Posts by flipper

29

200,000 evacuated last night in Northern California.

by compound complex in

jw
friends

where a few of us here on the forum live is in an emergency situation.

the main spillway on oroville dam -- the tallest dam in the usa -- is damaged.

the emergency spillway, never used before in the 48 years the dam has operated, is eroding.. major confusion and panic occurred when the order went out sunday, late afternoon: this is not a drill!.

flipper

Good thread CoCo, thanks for posting. I saw in the news that in our higher elevation area where we live hundreds of people who evacuated the lower areas are staying in our town , they even opened the fairgrounds up to put people up.

In the local news tonight they explained that in order to drop the pressure off of the emergency spillway - water officials increased the flows over the spillway that busted to 120,000 cubic feet per second in order to lower the lake by 50 feet- which will take pressure off the emergency spillway hill where some deep holes were. The broadcasters stated that so far the lake dropped about 7 feet, and they think within 5 days they will lower the lake level 50 feet. Of course- this sends a hell of a lot more water down the Feather river towards Oroville ( the town just below the dam ) - however the weather forecaster stated the river levels are not going up too much- so far from the increased water flow.

We have rain forecast for this weekend - but not the warm kind of rain like last week which melted a lot of snow at 8,000 feet causing flooding- the snow level is expected to be 5,000 feet which will help slow down some of that deluge of water coming down our Sierra canyons and rivers into Lake Oroville and other reservoirs. I just hope the Oroville dam officials and California Water resource folks can get this thing stabilized so 180,000 people can go back to their homes hopefully sometime soon. However - officials won't do that until they get the emergency spillway stabilized and the other water flows at a safe level to avoid flooding. It's like walking a freaking tightrope right now taking it a day at a time for these folks on lower ground. As Coco said, he and I are much higher up away from any danger. Thanks for all the well wishes though. Take care, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

22

New to site...let me intro myself

by LarryCope in

first, i've been out of the organization for 20 years this very year!

i was baptized in 1979 and attended one of the lancaster ohio congregations.

realizing i was gay, i left and after being in the columbus gay community for 6 months, decided bar hopping and cruising was not my cup o' tea.i decided to return in late '90 and was reinstated in '91.

flipper

Welcome to the board Larry. Nice to have you here. You are among people who understand what it's like seeing the organization we once knew- crumble all around us and become a criminal organization. Look forward to more of your posts, insights, and experiences you had while in the Witnesses. Take care, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

45

What has been your own personal experience of shunning?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in finding out on a small scale the extent of which shunning has impacted on you personally.. my own experience is that when i faded about 12 years ago.

the woman whose house the book study was held at (and who was virtually a neighbour) walked right past me in my own street.

i remember it so well.

flipper

ZEB- Very kind thoughts from you. Indeed, you have my thanks from my heart. It's been a rough ride at least for me this last few months with JW family

45

What has been your own personal experience of shunning?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in finding out on a small scale the extent of which shunning has impacted on you personally.. my own experience is that when i faded about 12 years ago.

the woman whose house the book study was held at (and who was virtually a neighbour) walked right past me in my own street.

i remember it so well.

flipper

Well, keep it up Marina, your thinking skills are really, really good. Totally intact, keep the great work up. Have a great weekend

45

What has been your own personal experience of shunning?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in finding out on a small scale the extent of which shunning has impacted on you personally.. my own experience is that when i faded about 12 years ago.

the woman whose house the book study was held at (and who was virtually a neighbour) walked right past me in my own street.

i remember it so well.

flipper

IOWN MYLIFE- Very well put. I totally agree with your points

33

Has anyone else seen this video on JW Broadcasting?

by NikL in

jw
friends

so i was checking out the website to see what the february broadcast was all about before i watched it with my jw wife.. on the front page was this video.... https://tv.jw.org/#en/video/vodbible/pub-jwbai_201607_1_video.

i watched it and pretended i had never been a jw.. if you pretend you don't understand their particular language it makes for a interesting (if not vague) watch.. btw i've seen several of the actors before.

jw version of movie stars?

flipper

I cannot believe I watched the whole 6 minute video without throwing up. WT Society indoctrination all the way. What a crock of shit. Being a musician I was annoyed that the WT tried to play this real down, minor chord depressing serious music while the young man is getting to know the " worldly " girl trying to set the mood as " dangerous " or very " sad " that he has found a non-JW girl that's nice to him ! And that's portrayed as a " bad " thing. And then to compare his getting to know this " worldly " girl as dangerous as Annanias lying and stealing money for himself ? How twisted is THAT ? No wonder most JW's minds are screwed up 6 ways from Sunday ! With crazy ass views like that- they don't know which end is up.

And then once again the music turns all happy, shiny when the young man is in the kingdom hall and doing his WT functions once again. Oh- Another thing. It shows his JW parents being very calm and understanding when he's telling them at the table about his " worldly " girlfriend. Most JW parents I knew would be coming off unhinged yelling at the kid telling him he's " bad " in Jehovah's eyes and needs to go to the elders immediately AND they would ground him without any freedoms to go anywhere or do anything on his own. These videos TOTALLY indoctrinate JW's in an unrealistic way and manner

45

What has been your own personal experience of shunning?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in finding out on a small scale the extent of which shunning has impacted on you personally.. my own experience is that when i faded about 12 years ago.

the woman whose house the book study was held at (and who was virtually a neighbour) walked right past me in my own street.

i remember it so well.

flipper

All we can do folks is realize that it's our JW family members that shun us who are messed up in THEIR heads. It's NOT us. It's NEVER been us. These people are mentally off, mentally ill with cult mind control and dissociative disorder firing on all cylinders in their brain neurotransmitters- and our JW relatives will continue to be mentally off until they get away from the JW mind indoctrination meetings and material that clogs their brains. Until then- their minds will remain stuck in " neutral " - never understanding what real freedom of mind is about.

