I was 22 when I went on my first date. Before that I was having way too much traveling to different location in the US. Dating never appealed to me. When I was in high school I would observe and watch my classmates. I would see the results when a couple broke up, or end up pregnant. As a child and through out my teens I had to deal with abuse (sexual, mental, and physical) from my own father. So dating a boy was the last thing on my mind. I put up a barrier around me, and I did not want anyone to get near me emotionally or physically. My first boyfriend was a lying prick who I would rather forget, and dumped rather quickly, I only saw him for less than two month. The second man I started dating is the one whom I married, he was able to get through my shell that I had put around me. This past September we just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary, and we have two wonderful sons. There were times that I was not the easiest person to deal with, dealing with that crap my father put me through, and the cult my mother raised me in. I am just amazed that I am not in a looney bin. My husband has been my rock and my strenght, if it were not for him I know I would have went off the deep end a few times.
Tameria2001
JoinedPosts by Tameria2001
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At what age do you think people should start dating? What age did you start?
by MsGrowingGirl20 inhey guys!
i hope that everyone is still holding on amidst all the struggles.. i know that there are parents, older ones, middle age and younger ones here.. sooo, my question isss- what age did you start dating and what age do you truly believe people should start dating?
and why?.
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How Long has it Been since you Last Attended Meetings and What Caused...
by flipper in..... you to stop attending ?
injustices ?
disagree with the teachings ?
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Tameria2001
It was two things when I stopped attending in 2001, I don’t remember the day, but I do remember that I did not fade away, it was abrupt, and it ended when it involved my 6 year old son. It all started when my son had a night mare. This was no ordinary nightmare, but it was the exact same reoccurring dream I had when I was his age. This was what woke me up from the JW slumber, and blindly following the Watchtower’s teachings. It was at that point I started to think about all the bull I had to deal with over the years because of them.
While I was researching, I was using the internet to show me from their publications the lies, and deceit. My brother-in-law happen to pop by, and discovered what I was doing, and he called me an apostate, and that I was a stupid woman. At that point my husband made him leave threatening to beat the life out of him, which is putting it politely. Before he let his brother leave our home, he told him this. “If you are calling my wife an apostate for researching through the older publications of the Watchtower, then your religion is an apostate to God.” The only person I ever showed what I found at that time was my husband, who was already looking for an excuse to leave that cult.
It was also during this time, my son, became very ill, and required medical attention. At the time neither I, nor the doctors knew what was going on with him, and they were thinking surgery, and I was having some of the worst case thoughts going through my mind. I called up my family (JWs), the elders, and other friends, or at least who I thought was friends. They all asked me, “What do you expect us to do about it?” When they said that to me, it was in a rude tone, and after that they just hung up on me, when I told them I did not expect anything from them.
For the next week my son was in the hospital, fortunately he did not require surgery, but it was indeed life threatening, because of his age. After he came home from the hospital, it took him the next three months to recover from what he had. From the time he was in the hospital, and during the time of his recovery, no one called or checked up on to see how we were doing. I did manage to make it to one meeting, and no one asked how my son was doing, but instead they told me, no demanded that I attend the upcoming district convention. I never made it to that either, everything decided to quit working all at the same time (both my cars, the refrigerator, and stove all stopped working). It was when the repair man showed up, he said something to me, and it was this, “Maybe someone is trying to tell you something.” When he said that, it was light a light had been switched on, and it was then when I really started to dig into the history of the Watchtower. By the time I had learned everything, I threw away EVERYTHING, I was that pissed off.
In August 2001, both my husband and I sent in our letters telling those people we did not want to be a part of their group anymore, and I have not looked back since then. Then one month later the Twin Towers were attacked, and people were going crazy thinking it was the end of the world. I think that is the only reason why I remember the month of when I left that God forsaken cult.
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Do you know me? Do I know you?
by jeremiah18:5-10 insince leaving the wts i've struggled mightily to make friends and adjust socially.
i would really like to find some people that i know and reconnect if any happen to be on here.
so i'm going to reveal my name and ask that if you know me or our paths have crossed, please reach out to me.. i'm "no longer one of jehovah's witnesses" so why not?.
