Posts by Magwitch

15

Help me with the logic of this

by Magwitch in

jw
friends

i was married for 20 years to a brown nosing, power hungry elder.

his headship was so overbearing i was basically a prisoner.

he would not let me associate with my dear parents (father an elder, mother a pioneer) because they were too liberal as witnesses (they did things like save seats at the assemblies when we were told not to).

Magwitch

I was married for 20 years to a brown nosing, power hungry elder. His headship was so overbearing I was basically a prisoner. He would not let me associate with my dear parents (father an elder, mother a pioneer) because they were too liberal as witnesses (They did things like save seats at the assemblies when we were told not to). We only lived 20 minutes apart and I was forbidden to have anything to do with them. Did not go to their house for years, did not sit with or talk to them at assemblies, got into a lot of trouble if they called the house etc. etc..... But I stupidly was the obedient wife waiting on Jehovah to make things right. I finally had the nerve to leave the a**hole. I now was free to have my parents and vice versa. However, I refused to meet with the elders over divoricing my husband. I felt it was none of their business and I was through with the whole parade anyway. The BOE disfellowshipped me. Now my parents have cut me off this time. So I was cut off from my parents when I was a witness because of obedience to the organization (headship), and now that I am not a witness I am cut off again because of the organization. Is there someone out there that can help this pea brain understand the depth of love of this organization?

70

AGAIN with the college bashing

by Pistoff in

ok so the mate took good notes at the ca and here is the newest on "higher education:.

the usual bashing of motives: those who want great wealth, prestige and seek it in a college educationcollege graduates don't always get jobs in their fieldsdrugs, drinking and sex are "rampant" at collegesthose who want to "snatch us away" are near if we go to college (isa 54)if we seek a college education, we are not spiritual mindedthe most disturbing for me was this:.

those who choose college will not get blessings from jehovahand of course there was the obligatory interview with the college graduate who disdains the education whe received.. .

Magwitch

Drugs, drinking and sex are "rampant" at colleges

A few years ago when I was still "in" my daughters were young teens.

A large % of the witnesses in my hall were functioning alchoholics.
The School overseer (a 30 something elder) was molesting all the young girls ages 8-12 (He committed suicide when caught)
I was addicted to pain killers to get through the days of service, prayer, association and meditation (spam)

My oldest daughter heads off to an Ivy League in the fall and my other daughter will be a senior. I beleive with all my heart that they will not be exposed to anything worse than they lived when we were going to meetings. At least the organization already exposed them to drugs, drinking and sex

11

How many of you elders shared confidential things with your wife?

by Magwitch in

jw
friends

i wonder how many of you truly kept things confidential.

when i was growing up in 70's in a very rural community my father was the congregation overseer.

thursday nights we always had to stay late after the service meeting while my father dealt with matters in the back room.

Magwitch

I wonder how many of you truly kept things confidential. When I was growing up in 70's in a very rural community my father was the congregation overseer. Thursday nights we always had to stay late after the service meeting while my father dealt with matters in the back room. After the extra meeting in the back room we had about a half hour drive home where my mother would drill my father on every last detail that had just occurred. It would go something like this...."Neil, what was that meeting about?" ...."Well Nancy, Dougy has relasped into masterbation again." My four siblings and I ranging from preschool to high school would then get to hear all the details of Dougy's relapse. Nothing was kept confidential.

When I married an elder in the '86 I was privy to nothing for 20 years (thank god)

46

What was the stupidest advice you ever taken from the Kingdom Hall?

by asilentone in

.

Magwitch

Marry only in the lord and never break the marriage arrangement. 20 years of sheer HELL...Thank god for alcohol and perscription drugs to get me through.

Got rid of the husband and religion... and what do you know....the alcohol and drugs went too.

54

Has Your Personality Changed Since Leaving The Witnesses?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i have an aquaintance that likes to say, "once an a hole always an a hole".

i guess you could reason that whatever your religious views were, your core is you are who you are.. did your personality change for better or worse when you left the organization?.

Magwitch

I bounce more!! Happiness does that to me!

45

Bird Watching/feeding Fans....antics with squirrels.

by restrangled in

jw
friends

i have spent numerous hours trying to outwit the squirrels.

i thought i had them licked with my own invention.

i had a 10 foot 1 inch metal pole that i greased with silicone, that i placed between a tree branch and a 6 foot fence.

Magwitch

It sounds like you need to borrow my cat Agnes - She has killed so many squirrels, birds, snakes and rabbits in my neighborhood that the neighbors are now complaining.

16

Did you get sick after you went to an assembly ?

by greenhornet in

i always did.

it was like clock work a few days after.

bang sore throat sometime fever etc..

Magwitch

I always got ill when I entered the women's bathroom. The things going on in there were always atrocious - kids constantly being beat - mothers competing to see who could slap their kid's bare ass the longest. Kids screaming for mercy over something trivial. Very large sisters adjusting themselves (where do you find unmentionables that size?) and my all time favorite would be the mothers openly breast feeding some very large offspring that should have been weened years ago.

