Posts by LisaRose

46

A question to the ex-JW's...

by losthobbit in

i'm curious about what made you realize that your ex-religion was not "true"?.

i've had discussions with many religious people, and they're always trying to protect their beliefs, rather than allowing anything i say challenge what they believe.

was there ever something someone said to you, or something you read that maybe made you doubt your beliefs for the first time, or had a similar effect?.

I bought the BS hook, line and sinker when I was 13. I never questioned it much, I just thought I was a spiritual failure. I hated service I hated the meetings, I hated the conventions. My husband got DF'd early on in our marriage adding another burden. I worked full time with 2 children, but still I stuggled on for 30 years trying to make the meetings and trying to brainwash my kids. I look back now and realized that deep down, I had doughts. But in my head I still thought I believed it, I didn't realize I was just brainwashed.

I reached a breaking point in my horrible marriage and left it and the religion. I thought, a God of love could not want me to stay the rest of my life in a miserable, unhappy marriage. If he wants to judge me for leaving, and kill me at the Big A, so bit, I would accept that judgement,l but I could not stay, even so. There was a part of my mind that still thought, well maybe, maybe it was true, maybe I will go back.

Of course, after being away from the contstant refinforcement of the meetings, I started developing better critical thinking skills. I realized that none of it help up. It took about 2 or 3 years for this to happen. Then I found this site and it was great to find out these things that just made me all the more happy that I didn't spend any more time in that situtation. I wouldn't go back ever for any reason, I'd rather be dead.

33

Do You Feel Somewhat Liberated When You Talk About Your JW Past?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i do.. when i tell people that i was a witness, nobody can believe it!

i enjoy telling them why i left the religion, the harm they cause, and the benefits of being out of it.. do you express yourself in this way too or is it only me?.

LisaRose

Yes. It's been so long (11 years) that I rarely bring it up anymore, it's just not on my mind at this point. If it's relevant to a topic or is brought up by others, I do talk about it, and everytime I feel this lightening of spriit. I realize that I once was captive to these thoughts and beliefs and I'm free now. Freedom is great.

29

Introduce A Girl To Engineering Day

by TD in

jw
friends

the day is/was yesterday, today or tomorrow depending upon what you read:.

http://www.eweek.org/newsstory.aspx?contentid=237.

~tom (---who's doing his part).

LisaRose

I was passing the toy section at the store and I say a really cool tool set for tots. I thought it would make a great gift for my 2 year old grandaughter. I use tools myself and I think she would enjoy it. I wish I had had one when I was a kid, but back then girls were expected to only play with dolls.

34

I swear some JWs don't believe in forgiving and forgetting. It's like a tattooed scarlet letter.

by miseryloveselders in

jw
friends

my dad ticked me off the other night, to the point i had to hang up.

i didn't abruptly hang up, but rather i told him i had company.

we were discussing a sister at my hall who did something years ago.

LisaRose

In my experience, it's no different from any other organization, people are basically judgemental. The difference is they maintain a fiction that this is a loving organization. For those that "fit in" and are a member of an elder family, it may be. For those on the fringes, who are different, single, have an unbleiving mate, have problems, or have been DF'd, they do not feel this love.

54

Do you think a lot of JWs are ashamed of their beliefs?

by I quit! in

jw
friends

the reason i asked this is because i'm going to the funeral of a man who wasn't a jw.

my mother-in-law has lived in the same neighborhood as him for years and knows his wife.

i asked her if she was going attend the funeral service.

LisaRose

I wasn't at first. As time went on I tried not to bring it up right away, so they would get to know me and see I wasn't an idiot. Then I just tried not to bring it up at all. Finally I realized those people that thought JW's were idiots were right and I left and joined them.

73

My Labrador died can anyone please help me. I can't stand the pain.

by Witness 007 in

my wife recovered from depression just 14 months ago and things have been going well.....so much so that i started a buisness for her and we are two weeks into it.

my labby was ill vomiting abit of discomfort, i thought great, you ate something bad again!

the vet gave him a shot and sent us home.

