I need Help............. (page 3)

shalom

(QUOTE)If Jehovah is your refuge people wont hurt you. Isnt that why we go to the meetings.
(/QUOTE)

I am Jezebel Influence sister. She believed Jehovah was her refuge which was why she persisted in attending meetings and trying to be the best witness she could be. She was hurt as was I and many others who post here. When you are brought up this way from age 0 through your teens and more it can seriously affect you in every way. Being told you cannot mix with worldly people and then being rejected by the only people you are supposed to have contact with at a delicate time of your life can have serious repercussions. As Jez said she now has issues with anxiety and social situations. This is serious and I sincerely hope that by reading the experiences here Discom Girl makes the healthy decision not to limit her life to that of meetings and field service and JWS for friends but makes the most of her life and her teens and the time that is supposed to be the BEST TIME OF YOUR LIFE by having many friends and many experiences and SOME FUN!

rollercoaster

Hey Jez,
Be assured that Discombobulatedgirl is going to have every opportunity to find good friends. She will only be asked and directed to find young people which influence her in a positive way. I have been encouraging her to find activities in which she will at least with a good group of Non-JWs.
Thanks for your help. I enjoy reading the posts.

RC

jezebel influence

thanx SHALOM-luv big sis

DevilsAdvocate_DA

Carmel, you state to Mac.

Mac,
which JW's judged you? Certainly not the ones here! this group of JWs are tired of being judged as are you and they don't seem to be the type that want any part of judging or being judged.

carmel,

The part were you said, "Certainly not the ones here"! I would like to add a little something to your post. I may be wrong, but I am of the opinion that the persons posting here and other boards by far and large are disfellowship(I personally don't like this word), although I am a active witness of many years.

My point is and I believe you may have the same reasoning. Just because an organization excommunicates a person dosen't mean that Jehovah God or His Son Jesus Christ has done so.

My view is, onces a person makes a vow to Jehvoah to do His will, whatever that my be, that person is a Jehovah's Witness (not necessary a WBTS member) but a Jehvoah's Witness until Jehovah says that He is breaking the contract with that person.

This might sound ODD to many a active Jehovah's Witness and ones who have decide to get off the rollercoaster that they got on without someone breaking his/her arm.

You are again right about the judging item. I believe that if you saw me do something that that was out of line with Jehovah's standards. It is you and you alone that can either forgive me or disfellowship me in your eye and HEART. Then leave it at that. Then if someone else saw me doing something out of line. That person can do the same. But as fall as letting the entire congregation know. NO. As far as I am concern it is between ME, YOU AND JEHOVAH, not a body of control freaks call elders.

By the way the elder arrangement was good when it first started, the rotating keep everyone humble. But as it is now, we are back to the old congregation overseer arrangement. BIG BOSS W/ BIG STICK. To much control by persons who by at least 70% are not quailfied to handle the problems of today. I was not there, but I venture to say that the elders who gave advice to the ones posting under, "I NEED HELP" , probably did not know "HOW" to give that help in the younger years.

Not complaining just explaining what I see.

DA

P.S. Carmel, we need more persons in this organization granting their fellow humans the dignity they deserve.

Carmel

DA,

You make some interesting points. I am not able to respond in full now as I am on my way out the door going to work. Perhaps during lunch hour I can respond.

cheers,

carmel

Carmel

DA, I'm back and have some time to respond.

First, you mention taking a vow to Jehovah and that only He can break that contract. I would postulate that a contract of such importance and enduring nature should be between two consenting adults or the equivelant thereof. Being coerced into baptism at 12, sometimes even younger, does not in my thinking, constitute a valid contract. JW's regularly put enormous pressure on their children using all the scare tactics in the book to get Jr. dipped so he can be in paradise with them. Secondly, the contract should be based on truth and facts. I contend that the JWs institutionalize their subtrafuge by not being honest with potential converts or the children whom they are baptizing. So, I would contend that the whole scheme of announcing to the world by the symbol of baptism is phoney and only a method of furthering the ruge.

As to judging. Although I agree with you that the JW congregations have no scriptural or ethical basis for the shunning, adumbrated in their disfellowshiping rationale, and this is the ultimate collective judging, I find no basis for us as individuals to likewise judge and shun others who may have "stumbled". It is especially true of those that simply understand or believe differently on doctrinal issues. They are not lepers, they simply don't buy all the "new light" and place a higher value in their understanding of the bible rather than the changing neon light coming out of the FDS. If you were to shun someone in years past for having an organ transplant or a blood faction injection, and now the "new light" says it's okay, what course of action will you take to repair all the psychological and emotional damage you have done to the poor person? For the most part you likely will do nothing rationalizing that the person was going "ahead of Jehovah" as if the FDS were truely His vicgerents on earth.

I find individuals and institutions have no moral, ethical or scriptural foundation for kicking the person when he/she is down. Tolerance is not manifest in intolerance. It's that simple. You are not responsible for the spiritual growth and development of others, only yourself.

Finally you state that the Jws need more persons in the organization granting their fellow humans the dignity they deserve. I hail to you for recognizing that the distruction of human dignity is the formost nature of the organization/individual relationship in any cult. If there was ever clear indictement of JWs being classified as such, it is this relationship of belittling and destruction of the individual's dignity.

cheers,

carmel

Flowerpetal

I Just want to let ya'll know that considering Jehovah my refuge did not involve attending meetings, and going in field service, etc.,etc. He is my refuge because I pray to Him and depend on Him for help and guidance, FIRST.

I have tried to be balanced all my life. I have always had a few non-JW friends, and I have a really good one now and she is atheist. Her hubby was raised by JW parents, but never got baptized. So it's funny to hear when she tells me about some of her and her hubby's deep, philosophical and religious discussions. He still believes most of our beliefs and teachings, but when he is around his parents, he is just the opposite. Maybe because he feels like they are trying to push him back to the org. Anyway, his mother is baffled that I go visit her--seeing that JWs are encouraged not to form friendships outside the org.

I have seen and know that there are decent people who are not JWs, and have come to the conclusion that people can be ethical and moral without being spiritual or religious. OF course, you would get an argument from the born-agains about that!

Carmel

Flowerpetal,

A question for you. I understand being religious but not spiritual, but isn't being ethical and moral the essence of spirituality?

Perhaps you have a definition of spiritual that doesn't include those?

carmel

wild_angel42

My children had similar experiences when we first moved here from georgia to this congregation. My daughters first day of school she was introduced by her principal to another witness youth who was supposed to give her a tour around the school. My daughter, trying to be freindly asked how many people were in the local congregation, she was met with no answer. So she started telling him about our former congregation in Georgia and was met with, who the hell cares? By the young brother. At lunch, another young brother, not yet having met my daughter and just thinking she was a new worldly girl in the school, tried to lure her into his hotrod. My daughter didnt find out these were considered good brothers, handling the mics and other responsibilities untill later. All of the youths in this congregation shunned and made fun of my children because we looked poor, making fun of their clothes, our home and car, ect. Yet these were the children that were always given parts at meetings and at assemblies. Its sad.

jgnat

Welcome, wild_angel. I'm not sure if the poster will come back to this thread considering the thread is two years old. But your story is interesting, and not the first like it I've heard.

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