i hope that i am not eating up alot of bandwidth and annoying anyone.
however as i make my exit i want to reveal as many things as possible.
i have a friend who had doubts about the latest change and wrote a letter.
I have read alot of letters from 'branches' and from Brooklyn in response to individuals who had questions or needed help. I don't recall ever seeing such a detailed response to someone unless there was legal action or if someone was being outsted from the 'family'.
Amazing he got so much attention from someone there to actually bother with a reponse other than 'pray', 'more field service', 'discuss with your local elder body', 'new light', or 'wait on Jehovah'.
-Aude.
wife and girls are at the convention today.
hate this time of year.
while my wife tries to hide it, the inevitable post convention zeal pops it's head up.
Condolences to you...
But we understand what you are going thru.
-Aude.
this is the exchange of text messages i had with my super spiritual brother.
it is sad... it is pathetic... it has helped me realize that i have no connection to these people anymore.
i feel free today.
love2bworldly wrote: always trying to control my non jdumb parents & "help" them and look like the wonderful daughter, while she bashed me and her other non Jdumb siblings & treated the rest of us like crap
I see this phenomenon with my sister (and similarly with my mom). She was overly involved with the care of the elderly mother of our uncle's wife. (the uncle, his wife or the elderly mother are all non-JWs.) She was an incredible help right up until the time the elderly woman died.
Yet during this entire time, she had very little to do with her siblings (me included) and would only speak with our father if/when he was in the hospital. Each time he was discharged, her calls and show of concern ceased.
In my opinion, it is because she (and other witnesses) feel a need to make a pretense of concern when it comes to their family. But the org messes with their 'natural affection'. The fact that we no longer believe the same - but we once *did* - puts her at odds with the org if she interacts kindly with family on a continuous basis. If she didn't call dad while he was in the hospital, it would have made her (and her religion) look bad because she would not have current update on dad when the non-jw family asked about him.
The non-JW extended family, as a consequence of the forced-distance with immediate family, get all the attention in an effort for the witness to prove to him/herself that they are not devoid of human compassion. They get to tell tales of caring for family members. They get the adulation of people without having to do the tough work of making nice with family members who - for better or worse - chose to think a little bit for themselves and, as adults, do not care to slave for a cult.
Plus the witness gets to count service time while helping non-jw family.
-Aude.
this is the exchange of text messages i had with my super spiritual brother.
it is sad... it is pathetic... it has helped me realize that i have no connection to these people anymore.
i feel free today.
Bailing the parents out of the debt hinders the emotional development of everyone involved.
As has been explained, the parents will not go to jail over the non-payment. They can make smaller payments to the companies and when the agency calls to make other arrangements, just tell them that they cannot afford to pay more than $xx.xx per month. There are provisions in place besides going to a family that someone considers 'dead'.
It might be too late for the parents to change their habits and learn to be more responsible. But those who learn of the situation may take note and learn a lesson.
But it just might help the 'spirit-minded' brother to reconsider his actions, think how his life will look 30 years from now, and make the necessary adjustments.
Noone benefits from Confusedandalone bailing out irresponsible people.
Take that $10k and create a fund to assist teenagers trying to escape and get an education. Offer a 'refund' on tuition upon successful completion of a semester. Or something like that. Something where the recipient has to first do something positive, then receive small increment of reward.
Just my thoughts on this scenario.
-Aude.
PS: "conshints" - that was pretty funny. Never seen that before. And the quote from the song... I caught that, too as I was reading it. That's not a scripture... It's an old song lyric!
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/church-usher-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-boy-parishioners-217825121.html.
.
church usher charged with sexual abuse of boy parishionersmarcelo lozano, 34, faces nine felony countsby melissa pamer| thursday, aug 1, 2013 | updated 1:51 am pdtview comments ()|email|printadvertisementan usher at a jehovah's witnesses congregation in sun valley was charged wednesday with sexually abusing four boys he met at the church.. marcelo lozano, 34, is expected to be arraigned wednesday afternoon at van nuys superior court with nine felony counts, according to the los angeles county district attorneys office.. lozano, who was an usher for the churchs spanish congregation, allegedly abused boys who ranged from 8 to 15 years old between 2006 and 2013.. he is charged with two counts each of aggravated sexual assault of a child, continuous sexual abuse and oral copulation of a person under 14. and he faces one count each of forcible lewd act upon a child, lewd act upon a child and sodomy of a person under 14 with 10 years difference.. prosecutors will recommend that the defendants bail be set at $1.8 million, the das office said.. lozano faces a maximum term of life in state prison if convicted on all charges.. the los angeles police department is still investigating the case, the das office said.. .
truthseekeriam wrote: Looks like they are looking for more victims:(
According to the report on the news, the police *are* looking for more. The fact that none of the cong attendees will even make eye contact (probably at bequest of HQ) just makes them all look like they have something to hide.
