Domina

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Posts by Domina

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  4

  Whats the latest on the blood doctrine?

  by greenhornet in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  one quick question?

  can jws store there blood for an operation?

  and if they need a blood transfusion can they have there own stored blood?

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  Domina

  Someone gave this illustration, and it meant alot to me. Please someone tell me how to fix my formatting, so I do not end up with a big paragraph grrr
  Anyway...She said this:
  
  "Remember when I couldn’t eat birthday-cake...because that was participating in the birthday celebration??"
  
  -yes
  
  "What if I took the birthday candles off? Could I then eat it?"
  
  -No, it would still be b-day cake.....
  
  "OK....what if I scrapped all the frosting off, especially the parts that had the birthday lettering on it? Then could I eat it???"
  
  -No...it would still be a cake made specifically for that birthday and you would be celebrating it regardless of how you changed the cake, it’s still a birthday cake....
  
  "So why then, couldn’t I eat the cake, no matter how much I altered it to make it not a "birthday cake" and you can pick apart the building blocks of blood, and somehow that’s not the same as a blood transfusion when you accept it into your body...isn’t that NOT abstaining from blood, as you’re still taking parts of it to justify using it, but not admitting you really are?"
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  29

  Are Jehovah's Witnesses a Cult?

  by digderidoo in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i have found these 14 characteristics of a typical cult and below are some questions regarding the behaviour of a cult.

  my personal opinion is that the watchtower society fits into most of these characteristics, with the exception of 1& 14. possibly part of number 10 fits, but not all.

  i feel that all of the questions posed should be asked of jw's and all of the further symptoms apply too.

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  Domina

  I am breaking my response into two parts. The 14 points and then the questions. I am fairly new here, and apologize if it all smooshes together. I do not know how you get the breaks in your sentances and paragraphs, and there is not a spot where I can edit. Sorry.

  I actually think they fit all 14, and I will pull out my reasoning book for this..

  Marcia Rudin's 14 Common Characteristics of a Cult

  1. Members swear total allegiance to an all-powerful leader who they believe to be the Messiah.

  While it is not a leader... it is Jehovah through the Governing body.. that witnesses swear allegiance to. Messiah means anointed one.

  2. Rational thought is discouraged or forbidden.
  everyone probably agrees with this one. If not, look at how many times stances were changed, and the 'faithful' followed the new rules.

  3. The cult's recruitment techniques are often deceptive.

  The happy people? Do we need to say more?

  4. The cult weakens the follower psychologically by making him or her depend upon the group to solve his or her problems.

  The mantra I remember is that if I was faithful, I would not have to undergo tribulation. I knew of nothing really outside of the witnesses... and since there was pretty much every type of service through witnesses, I did not feel that I should go outside the faith- even for a doctor, as we had one
  
  5. The cults manipulate guilt to their advantage.

  many of us are still fighting that.
  
  6. The cult leader makes all the career and life decision of the members.

  no need for higher education. I was called in the back room when I mentioned I wanted to be a nurse, and was warned of a possible private reproof for that desire. Needless to say, the good witness girl did not go to get the extra schooling
  
  7. Cults exist only for their own material survival and make false promises to work to improve society.

  They take in about 1 billion a year, not bad for a 'non-profit' organization. Not to mention the buildings that went up/being refurbished into luxury condos in 2005. Wonder if the buy low sell high worked there?
  
  8. Cult members often work fulltime for the group for little or no pay.

  Hi, My name is domina... and I worked for a cult full time for 2 years. (crowd responds: hi domina)
  
  9. Cult members are isolated from the outside world and any reality testing it could provide.

  This ties into point 10. But most of us are aware of how sheltered we were when we came out, naive even.
  
  10. Cults are anti-woman, anti-child, and anti-family.

  This is a very apt point to me. Think of the meeting- children, very small even, are supposed to sit still for 1-2 hours(not including assemblies and conventions.) Women hold a place of subservience, especially with her mate. Families are supposedly close, but if one of them fall from the religion- the whole family is to cut them off like they have died. How is that for unconditional love? I have more examples, but this is getting to be a long reply, sorry lol.
  
  11. Cults are apocalyptic and believe themselves to be the remnant who will survive the soon-approaching end of the world.

