my aunt's father, a formerly life-long adherent to the apostolic church, became a witness last year.. i just learned he went to the last assembly and died.
tripped and hit his head on an armrest.. i'm waiting for the next round of email that talks about jehovah protecting his people with guardian angels.
maybe he missed the memo that this guy was entitled to divine intervention..
jabberwock: Parakeet, I heard an elder once say that we thank Jehovah when good things happen to us, but we don't blame him for the bad things.
Sometimes they do blame him. A correllary to Rule #3 is "if a dub has a run of bad luck, Jehovah is 'testing' him." Also known as the "Job" clause.
Even then, as a loyal Witness, I found such thinking completely untenable.
But they hang on to it anyway because otherwise they would not be Jehovah's "special" people; they would just be people.
my aunt's father, a formerly life-long adherent to the apostolic church, became a witness last year.. i just learned he went to the last assembly and died.
tripped and hit his head on an armrest.. i'm waiting for the next round of email that talks about jehovah protecting his people with guardian angels.
maybe he missed the memo that this guy was entitled to divine intervention..
Here's the dub rule of thumb concerning good fortune or bad:
1. If an exdub has an accident and dies, it's Jehovah's retribution for apostasy.
2. If an exdub has a run of good luck, it's because he has embraced Satan's world.
3. If a dub has an accident and dies, he has the "resurrection hope."
4. If a dub has a run of good luck, it's because Jehovah is rewarding his faith.
It's also known as the heads-I-win-tails-you-lose doctrine.
i was just wondering if any of you took time to speak openly about being an ex-witness.. sometimes, when it came up naturally, i told some of my friends; in other cases, i felt really uncomfortable talking about it.
in fact, it's a little strange, but i felt more comfortable telling casual friends rather than the people closest to me.
i often felt like it was a huge revelation to make, often to find that people weren't really that shocked.
Not including family and close friends who knew me way back when, in the 30+ years I've been an exdub, I've told exactly 2 people that I was a dub. It's not exactly a thing to be proud of, even though I was dragged in as a child.
i am new to this forum and i just stumbled upon it and have been intrigued with the comments and experiences.
i have not been envolved for a long time now but my entire family is still is.
grandparents, mother, my step dad, and my entire family on my grandmothers side.. but most everyone here, from what i have noticed, has strengthened my belief that if you were a jw at one point, you now are a stronger and better person for it.
kriptonian7: Wow its like kicking an ant pile in this forum.
Get used to it if you want to hang around. And this is nothing -- start posting on political threads and watch. They'll shred you like a head of lettuce.
If you take the time to read some of the archived posts, you'll find that most exdubs, even those lucky enough to break away cleanly, bear deep emotional scars from the trauma of having been in the WTS cult. Many have close family members -- parents, children, spouses -- that are still dubs, and the exdub must live a precarious existence to keep from being shunned by them. Almost every day, you can hear the anguish in their posts as they ask how to deal with their dub relatives without the elders tossing them out the door. This misery does not make one a stronger person; it just makes them miserable.
If you ask members here if they would rather not have ever become involved with the WTS (despite all the advantages you listed), I believe the overwhelming majority will say YES.
... and nothing but the truth, please help me prozak..... i'm sure some have noticed how 'cranky' and 'snappy' i have been posting the last couple of days.... i am sorry..... life on my peaceful farm has gone to hell the last week with the noise of constant loud bangs from 'scareguns' that have been placed around our property to keep the ducks off the rice crops..... i have had very little sleep as the noise echos inside my old brick house 24hrs a day!......
so now that i have had my rant, i ask the question.... (in the family guy style).
what grinds your gears????????.
Dubs.
Dubs.
Dubs.
however it happened - here we are!
intelligent life exists in the universe in the form of humankind.
often brutal, commonly mediocre but occasionally brilliant and capable of incredible love and kindness.
Atheists are usually not opposed to the possibility of God; they just don't find the "evidence" supplied by believers to be convincing.
