FOKYC - I can only surmise that your congregation is a "market town" (with market town mentality) from the Midlands/South West England or possibly the Welsh marches with two opinionated elders on the service committee that rule the roost! I can just see them getting together to write to bethel and working out every last "unchristian" thing that they can say about you. They think they are so immune that even data protection doesn't matter to them until it bites them in the rear!
Posts by freddo
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22How Good Was/Is Your Singing Of The Kingdom Songs?
by finallysomepride inmine, this is self explanitory, i hated it & just moved my lips but nothing came out..
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50
The Caring Elders
by cantleave ini would be interested in your opinion of the following:.
a friend told me about an incident that had happened in a neighbouring congregation.
she told me that a sister from the congregation needed to get back to work after a meeting but discovered that she was boxed in.
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freddo
OK - UK ex elder here - this is my twopennorth.
If she is prepared to "take this all the way" and is wanting to stay in the congo (and accept gossip and slander and all the snooty looks) then this is what she should do.
Go to the brother with her case in writing.
Bro. Rex Karz
Looneytune Cong of JW's
Fairyland
Dear Bro Karz
On Thursday last you insisted upon getting my car out of a tight spot in the kingdom hall car park. You damaged it (photo's enclosed) and the cost of repair is shown on three estimates from reputable repairers ranging from £600 to £750. I appreciate you were trying to help but the result is that I need my car fixing. According to my insurers I am not insured for this and neither are you.
Our verbal communication thus far has proved worrying to me in your reluctance to address this matter properly and I now reluctantly inform you that I expect you to pay me the sum of the repairs as soon as possible. If you have not agreed to this within seven days then I will apply the first stage of Matthew 18. Any refusal by you to follow the steps outlined in this bible-based procedure will result in my formally writing to the body of elders to enable them to suggest two witnesses who can ascertain the facts.
In turn, if I feel that I if am being "fobbed off", disrespected and/or treated in an unchristian manner over this matter then I will take it up with the circuit overseer or branch office.
I remain
Your loving sister in Jehovah's service (!)
Minnie Driver
(You may choose - in writing - to say that you will accept payment over say 6 months or even a year and you may agree that you were partly to blame - that's up to you - but start high I say)
Sadly I reckon sister will get taken for a ride because she will not square up to this elder.
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16
about the BBC panorama expose
by highdose indid anyone here actauy know the people cited as examples in that program?
also i was wondering how much good/ bad it did?
did it open anyones eyes?.
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freddo
When Panorama aired in the UK it sent shockwaves through the congo I was an elder in at the time. I went with the CO to visit some cong. members who were unsettled by it as I believe they felt that cases involving them or their family were handled in a "misguided, keep quiet and wait on Jehovah" sort of way. Later two of them went to the authorities about two different historical cases which were investigated by the police. And no sanction was brought against the victims and one of them continues as an MS to this day. I also believe but cannot prove that it was this programme that was the catalyst for one of the main victims of Michael Porter to come forward and so it got that rolling.
The letter that was read in all UK congo's - in an unprecedented and unrepeated way they shortened the WT to 30 mins and read the letter which says that anyone may go to the authorities without fear of sanction in the congregation - was the biggest result in my view.
I have said to anyone who wants to know (and some that don't) that that letter is extant and the policy can be viewed on jw.org even today.
For anyone who is not utterly dependent on the elders (and sadly many are and many elders still trot out the "wait on Jah" "and don't bring reproach" lines) they now have the teeth to get the police involved.
Good for the BBC! They have forced the org. to do what it doesn't want to do. God! I hate their supercilious handwringing cowardly behaviour that cow-tows to money and power when they should be a hiding place from the storm!
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27
"not a good example"
by LoriJis ini have a concern i guess or just want to vent.
my husband and i - as most of you know - we're married just a little under 2 months and you all know at that point i was still "active" in the org.
we had a few issues with our bridal party - namely the groom - cuz according to them he wasnt a good example and not in good status because they hadn't seen him at the meetings or in service for like 2 months.
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freddo
JW Weddings are a minefield. And I think they are tightening control from the top down and weedy elders lockstep obey!
It wasn't long ago that an inactive bro. could be a best man in my neck of the woods and an unbelieving father could certainly walk his daughter down the aisle or "give her away".
Fools.
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51
Of the sexual abuse survivors you knew. . .
by Lady Lee inhow many fit this description provided by no longer held captive?.
as a nurse, i can tell you that their lives wont go well.
usually abused females end up neurotics and suffer from personality disorders, and more often than not, anorexic.
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freddo
Of the paedos I know about - probably a couple of dozen in all in the j/witnesses - many were completely screwed up but many seem perfectly "normal" whatever that is.
But I think it is a matter of degree. Of reaction - not just of the victim but of their family. Also the general background too. - let me illustrate.
One victim I know is a good friend and was abused by an older teenager when he was a boy. His problems have in my non-professional opinion been magnified by his wierdo family (who were not involved as perpetrators in the sexual abuse) who number drug taking, poor parenting skills, poor spouse-choosing and suicide among his parents/siblings. I/e - he was obviously vulnerable before he was abused.
