Posts by Sentinel

6

Check this out/help me out

by openminded in

jw
friends

my mother sent this to me.

how would you respond.. correcting wrong impressions .

with human society.

It is great that the medical profession is taking a look at how they have been using blood. I would say myself, that blood from someone else, going into me, is a rather sickening thought. But, as primative as it seems, it has saved many a life.

I always wondered what a person "could get" from the blood that was given them. They don't say too much about that either.

So, instead of respecting the medical profession, religious dogma says simply that JW's cannot take blood. My own mother, an active borg, nearly died two years ago because she refused. She remained very ill for a long time, and she was also anemic, which made her condition even more critical. By sheer determination and stubborness, she pulled herself out of it. Others have not been as fortunate. She needs an operation to correct a heart defect, but because of the blood issue, she will not willingly get it done at this point.

Some folks have been given the wrong "type" of blood and have died. These days, there are also some great strides in using alternative blood substitutes. The JW's change back and forth so much over issues. I believe it is a very personal decision and when you or a loved one is facing life or death, you naturally want to do everything possible so that you or your loved one will not die. JW's have a terrible time with this issue, because the choice is not left to them. Personally, I don't believe that the soul of a person is "in the blood", and therefore transfers to the other person. But, the blood does carry many things that can't be undetected until it's too late.

I hope I never have to face the issue. But what I do will not have any bearing on a dictate from someone else, especially JW's.

Karen/Sentinel

13

Noah's Flood & Other Bible Stories

by Sentinel in

did anyone catch the east coast tlc (the learning channel) programs last night?

the first one was about noah's flood.

the program after that was about sodom & gammorah, the ancient apocalypse.. the programs were trying to establish that events have happened, and have been recorded, but the facts have been distorted within the structures of various existing societies inside the bounds of "religious dogma".

Sentinel

Did anyone catch the East Coast TLC (The Learning Channel) programs last night? The first one was about Noah's Flood. The program after that was about Sodom & Gammorah, the Ancient Apocalypse.

The programs were trying to establish that events have happened, and have been recorded, but the facts have been distorted within the structures of various existing societies inside the bounds of "religious dogma". I found the programs absolute intreguing in that they substantiated many of my own personal conclusions.

I believe the earth has had "several different" phases of metamorphesis. The dino's existed during one separate time of creation on the earth. The earth shifted in it's orbit/and also other planets and parts of planets were cascading through the universe. Great gods creating great monstrous animals. It is something to see when the movies bring them to life=and the museums where the re-assembled bones give us the image. Totally awsome.

"The Truth Is Out There"....................Where Are You Looking?

40

JW marriages

by Realist in

jw
friends

.

since jw are not allowed to live together and cannot have sexual relations before they get married are many jw marriages unhappy?

i hear that they think jw marriages are much happier than normal marriages...can anyone verify that?.

Sentinel

Realist,

In answer to your reply. What happens is, the JW's are so concerned that they will do something wrong. They live in total fear. This follows them into the privacy of their own bedroom.

When asking themselves, "would Jesus do this?", and not being able to quite fit that in (as we were all taught that Jesus never had a woman and never married...that's another story) they were left with no satisfactory answer.

Usually they would write directly to the Society, being too embarrassed to discuss it with fellow congregation members. The society would send them the "answer". They were usually very specific. If they weren't, it would cause even more turmoil in the marital relationship.

Sometimes these questions and answers would turn up in the WT literature for others to become "wise". If you couldn't figure it out for yourself, they would deffinitely have the answer for you.

Karen/Sentinel

40

JW marriages

by Realist in

jw
friends

.

since jw are not allowed to live together and cannot have sexual relations before they get married are many jw marriages unhappy?

i hear that they think jw marriages are much happier than normal marriages...can anyone verify that?.

Sentinel

Happy Man,

They always say, "if you're happy in your pile of s--t", then stay there.

If you don't have a complaint, don't complain. If you are happy, great!

The borg will sustain both types.

Karen/Sentinel

3

Is The Bible Really All We Might Think?

by Sentinel in

i want carrot cake for my bd (its my favorite)...ok i'll wait til november.. sorry...not to take away from a serious subject.

i often ask my mother..how can you believe everything you read.

not to mention take the childs game of telephone.

Sentinel

Spice,

Thinking back to the days of going to the Sunday WT study. I would study prior to the meeting, and then refer to the question at the bottom of the page, and then underline the answer. Well, during the times when I was feeling assertive, I would raise my hand to "comment". The brothers expected us all to read the answers word for word from the WT, but I would make some other comments, which they didn't like. These were not bad comments, but they were my own.

They would "irritatingly" wait till I finnished, and say "now would someone else in the congregation like to give us the correct answer from the WT". After the meeting they would come to me and remind me of how we were supposed to answer publicly= ONLY FROM THE MATERIAL AS PRINTED IN THE WT.

After awhile, they stopped calling on me to answer. So much for freedom of speech and self expression. It wasn't long after that, that I withdrew from the MS, and simply "called it a day".

25

Surviving the Hearing to DF Me.

by Sentinel in

i must say that reading all these posts have really brought back so many memories for me.

i had a terrible experience at my hearing, which i believe now, really bordered on sexual abuse of the mental kind.. our congregation was small.

this was difficult for the few young people that attended.

Sentinel

The past hurt us. But we cannot change the past. My posts are not to upset anyone, but to show that you aren't alone. These things happened to us, they changed our lives. What we need to do now is move beyond our pain and hurt "through" the expressions we read and contribute to here.

