LisaRose

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Posts by LisaRose

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  6

  Danish crime series begins with apparent shunning of a young mother, returning home after two decades

  by FatFreek 2005 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i began watching a well-reviewed crime series -- dicte -- in streaming netflix last night.

  although it is compelling, the audio was in danish and was close-captioned into english.

  i didn't complete the first episode because watching cc is too laborious for me.

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  LisaRose

  I just stumbled across this on Netflix. I hadn't seen this thread, so it was a bit of a shock to see the shunning scene in front of the kingdom hall. It's not a bad show, I don't mind subtitles at all.
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  14

  Breeding Ground for Sex offenders

  by enigma1863 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  the watchtower would never claim that they want child molesters in their congregations.

  no 'respectable' organization would.

  that doesnt mean they are doing anything to prevent it though.

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  LisaRose

  I doubt the Jehovah's Witnesses have a higher percentage of pedophiles than any other religion, at least to begin with, but they sure do make it easy for them to say and prey on children. Being a cult they probably have a higher number of people that are more naive and trusting than average. They also like to pretend the congregations are a "spiritual paradise", free from the problems of the world, so that tends to make their followers more trusting of others.

  Instead of one pastor or minister in a congregation, someone who has been trained in dealing with issues like this, they have several elders who attend a few weeks of bible training, little of it dealing with pedophilia and child abuse. These are difficult issues to deal with, no doubt there is a tendency to ignore red flags when it comes to this kind of thing, especially when elders are also under the delusion that such things rarely happen in "Jehovah's organization" With numerous elders and ministerial servants, it also makes it more likely the pedophile will be in a position of authority. It's a strict hierarchy, where elders have a great deal of authority and women and children are taught to obey.

  Even when it is acknowledged that abuse has happened there is a tendency to blame the victim, to think they somehow encouraged the behavior, or even to consider them as guilty, as if they were equally responsible. It's not unheard of for a minor to be disfellowshipped for immorality for having been abused by an older man. Then you have the infamous "two witness" rule, something that virtually guarantees pedophiles will not suffer any consequences if they don't admit to the behavior, at least the first time they are accused. Sex abuse is treated the same as any other sexual immorality, with no consideration given to the known statistics on sex abuse, that there is a high likelihood that a pedophile will reoffend. There is a sort of hubris involved, as they believe they are being guided by God's holy spirit, so they deceive themselves into thinking they will know if a person is truthful and whether they are repentant or not.

  There is also the headship principle, where women are expected to obey their husbands. Of course most women would not knowingly allow their children to be abused, but if a man is abusive to his wife and the elders have given her counsel many times to stay anyway, that obedience and victimization can become deeply ingrained, to the point that she either doesn't recognize the signs or even knowingly allows her children to be abused.

  Even when pedophiles are caught or admit the abuse, there seems to be is a tendency to let the pedophile off easily. If the person appears to be repentant they can be privately reproved, so no one else knows that there is a pedophile in their congregation. Even if the person is disfellowshipped, they can usually easily get reinstated after six months to a year. At that point they are treated no differently than any one else who has been reinstated, they are considered a member in good standing. People in the congregation are never told why they have been disfellowshipped, so remain in the dark.

  Despite their public assertions to the contrary, men can be and are appointed elders, even if it is known or suspected by the elder body that they have sexually abused children in the past. Many congregations have a hard time finding enough elders, so there is obviously a temptation to overlook or minimize past wrongdoing.

  Finally you have the Watchtower itself, the most guilty party in this equation. They follow a pattern of sweeping such problems under the rug, and sticking with policies that enable pedophiles. They prefer to quietly pay off victims in exchange for non disclosure agreements and when that doesn't work they will lie, delay and otherwise hinder any lawsuits. They believe they are God's sole channel of communication with mankind, so they no doubt justify this behavior as needed in order to not "bring reproach" on Jehovah's name. At the same time they have criticized other religions, especially the Catholics, for their own child abuse issues, all while pretending it rarely, if ever, happens to them.

  They were recently fined several million dollars for failing to provide discovery documentation and witnesses for a lawsuit, so it's obvious they have something to hide and are willing to pay to keep it hidden. This while telling their members they are financially challenged and asking for more donations. Most current Jehovah's Witnesses do not know they have a list of known or suspected pedophiles, rumored to be 56k in number, and they will do anything to keep the existence of that list unknown to the public and especially to their their members.

