Posts by rebel8

13

Arranged Marriages by Jehovahs Witnesses

by Atlantis in

a reporter did a story on arranged marriages in canada.

lady lee's story is at the top http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/against-their-will/ .

.. .. atlantis!.

rebel8

My arranged marriage (attempted)

I experienced a huge amount of pressure to marry someone selected by my jw parent and so did others. As to being forced, I don't know. But Lee mentions she feared physical abuse if she refused, because her mom was abusive. Mine was too but didn't threaten abuse if I didn't comply, just pushed me very very hard.

You can see in the above-linked thread that others did have this experience.

You're right, it is not part of their teachings to arrange marriages. However, other things enabling it exist in that cult(ure). Let's compare dubs to this list:

The UK's Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) have outlined the following reasons why people coerce others into matrimony:

To control unwanted behaviour and sexuality, and prevent ‘unsuitable’ relationships, i.e. with people outside their ethnic, cultural, caste or religious group yep, for me it was to keep me in dubbery
To protect perceived cultural or religious ideals obviously yes
Family ‘honour’ or long-standing family commitments yes, reputation = social standing in dubland
Peer group or family pressure yes this does exist in some jw social circles and obviously their cult(ure) encourages pressuring others to comply with the behavior du jour
To ensure land, property and wealth remain in the family probably not much of an issue in dubland
To strengthen family links yes again, a marriage between 2 families strengthens social standing in dubland--i was from a ubm family so if I had married into an MS or higher family, my family's station would have been elevated
To assist claims for residence and citizenship i've heard this does exist in dubland but i don't personally know
To provide a carer for a disabled family member / reduce the ‘stigma’ of disability meh i don't know

36

Rasputin and Serums and Herbs--Oh My!

by rebel8 in

i have written a blog post about the dubs and their scorn of modern medicine and rasputin, while simultaneously touting unproven, dangerous cures.. i wonder what it is about a fake remedy that makes jws believe in it or scorn it?.

rebel8

Homeopathy cannot and should not exist in any educated society. It is a belief in magic.

I've read in the UK there's a homeopathic hospital funded by NHS. That's a travesty. It's creeping over here too--besides in the 'natural cures' stores, now you can buy some of this nothing-but-water foolishness in regular pharmacies.

31

Is this proof that the flood was regional?

by silent in

jw
friends

i stumbled across a scripture today.

it's numbers 13:33 "and there we saw the nephilim, the sons of anak, who are from the nephilim, and in comparison we seemed like grasshoppers, both to us and to them.. now if they honestly believed that they saw the nephilim, it would mean that some nephilim would have had to survive the flood or that the hijinks of the fallen angels before the flood, happened again shortly thereafter.

the only other thing i can come up with is that nephilim was some kind of generic word that implied giant proportions, but not necessarily the nephilim.. comments from the more educated appreciated.. silent.

rebel8

Interesting.

I cannot think of a way to reconcile the scripture in the OP with these.

Genesis 6
17"Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. 18"But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark

The bible does not teach a local flood nor that anything survived it.

But again, the flood story is probably the easiest thing to disprove in the bible. There is overwhelming evidence the bible's account did not happen as written.

Nor are those bones really what people claim they are. (I'm reminded of the creationist claim, "Show me just one fossil," when there are ample examples in every museum. Now I'd like to say, "Show me just one skeleton.")

21

DEMONS: the torment I suffered

by Terry in

jw
friends

when i was in my teens i wanted a room of my own, but i lived with my grandparents whose house was very small.. my uncle had been living in a little one room bed-sitter way out in the backyard.

he married and moved away and i moved in.. it was quite isolated and the ceiling was six feet from the floor.

unfortunately, the top of my head was four inches higher than that!

rebel8

I had a similar experience. I was pretty young, I'd say maybe 8 years old. I was reading a library book called The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. At that time I'd check the max # of books out of the school library at any given time w/o parental knowledge. They couldn't keep track of the books anyway because I just inhaled them. Anyway...

My habit was to read in bed before falling asleep. My bedtime was early. I started to hear loud breathing that wasn't my own. It kept happening night after night. I got scared and mentioned it to my jw mother who said it was demons because the book was about a witch. I had to stop reading it right away.

I can't be sure what caused that noise, but I suspect it was my dad snoring on the floor below. There was a heat vent directly above where he was and another right by me, and I could clearly hear noises from that room.