He holds down a good job and is a really nice guy but I can tell his personal decision making skills have been effected by his abuse and upbringing and experiences as a jw - which he still is.
Another - a family member who was a jw and abused by a non-jw Uncle but whose family were supportive, stopped the abuse and shopped the perp. told me she felt supported and believed and has put the abuse behind her - she seems a happily married young woman who is also a jw.
Others I know were the victims of an evil paedo MS/elder that hit the national news here in the UK in 2007, but because some of their abuse was unknown to them at the time (too young - as in under age 2 - to recollect) but known to them later as adults then they have to deal with the shock of what happened to them as babies but it was handleable for them without them going off the rails.
I have come across an amateur psychologist in one congo who IMO gained quite a following among the vulnerable who insists that her "patients" "have to face their perpetrator" - "have" to do this and that and "cannot" move on without doing things her way. I cannot help but think that she is working out her own issues through the needy.
Health professionals in general I find helpful and detached - working with what the victim feels they can do - as they should - in this area.
Perhaps Lady Lee is over-sensitive? - God! I would be more so after all that has happened to her and I applaud her for the help she gives others on this forum. No way does any victim have to be made to feel they cannot move on if Lady Lee is an example of what can be achieved from bad circumstances as a child.
NLHC - As a nurse in this area then my hat goes off to you too! But I suggest that by the time you get to see the victims in your care then they are the worse effected ones and for every one of them there are others who have managed to cope with their lives with less health care assistance and become productive citizens.
All JW's lurking? Go to the police; school; social workers or whatever. DO NOT LET ELDERS BULLY OR THREATEN YOU INTO REMAINING SILENT.
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221
In the Interests of Unity Between us Brits and You Yanks...
by creativhoney intally ho!
i thought it might be jolly nice to have a thread that dispels the myths about each others cultures.
so from little britain i hope y'all respond and we can turn this into a nice chat.
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freddo
OOOH! Just noticed the clip above in Beksbks post with Richard Briers and the "stunningly plain" Penelope Keith as Margo in the Good Life - the complete opposite of the "pretty and pert" Felicity Kendal (the blonde one) (the latter was quite rightly voted "rear of the year" throughout the 70's and 80's). And Paul Eddington who plays her long suffering husband went on (before his sad early death) to play in Yes, Minister! alongside the utterly brilliant Nigel Hawthorne (Title role in the Madness of King George III).
A set of British institutions.
My all time favourite (note spelling please!) American show with Veronica Hamel, Daniel Traventi et al was/is Hill Street Blues. Quality.
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221
In the Interests of Unity Between us Brits and You Yanks...
by creativhoney intally ho!
i thought it might be jolly nice to have a thread that dispels the myths about each others cultures.
so from little britain i hope y'all respond and we can turn this into a nice chat.
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freddo
Yes, we Brits definitely do have a ground/earth pin which is used on our electrical plugs/sockets. In a properly working type G (known as a 13amp plug/socket although it should carry a lower fuse for lower rated appliances) plug/socket the earth pin is longer than the other two and by pushing it in it will open the other two (live and neutral) terminals.
However - some smaller wattage appliances do not have the earth pin wired up on their plugs as their leads/cables are only two-wire.
I put it to the jury that Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate is the best chocolate! Discuss.
Freddo
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34
The ONE 'sin' I NEVER heard of in all my time as a JW . . . . .
by nicolaou ini never heard of any sister having an abortion - doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that i never heard of one.. i've personally known child abusers, closet gays, drunks and thieves all within my time at just 2 congregations.
i know one brother who hid the fact he had blood transfusions at a critical time.
now i'm certainly not lumping in an abortion with acts of abuse or dishonesty, and for the record i don't consider it a 'sin' (whatever that is).
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freddo
Wobble - could you explain what you mean by "not truly human"? I don't understand.
Freddo.
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The next British monarch...
by highdose incurrently we have dear old liz with her corgis but i belive she has delayed retireing because of how much her son is not liked?
she surely can't keep going much longer?!!
so i was wondering... for all you brits or ex brits here... who would you like to see as the next ruling monarch?
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freddo
Unless there is an accident or terminal illness I think this is how it will go.
QE2 dies in 2027 at age 101 after 75 years as Queen
Charles becomes George 7th at age 78/79 and dies ten years later in 2037
William is King William 5th at age 55 in 2037 - His eldest offspring - male or female is the next Monarch.
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283
News from Mother ship
by jefferywhat in1. bethel in ny suspect high level apostate, cant identify it but know its there.
2. major organizational changes about to start rolling out, one is changes to the "service committee" and titles, po to be done away with, thats all i know for now.
was told that if you are the sort of person that cant handle changes, you wont stay in the org for long.
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freddo
In answer to Oracle ...
PO title has been replaced with "Co-ordinator of the Body of Elders" - this was done ostensibly to take the "presiding" = authority bit away.
IMO there is always another hidden reason and I guess this change will be due to legal ramifications from some Bro P.O. Gotmoremouththanbraincells being held responsible by an attorney acting for an ex-jw in a costly molestation/uninsured injuries claim heading it's way to Brooklyn!