Webster4Eva 10: If Alyssa Doesn't Record It, Then Does It Really Exist?

[JermajestyDuggar]

Jehovahs witnesses keep their members extremely busy with church activities all week long. That way they can keep them in the cult. The more you keep them busy, the less likely they are to question. 

[CanadianMamam]

10 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Jehovahs witnesses keep their members extremely busy with church activities all week long. That way they can keep them in the cult. The more you keep them busy, the less likely they are to question. 

Yes. My mother's best friend converted so I gave first hand knowledge of how they operate. Church on Wednesday evenings and Sunday plus bible study other days of the week , regular 3 day conferences and you aren't supposed to socialize outside the church. 

They also "date with a purpose" (no dating until you are ready to marry) and married men and women must be chaperoned.

 

[SassyPants]

A member of my UU Fellowship married a Catholic who converted to JW after they married. He told me had he known she was going to convert, he’d have never married her. I understand being a “witness” is all time consuming, not to mention the beliefs. He’s also a retired MD, so the anti medicine (some) rubs him the wrong way.

[Jackie3]

1 hour ago, CanadianMamam said:

They also "date with a purpose" (no dating until you are ready to marry) and married men and women must be chaperoned.

 

Chaperoned after they are married? I don't understand.

[fluffernutter]

My mom coerced me into studying with the JW's when I was 13. It went on for almost two years before I finally found my voice to say no more. They do tend to stay within their circles, and when I was with them it was  the regular service, a weeknight service, the weekly Bible study, and then later, the door to door soliciting. That was when I spoke up that I didn't want to be doing it anymore. There was no way I was going to knock on people's doors, people I was going to school with. The family was super sweet but I never believed any of it and resented that my mom forced this on me. Ugh. 

[Lista]

43 minutes ago, fluffernutter said:

My mom coerced me into studying with the JW's when I was 13. It went on for almost two years before I finally found my voice to say no more. They do tend to stay within their circles, and when I was with them it was  the regular service, a weeknight service, the weekly Bible study, and then later, the door to door soliciting. That was when I spoke up that I didn't want to be doing it anymore. There was no way I was going to knock on people's doors, people I was going to school with. The family was super sweet but I never believed any of it and resented that my mom forced this on me. Ugh. 

I was pretty much raised a JW.  They suck you in hard.  Like it’s the only way to live.  No birthdays or holidays.  No having fun. As teens, in a big group setting or you don’t go out.  It messed me up bad.  I finally got out of it after I had my first kid.  Then the guilt I got from family.  They to this day are trying to suck me back in.  No way. 

52 minutes ago, fluffernutter said:

My mom coerced me into studying with the JW's when I was 13. It went on for almost two years before I finally found my voice to say no more. They do tend to stay within their circles, and when I was with them it was  the regular service, a weeknight service, the weekly Bible study, and then later, the door to door soliciting. That was when I spoke up that I didn't want to be doing it anymore. There was no way I was going to knock on people's doors, people I was going to school with. The family was super sweet but I never believed any of it and resented that my mom forced this on me. Ugh. 

And I hated that door to door.  It was embarrassing.  But I quit after a guy answered naked. I was only 12.  Never again. 

[GuineaPigCourtship]

The JWs in my town came to the door when I was naked because I'd just chucked off my clothes into the laundry. They are why every window in my house (set back from the road with no close neighbors) has curtains now. I actually don't think they've been back since!

[mama4cor]

8 hours ago, Lista said:

I was pretty much raised a JW.  They suck you in hard.  Like it’s the only way to live.  No birthdays or holidays.  No having fun. As teens, in a big group setting or you don’t go out.  It messed me up bad.  I finally got out of it after I had my first kid.  Then the guilt I got from family.  They to this day are trying to suck me back in.  No way. 

And I hated that door to door.  It was embarrassing.  But I quit after a guy answered naked. I was only 12.  Never again. 

I was raised a JW from age 3 until I was 18 and found myself being talked into marriage. It's been 23 years and I'm still working on healing from all of it. It was all-consuming, all the time. Small study group one night per week, whole congregation meeting one other week night and again on Sunday. We only socialized with other JWs ~ anyone who was "worldly" was bad. Finally leaving was extremely traumatic and still to this day something I can hardly talk about. 

Edited November 13, 2021 by mama4cor
Missed my age. 🤦‍♀️

[just_ordinary]

2 hours ago, GuineaPigCourtship said:

The JWs in my town came to the door when I was naked because I'd just chucked off my clothes into the laundry. They are why every window in my house (set back from the road with no close neighbors) has curtains now. I actually don't think they've been back since!