263

Poster country flags and privacy

by Simon in

the new forum originally had a little country flag next to each post showing the country that the post was made from based on the geoip encoding (the country the ip address is from).

before i switched over to the new site someone made an issue about it violating their privacy and i didn't want to complicate and confuse the switchover with policy debate at the same time as technical issues so removed the flags even though i disagreed.. someone has already requested it as a feature and i think it should be added back so i thought it's now time to open the discussion and get everyone's opinions.

first, the reason i think it should be shown:.

rebel8

Herding cats

36

Rasputin and Serums and Herbs--Oh My!

by rebel8 in

i have written a blog post about the dubs and their scorn of modern medicine and rasputin, while simultaneously touting unproven, dangerous cures.. i wonder what it is about a fake remedy that makes jws believe in it or scorn it?.

rebel8

Oh boy. I just now thought to search the litteratrash for keyword Rasputin. Yep, no wonder why they were on about that so much with me.

"July 17, 1918, the date of Nicholas Romanoff’s execution by the Bolsheviki, is not too long ago for us to remember the last of the Russian czars, Nicholas II. Of him The Encyclopedia Americana (volume 20, page 315) says: “His superstition was shown by his consultation of fortunetellers, spiritualists, mystics and charlatans in his desire to secure a male heir, his first four children being all girls.” He is all too well known for his connections with the notorious Russian Monk Gregor Novikh, nicknamed “Rasputin,” meaning “dissolute, profligate, libertine, licentious,” because such he was. Rasputin came of a peasant family with an inherited gift of mesmerism. He started a new cult, in which dancing and debauchery were mixed in with mystical seances. He was introduced to the Russian Imperial Court, where for years he exercised a powerful influence with Nicholas II, who retained him in his court, even against the protest of others." - "The Watchtower," 9/1/55, pp. 528,529.

36

Rasputin and Serums and Herbs--Oh My!

by rebel8 in

i have written a blog post about the dubs and their scorn of modern medicine and rasputin, while simultaneously touting unproven, dangerous cures.. i wonder what it is about a fake remedy that makes jws believe in it or scorn it?.

rebel8

I really don't know if the Shaklee thing was widespread among jws at that time. I've heard it was but I don't personally remember. I was pretty young then and had little exposure to the rest of the dubs' herbal practices. Or maybe I just don't remember. It was definitely a big thing in my area, along with iridology, muscle testing, kinesiology, and a form of hypnotism to recover supposed suppressed memories (I can't remember what they called it). Oh and that thing where you hover your hands over someone to manipulate their qi. I do know dubs in other areas who to this day still are really into this stuff, even doing it as their main source of income.

Please remember, I have a very rare disorder, and as such, my experience was pretty unique. I'm sure the run-of-the-mill dub never has a conversation about Rasputin or is called a vampire in the kh ladies' room. I aim to point out the scientific illiteracy, coupled with a paranoia about proof and an affinity for the unproven, is dangerous.

15

JWs and Multiple Personality Disorder

by Illuminated in

i remember the first time i was hit with my loves cult personality.

knowing the real him, my jaw dropped witnessing this switch.

i thought he had lost it.

rebel8

Well one is a documented medical disorder, albeit controversial. (I treated many people with it and I have yet to believe in it. But I digress.)

The other is something entirely different than a medical disorder. As BB pointed out, people do throw around psychiatric terms loosely (depressed, paranoid, anti-social) and they only resemble the official medical meaning when this happens.

In this case it's totally unrelated.

263

Poster country flags and privacy

by Simon in

the new forum originally had a little country flag next to each post showing the country that the post was made from based on the geoip encoding (the country the ip address is from).

before i switched over to the new site someone made an issue about it violating their privacy and i didn't want to complicate and confuse the switchover with policy debate at the same time as technical issues so removed the flags even though i disagreed.. someone has already requested it as a feature and i think it should be added back so i thought it's now time to open the discussion and get everyone's opinions.

first, the reason i think it should be shown:.

rebel8

That's a great idea, besty. And I like the choice of the pirate flag, because of the connection to FSM.

36

Rasputin and Serums and Herbs--Oh My!

by rebel8 in

i have written a blog post about the dubs and their scorn of modern medicine and rasputin, while simultaneously touting unproven, dangerous cures.. i wonder what it is about a fake remedy that makes jws believe in it or scorn it?.

rebel8

millie210, I don't know what your motive is so I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you are being sincere and not trying to be disrespectful. But please consider that I have just shared with you a tale of decades of severe child abuse and neglect and its consequences, giving examples of why non-evidence-based medicine is dangerous, and concluding with the admonition about scientific literacy. And you have replied in support of the very abuse and neglect that I experienced.