just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Hey Uzzah
Fancy meeting you here! And thank you for the props! What brings you back to JWD tonight after all this time?
For me, I finished my contract at work and looking for another, so temporarily unemployed and don't have to go to bed early for the first time in 2 years!
ps: Caliber hasn't seen my "girls" either but thanks to me he got to see a lot of others ( more than he wanted to) He may still be partially blind in his left eye
Hugs right back at ya!
i know there are some here that are going through some tough times.
some of you do not believe in god.
some are not sure.. i was told recently by a friend to pray to god for help and he would comfort me.. my first impulse is to pray.
We all have the inherent ability within ourselves to copy with a certain amount of adversities, but not with an infinite amount.
The strength to cope with physical and mental stress is different for every person, just as the physical and intellectual strength we are born with varies from person to person.
There are scientific studies that show the human body and the human nervous system (brain) has a finite amount of stress that it can cope with and then it will break down and not be able to fully recover or it will even die. There is some evidence that there is a lifetime saturation point for physical and emotional stress before breakdown occurs and individuals who are traumatized early and often will often reach that point much earlier in life than others.
So, there is a bit of "survival of the fittest" in humans. We either learn to cope and adapt to stress, or we get sick and die.
jw leaks has published the appellant's reply briefs in the case: "candace conti v. watchtower bible and tract society of new york & north fremont congregation of jehovah's witnesses".. 67 pages (wtbtsny) and 58 pages (nfcjw) including documents of service.. .
www.jwleaks.org.
jw leaks.
I just finished readig the appellants brief.
As a young girl I was often dropped at the hall by my parents or invited and picked up by other congregation members to go to meetings or out in service, coffee, social outings, etc. Often there was no pre-made plans, but everyone knew someone would take their kid out and bring them home. The degree of trust for that was as it is for close family and no one worried about child molesters anymore than they suspected child molestors in their own family.
At times, someone would invite me to go in their car group. At other times, even as an adult, I have been specifically assigned by the service group elder, to go in a car group or work with specific people, including alone with brothers.
So in my opinion, the crux of the case hinges on whether or not they can actually prove that an elder who knew of the child abuse history of Kendrick specifically assiged the girl to work in a group with him. If they cannot prove that, the defense could just as easily say that the parents and the girl and Kendric made their own arrrangements without any direction from the service group elder. As we all know, both of those scenarios were very commonplace depending upon the particular servant leading the group and how controlling they were.
I'm not hopeful for this case, because the WTBTS brought up some very important points of law in their brief. For one, the onus was on the plaintiff to prove that she was assigned by an elder to work with Kendrick in the first trial, and while I did not read that transcript, according to the WTBTS's brief it was not even brought up in that first trial or it was not a key argument in their case. You are not allowed to bring up new arguments or introduce new evidence in an appeal. So if they did not prove she was specifically assigned to work with a child molester in the first trial, WTBTS may win on that point
I also thought WTBTS had a good legal point about not being held retroactively to a "duty to report" law that did not exist at the time of the abuse. Even if there was a "duty to report" law in effect at the time, the duty to report is to legal authorities, not to the public, neighbours and fellow church goers. Even the legal authorites still struggle with the duty versus legality of warning neighbours of child molestors at this time and do not always do so, althought that situation is improving somewhat in Canada.
Since appeals have to be based upon points of law that were not followed or interpreted correctly, WTBTS also had an interesting point about the punitive damages being excessive and not allowable by law, because the jurors or judge openly admittted that they were for other unknown victims who may have been harmed.
It will be very interesting to see the outcome of this case. I think if the appeal is heard by a judge only and not allowed to be swayed by the emotional response of a jury sympathetic to victims, that the WTBTS may win purely on points of law.
yup, there were 3 of them camped out in front of the store with their display of materials - first time i've seen them there.
he said he converted 5 years ago from the presbyterians, and that he had learned more in 1 year with the jws than all his time with the presbyterians (the usual stuff, jesus died on a stake, paradise earth, etc).
he claimed he didn't know about the invisible return of jesus, he was dismissive of the impact of disfellowshipping and that people can leave with little consequence, he claimed that the romans didn't use a cross until 200 years after jesus died on the stake.
Hey Poppers
Great to see you on here.
