I have been dumped by all sorts.....and I am not in trouble, not overtly vocal, and simply do not attend meetings for what I describe vaguely and on purpose as "reasons of conscience".
They shun even when they don't have to. its their fall back position. And to top it off.....they tell you how hard it is for them to do it!!!
my wife and i planned on fading but the elders now want a shepherding call and we are just done.
i know that many play the game to try to stay in, but i'm not a game player and neither is my wife.
our families already shun us because we reached out to a disfellowshipped family member.
Make no mistake, Disassociating is the NUCLEAR option. It isn't just closing the door, it is barricading it and nailing it shut. Now as a fader, I can see the appeal. Kind of a ripping off of the band-aid. I loose people it seems every once in a while. Some close, most not really. It just kind of stings each time. Nobody wants to live in fear.
But I still don't want to DA. Not because its a play by their rules scenario, but because why should I do them the favor of cutting off my influence on people around me? This is played out more and more often, when I am able to share a little thought, mention the RC in Australia, ask about a particular teaching......just little things. I know these things may or may not make an impact. However, they cannot "un"know what I mention. So it means something to me to be able to do that.
I haven't been to a meeting for two years, and this year I did not attend memorial. There has been a new hall structuring in my area, and cards have been moved around. I had an elder I know call me just last week. Said he wanted to come by and say hello yadda yadda. I spoke plainly and kindly. Asked him what the nature of the visit was. Once he said something about encouragement etc..., I simply told him that I wasn't interested in any encouragement but i appreciated his call. He asked me if I was attending meetings anywhere, I once again asked him what the purpose of these questions was. Doing this makes them uncomfortable. See I spoke to them like a telemarketer. Do you hide from telemarketers? I don't. They have a crap job, and probably aren't terrible people. I simply tell them I'm not interested in what they are selling and wish them a pleasent day. If they are persistent, I just very plainly communicate.
You have no need to fear these guys. No need to be sick. Take the call. Let them know you'll contact them if you could use their help. No thanks on the "call". thats it. Very simple. Have your conversations with your family on your terms. Not in a barrage of letters.
Or don't. Rid yourself of all of it and start over. I get that too.
there's been quite a number newspaper articles quoted over the past week, but i would recommend this as a good summary of the first three days of the royal commission hearing in australia - complete with some scathing commentary.. apologies if this has been posted elsewhere, but have not seen this posted previously.. https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2015/08/01/royal-commission-examines-jehovah-witnesses-cover/14383512002194.
just one thing that is not quite right is that the article refers to joe bello as a narrogin elder.
the assualts took place while the victim was part of the narrogin congregation.
They were uniformly ineloquent and unhelpful.
Yeah.....pretty much sums it all up!
As I read in the man from Washingtons story regarding his departure.....I used to think the religion I belonged to was expansive, knowledgeable, and encompassing of all people. I continually am reminded of my naivety as I see a petty and small minded religion trapped in a bygone era refusing to even consider the possibility of reform, or acknowledge that word is a good thing.
https://www.revealnews.org/article/jehovahs-witnesses-cover-up-child-sex-abuse-and-oust-a-victim/.
jehovahs witnesses cover up child sex abuse and oust a victim.
topics: criminal justice / religion .
this may have been discussed before, but this article just now popped up in my online search for "jw news": .
man at jehovah's witness facility died of natural causes.
does it not seem really, really strange that he would not have been missed all day saturday and sunday?
He had a cold, had some cold medicine, nobody stopped by to see how he was or bring soup for a couple days despite living on site......and he dies at 41.
Tragedy for the family.
remember there was a talk about not listening to "false stories" about sexual abuse from apostates on jw's fantasy station?
did the governing body put it out there as preemptive damage control because they knew this was coming?
they must have had subpoenas giving them a heads up.
Should I forward a sensational e-mail to someone else?
And what should you do if you find slanderous news about Jehovah’s organization on the Internet? Such material should be firmly rejected. Some feel that they must bring it to the attention of others to get their opinion, but all that does is propagate the malicious information. If we feel troubled about something we see on the Internet, we should ask Jehovah for wisdom and speak to mature brothers about it. (Jas. 1:5, 6; Jude 22, 23) Jesus, who was the object of false accusations, warned his followers that enemies would persecute them and “lyingly say every sort of wicked thing against [them].” (Matt. 5:11; 11:19; John 10:19-21) We need to use “thinking ability” and “discernment” to identify “the man speaking perverse things” and those “whose entire course is devious.”—Prov. 2:10-16.
it took six years and three trials before a senior official in the jehovah's witness church was jailed for sexually abusing his daughter.. the only support the jehovah's witnesses gave the woman was to tell her to" put her tears in a skin bottle".. .
source: http://goo.gl/pjgy7p.
.
this "confession" should be aired on the tv channel in regards to the investigation into jw's cover up of child abuse.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8cctyxnr-w. quite fitting, don't you think?
xd.
i am hoping someone may be able to give me some guidance on behalf of my son.
my ex-wife, who remains a jw, is threatening to go to court to get visitation with our 5 year old grandchild.
she had regular visits with our grandchild, but when my son (no longer a jw) and his wife (never a jw) found out that his mother was teaching their daughter the jw religion without their permission and even telling our grandchild not to tell their parents... well to say the least, that was a game-changer.
The advise given already is helpful. In short, I would say the best way to handle this is to be very direct with their mother as to why they require one of them be present. Try to keep it civil.
Let her know that they will not allow her to indoctrinate their child with watchtower teachings, and they have a right in raising their child to make that request. If she will not abide by it, then she isn't welcome. They don't want that, hate it has come to that, but there it is. She is NOT going to be able to get unsupervised visitation. they do NOT need a lawyer for this. I would have them call her directly and speak to her kindly.
If she insists it is her right to indoctrinate them and see the child unsupervised, they should make a note of her exact language and let her know if she pursues this, then she will be ending the relationship. All she has to do, is stop talking shop. If she refuses, cut her off.
i felt it might be a good idea to post this so that sitting on the fence jw's or jw lurkers can see that this australia jw child abuse news of 1,006 jw child molesters not being reported to police by elders is a reality that has hit mainstream news media.
i thought this report was very well done.
here's the link : http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/07/28/australia-jehovah-witness-sex-abuse-hannigan-lklv.cnn.
I hope this keeps going. Its been 14 years since a damning dateline nicked their armor. Hopefully this sets a blaze. But it almost seems like the GB knew this was coming, and got people to stick their fingers in their ears early.
I am sure to the rank and file it makes their words seem....well.....prophetic.
