Posts by life is to short

79

The really cool feeling of community within JWs

by Phaedra in

i remember going out with other jws after the memorial.. small gatherings.. picnics at some local landmark.. the feeling of closeness, camaraderie, friendship with like minded people you could trust.. haven't experienced it since i left.. really miss that..

life is to short

I too used to love the getting together after the meetings. As a teenager I lived for it. I was not allowed to attend school as I was home schooled and had little association with anyone except my parents and sister so those times after the meeting were live a life line to me.

My parents were on the fringes of the "truth" and were avoided by most of the JW's and most of the world. I was extremely lonely as a child and a huge amount of the JW's kept their kids away from me also because of how strange my parents were.

So going out after the meetings and being with people was everything to me. So I will never forget the huge pain I felt when this sister who was in her mid 30's came to me as a 17 year old and told me to NEVER come to the restaurant again after the meetings because no one wanted my parents around and they would not let me come without them.

I went home that day and tried to commit suicide. I had no one in the world, my parents hated me, I had no contact with those outside the religion and to be told that those inside did not want me around them was the beyond painful. I felt so alone in the world.

Even now writing this as a 52 year old women, I just do not get how cruel and hateful that sister was. No one was there for me in the "truth" coming from a family that they clearly knew had problems. I had no mentors, no help, no nothing and to be told that I could not even come to a public restaurant because of my parents was unbelievably hurtful.

Yet I hung on to the religion as it was the only thing I knew and I bought into that it was the "truth" as I did know that my parents were crazy, now I realize that was what attracted my parents to the JW's the crassness of the religion.

Funny thing is I still look back at those time before I was forbidden to go with fondness.

LITS

11

Simon, How do you sustain this website?

by Wonderment in

simon,.

first, i hope you and your family are having a nice christmas.. we are at the end of the year, so it's time to ponder a bit about how grateful we should be to you and all the contributors for making this site for what it is.

i have noticed other jw's forum related sites come and go, but this one has held steady for many years.

life is to short

Yes thank you so much Simon. This sight has been such a huge help to me when I woke up. I honestly do not know where I would have been without the support this sight has given me.

Just a huge thank you for all that you do.

LITS

25

When did district conventions become regional conventions and why?

by slimboyfat in

i think it was gary and heather bottings' book the orwellian world of jehovah's wifnesses that noted the function of the habit of the watchtower organisation of changing organisational terminology periodically.

congregations became companies and then back to congregations again.

circuit overseers became circuit servants and then back again.

life is to short

Blondie I so remember when they were switched from assembly's to conventions. I was about 16 and i a car group of about 5 all older ones and I asked what hotel everyone was staying in for the assembly. I just got ripped to shreds by this older sister who was in her 50's at the time, belittling me for not keeping up with the slave and calling it the proper name convention. I mean she just went on and on and on over it it was like I had used the f bomb or something. It just really worked her up to no end.

Oh how I wished that had woken me up that something was truly wrong with this religion. It was just peer craziness.

LITS

23

How did you feel on Christmas as a JW child?

by cookiemaster in

this is obviously a question for born-ins like me.

so, how did christmas feel to you as a child?

to me it was awful.

life is to short

When I was really little under the age of 7 we did Christmas because my grandmother was alive and she gave my parents money, no Christmas no money so we put up the tree and everything. It was great expect when an elder would stop by and we would drag the tree into the spare room. Even as a little kid I saw it was crazy to hide like that. I totally loved Christmas not just the presents but the time together with family and it just seemed like a happy time of the year. Than my grandmother died when year I was seven the first of December. That year no Christmas, no tree, no nothing.

For a little kid it was horrible, and that year was worse than horrible at school. I got made fun of and even beat up by a fellow JW little kid because I was so confused and just did not get why we had stopped so suddenly.

After that I hated Christmas time because it was depressing.

LITS

51

Rivalry among the sisters

by Esmeralda001 in

when i was first introduced to the "truth", i was so distracted by the love and affection that the members were showing me that i was ready to convert into the religion without thinking twice.

i was conviced that jws were god's people (i still think some of them are).

i made it my goal to get baptized as i wanted to be part of the "only" religion that produce such good people.

life is to short

I never could understand it myself. I was treated the way the open posts describes myself. I just never could grasp the hatefulness. One sister in the hall always got tickets to the opening season of baseball the first year my husband and I were invited to go along. Now everyone had to pay for their own tickets so it was not like she was out money but after the first time we were never invited again though she would always make it a big deal in the hall so we knew we were excluded? Why?

I always got my cloths used and this one time I splurged on a new skirt, I felt so good in it until I went to the meeting and this sister came running up to me and loudly said 'you look so nice? Is that new?' I was like yes and thank you I think. She than said 'how much did you pay for it' very loudly. I just wanted to crawl away but I instead mumbled the price as I was just so shocked at her rudeness. She than said 'WOW I could never spend that much on a skirt, maybe for my daughter but I just never would spend that for a skirt for me.' Even the other sisters who were clearly overhearing this looked shocked as I crawled away in shame.

