i used to have discussions with my mother about the wts' beliefs.
after 20 years she could not explain some of the most basic teachings.
even if she did research she would not have been able to explain even one doctrine.
But how many children experience this kind of abuse where who they are as people, their skills and abilities are dissed all the time?
This really struck a chord with me. It's one of the primary reasons I now live 2000 miles away from my 100 + J-dub relatives.
My whole life I have felt that I was a square peg being forced into a round hole by my family/relatives that were dissing who I truly am as a person and dismissing
my skills and abilities.
Thanks for your posts LL, I truly enjoy them.
excuse my ignorance, and i've read on boards about the us not selling/inviting contributions issue, but do individuals jws in effect pay for the publications they give out?
if so, is that only for their magazines or for hardback books as well?
how is this organised, please?.
It's a lot like a Multi Level Marketing(MLM) organization.
The members join up, pay for the product(mags, books etc) and also try to get new members that will in turn pay for the mags, books, etc.
The only difference to that of a typical MLM is that the only financial return goes to the goobers at the WTS.
i used to have discussions with my mother about the wts' beliefs.
after 20 years she could not explain some of the most basic teachings.
even if she did research she would not have been able to explain even one doctrine.
Lady Lee - your posts are valued and informative.
Yep.
i'm sure this may have been covered, but many ex witnesses i know that have not been formally df'd or dissasociated thenselves still retain some friends among witnesses.
any friends i have for the most part that are still in the org are really congenial people, until it comes down to any discussion that might teeter on the edge of being remotely deep.
i've had one friend i hadn't seen in a while who came to visit me tell me right off the bat that we were not to "discuss religion", because i'm "too smart" and he "he won't be able to argue" with me.
but I'm absolutely convinced there is no such thing as a Witness friend.
Gary, I completely agree. I think we all know that 'friendship' among 'witnesses' is conditional. Conditional friendship is not friendship at all.
sunday, may 28, 2006, is the fourth anniversary from when a threshold was crossed into uncharted waters.
on may 28, 2002, the u.s. television news program, dateline, publicized to millions of viewers the facts about watchtower's deceitful child abuse policies which protect pedophiles who target and molest jws' vulnerable children.
subsequently, this subject caught the interest of media throughout the world who, through careful investigation, substantiated the allegations made on dateline.
I agree Mkr, I hate O'reily but I'd love to see him host this topic.
in our congregation, we had a theocratic ministry school overseer make the sisters stand while giving their talks because he would counsel them on a point of counsel having to do with speaking to the "householder".
(i forget that exact point of counsel) so the sisters knew they had to follow this imbecile's quirks or get a "w".
another rule that was eventually abandoned too, was that only elders and ministerial servants could offer prayer at the kingdom hall......any rules that you had to deal with??
we had a spell where the rule was if your child cried or made noise the speaker would stop speaking until you got up and left the room.
how embarrassing! when it happened to me i'd just gather all my kids and all my stuff and leave or go sit in the car till my ex came out after the meeting.
Good for you Candi. Wish there were more that would make powerful statements like that at the Kingdumb hall.
in our congregation, we had a theocratic ministry school overseer make the sisters stand while giving their talks because he would counsel them on a point of counsel having to do with speaking to the "householder".
(i forget that exact point of counsel) so the sisters knew they had to follow this imbecile's quirks or get a "w".
another rule that was eventually abandoned too, was that only elders and ministerial servants could offer prayer at the kingdom hall......any rules that you had to deal with??
Thou shall always carry and read your watchtower while handling the microphones.
Thou shall not drive motorcycle to the kingdom hall.
Thou shall not drive jeep to the kingdom hall.
4 door cars.
everyone must work as a floor installer or tree logger.
girls must sit in the back of the car to keep from fornicating with the males in the front of the car.
everyone must sit in the front of the hall.
A guy and girl can't sit next to eachother at the hall unless they are married.
bunch of dumb pharisees!
ive been free for about 10 years now, though not disfellowshiped.
and some time ago i accommodated an elder (friend of the family) who was visiting from the caribbean.
after trying different ways to encourage me, he and my father (both elders) chose demon stories it frighten me back to jehovah.
This is one topic that really pisses me off. I remember being a little kid and always bombarded with demon stories relating to something bought at a garage sale or
the latest smurf tale.
To this day I'm amazed that grown adults would tell such tales to young children. What idiots they are.
i notice that they don't preach much door to door anymore.
i'm not the only one who notices this around here.. i was just wondering if they reached a point where they can't bring anyone to the org.
anymore, so all that counts for them is to keep going to their meetings and wait for armageddon.
My mom and brother are still fanatics about 'field service' neither of them have time to pioneer, but god forbid they never miss a saturday in service!! or tuesday, or thursday....
i was thinking about this, as i have a former witness friend who is showing signs of wanting to go back, even though they have expressed over the years a lot of frustration and lack of belief for the faith.
as much as i find their decision to be a mistake, i do understand why.
after all, unlike myself and family, i have never been shunned by the few family members left in and i moved on over the last decade to build new friendships and hobbies.
Like the majority of posters here, I would not shame them. If I did shame or shun them I wouldn't be any better than the J-dubs.
I want to be accepted for my decisions and beliefes and therefore am obligated to do the same for others.
