Posts by done4good

59

A difficult yet necessary decision

by Brother Jeramy in

the past five weeks have been perhaps the most painful in my life as a witness.. some months ago a young man (i'd say in his late thirties or early forties) began attending meetings at my kingdom hall.

he had just moved to my area from another state.

he had disassociated himself from his home congregation many years back, when he was 20 years old and going through many of the typical trials and temptations most young men experience.. two of the elders met with him initially, and they later shared the details with the body of elders.

done4good

Good on you, Brother Jeramy! Don't apologize for anything.

I really do not see how anyone could remain in after they experience the judicial process, or any aftermath of it. The judicial process and what stems from it really sheds light on this evil cult. It brings out the absolute worst possible behaviors in human beings, (the elders and any who willfully obey the shunning rules), even those who are genuinely good people. The organization and its anti-social policies dehumanizes people.

I knew I was d4g after I went through it 10 years ago, and I avoided being DF'd.

d4g

6

No education. Not just to avoid critical thinking

by StarTrekAngel in

i was listening to my brother in law talk about his job this week.

he had a stable job for a long time.

it was not without problems but it was there.

done4good

I hadn't thought about the idea that keeping people from getting good jobs makes them less likely to find good association outside the cult, but that makes perfect sense. I've seen it in my wife too - when she worked it was always around uneducated people and most of them were lazy and directionless and it's easy to get the idea that "this is just how worldly people are."

There are many reasons for the anti-education position WT holds to. I agree 100% with the statement made above.

Learning to think critically is only part of the equation. A person who is college material likely has that worked out anyway before they even go. As an ex that went to college during my JW days, I also know that going does not automatically make someone wake up and leave. It took 11 years after graduation for me to finally leave. Many JWs have gone to college and remained in the organization for many years afterword. What really contributed to my eventual leaving was realizing that my success was independent of anything having to do with the JWs, and that the organization was responsible for any major failures I had in life.

A very key part of the equation is success itself. Successful people do not make good robots. Successful people generally do not struggle with the same financial issues, and other higher order issues caused by financial stress, (such as marital issues). Successful people don't need their egos constantly validated by peers, and certainly not of those who are less successful. Successful people do make good friends with others who are generally equally educated, and successful. They also learn much from this socialization.

In short educated = successful, and successful people by and large do not make good JWs.

d4g

98

Anthony Morris III goes on an eight minute rant over child abuse

by Richard_I in

jw
friends

this is in the july 2015 monthly program on tv.jw.org cedars wrote about it too.. starting at around 42:30 in the video, morris talks about the child abuse situation for almost 10 minutes.

link to video.

i'm writing a transcript right now.

done4good

Joe Grundy - I know that people hate this rule, but are they really supposed to act on every accusation without any evidence? I'm all for them going straight to the authorities and letting people with actual experience and investigative tools (the police) make determinations based on what they gather, but I just don't see how they can go from accusation to df'ing automatically in the congregation

To my knowledge, no religion even has a "judicial committee", for behaviors. WT does this for self-serving purposes, mainly to control and keep the R&F in line, as well as make the organization appear "clean". That is why they draw no distinction between illegal harmful activity, (such as child sex abuse), and any other so-called "sin".

The real problem is judicial committees altogether need to go. Then parents can openly go to the authorities without fear of retribution from WT and its localized free labor force, (aka the elders).

d4g

128

Looking Back In Retrospect To 1975...

by titch in

greetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.

and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.

but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.

done4good

Sparrowdown - The Society would have been freaking out at the sort of music that was being produced then, it's no wonder they thought the end was nigh.

I'm sure this was high on the Society's list of best of soundtracks: 1972, so close...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVExlaxaweo

128

Looking Back In Retrospect To 1975...

by titch in

greetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.

and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.

but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.

done4good

I was 2, so can't offer much, (although my music taste may have you believe otherwise), noticing Flip's Led Zep reference..(Their best record, Physical Graffiti came out that year).

What I can say, is that I did not learn of the 1975 debacle until I was 18 around 1991 or so...I was very put off by the fact that people who knew about it kept quiet about it. That told me all was not well in JW land. Too bad it took another 15 years for me to wake up completely and leave.

d4g

25

Anthony Morris III life story

by campaign of hate in

am3rd life story is in may 15th 2015 study wt.. after reading, he sounds very mental unstable.

i know you guys will be saying "yeah, obviously he is"...but we don't have any concrete evidence saying he has a mental condition.. has anyone ever dug a little deeper, perhaps try to find some people who would have known him from the army?

i mean, he probably doesn't know that many people, he was only serving for a year for christs sake.

done4good

why on earth would his life story be in the watchtower ? is this hero worship a new feature in the cult now ?

It seems to be more and more part of their program these days.

d4g

24

What percentage of the population are gay?

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

during the long debate on the question of gay marriage, there have been many competing answers to the question of, "how many people are gay?".

a very anti-gay christian minister in sydney, the reverend fred nile, (who is also a member of the state parliament) claims that the percentage is as low as 1%.. some university (u.of new south wales) research in sydney has suggested 5%, but the authors of the study cautioned that there was a problem in the fact that an unknown number of respondents would likely not admit to being gay.. there are other problems in asking the question.

for example, what does being gay mean?

done4good

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_Reports

The Kinsey Reports, (studies of sexual behavior in the 1950s), indicated about 10% of the male population at the time of the tests. I believe recent findings show similar numbers.

Of course these tests were derided at the time by the religious right. They still are today...go figure.

In a small engineering group in a previous company I worked for, out of ~20 engineers 3 were openly gay, so although only working with a small sample size, the findings seem to corroborate.

d4g

22

How the new US gay marriage ruling could cause trouble for the WTS

by sir82 in

jw
friends

here are a couple of ways that come to mind:.

-- suppose a married gay couple, or even one of the partners, starts studying the bible with jws and decides he wants to baptized?

would the jws require him to get a divorce?

done4good

The first scenario would only exist on paper. There are not many converts at all these days, and doubt many of the gay community would ever convert. I think what is more interesting about that one is what is says about the organization's self-declared "universal" reach by implication...

The second scenario is no different with or without marriage: DF if they have sex.

d4g

32

Nicest thing a JW has ever done?

by aintenoughwiskey in

jw
friends

here is a change of pace, what was the nicest thing a jw has ever done for you or you have seen done?

it wasn't all bad all the time!

done4good

Sometimes your wit is beyond my comprehension...Or, maybe I am just a bit slowwwww sometimes.

12

Do JW still drink like a fish in small gathering??

by James Mixon in

in the 60's and 70's when i became a mindless cult follower there.

were gathering for the elite and they would get sh---t face, i mean down right.

drunk.

done4good

Yep, booze and prescription drugs are the accepted drugs of choice in JW land...I grew up in an alcoholic JW family myself, and definitely drank too much myself alongside many JW friends that did the same. I attribute the AD use mostly to the depressing lifestyle that ones leads as a JW. I was there, and quit those cold turkey when I left 10 years ago.

Of course not all JW were like this, but there seemed to be two extremes, those that drank heavily, and the teetotalers. Living and growing up on the east coast, I saw more of the former. I also lived in the Midwest during college, and much more of the latter was what was seen in public, (even weddings had no booze). I was a bit surprised at that, but the conservative culture there permeated everything, not only attitudes about drinking, but many other things we considered normal on the east coast as well. However, there were always smaller "private" groups that did whatever they wanted. You just had to be in the know.

These days a glass of wine or two or a hit of the MJ are enough to assuage any need to relax. Far more moderate and healthier since leaving JW.

d4g