3039 since I was disfellowshipped. I don't consider myself out yet, because I am still clinging to a lot of the beliefs.
Is there anywhere I can discuss these respectfully with someone?
Beryl
i've been free for 1647 days!!!
four years!!!
i left the borg on august 9, 1998 and have been enjoying every minute of it!!!
3039 since I was disfellowshipped. I don't consider myself out yet, because I am still clinging to a lot of the beliefs.
Is there anywhere I can discuss these respectfully with someone?
Beryl
have you ever had a horoscope be so accurate that it gave you goosebumps?
here lately they have all been hitting close to home.
today's was particularly right on.
No. Quite honestly, I believe they are written in a way to fit everyone's circumstances in one way or another. And the descriptions of each sign? Pretty generic. I'm a "Leo", by the way.
And the Witnesses would tell anyone who went to astrology after leaving that they were doing worse than returning to vomit.
That's not what I'm saying, of course. Just my observation that astrology doesn't cut it for ME.
Beryl
witnesses are enwrapped in a cycle of fear.
" .....somebody gets stumbled, misunderstands, or disagrees?
"...they tell on me, ridicule me or judge me?
It is a religion based on fear. Of course, we weren't told that, in so many words. But I, at least, was (and still am) terrified that Jehovah really hates me. I -still- live in fear. I don't know how to change that. As a former Catholic, I was taught that God would destroy me (by letting me get hit by a car - that was usually the way the Catholic God did it) if I did something wrong, like not wear my scapular or pray the rosary.
As a JW, I was told that the "truth would set me free". For all the "truth" in the WTS, it really didn't set me free. I was scared to death. And still am.
Beryl
it seems to me, that most witnesses are exactly that: they are a witness.
their sole existance is of being one.
then comes, parent, spouse, friend, workmate, etc.
But did you ever -really- fall for that? That a lousy Witness would get life and a good non-Witness would not? I never did, and stated quite plainly that Witnesses were going to have a very big surprise at the time of the end; many, many Witnesses would not make it, so I stated, and many, many, MANY non-Witnesses would.
No one ever seemed to take particular offense to my "observation". But then, I avoided any kind of real discussions with most Witnesses like the plague. It would serve no purpose other than to get me in "trouble".
Beryl
i faded from the jws thirteen months ago and since then i have only been called on by two elderly pioneer "sisters" a couple of times.no loving shepherding calls from the elders,not even once.i always felt out of place at the kh because i didn't have any friends there.never once got invited to social gatherings the whole year i went there.what's with all the clique $hit?that's about as far from jesus' teachings as i've ever seen.now today out of the blue i have a message on my machine from one of the elder's mother.i didn't call her back.wonder what came over her to think of me anyway?oh well,you all might not understand my feelings but i feel better now that i sat down and typed it out.
everybody was doing the same thing, hugging and dancing in circles.
and the hugging and dancing and laughing and crying started all over again.
all day long.
You know what I HATED! Those damned, stupid, trite dramas at the District Assemblies. When the "bad, awful, terrible" worldly people died in those dramas, the audience would go wild with delight and applause. It disgusted me.
"I take no delight in the death of anyone unrighteous". Is that it?
Sick.
Beryl
a broken heart
my empty eyes staring at the wall
a black heart always complaining
Please write to me at [email protected]. I will try to help if I can. Feeling like that myself.
Beryl
our hall has 3 sections of seating, we always sat in the left section all the way in the back if possible heh.
it's funny: it seemed like all the foreign people, immigrants, etc, sat on the right side, all the "goody goods" sat in the middle, and all of the um "shady" people... all the people i would think would become defectors sat on the left.
hehe.
In the very back. This way, I could make frequent trips to the ladies room, and make fun of everyone who was speaking. You know, roll my eyes, giggle, pass notes. Those kind of mature things.
Not that being in the front stopped any of those things, though.
Beryl
the aussies!.
not sure if this has already been posted - if so - sorry!.
to kill an american.
Thanks. I appreciated that. I get so weary of the endless American-bashing. We have our flaws, but are hardly the personification of evil.
Beryl
i always found them to be painfully boring at best.
speaking of meetings, i was in a congregation where people openly admitted that the -only- reason they went was to see who brother cassanova-wanna-be (you know, the total geek who, in the world, wouldn't be able to pay a prostitute to go out with him, but in the truth, was considered a "catch" by virtue of having a penis) was going to hit on that week.
this brother routinely preyed upon women, leading them on, in some cases, rather cruelly.
I always found them to be painfully boring at best.
Speaking of meetings, I was in a congregation where people openly admitted that the -only- reason they went was to see who Brother Cassanova-Wanna-Be (you know, the total geek who, in the world, wouldn't be able to pay a prostitute to go out with him, but in the truth, was considered a "catch" by virtue of having a penis) was going to hit on that week.
This brother routinely preyed upon women, leading them on, in some cases, rather cruelly. He tried it with me, too, but I wasn't going to play. He was an elder. It took over five years of CONSTANT and LOUD outcry by the sisters to have him removed as an elder.
Which leads me too....
my next post....