Posts by ohnightdivine

No. It felt all stuffy in there. I was invited a few times by some Bethel dwellers to their rooms and I remembered being quite impressed about their fairly modern living spaces compared to typical residential areas in this country. Thick carpets, cool shoes drawers. But the air was so stale. The hallways were pretty dark.

Fast forward to the recent years I've also been invited a few times to see "Sophia and Caleb". Lol. I never went, though. Most adult JWs I know seemed to enjoy taking pictures with the 2 cardboard figures more than their kids did, from what I saw on their Facebook posts.

39

What Are The Differences Between JWs Born In and Converted?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i tend to think that many jws who joined the religion in their later years feel foolish or are embarrassed by their decision to become one of jehovah’s witnesses.

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i’m not embarrassed by my years “in the truth “ because i was raised from infancy to believe everything was god’s word and who are we to question jehovah and his organization?

ohnightdivine

I was quite lonely in college, away from my family, and met a JW. I felt genuinely "cared" for, and I also sincerely cared for the person in return. Eventually got baptized after so many years of doubting whether the religion really had the truth.

I KNEW about the UN hypocrisy, child abuse, etc. and due to my shock and disappointment I even printed out the internet articles and showed it to my Bible study conductor. But I was told that there is no perfect organization and that Jehovah would solve everything in his time. I already felt so alone because of all that cognitive dissonance but I guess I had what people call the "sunk cost" mentality. I already spent so many years "studying" with them. I made many "friends" with them. And nobody was outright telling me to do something bad. So I figured that as long as I focused on the good sides of the teachings 'based' from the Bible, then I wouldn't have any trouble.

Fast forward to around 7 years later, and because I was also busy with work, I never really became deeply indoctrinated. I guess I stayed for the association. That 'warm' feeling you get after each meeting when you talked to almost everyone, have dinner together afterwards, even talk about work together. Something like that.

But I already felt something was just wrong with the org. Those became magnified during WT studies. I was able to read between the lines. Even reading the WT texts literally gave me some goosebumps because the guilt-mongering was so obvious. They started asking for more, more, and more money. All this "ARE YOU DOING ENOUGH?" stuff.

Add to that the hypocrisy I observed around me. Bethel people, special pioneers, regular pioneers, all the "special people" coming from WT being treated like celebrities wherever they go. All the bling bling I saw. And then they tried to portray hard-working office-working people as 'selfish' individuals. But among the JWs, well-to-do brothers and sisters also associated most of the time with other well-to-do brothers and sisters. You still saw the social hierarchies. When you get sick, you get a visit. But of course, you have to pay for your hospitalization yourself. It's a simple matter. And it makes me sick how they encourage many to give almost all that they have to the organization--but when the time comes that they need it, especially when they become seriously ill, they are instead told to seek help from their 'wordly' relatives. I saw these things in my few years within the organization.

I joined the 'preaching' work before but I also felt disgusted by the inefficiency of the process. How it makes you harbor this 'ulterior motive' to be nice to people with the intention of converting them later. Recording time. Another stuff that made me felt sick.

Another observation is that I felt depressed most of the time when I started engaging with JWs.

The list goes on and on... but I am just thankful that I have my non-JW family who gives me the sense of normalcy and balance after years with the organization. My family doesn't know my experiences and how hurt I was, which I think is good. I am able to live my life with more positivity. To the lurkers and born-in JWs here, not all 'worldly' people are bad. There are so many beautiful people and things out there.

I am not totally DA or DF. I still attend from time to time, just for the association. It isn't making me 100% free, I know. But I guess my personality (right now) predisposes me to stick with 'long-time friends'. I hope I can be more at peace in the future.

26

What was the last thing you said to your jw family?

by caves in

jw
friends

7 years ago i had my last conversation with the toxic jw that mostly raised me.

every conversation was toxic for my entire adult life with her.

the last time we spoke was right before the memorial 7 years ago and she was laying on the usual heavy guilt and fear mongering about how jeho counts his people at the memorial.

ohnightdivine

Oh my. I'm so sorry to hear about all your experiences.

Sometimes when I read something like this, it makes me stop for a while and thank the heavens that I am the only one in the family who became a JW, even though for so many years I felt a bit lonely because I had no one to talk to in my family regarding my beliefs and the eventual period of anger and depression.