  What we went door to door to tell everyone about. Sigh... I envied those people I woke up, they got to sleep in

  12. Many cults follow an "ends justify the means" philosophy.

  Shunning is a very good example of this. I even agreed that I should have been shunned until just recently. Now it pisses me off.

  13. Cults, particularly in regard to their finances, are shrouded in secrecy.

  I had to dig to see how much they brought home in 2007. Near as I could tell, it was about 1 billion. That is just what I found, and most likely not correct. It is probable that that figure is low.
  
  14. There is frequently an aura of or potential for violence around cults.

  There is a lot of violence around the witnesses and in the witnesses. Think about all the stories we used to hear about persecution of 'the faithful brothers and sisters in(insert place)'. Also, sexual abuse, spousal abuse, while not talked about is very prevalent. They even coach the congregations what to expect when violence erupts with Armageddon, almost desensitizing them to it.

  edited for easier reading -- Lee
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  11

  Let's help the friends give the #3 talk

  by CombattingTheCult in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i thought it might be considerate to help the friends who have the #3 talk this week.

  the subject is "true prophets did not always understand how and when things foretold would happen".

  any modern day applications would be especially beneficial for the audience.

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  Domina

  Maybe we can go on a field trip to Beth Sarim? That would be good at least for an illustration of what happens when one makes a prophecy that falls flat.
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  42

  Where was the joy they kept taling about

  by heybaby in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  ok, so i have been thinking about my time as a jw (i'm fading out - read my other posts for background info).

  you know how you always hear how the ministry will bring so much joy and contentment, yadda yadda yadda?

  i always hated service...always!!

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  Domina

  Define slow torture... I was a auxiliary/ regular pioneer in South Dakota for 2 years. Some friends of mine have made apology videos for the part they played in that :) I am considering it when I get a camera/mic setup :)
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  45

  Lurker for a long time, finally decided to take the plunge!

  by Momma-Tossed-Me in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i say this because i have been helped so much by the many posts that represent the way i feel about the wtbts.

  it is good to know that there are so many people that feel this way.

  i am currently inactive and dont comment but do attend meetings for the sake of the family.. my wife is still in and i have a daughter and one on the way.

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  Domina

  Welcome too... i am also a nooblet to this forum :)
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  27

  I am new

  by Domina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am new to this group, but am in a few others for exjw's.

  my parents were not the best people, and when my witness sister offered me a 'safe haven' i thought it was a blessing.

  little did i know how much that choice would hurt me over the years.

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  Domina

  Thank you all for the warm welcome! I think I still have a bit of that fear of being judged that I had as a witness. I will be trolling the posts, getting to know all of you... muwahahaha! Seriously, thank you so much, and I look forward to reading, just have to get the format of this site down :)
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  27

  I am new

  by Domina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am new to this group, but am in a few others for exjw's.

  my parents were not the best people, and when my witness sister offered me a 'safe haven' i thought it was a blessing.

  little did i know how much that choice would hurt me over the years.

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  Domina

  Ty... dont mind... but tell me how please to fix!
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  27

  I am new

  by Domina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am new to this group, but am in a few others for exjw's.

  my parents were not the best people, and when my witness sister offered me a 'safe haven' i thought it was a blessing.

  little did i know how much that choice would hurt me over the years.

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  Domina

  I had spaces in there. It would not let me post unless I removed the HTML formatting... for those who now have a headache from reading, my apologies
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  27

  I am new

  by Domina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am new to this group, but am in a few others for exjw's.

  my parents were not the best people, and when my witness sister offered me a 'safe haven' i thought it was a blessing.

  little did i know how much that choice would hurt me over the years.

