Oh no, I don't feel any hostility from anybody at work and if anything, I think the whole apostate thing really helps me out (the guys that run the company talk to me about how they're trying to get out and I'm friends with the people who signs the company checks). I've only been there a year or so and have already gotten a raise twice. The second one was after various people learned I was apostate and it was acutally a bit bigger than my first one was. Trust me, I've never been a former JW to hide away from current JW's. Last Christmas I sent a card to my old congo to say hi and show how great my life is going now. Amazingly enough, from what I heard they didn't think it was as nearly as funny as I did. Suffice to say, I'm not one to shy away from such things.
Oh yeah, I have never been a JW in the town that I live now and nobody knows me here. I grew up and left my old city and congo years ago. Guess I should have specified that earlier. Sorry about that!
Pleasantly Confused
JoinedPosts by Pleasantly Confused
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Weirdly Wonderful Problem
by Pleasantly Confused inbefore i get to my problem let me introduce myself.
i've already posted on this board quite a bit in the past and still come read stuff on here from time to time.
i would have used my old username but decided against it because quite a few people on here know who i am in real life but for this i'd prefer to stay unknown out of respect for the people i'll be writing about.
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Pleasantly Confused
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Leaving the Truth - Songs to Destroy Your Faith By
by tetrapod.sapien inas some of you may know, i am a recently self-deconverted jw.
the experience of deconversion was at times emotional.
i have compiled a list of songs i would listen to on those emotionally turbulent occasions.
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Pleasantly Confused
How about Its the End of the World by REM? I always prefered that to the downer of Losing My Religion. Pride by U2 because while they may have taken the first part of my life they didn't take my pride. Wounded by Third Eye Blind Life Wasted by Pearl Jam Rocket by Smashing Pumpkins and as long as people are quoting Dylan then Masters of War (not even Jesus could forgive the things that you do) I don't know, I never really cared for the songs pining away for the past because while, yes, the past may have sucked, the future looks pretty rosy from where I'm sitting.
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Weirdly Wonderful Problem
by Pleasantly Confused inbefore i get to my problem let me introduce myself.
i've already posted on this board quite a bit in the past and still come read stuff on here from time to time.
i would have used my old username but decided against it because quite a few people on here know who i am in real life but for this i'd prefer to stay unknown out of respect for the people i'll be writing about.
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Pleasantly Confused
Elsewhere,
Yeah, what's really funny is there's one office with two sisters in it (one much much more into it than the other and neither knowing about my past). One day I was walking by and heard the diehard JW going on about what a nice young man I am. As for the pioneer guy who now has a best friend, he's only been like that since I heard him talking to a non-JW coworker about religion stuff and I joined in and started shooting him down with just about every pro-JW point he brought up before finally just telling him I'm an apostate. Ever since then he hasn't talked about JW stuff to me but will come hang out in my office from time to time to just talk about whatever (movies, video games, etc.). One day he was planning on leaving early to go out in service but stuck around work to hang out with me. I was proud when I went home that day. :) -
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Weirdly Wonderful Problem
by Pleasantly Confused inbefore i get to my problem let me introduce myself.
i've already posted on this board quite a bit in the past and still come read stuff on here from time to time.
i would have used my old username but decided against it because quite a few people on here know who i am in real life but for this i'd prefer to stay unknown out of respect for the people i'll be writing about.
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Pleasantly Confused
Nathan,
No, I wouldn't do that to them at all. They aren't trying to force the JW stuff on me at all. They're just being VERY VERY VERY supportive of me being an apostate and looking for someone who knows what they're going through. They're great people and I don't want anything bad to happen to them at all and I want to be able to help them out. At the same time, however, I'd prefer to just move past it and wish they would too but I can understand why they can't. I'm just curious of the best way to lovingly deal with that.
If anything, they're not trying to make me practice a religion at all and one of them actually got onto one of the elders at work when he heard the elder trying to get me to take a book (their office are right next to each other and also the only time anyone has tried to push the JW belief on me at all) and came and apologized to me later that that happened despite his multiple warnings to that guy. -
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Weirdly Wonderful Problem
by Pleasantly Confused inbefore i get to my problem let me introduce myself.
i've already posted on this board quite a bit in the past and still come read stuff on here from time to time.
i would have used my old username but decided against it because quite a few people on here know who i am in real life but for this i'd prefer to stay unknown out of respect for the people i'll be writing about.
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Pleasantly Confused
Hello everyone. Before I get to my problem let me introduce myself. I've already posted on this board quite a bit in the past and still come read stuff on here from time to time. I would have used my old username but decided against it because quite a few people on here know who I am in real life but for this I'd prefer to stay unknown out of respect for the people I'll be writing about. For the sake of this discussion, I'll just say I was born and raised a JW and left once I grew up. I am totally and completely out of the borg and don't mind telling people that either. Ok, on to the issue at hand. About a year ago a guy I'm friends with got a promotion at his company and pretty much offered me his job. After coming in and going through the formality of an interview I was offered the position (more money, better enviroment, better work, more free time) but there was one thing holding me back from taking it; the owner, the VP's, as well as about a quarter of the company (around 100 people work there) are all JW's. Well, I really did NOT like my old job and my friend went to great lengths to assure me that the whole JW thing wouldn't be a problem so I took the job. I had been there a while and the job really is wonderful. I absolutely love it there and would recomend this place to anybody who's lucky enough to get offered a job (they hardly ever advertise because turnover is so low and even when somebody does leave they're usually replaced by a friend or family member of someone who already works there). I've done more and better work there in the past year than I did in three years at my old job just because the work enviroment is so great. Without getting into too many details to protect the privacy of others, it got out to a few people that I'm an apostate. Now, normally you would think that would basically be a death warrant in a company owned and operated by JW's but that's where my problem comes in. The owner is a devoted elder but as it turns out his sons who work at the company and pretty much run it now hate being JW's but don't want to lose all of the JW friends and family. There's another guy who is a fairly quite pioneer who once he found out I'm an apostate is more friendly and buddy buddy to me than anybody else in the company. Myself, I look at JW stuff as an incredibly stupid first part of my life that I left a long time ago and I'd rather just leave behind and forget it. Not only that but I'm just the lowly IT support guy who's not used to people very high up in any company coming to me for personal/spiritual advice. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to help and feel like I should help anybody out who wants out but at the same time, I've already left and would prefer to leave all the old ways behind. Other than hiding out in my server room all day long (which is hard because I have to run around the company fixing stuff) how would you all deal with this situation? Not a normal question on this board I know but any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!