Posts by life is to short

55

Would you have married your spouse if you weren't both JWs?

by 3rdgen in

jw
friends

ok, i've had some wine, but i'm curious.

objectively speaking, but for the religion, did you have enough in common with your spouse to have met and married as non believers?

life is to short

I married my husband because I totally loved him but I wish that there had been per martial counseling, because I would not have went through with it. Love is not enough when it comes to this cult.

So much of the time I truly wonder if he loves me as the religion always came first in our marriage even in the most stupidest ways. If I did not feel well I still had to go to the meetings, I cannot even begin to count how many hours I spent sitting in the car waiting for him in elders meetings. God forbid that he take me home and of course no one in the hall would give me a ride home, even ones who lived close to us and since it was a county hall I just could not walk home as we lived 15 miles from the hall.

Not to mention money and work, he felt that Jehovah would give us what we needed and it might be just a slice of bread a day.

I look back on my life and think what a waste. I had not a clue what I was getting into.

LITS

15

On Prayer

by kairos in

jw
friends

so many prayers.. consuming.

the obligation.. when did you realize you were talking to yourself?.

life is to short

I always felt stupid, even when I was totally in. As a women it was worse if I ever had to pray in public such as if there was no brother meeting for service and you had to have a head covering. It was so stupid when you put a paper towel on your head.

I always felt like I was talking to myself and I tried and tired and tried to find something in the smallest thing to prove that Jehovah or God was listening and I got nothing.

I especially hated praying over food thanking God for giving it to us. I always wondered why? If God gave us our food that we worked for and would not have if we did not get up every morning and go to work, then why did not God give food to those in 3 world country's who were so poor and worked twice as hard as we do. Some people work 8 to 10 hours a day and don't have food, or if they do they give it to their children.

So does God love us in prosperous country's more? And if that is the case then why thank a God who treats half his children so horribly?

None of it ever truly made sense to me.

LITS

40

Closer/death/Funerals

by Leela1 in

hello all i am fairly new to this site even though i have been da since i was 16 years old i am now 35 years old.

i have had very little contact with my family since i left maybe a handful of times over the years.

i thought i put the past behind me and moved on i have 4 amazing kids of my own really supportive partner and great friends who have become my family.

life is to short

My heart just breaks for you. I come from a different background with my family but very similar to yours, I too have no one, expect my husband. I have tried to met with some of the elders who treated me horribly and it just brought back so much depression I wondered if it was worth it. I was just amazed at how cruel those men were, the one thing it did show me as an adult was how wrong and sick these men are.

I was trying to get my nerve up to go met with an elder last year who was one of the worst ones and he died suddenly of a heart attack. I just started crying and sobbing, I did not know I would react that way as this person really deeply hurt me and now I will never have a chance to ask why.

So on the one hand I say no because of the pain it would bring but on the other it leaves this whole in your heart as to why anyone would treat a child and young adult that way.

It is something you will have to live with and take care of yourself first, your mental health is the most important thing. I am just so sorry for your pain.

LITS

42

Trey Bundy: One Year of Reporting JW Child Abuse - Your comments please!

by AndersonsInfo in

http://watchtowerdocuments.org/trey-bundy-one-year-of-reporting-jw-child-abuse/.

trey bundy: one year of reporting jw child abuse.

it’s been one year since trey bundy first reported the watchtower’s child abuse problems.. twelve months ago the center for investigative reporting (cir) began publishing information about jehovah’s witnesses and their cover-up of child sexual abuse on their website, reveal.

life is to short

I just listened to another podcast and I am truly amazed at how wonderful it is.

I agree knowledge is power. Thank you again for doing such great work.

LITS

42

Trey Bundy: One Year of Reporting JW Child Abuse - Your comments please!

by AndersonsInfo in

http://watchtowerdocuments.org/trey-bundy-one-year-of-reporting-jw-child-abuse/.

trey bundy: one year of reporting jw child abuse.

it’s been one year since trey bundy first reported the watchtower’s child abuse problems.. twelve months ago the center for investigative reporting (cir) began publishing information about jehovah’s witnesses and their cover-up of child sexual abuse on their website, reveal.

life is to short

Thank you also for all you do, please keep reporting and please do not give up. It has been so frustrating to me that so many people do not care what happens to the children who are victims of these abusers who are keep hidden inside WT.

