Beat to Hell.......were you as a child as a JW? (page 2)

lisavegas420

Did ya'll know the telephone cord leaves a weird curly type bruise?

I got beat....regularly, either during the meeting, or as soon as we got home.

lisa

i just posted on another thread that i prob starting hating meetings at two...but did not know better so i must have thought getting spanked at two for making noise and not sitting still at meetings was normal...as i got older it was a wooden spoon and then a wonderful little thing called a switch down south that leaves cute little red stripes on your bare leg....then it was the pinch and omg....my ear still has flashback pain from being pulled nearly off................oomps

troubled mind

I was lucky the worse I got was being slapped across the face and having my hair pulled . My brothers got whipped with a leather strap ,they became quicker and smarter than mom and could slide under the bed faster than lightening !

My best friend when I was a teen was whipped with the belt buckle end of her fathers belt while I was visiting ,it turned my stomach and I never respected that man ever again .

I remember once as an adult we were at an assembly and in the womans bathroom a woman was beatinng her child with a hair brush . I finally yelled to her across the stall wall "That 's enough ! Stop hitting that child , your suppose to be a christian !" I reported her to an attendant ,but I am sure nothing was done about it .

There were many young couples with children in our hall in the early 80's . One young mother finally was called before the elders for leaving bruises on her little girl . The reason I know is because her husband yelled at her all the way to the car after the meeting saying how embarrassed he was having to go through that ......WOW real concern for the child , right .

My sister in law would smack the heck out of her two boys out in service and at the meetings . It wasn't just because of being a witness ,however being a witness put her under the pressure to believe two yr olds can behave as adults in little suits hour after hour being dragged door to door and sitting still hours on end during meetings . Talk after talk encouraged impossible expectations of little ones and blessed the idea corpral punishment was for their everlasting benefit .

As time went on and child abuse became more of a cultural issue I think parents, at least in public ,quit being so physical with punishment .

crapola

I think that parents in any religion can carry discipline to far. It's not always because they are JW'S. Why would there be so many abused children in the world. The little Casey girl in Florida for example. We can't always blame Witnesses for the bad actions people choose to take.

flipper

Although it's true that abuse of children can happen to any family regardless of religion or whatever cult it is - it is a fact that Jehovah's Witnesses have tolerated and permitted abuse on many different levels as we have seen due to the patriarchal and firm control that twisted men holding power over the victims of abuse wield.

Just check out some of my recent threads on " Were you told to be Silent or not Report Spousal Abuse as a Witness ? " or " Were you told not to Report Child Abuse as a Witness " ? You will see in the responses that 90 % of the people responding were told to be quiet and take the beatings and abuse they received ! And why ? Just to save face of a fake respectability for a mind control cult - Jehovah's Witnesses. Pretty lame and twisted if you ask me.

I was raised in the JW cult by respectable witnesses. I was never beaten - however I knew friends of mine who were abused and knocked around as witness children. And it's pretty much screwed them up for life- unless they have gotten professional therapy by a psychiatrist to help them with their self esteem issues. THAT'S what the cult rips from you - your self esteem

coffee_black

I wasn't. I had 1 spanking in my life, administered by my dad... and he cried. My parents would sit me down and talk to me. I'd be grounded or denied tv etc... but nothing physical. I was an only child..(I had a brother that only lived a day and a half) My parents were extrememy kind and protective... not the average dubs.

I heard many kids beaten in the ladies room of the kh... If my parents heard it they went and stopped it. When I became an adult, and heard it, I'd go right back to the ladies room and confront the abuser.

Coffee

Scarred for life

I was never beaten. But I remember witnessing people beating their children at the Kingdom Hall and at assemblies.

aSphereisnotaCircle

To be fair, your monster parents were not "created" by the WTBTS; they were no doubt "created" by their own family upbringing combined with society's expectations of parents.

It is true that your family of origin have a lot to do with how violent parents are.

But I was born and raised a dub. We were constantly told not to spare the rod from infancy onward..

In thirtysome years of being a dub, I never once heard the society say that we should be careful not to physically harm our children.

We were just constantly reminded that in bible times evil children were stoned to death by their parents.

rebel8

To be fair, your monster parents were not "created" by the WTBTS; they were no doubt "created" by their own family upbringing combined with society's expectations of parents.

I have pondered this many times. My jw parent was raised with "the rod". She didn't believe in it, so she read lots of child psychology theories popular in the 1970s [reason with your child, treat the child with respect].

Once she became a jw, she went full on with "the rod". Maybe she was primed to be an abuser because of her pre-jw Xian background and her own victimhood.

Looking back, I believe there were times when she found it distasteful and ineffective, so she'd get an elder's advice and read those stupid wt books to get reaffirmation to abuse her children. @ one point she realized the easy relief she felt in using "the rod".....what a complete and satisfying way to release your anger. Then she didn't need constant encouragement to continue the abuse.

Just my take on it, as a spectator/victim.

Goshawk

I agree I think the family origin has the most influence on types of punishment. The spare the rod teaching simply removed one check or balance regarding acceptable behavior in the social group.

When we got spanked with a leather strap we usually got what we deserved.

There were other times that it got way out of hand. …

Grabbing a young kid by the hair and shaking them by their hair; screaming at a child inches from their face, slapping and kicking at the child until physically tired, while the child is curled up in the fetal position. (Reason for the kicking and slapping fit was the child covered its ears because the screaming hurt the ears.)

Hoping for Armageddon to come quickly so that kind of s#*t would end.

…

Out of line? Sure. WT Doctrine induced? No, but it didn’t help protect either.

That kind of behavior is generally learned in the formative years.

Just my 2 cents.

Beat to Hell.......were you as a child as a JW?