Leolaia: Where is your story? (page 4)

OUTLAW

Loved your Story Leolaia..

Excellent..

.....................

...OUTLAW

pirata

Thank you Leolaia! A fascinating and inspiring account. The posts you have made over the years have helped me to develop an interest in Biblical history that I never really had before.

Don't mean to be forward, my grandson has a mild from of autsim, but what is your IQ. I ask because I'd like to see him tested, he's seven.....Also I believe my grand daughter is high on the spectrum as well. Me, heh, heh butterfly level.....

truthseeker

Thank you Leolaia for sharing your story, I always enjoy reading your posts.

Truthseeker

mrsjones5

Quentin, you have a pm.

Leo's story always fascinates me. She will always have a piece of my heart.

VM44

Leo,

Very interesting,

I am very glad your path led away from becoming emeshed in The Watchtower Organization.

I will save your story by uploading it into my Infinitely Indexed Memory Bank(*).

--VM44

(*) Classic movie reference.

Leolaia

Thanks all for your great comments. Honestly tho I just cranked that out in response to the post, writing pretty fast, without any thought to composition or narrative flow, so I'm glad it's useful. :) If I sat down to write my story and think it through, it probably would be a more interesting read than that.

To the person who mentioned Kim Clijsters, good to hear your dad is an erstwhile Kim fan. :) But I'm not only a Kim fan; I am also a fanatical Roger Federer fan just as much.

We now know he is on the autism spectrum and needs to be allowed the freedom to express his interests in a nurturing environment, one which the society would never encourage. Our leaving has been the best thing for him. I doubt if he would have ever become a witness, so if we stayed he would have probably really suffered, being torn between two worlds, as he got older.

Good for him. There are some things I won't go into because they are just too personal and painful for me, but I can say that the organization's stifling environment has affected me in many more ways than I've mentioned.

I was lucky that I had an UBM as a father. That meant that the elders didn't press my mom too hard on things, lest she go against the "head of the household." So I did have a little bit of Christmas and celebrated Thanksgiving every year, on account of my dad's family. But I never socialized in these family gatherings; I just curled up with a book and read.

Now...I'm not good at math but this astounded me for a 9 yr old!

Well, I suck at math too and I was actually a teen by this time. But it is interesting how I was doing much research on things that most JWs don't bother with.

I never did understand the big deal about whether Jesus died on a stake with a crossbeam or without one.

Rutherford made it a big deal because it was another way his JWs could distinguish themselves from Bible Students carrying the legacy of Russell. And today it marks JWs as distinct from almost all other Christians.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Leo for her willingness to share her scholarly perspective with us on so many Biblical topics, in a way that is both authoritative, credible and yet easy to follow. I, too, have sat in meetings listening as people I love regurgitate information that is outdated, dishonestly presented, distorted or simply wrong, just because it's in print in a WT. It's horrible--sickening, really--especially when you know that speaking up will only make you appear as the evil one. The main factor in my decision to leave the "truth" (HA!) was the WT's pattern of intellectual and editorial dishonesty.

Thanks! That is wonderful to hear. Although I like sharing information and specific points, I am more interest in the long run in promoting critical thinking and debate, the kinds of things that are sorely missing in the "spiritual paradise" found in the congregation.

....and the name?

My name is known to any who correspond with me but I prefer not to state it "in print" here. You can PM me.

Don't mean to be forward, my grandson has a mild from of autsim, but what is your IQ.

When I was in sixth grade, I had my IQ tested as part of a general assessment at the State Hospital (a.k.a. the "mental" hospital). I was reassured that I wasn't there because I was crazy or insane but because they had therapies they have developed for people with neurological disorders that they could use with me and help me overcome my developmental delays in auditory processing and cognition. Despite the reassurances, hearing schizophrenics scream now and then in the distance didn't really help. And I went there for two years for deadly dull boring therapy aimed at improving my functioning. But anyway, I had my WISC measured there, and I could look up the number if you'd like, but it was above average. I am skeptical of the usefulness of the gross numbers that average things together, what is much more interesting are the results of the subtests that make up the gross score. There you'll find the many peaks and valleys that supposedly are typical of kids with Asperger's/autism.

Leo's story always fascinates me. She will always have a piece of my heart.

So sweet. :) Love you too.

Desilusionnee

Leo you know what? I'm fading slowly and I try to liberate my husband from this cult. Although he still believes it's the truth, he read your story with enthusiasm and told me he doesn't understand why the BORG lets such people like you go away. They should have used your potential, he said, for the writing departement.

Then he told me that he thinks you're a real danger for them!!!!

He has some little doubts since I share what I read here on the forum with him, but I still have to handle carefully!

Thanks a lot for sharing! And @ Pirata thanks for this thread!

Desi

compound complex

Thank you!

!!!!!!!!!

CoCo

Leolaia: Where is your story?