steve 2 I can't believe that you can post over and over again about the fact that we are grown men and women and that we should get over it.You sir are part of the problem we come here to vent and share with others about our experiences in the org.I can not get over it since the WT and its rules helped shape me into the man that i became a person that loathes people due to the fact that i wasnt given any normal interaction with people of my age group since they were worldly and below the wt standards,i have a hard time expressing myself to my wife she describes me as a robot,cold sometimes unfeeling.As an adult i can see that im a very violent person,i've gotten help with my temper but as a young adult i wanted to hurt anyone that wronged me.My actions led me to being arrested,and yes i blame the religion and my parents for the way that they raised me in accordance to the org's rules.Even though they dont support phsyical beatings now at one time they did and you can't make light of that,how do you think i feel seeing witness children now being able to go to college and having way more freedoms that i couldn't enjoy that is even worse then the org continuing their draconion practices.I got married no one in my family that was a witness attended whom should i blame for that,should i just get over it as you state.This org has our families as hostages no sir i will never just get over it until my family is free of the WT.As i stated in earlier post my mother hates me for rejecting the WT i have a messed up relationship with my parents they are brainwashed whom sir should i blame because of that no one?As i stated you need to get off your high horse and exercise a little empathy instead of post over and over again get over it.There is an old saying if you don't have anything positive to say about something then say nothing.
The watchtower is making some dangerous enemies
by 20yearfader 53 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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steve2
20yearfader, I acknowledge I have upset you and for that I apologize.
I could have toned down my language too.
Yet my core point is actually in agreement with you - but perhaps I push it more: Parents are responsible for the way they treat their children and need to be accountable for how they treat their children. Parents cannot -and should not - hide behind their religious beliefs and claim the religion made them do it. That is perhaps the one single area where you and I part company.
However, I accept that some of my language may have got in the way of you realizing that point and again apologize if I caused offence.
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talesin
Steve2,
Thanks for your reply. It seems that we are around the same age, and I can assure you that caning was illegal in Canada in the 60s. And my comments re classmates, etc., are truthful.
I dunno if you read my earlier comments, but I clearly remember the elder,,, his name was DAN WALL, telling the congregation that if your children are disruptive ,,, and this I clearly remember, and is verbatim .... "when you take them out back, that's when we REALLY want to hear them".
The WTS truly did encourage the beating of children -- as you said, that corporal punishment at that time, was more accepted, and many kids got 'the belt' or other such punishments. However, imho, and in my experience of knowing classmates,,, it was not something that their minister would encourage from the pulpit ---- beating of children who could not 'sit still' during the Sunday service.
I also agree with you when you say that abusive families will be abusive ---- in ANY religious or nonreligious setting. I disagree, however, in that I feel the WTS encouraged corporal punishment as a way of controlling children. I can't IMAGINE a Lutheran pastor, or a Jewish rabbi, telling the congregation to take their kids out back and beat the hell out of them.
xo
tal
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steve2
Hi Tal, I respect where you are coming from, that you are basing it on what was said from the KH platform in the area where you lived. I never heard that kind of message from the KH and believe me if that kind of message was evident, my JW mother would have made her displeasure of it known. She was an outspoken woman regarding the treatment of children which is why when I was disfellowshipped, she made it clear to the elders she would not shun me. So, while I acknowledge that some KH's were harsher places to take children than others, the Watchtower's advice and "urgings" to parents were products of their time, with Biblical admonition thrown in for good measure. It was unheard of in New Zealand for elders to approve of parents being rough with their children and,as I said earlier, on more than one occasion, elders made their disapproval very clear to "guilty" parents. The irony is corporal punishment WAS acceptable in New Zealand schools, including in particular Catholic private schools. Indeed, most of the bad publicity in my country on the mistreatment of children has centred on religious schools and "born again" parents asserting their divine right to beat their children. Here the JWs stood out as moderate in their treatment of children by contrast - hence my reaction to what has been implied in this thread.