:: how witnesses abuse their children::

by Incense_and_Peppermints 17 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

Gopher

I&P,
You're so right, the JW's run their organization based on fear and guilt. Like you said, they try to make you feel guilty just for being a human with normal needs and wants. I too was raised in the JW organization, thinking "this is how it should be". Now from the outside, I can see the cold treatment of the WT Society and its JW's towards its weaker members, including children. You're mostly viewed as an inconvenience, if not merely a resource to use.
Thank you for telling your story and for telling it so well. And thank you too for making something out of your life, which puts the lie to what the JW's claim when they say "there is no life outside the organization". Actually, quite the contrary!
-J.R.
Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.--Will Rogers, 1879-1935
Kaethra

Hey Gopher...you wrote:
___________________________________________________________________
"I can see the cold treatment of the WT Society and its JW's towards its weaker members, including children. You're mostly viewed as an inconvenience, if not merely a resource to use."
___________________________________________________________________
This just made me think of another way in which the Tower abuses children. Not only are children often seen as an inconvenience, they are often seen as a display of selfishness on the parents' part. Parents are made to feel guilty for having children, as they should be spending these "last days" in preaching the good news. The Tower talks a good talk about family life, but in reality it hates children. So much for 'suffer these little ones to come unto me', huh?
Reborn2002

Thank you for sharing your story Incense.
My heart truly goes out to you. Realize that you do have friends here who want and need to hear your experiences because it helps others heal as much as you. I know and can feel your pain and anger directed at the WTBTS.
It is posts like these that make me sick to my stomach.
JW proclaim they are the most loving people on earth, yet in the very story you shared, the mother physically abused her daughter to the point of blackening and bruising her face.
Definitely something a God of Love would do now isn't it?
The WTBTS is a sick and perverted religion, and countless people have suffered by their hand.
To steal a line from another famous poster on this board:
"They have much to answer for...."
Gopher

Kaethra,
Yes -- the WT Society speaks out of both sides of its "mouth" when it comes to children. In some of their literature they're called a blessing from Jehovah, a precious gift, arrows in the hand of a mighty man.
But in other cases, they preach the "woe to those suckling a child when the great tribulation occurs" scripture. Remember, the end is always "around the corner" -- and having children could be a hindrance to your spirituality, er, your share in being part of the large unpaid labor force that distributes WT Society literature!!
-J.R.
Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.--Will Rogers, 1879-1935
Incense_and_Peppermints

My heart truly goes out to you. Realize that you do have friends here who want and need to hear your experiences because it helps others heal as much as you. I know and can feel your pain and anger directed at the WTBTS.
if i can make one person feel better because of my 'shared' experience, or better yet, if i can convince a questioning jw to walk away from the wts, i am happy! :)
thank you, too. it is gratifying and heartwarming (and sad), to read all these posts. it feels like that scene in 'close encounters', where richard dreyfuss sees others like himself walking off of the mother ship. i'm so glad i found this place; a place where the *real* truth can come out. i think of jw children every time i hear this song:
The Unforgiven - Metallica
New blood joins this earth
and quickly he's subdued
through constant pain, disgrace
the young boy learns their rules
with time the child draws in
this whipping boy done wrong
deprived of all his thoughts
the young man struggles on and on he's known
a vow unto his own
that never from this day
his will they'll take away
what I've felt
what I've known
never shined through in what I've shown
never be
never see
won't see what might have been
what I've felt
what I've known
never shined through in what I've shown
never free
never me
so I dub thee unforgiven
they dedicate their lives
to running all of his
he tries to please them all
this bitter man he is
throughout his life the same
he's battled constantly
this fight he cannot win
a tired man they see no longer cares
the old man then prepares
to die regretfully
that old man here is me
what I've felt
what I've known
never shined through in what I've shown
never be
never see
won't see what might have been
what I've felt
what I've known
never shined through in what I've shown
never free
never me
so I dub thee unforgiven
you labeled me
I'll label you
so I dub thee unforgiven."
what we felt, and what we knew, was never allowed to shine through. but now we are free and learned how to survive without the borg to support us, and we learned how to overcome many of the obstacles and phobias wired into us, and they can't take that away from us. thank you, all of you guys, for your thoughts. i love you guys too.
~incense and peppermints
Solace

