a true success story mav, and one the JWs dont wnat to hear about! keep the happiness going indefinitely...pay it forward!
you are an inspiration,
Ravyn
Posts by Ravyn
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13Why should I be Happy?
by Maverick ini had a good day today.
i love my job, still some days are just great, and today was one of those days!
all day i was in a great mood and working like a bi-polar in a manic state.
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5
did you know me?
by Ravyn inhttp://disc.server.com/indices/46743.html
looking for tona gomez-downey ca/portland, or
looking for lorelei johnson-bloomington
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Ravyn
I don't remember the Duck family. sorry. I was born into the Woodbine congregation but lived in Millville territory and then it became Laurel Lake. I left Woodbine in 1977 when I was 15. I went to Bridgeton for less than a year when I was 19 after being away for 4 years.
Ravyn
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136
...but I happen to like the JWs/WT.....
by ScoobySnax injehovah's witnesses.
the organisation.
i love 'em both still.
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Ravyn
Scoobie, I think you romanticize JWs and you CAN becoz they have never hurt you like some of us have been hurt here. But you know what? you don't have to settle for less. you don't have to look at them thru rose-colored glasses and blinders. You can find a place where there is EVERYTHING you like, not just the majority of things you like.
Intellectually, I just can't see how anyone presented with the facts can even persuade themselves to believe that JWs have any kind of Truth, but I don't think any Xtians have dibs on truth anyway, now.
The thing is sooner or later the bad stuff will touch you---it did me and I never thought it would. Then you will have to make a decision based on your own integrity.
It sounds to me like you have never been faced with that before...yet. I hope what you see here will give you some comfort when the inevitable happens and you won't feel so alone. Becoz one thing I can guarantee---when it happens JWs will turn on you as if you are Satan himself. One day it will happen and it won't be your fault and you will see where they are really coming from.
I was a regular pioneer for 15 years...never cheated on my time slip and did everything the elders told me to do. Then one day becoz I did what I was told I was totally shafted. I thought truth would prevail right up until the elders dismissed themselves to discuss it privately. I did not even know Iw as the one on trial when they came back into the room. When they addressed me I did not even have a clue I was even the subject of their private discussion! I thought I was there on behalf of someone else--for their support! It hit me blindsides--I could not even reply to it! It was months before the shock wore off. But by the time the CO came to visit and they were told to apologize to me, it was too late. I had been given a glimpse beneathe the carpet...and of what dirt I saw swept under there--I could never forget. It was devastating. I do not wish that on anyone(not even Northern Girl!) but I also see how necessary it was and is to the ones who are so deep they step over dead bodies without tripping on the lumps in the carpet....
Ravyn
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5
did you know me?
by Ravyn inhttp://disc.server.com/indices/46743.html
looking for tona gomez-downey ca/portland, or
looking for lorelei johnson-bloomington
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Ravyn
I knew the Tates. I was a little older than the kids, they were more of my sister's age. I knew the parents fairly well, they were in my congregation in Downey North. I knew the daughter's long time childhood sweetheart's brother from HIS girlfriend of many years...Tracy Cockrell. I don't want to give out any other names in public...
Ravyn
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5
did you know me?
by Ravyn inhttp://disc.server.com/indices/46743.html
looking for tona gomez-downey ca/portland, or
looking for lorelei johnson-bloomington
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Ravyn
http://disc.server.com/Indices/46743.html
- looking for Tona Gomez-Downey CA/Portland, OR — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:55
- looking for Lorelei Johnson-Bloomington — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:44
- Brattleboro VT 1994-1996 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:42
- Post Falls Idaho- 1990-1994 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:41
- SanJacinto West 1987-1990 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:39
- Downey, CA 1983-1987 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:37
- La Habra Harbor, CA 1982-1983 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:34
- Bridgeton, NJ 1981 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:31
- Collierville TN 1980 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:29
- Forest Park, Warner Robins, GA 1977-1980 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:27
- sorry forgot the email... — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 22:32
- millville or woodbine, nj 1962-1977 — Ravyn, Fri Aug 1 21:59
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11
Question
by MNJAR ini read on one of the posts that elders visit disfellowshipped persons once a year?
is this an accurate statement?
while we were never disfellowshipped, we just faded away over 25 years ago.
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Ravyn
you know when I read threads like this I am still struck by the control these stupid people still hold over us! Don't you think that after 25 years of being away from them that YOU might have some say whether or not you get dragged into a DF meeting? I am not criticizing you here personally---it just hit me that MY first thot was "yeah hope they don't get visited--that would be terrible after 25 years!" and then I am like "WTF? Can't we just REFUSE to have anything at all to do with them? REJECT their meetings and questions and stupid rules?" I mean after my last experience with a JW at my door who would not leave I started thinking why oh why did I HAVE to tell her I used to be one? I don't have to tell them anything! I don't have to live by their rules and accept their judgements! I can actually forget I ever was one, if I want to....(I am not talking about forgeting all the hurt...just forgeting that they think they will always still have power over me!)
Ravyn
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151
Christianity promotes a helpless victim mentality...
by logansrun ini'm going to be a man of few words here.
christianity, in it's truest, fundamentalist form, promotes an unhealthy and non-productive victim mentality.
the christian feels helpless on his own -- condemned by sin and absolutely unworthy.
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Ravyn
wow Bradley! you can have your choice of where you want to bite me for that post! very good.
Ravyn
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7
this is very funny
by Ravyn intoo bad it says it can't be posted on other websites!
i think it could benefit a lot of jw lurkers and doubters on this forum and other places who would not normally go to freeminds to read it there.. oh well here is the link...take a chance !
go read it--it is hilarious!.
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Ravyn
too bad it says it can't be posted on other websites! I think it could benefit a lot of JW lurkers and doubters on this forum and other places who would not normally go to FreeMinds to read it there.
Oh well here is the link...take a chance ! go read it--it is hilarious!
http://www.freeminds.org/aftrhour/waiting.htm
Ravyn
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50
Confession.
by Englishman inis it really good for the soul?
does it make us clean and pure again?.
or is it the easy way out, a way of shrugging off our misdoings and leaving us free to behave badly again, for example by visiting a confessional box each week?.
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Ravyn
I think alot of x JWs are poisonned about confessing to a priest becoz they think they are like elders. not so. Priests have atleast 4 years of seminary training which includes pastoral work and in most cases the same training that therapists get. I did not expect it to be the way it is either. But I would trust a priest before i would trust anyone else(which is why the sex abuse cases are so terrible).
Ravyn
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50
Confession.
by Englishman inis it really good for the soul?
does it make us clean and pure again?.
or is it the easy way out, a way of shrugging off our misdoings and leaving us free to behave badly again, for example by visiting a confessional box each week?.
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Ravyn
I don't believe in Original Sin or sin per se, however I have gone to Confession in the Catholic church and my experience has been that the priest was a sympathetic listener, good counselor, and generally did not believe in sin either...but he was an exceptional priest. Thing is, I have met more exceptional priests than I ever thought was possible when I was a JW. (Please no sex abuse flames---they are not all molesters anymore than all JWs are!--and percentage-wise alot less molesters than JWs according to the stats on Silent Lambs!)
I find it very therapeutic, my problem is, that since I really do not believe in sin---I have a hard time coming up with any to go to Confession for! Incidentally in the Catholic Church it is called the Rite of Reconcilliation. That also takes some of the emphasis off the idea of 'sin'.
Ravyn