Hey Fredhall,
Another cat got yer tongue?
Dogz
Dogpatch
JoinedPosts by Dogpatch
-
14
Simply Amazing's story up in entirety
by Dogpatch inmany of you read parts of simply amazing's story of life in the watchtower and his encounters with other elders, bethelites and more.
now the entire story is online at:.
http://www.exjws.net/pioneers/partintro.htm.
-
-
Dogpatch
-
14
Simply Amazing's story up in entirety
by Dogpatch inmany of you read parts of simply amazing's story of life in the watchtower and his encounters with other elders, bethelites and more.
now the entire story is online at:.
http://www.exjws.net/pioneers/partintro.htm.
-
-
Dogpatch
Many of you read parts of Simply Amazing's story of life in the Watchtower and his encounters with other elders, Bethelites and more. Now the entire story is online at:
http://www.exjws.net/pioneers/partintro.htmForeword: The following account is the story of my exit from the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is provided in the interest of those who face the dilemma of wanting to leave the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, yet wonder what it was like for others who have left ahead of them. What are some of the successes and failures that can be shared so as to help those now leaving to understand how to make better decisions for themselves and their families. My experiences are not intended to fit all situations. My errors are likely more helpful and humorous, so that others can see what ‘not’ to do.
While this story is at times funny, there is also an underlying pain and struggle associated with trying to find my way out, and move forward with life ... the struggle was with the local Elders and with my own sense of indecision or unwillingness to just let go ...
The personal grief is a mixture of almost total disbelief at times that I could have been so blinded and misled for so many years ... some anger because the wasted time that could have been spend in far better ways ... not perfectly ... but more time with the family, or betterment of my career, or attention to my financial needs. Sadness at times that the fantasy of a Paradise Earth, as defined and marketed to the general public as well as Jehovah’s Witnesses is something that failed to take place when it was predicted by the Watchtower Society ... and from all accounts, may not necessarily be a hope that the Bible literally intends as our ultimate state of salvation.
The hurt is for those good friends, good individual Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are Christian, not because of the Organization they participate in, but rather because of who they are as individuals ... my hurt extends to their continued harm by the false teachings and false prophecies inherent in the Watchtower’s 120 year history ... the hurt is the loss of their friendship and fellowship.
While I never believed in a million years I would be writing such an experience as a former Jehovah’s Witness, nevertheless, the pain, sadness, hurt and anger have faded as the years have elapsed ... and now there is continued joy because of the mental and emotion freedom, forgiveness for the anger by just letting the religion go ... peace in knowing that my life is in my own hands, greater love in my family because we all emerged successfully together ... confidence that I can move forward, even though there are not always answers to life’s issues ... no ‘quick-fix’ Watchtower magazine to consult for each and every step in my daily living ...
Living life is a daily experiment, requiring I face each situation as it is, and use my conscience, my heart, and soul to respond to those serious issue requiring more than routine solutions ... Life is happier because I have fewer doubts and fears. After leaving the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses, one also discovers that life is much as it was before leaving, with bills to pay, work to do, and needs to be met. However, there is a difference in that I no longer delay or put off some issues because of believing that Armageddon is anytime soon, just around the corner ... no, each issue must be faced as it is, where it is ... and at times this calls for an adjustment.
As of this writing, I have been out of the organization ‘informally’ nearly ten years, and formally nearly seven years. The time since leaving has brought many good things – peace of mind and heart, and the realization that my faith in Jesus Christ is still there, that God’s judgment will be righteously based on Jesus sacrifice – taking into consideration that I have acted in good faith with what I know and understand, and hope remains that beyond the limits of this life, there is a certain reward with God that no one on this earth can ever take away from me as best stated in Romans 8:31-39:
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Net Soup!
http://www.freeminds.org -
5
Article on Barbara Harrison-Times
by Dogpatch inbarbara grizzuti harrison, a journalist and essayist whose writing on topics as diverse as the jehovah's witnesses and spike lee was distinguished by strong opinions and a willingness to cast herself into the action, died wednesday in new york of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
she was 67.. read the whole article, it's great!.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-000029874apr27.story?coll=la-news-obituaries.
