Posts by LisaRose

102

Bill Cosby - too much smoke for no fire?

by Simon in

it seems like the list of people who are accusing him of rape and sexual assault is growing every day.

i'm skeptical of single accusations but the number of people and the similar stories seem overwhelming now.. it's not a conviction but to the court of public opinion ... guilty?.

.

LisaRose

I grew up listening to Bill Cosby records, I always loved his humor (Chicken heart, so funny). Lately, the few times I have heard him speak he seemed more like a grumpy old man. As far as the allegations, it's not looking too good for him. I wondered why these women didn't speak up sooner, but I guess it's hard to make accusations like that against a powerful person, especially if you don't know he attacked others.

You don't see a bunch of people rushing to his defence and saying he couldn't have done it, and his refusal to talk about it seems strange too. My gut says there is something to this.

70

Feeling sad over a wasted life in watchtower

by wannaexit in

jw
friends

it's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.

by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.

but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.

LisaRose

Yes, I have those same feelings, by the time I left the Watchtower my health was compromised and I will never get that back. But I try to focus on those things I do have, a loving husband and a comfortable life, and the freedom to pursue my artistic interests. I am also so grateful that I mentally free of the cult.

Just think of all those who are still enslaved, still running the JW treadmill and still feeling guilty for not doing enough, then pat yourself on the back for getting yourself out.

21

A Visitor's Guide To Scotland

by cofty in

....

LisaRose

I couldn't see their my Kindle. :(

65

Doctors and surgeons say no to blood transfusions

by Mr Negative in

my mum recently told me that even surgeons won't have blood transfusions, but the common people don't get told this.

i have also seen or heard others say that a bunch of doctors/health officials/surgeons were asked, at some point, if they would accept a blood transfusion and they all said no.

is this true?

LisaRose

Authoritarian regimes absolutely hate capitulating to their opponents (or being percieved as doing so).

Bingo. Also, if they changed their stance now, it will be painfully obvious that the Jehovah's Witnesses who died for lack of a blood transfusion did so for no reason whatsoever, so that will never happen. They would rather have people continue to die than admit they were ever wrong.

It's a tragedy that in 2014 people are still dying based on an irrational fear of transfusions, dating to the time they were first being used and considered dangerous by the ignorant. People still think they are "following their conscience", when they would have followed their doctors advice if the Watchtower hadn't filled their heads with misinformation.

36

A Non J-Dub paying a visit to KingDumb Hall!

by J-DUBBED in

i was thinking of doing a pop-in visit when they're doing their thing(what ever that might be).

to just see what it is that lures and hooks people, like our son.

i was worried there is some sort of subliminal messages in audio or video that start to brain-wash a person.

LisaRose

It's been a long time sincere I left, but I doubt it has changed much. The meetings are excruciatingly boring. They follow a strict pattern. On Sunday, they first sing one of the boring, unsingable "Kingdom melodies", in the usual perfunctory manner, using prerecorded music. This is followed by the public talk. All speakers use society provided outlines, there are only so many, so everyone has probably heard the same talk several times before. Then they have a go at another boring, unsingable song, then the Watchtower study. It's a question and answer type thing, someone reads a paragraph, then the conductor asks the question supplied in the magazine, then someone raises their hand and reads back the very obvious answer they have previously dutifully highlighted in yellow. Then another horrible, unsingable song and finally annother long winded ending prayer, by which point you will be very, very happy it's over. There is no room for personal expressions of faith or any joy or any deviation from the schedule of any kind.

36

NFL bans Player for using a 'switch' on his son

by designs in

nfl commissioner roger goodell placed minnesota viking's player adrian peterson on indefinite suspension for using extreme measures in disciplining his son using a tree branch switch.. sports illustrated covered details about how the process works with the players union, the player, and the nfl.. www.si.com/nfl/2014/11/17/minnesota-vikings-adrian-peterson-suspended.

i remember vivid scenes in kingdom halls and in the homes of jws who used extreme measures to discipline their children.

a father and assistant p.o.

LisaRose

I think it's a good thing this has been made an issue. Peterson has said this was the way he was raised and he did not know it was wrong. There are probably a lot of parents out there who think this way, now they are at least being exposed to the idea that this is not acceptable in our society, that there are better ways to discipline a child. It's easy to get frustrated and lash out physically, much harder to come up with better solutions, people have to know the better options out there.

Peterson has not lost his job, he is merely been suspended. He will take a financial hit, but it's not like he is going to be living on the streets, as a professional athlete he will still make ungodly sums of money. It's probably more of an issue for him that he is missing the season, plus the damage that has been done to his reputation, but his fans will forgive him and he will come back from this and probably be a better person and a better parent.

Did the NFL go too far? Maybe, but better to err on the side of protecting defenseless children than on the side of wealthy, entitled athletes.

42

Preaching is a waste of time

by konceptual99 in

before anyone gives me the "bears/wood" similarities, this is a post based on insidethekh's reply on the mormon v jw thread.