No More Kool Aid: I did not have to sit with my lunch under my ass. I could not eat for days (either during or after)

44

Bethelite reverence

by Waffles in

jw
friends

have any of you had the experience of a bethelite brother visiting your kh?.

here's how it always seemed to go in my experience:.

there is a general kh-wide excitement in the air that a real, live bethelite rockstar is at the hall; overheard are numerous convo's featuring words like "o, he's a bethelite".. visiting brother bethelite gives the closing prayer and is immediately mobbed by adoring fans.. all the single sisters are on high alert, you can smell the estrogen in the air.

Magwitch

My brother went to bethel in the late 70's. Our small hick hall in Northern WI was so proud you would think he was leaving to be knighted by the Queen. One going away party after another along with presents and endless cards and letters of congratulations. After arriving at bethel, my sweet innocent brother was taken to his first X-rated movie, had a gay roommate and became friends with Ray Franz. He left bethel after only a few months never to set foot inside a KH ever again. He feels extremely lucky to have had such a eye opening experience.

40

What finally pushed you over the edge?

by keyser soze in

was there one issue or incident, final straw, so-to-speak, that made you leave once and for all?

i know there was for me.. i had been having doubts for years, and had stopped believing it was the truth.

but i labored on as a jw, in part because of my family, and in part because i had invested so much of myself in it.

Magwitch

4/12/06 was my 20th wedding anniversary. It was the Memorial and my husband was giving the talk. I had basically been under house arrest for 20 years. I seethed with anger that I had let myself live a life not too much different than the women in Afganistan. My husband had put this god forsaken religion ahead of our daughters and me. I walked out of that KH that night never to return. Filed for divorce and gained full custody of my two daughters. Three years of happiness and freedom for all three of us!!!

4

Interesting Article in Today's Paper

by Magwitch in

story available at http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/04/22/news/wyoming/35-deathbenefits.txt.

published on wednesday, april 22, 2009.. last modified on 4/22/2009 at 12:33 am.

wyoming told to pay death benefitsby the associated press.

Magwitch

Story available at http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/04/22/news/wyoming/35-deathbenefits.txt

Published on Wednesday, April 22, 2009.
Last modified on 4/22/2009 at 12:33 am

Wyoming told to pay death benefits

By The Associated Press

CHEYENNE - The Wyoming Supreme Court says the state's Workers Safety and Compensation Division must pay death benefits to the widow of a Jehovah's Witnesses member.

Howard W. Williams, 67, died at a Cheyenne hospital in 2006 after surgery to remove a ruptured spleen he suffered in a work-related vehicle accident. Court records say that Williams, his wife and son had refused to allow doctors to use blood products and that he died soon after surgery from low blood pressure.

The Wyoming Workers Safety and Compensation Division later refused to pay death benefits to his widow, Sharon Williams. A hearing officer for the division ruled that she wasn't entitled to benefits because Howard Williams had refused reasonable and necessary medical treatment.

According to the court ruling, written by Justice Michael Golden, the Williams family told Dr. M. Whitney Parnell at United Medical Center in Cheyenne that they were Jehovah's Witnesses and didn't want any blood products used in Mr. Williams' treatment.

Parnell testified that she would have brought Williams into surgery sooner and transfused him with other blood products if she had been allowed to do so. She said using the blood products would have increased Williams' chances of survival, but would not have guaranteed it.

Golden noted in the court ruling that Williams had already lost a lot of blood by the time that he reached the hospital. He noted that Parnell couldn't say that Williams necessarily would have survived if he had accepted transfusions.

"Therefore, under the specific facts of this case, the acceptance of the transfusion of blood products cannot be deemed to be 'reasonably essential' to Mr. Williams' survival," Golden wrote.

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the legal organization of the Jehovah's Witnesses, entered the case before the Wyoming Supreme Court and tried to raise the argument that the state statute that the division relied on to deny Mrs. Williams' application for death benefits violated the right to free exercise of religion.

The court ruling didn't address the constitutional argument, saying it didn't need to reach that point before ruling in favor of granting benefits to Sharon Williams on the other grounds.

Chief Justice Barton R. Voigt filed a dissenting opinion saying that the state hearing officer was correct that blood products could have helped Williams.

"When Dr. Parnell took the fork in the road mandated by the employee (Williams) and his son, she clearly took the road less traveled," Voigt said. "I would affirm the decision of the hearing examiner."

Mike Causey, senior assistant attorney general, said Tuesday that the state doesn't see many cases involving these particular facts.

"I think the court closely examined the record, I find it very interesting that we do have a dissent in this case," Causey said.

Cheyenne lawyer Don Sullivan represented Williams' widow.

"Obviously, we're very happy to win," Sullivan said. "I think the court certainly got it right."

"I don't think the opinion plows any new ground," Sullivan said. "It simply enforces the burden of proof that's in the statute. I bet we go another 30 years, if then, before this has bearing on another real-life case."

Sullivan said the ruling means that Sharon Williams is entitled to a one-time payment of $25,000 plus funeral expenses for her husband.

"Wyoming does not treat injured workers well. It never has," Sullivan said of the payment. "That's a one-shot deal."