Today I was reflecting on how being a borg affected me. It affected my education and choice of subjects in school. It stiffled any further college education, which I had qualified for. It made me a frightened, lonely, withdrawn young woman, afraid to make a decision or choice because I felt like it wouldn't be the right one. It affected the negative view I took of everything in the world. It took years of my life to regain the balanced perspective that I needed. I lived for years feeling lost as a human being. But, I'm not lost anymore.

The way I look at it, is that this is the journey I was meant to take. It not only opened my eyes to the borg, but to other areas of the world and society, where we have been and continue to be deceived. So, in many, many ways, I'm exactly where I'm at because I was meant to experience what I experienced. I have learned so many things, and I have healed myself through sheer determination.

Don't let anger sit on your shoulder like a monkey. Shoot that monkey, and prove them all wrong. I'm not a "pollyanna", but I know what that anger can do to you. You are worth far too much as a fellow being of the universe to allow that to happen.

And, you know what? Most of those elders back in my congregation are either already dead, or the rest will die before long of old age. They are still waiting for Armegeddon to destroy all of "us". They don't believe we can be happy. They don't know what happiness is.

Karen/Sentinel

25

Surviving the Hearing to DF Me.

by Sentinel in

i must say that reading all these posts have really brought back so many memories for me.

i had a terrible experience at my hearing, which i believe now, really bordered on sexual abuse of the mental kind.. our congregation was small.

this was difficult for the few young people that attended.

Sentinel

sOOner,

Welcome my sweet sister! I see you did make it on here. Just got done reading your e-mails from earlier in the afternoon, and will look for other posts from you.

As you can see from reading the posts, there are many dear people, so much like us--the way we used to be--and also, the way we are now. FREE!!!

Better "sOOner" than later, huh?

Love,

Sis-K

25

Surviving the Hearing to DF Me.

by Sentinel in

i must say that reading all these posts have really brought back so many memories for me.

i had a terrible experience at my hearing, which i believe now, really bordered on sexual abuse of the mental kind.. our congregation was small.

this was difficult for the few young people that attended.

Sentinel

James,

Thank you so much for your post. I read the whole thing through to the end, and just felt so bad for you, that you innocently got caught up in the web of JW power and control--especially over the sisters.

Nothing you wrote surprised me in the least, for this is exactly how it was and probably still is.

We can do nothing to change the past. But, we can try to do our part to help now. This Forum seems a good place to me.

I feel badly for having brought several people/families to the point of baptism. I thought I was doing the right thing. We all have done things in the past that we wish we could change, but that's the way life is.

The future, however, is whatever we can make it. And we can make it better! No one blames you because you were following JW creed. You were borg. You were sincere. I forgive you, James.

Karen/Sentinel

40

JW marriages

by Realist in

jw
friends

.

since jw are not allowed to live together and cannot have sexual relations before they get married are many jw marriages unhappy?

i hear that they think jw marriages are much happier than normal marriages...can anyone verify that?.

Sentinel

Soledad,

I suppose marriage is really difficult no matter who you are and what your religion might be. If both partners start out as JW's, they are in "JW Marital Heaven"....for awhile. Then reality sets it, and the high expectations of one trying to make certain the other doesn't "fall", is just not a comfortable place. And, also, there is the ever-present male dominence of the JW husband over his wife, dictated by the org.

I've seen it happen more than once, where the immaturity, and no experience in the intimacy area, couples have had problems and major difficulties later on.

Of course, if two people are marrying just basically to satisfy the "need", it will probably fail, or change into some other type of arrangement altogether, especially if children come into the picture.. There has to be a much stronger basis for the marriage. The problem one has, is that you find yourself stuck in a loveless marriage, with absolutely no viable means of escape if you want to remain in good standing as a JW.

Other marriages between JW's, where prior to the marriage, one of the partners has had some experience, been df'd and come back. Sometimes, the need to cling to someone "inside the org" is their safety net for survival, within the marriage. I've seen marriages like this survive longer than, say two chaste individuals tying the knot.

Sooner or later, the sex is going to take second place to making a living and having kids, and trying to maintain that untarnished image. It's most difficult when you have tired of "one position", but find the society has also "gotten into your bedroom", and can determine which sex is acceptable to God and which isn't.

Personally, I prefer to be married. Maturity has a lot to do with our ability to be able to make a success out of it. Maturity not in age, but simply in the experience of living life. And, let's face it, you aren't really living your life unless you are out of the borg. I had tremendous problems in my first marriage because of the WT control over intimacy. I lived with tremendous guilt most of the time, and that upset my husband, the non-believer. It caused a severe chasm in our relationship. We were together for fourteen years, and it was a constant struggle. (Of course there were other problems.)

On the other hand, I saw other marriages in the congr. that started out "picture perfect", only to fall apart later. Usually, one of the partners HAD to do something in the sin department, in order to be df'd, so they or their partner could be released from the bond of marriage. That is so sad. I believe many of those marriages could have been saved. But, remember, outside counseling labeled you. There just wasn't much one could do if they found themselves "mated forever" with someone they just couldn't live with. The marriages that survived "in name only", survived at great personal cost.

No, I don't see a JW marriage as the perfect little everlasting nest of pleasure and satisfaction. So many of them put on an act. What a way to live...

"The Truth Is Out There"

Karen/Sentinel

4

This is too much!

by TheContagion in

jw
friends

i started reading though some posts, starting with sabine's about that poor young man who hung himself.

i got so angry!

then i moved on to sentinel's post about how she was treated in her jc meeting.

Sentinel

Contagon,

We all need a helping hand, especially if we are recovering from the borg. P l e a s e consider completing whatever it is you need to do, so that you will be able to give assistance--and no doubt create a booming career for yourself.

Like so many, I was all alone in my struggles. You could make a big difference!

Love and LIght,

Karen/Sentinel