While the individual members may not be guilty, certainly the organization does. Most of the members just don't know it yet. So there is an apparent transference of guilt.
It was a little surreal watching that piece last night.
-Aude.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/church-usher-charged-with-sexual-abuse-of-boy-parishioners-217825121.html.
.
church usher charged with sexual abuse of boy parishionersmarcelo lozano, 34, faces nine felony countsby melissa pamer| thursday, aug 1, 2013 | updated 1:51 am pdtview comments ()|email|printadvertisementan usher at a jehovah's witnesses congregation in sun valley was charged wednesday with sexually abusing four boys he met at the church.. marcelo lozano, 34, is expected to be arraigned wednesday afternoon at van nuys superior court with nine felony counts, according to the los angeles county district attorneys office.. lozano, who was an usher for the churchs spanish congregation, allegedly abused boys who ranged from 8 to 15 years old between 2006 and 2013.. he is charged with two counts each of aggravated sexual assault of a child, continuous sexual abuse and oral copulation of a person under 14. and he faces one count each of forcible lewd act upon a child, lewd act upon a child and sodomy of a person under 14 with 10 years difference.. prosecutors will recommend that the defendants bail be set at $1.8 million, the das office said.. lozano faces a maximum term of life in state prison if convicted on all charges.. the los angeles police department is still investigating the case, the das office said.. .
This story lead the NBC 11 o'clock news tonight.
The reporter was at the KingdomHall wanting to interview members but not one person would make eye-contact with the reporter. The church next door, however, was more willing to make comment. Apparently the church does background checks on anyone who serves in a position at their place of worship.
-Aude.
these are just some of the things i was told studying with the witnesses in 1959 .in 1960 we got married in one of the few kh`s that existed in melb.at the time .and we were required to pay/contribute to the bro.who conducted the service.. i was led to beleive in my studys that smoking was a no,no ,so i gave up ,learning later that wasnt the case ,the ministerial servant book study conductor in our group still did smoke.
( the ban on smoking didnt come in till later on ).
while they may not have passed the collection plate around , they did on a regular time frame appeal for donations from the platform for funds to offset the renting of a hall , my first congregation , or the upkeep /maintenance of a kh or for the"world wide work of witnessing" .
They don't break up families.
Only non-repentant sinners are disfellowshipped.
They will live forever in paradise - on earth.
-Aude.
this is my first post after deciding to finally open an account here after months of 'lurking'.. a couple of issues i want to address-.
i have issues with people who go from being a witness to losing all faith in god or the bible which seems to be the case with some members of this site.
i just don't think you can let any religion change how you view god or the bible.. second-i don't feel the gb are bad people, i think most witnesses including them are misguided by something that has been drilled into their heads since they were little and are actually sincere people.
Welcome. Glad to have you join in the conversation.
You wrote:I don't feel the GB are bad people, I think most witnesses including them are misguided...
I felt exactly the same way when I got up in the middle of a meeting and said a little prayer as I walked out the KH door. I could not sit in my seat and say nothing. But I could not tell anyone what I felt was inappropriate and wrong. But it was clear to me that people were being treated badly and the gag orders were not right.
I 'walked away' and waited for the org to figure things out and get back on track. For 13+ years I worked my job and waited for the org. They got worse and I found JWD/JWN.
Just the fact that I could not talk to anyone freely about my concerns in itself is a big deal.
I no longer believe they were ever Jehovah's chose people. I do not believe they ever will be.
-Aude Sapere (meaning: Dare to Know; Dare to Have Wisdom/Understanding; Dare to Think for Yourself)
from my memory and shortened for highlights [my comments in brackets.
i found the whole interview astonishing]:.
"sister x-, you've been a baptized servant of jehovah since 1972.. you must have seen a lot since that time".
Oubliette wrote: It's curious, the "heroes" of the Bible were Jesus, the prophets and people like them. What they all had in common was pointing out error and hypocrisy in the leaders of their own particular day. Ironically, we're told to admire them, but if we do what they did then we'll be disfellowshipped for apostasy.
-Aude.
i've written a blog article on the topic of jw practice of shunning, inspired by a few recent threads on jwn where the results of social psychologist stanley milgram's work on authority figures came into the discussion:.
http://awgue.weebly.com/countering-jw-shunning-how-the-implications-of-stanley-milgrams-work-may-suggest-using-a-different-approach.html.
as usual, the article will be available for reading there, but please discuss over here in this thread.. .
Marking for later.
