Awake at last

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Posts by Awake at last

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  102

  It is official they're selling off Kingdom Halls in Britain

  by raymond frantz in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i posted here a week ago some disturbing news for congregations being consolidated in britain.

  my goodness that was nothing !

  a letter was read today from bethel addressed to all congregations in britain that can only be described as the biggest news for years.the main points:.

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  Awake at last

  Any information on what is happening in Australia regarding KH consolidation?
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  34

  comment from an uber dub regarding the $13.5 sex abuse case will just blow you away.

  by joe134cd in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i was talking to an uber dub friend last night who lives in the san diego area.

  he knew nothing of the $13.5 million dollar law suit.

  when i tried to tell him that this is a systemic problem, and that this could perhaps be the tip of the ice burgh.

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  Awake at last

  Redvip2000 said that they think it is all 'lies and part of Satan's media and should not be believed. If the media told of something catastrophic, they would say it is a sign that the end is near. They believe Satan's media when it backs up or appears to back up their cause.

  Just a sidelie, I haven't heard anything about peace and security for a while. It used to be a much talked about thing among the Jdubs.
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  40

  I am JW.ORG

  by LogCon in

  1. social
  2. humour

  famous quote from wuthering heights revised.. '... i am jw.org!

  it's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than i am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.

  so don't talk of our separation again: it is impracticable...'.

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  Awake at last

  My 12 year old daughter wants to know if the flags the children are carrying are photo shopped.

  I agree, if this is all true and not photo shopped, I am embarrassed for the organisation I once belonged to and identified myself to others as being part of.

  I haven't got a photo but the kingdom hall at Wamberal, NSW, Australia has the blue JW.org logo in two places visible to cars driving past. I always used to, out of habit look over ath the hall as I drove past, now I make a conscious effort not to. The commercialism is too hard to take. You may not think so but i still care about Jehovahand do not want to see his name commercialised.
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  80

  The "invisible" Elephant in the room: ELDERLY JW's nobody provides for

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  question: how does the leadership of jehovah's witnesses instruct its members to prepare for the eventual elder care of its members?.

  answer: it pretends it will never happen!.

  is this responsible leadership or some kind of cognitive dissonant malfeasance?.

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  Awake at last

  i know of a case in a cong where I used to be, in fact it is the cong where my mother, mentioned above, and my father were before they died.

  There were a couple there who had a disfellowshipped daughter who they had shunned for years. The husband was in poor health and his wife cared for him. Then the unthinkable happened. She was diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly, they both needed care. The elders informed them that under the circumstances it would be OK to inform their DF daughter and accept care from her if she was willing, obviously so as not to be a burden on the cong.

  At the time I thought nothing of it as I was so brain dead. It is only the past few years that I have come to see the double standards in this case. Shun the disfellowshipped but unshun when they can be of some use. Not sure if unshun is a word, well it is now.

  And another person on this site, under another topic asked would I go back if I was allowed to celebrate xmas, b/days, etc. No way known to humanity would I go back. I can see why they don't want us looking at the internet too much, honestly, the stuff I have learned from these forums and from the ever persistent, hard working, self-sacrificing Barbara as well as my own experiences is mind boggling to say the least. I suspected a lot of things, but now I know that what I suspected is true.

  I live in Australia and do not know a lot about the GB. It is all a bit far away from us here. Reading comments, stories, experiences, etc., really opens up a whole new world of the Borg that I have not heard of before. Very interesting and not all that surprising. Crisis of Conscience turned up in the mail the otheer day and I am eager to get into it.
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  11

  If Halloween, Christmas, Birthdays, Thanksgiving became all of a sudden acceptable, would you be ready to join up?

  by Quarterback in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how fast do you think the wt would grow if all these celebrations were no longer an issue?.

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  Awake at last

  Would I go back to the Borg if they began celebrating all the stuff they don't celebrate?

  One word answer, NOPE!!!

  Why, you may ask. Two reasons:

  1. I cannot cope with yet another change of beliefs.

  2. I would also need to see many other changes, which I could cope with such as, attitude to the aged, sexual abuse policies, more tolerance of constructive criticism and pleeeeeeeease an explanation of the group 1 and group 2 of the 1914 generation (scriptural of course) which doesn't make me laugh uncontrollably.
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  7

  What if...Barbara Anderson was never disfellowshipped.

  by kneehighmiah in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  with all these new lawsuits coming against the watchtower, i wonder what would have happened if the watchtower had revised their policies instead of disfellowshipping whistleblowers.

  i wonder if the gb regrets it.

  what if they had accepted that child abuse was a real issue and abolished the 2 witness rule?

