Posts by violias

59

Asshole Atheism – Not for me, now or ever.

by donny in

to start off with let me clarify that by asshole atheism i am not referring to strong atheism or any other type of upfront atheism.

what i am referring to is the belligerent, hateful atheism that smacks of trolls and other types who want to derail conversation or comments at any cost..

i enjoy hearing comments from both sides of the subjects of theism, nationalism or politics, especially from those who have intense opinions.

violias

I feel no need to try and destroy someone else's faith just b/c I don't agree with them. Who died and made me God? If faith in God helps someone - well, whatever gets you through the night.

I never used to read the Atheist threads b/c they were no different than zealot Christians or whatever religion- trying to force their views down my throat. However, since reading Sam Harris I am able to read atheist literature of similar nature. I do not feel assaulted by him. In fact, I still believe in a God, a Creator but feel He may have little to do with our day to day lives at all. That is, I may not have my own personal Jesus or Jah.

I feel a lot better not having to classify myself . I will support those who draw comfort from faith unless they do dangerous things like refuse medical care to children or seek to harm others b/c of their faith. That crosses the line.

19

What if JWs Viewed Disfellowshipping and Excommunication as Radical Islamists Do?

by Oubliette in

i found this statement from a recent article about isis to be quite interesting in view of the way that any jw can be accused of apostasy with little or no possible repercussions or consequences for the accuser: .

in islam, the practice of takfir, or excommunication, is theologically perilous.

if a man says to his brother, you are an infidel, the prophet said, then one of them is right.

violias

Well Oub, I do know that if you accuse your brother wrongly there are consequences. That is slander and is often this threat used to silence victims of child molestation and rape. It is used to force them to forgive the prep or else they will be just as guilty.

I am not sure with apostasy if there is any real consequences to reporting your suspicions to an elder- unless the person you report is well liked and has lots of friends. In that case you could be accused of slander or lying and possibly DF'd.

19

What if JWs Viewed Disfellowshipping and Excommunication as Radical Islamists Do?

by Oubliette in

i found this statement from a recent article about isis to be quite interesting in view of the way that any jw can be accused of apostasy with little or no possible repercussions or consequences for the accuser: .

in islam, the practice of takfir, or excommunication, is theologically perilous.

if a man says to his brother, you are an infidel, the prophet said, then one of them is right.

violias

The WTS has said in print and in their congos' that in the nation of Israel DF'd people would be stoned to death ( or some other horrible death) but the law of the land prevents them from taking this action in our time. It is one of the most despicable things the wts ever says and is usually accompanied by using the scripture about the dog returning to the vomit.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+26:11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_and_corporal_punishment_in_Judaism

101

You will never grow old in this current system of things... - Awake, May 22, 1969 p. 15

by cappytan in

check this out.

got this bound volume from my dad.. .

violias

Just checking in as another young person who sat through all those fire and brimstone talks about 1975 that began around 66-67 . I believe it was the Salvation book ( a yellow one) that started all the talk, the one that said we were nearing 6000 yrs of man's existence. Then when it did not happen they said wait on Jah for a few yrs and then finally said we all heard it wrong. We were the selfish ones - Serving Jah with a date in mind. It was during this I began to question the org a bit and started reading the Bible without the aid of the WT publications.

A lot of us spent our youth pioneering and not going to college. Many of us went to prison related to the Vietnam war . A lot of teenage marriages and babies are related to 1975 and Vietnam .

I guess you just had to have been there. Some of the talks I heard came close to Neil Diamond's " Brother Love's traveling salvation show" in atmosphere.

46

What comforts you when you no longer believe in a ressurrection ?

by EdenOne in

our family just lost someone dear and very close, a faithful jw.

as we went through the entire funeral services and meeting long time brothers and sisters, who in general have been very kind and warm towards us, we realize that the hope of resurrection is a meaningless utopia for us, like a fairytale for little children.

we don't have faith in it anymore, and serves us of no comfort.

violias

When I gave up believing in Neverland it was scary at first. Then I realized I would never have wanted to spend eternity with most of the jws I knew. Life would have been intolerable - death would have been a blessing .

