Welcome, I also had nightmares/trouble sleeping for years after leaving. It's a long journey to leave behind everything you were raised in. I think having children makes it easier, because you know that you would never wish on them a fraction of what you went through. They have the chance to grow up truly "free" . Good luck to you!
Pickler
JoinedPosts by Pickler
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36
Introduction - longtime visitor
by momentofsurrender injust a (slightly) quick introduction for now.
i am a 4th generation born in.
father an elder since i was an infant.
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Did the apostles REQUIRE absolute unity among the 1st century congregation?
by I_love_Jeff ini posted this question on ya!
for the jehovah's witnesses about an hour ago and only received one answer.
how would you (ex-jehovah's witnesses) respond to this question.
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Pickler
mP,
are you serious?
EARLY CHRISTIANITY WAS VIBRANT & FULL OF DISCUSSION & IDEAS?
You bet it was..... Thats why the first council of NICAEA (325) was formed as an attempt to bring orthodoxy to Christian beliefs.
Look at what was being discussed amongst those early Christians, debates were raging........ Too much to name here, but its well documented.
My point is, they were all Christians.
orthodoxy of belief came later.
There have been volumes written about this, google it... Or look it up.
JUDAISM?
When I spoke about Judaism I was thinking specifically about an Israeli activist I met at university. She travelled the world speaking out against Israeli practises in Palestine...gutsy stuff! She was so passionate, none of us doubted that she was Proud of her heritage, yet she publicly spoke out on something she disagreed with , she's still Jewish though isn't she?
She told us she felt strongly that it was her duty to tell western Jews about what was going on in Israel.
I contrast this with being a JW, could a JW publicly speak out on something they disagree with, and yet remain a JW?
No....and for written evidence of that you only have to look at this board.
Plenty of debate here....but anonymously, because of fear of sanctions/consequences.
I rest my case...
Cheers!
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Did the apostles REQUIRE absolute unity among the 1st century congregation?
by I_love_Jeff ini posted this question on ya!
for the jehovah's witnesses about an hour ago and only received one answer.
how would you (ex-jehovah's witnesses) respond to this question.
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Pickler
Hey I love Jeff,
I am sure early Christianity was a vibrant community, full of discussion & ideas. Look at Judaism today, plenty of dissent & debate, but, I've never heard of anyone being kicked out of being Jewish!
JW communities however are based on fear. If I don't agree with everything, do what im meant to do, I'll be kicked out.
Look at the way they use the term apostate.....it is used to brand people who have disagreed as "hating" Jehovah. Really? I've never heard anyone say they hate god. I have heard people say they disagree with the WTBTS though.
You have in effect been baptised to the WTBTS, not God...sad isn't it?
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Just wanted you to know, none of you are intriguing. Rather, you're all quite repulsive.
by Theocratic Sedition innot saying that's my personal opinion, but this week's congregation bible study asks the viewpoint question, "would apostate literature or internet sites intrigue you or repulse you?
"- jeremiah book, page 70, para 7. .
gotta love it.. i guess apostate sites are like crime scenes.
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Pickler
Hahahahaha.........so funny! Thanks for posting this,
the WTBTS must curse the Internet....all these years of control, rewriting their history.......just waiting to be uncovered by clicking on a link.....haha
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The Walsh Case (1954/1956) - Interesting Quotes from the Crown
by EdenOne inwhen the walsh case was taken to the house of lords, lord strachan (presiding) made a few remarks about the jehovah's witnesses and the watchtower society, that i will now quote, for they are very interesting.
these were taken from the publication "1956 session cases - cases decided in the court of session and also in the court of justiciary and house of lords, from august 2, 1955, to july 19, 1956", published for the faculty of advocates by oliver and boyd, edimbough, 1956.. case presented to the house of lords in july 19, 1956. lord stracham's comments, page 133 on the subject if the jehovah's witnesses may be legitimally considered a 'religious denomination'.
he pondered about some arguments against this case:.
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Pickler
This is so interesting....Lord Stachan has summed up the WTBTS perfectly, and this was in the 1950s.
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2014 Event
by enigma1863 ini know its a year away but i wanted to inquire about the hundred year anniversary of 1914. it would be amazing to have a world wide event reguarding all exjws.
i am nowhere near capable of putting this together but i'd like to propose the largest assembly of exjws ever on october 1st 2014. can it be done?
am i the first to bring this up?