I never see JW's at Walmart here, but in Canada, they are in malls which are private property and they don't allow solicitors unless pre-approved.
I think JW's just naturally try to sugarcoat their beliefs to new potential recruits whether consciously or sub-conscioulsy. I used to do it when I pioneered and never thought of it as disingenous but was simply feeding the newbie the milk first until they were ready for the meat.
just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Caliber! The girls are just fine thank-you and safely tucked away from prying eyes!
The minute I saw your name, I immediately thought of our little facebook war and started laughing. If you want, I can post a pic of some bare boobies here for old times sake? But I really don't want to get banned my the mods on my first night back.
Hope you and the missus are well.
Cheers!
just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
Beks! It's you! With a different alias! One of my all-time favorite posters. So great to see you on here still.
ok so you got out of the watchtower society after discerning it was false.
what is amazing is how many have turned their back on the king or was it they had no faith in the first place and the spiritual food they received did not help them stand upon a rock.
jesus the christ your saviour is a living breathing being with emotions.
Is Jesus a living breathing person with emotions? I thought he was supposed to be a spirit person, not flesh and blood any longer. Does he have flesh and blood lungs that breathe oxygen from the earth's atmosphere?
Of course, at one time we were true believers in the Watchtower Society as Jesus' mouthpiece. Otherwise, we wouldn't have followed them. Then at some point, many of us discerned through our reasoning powers that there was really no evidence to support that belief and we turned our back on the WTBTS. We didn't want to waste any more of our lives on something we no longer believed in.
Later, some of us took the next step and applied those same questions and those same reasoning powers to our belief in Jesus as the Messiah and came to the same conclusion. We may have taken that step immediately or waited for some time to catch our breath, and for others, they have never taken that step (perhaps it is just too scary?)
We are all at different points on the path.
which is more weird ?.
english standard edition or simplified edition?.
instructions we may receive, whether.
That's like asking, which tastes stranger, the red kool-aid or the orange kool-aid? They're both equally weird and contain the same poison message, "check your brain at the door and obey us without question no matter how crazy and impractical our instructions are". Can you say cult boys and girls?
ps
Good to see you're still in great form On the Way Out!
i recently broke up with my girlfriend of four years.. she is 40 years old, with health problems, financial problems, little family/friend support, and facing an uncertain future.
i gave her some money.. the guilt i am experiencing right now is absolutely anguishing.
she had very, very high hopes about our relationship and loved me very deeply.
It does sound co-dependent. It wasn't a meeting of equals. She needed to be taken care of and you knew that but stayed with her anyway. Is there a part of you that needs to feel like the caregiver, the saviour, the on who has his shit together (which in a subtle way puts you in charge and in control)?
I'm guessing yes, because you are thinking of going back with her, not out of love and enjoying her company but to "save" her from potential suicide. That need on your part can be just as co-dependent as her helplessness and until you address that need in your self to be a rescuer, you might end up in the same kind of relationship with a needy woman all over again.
I speak from experience, because I'm a rescuer who has her act together and I'm very much out of balance with myself, spending too much time helping others and not enough time on what I want and enjoy. In return, I very much need them to love and appreciate all I do for them, which seldom happens leaving me feeling resentful because I do so much to care for others and no one takes care of me back. (Probably because I seem like I have my act more together than the people around me so what do they have to offer me) Sound familiar?
For every caring helper/rescuer out there, there are a thousand needy people waiting in line to be saved. It is endless and exhausting. Now is a good time to be selfish. Stay friendly, help her out where you can, don't be an asshole about it, but DO NOT go back and prolong the inevitable misery for you both. Maybe she will learn something from it and come out of it a little more independent and self-sufficient. Maybe not. That's her responsibility, not yours.
just thought i'd pop in after a couple of years and say hi to all my old discussion mates if any are still posting on here.. how you all doing?
anything new in jwdland i should know about?.
cheers.
So you must live fairly close to Simon Jnat. Or are you travelling for the event. Is it a big apostafest? Or just a select few? Are you still a moderator on this forum? So many questions......
For those reading, Jnat is my favorite, wise Christian poster on JWD and we have had many great (and respectful) discussions. Proof that atheists and Christians can really get along and love each other.
I confess, I do miss the drama of the great JWD atheist/Christian wars of yester year a little. It was great fun and a nice way to pass a boring evening at home.
