Posts by carla

keep fighting guys, the freedom once you are loose of the governing body is awesome, you will be amazed how long you ignored the stench off bullshit as your ability to smell it returns.. and on that note ;) x. .

carla

Glad you are doing well! Great story

38

Reverse Shunning

by exwhyzee in

someting happened yesterday that i thought might be noteworty enough to relate to you here.. mrs. eyz and i were invited to my new boss's home for his annual end of summer party.

it's a pretty big deal....his is a name known locally (i'll call him j.r.) a really nice interesting guy who's held a number of high level and politically connected jobs.

there was to be music, dancing, wine and reprotedly lots of well dressed, well educated, well to do and influential people (oh yes...and us) in attendance.. anyway we thought we'd make an occasion out of it and got ourselves spiffed up which involved new outfits and extra mirror time before we left home.

carla

14

Only 1 out of 6 JWs (and friends) visit the JW.ORG web site!

by StephaneLaliberte in

in a 2013 article currently on jw.org (reference 1), the jws bragged about how their website is translated into 300 languages and that it reaches, according to alexa statistics, 890,000 unique users every day.. what about the monthly stats?

the site websitetrafficspy.com (reference 2), which draws its statistics from alexa, reports that there are an estimated 3.2 million unique visitors every month for jw.org.*.

since the 2013 memorial had an attendance of 19.2 million (reference 3), this could be understood as 1/6 of the jws and their friends visited the site on a monthly basis.. this is not unexpected as the internet itself is used only by 39% of the planet at this time (reference 4).. hence, the number of languages in which the website is translated does not offer any guaranty as to its information being accessed or even be accessible at all to most of the planets population.. .

carla

It's football day for many in the US, give it time.

11

Most of my extended family have no idea my wife is a jw.

by marriedtoajw in

jw
friends

you non-jws who have jw mates or anyone interested in responding.

do you or would you tell extended family that your spouse is a jw.

i ask because i have a couple of other relatives who are jws who pulled away from the family the years ago that caused some hurt to family that use to be close to them.

carla

Yes, many people did not know my jw was one for a long time. After they found out their first response 9 times out of 10 was, "I thought he was smarter than that". sigh, explain cults, etc....

I also am always waiting for some shoe to drop on me and hate the feeling but have learned to live with it. Helps to come here and find out what is going on in the org.

Jgnat is right! do not point out what they are not supposed to be doing unless it is something obnoxious and annoying to you, ha! that works sometimes, I would elaborate but had to use it just recently so I shall leave the long list of no-no's to the readers imagination.

18

Healing Through Humor

by Watchtower-Free in

ex cult memes and videos.

anything poking fun at any cult.. .

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1447453542181602/.

carla

Thanks for the laughs! I really needed it tonight.

29

It's my birthday today

by Bruja-del-Sol in

jw
friends

... but most of my new (post jw) friends either don't know my birth date (if people don't specifically ask i won't tell them), or they are 2500 kilometers away in the netherlands... so all that's left to celebrate with me are my hubby, the two doggies, cat and my two rabbits... mixed feelings, i miss my friends and family around and haven't found friends in spain yet.

luckily our daughter will visit us the end of the month... and yesterday we've found a new rental house and we're moving into it next month already!

i'm thrilled and really looking forward to it, then we will finally be able to let all the rest of our belongings come to spain (2/3 of our stuff is stored in the netherlands).. so with this in mind, i'll just say 'happy birthday to me' and will enjoy my third birthday in espana .

carla

Happy Birthday!

6

giving honor to an individual question (wt style)

by carla in

obliette posted a thread about gb worship in the july 15 issue which got me thinking-.

in other smaller books which i have only seen skimmed quickly (i think the yearbooks (?

