Posts by shopaholic

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As a JW were You Told to Not Report or Be Silent about Child Abuse ?

by flipper in

as most of you know in 2002 barbara anderson and bill bowen were on the dateline program which revealed that child abuse victims had been theatened with disfellowshipping from the jehovah's witnesses for reporting child abuse to the police and authorities .

and this actually happened to many victims and their families for standing up in behalf of the safety of abused children !.

most here are aware of the out of court child abuse settlements the wt society made with 16 witness child abuse victims in 2007. a gag order was placed on victims so they would not speak of their experiences with the media.

shopaholic

Yes. We were told not to talk about it or tell anyone about what happened to a family relative and Jehovah would take care of it. The elders sat in our living room and told us that if we called the police, the news would find out and make a fool of the witnesses and that they would not understand. Now that I'm an adult, I realize that this is cult behaviour.

6

Has anyone else seen the movie "Worlds Apart"?

by parakeet in

jw
friends

it's a danish film with subtitles about a 17-year-old born-in dub girl who falls in love with an unbeliever.. if you haven't seen it and would like to, i won't spoil the ending.

but there is a scene where the girl is called in before the judicial committee and grilled about whether or not she and her boy friend had sex, whether and where they touched each other, whether she spent the night with him, etc.

they had her in tears by the end of it.. scary, scary film.. .

shopaholic

I really liked it. I plan to watch it again as well, hopefully its still available on OnDemand.

And the grilling part with the judicial committe was spot on. A couple of times I got into a little exploration with a JW brother and the third time he went to the elders. I didn't see a need because in my mind we didn't do anything wrong. Its was just innocent exploration and coming to age stuff that came about 10 years too late. But he felt guilty and told his elders. I didn't tell mine, so he did. They talked to me and asked me all types of questions that you would not believe or may you would. For instance after telling them we did not have sex they asked me "Sis. Shop, did he insert anything inside you such as his finger or anything else?" I almost told them that he put his finger in my ear but I simply said 'No' to everything because even then to me it was none of their business. I was very much an adult at the time and I was upset and nervous at the same time. I never cried or got teary-eyed but I remember feeling like I wanted to throw-up.

The experience totally sucked. Then after that I felt like they were watching my every move.

40

What is truth?

by John Doe in

jw
friends

what is universal truth?.

what is partial truth?.

shopaholic

Truth conforms to reality. Reality is perceived. Truth is perceived. Truth does not equal true. Things that are true are the truth. Things that are false are the truth. Things that are not the truth are the truth if they are perceived as such.

Do JWs have the truth? Yes.

Do Muslims have the truth? Yes.

Do Catholics have the truth? Yes.

Do scary, hairy one-eyed monsters live in your closet when the lights go out? Yes....this is a truth in minds of many children.

10

"He who endures to the end will be saved"

by cameo-d in

this verse, in it's context from matthew 24, speaks about the turbulent times in the last days.. does this mean that only the survivors of armageddon will be "saved" in their physical form?.

what will be the difference from those "saved" and those "resurrected"?.

could it be that "resurrection" is merely a story of comfort without merit and those who are left standing at the end of the earth's destruction will somehow be "rescued"?.

shopaholic

This is a guilt-trip scripture used by the JWs to keep you in their clutches just a little while longer. When I first start only expressing doubt several years ago, I was told that all JWs have doubt and was told to read a scripture and it was this one. I was told to just hang in there, focus on my pioneering and in a few short years we will be in the new world.

Well, that was about 14 years ago and I held on tightly for the first 12 years. In that time I've seen enough horrific world events and lived across the globe to know that this little simply phrase can manipulate a person into flushing their life right down the toilet without even knowing it.

I'll tell you what this scripture means, denial. It means to deny the reality that is so that you may attain a reality that will never exist.

16

Reporting feild servie time via email

by Iwonder17 in

our hallnow allows you to report your time via email, anyone else do this?.

i kinda takes the sheparding out of the whole thing, doesn't.. not that i am complaining, but aren't the service overseers supose to talk with you so they know how you're doing?.

shopaholic

Ha...Goshawk your solution is a lot geekier. I was thinking you could just pick a number and pre-schedule email delivery through the end of the year.

16

Reporting feild servie time via email

by Iwonder17 in

our hallnow allows you to report your time via email, anyone else do this?.

i kinda takes the sheparding out of the whole thing, doesn't.. not that i am complaining, but aren't the service overseers supose to talk with you so they know how you're doing?.

shopaholic

Interesting. Now folks will really start reporting phantom time.

6

IFC Movie "Worlds Apart"

by kazar in

jw
friends

i just watched this independent film circuit movie tonight about an xjw.

has anyone here seen it?

if so, i would like your opinion of it.

shopaholic

Great movie! Need to find a way to get my family to see it.

33

Did You Expect Perfection From Jehovah's Witnesses?

by minimus in

jw
friends

....either from others or yourself?.

were you regularly disappointed when the elders, brothers or sisters didn't measure up to what they were preaching?.

did you actually believe "the truth" was 100% true?.

shopaholic

I knew that all "fell short"... so I didn't expect perfection from any one person...

...but I did expect continuity from the organization. Even when "the light got brighter" I expected it to further an understanding, not change direction

Me too. I knew something was up with 1995 generation change and I wondered why an org led by God didn't get it right the first time. Also why men actively involved in wrongdoing would be appointed elder, where was the holy spirit?

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