Unfollow - How a prized daughter of the Westboro Baptist Church came to question its beliefs.
by Captain Schmideo2 9 Replies latest jw friends
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Simon
Great article - just shows the value in arguing the truth even if it seems the person isn't listening.
I wonder what the outcome would have been if everyone just politely respected her beliefs and didn't challenge them?
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LoveUniHateExams
Brilliant article. There were so many interesting bits, but this stood out to me:
Phelps denounced other Christians so vehemently that when Phelps-Roper was young she thought “Christian” was another word for evil
Remind you of anyone?
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Fe2O3Girl
I heard an interview with Megan on BBC R4 on Friday afternoon - fascinating and some very familiar ideas. She even described WBC as"the truth".
I think you can only access this link from the UK, it's worth a listen if you can open it
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JWdaughter
LoveUni. . . .I grew up in the era where checking "christian" in a box was pretty much denying our faith. If our option was Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other, we were to chose other. Identifying ourselves with Christendom at that time was pretty much anathema. Now they changed the name to "Christian Witnesses" because all those years that I was in pretty much convinced the world that JWs didn't consider themselves to be Chritians, between correcting (in those days) anyone who asked what church we went to (had to clarify it wasn't a church, that it was a KH and if possible, lecture them on the WT explanation of church and why we didn't call it that. It was an obnoxious time). If we were wished Happy Easter or Merry Christmas-again, we had to correct and educate them on the subjects if at all possible.
Now, I see JWs commonly referring to the org as a church. I think they even did during the ARC. I still think they flinch a little at that. My mom still lectures on Christmas and why she doesn't hand out Halloween candy or look forward to any holiday.
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LoveUniHateExams
@JWdaugter
I think I know what you mean.
When I first started studying with JWs, there was so much anti-Christendom/anti-Catholic sentiment (not that I necessarily like the Catholic Church).
In addition to having to give reasons about xmas/easter, I remember the whole business of "Jesus didn't die on a cross, he died on a stake!" The reason given re. the meaning of the Greek word 'stauros' has been excellently countered by JWFacts. Language can, and does change. The other reason given, I seem to remember, was this: "the cross is associated with paganism, in particular the god Tammuz!" As if the Romans, who were Pagan at that time, wouldn't use a T-shaped stake because of pagan connotations - what the F is wrong with these people?!
Thank Dawkins we have this forum, and Simon lets us vent all this sh1t off our chests.
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JWdaughter
Ah, yes. The cross! I did that one too, personally! IN fact, I tried to do a school paper on it and had to use resources beyond the WT literature. This actually was a factor in my learning the truth about the truth (TTATT). I did the paper. I also played the WT games so that I could tell the story I wanted to tell. That sat on my conscience like you would not believe. It also opened my eyes to what we do as JWs and humans to prove our point. Honestly becomes less important than proving that we are right. It took me decades to get over the need to be proven "right". Mostly:) -
JW_Researcher
Great book. Surprise tie-into the JWs in Chapter 8 and in Chapter 9.
I've read a few of these "exit" type books.
This is one of the better-told tales and, again, has an integral tie-in to the JWs.
Recommend it.
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stillin
Good article. I was just remembering the Westboro Church recently and wondered what had become of them. I knew a couple of the bikers that formed a barricade at one soldier's funeral. The mindset of these extremists is uncannily similar to the JW's.
Thanks for sharing it, Captain.
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Vidiot
Didn't the WBC founder actually get kicked out a few years back just for suggesting the members be a little nicer to each other?