(http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/287545/1/who-is-copying-who-jws-or-mormons) i like to see wt friendly posts on here as some of the wt bashing displays the same logical fallacies as levelled against the wts and it's followers so it's good to consider reasoned debate.. on the one hand i think itkh makes a fair point if you compare the worldwide success of mormons v jws but there is an overall context to the preaching work that is completely ignored by those fully "in" and has been a major factor in my move from being an active witness to one on the cusp of getting out.

from a statistical point of view there are great headline numbers presented by the wts but if you put them in the context of the number of witnesses, conversation ratios, ratio of new witnesses to birth rates, numbers that must be leaving, growth differentials across the globe, penetration in muslim nations and so on then these numbers become meaningless.

LisaRose

The preaching work contributes to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.—Mark 13:10.
The gospel must be preached to all the nations. How many millions of people live in China and other countries that have never heard of Jehovah or Jehovah's Witnesses? The Watchtower is sitting on billions, yet they seem to have no interest in using it to reach these nations. FAIL

We prove ourselves obedient by participating in the disciple-making activity.—Matt. 28:19, 20
How many disciples has the average witness made? Likely none. Most time spent in Field service is wasted by knocking on not at homes and coffee breaks and aimlessly driving around. How can what most JWs do be considered remotely disciple making? FAIL
Jehovah wants the wicked to be warned about the consequences of their course.—Ezek. 3:19.
Do you think anybody understands the message? Despite the millions of hours supposedly spent doing this warning work, the only thing most people know about JWs is that they don't take blood and don't celebrate Christmas. FAIL
We owe it to people to share the good news with them.—Acts 20:26, 27; Rom. 1:14, 15.
Then why don't JWs ever talk about Jesus ? FAIL
Participating in the preaching work protects us from bloodguilt.—Ezek. 3:18.
Really, doing the Pioneer shuffle, knocking so softly no one could hear and giving a half hearted presentation protects you from blood guilt? FAIL
Teaching Scriptural truth is a requirement for our own salvation, and it saves others too.—1 Tim. 4:16
According to the bible, Christians are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus, not by works. FAIL
Speaking about Jehovah and praising him publicly are important features of our worship.—Heb. 13:15.
The Watchtower spends more time praising themselves than praising God. FAIL.
We demonstrate our love for Jehovah and Jesus by obediently doing this work.—John 14:15; 1 John 5:3.

They are not doing the work that Jesus said, only the works the Watchtower wants. FAIL

Our ministry helps to counteract the lies that Satan promotes regarding Jehovah.—Isa. 43:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:4.
This is a laugh. Most people have no idea what those lies are, so how could they counteract them? FAIL

10

The Jonestown Massacre, Remembered

by Londo111 in

jw
friends

http://time.com/3583781/jonestown-massacre/.

it was 36 years ago today.. the watchtower has caused far more deaths due to the blood transfusion ban and the suicides from disfellowshipping.

unfortunately, these deaths are mostly invisible to the public, since they didnat occur at once and in one location.. .

LisaRose

My son was born on the seventh of November 1978, Gregor. I remember there was a photo on the front page of Time magazine. My daughter, then three, saw it and I had a lot of explaining to do, she was very observant and had a strong bs detector, she got the whole story out of me. I remember thinking I was glad I wasn't in a cult.

I have never thought about it that way, but yes, they have killed more people than Jonestown.

Sad.

42

Ongoing frustration with wife

by Flipping El in

i've tried taking the slow, patient approach with my wife.

i believe i first posted here about 13 months ago about my wife.. we've always had good communication and could talk endlessly about philosophy, neuroscience, sociology and then when i learned the ttatt, i clammed up a bit about spiritual things.

i'd always been fairly liberal, suggesting other alternative ideas, but then i told my wife about the un/ngo scandal (i ran across the guardian story doing a talk as an ms, lol!

LisaRose

I think it would be best if you were honest with her. This seems like a time bomb that is sure to go off sooner or later, so why prolong it? Perhaps you should see a professional counselor to figure out how to approach it. I don't know what's going on with her, she seems very passive aggressive. Perhaps she wants out of the religion too or perhaps she wants out of the marriage and is afraid to say, it's impossible for any of us to know, but it's time to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

I think you need to figure out what you want. If you leave the religion she may leave you, so which is more important too you, saving the marriage or saving you personal integrity by not practicing a religion you don't believe in?

15

JW's donations going to sexual abuse cases?

by Ginx in

i posted in the child abuse section, but it hasn't been active for a few days.. i read somewhere on the internet (don't recall what site it was) that jw's donations are going towards sexual abuse cases.. is this true?.

where can i find solid evidence regarding this matter?.

.

LisaRose

There are so many cases that are well documented from various news sources that it would be hard to pretend it's some apostate conspiracy, but don't be surprised if he doesn't believe it. It's hard to take in for the average JW, they have been led to believe it doesn't happen in their spiritual paradise, so not only do they have a problem, but they have been kept in the dark about it, it has got to shake you faith a bit. If you asked any JW if the funds contributed to the "worldwide work" go to paying off child abuse victims they would flatly deny it.

You might just say you heard about it and want to know from him if it's true. If he tries to prove its a lie he won't be able to.

The Mormon church is running into similar problems, they recently came clean that Joseph Smith had multiple wives, something they had always denied. It was getting to where so many people knew the truth they had to admit it.

The internet is hard on cults.