Posts by fiddler

18

If YOUR Child Turned Out To Be A Child Abuser Would You Hate Him?

by minimus in

let me say, from the beginning, that i believe child abuse is disgusting and terrible and abusers should be punished.. we often react to the subject by getting very riled up, sometimes threatening to beat up or even kill an abuser.. i wonder, would you feel the same way if you realized that your child was an abuser?.

fiddler

I haven't read all the responses but this is something I DO think about. My only child out of 4 that remained a JW also is the only one with a child........my grandchild! She has cut me off so I don't know how things are with her and my little grandbaby but I do know that she was raised with abuse.

My husband was raised in an abusive enviromemt..........not JW..........fundy Christian.............and I learned that he had routinely 'disciplined' our kids while I was away in the same manner he himself was disiplined.........ABUSE! By being 'away' I mean when I was doing grocery shopping or working. My kids withheld this information from me until they were teenagers but I knew it was true when I heard it. I knew something was not quite right but I didn't dig deep enough while I was IN the religion. This I will carry with me to my grave.

Since being 'cut off' from my daughter I really wonder how things are going for her and my grandchild. I wonder if the 'apple hasn't fallen far from the tree' so to speak. I wonder what is going on with my grandbaby.

I don't know how to reach them. My daughter doesn't respond to my messages so I don't even know if she's getting them I don't know where she is living at present.

If it came to light that she had abused her child............my grandchild...........I would hold the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society wholly at fault!

When that baby was born I was the one who could have helped my daughter through the family demons. Her siblings would have been there for her as well. She was left with a philandering husband who I'm sure has threatened her with the loss of her son if she has any contact with us......that is what I believe although I may be wrong. Whatever................she needs her family. The governing body of JW are criminally negligent as far as I'm concerned. They have facilitated so much horror through their teachings and the shunning policy I just wish a lawsuit could be brought against them. Maybe some day a really BIG class action law suit will be.

183

Article: It's Time to Outlaw Extreme Shunning in Modern Society

by AndersonsInfo in

http://gilmermirror.com/bookmark/23272594/article-extreme%20shunning#.ufwjurllscm.facebook.

extreme shunningthe gilmer mirror.

its time to outlaw extreme shunning in modern society by: richard e. kelly .

fiddler

I've read this thread and now have a very cautious attitude towards Band on the Runs posts.

Band on the Run................have you taken your meds today?

sorry but your responses to Barbara are not loving or kind.............and love is the ultimate answer to all of this.

Shunning like the JW's do it is NOT loving. I broadcast it to everyone who will listen and I know others do as well. Eventually I hope that the governments will listen but I don't hold my breath on that.

However............the people will listen. The little seeds we plant (and we are a small minority) will build to a conclusion I believe. Thoughts that go out are powerful and expand exponentially. That is progress.

Yes, I know that repressive regimes gain power and human rights suffer but with the exponential effects of things like the internet I think that every thought counts.

Who here believes that the earth is flat? Why don't you believe that?

Someone dared to counter common belief.

It may be a slow process but it is a process.

Band on the Run...............CHILL OUT!

Keep kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight ~ Bruce Cockburn

31

Going door to door in extreme weather

by JH in

jw
friends

this morning as i got up, it was 0 f outside.

this morning at 9 o'clock as usual the same witnesses will go door to door at this temperature.

i already saw them going door to door at -25 f. i wonder what it would take for them to say it is too cold or too hot to go out in the field service?

fiddler

Interesting this thread has been 'resurrected' with the extremes of weather (heat related) going on in many parts of the US. I did go out in triple digit weather down in AZ during a month of auxillary pioneering. It was miserable. I've also gone out in rain, rain, and more rain in the Pacific NW where I am now and in both extremes I do remember wondering if the householders were thinking we were just crazy rather than impressed with our zeal.

Now, of course, I know............they thought we were crazy.

For those of you down in Arizona and other hot places, have you seen the dubs out? If they're dragging small children along behind them DO report them to child protective services.

25

Depression & natural ways to deal with it

by love2Bworldly in

jw
friends

i was on prozac for about 10 years, and finally went off all meds about 18 months ago.

the prozac was causing me to have manic episodes, so they added a bipolar medicine as well as a sleep aid, and the bipolar medicine made me dizzy & nauseaus.

so now i work really hard at exercising regularly, i take a lot of natural supplements including natural lithium & megadoses of omega upon advice of a homeopathic doctor.

fiddler

I'm with HBH......Kratom!

I would add that exercise and good diet work hand in hand but the Kratom definitely takes the edge off anxiety on bad days.

42

Pets are false gods

by Rattigan350 in

i"m listening to the 2013 dc green bay saturday talk on false gods.. the speaker says no one would knowingly worship false deities.

but could we inadvertantly give jehovah less than exclusive devotion he deserves.. he said:you have not allowed this deception power of sin to sensual desires, material comforts, pets, technology, entertainment or food to become objects of devotion to you.. anything that interferes with our spiriutal routine has the power of eroding or weaking our relationship with jehovah.. .

my dogs can erode my relationship with jehovah.

fiddler

Dogs and cats could teach the GB a thing or two about love and life (cats mostly for the latter). We can learn so much from our furry companions.........so much more than the drivel that the Watchtower spews forth.

This just sickens me even more....................if there is a god............strike them with lightening NOW!

58

What do you think happens when we die?

by cognac in

jw
friends

i'm trying to figure it out.

if we are just dead then there is no point to anything i do.

i'd like to hope our energy goes somewhere... but, i'd like to examine what somebody presents as proof....

fiddler

Guess we'll find out when we get there but personally............I think there are multiple options. It's kinda like what the movie "What Dreams May Come" suggested........we get what we wished for.