Sounds like a great way to get on their “don’t visit list”. We haven’t anyone ring for years, thank god, but I feel tempted to do that to get rid of them for good when they start up again.

[Lista]

4 hours ago, mama4cor said:

I was raised a JW from age 3 until I was 18 and found myself being talked into marriage. It's been 23 years and I'm still working on healing from all of it. It was all-consuming, all the time. Small study group one night per week, whole congregation meeting one other week night and again on Sunday. We only socialized with other JWs ~ anyone who was "worldly" was bad. Finally leaving was extremely traumatic and still to this day something I can hardly talk about. 

I totally understand.  It’s very traumatic.  I hardly talk about it.  I remember as a 5 year old, trying to get my “ hours in” talking to my friends about god & I was supposed to save them and get them to “study”  Being pulled out of class when there was a Halloween or holiday party.  Everything was worldly. Including teen magazines. I felt guilty for hiding one under my bed.  The best thing I ever did was walk away from that environment.  No way was I doing that to my kids.  Years of psychological abuse.  I have no problem what religion people believe in. But shoving it in peoples face seems wrong. It took me many years to tell myself it was ok I left.  I’m sorry you went through that. It’s not easy. 

[CanadianMamam]

22 hours ago, Jackie3 said:

Chaperoned after they are married? I don't understand.

I meant unmarried. 

[AussieKrissy]

20 hours ago, GuineaPigCourtship said:

The JWs in my town came to the door when I was naked because I'd just chucked off my clothes into the laundry. They are why every window in my house (set back from the road with no close neighbors) has curtains now. I actually don't think they've been back since!

I have never had one knock but during covid I had a hand written letter and address also. I am pretty sure it was not personally addressed though. In it was a letter from a jw lady with the recruitment jargon. I wonder how much time and money she spent on writing and postage to have it all glanced at and tossed. Covid initiative for the loss 

[HeartsAFundie]

I was just texting my son about the JW family on my street-or at least those in the family that were JW. The wife converted several years ago, brought the two sons into it and the husband never bought into it-every Wednesday night that she hosted a Bible study, he'd be peeling out of his driveway. His pickup truck couldn't make it to the top of the street fast enough.

The older son is 32 and like the mom, was marinated in the JW Koolaid.  At age 20-21, he married the 18 year old daughter of an elder in the faith.  I just learned from my neighbor that after 11 years of marriage, the older son returned home to Mom and Dad-he got divorced.  Apparently his wife had "mental issues" and just he couldn't take it anymore. so he left.  Thankfully, there were no kids.  I would think he would now be ex-communicated from the JWs because based on everything I have read, JWs don't take too kindly to divorce unless it's certain extenuating circumstances.  Regardless of the circumstances, I don't think divorcing an elder's daughter would go over well. 

The younger son is 26 and just got married this month.  I believe he's been out of the religion for quite some time.  He and his girlfriend lived together prior to marriage which I suspect is another JW no-no.   When they were younger and I would see them all dressed up and getting ready to go pioneering, you could 100% see this kid was completely miserable.   If he did leave on his own as an adult, I wouldn't be one bit surprised.

Finally, although they don't decorate for the holidays, I also suspect the mom is done with it too on some level because there haven't been any strange cars around there on Wednesday nights in years, and the husband's pickup truck now remains parked in the driveway on that night.  

[BrandoBarks]

Jehovas Whitnesses around here have stopped knocking on doors but they started to leave tracts and notes on playgrounds and in parks. Sometimes they attach them on trees or on wooden playhouses to make them seem like hints from a scavenger hunt. Children get curious and read them. Right before Halloween they wrote about how celebrating any kind of festivities was dishonoring god…. I alway toss those notes in the trash right away, it’s horrible how they want to lure the children in 

[nokidsmom]

For years we had JWs coming around our neighborhood.   I would never answer the door but one time, when Mr. No was unemployed and home, he answered the door pretty much because I wasn't home to tell him not to.  Had a very polite conversation with an older gentleman.  Mr. No took the tract and thought that was the end of it but unfortunately the guy kept coming back.  

That's when I told Mr. No there's a reason I don't answer to these people not to mention that since it's our house we have the right to not answer the door if we don't want to, especially to people we don't know.  I don't care what the reasons are.  Mr. No was far too concerned about "being polite".   Eventually the JWs stopped and I suspect it's because of the no soliciting HOA bylaws that were put in place several years ago. 