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  Domina

  Okies... twisted my arm lol. It is funny, I still wonder if people reading my posts knew me when I was a 'good witness'. Almost like I am going to get caught, even though I have been open about what I hold to be truth now. Blah... gotta love programming >.< I actually have my story saved, might one day publish it, maybe help others as I have been helped :) I was born into a very abusive household. My mom did not have it in her to stop my dad from being the big bad he was. I understand it now, that they are both broken, but back then I just felt alone and scared most of the time. When I was nine, my dad beat my mom so badly that she had me stay with my sister until she healed up. Enter the witness sibling. She told me I could come and stay with her and her family. They lived in a clean house, where the electric was paid... very appealing when you come from the background I did. She started taking me to meetings, doing family study, the whole nine yards. I wanted so badly to please them, because I did not want to go back to where I had been. Looking back on it now, I think it was not much better than where I was... the abuse was there, but was emotional and mental... much harder to show scars, much harder to heal them. Stuff that I would see in the magazines would be what was happening at home, yelling and being called names. Yet she was a pioneer and he was an elder, so there was really no where for me to go. They were pillars of the congregation, I was just a kid. I was baptized at age 11, and even though I could spout the answers they wanted to hear when being ’prepped’ for baptism, I never really connected to it. I was taken out of school (she says I asked to be... ...) but home schooling consisted of me reading and doing all the work by myself. I was not really allowed to have friends over. I was lonely. I was ill prepared for the world. I would get in trouble because my room would be a sty... and it was. But coming from the parents who would rather buy drugs than pay rent, that kind of training sort of slipped their notice lol. I auxiliary pioneered for the summer months, but was always in her car group, so I never got to associate with anyone she did not approve of (which was pretty much everyone, pioneer or not). I was so lonely I tried to commit suicide... but did it wrong, because obviously I am still here lol. Talk about an ego buster... I could not even kill myself right! I stayed in my room, which was still messy, because I was scared to leave it. Then, because I was such a problem child to her, she shipped me off to visit my sister in the Midwest. THANKS BE TO THE GODS!! This sister taught me basic stuff like how to open a checking account, or get a job (something the other sister complained about, but never showed me how to do) At this time I was 17, and did not have a drivers license nor did I even know how to really drive. Although a sister I have, who is not a witness tried to teach me, until my guardian sister said I could not associate with her anymore. My sister from the Midwest are what witnesses are supposed to be, good people. She is the only thing I regret losing when I disassociated myself. The seven years I spent in the Midwest were growing up times, and she was there for every single growing pain, helping me to be strong. She is the main reason I am not violently nasty towards witnesses now. When I moved back to Nevada, the sister that had raised me acted as though she had done nothing wrong. Enough so that I thought maybe I had glorified what had happened, or villianized it, in any case making it seem more than it was. I tried once again to build a relationship with her. At this point I was not a witness any longer. Her two sons were both out of the truth (one had been able to move back with his birth mother and become semi normal lol, the other had been disfellowshipped). Just when I started to think maybe we had healed enough, she writes me a vile, disgusting letter. She accused me of abusing her son, the one who was disfellowshipped, saying how she always knew I was a bad person and that she suspected I had done this the whole time I was there. One... we did play doctor. They had never seen girl parts, and I had never seen boy parts. That was it. Two... If you suspected someone was abusing your child, would you just let it go??? What the f#@k was she smoking to make her think a 11 year old girl was such a bad person, and then let it keep happening, if she is so sure it was? Three... she was supposed to raise us to be strong in the truth... hmm... no one is still in it with her... what does that say? It took me years to not feel guilty all of the time. I still have that ’what if’ at times. Because of the conditioning I have gone through, it is a conscious effort to not let myself worry about Armageddon. I have been lucky enough to come across some sites, some beautiful people, and actually my healing has truly been over this last year. I am proud to be pagan, that is where I was meant to be, but it is hard for me to beat those ingrained tendencies. I think I will be fighting those for years to come. But, I am free now. And my children will never be forced to make the choices, or to feel the pain that I have because of witnesses in good standing.(Found the namaste while sneaking peeks still as a witness, means so much for one little word) Not saying they are all bad, but I have met too many to believe that it is the chosen religion of a loving god. Anywho, there is my pity party, and glad to say that chapter is closed!
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  27

  I am new

  by Domina in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am new to this group, but am in a few others for exjw's.

  my parents were not the best people, and when my witness sister offered me a 'safe haven' i thought it was a blessing.

  little did i know how much that choice would hurt me over the years.

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  Domina

  I am new to this group, but am in a few others for ExJw's. My parents were not the best people, and when my witness sister offered me a 'safe haven' I thought it was a blessing. Little did I know how much that choice would hurt me over the years. But I am out now, and starting to look for ways to help others. I know people don't want to hear my sob story, but just wanted to pop in, and say hi from the newbie :) Namaste