There are so many things, but for me I have to say the meetings. As a working mom trying to feed the kids, clean them up and drag them to the hall on a weeknight was difficult at best. And to sit there and be bored out of my mind, pure torture. I found out later I have ADD, which explains a lot, no wonder my mind wandered. After you have been in a while, you have heard it all before. I look back and don't know how I did it.
LisaRose
JoinedPosts by LisaRose
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51
What's The Worst Thing About Being A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus infor me, i think it's that the witnesses teach they are god's spokesman.
they represent his "faithful & discreet slave"....and that they alone are expounders of the only truth and that if you disagree with anything they teach, you are considered worse than vomit.. it's unbelievable because these people are wrong so many times, it cannot be excused!.
as a witness, you must accept every viewpoint and if you (and your family) do not accept it all, hook, line and sinker, you are "apostates"!!!.
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JWS vs LDS
by tresdecu ini came across a mormon "sisters" blog...reading through some of her missionary experiences, it sounded so much like jw pioneer "sis" relating hers.
just swap out some of the cult-language words and it's suddenly a jw experience of sharing "bible truths" with some poor worldly sap.. here's an taste of it:.
1)we were also led by the spirit this week to a former investigator's home.
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LisaRose
I remember when I was in the cult I thought Mormons were crazy and we were so much better. Now I realize the culture was just the same.
Sometimes the ex Mormons will drop by to check out the ex JW sites. I was wrote a poem about being an exJW called the ABCs of Jehovah's Witnesses. A ex Mormon saw it and wrote his own version. Kind of made me happy to thing my experience as a JW helped an ex Mormon.
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Why was this congregation disolved - Sunflower Cong. of Santa Ana CA
by loosie ini went to this congregation from 1969 to 1979. in 1979 it was dissolved and everyone was assigned to two new congregations.
i was only 10 yrs old, so nobody told me why.
but isnt it ususual for the sunflower name not to be carried over but two new ones to be made.
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LisaRose
I lived for many years in SoCal. When I moved to Northern California (Sacramento area). I noticed a huge change. They were much more conservative and judgemental. I never made any friends, these people just never gave me the time of day. I was a bit too liberal even by So Cal standards, but at least I was treated nice and had friends. The Nor Cal people seemed like a bunch of hicks to me. I stuck it out for ten years like that. My meeting attendance going steadily downhill the whole time.
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So, Are YOU Better Off Than You Were A Few Years Ago In Your Life?
by minimus inis your life better off as a witness or exjw now than before?.
is your life better off in the last few years economically?.
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LisaRose
Whoosier I totaly understand why you are going back. Do what you have to do. Don't take it personal if some think its a mistake, its not a one size fits all kind of decision.
My life is better than it was as a JW, much better. Other than some health problems my life is pretty darn good.
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Proof of adultery no longer needed to be spiritually free to remarry
by WuzLovesDubs inso this is what my soon to be ex says to me today...the same person who is courting wooing and flirting with a sister and has been for a very long time even way before i told him i wanted a divorce.
he tells me that they "dont spy on people any more to get proof" that my just telling him i did or him telling the elders that i did is "sufficient" for him to be free.
he also said hes not allowed to talk to said sister any more because she is "spiritually free" but not divorced yet!
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LisaRose
Never a JW, I think Blondie is referring to the previous post (that quoted a Watchtower directive) that stated there had to be two witnesses to the fact the mate stayed the night with a member of the opposite they coule sex. In other words a "nooner" cannot be used to prove adultery.
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Proof of adultery no longer needed to be spiritually free to remarry
by WuzLovesDubs inso this is what my soon to be ex says to me today...the same person who is courting wooing and flirting with a sister and has been for a very long time even way before i told him i wanted a divorce.
he tells me that they "dont spy on people any more to get proof" that my just telling him i did or him telling the elders that i did is "sufficient" for him to be free.
he also said hes not allowed to talk to said sister any more because she is "spiritually free" but not divorced yet!
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LisaRose
The WBTS rules are tricky. If everyone involved is honest it works as they intend. But divorces do not usually bring out the best in people.
