meetings last September, when they were reinventing the truth again (July Watchtower, revising 1914 and definition of the slave class), it REALLY seemed like some of the comments were planted.

There were phrases inserted from the podium, which definitely seemed forced. "Jehovah will unite us." "We need to stick together on this." My husband remarked that he heard expressions like this a few times, and upon reviewing our digital recording (!! yes we did !!) of the meeting and comments, there were clearly scripted comments from the Watchtower conductor.

We had not been to a meeting in a couple of years. We were dressed like JW's, the best we could. NO ONE greeted us. No one spoke to us after the meeting. It was a strange and dark atmosphere. The air was heavy and even the WT reader was shifting in his seat.

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Faithful Witness

rebel8: Our teachers NEVER once mentioned the slave to us in our home Bible study. Not once, and we actually had a few different sets of people guiding us through the "Teach" book. We heard people make comments about it at the meetings, and I was always baffled. I thought to myself, "What are they TALKING about? What is this faithful and discreet slave?"

It is code language, JW lingo... it piqued my curiosity, and made me realize that I was not really a JW. Cult-speak is only used at meetings. It actually made something in my mind want to learn more and yes, draw closer to "Jehovah." At the same time, it was unsettling and weird. I never directly asked anyone about it, because I guess I was embarassed to confess that I did not know what it meant. I was barely able to keep up with studying the weekly Watchtower lesson, let alone do any extra credit.

We did attend the Ministry School twice, but it was just ridiculous, and too late in the evening to be taking our little ones out to a meeting.

Impala63rag: I'm sure that they realized you were not likely to ever submit to the rules of the organization. It's no wonder they didn't offer much encouraged or enthusiasm about your statement. It's possible that they were just "racking up hours," as you said. I know that our family was a jackpot for their time cards. Our weekly Bible study sessions would regularly last 2 or more hours.

You are not an impossible recruit, however. My brother in law, for example, was a self-professed racist. He shaved his head bald, and has multiple tattoos. He was punching a punching bag in his basement, because he was so angry about his life, when the JW's came knocking on his door. One thing led to another, and he is now the most devout JW I know. He and my sister have decided to shun me, because we came to a different conclusion when we examined the scriptures. The JW's convinced him to grow his hair to a conservative business-like length. He quit smoking marijuana, so he would be allowed to go out in field service. He got rid of his beloved pet Pit Bull, after brief rebellion against being "judged" by his "brothers." Needless to say, he is quite the prize in his congregation! He also used my niece to blackmail both my parents into joining the religion. Our family's experience with the JW's is quite the "trip!"

Thanks for this most engaging conversation!

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Faithful Witness

I'm still curious how they reacted to your visit. Did you wear a suit and tie?

To all you JW's out there, how did you feel when your congregation was visited by such a "worldly" appearing person?

We did our best to "dress the part," with our babies in tow... They love-bombed us incessantly. We were like a shiny new toy to them. The congregation here had a few young families in it, and we all enjoyed coffee and cookies in the coat room after the meetings.

It was a great way to get the kids to sit and behave... "If you want a cookie at the end, you'd better be quiet!"

impala63rag, I am so glad you visited this site! Thanks for posting your questions and sharing your experience. It's great to see you stop by!

137

3 years of study, Just found out!

by impala63rag in

jw
friends

hello friends, .

i would like some advice from those that are inpartial, and are familiar with the teachings of jw.

i studied with a wonderful jw couple weekly for 3 years.

Faithful Witness

Your friends are also keeping track of every minute they spend with you, whether it is in Bible discussion or otherwise. They fill out a "field service report" each month, where they keep track of every good deed they do in support of the organization. Their status or "standing" within the congregation, depends on how much work they do. (this is the meaning in today's article, about those "unwilling to work.") How many times did you hear comments from the congregation, about their "preaching" efforts?

They are told to believe (and do believe) that the fact that they go out in the door-to-door preaching work, is proof that they are Jehovah's chosen people.

They claim to be the only ones "following Christ's commands," yet they do not feed the poor or love their neighbor (unless he is a JW or interested in listening to a JW... every minute you speak with a JW is tracked, so they can get their recognition from men. Read Matthew 6:1-6, to see what Jesus warned about this practice).

I am curious... how did the people at the KH react to you, when you visited last week? Men are not allowed to have long hair or beards.

Did you experience "love-bombing" as a new-comer, or did they treat you with suspicion?