)) they often have articles about various jw's and their struggles and now the articles about the gb members and so on, my question is; why don't they see these articles as giving too much honor to one individual as they do with birthdays?.

carla

Obliette posted a thread about gb worship in the July 15 issue which got me thinking-

In other smaller books which I have only seen skimmed quickly (I think the yearbooks (?)) they often have articles about various jw's and their struggles and now the articles about the gb members and so on, my question is; why don't they see these articles as giving too much honor to one individual as they do with birthdays?

On a birthday it is usually over in one day, perhaps dinner, cake and maybe some gifts and a good time was had by all. With the articles they build up the individual to near sainthood and suggest everybody be like them or strive to be as pious as the individual in the article. The book I assume is available on the internet as well as in printed form for all eternity, isn't this "honoring" these individuals much more so than a one day celebration?

One could say that the article is merely using the individual as an example and the gist of the article is really about the wt/borg but then why use real people and pictures (if they are real)? why not use parables that start with "once there was a man/woman who......."?

11

The conflict of living in a divided home is finally getting to me - 8 years later - advice please

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

to cut my long story short, having left the religion in 2006, my marriage with 2 young kids involved went through a fairly difficult time.

for a few years.

as i rebelled against the belief system i was astonished that having pointed out reasonable & logical objections, my wife just stood by the religion.

carla

I too am a ubm that detests this cult and the damage it can do to families. The big pink elephant is ALWAYS in the room. We do not discuss anything jw related or try not to. Every now and then, like in your house, it rears its ugly head. I never accepted it and never will, if he thinks otherwise he is truly deranged. (my jw joined up later in life, we have no family or friends in the cult)

I never allowed my kids near a kh and did all I could to minimize the damage. I also did not allow any wt literature to be lying around and that helped enormously. Now? I'm sure he uses his devices but at least I don't have to look at the rags. Holidays are still done in this house complete with Christmas decorations outside and in, birthday dinners for the kids, etc... The kids are grown now and out of the house, they have gone on to become Christians and are very happy in their churches. They do many volunteer activities at church, usually involving the poor or less fortunate.

When I say I didn't "allow" the rags to be lying around I mean he could have left them out as the house is half his afterall, however if he did I would find horrible news stories involving jw's, apostate books, apostate print outs, etc... and leave them out because the house is also half mine. Did we go through WW3? yes, for a short while but to me it was well worth it not to have wt crap staring me in the face 24/7. The house should be neutral space, a refuge for the marriage and family.

At times I still get angry and feel I must do something! so I go and deliver anti witness literature. It is not as often as I used to but every now and again a story here or elsewhere will move me to get off my duff and deliver. I will take 10-15 min on the way somewhere and depending on the subdivision can deliver 50-100 homes in a short time (leaving in paperboxes). Perhaps it is immature and does no good at all but it makes me feel better to warn the unsuspecting public about these nicely dressed people coming to their door trying to suck them into a dangerous cult.

Lately my jw seems quite disturbed by all that is going on the world at this moment and if he could he would use the jw lingo on me but then he would have his own little war right in his own living room. I will always call out jw "unique" language or if I know he is using prepared statements by the wt (sometimes it is nearly word for word!) I will always stand up against the wt if he tries to use it in public and then the gates of hell are opened and the kitchen sink is thrown against wt (pedophile issue,shunning, ungodly doctrines, etc............ of course it will never open his eyes and I am well aware of that but I will not allow him to attempt to suck someone into the cult in my presence.

Oh my, re-reading this make me sound like a real hard ass huh? Not really, over the years we have found a delicate dance around all things jw and in general get along great. We do many activities together and have many future plans. For the most part his authentic personality shows through most of the time. News is a great stressor for him and I will notice when he is sinking into jw mode and I attempt to bring up some other subject that he finds pleasurable. It is an odd life to be sure to find yourself married to a cult member. Find the humor in it when you can and a good friend that can understand what the heck you are talking about! Most people do not understand the cult mind at all, can't even fathom it.

You are not alone, wishing you well,

carla

(sorry for the length)