sorry if this may have been already posted, but it looks like the wts' response to upcoming nbc "dateline" episode.
http://www.jw-media.org/vnr/2122827332/7163532856.htm.
this link was posted today on a witness board at yahoo.. the audio starts out as follows:.
The did not address the question of having two witnesses at all in sexual abuse cases. And the entire piece was nothing more than doublespeak of the best kind. I hope it causes them so much flack inside the organization with people leaving that it literally bleeds monetarily to death. Hit them in the pocketbook and the it will die. Sue the life right out of them.
Balsam
greetings, and wow!
did i enter this forum with a biggie.
i've been lurking for quite awhile - with some threads, laughing to tears, and others, reliving those years.
Thanks Concerned Mama,
It has been tough, wouldn't wish the death of a child on anyone. I sick to death of everything being demonized. It seems like if anyone didn't conform, or follow along with the thinking of WTS they were demonized, or influenced by Satan. And your right many other religious orgizations do the very same thing. Could drive a sane person mad.
Balsam
i just thought that i'd inform the board that they decided to come back after all.. right now i have to do something so i'll fill in the details later tonight.. the guy dident come back though.
it was only the lady and her daughter.. let me tell you, it was absolutely pointless.
except for one thing.. they were surprised about the un thing, but other than that nothing mattered.
Dear Jerome,
It was someone like you who began the crack in my witness mentality. I know how impossible it is to reason with witnesses as I was one for 29 yrs. But being exposed to the truth about the WTS a tiny bit at a time causes witnesses to save the information in a back file and examine it later. You did very good talking to them and reasoning with them, even if you didn't see it. You will not see anything happening with this conversation, it may be years down the road before they begin to really come awake and think of your words.
If I could locate the fellow who had made me think of the confidence I but blindly in the WTS I would hug him today. He provided the step away from that blind trust. It take time and years for witness to feel like they can truefully examine what it is they are putting confidence in.
Balsam
greetings, and wow!
did i enter this forum with a biggie.
i've been lurking for quite awhile - with some threads, laughing to tears, and others, reliving those years.
You all the 29 years I was a witness, I heard of such stuff going on. I had come from a background of spiritism and witchcraft before becoming a witness, and I always thought the stuff they were labeling as spirit forces were just mentally ill people who were in need of mental health treatment.
There is a sad lack of understanding of mental illness amoung JW. And this comes from the GB who are total ingnorant on Mental Health issues. I worked as a care giver in a group home, and all these folks I worked with would have been labeled demonized by the WTS. Well their concept is religious and biblical histeria as far as I am concerned. We had 3 individuals in the cong I associated with, over the years. Two had schizophrenia, another bi-polar. And their behavior was strange. I would end up with these people on bad days at meetings calming them down if they were acting out. Then would have other witness come up to me later indicating that these witnesses were perhaps demonized. I told them they were not, but that they were ill, and needed to be on their medications. How many witness have been labeled as demonized when they had chemical inbalances in their brain. So Sad.
I heard of a young women who's children were killed in an accident. She had been a witness for several years. After the children died, she got to talking to herself, and praying for her children being in heaven, and crying constantly. Well the friends there labeled this poor woman as demonized and disfellowshipped her rather than helping her to cope with the terrible grief she suffered from. I lost my 15 yrs old son to death a year ago, and it nearly drove me to madness the grief is unbearable in the beginning. There is something wrong when people want to add to a person misery with labeling them demonized.
My any who have been through this find comfort among true friends.
Balsam
i thought this deserved its own thread...below is a reply a made to one of the previous threads ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=24473&site=3 ) and i am anxious for someone to refute it...or maybe i'm right.. not quite...it seems everyone is muddling the details on this.. it seems that james mccann, who donated the stocks to the wt, invented an improved rotary engine called a rand cam engine.
his company, the rand cam engine corp is a privately held company, but he has donated 50% of the stock to the wt (but retained the voting proxy so the wt has no say in what is going on), he owns 34% and the balance is owned by several shareholders.
this company is half owner of another company called rand energy group.
Since this brings up questions within and without the JW community it needs consideration for sure. Can the WTS claim purity from the tainted world. If witnesses are told they can not even do jobs that bring them anywhere near questionable things involving the military, are they following their own policys for themselves as they demand of the followers? I think not.
