Posts by life is to short

25

Your first time on this forum. What were your thoughts and feelings?

by stuckinarut2 in

hey all,.

i was just thinking back to the first time i found this awesome forum...years before i eveni joined up and starting posting myself.. i was so encouraged and happy to see that i was not alone!

i was not the only one who was observing the org, and all of its aspects and thinking "seriously?

life is to short

This board helped save my sanity. I truly thought I was going crazy as I felt so alone in the world. I was a born in and it was all I knew. I had no friends outside of the religion nor family and I had no true friends inside of it, nor family.

Flipper and Mrs Flipper are the first people who reached out to me and I will always feel indebted to them. They are wonderful people and they mean the world to me. They are my true friends. I can never thank them enough for all the help they have given me, and I would never have met them without this board.

I am just so glad for this place.

LITS

30

Site issues: Jan 02 Update (Sign In)

by Simon in

i've deployed a fix for people affected by sign-in issues caused by having multiple accounts associated with the same email address.

here's how to activate the fix:.

you must attempt to sign in using the email address associated with your account (not a username) and must have access to that mailbox.. if there are multiple accounts associated with the email address then you will be shown a warning message with the option to have an email sent to repair your account.. the email will contain a link to a page showing all the accounts associated with the same email address and allow you to select the one you want to be active (it will disassociate all the other accounts from the email address).. once you have completed the process then you should be able to sign in as normal.

life is to short

Yes hope you are feeling better also, Thank you again for doing all of this especially when you are sick. Just thank you again.

30

Site issues: Jan 02 Update (Sign In)

by Simon in

i've deployed a fix for people affected by sign-in issues caused by having multiple accounts associated with the same email address.

here's how to activate the fix:.

you must attempt to sign in using the email address associated with your account (not a username) and must have access to that mailbox.. if there are multiple accounts associated with the email address then you will be shown a warning message with the option to have an email sent to repair your account.. the email will contain a link to a page showing all the accounts associated with the same email address and allow you to select the one you want to be active (it will disassociate all the other accounts from the email address).. once you have completed the process then you should be able to sign in as normal.

life is to short

Yes it worked. Thank you, thank you, thank you, so much. Your sight means the world to me. I do not know where I would be without it. I just cannot thank you enough. Thank you again.

LITS

65

Did you AWAKEN from the JWs by yourself?

by cultBgone in

jw
friends

i was thinking about how so many posters here on jwn are frustrated and frantic to help their loved ones get away from the brainwashing of jws, and how much advice is given about how to help family members and loved ones.

i considered my own leaving and that it was internal turmoil based on the teachings getting weirder and child abuse issues, to name just a few, and it made me wonder:.

did you self-awaken or were you assisted by the gentle proddings of a friend or family member?

life is to short

I agree with Simon and flipper. I had listened to Dateline with Barbara Anderson in 2002 but I convinced myself it was not really true, that it happened only in her area and she much have misunderstood it, etc. It was not until I saw pedophiles in my hall myself that I believed it. If someone had been in my face telling me that it was a cult as did happen it just made me more sure it was the "truth". But it was seeing as flipper said injustices myself that I woke up.

So with me I totally agree that gentle way is so much better than the blow horns and yelling in front of the Kingdom. I know I have been told that I need to do that but it just turned me off when I was in and I try to treat people like I want to be treated.

And a huge shout out to this sight Simon and thoes like flipper and Mrs. flipper who helped me so much reallize I was not crazy and gave me so much encouragement. I do not know what I would have done or where I would be now with out this place to come and read and know I am not alone.

LITS

33

"The Friends"

by FeelingFree in

i have only come across this term very recently on jwn and in an "apostate" video i watched yesterday.

never have i heard anyone refer to jw's as "the friends" here in the uk.

is it just used in america?.

life is to short

Used all the time here in the Northwest, even when starting meetings and conventions. The brother on the stage will say friends lests take our seats.

LITS

11

Why is the GB determined to delete the few enjoyable aspects of being a JW?

by NAVYTOWN in

it seems the gb is trying to give the jws a more modern, friendly image.

new website, new logo, cartoons for instructing children, literature carts, slimmed-down books and magazines, etc.

yet on the other hand they delete some of the things many jws enjoy most: the book study in private homes, congregation picnics and large get-togethers, private group watchtower study sessions, colorful socks for men, denim dresses for women etc.

life is to short

I think Giordano nailed it in his post.

LITS

20

Did you expect all non-Witnesses to die at Armageddon?

by Apognophos in

apologies if this has been asked before, but i couldn't find a thread where the focus was specifically this yes-or-no question.

reach back in your memories to when you were at the peak of your faith in the religion, and tell me honestly:.

"did you, personally, believe that non-witnesses would die at armageddon, even if they hadn't gotten to hear the message at all?".

life is to short

It really, really brothered me but I was like jwfacts that it was what we were taught so it had to be true. That is why it brothered me so much doing the pioneer shuffle, and driving around aimlessly and sitting in the car for hours, and hours, and hours while my elder husband was on calls that I was not allowed to join him in becuase I was just a stupid women who COULD NOT KNOW the important elder stuff that was going on. If it truly ment these peopoles lives we needed to tell them not drag our feet and waste time. But I got shot down and ridiculed by most of the JW's that I pioneered with for wanting to truly talk to people, which in turn made me so crazy.

LITS

70

Feeling sad over a wasted life in watchtower

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

it's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.

by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.

but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.

life is to short

I just read this and thought it was an interesting way to look at things. As so many have said we would not be who we are now if we had not gone through the JW expreance. Maybe it did make us stronger, I hope.

Every experience in your life is being orchestrated to teach you something you need to know to move forward. ~Brian Tracy

LITS

70

Feeling sad over a wasted life in watchtower

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

it's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.

by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.

but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.

life is to short

I can totally relate also. I was in my mid 40's when I woke up. So many wated years that I would love to have back. Pioneering, Bethel, go to where the need was great, etc. Some days it is just hard to not be bitter.

LITS

16

Looking Back, Do You Ever Think You Loved Jehovah God?

by minimus in

jw
friends

as a child, i was made to believe that i loved my mom and family and close friends but that i loved no one more than jehovah god.

did you ever really love him?.

.

life is to short

I really, really wanted to and told everyone one I did because that was what I was supposed to do right?

But deep inside He never felt real. It was like I was praying to the air. I prayed my brains out and the only way things changed were when I did something to make them change. I tried and tried to say it was Jehovah who did this or that for me but in reality it was because I worked and did what I could to make this or that happen.

Like I was raised in the "truth" in a very abusive home. I prayed and prayed and prayed as a child, got on my knees and begged, pleading with Jehovah to help me with my parents so they would love me. To feel like I mattered to someone. I was just a kid of 8,9 years of age. I got nothing. No one stepped in though everyone knew my parents were abusing me. I have been told that now as an adult by the older ones in the hall that they knew. Yet not one did a thing to help me. And Jehovah never used them when He could have.

So no I never did love Jehovah because he never seemed real.

LITS