my parents went to the assembly this weekend.
they were telling me about disciplining children... the speaker was saying how all babies are born selfish and demanding for their own needs and not anyone elses.
the jist of the talk being about discipline, and training children ...ie taking them out for a good beating.. well, i don't know if any of you have ever 'just seen red!
BD- I too was struck right in the forehead by this one little word.
IT
That word makes me so friggin angry I can't see straight. Its nice to know that the children are relegated to little more than inanimate objects. It's one thing to make yourself a zombie for the "cause", its another to take away the budding individuality of the children. But then I guess theres no room for that in the "Borg".
I find reasons everyday to be thankful my children aren't raised like so many of us were.
do you see a difference in the way you live now that your out of the "truth"?
more materialistic?
more "worldly"?
Everyone else took my answer Guilt is the big thing missing from my life.
Its tough to carry the world around on your shoulders every day, ducking when a loud plane flies overhead because for a brief second you think Armageddons here. How depressing THAT was!
is it about the blood issue?
about the fallability of the governing body?
that they really love one another??
I have to agree with Talesin- The fact that they try to tell people that they practice "Love amongst themselves" is ludicrous in the extreme. They don't know the meaning of Love.
my parents went to the assembly this weekend.
they were telling me about disciplining children... the speaker was saying how all babies are born selfish and demanding for their own needs and not anyone elses.
the jist of the talk being about discipline, and training children ...ie taking them out for a good beating.. well, i don't know if any of you have ever 'just seen red!
OMG Gill... Your story is horrifying. I can't even wrap my brain around that. It makes me put my own experiences in perspective a bit.
I have to say that I never really made the connection that this was a wide-spread JW problem. I left church and home at 17 so up to that point I don't think I noticed the level of discipline that was taking place at assemblies and meetings. I DO know however, that my own father, who was incidently an elder, would regularly beat my brothers and I with a thick paddle when we screwed up (or not). It was very methodical, and now looking back... sadistic. Go to the couch, bend over it and hold onto the back and wait for him to come with the paddle. Then he'd come with the paddle and wack us until we started screaming, and after. Most times I ended up with bruises up my back and down my legs. The congregation was WELL aware that this was going on, I specifically remember before a book study at our house the paddle being shown off. I remember some there being obviously uncomfortable and shocked. I can also remember at different times people expressing sympathy at my home life and how my brothers and I were treated, even some saying that they wished they could "take us".
I think its interesting to think of the mixed bag of attitudes towards discipline back then. But what strikes me is even when people were horrified that children were being abused, they never did a thing to help. I couldn't imagine raising my own sweet children in a group that by its silence advocates gross abuse of its own treasures.
Its already been alluded to- but it would make me very happy to see this issue the next wave for a "Silent Lambs" type movement.
you don't automatically wake up with a headache on sunday morning.... you no longer go around (while in field service) mentally deciding what home you'll "have" after armaggedon.... every item of clothing you buy as a woman is not first assessed for its modesty value.... you no longer worry about the 144,000 watching you have sex...:).
when on holiday you don't have to find the nearest kingdom hall asap (remember brother and sisters you are not on holiday from jehovah!!!).
being able to laugh about having a numb ass at the assemblies from sitting and the hilarity in having to tell people that you found the meeting "uplifting" when really you were fighting sleep the whole time.... you no longer have to avoid entire sections of music stores in order to make sure you don't pick up and "demonistic" vibes from backmasked cd's.
...You have a blast helping your kids make Valentines for their class or dye Easter eggs.
...You have self-esteem again.
... You're sitting in a church singing songs accompanied by a band (electric guitar and all) that ROCKS.
would you have not taken a transfusion?
would you make sure that your child was deprived of one, too?
would you have turned in your own family member to the elders?..........just how far would you have gone in showing allegiance to the cult?
Its interesting to read the comments about the line between loyalty to the "organization" and ones parents being fuzzy. All through my childhood I put a big show on of being the perfect Witness child with unwavering loyalty to the organization. In reality I was doing whatever it took to make my father proud of me, although nothing I did was ever good enough. There was always something I wasnt doing right/enough of/not enough of. If my father had been a Mormon I would have done the same thing. Nothing was ever really about "truth" growing up. It was only about approval. How pathetic that people withhold love from a child to force them to conform.
During this time Im not proud to say that I shunned my own mother for 8 (or so) years. I think I was in the fifth grade when I made the decision. It was immediatly after a "family study" that was very pointed about disfellowshipping and how no matter what, you shouldnt associate with them. I remember my Dad saying "Even if its your own Mother...."
today i decided that people on this forum need some bragging rights.
(of course this is just a veiled disguise for me to claim some of my own bragging rights.
good things happen all the time to my friends on this site and we never hear about them.
What am I the most proud of? The fact that I stood up to my father at the age of 17 and went on to forge an awesome life for myself. There have been a few bumps, but at this point in my life Im married to the most awesome man in the world (sorry gals!) and have four gorgeous and smart children. Im attending a church that is FUN and uplifting (gasp!) and am currently pursuing a degree in Specialized Technology for Web Programming. Im the black sheep in my family (both sides!) but Ive never been prouder of where I am in life. I never would have guessed that being "evil" and "worldly" could be such a fulfilling experience!
I think my kids are what Im most proud of though. My oldest daughter is in the first grade and she is already talking about going to college and doing whatever SHE wants to do. Shes gravitating between being a cowgirl and a vet right now. The latest was she was going to be a vet that rides a horse to work. They are all smart, independant, and have a will of their own... I LOVE it!
please dont be shy, no one has touched this subject yet!
just got home from the beauty salon!!
!
Ok well honestly....
I'd fire your beautician.
please dont be shy, no one has touched this subject yet!
just got home from the beauty salon!!
!
I dont know if someones told you yet, but you have a lil' somethin' in your teeth there.
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thought this was pretty interesting.... try it yourself and see what you think is real or a hoax.. i got 8 out of 10 right... http://i.euniverse.com/funpages/cms_content/4462/real_or_hoax1.swf .
not sure if the link will work by clicking on it or not, but you can cut and paste it if need be...
I got 8 out of ten
The worm in the eye suprised me... mabey because I dont want to conciously admit that such a thing happens.... YIKES!
I think Ill just stay here in the frozen north where to my knowledge Botflys dont exist.