-
-
Dogpatch
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, a journalist and essayist whose writing on topics as diverse as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Spike Lee was distinguished by strong opinions and a willingness to cast herself into the action, died Wednesday in New York of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 67.
read the whole article, it's great!
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-000029874apr27.story?coll=la-news-obituariesRead her famous book:
http://www.exjws.net/visionsmain.htmNet Soup!
-
22
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison dies at 67
by Dogpatch inhttp://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/obituaries/26harr.html.
barbara grizzuti harrison, who emerged as a popular, prolific writer of keenly observed nonfiction with a 1978 book about the dozen years she spent as a jehovah's witness, died on wednesday at a hospice in manhattan.
she was 67 and lived in the park slope neighborhood of brooklyn.. the cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said her daughter, anna harrison.
-
-
Dogpatch
from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/obituaries/26HARR.html
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, who emerged as a popular, prolific writer of keenly observed nonfiction with a 1978 book about the dozen years she spent as a Jehovah's Witness, died on Wednesday at a hospice in Manhattan. She was 67 and lived in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn.The cause was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said her daughter, Anna Harrison. She once wrote that for years she smoked six packs of cigarettes a day.
The turning point in her life and career was her decision, at 22, to leave the Jehovah's Witnesses, which forbade a college education. What followed was a successful self-education and a blossoming into a multifaceted writer of literate travel books, many essays and reviews, and a novel.
With "Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses" (Simon & Schuster), she became nationally known; her later work, mostly nonfiction, usually received excellent reviews.
In The New York Times Book Review, Vivian Gornick said "Visions of Glory" was "quite well written, contains a mass of absorbing information, and the personality of its author is extremely appealing."
Ms. Harrison was converted to the Jehovah's Witnesses faith by her mother when she was 9; she went door to door carrying its message. At 19, she went to live and work at its world headquarters, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in Brooklyn Heights.
After three years there, she renounced the faith and left.
"Visions of Glory" mixes her autobiography with detailed historical research. She portrays the religion as racist, sexist and totalitarian, but also details members' kindness to one another, their care for the elderly and their courage in the face of persecution.
Barbara Grizzuti was born in Jamaica, Queens, on Sept. 14, 1934. She grew up in various Brooklyn neighborhoods, mainly Bensonhurst. Her father, a printer, and her brother, Richard, did not become Jehovah's Witnesses, creating a deep fault line in the household. She wrote of an extremely disorganized family, and of a father who sexually abused her and once tried to kill her.
As a young teenager, Barbara already knew she wanted to be a writer. When asked in an interview in "Contemporary Authors" how she could reconcile this ambition with the tenets of the Jehovah's Witnesses, she suggested that the religion's images of the watery creation of the world and its imminent bloody destruction stimulated her imagination.
"I think the two things were going on simultaneously: the religion encouraged something it was bound to squash," she said.
In her autobiography, "An Accidental Autobiography" (Houghton Mifflin, 1996), she wrote, "I read Sartre in my late teens and made the mistake of taking him seriously."
After leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses, she moved to the East Village and worked as a secretary at a publishing house and at the American Committee on Africa. There she met W. Dale Harrison, whom she married. He took a job with CARE, and they lived in Libya, India and Guatemala.
They returned to Brooklyn with their two children, and she wrote that she thought of herself as "one of those furtive, silly housewives with a novel under her apron."
Her first book, "Unlearning the Lie: Sexism in School" (Liveright, 1969), grew out of the children's experiences with efforts to quell sexism at what was then the Woodward Park School in Brooklyn.
The Harrisons divorced in 1968 after eight years of marriage.
