Aussie Oz

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Posts by Aussie Oz

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  34

  yet another newbie..

  by ragnarok75 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking here for some time and now that i've registered here's a little bit about myself... i'm in northern europe (so english is not my own language,but i have indeed studied it for more than 18 months) and i was born into this hateful cult in the "momentuous" year of -75.good that my parents stayed alive till then!.

  as far back as i can remember i had doubts both about the doctrines and the whole existence of god.however,i instinctively knew that these doubts are not to be mentioned.so i learned to be a fake at an early age.though having read many other stories here i realise how easy i got it.i now understand that we lived in a rather liberal area and also my family was quite liberal eventhough my dad was an elder since mid -80 and mom was really "strong in the truth".i never brought up the religion at school or with friends and was never bullied or anything.it helped that i was good at sports,especially football (soccer for americans) and football is also the source of my biggest hurt in childhood.i know it may sound very trivial,but the fact that i wasn't allowed to join a football team felt just so unjust and painfull and it lasted all through my childhood.whenever we had a new gym teacher,the first thing he asked me was which team do i play for.i was too embarrased to tell the truth and i just gave the impression that i only wanted to play for fun and not join any team.oh,how badly i wanted to!.

  somehow i managed to silence all those doubts and got babtised as a young man.very soon after the babtism i knew that it didn't have the hoped for effect of making me more spiritual and meetings and field service still felt an absolute bore.now began the long years of just "going through the motions".all my family (parents,many brothers and sisters,uncles and aunts,nieces and nephews) and most of my friends were in.i never reached out and attended only one or two meetings a week and penned my hours.i kind of liked my congregation (also,the seats at our kh were really comfy,so i often slept through the meetings) and made some very good friends.friends that - as you all can guess- didn't turn out to be so good in the end,but with whom i nonetheless had some good times and felt a strong connection to.. for a long time nothing happened that would've disrupted my rather non-eventfull life as a lacklustre jdub with at least another foot in the "world".i'd done many things that would've gotten me d'fed,but i never had any intentions of going to the elders about it and i had no pangs of conscience about it either.it was just a matter of convenience..i liked my witness friends,wanted to hold on to them and not to lose my family.. however..there was this girl... a (worldly,of course) girl that i had absolutely fell for and had a brief romance with many years ago.now she was back in my life.i must omit the proceeding turns of events for the sake of anonymity,but the end result is that i'm a proud father of a lovely baby girl.well,not so much baby anymore as she starts school soon.i love her so much and it gives me great satisfaction that she is growing free from any influence of vicious cults or of any gods for that matter.we live now in different countries but i see her often and there's always skype.. her birth also acted as a catalyst for the change in relationship between me and the society.i decided that i wanted to share the joy of her birth and existence with my family,eventhough i also knew that that would mean i'd have to go the elders too.if i didn't,they would,and that would result in automatic disfellowshippping.. a jc was duly formed and i had decided that i'm not going to go there and tell them that i regret her,as having her is the best thing that's ever happeded to me.

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  Aussie Oz

  welcome!

  never to old to wake up...as a side note, tell your mother, with a laugh in your voice "oh mother, the paradise is THIS life you know, the WT paradise is just a silly dream"

  oz
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  40

  They Are Just Like The Amish (But with Electricity)

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was describing jehovah's witnesses to a family member who had no idea whatsoever about them.

  i may be straightforward and describe things in terms i have learned since reading about cults, but i was not over the top in any way.

  i was simply stating the facts in a way that did not try to put any positive spin on anything.. my family member said, "so they are basically the amish but with televisions and electricity.

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  Aussie Oz

  very much alike and different at the same time, while the JWs wont shun you for wearing your braces wrong way round, some of the more strict Amish will.

  but take the religion out of them and i could live like that...including no electricity. It is a shame that we cant unplug from the system and need money. Even if we dont use the mains water we still have to pay for it, the Amish strictness keeps them off the grid i guess.

  the funny thing with the amish though is that they have about 6 levels of amish bretheren and if one is to strict then move on to another.

  they do worse to their young than JWs do as far as preparing them for real life, which i am sure is why they stay, to damn scared and clueless to go anywhere else. As seen on a couple of TV docs on the Amish, they have the same troubles we do.

  oz
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  22

  Abrahamism vs Gnosticism in a Nutshell :)

  by ProdigalSon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://www.armageddonconspiracy.co.uk/sex-for-salvation-ii%282395055%29.htm.

  judaism claims that the way to god is through obeying endless rules allegedly imposed by god.

  the great philosopher immanuel kant claimed that judaism wasn't a religion at all, but a mere body of laws.

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  Aussie Oz

  What mankind needs is to stop looking for answers and explanations and just needs to accept.

  accept that we are here, how does not matter

  accept that we die, end of story

  accept that we can think for ourselves, not be told what to think.

  oz
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  42

  NOAH’S BIBLICAL FLOOD ACTUALLY HAPPENED, SAYS FAMED ARCHEOLOGIST WHO FOUND THE TITANIC

  by ÁrbolesdeArabia in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/12/11/noahs-biblical-flood-actually-happened-says-famed-archeologist-who-found-the-titanic/ .

