You tend to find no more "getting up to's" than in any other body of people head for head, it's just that as JJW's these things shouldn't be going on so are more shocking. It would seem.
The things that went on...
by shamus 18 Replies latest jw experiences
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minimus
Doubtfully yours, are you sure what this guy did is illegal?.....Nearly everything that happens in the congregation is monitored or somehow involving the elders. ......Elders often got into major fights with one another and refused to talk to each other, yet IN FRONT OF THE CONGREGATION, it was all lovey-dovey. HYPOCRITES!!!
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Insomniac
I'm one of those people that others feel comfortable confiding in. I heard tons of stuff over the years from people who swore me to secrecy; I sometimes tried to convince them that these feelings and actions were so much more common than they knew. Seems like everyone had a secret, but since we never discussed them openly, we all thought we were alone. I guess this board is a frequent reminder that we really are a part of the human race-some of us are gay, some of us are materialistic, some of us drink too much, whatever. For the record, in the interests of total honesty, I frequently cuss like a sailor! And I am a materialistic feminist.
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shamus
**Doubtfully Yours Rears His Head Again**
More insinuations, Doubtfully yours?
Since you guys Just love to talk about the down side of the Org
Gee, thanks for the insinuation, as per usual. Didn't you get the picture last time we had a run in? Or, do you just enjoy coming to this forum to fight?
Your silly double standards, and your telling of how "laughable" Vicki Bower does not go far in my books. I could care less about any "gossip" you have overheard. Oh, are you going to email us all soon? HA HA!
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Doubtfully Yours
You're very cute Shamus. Let's get along and move on to the topic at hand.
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Swan
I know of a elder who stepped down years ago. He had 6 daughters. Let's call him Father. There was quite an age gap between the first three and the last three. Daughters 1-3 grew up and daughter number two went to the elders with accusations of Father visiting her bed at night when she was very small. Daughters 1 and 3 believed her, but had blocked out their own memories of those events. Daughters 4-6, still children living at home, denied anything like that had happened. Their mother also denied it. Of course, Father denied it too. Since there was only one witness, nothing was done, and the WTBTS' glorious reputation was untarnished. So it remained a secret, and daughters 1-3 went to counseling, while Father was still considered not guilty, so we were counseled that it would be wrong to shun him in social or family situations.
About a year later, as I recollect, daughter 2 dropped her husband off at work in the city one morning and got on the highway to their home in a small town about 10 miles away. Witnesses said she was driving erratically for several miles, then crossed the center line in front of an oncoming cement truck. She and her two small children were killed instantly. The family and the JWs claimed that she had gone into insulin shock which caused her to veer. I suppose it's possible, but I never bought the story. I don't think the police detectives bought the whole story either, because they were at one elders' home to get information. The WTBTS lawyers told them that it should remain confidential by their interpretation of the law, even though the elder could face stiff penalties by refusing to cooperate.
Years later this elder was disfellowshipped for apostasy. Some of his doubts were because of the way the WTBTS mishandled this case and others like them.
A lot of this is knowledge that is/was unknown to most of the congregation. I happened to be a person out of the loop on most issues, but this one I learned a lot about because my brother was married to daughter 3. I believe daughter 2, and I believe that daughters 1 and 3 have serious difficulties that required counseling because of it.
I was told to keep all of this a secret, since this was a family issue. Well, I'm not in the family any more, so I speak out about this abuse whenever I can. It does no good to keep silent about these issues other than leave the perverts free to do it again and again and the victims either dead or in counseling. So I speak.
Maybe this is what the real definition of apostate is. Whistle-blower.
Tammy
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breal
I think lots of stuff went on behind closed doors... Sometimes it can be better that way for those involved if they prefer to keep things private. However other times it was shocking to sit there in a meeting and listen to an announcement of someone having been reproved publicly/df?d. The truly sad part is that sometimes things happened in a hall and no one ever really knew the truth about what went on and then the announcements of reproof, da or df?ing just lead to all sorts of speculation and nasty rumors. Sometimes I wish that back then I knew what I do now as I would have da?d myself in true ?BReal? form instead of allowing them to df me.
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mizpah
There were often two personnas in many Jehovah's Witnesses. There was the Hall one and the Home one. And some cases, there were wide differences between the two. I remember one "brother" who had the reputation for being "kind and helpful" to the brothers. At home, he was beating his wife and kids. I'm sure that this kind of things is still happening in the congregations.
Many of the "secrets" that the elders were aware of became public knowledge when they shared the information with their wives. The proverbial "grape vine" of gossip was widespread in all the congregations I attended over the years. The prime source of it was the elders' wives.
I think the reasons for this was the limited sphere of most Jehovah's Witnesses. Since the organization is the whole life of most of them, the petty and mundane events (occasionally the scandalous) in the congregation became a topic of gossip. Whether it was out in field service or at the Kingdom Hall, gossip was a vital part of the lives of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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shamus
I agree, doubtfully yours.