Balsam
the thread on cutting back the number of weekly meetings to two got me thinking:.
do you think the jw organization will continue to hold district conventions for very long?.
i wonder, how many people *really* feel upbuilt after attending a dc?
When I was an active witness just 9 months ago, I got where I hated the DC because they always held up these women who had a zillion kids who pioneered, and were single parents. Or the 18 month old baby whose parents had taught him to read. Unreal people with unreal lives. I was a witness for 29 years and that is the kind of stuff I listened too and it sickened me. I am sure they used to get huge amounts of money from conventions and assemblies.
AMAZING: I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your story about what all you and your family endured coming out. I made it simple on the Elders. I left my 30 year marriage to an egg headed man who loved to make me miserable, and went back to my Lost Love from high school, and not a witness. It was a simple cutting off, and it felt so good. You and your family had a terrible struggle, being viewed as an anointed one, an elder, and respected member of the cong. and society. You were up to your eyeballs in pressure. Glad I wasn't in your shoes. Nice to met you, will be reading here from time to time.
Balsam
part 18: the last stand my brothers gift .
i had almost forgotten about my brothers gift.
the amalgamated wedding was now well over 2 years in the past.
Amazing,
I am new leaving the WT organization (only 7 months) and have read your stories, with laughter and amazement. I appreciate so much you sharing all of it. It was entertaining too. I have read Ray Franz books and find it all a lot to digest so suddenly.
Sincerely,
Balsam
i would like to ask ew-jws jw a question.
when you read the book crisis of conscience how instrumental was that book in getting you to leave the organisation.. i have a gf who is an active jw.... i by the way am wordly.
this religion thing is putting strain on our relationship.. she condems me for obtaining information about the watchtower from apostates or just about anyone who has something yo say about the org.
I was disfellowshipped first, it was only then that I felt free to read COC. Your girlfriend isn't a witness yet. Tell her that for her own sake of having a balanced view of the JW's she needs to read it. She needs to get a whole picture of what JW's lives are all about and this is the only way she will get it. Then it will be up to her as whether she wants to be a JW or not. The book "In Search of Christian Freedom" also by Ray Franz is good too. The book is not harsh, nor does it encourage ones to hate J.W's. The book supplies the information to get a whole picture. Your girlfriend is being presented a glossy, wonderful, wholesome picture that is far from true. Don't put her down for studying with the witness, nor imply they are a cultish, though they are. But encourage her to keep an open mind, and read those publications now before she decides to jump in. The witnesses will discourage her from contact with you, and leaving you, considering you bad association. Your loving stand as her partner is the only thing that can overcome that.
I am grateful I finally found the courage, and it took great courage, to read Ray Franz books. It was one of the most difficult things I ever considered doing.
Balsam
we know the unification church (moonies) are a real cult.
but how can we say jehovahs witnesses are a cult?
consider some of the traits of a real cult revealed by a former moonie about the unification church.. =====================================================.
Ros,
Certainly anyone reading this can see the simularities immediately. I think a cult is the most difficult to reconnize when one is going into it and harder yet to see when one is in the thick of it. I printed that up for further use with my family and friends who are so blinded by the WTS. I am so glad I am free.
Balsam
well heres my story and i'm sticking to it :).
my grandmother became a witness when my mom was a teenager.
my mom became one when i was 4. that would be in 1954. i remember going to the international convention in ny at the yankee stadium and polo grounds.
Hi Apostate and greeting to all here,
I look forward to the rest of your story. Its funny really as witnesses it seems we go to such lengths to look like good little Christians, all the time fighting ourselves over the internal battles raging.
I was a witness for 29 years. Got baptised in 1972 and was disfellowshipped in 2001. I left a 30 years terrible marriage to a fellow witness and am now reunited with my high school sweetheart after 32 years apart. He is not a witness thank goodness. I have just finished reading Crisis of Conscious and starting on In search of Christian Freedom. I am stunned at the things I have learned since leaving. I was too afraid to read anything on the internet until I was disf'ed. I feel a freedom I would have never thought possible. Life begins at 50 I guess. LOL
Balsam
