Posts by misguided

56

Pedophiles in your congregation??

by ziddina in

i'm listening to the "six screens of the watchtower" broadcast from october 25, 2008 [yeah, i know, i'm waaay behind...], discussing pedophilia... that broadcast caused me to look up the current status of 'pedophilia notification' in the u.s.a..... rebel8 posted a link sometime back that gave locations of pedophiles in one's (u.s.a.) neighborhood... that portion of the link is, unfortunately, not working right now.... i decided to check out my [old] site, http://www.nsopw.gov/core/offendersearchcriteria.aspx to see if it still functioned the same way.... again, unfortunately, that site is also no longer giving out maps of one's area.... but, as pointed out in rebel8's posted link, pedophiles tend to move around.

this was also mentioned in the six screens broadcast by a lady named "lilly".... the new versions of both sites simply allow one to input the name of someone suspected to be a pedophile... not as effective, imo, but perhaps the cost of updating the maps due to pedophiles' high mobility became prohibitive.. so, here's my suggestion... using the 'name' search function, check out every name in .

your congregation, starting with the elders!!!.

misguided

was molested by a Jehovah's Witness brother.....as a very young soul....I was victimized....my childhood damaged.....

That is appalling, but that is the fault of your abuser, not the congregation.

I too was molested by 2 Jehovah's Witness brothers - one was an elder. I was victimized....my childhood damaged, too...

I went to the congregation for help. What help did I get...silence (no word on if anything was ever followed up on), and then silenced (don't tell anyone in the cong. or I could be faced with "discipline" for causing divisions)

Fast forward a few years...one of these @$$holes abuses my younger sister (10 years younger than me.) It is the congregations fault 100 percent for what happened to my sister. I told them. They chose to keep their reputation than deal with either of these men. My sister had to pay the price.

That's just one story...there's also the fact that my ex-husband's father had a baby (he was an elder) with my ex-husband's sister (a pioneer). My kids have a cousin who is also their aunt. It's sick. The lengths the organization went to hide this story (Lake Simcoe, Ontario - early 70s) to when in finally came to public knowlege (Ladner, BC apx 1985) is unbelievable.

The policies of the organization make it the congregations fault. Take your head out of the sand Jordan12, your ignorance is foolish.

52

Need some support

by ~Jen~ in

jw
friends

i don't post very often but i'm in need of some support.. i left my husband and the jw's back in the summer.

we have 3 kids and have joint custody of them.. i've spoken to my family once - back in the fall and it was a great conversation - my parents (dad is an elder) said that they just wanted me to be happy however that is.. last week i got a voicemail from my mom saying that she loved me and thought about me every day.

i was so happy.

misguided

Jen...I don't post much either, but I feel the need to respond to you.

My JW ex husband did/said similar things to me when I left the a-hole. (Actually, he said/did so much (threatening/harrassing) that he ended up getting a 30 day sentence and 1 year of probation for what he did/said to us) My parents did/said similar things to me when I left the a-hole. The JWs in my life did/said similar things to me when I left the a-hole.

In the end, it was the best thing I ever could have done. I'm in awe myself that my life has changed so much for the better - because I believed that JW mentality that if I left the JWs only bad things would happen to me because Jehovah would turn his back on me.

That was about 9-10 years ago. All my kids (6 of them) so far have turned out to happy, well-adjusted, non-JW human beings (ages 22, 21, 19, 18, 17, 13.) 4 have graduated from highschool. All of them are doing better than I would ever have expected. It's hard for my parents to take that their df'd daughter raised better kids, mostly as a single mom, than some JW 2-parent families whose kids have ended up on drugs, became teen parents, or worse. My oldest daughter went to university, became a RN, and just bought her first home. I am now married to an awesome ("worldly") guy who treats me and the kids so unbelievably well. It's been 5 years that I've been with him. As well as being a terrific husband, he's brought financial security into my world. He's also brought family, real family, into our world.

It drives my parents/ex-husband crazy to see us successful. I see JWs from my old KH regularly through my work. They've stopped making comments to me about how I should come back to Jehovah. I think it's because they see me happy, active, and successful. I'm no longer a depressed, running-in-the-hamster-wheel JW. I am no longer working at Wendys, because I went back to college even though my family/jws were against it and told me so. I've been happily employed for almost 10 years now. I'm no longer driving an old, unreliable mini-van to the KH, like my ex-husband is now...I could go on...