Ms. Harrison was an early writer for Ms. Magazine. Often described as a gifted interviewer, she contributed to many other national magazines and newspapers. She was noted for her humor and her strong opinions; she once called the highly regarded novelist Joan Didion a "neurasthenic Cher."
Her other books included "Italian Days" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989), an impressionistic and literary travel book about Italy that won the American Book Award, and a novel, "Foreign Bodies" (Doubleday, 1984).
Ms. Harrison is survived by her daughter, who lives in Bethlehem, Conn., and her son, Josh Harrison of Manhattan.
Her daughter said her mother returned to the religion of her early childhood, Roman Catholicism, in her 40's, partly as a result of interviewing Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement and partly because she hoped to meet in heaven the high school English teacher who had first appreciated her writing.
______________________I will miss you Barbara. (sob)
Barbara's writings:
http://www.exjws.net/visionsmain.htm -
3
new book helps abused men
by Dogpatch ini am reposting this review for those who might benefit:.
fathers touch.
by donald dhaene .
-
-
Dogpatch
I am reposting this review for those who might benefit:
FATHER’S TOUCH
By DONALD D’HAENE
Rating 9.5/10
Pub: American Book Publishing, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, expected 2002
Galley Proof Copy, ISBN and purchase details available shortly.
Genre: Biography, Sociology – Paedophilia, Males, Incest.
“Surviving the worst kind of treachery.”
Anyone who has regard for the future can only view the destruction of a child’s innocence as one of the most heinous crimes in the human lexicon of brutality. When this occurs in the family home and is perpetrated by a parent with an obvious duty of care, the betrayal and it’s consequences are immeasurable.
Daniel and Jeannette D’Haene emigrated to Canada from Belgium in 1957 where they settled in a rural area and had four children. Ronny the eldest was followed by Donald, the author of this book, then Marina and Erik followed. On arrival in Canada both Daniel and Jeannette were Roman Catholics, she more devout than he. Daniel felt constrained by a diktat by the church in Belgium the faithful should not read the ‘Bible’ which would confuse them. This must be peculiar to the clergy at that time and place, since the same was not true then in UK. Daniel was attracted by the Jehovah Witnesses who actively encouraged religious study and became a pillar of the local community group. Eventually he persuaded his wife with a mixture of rhetoric and beatings she should change her faith too. Whatever the expectations and demands of the Witnesses, Daniel believed in his own home he was the master, and his wife and children, his property. They were expected to be obedient to every whim and caprice....
...There is very little literature on the subject of father/son sexual abuse which is still for some a taboo subject. This well written and fluent book should be required reading for all engaged in the protection of children and the victims of today. These may care to know Donald more than survived his past and is today a successful art journalist, actor and TV presenter. Lawyers should also view the last chapters of the book as a textbook summary of how not to prosecute a case and judges can gain a refresher course on what poor administrative services can do to ‘justice’. In this instance, Donald and his family were the victims of secondary rape by the very system which allegedly should have redressed their wrongs and protected them. Although this matter came to trial in the early 1980’s in Canada, whilst there is a better understanding of the evils of sexual abuse today, there are still errors of judgement by social workers and laxity in prosecution on both sides of the Atlantic.
Finally, the author should be commended for his courage in writing this book. To discuss the unspeakable acts committed by a parent and expose the induced guilt and shame created with undoubted finesse is a triumph of talent and the will over adversity.
Dione M. Coumbe LL.B(Hons.)
Editor & Reviewer for www.DoverWeb.co.uk;
Managing Director of Book Publicity Ltd. UK, www.BookPublicity.co.uk
______________
Net Soup!
http://www.freeminds.org -
9
What's a good ISP to use?
by Dogpatch ini have dsl with verizon but their isp side (third party) email accounting and third party billing sucks, having charged me for $400 for some glitch in their system a year ago (totally not my fault) and then they shut me down for not paying it.
their system has too many bureaucrats and nothing seems to happen.
what do you guys find to be a good isp?
