Great Educational Tool for those studying or thinking of studying with JWS

by sf 60 Replies latest jw experiences

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  JWdaughter

  I was never even baptised and my crazy JW(recently divorced from his 3d JW wife) uncle will talk to me if absolutely required to. My mom and I get along well, but there is that big elephant in the middle of the living room, rarely acknowledged, because it tends to stomp the love out of the room.

  Whats nuts is that the crazy JW murderer in my family is welcomed by all the JWs everywhere(wronged wives can murder husbands and mistresses in their bed with impunity), my alcoholic uncle is also, but my mom only talks to her disfellowshipped JW sister when someone is dying. Yes, my family is screwed up! Letting people know the marks of a controlling religion is not wrong. Pointing out the ways that the WT controls is not wrong.

  Being a young person, much of the JW policy and rules can go right past you. And some JWs are less dogmatic about association than others. When I was in w. coast JWs don't go dancing or drinking EVER, in NJ, they regularly did just that. People are different, but if we are going to discuss WT teachings, it should be what the ORG is saying, not what the rank and file does in spite of the Org. An interesting discussion might be the many ways JWs circumvent some of the restrictions placed upon them by the WT org.
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  sf

  ~WELCOME ABOARD SEEKERS AND LURKERS~
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  sf

  ~bumped for newer viewers~
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  willyloman

  When the mind becomes bored, it becomes numb. Things you would have normally questioned, are NO LONGER questioned. You ACCEPT everything that is said.

  Explains why the meetings are so mind-numbing. Turns out it's on purpose!

  On the topic of shunning, I'm not df'd or da'd, we just faded three years ago and haven't been back. We are widely "shunned" in the sense that no one calls or comes by by to see if we're okay. People we see at stores and shopping malls make a wide path around us, assuming they see us first. Granted, there are exceptions such as the elder and his wife we bumped into in a home goods store who chatted us up for 5 or 10 minutes, never once mentioning meetings or jehovah. We were fellow elders on the same body just a few years ago and I know he knows we walked away. People who were our "best friends" for three decades act as if we died. They have never called or written to ask if what they've heard is true and to find out why we stopped going to the KH.

  You can argue this isn't shunning. But something's going on. Maybe it's just fear. Like one sister who told my wife about two years ago, when they ran into each other at a store. The sister was complaining about the elders in her congo and the pressures she and her husband felt they were under to constantly do more. To which my wife replied, "Well, that's one reason we stopped going to meetings...." At that, the sister put up her hand in the stop-sign gesture and said, "Don't say anymore. I don't want to be discouraged."

  Telling me about it later, my wife said, "Discouraged? She was already discouraged before I opened my mouth."
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  sf

  ~a timely bump to the top~
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  sf

  bump
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  Mum

  Refusing to speak to people who are disfellowshipped on spurious grounds is one of the most hateful practices of the Watchtower organization. A young man who called himself Cygnus once posted on this board. He was hunted down by the elders and disfellowshipped because he, inactive at the time, was seen having lunch with a disfellowshipped individual.

  The reasons given in scripture for avoiding people are based in behavior, not belief about an organization. Anyone here would recommend avoiding people who do things harmful to themselves or others because that is just good sense. Why can't JW's be allowed to use the sense God gave them instead of being told by a bunch of autocrats what to do and who to associate with?

  SS: If one of your JW friends decided to join the Roman Catholic Church or any other religious organization, would you consider it right and fair to let them know what to expect if you had that knowledge?

  Regards,

  SandraC
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  besty

  great post - "it may be possible to have almost no contact with the disfellowshipped one.."

  It has proved very possible for my brother to have absolutely no contact with me, my wife and the only two nephews he has on the planet. He also being their only uncle which they are deprived of.

  Needless to say he and his wife are childless for the Lord.

  Sad.
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  startingover

  Thanks for the bump.
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  BabaYaga

  Thanks for the post, AND thanks for the bump... I'm glad I saw this... bookmarked