My point is, YES! It does get better! Better than even you think possible.

((Hugs)) on your journey..it's going to be a roller coaster ride. Stay strong, stay focused...and know you've made the right choice. Your kids will see the "truth" in the end.

Rose

67

Your worst field service experience.

by littlebird in

my worst field service experience was this.. i didn't have a car at the time and so a pioneer sister was picking me up of service every couple of days.

she was my partner and i got a door where the woman was clearly not interested.

as i am stepping away the pioneer sister starts in with all the objection stoppers.

misguided

These are my worst:

A big fat man answered the door naked. UGH!!

A man answered the door with a pistol in his hand. We left VERY quickly!

I lived in east-end Vancouver.

224

Where Are You From?

by finallysomepride in

jw
friends

alot of members don't have a flag or country name beside their user name, and well frequently one doesn't know where that particular person is from, tell us your country, state, county or what ever you feel like giving out.

if you are going to post please at least devulge your country.. me, i'm originally from taranaki, new zealand via auckland.

for the most of this decade i have been living & working in brisbane, queensland, australia.. .

misguided

British Columbia, Canada (West Kelowna)

147

Did You Personally Know Any JWs That Were Sexually Molested By Other JWs?

by minimus in

i knew of a handful (which is too many) that were molested by a jehovah's witness.

it was not typical in my experience.

what about you???.

misguided

Yes...me...by 2 jw's including 1 who was an elder.

Also, my jw ex-father-in-law had a baby with my ex-sister-in-law...so my kids have a cousin who's also their aunt.

12

Who left the Borg in 2007

by WT=watchtrouble in

jw
friends

just curious to see who else left in the same year as me.

and how are things for you now.. it has been 2 1/2 years since i left and damn time has gone fast.

i now have heaps of fun.

misguided

I left around 1999, df'd in 2002. Halloween was the first holiday my kids and I celebrated after leaving. This year was the first year it felt "normal." No guilt, just good, fantastic fun. My 18 year old daughter said to me last night, " isn't this way better, participating in halloween rather than hiding in the dark house watching TV?" Yup...way better. (I was Ahkmed the dead terrorist)

46

Contribution of Franz books on your decision to leave?

by Damocles in

the recent resurrected topic on franz' books got me curious.. how much did his writing contribute to your decision to leave?.

for myself, it was another brick in the wall but not more important than any other.

i was a little different than most in that i regularly read anti-witness stuff from the very beginning and never stopped.

misguided

It was the key book to freeing me. I cried when I realized what I was reading was the truth and the "truth" was a lie.

46

So, Was Your Life RUINED Because You Were A JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

the fact that you were a witness, did it actually "ruin" your life?

?.

misguided

Yes...definately! Sexually abused by 3 JWs, including 1 elder as a teen and then (due to the 2-witness rule and thinking that Jehovah fixes everything in due time...) feeling like an idiot when I turned each and every one of them in to the elders...Yet nothing seemed to ever be done...I started to believe I was crazy...so glad to be free!

42

shepherding visits.....were they?

by angel eyes in

we have friends who say that they have had some awful shepherdings,the things theyve been told in them were far from encouraging.. we havent ever had one so to be honest i cant comment...but would love to know if you had one?

were they regular and were they ever encouraging?

?.

misguided

I've had many. So glad I don't have them any more. My husband was abusing my kids and me. Help? No! Just be more of a submissive wife...thankfully there is a government agency - social services...the school called them after my daughter had a wound on her face that she said her step father had caused. They interviewed all 5 of my kids (I have 6 - one is his) and they all told the same story... I was to have him out of the home by 3pm or they would apprenhend my kids... in the end he gets a 30 day jail sentence and 1 year of probation for what he's done to us...what does he get?...BAPTIZED!!! Now there's Jehovah's spit at work!!!

18

What Gives you Peace of Mind Now?

by cameo-d in

jw
friends

for those who have had years of panic induced by wt teachings and scare stories, how have you resolved having those feelings of impending doom?.

.

misguided

I have found that it just resolves over time. When the panic moments arise, you know some natural disaster/world event can set it off...just think...would you really want to be spending eternity like the JWs are living their lives now???