When I was visiting a relative who is in the org-I was coerced into going to a "gathering" and when I got there, it was such a phony baloney party. Everyone smiling, playing kingdom music (gimme a break) and how ironic--the relative I went with said that they begged her to go because the person throwing the party was kind of 'spiritually weak' and if she came-surely others would come too Anyway, when they asked me what congregation I was in, I proudly said, "I don't go to any congregation"--boy did I clear that room! The party was suddenly over.
Disheartened
JoinedPosts by Disheartened
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Do JW's have a judgmental gene? Just venting...
by Victorian sky inhi everyone, okay i need to calm down.
just got back from a relatives anniversary formal.
they are jw's and when i walked into the reception hall it was my worst nightmare.
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Any one in the South Florida area?
by Victorian sky inhi all, just wondering if anyone lives in south florida in either dade, broward or palm beach county?
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Disheartened
Hi Victorian!
I am originally from South Florida, although I moved to Ga 4 years ago. I am always visiting Miami, though. Which part do u live in?
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Memorial observance It isnt about Jesus at all!
by 1badmutha inwe all know that jesus is a pretty much-overlooked figure by the wbts.
they refuse to celebrate his birth for a number of convoluted reasons, which i refuse to argue.
but, it is curious that they celebrate the death of christ.
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Disheartened
Welcome to the forum! Very interesting parallels you brought out here. Nothing surprises me anymore with the JW's. NOTHING !
Good research .
WELCOME 1BADMUTHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Disheartened
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The long, boring, and pointless story of CZAR - with happy ending!
by czarofmischief inhere it is, it took me two days to write and therefore nobody should actually be able to read it.. the purpose of writing a story like mine down serves two purposes.
first, i must find a coherent understanding and explanation of the events that have befallen me.
second, i hope that my story helps others in some way, to let them know that there is indeed "light at the end of the tunnel.
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Disheartened
Czar,
Your story was an excellent read! I can definitely tell through your writing what a truly gifted person you are. As far as your experiences, it never ceases to amaze me how the organization lacks so much love. I remember they always used to stress the scripture at John 13:35- where Jesus said that others would recognize his followers by the love among themselves. Well, if that's not a sure sign that JW is NOT the true religion, I don't know what is. I know you have been through a lot and I can sympathize and relate to your story.
You see, up until two years ago, I had no internet access. And I was still being a half dub. But through the exchanges of encouragment here - I've been able to gradually begin doing things I've always wanted to do - like pursue the life I've always wanted, listen to heavy metal, celebrate Xmas, Halloween, my frigging BIRTHDAY! Guilt free!
I am happy to hear that you have found true love despite everything and that you are living your life. I hope you will continue to have such a positive attitude. Even though I no longer attend the kh, I never celebrated any of the holidays because I figured-I never celebrated them anyway, so what's the use? This year will be different, though. I will be celebrating Christmas, Thanksgiving and any other holiday I can think of. Thanks again for sharing your story. I really enjoyed it.
Traci
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My Personal Story
by Disheartened ini joined this forum a few months back and i'm just getting around to giving my personal story.
here goes: i was raised as a witness like many of you out there.
my mother was in the truth lie but my father was not.
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Disheartened
Shotgun, Franni and Swan thanks so much for taking time to read my personal story and for yorr wonderful words of encouragement. Although I left 7 years ago, the effects are still there. Thanks again!
Disheartened.
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My Personal Story
by Disheartened ini joined this forum a few months back and i'm just getting around to giving my personal story.
here goes: i was raised as a witness like many of you out there.
my mother was in the truth lie but my father was not.
