Posts by franklin J

We have taught her that drugs are destructive; will not offer her anything. She is not stupid; she can see for herself the affects of drug abuse. She is a very mature child; also a bright student; eager and willing to learn. Her inteligence and smarts has earned her many things. She has learned early in life the rewards of being smart and agreeable; and at such a young age is making that credo work for her.

Sex is something different. She will experiment with it whether or not her mother and I disagree with her or not. She is no different than any other human being ( myself included). At this time; the sex is not an issue with us. As a young adult, she has been instructed about birth control; and the dangers of contracting the Aids virus. The real scare these days is not pregnancy ( that we could deal with) ; but is contracting Aids; which is a death sentence. It is difficult for any teenager to realize their own mortality; much less see it curtailed by a deadly disease.

Her adult life will progress with or without my intervention; as a father I can only teach values; stop her from doing anything drastic, and offer her direction. I cannot stop her from experiencing and living her life. If she has not learned from the value system my wife and I have given her and live our lives by; at the age of 13 ,we as parents have failed in our mission as parents..

We take each issue as it comes. Where JWs would "take the issue to elders"; we would solve it ourselves;among ourselves. We have taught the children that every action of theirs will have a reaction; some good ,some bad . We have also allowed them to make some mistakes on the road to learning, they are taught that if it is a negative experience not to repeat it. Brush off your trousers and move on; we will do better next time. And we do.

My wife and I understand that we cannot "isolate" our children from everything ( such as I was as a JW child). The children learn early that not everyone is "nice"; and what is and IS NOT acceptable social behaviour; and we keep close tabs on them and are aware of who their friends are and where they are and with whom at all times. They know they can always come to us with any issue; and so far they have.

I admit that being a parent takes all youve got; but I would not have it any other way. I certainly do not want any "elder" or religious group telling me what is best for my children.

26

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY & I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO........

by Mary in

jw
friends

well today's m'birthday!!

i'm uh.........21 again.

for some reason, it's really hit me hard this year and i don't know why.

franklin J

Happy Birthday,

you are among "birthday mongers" here!

Frank

25

Jael With The Nail..

by Englishman in

jw
friends

this little snippet from the survival book intrigued me somewhat:.

>>>>>>13 some 180 years after hobab decided to go with israel, one of his descendants, a man named heber, was living with his wife, jael, not far from megiddo.

heber had separated himself from the rest of the kenites and had entered into peaceful relations with jabin, a canaanite king who harshly oppressed israel.

franklin J

I suppose if Jael "went straight to heaven" for what would today be interperted as MURDER; shunning your loved ones does not seem so bad; does it?

Eman, hope you are doing well. Your spending time reading this nonsense is cause for alarm.

frank

35

Subliminal pictures in the WTS artwork ??

by bull01lay in

jw
friends

just been looking through ebay - and came across this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebayisapi.dll?viewitem&item=5541757312.

anyones seen these sort of things before ??.

franklin J

brought to you by "The Watchtower..."

who in their right mind would want to learn any of this , much less teach it to their children?

39

Does being a JW damage some children mentally?

by Gill in

jw
friends

franklin J

yes, I believe there is some "social damage" that the early childhood conditioning of a JW child will leave some emotional scarring. And I use myself as an example.

Being raised a JW, I was one of those 5 year olds entering school who was taught that all my school mates would die at armageddon. Therefore, I was totally "isolated" and "insulated" from any wordly contacts. No school friends; no contact outside of the congregation. No social interaction with ANYONE other than other JWs and their children. With that kind of teaching, the child does not WANT to participate in anything which would be of benefit at school, such as learning or developiing lifelong freindships. I was taught that secular learning was useless and only what I learned at meetings was going to bring me eternal life. I had friends that were JWs; they proved later in life to not be friends at all.

This is a sick message to send to any child; and one that is potentially damaging to the childs future. I am lucky to have survived.

When I left the JWs in my early 20s, I had NO SOCIAL NETWORK to help me survive and spent several years in therapy to deprogram and rebuild my life. Some good wordly friends from college helped me through. I got on with my life as a "normal" person.

It is not easy but can be done. In hindsite; I have no regrets.....

Frank

22

Please help me understand

by lonelymom in

jw
friends

my daughter was not brought up jw.

her husband and his family are jw's.

once married, my daughter began going to studies and has now converted.

franklin J

Hi lonelymom, and welcome to the forum

I am sorry for your situation. It is a difficult one; especially for someone such as yourself that does not understand the mechanics of this barbaric religion. I was raised a JW, and although I no longer believe it; have vivid memories of my childhood.

I am sure that it is just as difficult for your daughter to do what she is doing. But remember; she is still your daughter no matter what she chooses to believe and if you keep that in mind that it was her choice to believe this religion; it will be softer for you to accept.

As stated in above posts, the Jehovahs witnesses do not celebrate ANYTHING that you would even remotely celebrate.

But just look beyond that and accept your daughter and grandchild for what they are doing; that is excercising their right to believe whatever religion they like. It may be a bit different than you are used to. As for the non acknowledgement on your birthday; mothers day; Xmas, Thanksgiving, etc....do not take any of this personally. It is intended as a devotion to their God.

Perhaps, like all of us posting on this forum , your daughter will realize that this religion is not right for her or her children. When that time comes, I am sure she will let you know. Until that time; be patient ; accepting and enjoy your grandchild when you can.

regards, Frank