Posts by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

10

"Colour inside the lines!"

by stuckinarut2 in

just some random musings here.... picking up on the thoughts expressed in other posts (such as @wake me's post excellent earlier this week), about how "infantilized" jws are, it made me think of this post topic.. just like little children, jws need to be given constant praise and reassurance that they are doing well and doing the right thing.

also, they feel so bad if they stray or deviate from the ideal prescribed course, behaviors or activity that is approved by the society.. if they are told that they have "coloured outside the lines" so to speak, they feel dejected - or worse - defensive, depending on who points it out to them.

(eg a witness vs a non witness).

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Apostates be like:

8

Census of the consensus

by Normalfulla in

a worldly friend of mine i grew up with at school has at the ripe old age of 40 just posted an honest question on his fb page.. .

"which religion or belief system is the truth?

" be respectful please .

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Which religion or belief system is the truth? Your pal is barking up the wrong tree. The "truth" is overrated. I don't care what Jesus, Pilate or any confucian, feel-good belief system has claimed.

The truth alone has never set anyone free.

It is only DOUBT which will bring mental emancipation.

21

So what would "Perfect Life" REALLY be like?

by stuckinarut2 in

i wonder sometimes just how jws try and comprehend what perfect life would really be like if "adam and eve" had not sinned?.

how would we live?

what would the realities be like?

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@stuckinarut2 Ah, the good ol' rule of scarcity.

When I was 15, I told my father that we're meant to die - it's what makes anything about us matter. I still believe this.

8

Random Musing of an ex-JW Pondering About ex-JWs

by StarTrekAngel in

long ago during my awakening process i was presented with a somewhat extrange proposition.

i can’t recall for sure where i read it.

i wandered thru so many sites over the years.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@StarTrekAngel: "Say it as it is, we have a hard time letting go of each other for a number of reasons. We may no longer feel safe or we may have nothing but loneliness if we let go. We may simply fear being out of touch with the latest scandals or, at the very worse, being reminded by our JW family that they were right. That this is what apostates are like."

Chilling words. My circle of associates can probably be numbered on one hand. I've accepted that the loneliness you speak of is in fact the greater alternative to weak companionship.

23

what as your first jolt that started your wake up process?

by yourmomma in

jw
friends

you know when you are in a deep sleep and something happens that may put you on a different level of sleeping, not as deep.

anyway, then i thought, 90 minutes for lunch?

so, there is a group waiting to cross the street.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Wakanda That.

Was hands down.

The greatest.

Apostasy trial.

I have ever listened in on.

My God, the man was was so eloquent, he may as well have been reading from the greatest script any apostate could take notes from. No wonder it left an imprint in your psyche over all those years!

For a goof, check out 20:22 when the apostate in question pulls out a paper print out. The elders, suspecting it's "apostate literature" literally duck for cover as though he'd produced a loaded weapon.

7

Isaiah 45:7 I make peace, and create evil

by pleaseresearch in

what is your thought on this particular scripture?.

how do you think a jw would respond to this if shown?.

king james biblei form the light, and create darkness: i make peace, and create evil: i the lord do all these things..

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Well, the first problem believers should be having is in clause number one of this verse: "I form the light, and create darkness..."

Darkness is not created. It is not a force or substance that can be formed. It is merely the absence of light. For the so-called scientifically astute Isaiah to be referring to it in such terms betrays his grasp of the electromagnetic spectrum.

66

The urban legends we heard as JWs!

by stuckinarut2 in

how often have we heard some sort of sensationalist urban legend as jws?.

here is an example i was told as a kid:.

the experience of a sister who knocked on a door and was greeted by a big fierce looking man- intimidating and mean.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@punkofnice: "The made up story of the bloke that didn't want the 'Truth book™' so bunged it out of the bus window. Whereupon, it hit some geezer on the head and knocked him out stone cold. When the bloke woke up, he read the book and became a jobo."

BAAAAAHAHAHA This one actually made me guffaw. I have an idea! Let's circulate a new urban legend! Listen closely... it goes a little something like this:

My father's friend from another congregation's Uncle of a District Overseer ALWAYS insisted on carrying his Truth book in his breast pocket. No one knew why he'd stubbornly refuse to remove it. No matter what shirt he was wearing, that Truth book remained firmly in his front pocket. One night while finishing up evening witnessing in a rough neighborhood he suddenly got caught in a drive-by shooting! One of the bullets was aimed right at our dear brother's heart. And MIRACULOUSLY...

...he had something to read while he bled to death.

You can't make this stuff up.

56

Spiritual "Protection" - a Menace on Psychological Development

by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho in

not quite a week ago, @lost in the fog created a thread entitled: do you have this illness?.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5187824140681216/do-you-have-this-illness.

in my year of being on this forum, i have browsed many a disillusioned thread of ex-jehovah’s witnesses expressing similar symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder when detailing their awakening - my own story included.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Diogenesister: "I think this often happens with JW kids who break free without knowing ttatt, Whose parents learnt to 'parent' from Watchtower ...they are the kids I find in rehab😞"

That was 100% me the first time I escaped the cult at age 21. I had no clue that it was all false. They say knowledge equals power? Well, I had zero knowledge. And what followed was bad decision after bad decision after bad decision. I went down the route I'd been shown to take for all those who even dared to leave. And after a few stops between rehab and hell, I was gently steered back in the direction of the organization. Looking back, I can see how clearly it was all mapped out for me.

@eyeuse2badub: "The trauma of unearthing ttatt really sent me reeling. The pain of having my belief system shattered actually caused me to check my self into a mental health facility for 3 weeks. And then another year or so to fully recover."

That sounds like PTSD to me... And how did it occur? Watchtower's black and white system for us to interpret the world:

Organization = completely trustworthy. Outside world = satanic cesspool.

So when your credulous eyes were opened to the fact that your one and only source of truth was corrupt and that the outside world may hold shreds of honesty to explain this corruption... your whole world turned upside down. I'm so glad to see you've recovered nicely. Yeah, you're jaded and cynical - but at least there's more room for shades of grey there than the previous disposition you'd been raised to hold.

This forum has documented the growth of so many. From my first post, to my current one. To @pale.emperor's first post to his latest ones as he delves into the secret society of JWT undercover. All of us - we're taking incredible strides to catch up to our ages intellectually, emotionally and psychologically. Getting "older" has never felt better.

7

Undue Influence

by Lee Elder in

this is what "undue influence" looks like.

it's how you train someone to abandon their children, become a martyr, and drink the kool-aid.

watchtower november 15, 2013. p.19, para.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Contrasted that quote with another one to highlight the murderous recklessness of the current eight cult leaders:

46

What is the most troubling or disturbing biblical passage you ever had to rationalise when a Jw?

by stuckinarut2 in

now that we have stepped away from the jw faith, how do you feel about the bible itself?.

what about those awkward sections of scripture?

how did you rationalise or justify those sections?.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

The appetizing account included in the Holy Book about King Eglon:

"Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it." -Judges 3:21,22

Holy sh*t. Literally.

Usually, I'm pretty smooth sailing with sick humor. Ask any one of my buddies and they'll point to me, like "she's the gross one".But at the time that passage was being considered for the weekly Bible reading, I was pregnant with major morning sickness and nausea.

My father and I were doing the Bible reading together and I was so sickened by the idea of feces oozing out of a pierced, tub of lard like Eglon. I remember being so furious that those details just HAD to be included in the scriptures. I actually stopped my old man from reading and told him that was the most revolting thing I'd ever read - why the hell would the Bible even say that?!