  
  

  
  
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  16

  Another "damned if they do/don't" Thread & the Perpetual Motion Machine

  by DarioKehl in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a few days ago, a jw apologist posted a thread with a similar title.

  although he was defending their behavior, i've observed this cycle as well.

  i have a different spin on it, though.. how often do you see posts from people who are upset that "no one even bothers to check in on me," only to read as many threads about "they keep calling & texting--why won't they leave me alone?

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  LisaRose

  It might seem to be a contradiction, but it's really just two sides to the same coin.

  The culture of the JWs is one without social boundaries, so sometimes attempts to fade are met with an immediate inquisition. If someone just wanted to leave quietly that can feel very threatening and intrusive.

  It's also a culture of situational friendships, so it can be shocking when people who you thought were friends are willing to cut you off without even a conversation about it. It can and does feel very hurtful, as if they never valued you for yourself.

  It's also possible for both things to happen to the same person, the elders mounting an abusive and overbearing campaign to get you back, while friends drop you like a hot potato. I guess the ideal would be if people expressed concern, but backed off when the individual says they are fine, but it's a cult so that's not going to happen.

  
  

  
  
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  40

  Intelligent design my ass

  by Doltologist in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so man was made by god in his image was he?.

  so the human body was intelligently designed was it?.

  you are kidding me !!.

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  LisaRose

  Why do we have redundant DNA? The coding is there, but it's not functional. In evolutionary terms it's an advantage, as some of it might be be useful at some point, but if we we designed to be perfect, why the junk DNA?
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  50

  Demon Stories

  by humblepotato in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so we all know that "crazy" brother or sister.

  every kingdom hall has one.

  they give the best comments (from a hilarious perspective), have experiences with the "demons", but most importantly, they are on about 10 deifferent kinds of medications.

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  LisaRose

  People lie, exaggerate and pass off made up stories as real all the time. I believe the young man was mentally ill or took drugs, then had a meltdown and threw himself around. Obviously the brothers were scared and afraid of demons and jumped to conclusions. Elders usually know very little about mental illness

  I say proof or it didn't happen.

  And it does not take faith to not believe in God any more than it takes faith to not believe in the Easter Bunny.
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  19

  New to the site

  by LexIsFree in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my name is alex.

  i have been a reader/lurker of this site for over a year now.

  first time i am posting.

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  LisaRose

  Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on getting out and moving on.
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  76

  By “evolution,” we mean “macroevolution”—apes turning into humans, for example.

  by FadingTruth in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  august 2015 awake .

  quote in title taken from article footnote.. anyone have information on who gene hwang and yan-der hsuuw in the article are?.

  why do they repeatedly state that apes turned to humans when that's not what evolutionists teach at all?.

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  LisaRose

  (Besides, I think a strong argument could be made that, genetically, humans are a subset of ape. We're really closely related to them, that's for damn sure.)

  According to the National Geographic, we share 96% of our genome with Apes. I guess Jehovah was tired by then and didn't want to start from scratch.
  
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  31

  and Moses came down the mountain on his....DUCATI

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  worst day in the last ten years, was the day i hit 0.00 with one and a half years of university to go.

  nobody to turn to, nobody to ask for help.

  i was 32 and as an ex jw had two family members in contact with me.

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  LisaRose

  She's a beauty. My BIL worked as a Ducati mechanic.
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  13

  It's 2015 already

  by Doltologist in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it's 2015. isn't it about time man stopped believing in all of this illogical and superstitious nonsense i.e.

  belief in god?.

  isn't it time we grew up?.

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  LisaRose

  Yes, religion isn't doing much for anyone any more. Religious belief gives people the mistaken impression that they are better than those not of their belief system, a dangerous mind set that assumes nothing is as important as rigid acceptances of ones belief system. What is more important now is reducing mankind's impact to the earth via climate change, learning to live in peace, fighting poverty and famine.
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  7

  Question for non-jw spouses

  by FreeGirl2006 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  a dub i know was recently reinstated.

  she was dfd for leaving her hubby for another man.

  she married the other man and then began the process of being reinstated.

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  LisaRose

  What makes a person want to attend religious services where the loved one is not spoken to (initially) and has to go through silly hoops to be accepted back in?

  I believe in most cases they are doing it to strictly please their new love. In my experience they soon tire of the religion and don't end up getting baptized.