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Pickler
This is a great idea....is there anything significant about the October 1st date?
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How many are happy Not to go d2d this Sunday morning?
by LoisLane looking for Superman init is midnight here in the north pacific.
but for you in france and germany, it is 9 am.
doesn't it feel great to do something else, anything else, then knock, knock, knocking on peoples doors?.
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Pickler
Good evening Lois, it's 8.45pm here in Sydney.....I'm so, so glad I did not have to go on FS.
it was the worst thing about being a JW.
i wish I was listening to owls, but, I'm trying to get someone to finish their homework right now.
i went to yoga & the supermarket ..... Both more enjoyable than the FS/meeting combo!!!!
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WT Society holds EXTREME Responsibility for 1975 and False Expectations
by flipper inhowever- many jw's who have come into the jw organization from like 1985 forward virtually may have no knowledge of the wt society's 1975 debacle and false predictions of the end times or armageddon predictions.
just like in in the book 1984 by george orwell the wt society has a way of not only erasing it's history so no newer witnesses will be aware of their false predictions, but also they are re-writing their history as if those false predictions never happened.. so for those of you here who may have never read or heard of how whipped up into an emotional frenzy witnesses were in the years just before 1975 by the wt society claiming the end was any day now- this threads for you.
to see the pressure that was put on jw's by the wt society to get rid of everything before " armageddon " .
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Pickler
I was a preschooler in 1975, but I remember the terrible sense of urgency & dread. I was told I would not go to school, I was told everyone around me would die..like now!!! It was a terribly anxious time. The late 70s I remember not much about, except .....
In the 80s as a child/teen I heard whispers about how some apostates had pointed to 1975, these apostates even reached the GB. I think they must have meant (?) Franz......and that's all there was to it END OF DISCUSSION!
I did not know how strongly the WTBTS had pointed to 1975 until I did research on the WTBTS online last year. And I was in congregations in the 1980s where lots of them would have been around at that time.
NO ONE EVER TALKED ABOUT IT, especially not to the children, I cannot believe that these people pushed us into baptism, knowing that we did not know this history.
Pre Internet, it was easy not to know much, with work, witnessing, meetings etc
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WT Society holds EXTREME Responsibility for 1975 and False Expectations
by flipper inhowever- many jw's who have come into the jw organization from like 1985 forward virtually may have no knowledge of the wt society's 1975 debacle and false predictions of the end times or armageddon predictions.
just like in in the book 1984 by george orwell the wt society has a way of not only erasing it's history so no newer witnesses will be aware of their false predictions, but also they are re-writing their history as if those false predictions never happened.. so for those of you here who may have never read or heard of how whipped up into an emotional frenzy witnesses were in the years just before 1975 by the wt society claiming the end was any day now- this threads for you.
to see the pressure that was put on jw's by the wt society to get rid of everything before " armageddon " .
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Pickler
I was a preschooler in 1975, but I remember the terrible sense of urgency & dread. I was told I would not go to school, I was told everyone around me would die..like now!!! It was a terribly anxious time. The late 70s I remember not much about, except .....
In the 80s as a child/teen I heard whispers about how some apostates had pointed to 1975, these apostates even reached the GB. I think they must have meant (?) Franz......and that's all there was to it END OF DISCUSSION!
I did not know how strongly the WTBTS had pointed to 1975 until I did research on the WTBTS online last year. And I was in congregations in the 1980s where lots of them would have been around at that time.
NO ONE EVER TALKED ABOUT IT, especially not to the children, I cannot believe that these people pushed us into baptism, knowing that we did not know this history.
Pre Internet, it was easy not to know much, with work, witnessing, meetings etc
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an elder will be at my house in one hour HELP!
by Julia Orwell inwe've missed some meetings due to work and thinking it's bs and also one night my husband got drunk n fessed up n had a shepherding call n now the e is coming to see 'how we're doing'.
help me please i dunno what to do..
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Pickler
Good luck Julia, it's Sunday night....have a glass of wine, watch a movie, have some food!
Can you just not go ever again? Or at least, refuse to talk to them ever again.....I hope so....