It's within our capabilities and power to try and continue living a happy, free life and not allow these JW relatives to steal that freedom of mind from us . Let's all keep on keeping on friends ! Freedom of mind and movement is power ! Let's take our power back in our lives ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

12

Guilt as Motivator

by LifesNotOver in

jw
friends

i've just come across this idea: i've been feeling guilty about not contributing more to this forum, given all the help i've received here.

i feel guilty that i haven't had it as bad as so many of you.

i feel guilty that i didn't have any jw family/friends that shunned me when i left.

flipper

LIFESNOTOVER- Great thread, thanks for posting it . I was a born-in JW from birth, I escaped the JW cult at age 44 back in 2003- and I DO really understand about guilt as well plaguing us as EX-JW's. My elder dad STILL tries to guilt me 13 years after I got out of the cult ! But I've moved on and continued to live MY life the best way I can WITHOUT guilt. It's just another tactic that ALL mind control cults use is guilt and fear to control their members and sometimes it's hard to lose that indoctrination in our minds - even if we've been out of the JW's for awhile. So I empathize- been there, experienced that.

The suggestions of therapy are really great from the other posters- right now I'm getting some grief therapy counseling after my mom died over 2 months ago and it's really helping me to sort out my anger issues towards my older JW elder dad and helping me to NOT feel guilt about the JW influence from his guilt tactics towards me - and it's helping me deal with how I tried to help my mom , but my dad got in the way of me helping towards the end of my mom's life - and the therapist helped me to see that I did the best I could to make my mom comfortable- in spite of my dad's controlling ways.

I wish you the best my friend , please take care of YOU and enjoy life. Life is meant to be enjoyed- guilt free for sure

26

My Story

by WeatherLover in

jw
friends

i'm a 4th generation jw.

i started to realize it wasn't the truth over 2 years ago in late october/early november 2014. i don't know how exactly it happened.

i remember i had just heard about confirmation bias, and it hit me: i realized that i would be guilty of confirmation bias if i didn't look at the other side.

flipper

WEATHER LOVER- Welcome to the board. You are among friends here who have shared similar feelings. But I agree with everybody here- especially what the poster Dubstepped stated so well - that if you want real happiness then you cannot continue to live your life for your JW family. It will eat you up inside and all that they will try to do is put feelings of guilt on you the rest of your life. My JW older family do not recognize my personal rights either- and I've been away from the Witnesses since 2003 !

As Dubstepped said REAL LOVE is not conditional and will be accepting of different life choices you make regarding religious beliefs or even having no religious beliefs. It sounds like you have a great aunt who will help you who is inactive. I would avail yourself of her offer of help to you. And we are here as a friend and support to you as well. Take care, I know it's difficult, but we're here every step of the way with you, we've been there too. And experienced the JW family situations. Take care, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

45

What has been your own personal experience of shunning?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i am interested in finding out on a small scale the extent of which shunning has impacted on you personally.. my own experience is that when i faded about 12 years ago.

the woman whose house the book study was held at (and who was virtually a neighbour) walked right past me in my own street.

i remember it so well.

flipper

UNSHACKLE the CHAINS- Thanks for this thread, very important and supportive to those of us who have experienced this shunning.

God almighty, where do I begin ? I got out of the JW's about 14 years ago . Just stopped going, not DFed and I didn't disassociate. But essentially the fanatic JW's in my family have treated me like I'm DFed anyway. When my adult JW daughters got married, I was not allowed to walk either daughter down the aisle . I was not called by one of my daughters when she had her first baby. I found out on her Facebook page. Wasn't allowed to see my grandchild until 6 months of age. And that's because I went over uninvited stopping by randomly . My grandchild is almost a year and a half- have only seen the child 3 or 4 times at formal family affairs. Not enough to form a close relationship.

My mom a JW who recently passed away was always supportive to me in my decision to exit the Witnesses years ago- but my older JW siblings and dad were not supportive. Even though I've occasionally called them to see how they are doing- they NEVER call me and my dad can't wait to hang up the phone on me when I call him to see how he is doing. An epic conversation with him lasts 3 minutes - only.

I have a lot of resentment towards my still active JW family as they all treat me like I have the Black Plague or something. Fortunately- I have many ex-JW nieces and nephews and my son and wife whom I'm close to who are very supportive and kind. We all have really good relationships. But the sadness of losing my mom, and resentment of my older JW family treating me like doo-doo has recently led me to get some grief counseling from Snowline Hospice. I'm seeing a great counselor there and she is assisting me to work through these various sorrows and pains I feel.

I have many good friends here as well I've met through this board and other non-JW friends who love me for who I am- and that is something I cherish. Having friends who accept you for WHO you are - not who they WANT you to be- which is something I'm not. Playing guitar , doing music, and writing songs has helped me cope with the pain as well. So, these things are my therapy. Take care, thanks for the thread