Posts by misguided

94

did anyone on here ever have a paedophile in thier congregation?

by looloo in

if so, did it bother you that he had been reprooved and forgiven rather than reported to the police?

misguided

My JW ex-father-in-law had a baby with his daughter when she was 17. He'd been molesting her, from what she can remember, since she was about 4. He even molested her while in field service. When it was found out (this took place in Ontario) both of them were disfellowshipped. They then moved to BC (Vancouver area). They kept it so secret that no one knew who the baby's father was (not my husband or even the child) until the child was 15 years old. The other elders in the hall were aware that he was a pedo, but not one said anything. He was an elder when I married into the family. As far as I know, he's still a JW living in the South-Eastern region of BC. He's never been legally dealt with.

I was abused by 2 different brothers while a teen. One was an elder who had been in our hall, but had moved to another when he molested me. I would go to his place to babysit his daughter. Evidently he molested her (last I heard she was a street-worker), and her older 1/2 sister as well.

The other was my friend's father. It started when I was about 14. He was a real creeper. I eventually told the elders about his abuse. They had a meeting with him and I was told say to his face what I was accusing him of, with all these people (men) around. I was young and shy...it was so degrading and embarrassing. He flat-out denied it. He told them I lied, misunderstood, etc., and I was left feeling like I was disbelieved and crazy. The only councelling I was offered was that I should not talk about it - it would be slander and I could be df'd for it, and to wait on Jehovah. What a farce! It really is a pedophile paradise!

Rose

79

How long have you been out now?

by hillbilly in

jw
friends

days?

months?

years?

misguided

Officially since September 2001. DF'd.

40

Elder Pedophiles that you personally know of . . .

by JK666 in

after the ambiguous response by the wts to the nbc broadcast, i would like to know how many of you had an "elder chester molester" in your own congregation?.

we had an elder that molested his daughter's best friend when she was 14 years old.

the elders in the congregation tried to keep the matter quiet and handled the matter privately.

misguided

I was sexually abused by 2 "brothers" as a teenager.... 1 was an elder.

I was silenced.

54

What has everyone done with your literature, now that you've left?

by momzcrazy in

i have boxes of literature upstairs.

i was waiting for bookshelves to get built in our new house, but now i don't want to put them all up.

i have sentimental things, like ones that were my dad's.

misguided

A friend suggested I return it to where I purchased it only in not so good condition. Return it to the kingdumb hall...and let them dispose of what's left of your litterature.

24

California Wildfires = The end?

by RollerDave in

jw
friends

i just got a call from my jw mom asking if i was watching the news.. i'm like, "no, what's up?".

i'm imagining something must really be up, like we invaded some more countries or mushroom clouds over american cities, or maybe somebody famous did something horrible in public, or something.. she tells me 'half of california is burning.'.

i'm like "yeah, it's been doing that for a while now.".

misguided

This thread got me thinking...I'm sitting at my kitchen table, and I'm looking out the window to the area where over 230 houses burned in Kelowna, BC in 2003.

During that fire, I had a JW friend I hadn't heard from in years, phone and tell me that she thought this was a sign the end was here and that I'd better get my act together. My family and other JW acquaintences either said, or indicated a similar thought at the time.

Today, the houses are rebuilt. People's lives have got back together. The land is healing at a pace that I would never have anticipated. To look accross the lake, you'd not think it was ravaged by fire just a few years ago. And THE END still has not come.

57

Is There a Celebrity that You Resemble ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

guys and gals, here we go !

i started a serious thred tonight, now it's time to relax and have some fun!

i think we have all been a bit stressed what with trevor gate and all, so it's friday night, let's loosen up a bit ?

misguided

Happy Birthday, Orbi!

14

-How did you envision the FDS and GB did their work?

by Awakened07 in

jw
friends

the weird thing is - i almost can't recall what i once believed about the fds and gb ["faithful and discreet slave" and "governing body"], who they in fact were, and how they came to their conclusions and 'revelations'.. come to think of it, i think that was because i was conditioned to not ever question them, because to question them would be to question the organization, and to question the organization was to question jesus and jehovah.. but i've been trying to 'dig into' my brain to see if i can remember how i as an active jw saw them:.

- i believed them to be inspired, just not in the same 'degree' (?

) as the biblical writers were.

misguided

By the time I got around to thinking about how this worked with the FDS and GB, I really was
fully indoctrinated. Telling me that "they know" they are anointed, I believed it. Telling me
that they were spirit-directed, I thought of it much like a prophet writing a prophecy. He just
lets God's spirit direct the writing.
Later, I was able to fill in that most of the writing is done without "prophecy" so it's just
spiritual men doing spiritual writing. If the GB members had something important to add, they
would write it and tell the writing committee make an article out of it.
Since Jehovah was directing all the anointed, the FDS outside of Brooklyn didn't have to be
consulted. Jehovah just made sure He guided the ones nearest the typewriters in Brooklyn.
The FDS in Iowa or Kenya would just keep an eye on local matters.
I envisioned the GB where they would pontificate using the Bible. Member One would say
what he "understood" from holy spirit, and Member Two would add to that (since they were
all directed by the same spirit). Matters would be discussed until there was a unanimous
decision reached on everything and anything.
WELL- imagine as I learned it just ain't so. It really threw me when I learned of the two-thirds
majority vote in the GB. Sure, a judicial committee could go by two out of three, or a body of
elders could use the majority vote, but we learned to discuss things until we could avoid this
majority and get total unity. I couldn't even imagine all the doctrine decided upon without a
need for unanimous agreement.
Telling me that these guys made "mistakes" and were not inspired- that was a mistake, too.
I read enough WT articles that said "a prophet is among us" to know that the writings in the
WT were really considered the last word. If things were wrong in the articles I have read, then
how do I know that some major teachings might be wrong, like the end coming before the
1914 generation passed away. That was "proven" to me. Oh my god, there's an error.
What should I do? I will keep my mouth shut until I know what to do, afterall, I was just appointed
an elder in 1995 because I know how to promote WT propaganda.
That's my story, and I am sticking to it

Profound.

109

Your most hated Kingdom Songs ever...

by B_Deserter in

we all know that skilled songwriters the brothers are not, so what are your most hated kingdom songs?

the ones that made you cringe when you saw them listed on the km or watchtower?

mine?.

misguided

My 16-year-old daughter, who has not been to a meeting in over 5 years, quickly responded, "#113 "We're Jehovah's Witnesses" when I asked this question to the family.

I'm not sure if she's correct about the song number,. but she started singing it to me almost word for-word.

*barf*

I always hated that one too.

25

Does the news still scare anyone else?

by YoungAmerican in

i was just wondering how many of you still get a quezy feeling in your stomach after hearing someone on the news use the phrase "peace and security" or after reports on the news of all the large earthquakes that have been reported this last week or so?

i know we can all rationalize that there are always earthquakes and wars etc.... but i swear, no matter how hard i try to shake the sick feeling in my stomach when i hear all this stuff i can't seem to do it.

i still have visions in my head of what armagedon will be like from all the pictures i grew up seeing in the publications, talk about scarred for life.

misguided

I still second guess myself all the time with the "what if it IS true" scenerio

I do this too. Almost a panic type of feeling.

However, I do find it getting easier to put those feelings aside and be more logical about it, the longer I'm out.

46

What generation witness are you?

by Bonnie_Clyde in

i'm a 4th generation witness.

however, i have jw cousins with grown grandchildren (that makes 6 generations), and two of them are married--all in the "truth.

" if they have kids, they will be 7th generation.

misguided

3rd...and thankfully managed to get my 6 kids out with me.