Posts by life is to short

42

What Are the Top JW Issues That Just Burn Your Buns the Most?

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

which ones make you the maddest?

covering up of abuse, shunning, failed end of world predictions?.

my list is long and heavy, but the top 3 that set me off the most are:.

NOW it's Important

by TheLiberator in

i have spent 45 years of my life sacrificing my soul to the watchtower.

twenty-five of those years as a ms/elder.

i gave every moment to them.

I totally understand where you are coming from. My husband and I lived on nothing $3,000 a year when we were first married and that was in the US in 1987. My husband was gone all the time being an elder we never had a true marriage. We had all the crazy ones in the hall dumped on us. We were hit up for money and rides all the time.

We went to Bethel and were there for over two years which fact just seemed to make a lot of the JW's mad. I will never forget one elder laughing at my husband and myself saying that we were lying when we told him we lived on $200 a month. I got to ride around in the car listening to everyone having date nights with their husband and buying new cars, and homes etc while we crammed 5 to 6 people in our Honda Civic because no one else would use their cars.

I am bitter now looking back at all we gave up and for what, so I totally get where you are coming from.

LITS

33

"But WHY would you want to know those things??"

by stuckinarut2 in

i ran into an older sister who has always been very sweet.. it was a friendly chat...yet she pushed for a reason why my family have been missing from meetings for some time.

the question was deflected, until it just had to be said: "well, there have been some troubling and disturbing issues about the society especially the way things were handled during the royal commission, as well as many other issues".. she quickly cut in and said "but why would you want to know these things?

its best not to research and look at those sort of things - so we don't get upset!".

life is to short

I was told by an elder's wife that I think to much and that I try to understand things that I really should not.

I was just blown away and this was not by an old person this was by a women in her late 40's at the time and she was not a stupid person if you were to just met her. She actually came off as a real thinker.

I was just speechless.

LITS

23

"What IS True Love?" Watchtower Propaganda Review/Commentary

by WatchtowerReviewz in

my latest review for watchtower's most recent feature length propaganda film.

(not safe if sober.).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn6lxfw_qp8.

life is to short

I was that stupid when I was young, I really did think that we would live a life of serving Jehovah as a happily married couple until the first week after our wedding when I had to sit in the car for two hours waiting for my husband to get out of his elder's meeting. Than reality hit hard.

We never saw each other, pioneering was hell, everyone in the hall demanded everything from us, we had no life, we never saw each other. We or my husband I should say could never please anyone, I would get phone calls all the time demanding not asking but demanding that my husband come over to help them with what ever problem they had. It was all my husband's fault that their kids were not in the truth as it was his duty as an elder to see to it that the kids wanted to be a JW, or it was his fault that they had marriage problems, or what ever problem.

We never had money as we used every penny to pioneer.

None of the true problems of pioneering and living where the need was great were addressed in this video only that they fly off into the sunset to go to pioneer school. It was just a propaganda video painting a unrealistic view of a horrible life. I just really wish I could have a do over of my life, what I waste of my youth. I would tell anyone who would listen to RUN from this video.

LITS

14

"I should have known" moments

by dubstepped in

i got ready for the meeting.

my wife did too.

we drove out to the kingdom hall and the closer we got the higher my anxiety would spike.

life is to short

It was the same for me. My husband was an elder and we went to were the need was great for elders, than to Behtel, than back to our home congregation and each congregation I had some sort of anxiety causing problem plus severe depression. We pioneered in the first hall and it was hell. I was so depressed and tired all the time, so tired that it just came in waves and I would fall asleep if I was not moving.

At Bethel I would get major headaches at the meetings so bad that I felt like my head was going to explode, sick to my stomach, etc. When we came back to the hall here my heart would race at the meeting so bad that I thought I was going to pass out. The next hall anxiety attacks so bad where I could not breath. I would feel like I was chocking to death. I could not get any air in my lungs, if felt like I was dying. All the other problems only happened at the hall but this breathing problem started to happen all the time sometimes when I was driving I would have to pull over as I felt like I was going to pass out.

I still get that kind of anxiety when ever I run into a JW now but for the most part it has ended, I have never gotten a headache like I did in the hall while we were at Bethel since I left that hall, my heart never races,

On Friday, we were at Costco and we were talking to this sale's person about buying a product. This lady comes up who looks sort of familiar but I could not place her and we were right in the middle of giving the sales person our address and such and really, really not a good time while this lady just barges in and starts saying HI, I am like looking at her like we are kind of busy here and I really do not know who you are and could you wait a minute but no she processed to demand to know what congregation we go to now. It was than that I realized that she was a JW. I just thought how rude and tired to ignore her but I mumbled where I had attended and that satisfied her and she moved on.

After something like that I will sometimes wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air feeling like I am chocking to death again.

I just wish I could have realized what my body was telling me so many years ago. It has been so horrible and I am so glad to be away. I feel so much better.

LITS

59

Sweet 16 - Happy Birthday to Us !

by Simon in

it's the forum's 16th birthday today!.

amazing that not only have we lasted so long but we're still thriving and growing.. thanks to all the people and often colorful characters who've contributed to the site over the years.

some are still here with us, some have since moved on, but all have touched each others lives in some way along our different journeys.. .

life is to short

Thank you also Simon this sight was a life saver for me. Thank you for all of your hard work and for all that you go through to kept this sight going, I know that it has helped so many like me.

I cannot say thank you enough.

LITS

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