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  Awake at last

  Kneehighmiah made a good point when he/she said that "I am proud that none of my money is being used to pay these settlements." I agree, I feel the same. It makes me sad sometimes when I think of all the money my now deceased parents donated. At least they are deceased and cannot see what the organisation that they gave their lives to has been reduced to. I am glad these victims are bleeding, hopefully every last cent from the borg.

  Barbara Anderson does not seem to have been personally affected by child abuse, and in my opinion, that makes her speaking out even more poignant. She is doing it for others and not for her own selfish purposes. I only wish her son Lance could think a bit harder about his decision to shun her and his father. What they have done could contribute to protecting his children one day. I have not been affected by sexual abuse either but have been affected by emotional abuse. I would prefer that to sexual abuse. I feel terribly sorry for those affected by this horrible crime, including my husband's sister. It is even worse when it takes place in a place where love of Jehovah should be the number one priority for all.

  In my personal opinion, the unrealistic attempts to protect Jehovah's name at all costs has resulted in just the opposite. The worldly authorities are reasonable enough to appreciate when reporting of abuse takes place. They would respect the organisation if the concealing of crimes had not happened. Also, so called brothers who committed these crimes would have thought twice if they knew that they would be handed over to the worldly authorities, instead of being protected. It would have of course still happened, but in my opinion, not on the same scale and the victims would have had no grounds to sue for large sums of money as the organisation would have done nothing wrong. The organisation cannot be held responsible for the actions of individuals, but can be and should be held responsible for their policies on how to deal with CRIMES that take place within their ranks that are reported to them.

  Because of the stand that the FDS has taken, innocent witnesses are having their donations, given for Kingdom work, used for a purpose that they were not intended for.
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  80

  The "invisible" Elephant in the room: ELDERLY JW's nobody provides for

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  question: how does the leadership of jehovah's witnesses instruct its members to prepare for the eventual elder care of its members?.

  answer: it pretends it will never happen!.

  is this responsible leadership or some kind of cognitive dissonant malfeasance?.

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  Awake at last

  I am aware of many problems in the Borg that have made people on this site and other Jdub sites leave such as teaching changes, child abuse, disfellowshipping, blood issues, etc. My reason for leaving, well the straw that broke the camel's back anyway, was the attitude shown towardso the elderly, drawn to my attention by the fact that my mother was a victim.

  I was caring for her until she became too much for me, she was developing dementia and was incontinent as well as having severe mobility issues. I placed her in a Baptist nursing home where she received excellent care from staff who were of many faiths, not just Baptist. She was there for six years. In that time the only visitors she had were me, my daughter and occasionally my husband. A sister in the cong visited too while her elder husband waited in the car for her. She died suddenly after mum had been there for about two years, so after that, no one.

  Towards the end we discovered that an elders wife was in there too. She also received no visitors. The elder told my husband that no one asked about her and if he mentioned her, people either changed the subject, ignored the comment or walked away. I had exactly the same experience in the cong. They can't count the time so they don't do it.

  One day I went to visit mum and found the chaplain sitting by her bed reading from the NWT bible to her. He said that as she had no clergy visits, he took it upon himself to give her some spiritual time, he hoped without going against her faith. He also said that she was not being singled out for neglect and that there were other witnesses in other Baptist homes who were being treated the same. What a great witness!

  Mum passed away in 2013. When she died, I did not even tell the brothers. The only sympathy I got was from the nursing home staff and the Funeral Directors. I conducted mum's funeral with only my husband, daughter and two funeral people present.

  The last meeting we attended was the memorial of 2013.

  i have read since about remnant, bethel and elders, pioneers etc., being treated the same way. All this has reinforced my decision not to go back to the meetings.

  What do you say to a 10 year old girl when she asks, "Why doesn't any one care about nana?".
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  87

  Mental Disorders among JW's

  by Blackfalcon98 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hi everyone, im begining to notice patterns of mental issues in the congregations and among the witnesses as a group.

  do you think this is a trend in the entire world or is it exagerated in this organization?.

