Posts by LisaRose

22

Jehovah's Witnesses: the Brotherhood of Delusion

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

i am a curious person.

i am challenged by the unknown.

i can be driven, out of sheer frustration, to penetrate a closed veil of conspiracy.

LisaRose

Good post. I believe it's true that people want their illusions. I have an interest in modern urban legends, the stories people tell that happened to "a friend of a friend". I sometimes get them in email from, and I am often astounded that people forward these things with out checking to be sure they are true. Often the story has a payoff for them, it either validates a belief or reinforces a moral they hold dear.

For example, there is a MUL that "In God we Trust" was taken off of the dollar coin, they even had a picture of the coin missing the term. The idea was that this was a plot by atheists to take away any mention of God by the government. People were urged to refuse to accept these coins and to contact their congressman. The only problem is that the term was not removed, but simply put on the edge of the coin temporarily, by the time of the email The term had already gone back to the front of the coin.

Instead of being happy that there really wasn't a plot to remove religious terms from coins, the sender was quite peeved that I had pointed this out. They wanted to believe in a plot by atheists, as it validated their world view, they probably assumed I was the one making things up. It's very hard to counteract this kind of thinking, people believe what they want to believe, God forbid you confuse them with facts.

51

Can’t cope with being disfellowshipped…..Need some advice

by xxBettyBoopxx in

this site is great, i have been lurking for a while now.

but i can’t get reinstated and have used some of the advice already given.. i was df’d many months ago and go to all the meetings and do all the preparation for the meetings, but the jc committee keep refusing me.

tomorrow at the clam meeting i am puting yet another letter in and will be called for another dreadful jc meeting.. 1. what can i say to the elders to show that i am truly repentant?.

LisaRose

The pain you are feeling is intended to break you. It doesn't matter to them that you are now expressing remorse, they want you to suffer enough that you will never risk rebelling again, a year is usually considered the minimum amount of time. It has nothing to do with the bible and everything to do with power and control. The word "disfellowship" is not even in the bible, nor is there any mention of specific time periods of shunning after a person expresses remorse and changes their conduct. Did the father of the prodigal son tell him he had to suffer for a period of time after he returned? No, he was welcomed back with open arms.

If you are willing to continue on with this humiliation to regain contact with your family, that's entirely up to you of course, but I would urge you to use the time before you are reinstated to research this religion you belong to and find out what they are all about. I am sorry to say I was in for twenty eight years but was still not aware of many things about it, because they hid their history of false date predictions, doctrine flip flops and pedophilia issues. Do yourself a favor and become educated so that you at least know what you are going back to.

You should also learn about cults and the specific techniques they use to manipulate people. Some things common to cults:

They control your time, as in numerous meetings and other time requirements
They control your relationships, as in being told not to associate with non members, especially former members
They claim to be the sole authority or have special knowledge
They use fear, obligation and guilt to control people.
They control information, people are warned not to trust anything not written by them.

Sound familiar?

By the way, I was disfellowshipped at one time myself, so I know first hand how painful it is. It was so painful I immediately went back, something I deeply regret now, as I wasted another fifteen years in the religion. I have been out now for sixteen years and have never been happier.

Lisa 🌹

43

Is this the last chance for inactive and df'd ones?

by innerpeace in

hi all, just wondering if there's anything going around about the elders receiving instruction from the society to give inactive ones and disfellowshipped ones one last chance to come back?

i ask because i have a still in family member that i received a message from, and urging me to go back.

the elders are apparently saying there is no time left.

LisaRose

If there is such a directive, it would be like those late night infomercials, act now while supplies last! Anything to create a false sense of urgency is useful for manipulating people I guess.

59

Can you prove that our entire universe and existence is not a computer simulation?

by EndofMysteries in

if you were a computer programmer and you were to create a simulated automated world, that would constantly evolve and self run after initial designs.

first you would have to code the rules, laws, and core elements of this world.

while this is being coded, the program is not run yet, so none of it exists.

LisaRose

Of course no one can prove we are not in a computer simulation, just like no can prove that unicorns don't exist.

The question is, if we are part of a computer simulation so real that no one involved can tell the difference between that and actual reality, what difference does it make whether we are or are not?

49

"back in the day people didn't know not to abuse kids"- a jw explanation for their abuse scandal

by purrpurr in

a few weeks back i showed the guardian article about the borg refusing to cooperate with the charity commission into child abuse to a fellow jw.

their response was quite amazing.

they told me that in the 50s-80s people didn't know about child abuse, didn't know it was wrong and no one really believed children when they claimed they had been abused - even worldly people.. they said that alot of the time children lie about being abused or therapists plant false memories in their heads and that apostates lie about being abused to undermine our faith.. about the borg not cooperating with the commission they said that it was probably because they wanted to protect the identities of jw's who had been abused.

