ndmom73

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Posts by ndmom73

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  94

  14 months after printing the "Steve and Selma" article, guess what the Society's latest Awake is about...

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you guessed it.... .

  http://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=201304&output=html&pub=g&langwritten=e&option=trgchlzrqvnyvrxf&txtcmslang=e.

  cedars.

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  ndmom73

  MMXIV: "sorry you're having to comment on this thread through bitter personal experience. If you're offended by this article imagine how many others are offended that are sitting at meetings still being abused or suffering, as most do, the after affects of abuse. The WTBS keeps these women trapped in their relationship - it would prefer to do that than confront the bullies and abusers who may be worldly husbands or perhaps JW's with a position."

  Thank you for your compassion. What makes me the most sad is how many of those witness women & children are beaten down so completely that they don't even have the mental strength to be offended. They do not see themselves as victims because it is their fault the abuse happens. The vicious cycle of abuse is a well played instrument and the Watchtower society is leading the band.

  I do hope that some are offended, I do hope that some see the hypocrasy between what is written in the Watchtower articles and what is actually said behind the closed doors of the elders council, and I do hope that the trickle of JW's leaving the cult will turn into a flood. But I am not holding my breath.
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  94

  14 months after printing the "Steve and Selma" article, guess what the Society's latest Awake is about...

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  you guessed it.... .

  http://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=201304&output=html&pub=g&langwritten=e&option=trgchlzrqvnyvrxf&txtcmslang=e.

  cedars.

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  ndmom73

  Growing up in a JW family that tried to get help from the elders for domestic abuse I know personally how easily they dismiss cries for help from abused women and children. My mom was told time and time again that SHE was to blame for the abuse. I love both of my parents, and I know that they did the best that they could in a very dysfunctional relationship but the best advice they could have been given was to leave each other. Since the divorce and since they have both left behind the JW's, they both have moved on to be much happier people.

  Reading this article made me sick to my stomach. I wish I could find the elders who are responsible for the secret hell we all lived through. My mom who was angry and frustrated turned her anger on to us children. Both of my parents are accountable for their actions, but I believe entirely that the elders who turned their backs on our family, who made my mom feel so helpless in her situation that she also became an abuser, they are just as much to blame.

  As a teenager I ran away from home and with no friends to turn to I found myself on the steps of an elder that my family was very close to. He was completely aware of the secrets my family was hiding. I opened up to him and his wife about the mental and physical abuse my mom had turned on to me. He was sympathetic but he never used his common sense to call authorities and get me the help that he wasn't capable of giving me. Instead he counseled me to obey my parents and he called them to take me home.

  Part of me died that day and it has taken years for me to move past my childhood. I guess in many ways I am not completely healed which is why I am here. But what pisses me off completely is that reading this article brought back all of the pain and anger and even more so because my family is not unique. There are many more families crying out for help at this very minute who are being ignored due to backwards thinking and fear of making their so called religion look bad.
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  15

  Howdy from Winnipeg

  by HymieAli in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello everyone.. i grew up in the dauphin, mb congregation.

  spent a couple years in my teens in the melita, mb one as well.. left 20 or so years ago and never been back.

  now i live in winnipeg.. i imagine my story is typical.

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  ndmom73

  Hello, Nice to meet you. Fairly new myself and have found this to be a very friendly and informative site. I also found (non-jw) books to be a great escape growing up in such a suffocating environment. Take care :)
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  47

  New "Jehovah's Friend" video - Lesson 3: Pray Anytime

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here it is folks.... http://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/children/become-jehovahs-friend/videos/pray-anytime/.

  sophia takes center stage on this one.. .

  cedars.

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  ndmom73

  I think what I found interesting is the hand holding at prayer around the dinner table, this is not something I ever witnessed as a JW (we always clasped our own hands together) and the other was the kneeling prayer at bedtime again something that we never did (we would pray together sitting at the edge of our bed with our heads bowed). I remember the talks about "not praying like the hypocite" and for some reason I felt like the holding of hands in prayer like in a restaurant was not to be done and the same for the kneeling in prayer as you often see from other religions was not to be done. Again, not something that I was taught but it definitely felt implied. Maybe I am the only one who felt this way?