If convincing evidence should turn up, I'll be the first in line to shake hands with God and admit to him/her/it that I was wrong.
i am new to this forum and i just stumbled upon it and have been intrigued with the comments and experiences.
i have not been envolved for a long time now but my entire family is still is.
grandparents, mother, my step dad, and my entire family on my grandmothers side.. but most everyone here, from what i have noticed, has strengthened my belief that if you were a jw at one point, you now are a stronger and better person for it.
kriptonian7: ... if you were a JW at one point, you now are a stronger and better person for it.
That's like saying if you survive the Ebola virus, you're immune from it. There are better ways to become a stronger, better person, whatever that means. Not many people would say that surviving a train wreck made them better people.
The only advantage exdubs have is a nose keenly attuned to detect the aroma of BS in whatever form it may take.
As for the wonderful "advantages" that having been a dub confers --
1) strong bible knowledge base.
A collection of myths and semi-historical accounts of a bloodthirsty god. It's the reason I don't discuss religion with anyone outside of this forum.
2) people skills ... i attribute my excellent sales skills to this.
Goody for you. Glad those endless hours of trudging d2d selling worthless crap was useful for you.
3) A solid core of beliefs that is true with any religion.
If you still believe them, then how does being an EX-dub make you a better person?
JW's for the most part are very caring people and will do most anything to help.
Tell me where those dubs are. I've got to meet them. I've yet to meet dubs who will lift a finger to help anyone outside of their misguided cult. They don't help each other much either.
They just tend to get a little mis guided with their approach on how they should handle things.
Ya think?
4) my ability to question and reason.
What planet are you from? You do realize the dubs are a cult? When I asked the elders questions they couldn't answer, I was told to shut up. How's that for nurturing thinking skills?
5) Ex JW's tend to have a good grasp on life.
See statement above regarding Ebola viruses and train wrecks.
But beleive that once we have broken free, we used what we were taught and our experiences to better ourselves..
When you start at ground zero, there's nowhere else to go but up.
...it is also a good example.
as such a good example... your loved ones who are still in may turn to you for assistance or advice on occasion.. live as well as you can... educate yourself in everything that peaks your curiosity... and work on responding in love, not bitterness, whenever possible.. their adage of "being won without a word" works both ways..
BabaYaga: Their adage of "being won without a word" works both ways.
That may be true for some, but not for my family. My brother and I left the "Truth" when we were in our twenties and still had time to earn univeristy degrees. We've both have not-too-shabby careers, stable marriages, great children, and have lived well for many years.
My other sibs remained dubs and, at the point of what should have been their retirement, are forced to hustle just to get by. Their reaction? Bitterness and envy. Very "Christian" emotions, to be sure. Sometimes you can't win no matter what you do.
You young dub lurkers out there, get thee to a university and learn something useful before it's too late for you. It gets a lot harder to wash windows when you hit your 40s.
parakeet, of the no-apologies class
just saw a documentary on bolivia how a woman gets up while it's dark, puts a barrel on her head and walks 10 miles to get water for the day from a filthy well we would not swim in!....thats what 1 billion or more people have to do everyday!
they also scavenge for a hand full of rice or dirty flour...meanwhile, i buy 4 litre "springwater" and run down to the supermarket to pick what fruit, vegetables, meat, i want to eat today.. our kids want nike shoes and ps 3 while there kids need food and medicine.....and clean water!
i jump in a nice car and complain about petrol prices, while they walk many miles a day to work and home......i think we are lucky but don't know it, just born on the good side of the world.. agree?.
Read "Nickled and Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich if you want a glimpse of how America's working poor live. Poverty exists everywhere.
and so are you.. the 'god' of the bible doesn't define what is good or bad - you and i do.
it isn't 'god' that will provide for our futures, feed the hungry, cure diseases and fight injustice - you and i will do that.
'he' isn't god - you are and i am!
My mommy always told me I was special. Now I know why.
