Posts by yaddayadda

26

How many people did you bring into the "troof"?

by Bob Loblaw in

i left when i was in my teenage years, thank god, so i didn't really have the chance to bring anyone under the wts mind control.

how about you?

did you bring anyone in?...and if so, where are they now?

yaddayadda

I studied with two people right through to baptism but I brought only one in right from scratch (ie, I first contacted her on the doors), a struggling single mother. Maybe she fancied me a bit hehe, but it was one way. She's still a JW, now married to a nice brother, but I havn't seen her in years.

I was always immensely proud of having brought some 'into the truth'.

14

What To Enjoy About Field Service?

by WTWizard in

field service.

you get up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning to make it to the kingdumb hell at 5:30 in the morning (since that feb 2004 kingdumb misery, they want everyone to meet for street work at this time).

a quick discussion of the text, misapplying it to fit the misery, and then prayer and we're off.

yaddayadda

I liked pioneering when I was young man cause I hated this system and hated working in it so it was better than that. I enjoyed the camaraderie and the prestige of pioneering. And the coffee breaks and lunch-breaks were good fun.

2

Some important questions re the child abuse settlement

by yaddayadda in

are there more cases presently in the pipeline or has this settlement cleared them all out?

has this settlement opened the litigation floodgates to many more claims and is the society trembling in its boots over this?

or is the society safe for a few more years?

yaddayadda

Are there more cases presently in the pipeline or has this settlement cleared them all out?

Has this settlement opened the litigation floodgates to many more claims and is the Society trembling in its boots over this? Or is the Society safe for a few more years?

Where do things stand legally now? What is going to happen next? What are the prospects of the Society being taken to the mat over this in the Courts and finally having to expose their database?

It would be really helpful if someone could prepare a succinct summary of the major legal developments with this issue in the last few years, where things now stand, and what this means for the Watchtower Society in the future? Perhaps a lawyer or someone from Silentlambs.

Thanks
Yadda

24

DEMAND THE RESIGNATION OF THE GOVERNING BODY

by Pistoff in

in view of the breathtaking mistakes made by the governing body in the last 10 years, the time has come for all with influence in or out of the organization of jehovah's witnesses to ask for the resignation of the entire governing body.

<br>in the past 5 years alone, we have seen the defacto president of the watchtower society, theodore jarascz, dismiss reporters from the bbc without addressing their questions about sex abuse; they have denied repeatedly that there is a problem in the 2 witness to sex abuse policy; they have arranged the excommunication of whistleblowers in the organization, implying that they are spiritually deficient or worse.

<br>thousands of members of this fellowship have been sexually abused by family or friends in the group, only to be told that it didn't happen, that they misunderstood it, and if they could not produce a second witness or the accused confessed, they were told that they must be silent or face shunning.

yaddayadda

Yes it would make a difference. To suggest it wouldn't is as dumb as suggesting that if the entire Board of a major world corporation resigned it would make no difference. It would have ramifications all the way down the foodchain. The GB still control the teachings and interpretations. Was it the lawyers who made all the interpretational changes in 1995? The Watchtower Lawyers appear to be acting as a significant constraint against change rather than running the organisation per se.

Good call Pistoff. You really are Pistoff, like me and thousands of others.

Sadly the prospect of the GB being held accountable for their wicked policies is about as likely as the Pope being sacked for the sins of the Catholic Church. The GB have elevated themselves to an almost deified status in the minds of the flock. They are practically beyond reproach to 99% of dubbies.

24

Why does the WTS insist everyone sign up for the Ministerial School ?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

i never enjoyed giving # 2 talks.

i never enjoyed being at a podium and speaking.

i took drama in high school just to get over the fear of being in front of people and speaking.

yaddayadda

Man, didn't you go to the meeting last Sunday?

We join the school because the GB says so! We show our loyalty to Christ by meekly submitting to the GB who are the channel between Jesus and the organisation. They are taking the lead over us and it is our sacred duty to obey them.

Don't make Jesus angry now!