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  Awake at last

  I am a born in Jdub and have recently been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. I am not blaming having been a Jdub as Aspergers is something some people are born with, my daughter has been diagnosed as well. I think back on my father who became a witness in 1950 and some of his behaviour. He emotionally abused my mother and me. He seemed to have some sort of personality disorder, which is partly what Aspergers is although he was never diagnosed, the diagnosis was not available when he was younger. What I do think though, is that organisations such as the witnesses attract people who are like my dad, a bit disfunctional socially and that could be a reason as to why there appears to be a higher incidence of mental illness among witnesses.

  Part of my accepting and dealing with AS has been leaving the Borg. It has helped in that I now feel happier and not so stressed. I used to cry at meetings, I was so depressed and I also found it really hard to keep up with all the requirements. I thought I wasn't trying hard enough and looking for excuses. I believe in Jehovah and loved the involvement, the part I felt hard was the lack of love shown to me in more than one congregation. I would have stayed in for the sake of my daughter had she been able to connect with the young ones. Another problem was that my husband's sister was disfellowshipped for complications arising from having Multiple Personality Disorder now known as Disassociative Identity Disorder. She was sexually abused as a child. I used to shun her, but now I am just trying to get my own life back on track, or on track as it was never really on track before. I have told my husband that if he wants to see his sister, he won't have any problems with me. Amazing what a mental health diagnosis can do to generate compassion in someone who was not taught to be compassionate.
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  194

  Bethel Rules

  by brotherdan in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this was brought up just in passing on another thread.

  but i wanted to see if there are any bethelites or ex bethelites that remember some of the crazy rules we had to follow when we were there..

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  Awake at last

  I am from Australia, and since I was a child have always wanted to visit Brooklyn Bethel. In 1995 I got my wish.

  Do not think that Bethel is fooling visitors, or at least not me. I had never experienced such an uncomfortable day, the whole place from the administration building to the factory, residences, everything seemed far removed from what I imagined to be Jehovah's organisation. When I was at the admin section, a sister took me to the first floor to see where the art department was. We rode in an elevator with an elderly bald man, who I suspected was of the GB. I was given the impression that I was not to speak to him as it may be seen as sucking up to someone important. There was no doubt in my mind that whoever he was he was more important than me or most others. The guide sister and I got out at the first floor and he then proceeded to put a PIN number into a PIN pad in the lift, so that he could go up further to where the GB spend their day and not be followed by the unworthy.

  The whole day was an eye opener to me in all the wrong ways. I was never very spiritually minded, I was born into the Jdubs and just went with the flow all my life, I was 32 when I visited Bethel and unmarried. I also felt a feeling that people thought I was husband hunting by taking a trip to the U.S. and visiting Bethel and a congregation. I was not, in fact I was quite contented as I was.

  After the holiday, I returned to Australia and started slacking off or fading, very gradually. I did not tell anyone at the time what I felt about Bethel, as it is not what they wanted to hear. My parents were surprised as they thought a visit to Bethel might make me more enthusiastic for the truth, not less so.

  So do not feel that everyone who visits is fooled by the family atmosphere and the spirituality. Just for the record, I live a 2 hour drive from the Australian Bethel, and have never been there once.
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  83

  Convention new book reveals "GROUP 2" of the 1914 generation...the horror.

  by Witness 007 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  gods kingdom rules!

  the convention book released yesterday....say hi to group 2 of the 1914 generation!!

  a graph shows group 1 being fred franz john barr etc...with a group 2 consisting of the current young faithful slaves we "met" the "group ones.

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  Awake at last

  I just can't stop laughing at some of these comments, especially Zordino and Hairtrigger. I am totally confused about the overlapping, group 1 and group 2. Just out of interest, is there any scriptural backing for the overlapping and the groups?

  It kind of reminds me of a parent who has told a small child about Santa. They go shopping and see him in a department store. Then they go to another store a few minutes later and there he is again. The parent then has to concoct a story about him flying in on his sleigh, but no one saw the huge sleigh flying in, or that he has helpers, who look and are dressed identically to him.

  Tell one lie and you need ten more to back it up. That seems to be what is happening here. I am sure someone will tell me if I am wrong.