Had a coworker who was JW, it was via her I learned the no birthdays, no celebrations thing.  Nice person but honestly I didn't envy her life, it sounded dreary as hell.   When she left the company we wanted to throw a goodbye luncheon for her which took some doing to get her to attend but she did relent and attend. 

[CanadianMamam]

My mom's friend converted without telling her husband and took the children into the church with her. It was really, really ugly and I think if it hadn't been the 80s where he felt he'd have had no chance at custody, it would have been even uglier. 

[WannabeHistorian]

6 hours ago, BrandoBarks said:

Jehovas Whitnesses around here have stopped knocking on doors but they started to leave tracts and notes on playgrounds and in parks. Sometimes they attach them on trees or on wooden playhouses to make them seem like hints from a scavenger hunt. Children get curious and read them. Right before Halloween they wrote about how celebrating any kind of festivities was dishonoring god…. I alway toss those notes in the trash right away, it’s horrible how they want to lure the children in 

I personally think it should be illegal to target kids with this bull****. Just let kids be kids!

[Mrs Ms]

It says a lot about your beliefs if you realise only kids are gullible enough to believe it!

[CanadianMamam]

On 9/23/2021 at 11:24 PM, JuanitaBanana said:

Alyssa obsession with her phone is ridiculous. She just posted a story and Maci is pulling her hair and hitting her on the face and all I can think is "put your damn phone down and pay attention to your baby!" It also annoys me when she's cooking with just one hand because she's recording an Instagram story. 

 

ETA: She deleted the story where Maci was hitting her. I guess she realized how bad it looked. 

So Alyssa just posted in her stories that this story actually got flagged by Instagram and removed. She was complaining about it.

[JuanitaBanana]

8 hours ago, CanadianMamam said:

So Alyssa just posted in her stories that this story actually got flagged by Instagram and removed. She was complaining about it.

Instagram did her a favor. That story made her look really bad. 

[Fundielandobserver]

Another kids free date night for Alyssa with John and Esther and Nate at Top Golf ! Has she ever even taken her little girls for mini Golf ever as family time ?

[Jackie3]

57 minutes ago, Fundielandobserver said:

Another kids free date night for Alyssa with John and Esther and Nate at Top Golf ! Has she ever even taken her little girls for mini Golf ever as family time ?

She's trying to have the fun she missed when she was young. That kind of fun doesn't happen when you're with four little girls who have lots of needs that they expect you to meet.

[CanadianMamam]

Erin posted.this on her blog this week and it definitely made me think about Alyssa. "If you’ve ever actually met us in person, you could vouch for the fact that our kids aren’t dressed in “style” or magazine worthy — by any stretch of the word. I usually let them choose their own outfits, because they find so much joy in that, and I know they are gonna play so hard outdoors, that everything is likely to have a coat of mud on it by nightfall. I don’t stress over their appearance, because I realize it really isn’t that important". Erin and Alyssa defintirly have different priorities.

[AussieKrissy]

9 hours ago, CanadianMamam said:

Erin posted.this on her blog this week and it definitely made me think about Alyssa. "If you’ve ever actually met us in person, you could vouch for the fact that our kids aren’t dressed in “style” or magazine worthy — by any stretch of the word. I usually let them choose their own outfits, because they find so much joy in that, and I know they are gonna play so hard outdoors, that everything is likely to have a coat of mud on it by nightfall. I don’t stress over their appearance, because I realize it really isn’t that important". Erin and Alyssa defintirly have different priorities.

I hate to give these dickhead parenting points but if Erin is true to that. That is a good parenting style. 

[FluffySnowball]

9 hours ago, CanadianMamam said:

Erin posted.this on her blog this week and it definitely made me think about Alyssa. "If you’ve ever actually met us in person, you could vouch for the fact that our kids aren’t dressed in “style” or magazine worthy — by any stretch of the word. I usually let them choose their own outfits, because they find so much joy in that, and I know they are gonna play so hard outdoors, that everything is likely to have a coat of mud on it by nightfall. I don’t stress over their appearance, because I realize it really isn’t that important". Erin and Alyssa defintirly have different priorities.

I applaud Erin if what she wrote is true. Now, her children don’t seem to be as styled through as often as Alyssa’s, but I wouldn’t put it past Erin to post something like that to seem down to earth publicly.