17

When Did Dr. Alexander Hislops Become A Pariah to the Watchtower Society?

by ÁrbolesdeArabia in

i am going to be speaking to the 45-55 years old plus generation here.

i bought my first copy around 1980, it was the thing to do because it proved most of christendom's believes came from nimrod, and by the end of the 1980s the book and the name faded away into oblivion.. .

the watchtower use to print that book or distribute it, am i correct or has my memory gotten bad?

fiddler

I do remember reading very carefully and precisely the societies book about "Babylon the Great Has Fallen God's Kingdom Rules"............I was slightly obsessed with that book. I think now it was because it really set in the 'cognitive dissonance' roots that later grew to fruition ............well............at least it was part of it. I also remember feeling good that it had the backing of a 'worldly writer' Hyslop's 'Two Babylons'. Although I never took the book in hand I do know that the book was acceptable reading material in the JW approved library and many of the elders and old timers had it.

18

Trivia about the history of the beloved Governing Body

by Terry in

the very first legal governing body of (jehovah's witnesses) bible students were seven persons which included pastor c.t.russell, his wife maria, and his controversial ward, rose ball.. five men and two women.

these seven persons were also the directors of the watchtower bible and tract society.

this group set policies and practices for the rest of the religious followers of pastor russell.

fiddler

This has been a very interesting read for me especially when I consider my own family history on my dad's side. Ever since I was little my memories of my grandfather were that he was treated like an outcast; an apostate actually as I learned later. He died when I was around 8 years old but my aunts never had much good to say about him. What little I remember of him was that he was a nice old granddaddy and as a shy little girl I wasn't at all afraid of him. I never could understand the vitriol spouted against him even calling him a Satanist.

Of my dad's siblings only one out of the 9 was never a JW. She was the oldest. So last year I finally got to sit and talk with her. She's 90 years old but absolutely on the ball and active......one very cool and wise lady! I enjoyed my conversation with her so much but one thing came out that surprised me. I brought up her dad not expecting HER to be against him and she said in an irritated way, "he's the reason our family got caught up in that religion". She blamed him.

I said, "but he wasn't one of Jehovah's witnesses. The JW's in the family treated him terribly"

She didn't have much more to say on that except to reconfirm that HE was to blame. He introduced the religion to my grandmother and the rest was history.

So now I think I know............he was a Russlelite originally and one of the 75% that fell away. My grandmother, aunts and my dear old hard nosed father that chose to shun me completely when he was dying were of that 'tough, feisty and cocksure' bunch.

That explains a lot. Thanks for that information!

106

WT SHUNNING POLICY: What has it done, or could it do to you?

by flipper in

jw
friends

hi y'all, this is mrs. flipper.

please share your experiences with this, or possible consequences of being outed.. this recent controversy and resulting arguments all stem from people being outed - possibly losing friends and family because most jw's will blindly follow the watchtower's rules to shun them.. among people i know and experiences read here, the grief and loss caused by this is terrible, and maybe now is a good time to put up some experiences here, and put the focus on the worst villians of all - wt policymakers..

fiddler

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Flipper AND Clarity. I know that I am not alone in this but I also am so thankful to be able to share with others online and know that I'm not the social outcast that the GB would like us to feel like we are. It truly does do a number on ones self esteem and daily outlook though. In the days before Internet the isolation had to have been even more terrible and probably why a lot went back into the frey and why others committed suicide.

I have to relate just a little bit more on the responses from my students when I returned. One, a 30 year old High School teacher and a devout Catholic, asked me how my father was. I had decided I'd just tell any who asked exactly what happened and why and when I told her I never got to see him or speak to him once she just started crying. I was kind of beyond tears but they came back into my eyes and she hugged me. She really couldn't understand how the JW's could treat a person like that and call themselves Christian. Others heard the story and one word came out of so many mouths........CULT! My students range from various Christian faiths to Hindu, agnostics and atheist but I have to say, they all have so much more compassion and fellow feeling than any of the JW's do at this time.

I really do believe that this policy that the GB is pushing is really damaging the psyches of the witnesses who are trying to carry this huge weight that's been put upon their shoulders. Some ARE cracking under it I'm pretty certain and not in any good way. I think we're seeing more and more tragic news stories that have JW connections to them. It doesn't matter what the congregational standing of perpetrators or victims was at the times crimes were committed but it does tell a story of a lot of mental problems in this one little group. I dare say that it may be a disproportionate number compared to the general population.

11

Was Jonathan Holt baptized or not!!

by DATA-DOG in

i got into a discussion with a family member about this subject recently.

they brought it up, mentioning the young woman who was murdered, saying that she was a jw.

i said, " so was her murderer.

fiddler

Over the Memorial Day weekend another item hit the Oregon news http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Two-dead-one-injured-in-Hillsboro-shooting-209118911.html

I knew all three of the individuals in this case and I feel terrible about it and for the daughters of the Van Pattens. The strange thing is how quickly this news item went silent. I'm wondering if BECAUSE it involved JW's maybe it was shut down. There was no mention of JW's in the article and in fact, I'm thinking that the family had left the religion already but the fact of the matter is, all three WERE JW's at the time I left 14 years ago.

Are the news agencies a bit leary of keeping news items involving JW's up for comment? I noticed that at least one of the news reports had NO space for comment. Maybe they learned from Whitney Heichel case not to give too much air time to these people or their detractors............that is my take on it at the moment anyway.

That the witnesses used this incident as a POSITIVE in their DC is just more proof of how delusional they are IMO.