-
-
Dogpatch
I have DSL with Verizon but their ISP side (third party) email accounting and third party billing sucks, having charged me for $400 for some glitch in their system a year ago (totally not my fault) and then they shut me down for not paying it. Their system has too many bureaucrats and nothing seems to happen. What do you guys find to be a good ISP? (I will have Verizon DSL but need an ISP to go with it).
RandyIf you need to email me, send it to [email protected]
-
7
The JW life
by TweetieBird inmy mother-in-law, who has several children, leads a miserable existence because of being a witness.
she stays in constant turmoil because usually at any given time one or more of her children is in a disfellowshipped state.
none are spiritual giants, however all believe that the witnesses have the truth except one, my spouse.
-
-
Dogpatch
Hi Tweetie,
She is living in their virtual reality world, which can never be satisfying because it is impossible to achieve with free-willed creatures. Until the day dawns on her, she will not be moved. I would just keep gently confronting her with the fact that she is living in a dream world. Real life is all around her, she just has to open her eyes to see it. Once she does, healing and restoration can begin.
RandyPsychological Issues among JWs
http://www.freeminds.org/psych/psych.htm -
8
"Frailty" might be a good movie to watch
by Dogpatch inthis new movie has an interesting theme: religious fanaticism that goes bad and leads to a murerous cult ofb three, with mind control and all.
with the recent murders by witnesses who have become disillusioned with their faith, it might be a good watch:.
"frailty," which opens today in the new york metropolitan region, is the directorial debut of bill paxton, who stars as dad.
-
-
Dogpatch
This new movie has an interesting theme: religious fanaticism that goes bad and leads to a murerous cult ofb three, with mind control and all. With the recent murders by Witnesses who have become disillusioned with their faith, it might be a good watch:
"Frailty," which opens today in the New York metropolitan region, is the directorial debut of Bill Paxton, who stars as Dad. It is a meditation on faith of several different kinds. Religious faith and a belief in the miraculous is one. Faith in oneself and one's convictions is another. But by far the most important and troubling faith the movie explores is the instinctive faith children place in their parents.
Mr. Paxton's Dad may be the most terrifying father to appear in a horror film since Jack Nicholson went crazily homicidal in "The Shining." But at moments, he is also one of the most caring and solicitous. Intensely devoted to his sons, he is a proud and protective father so long as they follow his agenda. Even after an angel informs him that Fenton is a demon, Dad refuses to believe it. So that the boy might discover God, Dad locks Fenton in a dungeon, which the boy dug with his own hands, for a week without food and only a glass of water until God appears.
"Frailty" may be only a genre film, but it forcefully reminds us of the degree to which all of us are our parents' ideological captives when we're children. Religious and political indoctrination (or osmosis) from seemingly omniscient parents, after all, is how most ideology is handed down. And in an age when intolerant fundamentalist faith is once again ascendant, it is a theme worth dwelling on.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/12/movies/12FRAI.html?todaysheadlines
Net Soup!
http://www.freeminds.org -
5
2400 bottles of Spanish brandy for the bethel boys
by new boy in"the boys will just get druck!
we better just keep that evil stuff away from them!
is what george couch probley said.. it was 1973 brooklyn bethel.
-
-
Dogpatch
hmmmm...
I guess I missed that by one year! :-))
RandyNet Soup!
http://www.freeminds.org -
10
WT and AW Issues You Just Couldn't Place
by AvailableLight inhaving just read the donut shop thread, i was reminded of the typical way my fellow publishers and i would deal with hard- or impossible-to-place issues of the watchtower and awake!
magazines.. one in particular that comes to mind is the issue of the wt, released around the late 80s or early 90s, that depicted a close-up facial shot of an old man with tremendously bushy eyebrows.
my friends and i affectionately dubbed him "pubic brow.
-
-
Dogpatch
Hi Fred,
Maybe you 'll meet him someday at the DA's.
Compton has no beaches.
Bad kitty!