That is so cruel.
Im so sorry for what you have gone through.
Its just sickening how many have been so deeply affected by this organization, especially children.
Scully

Gopher & Kaethra:
---------------------
I can see the cold treatment of the WT Society and its JW's towards its weaker members, including children. You're mostly viewed as an inconvenience, if not merely a resource to use.
----------------------
This just made me think of another way in which the Tower abuses children. Not only are children often seen as an inconvenience, they are often seen as a display of selfishness on the parents' part. Parents are made to feel guilty for having children, as they should be spending these "last days" in preaching the good news. The Tower talks a good talk about family life, but in reality it hates children. So much for 'suffer these little ones to come unto me', huh?
---------------------
I was recently thinking about the idea of the WTS/GB hating children, too, and came up with a few thoughts about why this happens:
1) Children generally do not have an income, therefore they cannot donate financially to the WTS
2) When a JW couple starts a family, income that might otherwise have been donated to the WTS is diverted to the feeding, clothing and shelter of children
3) When a JW couple starts a family, time that might otherwise be spent going door-to-door selling WT literature and attempting to gain more recruits is diverted to the nurturing and training of children
4) Children, no matter how early the indoctrination process begins, tend to "tell it like it is", rather than indulging in Theocratic War Strategy when talking to others - this makes the WTS look bad
So what does the WTS do to show its hatred of children?
1) Force children (including babies and toddlers) to sit still for hours of gruelling mindless indoctrination sessions several times a week; any misbehavior is responded to with a trip to the "back room" for spankings
2) Bombarding children (from infancy) with images of death and destruction for anyone who is not a JW (making children view pornography is considered child abuse, so why isn't making children look at this sort of HATE LITERATURE not considered child abuse?)
3) Compel parents to drag their children door-to-door with them from infancy, encouraging them to use the children as a "prop" for the WTS
4) Schedule meetings that last well past a normal child's bed time - so that they go to school the following day too tired to concentrate on classroom work - also keeps the children from completing homework and keeping parents too preoccupied with "spiritual" chores that the children's homework needs are de-prioritized
5) Compel parents to withold lifesaving medical treatment, including in some rare cases of parental fanaticism failure to vaccinate for fear of 'inadvertently' taking blood
6) Compel parents to withdraw natural affection for baptized children who stray, even though the child not of the age of majority when the baptism occurred, and had not yet gone through the "bloom of youth" or developed proper reasoning skills
7) Compel young ones to forego education that would establish them financially in adulthood in favor of entering into the unpaid book-selling work
Feel free to add to the list.
Love, Scully
Edited by - Scully on 9 June 2002 9:7:3
Matty

Oh, blimey Scully, dont start me off again how about these for size:
(8) The WTS emotionally damages children by ensuring that they are not permitted to have school friends, or other friends of their own age, alienating them from their peers by forcing the bad association rule, making them feel isolated and lonely.
(9) They are represented at school as being different, by not going to various classes, e.g. Religious or moral education; with all its resultant teasing and bullying.
(10) They are taught that dating without a view to marriage is wrong, and going out to discos, pubs and clubs is also wrong. This is something that all teens experience, but because Jehovahs Witness kids cannot have girlfriends or boyfriends during their teen years this inevitably makes it very difficult for them later in life to be able to generally network; they often become incapable of interacting normally in social situations.
(11) They are made to feel unimportant and inconsequential, by never having their birthdays celebrated. They are instructed never to see themselves as valuable or special.
Need I go on? Im sure others can think of more.
Still, mustnt grumble!

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:: how witnesses abuse their children::