Hopscotch

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Posts by Hopscotch

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  8

  Surviving an Unwanted Shepherding Call 101

  by 2pink in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a little background: my husband and i are newly fading, er make that disappearing.

  i haven't been to meeting in months (and life has never been better).

  i made the god-awful mistake of not turning in field service time for september, the same week the co was in town.

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  Hopscotch

  2pink that was funny. Sounds like the only thing missing was a video camera to capture the event for future laughs!

  Hopscotch
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  90

  List of family/friends lost to the Watchtower cult? (suicides)

  by hubert in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after reading about puternuts (ari) suicide, and also reading about sabine and js losing their daughter to this cult, i think it would be a fitting memorial, so to speak, to write a list of all the people we know who died because of this cult.

  i also know that cruzanheart lost her dad to it, too.

  i'm sure there are many here that can make a list of suicides brought on by the shunning/threatening policies of the watchtower cult.

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  Hopscotch

  At the moment I don't want to give out names but here are the details of some I can remember.

  Brisbane 2000 - 19 year old girl (active JW), car exhaust fumes, distraught after elders talked her into breaking up with boyfriend (JW - not in good standing).

  Brisbane c1999 - teenage boy (brother of the above girl), active JW - can't remember how but think it was car exhaust

  Brisbane 1994 - 17 year boy, ran in front of truck on highway. It came to light 3 years later that he was a victim of witness pedophile. See my post about this pedo here http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/184540/2/New-sex-offender-in-my-hall

  I know of some other JW suicides in the area - sister around 40 years - hung herself. I think it was in the late 1980's but can't remember all the details.

  There was another young teenage boy (17) in the early nineties. It came out that he too was a victim of the above mentioned pedophile. I think he hung himself - again can't remember all the details.

  I'm sure there were others that I knew about but I can't remember them at the moment.

  Hopscotch
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  224

  Where Are You From?

  by finallysomepride in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alot of members don't have a flag or country name beside their user name, and well frequently one doesn't know where that particular person is from, tell us your country, state, county or what ever you feel like giving out.

  if you are going to post please at least devulge your country.. me, i'm originally from taranaki, new zealand via auckland.

  for the most of this decade i have been living & working in brisbane, queensland, australia.. .

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  Hopscotch

  Around Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

  Hopscotch
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  50

  New sex offender in my hall

  by Iwonder17 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just found out that there is a sex offender in my hall.

  the "brother" that i was with said " the brothers will make sure that he is not put with any kids in service".

  wtf !!!!

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  Hopscotch

  Not only do many of the elders not want to do anything about protecting children from these monsters, sometimes they can be the onces who actively bring them along to the hall.

  In a congregation we were in when my son was about 7 the presiding overseer started studying with an inactive (for many years) witness man and brought him along to the Sunday meetings and sat with him up the back. This was a guy who had left his wife and two kids (she had since sent in a letter of disassociation) a few years before. When they were previously in the cong before they split up they were a very sociable family and became good friends with quite a few families with children.

  When this man (he would be around 40) was coming back to the Sunday meetings I noticed he used to make a point of smiling at my son when I took him out to the restrooms. For some reason this instinctively made me feel uneasy.

  Anyway now he was back some of the young boys who his family had been friends with, had now become teenagers and started to tell their parents of the molesting that had happened at this hands of this monster. Once a couple of them spoke up, others came out of the woodwork from far and wide to tell of their abuse at the hands of this creep. Then it came to light that three of the young teenage boys in the area who had suicided in the past few years had all been victims of this pedophile. Then victims from the community in general (not JWs) started to come forward with their stories - this guy had joined the SES (a volunteer rescue type organisation) and had met victims through there.

  So this case was starting to become huge. It turns out that the pedo had an inkling someone might come forward about it so came back to the JWs to somehow show he had reformed.

  It was also found out after one of the mothers contacted his ex wife that he had molested his wife's teenage brother. He had kept quite about it up until now as the pedophile had told him that if he told anyone, the pedo would kill his own children. His wife only found this out after all this other stuff was coming to light

  By the way the ex wife had never written the letter of disassociation - he had forged it himself to stop any witnesses from talking to her, in case her brother did tell her what had happened to him.

  But it had to come to this before the PO did anything and stopped bringing him to meetings. But the PO still kept calling on him to encourage him.

  However, much to the relief of everyone, the creep killed himself before it became public and went to court.

  Hopscotch
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  7

  Australian Senator Slams Scientology in Parliment - Could JWs Be Next?

  by Hopscotch in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  australian senator xenophon slammed scientology in a speech in parliment.

  it was covered last night on national tv here by a current affairs program today tonight.

  by sheer chance (as i usually do not watch tv) it was starting when i went into my mil's room (she is a jw who lives with us) so i stayed and watched the program.. the senator stated at the end of his speech, "scientology is not a religious organisation, it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.".

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  I just realised that JWfacts has done a story on this too but his is more about the Scientologists response to the Senators Speech. I looked through all the topics for the last day before I posted mine but somehow I missed his one.

  Hopscotch
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  7

  Australian Senator Slams Scientology in Parliment - Could JWs Be Next?

  by Hopscotch in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  australian senator xenophon slammed scientology in a speech in parliment.

  it was covered last night on national tv here by a current affairs program today tonight.

  by sheer chance (as i usually do not watch tv) it was starting when i went into my mil's room (she is a jw who lives with us) so i stayed and watched the program.. the senator stated at the end of his speech, "scientology is not a religious organisation, it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs.".