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Tameria2001
Hello neighbor, I know you don't know me. I only moved into the area after my husband and I left the JWs back in Kansas. But as a former JW, I have lived both in Bethel Heights, and now in Fayetteville. We moved to Arkansas back in 2008, and still living here. I did attend the Miller Congeration (Missouri) for a few years. Miller is only about 45 minutes away from Springfield.
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Have You Prepared For The "Flu" And Do You Get A Flu Shot?
by minimus ini try to keep my hands clean regularly and stay away from areas and people that i know are sick.. i have never gotten a flu shot and i do know that many that do get one, get the flu anyway.. still, the flu is considered very very bad this year..
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Tameria2001
I have had the flu shot only once in my whole life, it nearly killed me, so I will NEVER EVER EVER get another flu shot again. I have only had the flu ONCE in my whole life, and it was because of the flu shot.
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Where Are You From?
by finallysomepride inalot of members don't have a flag or country name beside their user name, and well frequently one doesn't know where that particular person is from, tell us your country, state, county or what ever you feel like giving out.
if you are going to post please at least devulge your country.. me, i'm originally from taranaki, new zealand via auckland.
for the most of this decade i have been living & working in brisbane, queensland, australia.. .
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Tameria2001
Currently I live in Arkansas, USA, but I have lived in many different loctions.
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Meetings to Continue forever! Another reason you DON'T want to live in the NEW ORDER
by LostGeneration inpulled this gem from the 2013 calendar.
well, at least you get to have outdoor meetings in the mountains of south america with touchans flying around.
no more windowless kingdom halls!
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Tameria2001
Nah, I’ll pass on their type of paradise. Growing up in the JW world this was how my mother would explain it to me. First after Armageddon, different groups would be assigned to clean up different things. She was mainly thinking about all the dead bodies lying about, and when I saw the Steven King movie The Stand, it reminded me about what she would tell me. But even better while out in field service, I would see this massive pile of scrap metal, and in my wildest dreams I was thinking what if I got stuck with THAT, I would not even have a clue on how to deal with it. I also got to thinking about what about the toxic and nuclear stuff that would just melt our skin.
Then my mother went on to say that those who survived in the new system would be assigned different jobs. Certain people would have to bake a bunch of pies, while others would be in charge of making clothes. I then asked her about the meetings, and she told me, oh yes those would continue. I then asked her why, the meetings now have to deal with field service related stuff, and Armageddon. Then she would remind me about all those who will be resurrected, so field service would not end. I told her, “OK, but what about after that?” She did not have an answer for that, but she did say that even after the final judgment is over if anyone got out of line, then they would just be zapped (not her words, but close and less graphic). So in my mind even though a person proved faithful during two judgment periods, they could still be killed off if someone decided that they were not worthy. The more I thought about that and all the other crap that came out of their mouths, and teachings I knew that was one paradise I did not want.
To me that was not paradise but more like slavery, under another tyrannical government or group of men deciding what is best for them (yes I said them, and not us), sitting on top on the backs of its slaves. Thank you, but no thank you.
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Inappropriate - Sick - WT & Awake articles over the years.
by Essan ini remember as a kid reading an article - not sure if watchtower or awake - which terrified the life out of me!
i remember thinking at the time "ok, this may be true, but i'm just a kid, i shouldn't be reading this!".
some of the details remain imprinted on my mind decades later.
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Tameria2001
Yes I do remember many of those things you all are talking about, and I do remember the nightmares caused by that crap. I had three reoccurring night mares that would plague me, and I can still remember them very well, even though I was 7 years old when I started having them. Yes, eventually I was able to put them behind me and I had nearly forgotten them that were until years later my own son woke up screaming from a nightmare. Once I was able to get him to talk about it, the nightmare was exactly just like one of my own that I had as a child. It was at that point I decided to do a lot of research on the Watchtower, and let’s just say it was not long after that, that I decided to walk away from that cult.