My husband was disfellowshipped. I was miserable in the marriage and would have been happy if he had cheated and would have divorced him in a New York minute. But I didn't have it in me to lie about it. It's what eventually led to my break from the JWs. I just could not believe that a loving God would want me to be miserable for the rest of my life because of one mistake I made when I was 17.
I'm pretty sure that some lied to get a scriptural divorce. An example I heard of, a brother claimed his invalid wife confessed to adultery many years after the fact. He divorced her, stuck her in a nursing home and married his wife's former caretaker, who was much younger than him. He got away with it. Right.....sure seemed fishy.
But that's what happens when an organization starts getting involved in peoples marriages and leaves people with no way out of an impossible situation.
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Who here lives in California?
by TimothyT inif you do tell me a bit about where you live in just a few words.
:).
timmy :).
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LisaRose
I live in the San Francisco Bay area, Conntra Costa County. I am a few blocks from San Pablo bay. I've also lived in Ventura, Santa Barbara County and El Dorado Hill (Sacramento area) I spent 10 years in Colorado but I am glad to be back in my home State. Weather is perfect here. I'm a California girl.
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As An EXJW Does Christmas Mean Anything To You?
by minimus ini've been thinking how correct the witnesses are regarding an aspect of xmas.
it is totally commercialized and it's big business and materialism.
having said that, i enjoy giving presents and recieving them.
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LisaRose
Like anything else, Christmas is what you make it. I used to think that it was all about materialism and idiots going crazy at the mall, and sure, there is that. But it does't have to be all about that. I just avoid the malls, do my shopping early, or online, or at small local stores. I don't overspend, but try to make my gifts meaningful. To me, it a great time to slow down and connect with family. I love to decorate, so that has been fun for me. This year my husband and I took our 3 year old granddaughter to pick out the tree and then she helped me decorate it. We also did a gingerbread house (from a kit - it was really easy) and she got to put on the candies (eating half of them). I wouldn't have missed that for anything.
I understand those who aren't into it, either because of JW brainwashing or because it's just not for them, to each his own, at least it's a day off work, right.
Merry Chistmas all
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Worst Night of the Year
by Quendi inwell, it's that time of year again.
the memorial season is upon us and jws the world over are getting ready for the celebration which this year falls on 17 april.
for the first time since 1975, yours truly will not attend and i couldn't be happier.
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LisaRose
I remember when the memorial was a special occasion. I would buy new clothes for my 2 children and myself, we would get dressed up and everyone I know would be there. The ceremony felt somewhat special, at least it was a change, with the wine and crackers being passed around. By the time I left it was a total drag. I would force my then teen aged kids to put on their dress clothes, somthing they hated. I made this big effort to get us all there and then it was just stupid. I was beginning to see that it was a meaningless ritual. My children and I were ignored as we didn't attend frequently enough for anyone to bother saying hello. The meeting was in a high school facility, very tacky. My very last memorial I attended for my mother's sake, as she was dying and I knew it would make her happy. It was OK, by then I had been out a few years and it was strange and familiar all at once. I knew it would be my last meeting ever, it was closure for me. Now I don't even think about it or usually even know what date it is. That page has turned.
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Regretsy Shout Out for the JW's
by LisaRose ini must confess, regretsy is my "guilty pleasure".
it's a website that picks the most oddball items on etsy and makes fun of them.
for those not aquainted, etsy is a website for selling handmade items.
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LisaRose
I must confess, Regretsy is my "guilty Pleasure". It's a website that picks the most oddball items on Etsy and makes fun of them. For those not aquainted, Etsy is a website for selling handmade items. Regretsy looks through the thousands of items on Etsy, finding the weird, the tacky, the obscene. I was amused to see them mention the Jehovah's Witnesses, in a peice that featured some really oddball hand knitted items. Warning: not for the easily offended.
I don’t know about you, but I’m fantasizing about going out to get the mail in this thing, or maybe keeping it by the door, so I can put it on when the Jehovah’s Witnesses come by.