  What bothers me the most about this video is how sad and alone she looked on the school bus. I have nothing against prayer but damnit what that little girl needs is a childhood which is something she won't get as a JW.
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  13

  BARBARA ANDERSON - SHOCKING!!

  by The Searcher in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't know why, but it took me up until a few hours ago to read her story at http://www.watchtowerdocuments.com/ and it opened my eyes more than i'd have thought possible.

  having researched the real truth over the past 3 years or so, i felt my disgust was complete, but i was wrong!

  i used to think that bethelites had it made, being in amongst like-minded brothers and sisters every day, but it appears their little 'spiritual paradise' is just a facade.

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  ndmom73

  Thanks for this post, I haven't explored many JW info websites and had never heard of Barbara Anderson. Despite having never been baptized and walking away from the JW's as a teenager I still had an inner voice preventing me from exploring "apostate" messages. Isn't it crazy how far reaching the mind control can be!

  A recent event urged me to do some research and I am so thankful that I did. I just read the story of Barbara Anderson and found it shocking how un-shocked I was to read all of her information. It is just sad that those who SHOULD be reading her story probably never will.
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  25

  Please restart 2013

  by akafreelife in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this year is not going so great.

  lost my love, got forgotten on my birthday, car got hit the day before my birthday, car got hit yet again last weekend, and today i got a flat tire.

  what the f did i do to karma to deserve this crap?

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  ndmom73

  Usually January sucks. I plan for it and expect it. The weather is cold (bitterly cold here in North Dakota), people are crabby after spending too much money at Christmas and having to be in close proximity to family members they don't really even like, summer is too far away to be of any comfort and the most annoying holiday with it's glittery and hard to miss red hearts and annoying candy messages is right around the corner.

  Anyway, the point of this is that as you muddle through January, know that you are not alone. As others said above, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and before you know it your reluctant steps just might turn into a full on sprint. You never know what fun, exciting adventure is waiting for you just around the corner. :)
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  80

  The "Pop-In"

  by Mr. Falcon in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so last night the wife is working, the kids are getting ready for bed and i'm watching futurama.

  doorbell rings.

  now it's dark, snowing and i live on a back road, so it's very odd to have a visitor.

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  ndmom73

  I was talking to my mom about this and she recalled once going out to run an errand. When she came home she found witnesses in our home, using the restroom and helping themselves to beverages. Apparently she forgot to lock the door on her way out. I would have freaked out and I asked her how she felt. She said at the time she didn't think anything of it, she was just glad the house/bathroom were clean. Crazy the things that you take as normal after years of being told it is so.
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  15

  Who seemed to be shown more forgiveness? Men or women?

  by TweetieBird in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  what has been your experience with people you knew that were reproved or disfellowshipped for adultery?

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  i always felt that the brother was treated more mercifully and excused for it, but a sister was totally demonized..

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  ndmom73

  I am not sure if I could have an answer for this because I left the JW's as a teen, but I think what I remember feeling the most is how degrading it felt as a young woman to be disciplined/counselled on issues that made me me feel shame in being a young woman. I am pretty sure that none of the young men have been pulled in front of a room with 3 adults of the opposite sex talking about how their clothing is too tight, too sexually attractive, too distracting for others of the opposite sex, etc. I still get creeped out thinking about it.
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  29

  what is the earliest age you heard someone get Baptised?

  by enigma1863 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was curious what is the youngest age any jw has been baptised.

  i thought it was hypocritical for jws to say wait for marriage because its such a big deal but "why wait to get baptised".

  i think my step sister was 11 years old.

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  ndmom73

  9 is the youngest that I remember. I remember feeling so bad about it because this young person had some disturbing things going on his life and I felt that besides being only 9yrs old they were taking advantage of his vulnerability by letting him make a grown-up choice at a very difficult time. I had the sense as a young teen to know it was wrong and it still angers me that the adults just turned a blind eye. Manipulation at its best.
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  57

  Did YOU Go A Bit Wild or Crazy When You Left The "Truth"?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just curious..

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  ndmom73

  Thinking back on it, I guess it was all relative. I was a teenager and my parents were going through a very nasty divorce that they put me in the middle of. The "wild" things that I did were things that I was doing BEFORE my parents were no longer JW's. And because I remained friends with many JW's my age, I know that I was actually much less wild then they were.

  A bit off topic, but when I look at my teenagers who were and are kept busy with choir, theater, sports and working to keep up with academics so that they can participate in the activities they love, not to mention make time for friends and yes dating, they don't have time to act out in the ways that myself and my friends did. We have open communication and although yes there have been times that I have wished they made other choices their paths are quickly corrected because we are able to discuss what is going on in their lives and they are not sneaking around hiding things from me.