I am just thankful I am able to get back to a "normal" family life and not discuss anything related to Armageddon, etc.

20

The "anger" of EX- Jehovah's Witnesses

by Not_Culty in

.

ohnightdivine

We are angry because we cared.

We are angry because we felt we were cared for.

We are angry because we care for those who are left behind.

158

Circuit Accounts Servants Confesses how the SCAM WORKS!!

by JT in

jw
friends

yes, i too have wondered how an assembly that is held in a fully paid for assembly hall, with no food service, could possibly have $10,000 in expenses.

i suppose the bethel speakers have transportation expenses - maybe $1000 or so.

as for rent on the assembly hall, well you have already paid for it once, why pay again?

ohnightdivine

Resurrecting this thread.. How does it work nowadays?

7

Waze app for JWs

by enigma1863 in

i don't know how many of you have used the waze app.

it's a useful navigation app that alerts you to police and construction zones in route.

a lot of people use it to keep from getting a ticket.. i thought it would be funny to have one that alerts you to jws in neighborhood..

ohnightdivine

For this to happen, I think you need to secretly install sensors or trackers in JW members' preaching shoes, ties, pants, or skirts, or... bags, and then have a centralized machine or portable device that will collect their GPS information. This will in turn, communicate to your vehicle and allow you to take detours as much as possible.

13

Praises the WT for JW apps but sneers at members with higher education, in 2018

by ohnightdivine in

i guess we all know the answer why this still happens... but really, why?.

just a month ago i was having some conversation with this sister and since i'm on inactive status, she was trying to get me to download all those jw apps because the "work is speeding up" and i shouldn't be missing out on anything from the org.

especially when they come up with all these "provisions" that intend only to benefit the members.

ohnightdivine

I guess we all know the answer why this still happens... but really, why?

Just a month ago I was having some conversation with this sister and since I'm on inactive status, she was trying to get me to download ALL those JW apps because the "work is speeding up" and I shouldn't be missing out on anything from the org. Especially when they come up with all these "provisions" that intend only to benefit the members. Why would anyone dare to "ignore" these apps that are already laid out so beautifully for us to use, was her point, spoken in a nice way.

But then I forgot she is one among the members I know that don't agree much about people going to universities, since WT does not like people pursuing higher education.

My point is, and I know that everyone already knows this (I only wanted to get this out of my head again), is that:

- How will you develop these JW apps if you don't have software engineers, project managers, UX designers, software testers, cloud engineers, database administrators, etc? The reason you are finding these apps to be "beautifully created" is that the people behind these projects STUDIED in college. Web development? Mobile app development? Project Management? Most of the technical stuff need to be learned systemically at school. These aren't something one can learn on a weekend.

Same goes for all the medical advancements (including what is always emphasized as breakthrough techniques in bloodless surgery, etc.). I guess WT and some its deeply-indoctrinated members forget that doctors and researchers wouldn't have had achieved that if they did not pursue higher education.

Same goes for lawyers who need to defend the WT from all these child abuse cases. Don't you think they studied back in college and even pursued their own specializations?

Ok, that's it. Rant over..

32

How many are PIMO ??

by Phizzy in

i know we cannot answer this, how many are physically in, mentally out (pimo), but i heard an amazing piece of news the other day.. an ex-p.o and ex-elder, a long time regular pioneer, and when i knew him a stalwart believer, went for a drink with another jw who has actually left, but is not df or anything.. in the course of conversation he came out with this bombshell "well, i am actually an atheist now, i just go along to keep my wife happy".. i also heard of a number of youngsters that i know personally who are simply living their life as they want, whilst making sure they don't get df'd for family and social reasons.. if as it seems the pimo's are a huge number, could there be a huge " awakening" where they all realize they are in a huge group, and they all say " eff it, lets call it a day on all the jw s**t ".

?.

wishful thinking, but.....just possible ?.

ohnightdivine

Any PIMO from East / Southeast Asia?

42

I Waited Until My Wedding Night To Lose My Virginity And I Wish I Hadn't...

by Divergent in

i found this article interesting & just wanted to share.

after going through my teenage years trying to be the perfect jw, i realized that trying to live up to the standards imposed on me have been for worse & not for better.

i was feeling miserable, repressed, unfulfilled, with a great lack of self confidence & self esteem.

ohnightdivine

36 years and counting..