this may seem to be a harsh subject, but we have repeatedly heard how shunned jw's, of all ages, have committed suicide.
they succumbed to the harsh treatment brought on them by the watchtower society and in turn their families and so-called friends.. is it possible that the 'harsh treatment' the australian royal commission will met out to mr. jackson, by the relentless, probing questions, that he consider suicide?
perhaps losing face under the onslaught of merciless questioning, bringing that which is hidden into the light.
life has been busy, but i am now on 2 weeks vacation which allowed me some thinking room.
and here's what's been on my mind.. we're all going to die.
no matter what we do, our fate is sealed.
In 1995, as a still-believing-J.W., I said "I am going to grow old in this system of things, and I am going to die in this system of things." So I had some time to adjust to that kind of thinking.
But it was different when I realized that death is the end of it all. That's not just because such a thought is disturbing, but it is because I realized that as I was also realizing that I was living a lie in a dangerous mind-control cult.
My point is that many of us think heavily about life and if this is all there is, but we only think it's something new. People have been facing mortality as long as there have been people. Thoughts changed as some thought they were going to hell or heaven or Valhalla or were reborn or whatever. But your questions are a major portion of philosophy too.
Your thoughts on leaving a positive impact on lives are great. While nothing we do will last forever, we can make a difference in the temporary spot we hold.
for me, there have always been special movies or scenes in movies that trigger my old jw experience (fiddler on the roof and little mermaid touched me deeply when i watched them as a young jw).
later as a survivor, it was more donnie darko, thx 1138 themes that struck me in particular.. anyway, looking for suggestions on great movies, books (art of any kind, really) that especially speak to or move you as a jw survivor?
there are reasons beyond purely entertainment that i ask..
I agree with:
Worlds Apart
The Matrix
Ninteen Eighty-Four
The Island
The Truman Show
Disney's Tangled
The Village
As far as books, it depends on you. I was inspired to write my story (FADE FROM THE TRUTH) after reading Kyria Abraham's I'M PERFECT YOU'RE DOOMED. I loved all of Steven Hassan's Cult books. But beyond the obvious, books I have read took me to eastern philosophy, Science vs. Belief, skepticism, psychology. The world is your oyster, figure out where you want to go.
oz branch coordinator terrence o'brien opined a number of times at about 1:00:00 until about 1:15:00 of his testimony, that a dub does not need to da, they can become "inactive.".
i sent our beloved angus stewart my personal experience, as well as observations about official borg teachings.
(he replied in short order.).
I am in harmony with Witness My Fury on page 1: ....all my JW "friends" dropped me. BUT, here's the but, if i do anything not approved by watchtower even now i can be disfellowshipped still and then lose my family.
A dangerous mind-control cult doesn't just let you walk away. You have to be quiet about your disagreements with the Watchtower and you cannot be open about breaking the rules concerning birthdays, holidays, any activity that is against the rules.
I am a huge fan of fading/becoming inactive. But it's not the magic answer to everything.
supposing you were called to give evidence by an inquiry.
how would you answer?
are you concerned that you may end up being called to give evidence for past involvement in judicial committees to future inquiries?
I am with punkofnice. No real involvement in any cases, and in my case- too long ago to be worried.
But if I were called now for some old involvement as a prior elder, I would just be as honest as I could be.
"I was following orders, not given complete information. Regardless of what the other elders say, we always reported to Headquarters and they gave directions. As far as I know, the Governing Body has the largest impact on policies."
while i'm glad that the practices of the wts are under review and the australian commission is taking them to task, i'm not really expecting huge changes in the long run.
oh, they may have to agree to some changes in how they report crimes brought to elders' attention, but this excitement over the supposed expose of wt practices shall pass, and jws will soon be canvassing neighborhoods and rolling their carts, looking for converts.
conventions will go on.
Freddo makes a great point:
Instead of people leaving in shame because they've shagged each other or had a cigarette or wanked to porn they can take the moral high ground and go up to the trolley dollies and their minders and embarrass them and say "How can you profess to be a representative of the creator when your leaders are defending child abusers? You white washed grave!"
I can see that happening in Australia. I read of, even met a few people who left the Catholic Church after their problem. I read on here all the time about MS's and elders looking for a fairly honorable way to resign. Maybe they won't wait for such an honorable way and just say they don't want to be called out for these things.
I think the hype here is always to be expected, but I like the "moral high ground." We keep shouting that they are a dangerous mind-control cult and people who were never JW don't care. "Get over it," they say. But tell them how JW's have been worse (by percentage) than the Catholic Church and children are in danger. Now, they want to know more.
in joe134cd's recent thread, he mentioned the myth that apparently one should be able to fade or become inactive without repercussions from the community.
he mentioned about the 'dropping-you-like-a-hot-potato' phenomenon from social media sites, even when you've not told anybody why you're not coming any more.. i propose that it may be good to record such a phenomenon when it occurs so that this lie can be readily rebuffed.
i'm not out yet, but when i do, i shall be only to willing to record the response on social media sites.
I am not quite sure what the point here is, nor what Joe134cd was saying, as I tried to find his comments but did not.
But anywho, if you fade, you can't control the gossip. You need to avoid JW's altogether on social media. If you have JW family on Facebook, you can have a generic site with photos and ordinary stuff. If you need an ex-JW life, you will have to have a fake name just like JWN.
And forget your JW friends. Drop them or they drop you. Fading is for keeping family.
while i'm glad that the practices of the wts are under review and the australian commission is taking them to task, i'm not really expecting huge changes in the long run.
oh, they may have to agree to some changes in how they report crimes brought to elders' attention, but this excitement over the supposed expose of wt practices shall pass, and jws will soon be canvassing neighborhoods and rolling their carts, looking for converts.
conventions will go on.
It probably will pass without much change. But many children should be safer in Australia. The RC might go a bit further than just making them report allegations. One child getting justice makes it all worthwhile.
Still, I know what you mean. Ex-JW's get all excited, but in the end, it does little to retention and recruitment. Most JW's don't even hear about it, and when someone tries to tell them, they refuse to listen to lies from Satan's media and governments.
But just suppose another possibility. Suppose recruitment in Australia becomes zero and retention is so far down that they experience negative numbers. It is highly possible.
Watchtower may reach a tipping point where growth is just impossible after enough negative press and money problems. I am confident we won't see the end of Watchtower in our lifetime, but we might just see that tipping point.
the royal commissions public hearing into the jehovahs witnesses will recommence in sydney on friday 14 august 2015 at 11:00am.. it is anticipated that the hearing will hear from one witness, mr geoffrey jackson, a member of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.. .
.
www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2015-08/public-hearing-into-the-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witnesses-to-rec.
BUT, if he is indeed gods own mouthpiece, ......
stuckinarut2, you made me laugh. You and I know that he won't depend on that teaching.
He'd fall back on "spirit-directed, not inspired" even though it's meaningless garbage.
the royal commissions public hearing into the jehovahs witnesses will recommence in sydney on friday 14 august 2015 at 11:00am.. it is anticipated that the hearing will hear from one witness, mr geoffrey jackson, a member of the governing body of jehovahs witnesses.. .
.
www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2015-08/public-hearing-into-the-jehovah%e2%80%99s-witnesses-to-rec.
I will personally be surprised if there are no sudden reports of Jackson's father's health taking a nosedive.
If my prediction comes true, then it was a prophecy.
If he does appear, he's got lawyers running things past him this whole week to prepare him for the answers he could give.
