i'll start.
i'm low on friends, for various reasons.
scientists poke their calculators into everything, and the number of friends we can have is one of them.
Hardly any friends! One really great one, who I've known for many years, but she lives on the other side of the world.
I have made 2 new friends in the last year, and I'm going to try and maintain these friendships, because they are the first people I have liked in a long time.
Other than that, lots of aquaintances, but not friends. I don't like a lot of people that much anyway, so no big deal :)
just wondering if we should try and organise a meetup...a couple of peops have suggested on another thread..... .
so how bout it?.
lp.
Sent you a pm I p, what's up fellow sydneysiders???
i have been stunned to hear of two suicides in our area recently.. this adds to the other 3 that i have known of from the past.. the two recent suicides resulted from 1-the person being gay & hearing a horrific talk at the kingdom hall & 2-the person with problems who was disfelloshipped & then took his life the next week.. it astonished me that jw's in general don't rebel against this sort of thing.
it's an appalling lack of support which leads people to feel distressed, abandoned & unloved.
how the witnesses in the locality can just sail on without giving the cruelty of these measures serious though is beyond me.
Continuing on from steve2 comments.
You can be shunned & have friends in the world, a couch to sleep on, a wife or husband, a job, a home. OR you can be shunned & kicked out of your home on the same night, you can take 1 gym bag & have nothing......this happens.
you can walk around train & bus stations trying to find the safest place to hide, this is what happened to me.
i thought about suicide a lot, why not?
would the elders feel responsible?
No, BUT, their organization made sure that I had no life or contacts outside the congregation, and then they made damn sure that every single person I knew turned their back on me at exactly the same time......so, they should bear some responsibility.
There is nothing loving in shunning, it's punishment pure & simple & most in never give any thought to what happens to those who are kicked out. There's a huge myth perpetuated that whole "feet in a hurry to run to badness" stuff, how evil DFs are, how we out drinking & partying & sleeping around.
This is to make sure that those who are still in never know the real reason a lot of us leave, because, we just don't believe it & we can't live a lie anymore.
i have been stunned to hear of two suicides in our area recently.. this adds to the other 3 that i have known of from the past.. the two recent suicides resulted from 1-the person being gay & hearing a horrific talk at the kingdom hall & 2-the person with problems who was disfelloshipped & then took his life the next week.. it astonished me that jw's in general don't rebel against this sort of thing.
it's an appalling lack of support which leads people to feel distressed, abandoned & unloved.
how the witnesses in the locality can just sail on without giving the cruelty of these measures serious though is beyond me.
There are so many suicides that never get even recognized as such.
Accidents due to reckless driving or alcohol. It's hard to think of a more damaging belief system to enforce on vulnerable children & adolescents. Isolate, obey or be shunned, loneliness, denial of all sexual feelings unless you happen to meet & marry young.
what happens if you never meet any one you click with in the organization, or if you are gay? A life of celibacy? People who are witnessed to door to door at least have an opportunity to ask questions. People born in have no time to think or ask questions. If you are not in, you are out.
Ohhhh, and we also made sure there is nothing for you in the world either by denying you the chance to make friends or get an education.
I wonder about those at the top, if they have any idea of the scale of the misery they have inflicted. For every happy JW, how many unhappy? How many wrecked marriages, broken families?
if you try to read that crap.. you'll ... purge the baloney sandwich you ate for lunch..lol.
I left all my JW stuff on the side of the road
there are a few things I wish I kept. The program for an assembly where there was a talk "guard against the sin of independent thinking" because my husband refused to believe there ever was such a talk, and I'm sure there was.
JWs have such selective memories, I got a letter calling me a demonized spawn of satan, I wish I had kept that!
because of "religious" differences, she now wants me to move out and "separate"...i said what biblical grounds does she have for her request?.
she couldnt respond...she said she'd rather be beaten up by me than have an "apostate" in the house.... this org definitely encourages conditional love.... i don't know what to do...by the way, we dont have children.
.
I'm sorry this is happening to you. If you know JW, which I think you do, then you know not much good comes from a "mixed" marriage.
Ultimately it will be a lonely time for you, she will be getting support from the cong. I'm glad you have this forum and your family for support.
Look after yourself
my youngest who i haven't seen for 6 months came to collect the rest of her stuff from the flat today.. she was cold and indifferent towards me until the dog went for her because she no longer knows her and then she blamed me for everything that has happened.. having trouble keeping it together now..
Im sorry amelia, if you were on my side of the world I'd bring you a hot chocolate
and a cupcake...and a flower..... I hope your sh*t day improves....
For Australian women.......no chatting allowed during:
state of origin rugby, or any other rugby game
start of the Sydney to Hobart
Bathurst (best to leave the house for this one, lasts for hours)
AFL grand final
any motocross,
the silence can only be broken to abuse the TV, refs, umpires, kiwis and queenslanders, OR perhaps to offer a cup of tea.
so i have been a lurker on this forum since its inception.
i registered over a year ago.
i jumped in several months back with a highly controversial subject of my daughter being sexually abused by an elder and the efforts we were taking to bring him to justice.
Welcome Tylin, thanks for sharing your incredible story.
sadly it seems these crimes are more common than any one knew.
others like blindnomore & crazyblondedeb.....
you guys are all heroes and I feel humbled by what you have achieved.
I also believe that this issue has the potential to destroy the WTS, it cannot be ignored.
Love to you & your families, thankyou again for telling us your stories, I know it must be painful, good luck to you all
i was just reading another thread about elderly dubs looking back on their wasted lives--and the thought occurred--.
they had a choice!.
so--for any active jw's reading this----perhaps having the odd doubt or two:-.
What a fantasy this is, I used to daydream elaborate scenarios....where everyone thought I was somewhere else & I just snuck away from the daily grind of the dub routine.
if you can, do it!
I am planning a sabbatical from my own life at some point this decade, and im 40!