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How many went from christian to something else?
by Satanus ini noticed some posters who used to argue along christian lines, but don't do so, anymore.
granted, it's a tough line to keep to on this forum.
i would be interested to hear (read) of people who came here as believers, and then transitioned to unbeliever, and the reasons for that.
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Tameria2001
After leaving the JWs, I went to Christian church, and was baptized. I had gone to several different types of churches. But I had noticed that after a while they had the same feel as the Watchtower, in the controlling issue. Something that I had always meant to do was to actually read the bible, I mean really read it, and meditate on what I was reading. There were several things that caught my attention, and because of that I have totally walked away from all types of religions. I had also done plenty of research on religions as well.
To make a long story short, yes I feel the 10 commandments are something we should live our life by. I mean a person should never mess around with anyone who is not their spouse, or people should not murder each other.
Once I had finally finished reading the bible from the front to back I came to the conclusion that most of the bible is pure bunk.
Take these scriptures for instant;
Romans 13
(1) Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (2) Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (3) For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. (4) For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
So basically the bible is saying that all government is established by God and to completely obey the government. So what about government such as well let me give an example of one government, Nazi Germany, back in the 1940’s? This government was murdering a lot of people, and they are not the only ones who were/are guilty of that. According to the bible, since they are established by God, people should have just let them keep on doing their evil deeds. This is just to give one example on why I don’t believe in the bible anymore.
I do have two questions, why does the bible have 66 books? Think about it for a moment. Why were there a total of 13 men included in the group with Jesus, there were 12 disciples plus Jesus that made it a total of 13 men.
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Did You Give Much $$$ To The Kingdom Hall And/Or Watchtower Society?
by minimus ini typically gave $$$ to the local kh and seldom gave donations to the society.. i always am amazed how some church going people have very little materially, yet make sure the church and the pastors are well taken care of..
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Tameria2001
When the Watchtower changed their whole donation process, was when I stopped giving money to those greedy bastards. When they told me that I needed to pay for what I got, and then give all the money the householder gave me in return for those magazines. At the time I did not have a good paying job; I use to clean a bank for a living. Before that, what I did was when I was out in field service, I would tell the householder how much it would cost, and they would in turn give me the money for those magazines. I would then use that money to pay for the next set of magazines or books. But then they changed it and told me that I needed to pay for it, and then give all that money to them that I got from the householder, my alarm bells went off. To me it sounded like a money making scheme, and that it was going to take a chunk out of my wallet. I was already spending over $500 a month in fuel for my car. I was a regular pioneer, and got stuck driving around ALL FREAKING DAY LONG. After that point in time, the Watchtower did not get a single penny from me.
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Im a non JW and i'm interested in a JW
by littlebigtown123 ini'm interested in this girl and shes a jw.
i went to the meetings and i was bored out of my mind.
i can see how the religion is very appealing to people.
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Tameria2001
Please listen to everyone here, and leave her alone. If you do, you will save yourself a ton of heartaches. I was raised in that cult, starting in 1974, when my mother became one, and I finally left it in 2001. One of the biggest problems I have seen is when someone who is not a JW becomes interested in someone JW. If you choose to go down this path and to stay with here this is what will happen.
You will eventually become one yourself, but I will promise you, you will not be happy. Eventually you will decide to leave the JWs, but by then you and her will more likely have children. This becomes a whole new ball game. Once you become a member, if you ever decide to leave it, you will be facing shunning, that is where all your loved ones who are JWs will no longer talk to you or have any dealings with you. This will include your own children, if they have decided to become JWs.
Or let’s say you do manage to get her to leave the JWs, she will be facing the shunning issue with her own loved ones. Most people are not strong enough to deal with that, and she will return back to the JWs. If you have any children with this woman, she will make things very difficult for you.
I have seen it with my own family, and others many times throughout the years and the results are almost the same. Please listen to everyone here, and RUN, it will save you a lot of problems. Otherwise, you will be like so many others who decided to get involved with a JW, only for it to bite you on the butt later on.