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Disheartened
I joined this forum a few months back and I'm just getting around to giving my personal story. Here goes: I was raised as a witness like many of you out there. My mother was in the
truthlie but my father was not. I have an older sister who was also affected by this sick religion/cult. I didn't start going to the KH until I reached the age of 10-my mother was inactive for many years. The reason my mother started going to the kh again was because my great-grandmother (who was also a jw) died, and shortly before she died she asked my mother to start attending the meetings again so that we could all see each other again in the "new system". By the way-the elders never came to visit my great-grandmother. So much for taking care of the elderly, huh? So that's how I ended up going to the kh.Anyway, to make a long story short-I got baptized at the age of 17-so as not to get destoyed in Armageddon and when I graduated, I wasn't so foolish as to pursue a higher education. Nooooo-I had the "kingdom" to pursue. When I graduated I went to a trade school in order to support myself and because I was still living at home with my parents, I was able to auxillary pioneer at the same time. During this time, I was constantly criticized by the elders for wearing my skirts slightly above my knee. I couldn't understand the big deal because I was only 18 years old-I was young and I didn't look like a whore, so I couldn't see what the big deal was about the length of my dresses/skirts. I also thought that Jehovah put more emphasis on what was in a person's heart than in what the person was wearing. Although I was zealous at the time-I never agreed with the treatment of women at the kh. I can't tell you the number of "local needs" talks we had on skirt length and women were wearing their blouses too low. This was constantly. When I turned 20-fool that I was, I decided to regular pioneer. Upon turning in my application-I was told by the elders that I had to make a drastic improvement on the length of my dresses/skirts in order to even be considered. I also had to start commenting regularly. I always had a thing against commenting at the Watchtower and book study. First of all, no matter what the question was EVERYONE had to start their comment with: "As the paragraph brings out....." For some reason, this irked me terribly. I mean, just comment already!!! Everyone knows you're reading the answer from the paragraph-no need to tell us that's where you got the information. Another thing is that no matter what one person said in their comment-you always had 3 or 4 other people to repeat the exact SAME thing. I never could see the point in commenting. Anyway-back to my story, when the elder told me that I had to start wearing my skirts longer I made an effort to buy extra long dresses to look like a good little witness (and partly to be a little sarcastic) and within about 2 months I was approached by the same elder and told that I had
conformedimproved greatly and I was now being accepted as a regular pioneer (By the way-I never gave in to the whole commenting thing). When I became a regular pioneer, I was criticized even more. Now the problem was NOT that my dresses were too short but although they were long-they were now too tight!! This was lovingly brought to my attention at a pioneer meeting held by the visiting circuit overseer. He kindly left out our names (referring to my sister and I) letting everyone in the meeting know that he had received many complaints from other pioneers and others in the congregation. But here's the punchline: all the other regular pioneers were at least 60 and over! He didn't have to name names! Could he be referring to 77 year old sister White, who may have worn her dress too tight and have been getting complaints about her?? This was quite discouraging to me, because here I was giving 110% and instead of getting encouraged; all I get is criticism. Although I was talked about and "complained" about-as the humble CO put it, that didn't stop others in the comgregation from asking me for a ride to various places like the store-or to pick up their kids from school since I was not working in the daytime. I was never even OFFERED gas money. I may not have taken it-but it's the thought that counts. When I had fallen ill, I was bedbound for about 3 weeks, Not once did the elders or anyone from my congregation call or stop by to see me. Since I was so discouraged in my congregation, I started visiting other congregations so that I could be seek out spiritual people who weren't so petty. When I did that--u guessed it!! More criticism. Now, I was being accused of looking for a husband.-Give me a break. At the district assembly I made a point to go to the bethel meeting (grasping at straws at this point). At the bethel meeting, it was mainly "brothers" (I use the term loosely) and maybe about 4 sisters, including myself and my sister. When we all settled in-the brother conducting looked around the room and stared at the 4 sisters in the room and immediatley said; "Sisters, unless you are a nurse or have some medical training or background this meeting won't apply to you. We have no need for sisters at this time unless you will be applying with your mate. But you are welcome to stay to listen." At this point I was really fed up. The "society" really looks down upon women in the congregation and as far as I'm concerned-they are a bunch of chauvinists. Once, when I was supposed to give a "talk" with another sister at the Theocratic ministry school, I noticed 2 elders kept passing by me and staring. This happened like 3 times. Finally, one of them approached me and told me ,"If you're going to give a talk tonight, I'm going to have to ask you to go home and change your dress. It is much too short."Because of incidences like these I started to read other materials outside of the jw books. And I opened myself to a world full of knowledge. I made a decision that I would go away to school to pursue a degree in radio/tv/film which is what I always wanted to do. I applied to my first school of choice and got accepted and I announced that I was moving out of state to go to school. Suddenly, I was "bad association". Since I was still pioneering at the time, one of my close friends threw me a going away party. Well, the congregation I had been going to for the last 15 years of my life-since I was a child, decided it wouldn't be a good idea to come. The few that did come; didn't even speak to me. They came and ate and left. Only 2 people wished me well in my endeavors. Since I left, I did research on my own-mostly via the internet and the freeminds website and found out that my intuition was right. The JW cult is full of %#$ and I need to run not walk away!
Of course I left out lots of other things, but time does not permit me to tell everything. I hope someone will get something out of my story. I appreciate being able to come to a forum like this. Good luck to you all!
Disheartened.
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Stupidest thing a JW ever told you
by Nosferatu inwhat is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?
we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.
for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.
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Disheartened
Here's yet ANOTHER stupid one I thought of:
I was told that when god resurrects people in the so-called "new system", people won't look the same as they did before they died. When I asked why, I was given the example of how when Jesus was resurrected, he took on a different body and looked totally different than before. Ok; great. Now how am I supposed to recognize anyone? By their personalities, or their mannerisms or certain things that they say. I was told this by an elder.
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Stupidest thing a JW ever told you
by Nosferatu inwhat is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?
we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.
for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.
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Disheartened
Here's another stupid one: That Charles Taze Russell was prophesied about in the bible-and put an end to the "great apostasy".
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Stupidest thing a JW ever told you
by Nosferatu inwhat is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?
we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.
for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.
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Disheartened
Hey Disheartend was your circuit overseer's name Johnny Cochrane?
LOL!
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Stupidest thing a JW ever told you
by Nosferatu inwhat is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?
we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.
for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.
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Disheartened
The circuit overseer said: "If you can go to the mall you can go to the hall. If you can go to the beach, you can go out and preach." Talk about STUPID!