Another time I got a new service bad that was leather it looked very expansive but cost me $4.00. Again the first time I used it a different sister who had, had three children out of wedlock with three different men before becoming a JW and who lived on welfare while pioneering came straight up to me and told me what a cute service bag I had and how she wished she could afford something like that but well you know with three kids that would never be possible. Again I was just appalled. Really?

This does not even begin to go into all the times I was excluded from get together, etc. I was always told after the fact of how much fun it was and how they enjoyed the movie or dinner together, to bad I was not there but maybe next time.

It was just spit-fullness and hatefulness. And for what reason I could never understand. What was their pay back?

LITS

49

A rhetorical analysis of the Sept. KM Question Box

by Leolaia in

some have pursued an independent group study of biblical hebrew and greek so as to analyze the accuracy of the new world translation.

they have also held conferences and produced publications to present their findings and to supplement what is provided at our christian meetings and through our literature.. throughout the earth, jehovah's people are receiving ample spiritual instruction and encouragement at congregation meetings, assemblies, and conventions, as well as through the publications of jehovah's organization.

rather, the claim is implicit.

life is to short

This is such a great post.

I am reading the book "when God becomes a drug" by Leo Booth and he states that in that book on page 30 "for thousands of years, humans beings have been accustomed to living under an authoritarian theocracy in which the few, the chosen, and the called control the many. This divinely appointed power group claims not only to speak for God but insists that it is the only way to God. From the cradle on, we are trained to look to someone else to tell us what to do, when to do it, and what will happen if we don't. So it so it is that people allow themselves to be abused in the name of God."

When I read that it reminded me of the Sept 07 KM and I just had to get up in the middle of the night and try to find it. This is such a great post that I wanted to bump it up again.

LITS

17

The Donald knows the JW's are the truth

by life is to short in

i swear you just cannot make this stuff up.

i just heard from an older sister in the hall that donald's trump son-in-law bought part of the brooklyn heights compound, i think she said the 25 building but what ever.

she than went on to say and to quote her "the donald knows it's the truth.

life is to short

I swear you just cannot make this stuff up. I just heard from an older sister in the hall that Donald's Trump son-in-law bought part of the Brooklyn Heights compound, I think she said the 25 building but what ever. She than went on to say and to quote her "the Donald knows it's the truth." She than hopes that Donald gets elected as president because she is sure he will be the one to turn on religion and bring in Jehovah's kingdom.

It's kind of sad this lady has given her life to this religion, was promised she would never grow old and die and she is pushing 90.

Crazy and sad.

LITS

40

What was your ''the last straw that broke the camels back'' moment

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

there is a limit to how much straw (long yellow grass) a camel can carry on its back.

if you keep putting more straw on top, it will finally break the camel's back.

when you are at the last straw you are finally angry and will not take any more.. my moment (to stop attending all watchtower meetings) was after the harsh treatment from the elders and fellow congregation members of my second cousin who was disfellowhipped as a teenager.

life is to short

It was child molesters in the hall, than I am like you and flipper injustices committed by elders, toward me at first because I was upset over how they were dealing with the pedophiles. Even to the point of demanding that I take one of them in my car door to door. Than I finally opened my eyes and saw so much injustice everywhere in the religion. Sort of makes me mad at myself because the injustice was always there but I kept my blinders on until it hit home and I was the target. I feel bad for any part I ever might have had now.

LITS

75

How did you feel when you found out "the truth about the truth"?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

so when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.

the un membership.

the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.

life is to short

"Did you feel Shocked? Betrayed? Lost? Doubtful? Etc."

All of the above also. I just felt sick. I had given my life to it. I totally believed it every little part of it. I kept my blinders on like I was told to do.

When I found out it was all a lie, that I had wasted my life, it was the worst feeling ever.

LITS

15

New movie "Spotlight" coming out - child abuse cover-ups

by WireRider in

i just saw a commercial for a new movie coming out.

spotlight - about a newspaper exposing the cover-ups of the catholic church about child sexual abuse.

michael keaton, mark ruffalo.

life is to short

It is just going to come to the city I live in in the next few weeks, I am deferentially going. I encourage everyone to see it but just like with the movies Doubt it will all blow over. I just do not know what will wake people up. Bill Crosby? Penn State? Nothing seems to make people wake up. They look at it and say it's such a shame and then go on with their lives.

It is so frustrating. I have tired so much myself to talk about it, to tell people and no one really wants to know or if they do want to get involved it is for their own means to make a name for themselves not to truly stop the abuse. I have gotten tricked to many times into believing someone really wanted to help me and then when I found out it was just for their own glory the pain of that is like being abused all over but almost worse.

All I know is that I will never stop telling people that JW's send pedophiles door to door even if it means nothing to them now maybe someday somewhere someone will say enough.

I just found out it is playing where I live and I am going to go see it this afternoon. I just hope someday that this will be looked at like we were just really back words people to allow children to be subject to pedophiles in the name of religion.

LITS