ok.. you 70 plus bethelite members.... this is your chance to share stories!
inquiring minds want to know !no full names please..follow t.o.s.
to avoid borg libel lawsuits).. i will start the ball rolling with week one.
3rdGen:
Thanks, it all worked out in the end although it was very difficult at the time. That all happened so many years ago, and it doesn't bother me like it used to when I believed JWs were special. I am now happily married to a wonderful man and I'm very happy to be free of all that male chauvinist nonsense. How about you?
ok.. you 70 plus bethelite members.... this is your chance to share stories!
inquiring minds want to know !no full names please..follow t.o.s.
to avoid borg libel lawsuits).. i will start the ball rolling with week one.
Balaamsass, here's what I posted on your original thread:
My most disturbing Bethel experience was when my husband hooked up with someone else’s wife and I was not allowed to sit in on the judicial meetings to hear what he had to say or to keep him honest about the nature of our relationship. And then how he wasn’t disfellowshipped, although he never asked me to take him back and clearly told me of his intention to be with her. And how when I spoke with others like Brother Sydlik and one of the brothers in the Service Dept who was a family friend it was implied that I had been frigid in my relationship. And how every Bethel elder seemed to know what had been said by my husband but I could not be privy to it as a sister. All of that (and more) was very disturbing, but in retrospect I’m glad it happened because it helped to nudge me out. Eventually. To use one of their illustrations, I was like a fan that was unplugged; I was still spinning, but more and more slowly until I finally stopped.
ML
1) when confronted with evidence of child molestation, doing the bare legal minimum is not enough morally.
2) a carefully honed and managed reputation can be destroyed literally overnight if immoral actions / inactions are brought to light.
3) no matter how "high up" someone is, he is still accountable for his actions / inactions, and will have to pay consequences for wrong choices.
I definitely thought of the how JWs handle child abuse cases when I read this in my local paper:
"When an institution discovers abuse of a kid, their first reaction was to protect the reputation of the institution and the perpetrator," said John Salveson, former president of the Pennsylvania chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
i copied this from page 153 of the branch organization manual, effective: december 15, 1977, revised: february 2003. .
it is not necessary for bible translators to know.
by using this file, such scriptures will be ren-.
i copied this from page 153 of the branch organization manual, effective: december 15, 1977, revised: february 2003. .
it is not necessary for bible translators to know.
by using this file, such scriptures will be ren-.
i do not find cindy crawford and julie roberts attractive.
it is just me.
dont throw rocks at me.
Matthew McConaughey doesn't do anything for me. Not even when he was younger. Sorry.
ok i was raised in the "truth" but no one ever studied with me.
my parents were abusive and i got nothing from them or anyone in the "truth" no bible study any attention nothing from anyone.. i read the great teacher book to myself at the age of seven, and when i was in my mid teens i started studying on my own with no help from anyone nor any answers my questions expect to be rebuked if i asked the wrong question so i quit asking it was god's chosen religion after all who was i to question anything.
i conducted the sort of study and this elder looked at me and said where is your head covering.
Life is Too Short,
You have a PM.
ML
the three greatest teachings of jesus.
are all cancelled out by the practices and teaching of the fds.
jesus gave three outstanding examples of what it is to be a follower of his and the actions and mindset that you should have, all three of these teachings or example's are diminished by the practices of jw's.
Thanks, DF!
i am quandry.
i have been here since 1996, but can only post under my husband's name.
but that is not important.. my daughter has been df'd for five years, since she was sixteen.
What Terry said.
i am quandry.
i have been here since 1996, but can only post under my husband's name.
but that is not important.. my daughter has been df'd for five years, since she was sixteen.
I am disfellowshipped. I come from a family of very loyal JWs so I didn't cultivate relationships outside of the organization and my family is very obedient about not speaking to me. This is probably the "perfect storm" type situation of silence and loneliness that they hope shunning will bring about. This has created quite a vacuum in my life. I have done well with being able to function fairly well about 90 percent of the time, (I've been DF'd for about 5 years now so I've been rebuilding my network of friends and non-JW relatives) but the other 10 percent of the time I feel like there is a hole in my heart that will never fully mend. I feel trapped in an unfair situation where I've lost too much whether I stay out or go back. If it were not for my spouse and the friends and family connections I have left and the new ones I've made, I could easily fall into hopelessness and suicidal depression. I'm glad with time I'm learning how to cope with it, but as it stands now, for me, it doesn't feel like the effects will ever go away.
I hope this helps.