15

As "Believers" in the bible do you feel "foolish" at the things you swallow

by booker-t in

i was listening to a radio program the other day and i must admit after the dj finished i felt so foolish to be a believer in the bible.

he was asking listeners if someone were to come up to them now and say that their donkey talked to them or their snake said a sentence to them or that their neighbor turned into a pile of salt would they want that person committed as "crazy" or want to know what "drugs" they were on.

but as believers in the bible we swallow anything it says without proof and rely solely on faith.

yaddayadda

I don't feel its foolish to believe in miracles at all, even if some of them seem a bit childish in the bible (talking donkeys, etc). I sometimes wonder about the historicity of some of the things in the old testament (I have no trouble believing the new testament) simply because the spans of time stretch back so far into the ancient past in the OT, but that doesn't mean I must reject the bible as overall the inspired word of God. And it certainly doesn't mean I must reject believe in God.

Life is full of miracles that may seem foolish. Is it foolish to gaze wonderingly and joyously at a baby or puppy dog, or a pigeon wandering around near your feet pecking the ground? Would you have felt foolish if 500 years ago you became convinced that one day humans would fly in massive metal machines in the sky, or walk on the moon, or talk to someone on the other side of the planet through a tiny metal device, or heat up their food in a metallic box?

The real foolishness is to lose your sense of wonder and mystery at life and the universe and how little we really know about what is behind it all. It's a big mistake to measure the truth about the past and the future on what life is like today.

13

She received NO REPLY to specific bible questions.

by rassillon in

i was looking through some of my watchtowers and i came across an article that caught my attention because the pictures were just too funny.

it was a life story of "janez rekelj" in the '05-10/1 watchtower.

i then noticed a paragraph which i thought was very interesting.

yaddayadda

A few years ago I wrote a lengthy letter to the Society about their UN involvement with numerous source documents and did not receive the courtesy of the smallest reply.

I took their failure to reply to mean two things: they couldn't deny the evidence and their guilty; and the organisation is rude, arrogant, uncaring and unchristian.

Their failure to reply to that letter was the tipping point that sealed my decision to leave the organisation for good.

56

Comments you will not hear at the 5-13-07 WT Review (Loyal to GB Jesus)

by blondie in

loyal to christ and his faithful slave.

what interesting points: cross, christmas, pyramid.

q12, 13) what scriptural reasons are there for showing respect for the slave class?.

yaddayadda

Is it me or is this one of the strongest obey and control articles the Society has written in a long time? Some of the comments in this study article are really rich and practically blasphemous. I can recall a similar article about a year ago, but it wasn't as strong as this one. Or perhaps I am just more sensitized to it these days.

When the internal 'study article' Watchtowers start from January 2008 expect them to really pile on the mustard with more of this stuff.

The only message I got from the article is that the Watchtower leadership is resorting to stronger language in their ever more desperate attempts to suppress dissent and haemorrhaging publisher numbers.

It really is quite pitiful.

166

Sixteen Child Sex Abuse Lawsuits against Jehovahs Witnesses Are Settled

by Dogpatch in

press release 5/10/07.

http://www.freeminds.org/history/16lawsuits.htm.

sixteen child sex abuse lawsuits against jehovahs witnesses are settled.

yaddayadda

Do you think the fact that the woman who sued the Watchtower not so long ago and achieved a partial victory (I think) but got awarded $500 costs AGAINST her could have had something to do with the decision to take the money?

Why would the Society settle for millions if in a previous decision the claimant got no money and was ordered to pay the Society costs?

What is the difference betwen these cases? The database ruling?

The key to the Society's humiliation seems to be accessing the database. What are the chances of this happening? What is the likelihood that more claimants will come forward now and sue them also? There must surely be many hundreds out there just champing at the bit with this news. Are there any cases in the pipeline or has this settlement cleared them all out?

Would love it if someone could post a summary of where things are at legally with this issue?

10

The Governing Body must stop this wickedness & reproach NOW

by yaddayadda in

the watchtower society said the following as part of their media statement concerning the recent multi-million dollar settlement of 16 child abuse court claims: .

and we will continue to do our utmost to protect children from this horrible crime and sin.

how utterly abysmal is the society's failure to follow their own advice.

yaddayadda

I agree that reform seems hopeless. The organisation has become a cold, faceless corporation whose highest priority is maintaining its own image. You can't put new wine into old wineskins.