Newbie: Roll Call ---- Oldies Returning: Roll Call

by cameo-d 91 Replies latest jw friends

  • leavingwt
    leavingwt

    Crisis of Conscience -- You have a PM.

  • cameo-d
    cameo-d

    Who left the door open?

    Welcome to....

    James_Slash

    Kum Vulcan

    petitebrunette

    peaches

    A.Fenderson

    Man_in_black

    This ain't normal. Looks like we got a Mass Exodus from the Kingdom Hall, Marge.

  • snowbird
    snowbird

    Woo-hoo!

    Welcome, all.

    Sylvia

  • rockmehardplace
    rockmehardplace

    with so many new ones, we may have to start a new congregation. see, the truth is spreading and all the right hearted ones are flying in.

    wait, sorry. my jw mind kicked in for a moment.

  • petitebrunette
    petitebrunette

    Thank you for the warm welcome! To be honest, my investigation here was a result of trying to fade away but being called by the elders due to my living situation with my boyfriend. I guess I was looking for justification not for my actions (immoral living), but maybe wanting to point a finger at them. Well...I found a whole lot of information I never knew existed! Especially the book Crisis of Conscience. It made me look at everything I've believed and relied on my whole life. To find yourself questioning everything you not only believe and your family believes, but the restricted way you've lived your whole life? This could maybe be the result of men sitting at a round table making decisions by what suits their way of thinking? While some of them may be sincere, they are making decisons of life and death. But the claim to be the only channel from God, that makes things very serious.

    Its going to be a slow process for me. I kinda feel like CoConscience about hating religion. I have to separate religion from the Bible though. Yet everything I read in the Bible, I relate to Witnesses and I want to reject it all.

    I'm feeling such a freedom though. I've felt guilt for my whole life. Guilt for not studying like I should, not wanting to attend meetings, not commenting, hating the ministry...and recently (the last 6 yrs) leaving the whole thing and making my family feel bad. No more guilt though, that in itself is a huge sign to me. I was df'd last week and feel terrible for my family, but I'm going to be fine. All of your posts helped me through that process. Thank you!

  • bluegirl78
    bluegirl78

    I like to lurk a lot more than I like to post, but I like the idea of getting all the newbies together. So, hi everyone!

    Right now I'm reading Crisis of Conscience - highly recommended, btw. I also asked my mom, an active JW, if she had ever heard anything about the WTS being involved with the UN. She was shocked, said it had to be a mistake, and asked their P.O. about it! (Or whatever the P.O.'s are called nowadays.) She said he acted completely shocked as well, and also said that it sounded like something apostate... Now I'm feeling guilty for sharing with her b/c I don't want her to get into trouble over my questions. She's definitely not at the point of leaving the JW's any time in the near future. So just be careful in presenting your findings to your family members who are still in!

  • petitebrunette
    petitebrunette

    I agree. I was tempted to say some things, but refrained because I would then be "apostate" and no one would ever talk to me again.

  • cameo-d
    cameo-d

    icer101

    bluegirl 78

    its_me!

    Life is now

    MMXIV

    Come on down!

    Welcome aboard!

  • hopeful4eva
    hopeful4eva

    I am new here aswell been "lurking" for about a month. I can't tell you all how much I enjoy the discussions, and how it had calmed me!! Thank you all!!

    I left about 16 years old. My mother started studying when I was 12. At 12 I thought it was so cool (obviously too young and not enough lessons in life to make an informed decision). I was considered still "wordly" by all the other parents and youth so I found myself in a religion where I could not play or hang out with other kids my age from school, and the kids my age in the hall were already in their "clicks". At 14 I decided that if I wanted to be accepted by the youth then I would get baptized...which I did. Being baptized sure did not help with any acceptance let me tell you. Instead now I was being scrutinized by them.

    So at 16 I rebelled HUGE. My step father by then was a MS, and of course I was not allowed to just leave. After numerous meeting with the elders that seemed never ending, I finally decided that I was not going to meet with them ever again and I told them I wanted my name announced at the next meeting. I moved in with my biological father and went "off the rails".

    I am now 32 and I have a daughter who is 8. My step father is now an Elder. If I should talk to my mom (who I love dearly) I always get the "----you know its the truth, how can you allow you daughter to die at Armagedon" crap. Last year I had a melt down...I seriously was paralyized with fear, about Armegedon.

    As my mom, step dad and grandmother have very little to do with me, I get the blame on how they have no relationship with their grand daughter. I get the "If we had only completely quit talking to you, you would have come back by now", and to this I can only answer, "to do it for you? ", and they seem to think thats exactly who I should do it for...for them!!

    I have found my way. I am happy now and at peace with Jehovah, all in my own way. I struggle with "unconditional love", I seem to not feel that I am worthy of it.

    As for these wonderful youth that were so ready to judge and point fingers. Well, they have had affairs and been DF, they have gotten married and now divorced (not scriptually either) or they have been diagnosed Bi Polar, or they have been in and out so many times I can't keep track.

    I decided this weekend gone, that if my mom starts on me again, I am going to tell her exactly what I think of the Borg. I mean I can not cope any more with the on again off again communication. The conversations about the END, the guilt put on my for my leaving. I am tired of crying those tears for days on end, and thinking that this time my mom just might not speak to me again. So now I will hold the cards. If she doesn't ever speak to me again I will understand it is her brain washed idea's, that in her heart she loves me. I just can not take the emotional black mail anymore.

  • snowbird
    snowbird

    Welcome, Hopeful!

    Your situation sounds similar to that of my oldest daughter.

    She, too, was never accepted by the little, two-faced KH cliques.

    Now, they're all either DF'd, inactive, or in prison.

    I kid you not.

    I advise you to stand your ground with your mother.

    She'll come around.

    Sylvia

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