Posts by concerned mama

I live in Edmonton, although not in their part of the city, and I have never heard of this couple or their work. I have never seen any phone number anywhere to contact them if I wanted to. I will keep my eyes open and let you know what else I find out. I know there is a couple who has been around for a long time who posts on this forum sometimes who run a support service for Ex-JWs.

I don't think that any support system for JWs trying to leave that cult should be automatically dismissed because they have a religious affiliaction. I don't know enough about what they say or do to judge them. So many of you have worked so hard to educate the public about the dangers of a cult, that I am personally grateful for any publicity in that direction.

Time to get dressed and buy a "Sun" newspaper.

37

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IN CANADA.....

by Mary in

jw
friends

seems president bush is somewhat peeved that canada is considering legalizing small amounts of marijuana............those who have small amounts would no longer face jail time, but it would basically be treated as a traffice ticket.

hmmmmmm.............not sure what i think about this.

pot stinks to high heaven (no pun intended) and i don't want someone blowing it in my face...........any thoughts?

concerned mama

Rayzor,

18 in Alberta.

9

Persecution?

by robhic in

i am not now, nor have i ever been a jw but i have seen their propensity to try to play up being persecuted.

a friend of mine who is a jw (and the reason i sought out these message forums) made it abundantly clear that she thought (and i guess was encouraged to think) that most everything was persecution because "people hate jw's.".

now, from my experience i can say that i don't think people actually hate jw.

concerned mama

I am not JW either...never have been, never will. I don't hate JWs, but oh my, I feel sad for them. They're in a cult, and don't have the strength or insight to fight their way out. I think some of the things that they do in the name of their religion are awful, shunning, abuse and death. They aren't even happy in their religion. They spend so much time looking to the next world, they don't appreciate the beautiful one they have. Some are so burdened with guilt of never doing enough and being unworthy, and unable to live up to impossible, artificial standards that they are just plain miserable and depressed, and think that is the right way to live. It is really pathetic and sad.

19

SARS here to stay

by Simon in

scary stuff:.

by maggie fox, health and science correspondent washington (reuters) - an alarming new respiratory disease that spread from southern china to virtually every continent within months is probably here to stay, health experts say.

world health officials moved quickly to try to contain the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome once word got out, but it was carried too quickly by person-to-person contact and is now probably entrenched in the population, they said.

concerned mama

Although I don't recall the exact statistics, I do recall that the fatality rate for influenza is quite a bit higher than SARS. How many of you even bother to get a flu shot?

20

meetings

by GirlOnFence in

jw
friends

how many of you, go to the occasional meeting?

i no longer believe any of the things i was raised to believe... but for some reason i still go to the occasional meeting and i even went to the special assembly last weekend (even though i got there after lunch).

i guess it will take a while to completely break away but i was wondering if anyone else is in this situation.

concerned mama

Hi Girl on the fence and welcome,

I'm an outsider, so I've never been in a Kingdom Hall at all.

Some here seem to go to occasional meetings. I guess it depends if you are trying to do a slow fade, especially if you have family still in. A lot would depend on your age and level of independence. A little more personal information from you when you are ready would make feedback from others more relevent.

Somehow, sometime, you have to decide what you believe, or ...don't believe. Sitting on the fence forever can make you a very lonely, confused person.

What I am going tosay, is purely a personal, outsider's opinion. It seems the happiest ex JWs( in my opinion) are those who are able to enjoy life again without fear or guilt. I would say that means researching and understanding the organization/cult that you were part of and dealing with whatever psychological issues you have, if you have any. Making new "worldly" friends and enjoying holidays of you wish, and leading a happy successful life. Just......moving beyond the issues and getting on with life and being happy. How long that takes is up to you and your personal situation.

There are lots of people on this forum who can help you along the way if you wish. Have you also checked out www.freeminds.org?

11

How does Church Compare with Kingdom Hall?

by stevieb1 in

jw
friends

this is for ex-jw's attending church..... how were your first impressions of a church as compared to your association at the kingdom hall?.

how long was it after you left the wt before attending church?.

were you at first reticent about starting to attend church?.

concerned mama

I have found everyone's comments extremely interesting, and as has been pointed out, each church is unique to itself, and for that matter for how it is on that particular Sunday or whenever.

It seems, in this case, as in so many other, we all have a slightly different take and defiinition on "love".

GentlyFeral, thank you for you explanation. I think that personally I am someone who is very choosey about the use of the word "love" and perhaps if I substitute friendship in this case, I am more comfortable.

15

lonliness, doormats and making friends

by SpiceItUp in

jw
friends

had a conversation today about how when people leave the dubs, or make any other major life decisions, that you end up being lonely.

all your "friends that you used to have are no longer there and you have to start afresh.

i remember when i was younger, right when i quit the meetings, i would do anything just to make people like me.

concerned mama

Jgnat,

I couldn't agree more.

11

How does Church Compare with Kingdom Hall?

by stevieb1 in

jw
friends

this is for ex-jw's attending church..... how were your first impressions of a church as compared to your association at the kingdom hall?.

how long was it after you left the wt before attending church?.

were you at first reticent about starting to attend church?.

concerned mama

Stevie,

I am going to be no help to you whatsoever as I have never set foot in a Kingdom Hall. But you have brought up an issue that has always confused me.

This issue of "love" from a congregation???? I'm sorry, and please be patient with me all who answer, but why on earth do you expect love from your congregation? The people who love me are my family and very close friends. All I would hope from from the people of the church I attend would be friendship, support, respect, kindness and courtesy, perhaps affection more from those I am close to....but not love. Maybe love from God....but not from all those people. We attend the same church for a multitude of reasons, from a convenient location, to liking the service. Why would I expect that variety of perhaps 250 people who see me maybe once a week to love me?????

I don't expect the congregation to be a surrogate family. I have a real family and a busy real life where the church is a part of it, but by no means the central focus. Why would anyone expect real love from any congregation, JW or otherwise?

I am so confused.

48

Can you eat blood now?

by Brummie in

i have no trouble with transfusions to save peoples lives but recently we went to a wedding and one of my little lads had been up to the buffet and come back with a plate of food, on it was little circles of black pudding (blood sausage), he didnt know what it was (i have never brought it home so he hasnt seen it before) but just threw it on his plate anyway.

while he wasnt looking i took it off and threw it away!

couldnt bring myself to let him eat it and i still couldnt eat it because of the background in jws.

concerned mama

OK, I'm completely confused by all this. What difference does cooking a steak rare or well have to do with eating blood? When you cook it more, you just coagulate the blood so it doesn't run out. You aren't making it disappear. Therefore if you eat a well done steak, you would actually be getting more blood, just cooked blood.

If you want meat with as little blood as possible, you have to get it from a Muslim or Jewish butcher.