We need people like you who will speak out and let the world know. Thank you again.

LITS.

108

Leaked Elder's Video: How to deal with a suicidal sister

by cappytan in

this video will be played at one of the clam meetings in march 2016.. the content is kind of old news because it is a recut version of a previous video produced for the elder's school.

however, it's still significant because it shows that the organization still has dissenting brothers in positions of leadership.. my thanks to the leaker.

feel free to claim credit here.

life is to short

Yep that was how they dealt with me when I was so depressed that all I could think of was suicide. Pray more and take pedophiles out in service with you.

Seriously that is how they dealt with me, just pray more and go out in service more. This video just makes me crazy.

LITS

87

Did you get " Counseled " about the Music you Listened to While you were a JW ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

from the time i was a small boy - i loved rock n' roll music.

beatles, rolling stones, led zeppelin, hendrix.

i started getting slighted for the music i listened to as i lay in my bedroom listening on headphones to led zeppelin's song " black dog " at age 14 with my elder dad looking suspiciously at me as i'm rocking out .

life is to short

When I was single this MS who I babysat for came into my home and went through my records and found 1999 by Prince. OH MY GOD he just royally flipped out and made me feel like scum.

Oh how I wish I could have known he would become a JW. I would have said you mean I have to get rid of brother Prince.

Mostly I hide my music and didn't talk about it to anyone. I was also really tame. My parents were insane and forbid me to listen to any rock when Elvis died I was about 9 or 10 years old and I was watching TV they broke the show I was watching to say he had died. I did not have a clue who he was and went and asked my mom. She told me he was some crazy rock singer that we should not listen to.

Yeah the joys of growing up in the cult.

LITS

106

Walking a thin line - Resigning Elder

by Sanchy in

jw
friends

warning of a long boring post ahead.

i feel like i need to vent my story out, as i feel quite helpless at the moment.. i'm 31 year old, married, father of toddler with another one on the way, due later this month.

i've been serving as elder for about 4 years now in a south florida congregation.

life is to short

Weclome

21

What was the "Pecking order" in your congro??

by karter in

in my old congro the p.o's wife came 1st before anyone and i mean anyone!!.

karter..

life is to short

Divergent

You are so right about wealth. If you had money you were top dog. I live in the northwestern US and have served at Brooklyn Bethel. Everywhere I have been money is the power trip.

We lived on nothing $200 a month and pioneered where the need was great, we gave up everything for the "truth" and yet I have been yelled at, told I was stupid by one of the anointed non the less, on and on for putting the truth first and not having money, yet you cannot live in an area where there is hardly any work to serve where the need is great and have money. Then we had a couple move in who did none of this but the elder husband had really high paying job. You would have thought he walked on water, watching the other elders and their wives suck up to him.

Yet when my job offered me the chance to go to college I got so much hell for it that I had to stop. I really hate this religion and it is just so wrong in so many ways.

LITS

49

"If I wasn't born a JW, I would never have become one."

by OneEyedJoe in

i've seen it mentioned by a few on the forum that at some point there was a realization that had they not been born a jw, they never would've converted no matter how many times the jws tried to study with them.

this was my experience too, and i'm wondering how universal it is for those that were born-in but eventually left.

i think i started having this thought (more specifically that if i were not born a jw, i would surely have become an atheist by now) in my late teens.

life is to short

startingover you said "I now realize i was a closet atheist for most of my life."

That was myself. I remember clearly the day when I realized I was agnostic, I was four years old. My grandfather had been talking about God when we were visiting and we were in the car, I asked my mother what grandpa had said and why. She was frustrated with me and told me that it was crazy, etc to not believe in God.

I clearly remember thinking even though I went to all the meetings and both my parents and older sister who was 10 years old had a strong belief in God that they were wrong and grandpa was right. My grandfather was atheist and at 4 years old I did not believe like he did that there was no God but I felt that God did not care about us.

Even though I went on to embrace the JW's as a teenager, young adult. I pioneered, served where the need was great, went to Bethel, etc in my heart I was and have always been agnostic. I just find it strange how a child can be so sure like I was, and even though I lied to myself and tried to force myself to believe in God or a God that cared I always knew deep inside that God never did and does not care about us.

We are such strange people when we can lie to ourselves even.

LITS