LisaRose

I had a wonderful dog that I loved very much. I had to have her put to sleep at 14, she was a big (95 lbs) husky mix. It was horrible. I still think about her a lot, but it does get easier with time. Getting another dog helps, but it's not a replacement. When my dog died I bought a little butterfly pin as a rememberance, because I felt she had the light spirit of a butterfly. The funny thing was the next day I say a huge yellow butterfly go by outside my window. I don't believe in the afterlife really, but I couldn't help think - there goes Allie. My husband thought it was silly, but when a big yellow butterfly keep bumping into him, he became a believer. A few years ago a butterfly kept hitting him again. I looked up the date Allie died, and sure enough it was the exact same day of the year, 5 years before. Who know what it means, but it gives me comfort to think that her spirit goes on.

53

SPAWN

by White Dove in

what would you do if your 19 year old son announced to everyone on his fb list that he was engaged to be married, and this is the first you ever heard of it?.

how about if that same spawn told his fiance, who you've never met or talked to, that his whole family is dead and that you are not his real mother (or father)?

also, what if she told you through pms on fb one by one what he was claiming, and you explained each one in detail, and she didn't believe you?.

LisaRose

White Dove, I'm sorry you had to go through this, I'm sure it was very hurtful. It's very sad that he was willing to say such things. I have read recently that the brain is not really fully developed in kids that age; hopefully when he matures a bit things will get better.

I don't know why some people on this board are so willing to jump in and condem someone base on very little informaton. I wouldn't take it too seriously.

179

Were you 'alive in '75' and how was that year for you?

by punkofnice in

i was a junior borgite in 1975. i remeber looking at the calendar at work in october and thinking: 'armageddon isn't here yet.....and it doesn't feel like it will be here anytime soon either!'.

i was surprised that jehovah hadn't obeyed the superior command to bring the big 'a' as instructed to him by fred franz.

how dare god disobey the jw leader!!!!!.

LisaRose

I had my daughter that year in December, so I was preggers most of the year. I don't remember being very afraid of "The Big A", it wasn't something I thought a lot about. It's not that I wasn't as brainwashed as everyone else, it's just my personality, I was more focused on my day to day life and having my baby. I guess that's why I was never a very good JW.

22

Do you Live in the " Here and Now " ? Or Live for " Heaven" or " Paradise " ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

sorry, i accidentally posted a partial title, then hit the submit button, my bad.. as jehovah's witnesses we all were told that this world we live in is temporary .

that we lived in a " temporary system of things " which was soon to be replaced - allegedly - by a " new system of things " in which nobody would ever die, be sick, or be cruel, or sin anymore.

or some churches teach that when you die - you'll float off to " heaven " to be with god- allegedly.. speaking from personal experience of 44 years as a jehovah's witness- i found that by constantly focusing on the future " paradise " it drained me of many joys i could experience in the here and now- the present.

LisaRose

I live in the moment. I plan for the future, but I don't live in it. All we have, all we ever will have is the current moment.

27

Smurf Rumors - 2 Questions

by A question in

jw
friends

as the board no doubt knows, there was some sort of rumor in the early 1980s going around amongst the witnesses that a smurf doll came to life in the kingdom hall, or that smurfs were demonic.. 2 questions:.

1. do any not remember any such rumors though they were witnesses at the time?.

2. of those who do, did all the witnesses believe them, or otherwise, what proportion rejected the rumor as nonsense?.

LisaRose

I heard it and thought it was stupid and silly, however my former mother-in-law had already passed it on to my then 8 year old daughter. I got home to a terrified child and we had to put the smurf doll in the trash can that night. I have sort of a facination with Modern Urban Legends and to me it had all the earmarks of a MUL. It's always a "Friend of a friend" type of situation, you know "my friend at bla bla congo, heard it happened at bla bla congo". And MUL's always have some sort of moral lesson. In this case, the obvious thing of: you are letting you children watch to much TV and buying them too many toys - so it's your own fault if that toy gets up and marches out of the kindgom hall. A few months age, as a joke I bought a Smurf key ring on Amazon and sent it to my daugther - to make up for the one she threw away. We both had a good laugh.