LisaRose

While it's true that we didn't know as much about child sex abuse in the past, it was always known that it was wrong. The Watchtower claims to be directed by God, why didn't he direct them to be better than other religions at the time when it came to protecting innocent children? Is it not a "spiritual paradise"?

And it is absolutely not true that children often lie about being abused. While it has happened on occasion, it is not the norm and anytime a child claims to be abused it should be taken very seriously.

About the Borg not cooperating with the commission they said that it was probably because they wanted to protect the identities of jw's who had been abused.

This is ridiculous. The commission would protect the identity of any child that has been abused, their names would not be released. It is the identity of the child predators and their own reputation they are seeking to protect.

They claimed that all that child abuse stuff happened in the past and doesn't happen now. The society has never told elders not to go to the police and that elders who haven't have decided that on their own.

So something magical happened around 1995 or so that suddenly caused child sexual abuse to stop?

The society may never have explicitly told elders not to go to the police, but they created a culture where the idea of "not bringing reproach on Jehovah's name" was paramount, the judgement of elders was absolute and where all transgressions were considered a spiritual matter only. To this day they still ask that they be contacted before the elders talk to the authorities, what does that tell you?

that we should trust in Jehovah's organisation and if we do then we won't pay attention to these discouraging reports

Typical JW behavior, but how sad. This is how all corrupt organization flourish, people are unwilling to accept or act on information that would be inconvenient to themselves or require them to admit they made a mistake in choosing a religion. They are complicit in the continuing abuse.

11

Benefits to Faith over Reason

by cobweb in

i wrote this earlier for my own benefit in order to get some thoughts straight in my head.

it is just my own personal pondering on what i think might be the motivating force behind having a faith.

it is not intended to attack, provoke or patronize anyone who has a belief and i hope it is not taken in that way.

LisaRose

You are absolutely correct in that people who do not have faith do not have happiness or overall good feelings inside of them

Nonsense, dont make assumptions about people. I am very happy in my life and feel great joy on a daily basis.

Its also a fallacy that without belief in a creator one tends to embrace rampant matierialism.

21

A Hard Lesson Learned

by Disassociated Lady 2 in

do you remember that my dad passed away last year and i was going back to the witnesses after 26 years?

i got reinstated after going there for 9 months.

in the 5 months since then i felt the men in the congregation didn't want me there.

LisaRose

I am sorry you were treated so poorly. Obviously you are better off not being a Jehovah's Witness, but that doesn't take away the pain of being judged and criticized. It is a game that is heavily stacked against you, it is a process that is designed to isolate and punish rather than help and heal.

I hope you can move on and put this experience behind you.

52

People hate God?

by looter in

jw
friends

it is a pain that certain individuals pride themselves on hating god, who created everything.

like it's understandable that you choose to not believe in him because of your selfishness or thinking skills but to hate him is forcing it a bit.

i'm very thankful that those such as myself have the courage to believe in the lord.

LisaRose

How sad that you feel it takes courage to believe in God. It is exactly the opposite. It takes courage to go where the facts take you, to question what you have been taught as a child, to look at the facts, not go with your emotions.

I believed as you did for many years of my life. I count it as a personal triumph that I learned and grew as a person and progressed to the point that I can now see the reality. I do not hate God. You cannot hate something that simply does not exist.

12

Dear beloved, Does your heart feel for the motherless?

by Colinconfused in

greetings to you and your family.

i am mrs. amadou gloria, a widow to late mr. greg amadou; i am 56 years old, suffering from pancreatic cancer, my condition is really bad and it is quite obvious that i will not live for a very long time according to my doctors but i strongly believe in god and not the doctors and if it is the will of god that i will die, then so shall it be.nevertheless i am willing to donate the sum of 1,700.000.00 us dollars for you to help widows and the less privileged in the rural and urban areas and to carry out charity works, my promise to god almighty is to help the poor people and i hope you have the kind of heart and ability to help others that is of needs, if so please do not hesitate to indicate to me, your interest.

i wait to see your response, write me for more discussion [email protected] my regards, madam gloria.

LisaRose

We got the call from the scammers pretending to be the IRS and demanding money. I read that they find one in a hundred people will fall for it, which tells you how many really dim and gullible people there are in the world. Like the IRS is going to hire people from Barbados to call and shake people down for ITunes gift cards, lol.

14

And the jackals move in

by stillin in

a woman whom i knew as a teenager stayed over at another witness family's home.

the brother who was the father was caught peeking at her while she was taking a shower.

she told the elders, a jc was held, the brother was repentant and had loss of privileges for a year.

LisaRose

Anybody can use anybody over anything. Whether it has a snowball's chance in hell of happening is another matter. I guess some bottom feeding lawyer saw an opportunity to make a few bucks, betting the Watchtower will settle quickly for a minor amount rather than face negative publicity, but I doubt that will happen.

I don't feel sorry for the Watchtower though, they brought this on themselves by hiding actual pedophiles for years, so this is just the natural consequence of their behavior over the years.