  "the story of noah's ark and its associated flood continues to be retold to children and studied by theologians, alike.

  while some dismiss it as a mere fable, others believe wholeheartedly that the event literally unfolded, with a massive down-pouring of water ravaging the earth at god's command.

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  Aussie Oz

  what a joke

  he says it actually happened...and has gone to Turkey to find evidence.

  Should it not be the other way around??...evidence then the claim?

  i think he will find a turkey in the mirror

  oz
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  62

  My apologies to everyone on this board (please read).

  by Joliette in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  about a month ago, i wrote a post about a sister that keeps coming to my apartment giving me watchtowers.

  i called her an older sister.

  she is in her late 50's.

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  Aussie Oz

  Me dont think you needed to make an apology...

  I am not old but i have no idea who the craggy looking dude is that looks back at me in the mirror!

  Oz
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  48

  Should i go?

  by MsGrowingGirl20 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, a good friend of mine, a pentecostal christian, invited me to go to a retreat with her church.

  we're the same age-19 years.

  we were friends before i became a witness and she was always patient and caring with me especially throughout my arrogant spell as a witness.

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  Aussie Oz

  In my country, they are very easy going and play a lot of music. lol....(Australia?) .....Maybe i'm just making up excuses because i really want to go but i know that you all are right.

  Please take it from those older and wiser...the music is a HOOK. The 'LOVE' is a HOOK.

  But...you are going to go anyway!

  let us know what goes down.

  oz
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  48

  Should i go?

  by MsGrowingGirl20 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, a good friend of mine, a pentecostal christian, invited me to go to a retreat with her church.

  we're the same age-19 years.

  we were friends before i became a witness and she was always patient and caring with me especially throughout my arrogant spell as a witness.

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  Aussie Oz

  NOPE, thats my thoughts.

  The 'happy clappers' are as annoying as JWs in many ways. just have a look at their facebooks...

  A retreat is another word for membership drive. Young people who feel a bit lost are prime targets for them and what better way to nab them than to get them away from all other influences and surrounded by a whole bunch of teenage jesus freaks. Serious, have seen it first hand with one of the wifes former friends. Total transformation from normal girl to bible spouting judgemental immature twit.

  The LAST thing a person exiting one religion needs is to go into another too soon. Its like rebound relationships, great for a little while but can leave you trapped with the wrong person again.

  thankyou your 'friend' and say no thankyou! You are a prize catch for her and the pentecostals...A JW no less! Praise the LORD! Hallelujah! (shudder)

  oz
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  52

  New Member / MS still in...

  by Comatose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  feels real strange typing this.

  i was what you all call born in.

  i was happy growing up.

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  Aussie Oz

  Big welcome to you!

  I served as a reg pioneer for a few years and as a MS. I left them in 1998. I had no doubts, or if i did i buried them so good i dont remember them. But what I did know was that i just did not want to be a JW or a christian anymore. I was burnt out, depressed and suicidal. I started leading a double life as my authentic self and the two worlds had to collide one day... and i let them (destoyed everything)

  Towards the end i just could not stomach field service and if i did go i would ask to go alone, i would take a bible and nothing else, i could not bring myself to push magazines on people who clearly resented it. often if a house was empty i just stood on the porch for ages before moving on.

  I started to hand talks back, esp public talks.

  I stopped praying. I came to see it as nothing more than self affirming of what i thought, nothing more. I came to believe that God did not care one little bit about 'me'. Individuals were nothing more than colateral damage and pawns to this mad mans game of universal power struggle.

  I was an apologist for them though for another 12 years! Until i found this place of refuge. I too was very conflicted coming here. Even being out for all that time it still felt very dangerous to log onto a forum of ex JWs. So began my journey of waking up.

  I am glad you have already started to wake up and have the presence of mind to go easy on the wife. Too many here have lost a spouse when waking up. You will find a good many able to help you through confusion. It is truly amazing when you do wake up though isn't it! amazing clarity and yet it is mixed with fear too.

  There are lots of serving and recently stepped down elders and Ms here...reach out for them.

  Oz
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  30

  Should Jehovah's Witnesses be added to the Wikipedia article on Doomsday Cults?

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there is discussion of doomsday cults at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/doomsday_cult, and much of it aligns closely with watchtower predictions and behaviour, so i was wondering why jehovah's witnesses are not mentioned.

  here are some quotes from the article:.

  doomsday cult is an expression used to describe groups who believe in apocalypticism and millenarianism, and can refer both to groups that prophesy catastrophe and destruction, and to those that attempt to bring it about.

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  Aussie Oz

  Yes they should

  but as fast as you may add them, they will take it down too.

  Oz
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  27

  What was the best KISS you ever experienced?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the phone rang in the art gallery and i answered.. the voice was a young woman's.. one of her two parrots had died rather suddenly.. she wanted a colorful frame for the memorial portrait.

  could we accomodate her?.

  the remaining bird was sulking.. i suggested parrots without partners.. i don't where my tasteless jokes come from.

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  Aussie Oz

  very telling, a kiss, IMO.

  Pretty straight kissing with first JW wife, a later girlfriend just did not 'do' kissing. It made passion hard without it, another short lived relationship had the most unbeleivable kisses that was not matched by another till i met my now wife.

  It might seem kinda obvious, but I would have to say my wife, every time is special and I would shrivel up without her kiss.

  oz