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  Hopscotch

  Australian Senator Xenophon slammed Scientology in a speech in parliment. It was covered last night on national TV here by a current affairs program Today Tonight. By sheer chance (as I usually do not watch TV) it was starting when I went into my MIL's room (she is a JW who lives with us) so I stayed and watched the program.

  The senator stated at the end of his speech, "Scientology is not a religious organisation, it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious beliefs."

  Here is a transcipt of the senator's speech:

  http://au.todaytonight.yahoo.com/article/6489042/none/scientology-hammered-senator

  What was so interesting to me was the similarities between Scientology and JWs. (I was hoping my MIL would see it too - she did seem a bit uncomfortable during some of the story). For example on a number of occasions the ex scientologists being interviewed would say that basically the most important thing was not bringing any shame on the organisation.

  Some other things that were said that are very similar to the problems with JW's were:

  The covering up of child abuse. For example

  "Carmel says she also witnessed a young girl who had been molested by her father being coached as to what she should say to investigating authorities in order to keep the crimes secret."

  The policy of shunning those that leave or speak out or the cutting off association with 'worldly' relatives and friends. For example

  "Anna says she was instructed by the organisation to disconnect from her sister because her sister was gay and therefore, according to Scientology, dangerous, perverted and evil."

  and

  "Other families have contacted me expressing grave concerns about their children who are still under the control of this organisation. But they have asked that I do not identify them for fear of never hearing from their children again."

  The slander meant to discredit those that leave. For example

  "And when she (Carmel) finally left the organisation, she says, information she divulged during so-called auditing was used by members to discredit her."

  The subtle way of getting people into the organisation by the slow and gradual divulging of the truth. For example

  "Kevin Mackey wrote to me detailing his 26 years of abuse in the organisation. In his letter, which I have tabled, he says: When one begins Scientology there is nothing weird or space alien about it in fact Scientology as seen by a newbie is a Godsend to a troubled soul.

  But he goes on to say: Once you have taken the bait and become hooked, the real Scientology is presented, very slowly, over years."

  I found videos of the Today Tonight story and the senators speech on this ex Scientology website.

  http://www.forum.exscn.net/showthread.php?t=14728

  All the time I was watching it I was wondering if the senator would be interested in hearing about some of the policies of JWs.

  Hopscotch
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  60

  All You Apostates are EVIL READ!!

  by DubR in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  first off lmao, i was just joking by my title guys.

  im only 24yrs old and i like to have fun!

  anyway, this is my very first post on this wonderful site.

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  Welcome DubR. I loved reading your intro post - great writing. So glad you have woken up while you are still young and before your wife got baptised. There are so many of us on here who wasted most of our lives being controlled by the WTS.

  Wishing you and your wife all the best

  Hopscotch
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  6

  The “conscious class”…

  by tjlibre in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the conscious class.... .

  i have just come across this term on the jwrecovery.org website.

  it appears to refer to those who are awakening and learning that the wt is just another religion that uses mind control to hold us captive, but for numerous reasons cant leave the org.

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  Hopscotch

  Mad Sweeney - last night I actually dreamed I was back in my old congregation and one by one we woke up then all left together!

  tjlibre - I don't know what the percentage of the conscious class is but I can't wait for the tipping point to happen then hopefully a mass walk-out.

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  25

  Shunning inactive JW? I never heard about it before....

  by Albert Einstein in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from many of your posts ive noticed some of you, who never were df or da are practicaly shunned by your family memebers or congregation memebers.

  does that really mean they wouldnt talk to you or greet you, if they meet you on the street or if you call them?.

  i live in eastern europe and i never in my life heard about such attitude.

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  Hopscotch

  Albert - my husband and I (JWs for over 40 years) started fading about 4 years ago. In January this year, after a couple of inquisitions about it from my father (an elder), he gave us an ultimatum - go back to the meetings and become active JWs again or my family would cut us off. He gave me three hours to think about it and give him an answer.

  I phoned three hours later to tell him we were not going to go back to meetings - he ranted, raved, insulted us then told me I was dead as far as my family is concerned and that they had no intention of showing me love anymore.

  So since the 16th January this year I have had absolutely no contact whatsoever with my father, sister and her husband and children and my brother, his wife and children.

  And we are not da'd or df'd.

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  31

  Dec. 15th WT - WT Skewed View of Love- Preach, Die, Suffer, Help our Own

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, they are up to their old tricks again.

  trying to manipulate rank and file members views of what " real love " is again.. the title of the study article is " love that never fails " .

  as my jw daughter so succinctly informed me a couple weeks ago that the most important way jehovah's witnesses are counseled to " show love " is by preaching the good news door to door.

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  Hopscotch

  wantstoleave - my heart was really touched too by the response of the community to the bushfire disaster.

  I feel that time in Feburary was a real turning point for me in my view of humankind in general, after having been a witness for over 40 years. When the bushfires occured in February, I was still reeling from being told by my father, in January, that as far as my family was concerned I was now dead and that they had no intention of showing me love anymore (Dad's exact words). I was still in shock as we had been a very close family and I did not think they would really do that to me (and my husband and son) as we were not df'd or da'd, just faded away from JWs.

  And then one month later in February, in stark contrast to that warped conditional love shown by JWs, was this immense outpouring of human kindness, love and generosity being shown by 'worldly' people to complete strangers in need. It was an incredibly moving time and was an event that made me realise for the first time just how proud I was to be an ordinary member of the Australian community, a community that shows what real unconditional love for fellow humans can be.

  Hopscotch