Finally I came to see that this is the only life we have in the flesh. There might possibly be something in the afterlife ( I still have not given up on that idea ) but whatever it is, it won't be life as we know it now, in the flesh. When I was able to absorb this ( and it took a while) I realized that if there is a God all He wants me to do is live a good life and try and help others and cause no purposeful harm.

Life is a cycle and death is a part it. and it is a circle too as someone dies and another is born. I think about the Lion King and I learned more from that than I ever did at any meeting .

7

Does anyone have any information on lawsuits in regards to JW's victimizing the mentally ill?

by lme123 in

i am a former jw, 14 years removed.

i moved out of state away from my jw family for 10 years, and currently moved back to my home town 2 years ago.

it was a great healing process for me, especially being away from all of the confusing and controversial influences i was raised with.

violias

am a little confused by this statement. What is the connection between the OP's question and "adult rape?" And who are these many victims?

This was just used as an example of one of the many things that like treatment of the mentally ill, the Borg sweeps under the carpet. There are many victims in the Borg of mental illness., child molestation, adult rape. It is the mistreatment of women and children . I do not want to move the topic of the thread to this, just chiming in that there are many issues within the Borg that need exposure. that was all. They do mistreat the mentally ill , first by trying to treat them themselves instead of sending to a doctor. Many religions in the usa do practice Deliverance and it used on mentally ill people all the time. The wts does not but what they do is say you lack joy and must not have God's spirit instead of saying you need to see a doctor. I have seen this and not in some backwoods country congo. And some still will say it may be demons . they many not say it in their mags but they will say it to you in the congo and back rooms and if they come to visit.

I will admit they have moved forward a bit about medication but them recommending therapy still is not that common. There is a strong mistrust of the psychiatry field .

46

How did you get through mind numbing meetings?

by minimus in

jw
friends

as an elder, i used to find a legitimate reason to wander.

violias

The credit goes to a poster named Mulan but I could not find the original so here is a link to a version of it. Mulan's had testomonals and all that . It was hilarious.. It is called BullSh*t Bingo .Fun for the entire family.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/29316/making-meetings-more-interesting?page=1

7

Does anyone have any information on lawsuits in regards to JW's victimizing the mentally ill?

by lme123 in

i am a former jw, 14 years removed.

i moved out of state away from my jw family for 10 years, and currently moved back to my home town 2 years ago.

it was a great healing process for me, especially being away from all of the confusing and controversial influences i was raised with.

violias

bttt hoping someone will see this topic and post something to help this person.

22

good afternoon

by mouthy in

good bye

violias

The only hitchalou in the not needing a new email is . I no longer had access to the old email account at all. It does not exist. so when I moved to the new board indeed I could sign on but I did and noticed that to change your old email address it appears you need access to it the old one. . so much for that. So I created a new account with my current email address that I use all the time- one that I won't forget. Is there a way to combine my accounts? I had done the same thing on Facebook but with FB they let you add an extra email address and then I deleted the old one.

7

Does anyone have any information on lawsuits in regards to JW's victimizing the mentally ill?

by lme123 in

i am a former jw, 14 years removed.

i moved out of state away from my jw family for 10 years, and currently moved back to my home town 2 years ago.

it was a great healing process for me, especially being away from all of the confusing and controversial influences i was raised with.

violias

You raise an excellent question and one I hope Barbara Anderson will reply to. She might have some insight on this. They are having their feet held to the fire for their treatment of children and one day I hope the many adult rape victims will get represented. . I would very much like to see them exposed for their treatment of the mentally ill. However, I will tell you in the south/southwest etc, the Bible Belt, there are many churches that are similar in their treatment of the MI and some may be worse. I am talking about the Pentecostal type churches that practice something called Deliverance( Exorcism by any other name is still Exorcism ).The church of Christ is also very legalistic and so are any number of fundamentalist religions here in the Bible Belt. The catholic church I understand does not really do very many real exorcism's . It is more the offbeat religions that do these things .Saying that however COC and Pentecostal are not considered offbeat down in south but they practice these things, , at least secretly. BTW, Pentecostals got such a bad reputation that they now disguise themselves as Non-denominational Bible churches or something called Four Square churches and similar names. Beware.

It is a great question and hopefully will get some response from Barbara.