Posts by Jang

32

Hair-raising Tale!

by Free2Bme in

jw
friends

let's have some fun.did you find out some juicy gossip about a witness that you are just dying to blab?.

here's one from me.. i went to a hairdressing salon for the first time and the stylist was a camp male who never stopped chatting from the second he got his gesticulating paws on my scruffy mop.. my mum who is a devout jw was sitting reading a mag waiting for me.. next thing he's telling us about his gay male friend who is a bit down because he is having an affair with a jw.

to make things worse he is married with kids (the brother not the gay friend).. stifling my shock and trying not to look at my mum who is staring wildly and unseeingly at her mag i asked his name or address and although he didn't know the name he told us his street and district!.

Jang

BugEye'sWife - aka BEW ...

You would have been around then when Braddy, a CO here in Qld, was wife-swapping in many of the congregations on his circuit. This went on for years until one of the wives couldn't handle it any more and contacted Bethel. After an investigation, Braddy was disfellowshipped, and so were all the others. Braddy did his 12 months on the back bench in Moe, Victoria, and was re-enstated. What was so disgusting is that in one of the congragations he was having his fun in, the edlers who were involved in it there had disfellowshipped a young girl of 15 who had been sexually abused by her father and was pregnant to him. Of course, it was her fault!!!! Cheesed me off reall good it did ...

One good thing came out of the stress .... this young lass lost the baby at 4 months. She was taken in by some very caring Christians who loved her and encouraged her to go on with her education and life. She is now a happily married woman, has 2 children and a great life. Her parents still don't talk to her, but she has plenty of mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters .....

JanG

3

Brisbane BBQ Postponed

by Jang in

jw
friends

due to unforseen circumstances, (i had another fall and hurt myself again!

bbq scheduled for this saturday, 26th may, has to be postponed while i recover.

from my new bruises.. i will let you know when we will try again ..... probably after our new deck is.

Jang

UncleBruce - It's only 12 hours max by Falcon Airways

They could leave here at midnight .... have the barbie and then get back for work next morning

Mind you, don't give the boss much hope of getting more thant ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz out of them on Monday

JanG

15

Helpful Techniques for Getting in your Time

by Jang in

jw
friends

i found this a few years back on one of the sites which has since closed down ..... .

remember: there is a time for everything under the sun.

helpful techniques for getting in your pioneer time .

Jang

I used to knock at the door really softly and hope nobody came out. And then when I realised there was nobody t home I could relax and just keep knocking occasionally "to make it look good for the neighbors" so we could stay there talking. Took the pressure off hoping the block would be finished by the time we came out. LOL

OMG!!!!! Does this bring back the memories!!!!!!! I thought I was the only one who did this!!!!!

The standing under the trees looking important sounds right too .... especially on a hot day when we could do with a bit of shade!!!! Mind you, in Canberra, it was so damned cold most of the time we had to keep walking just to keep warm!!

JanG

20

Which is the best translation of the bible...

by TheApostleAK in

jw
friends

50 years ago respected textual critic ernest cadman colwell created an apparatus of 64 scriptures to determine which is the best new testament.

i created a chart using the same criteria...and the results will surprise you!!.

http://hector3000.future.easyspace.com/colwell.htm .

Jang

Actually JanH, when I wanted to make sure a translation of a particular verse was correct I used to go aks someone who was a scholar in both Hebrew and Koine Greek and ask him because he was an athiest and had no agenda. It sure helped me get past some of those passages used to keep us under control.

It's a pity he is dead now, because he was so helpful.

JanG

3

Hurt, Anger, Then Relief?

by Big Jim in

jw
friends

at first you feel a little hurt when you discover you have been misled into believing and getting involved in a cult.. then you get mad about it for a little while, but ultimately given time you will experience a great relief that you are no longer a slave to a man made organization.. (some quotes on hurt and anger).

anger is the most impotent of passions.

it effects nothing it goes about, and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed.. do not suppress it-that would hurt you inside.

Jang

Well put BigJim.

What you said is so true and relevant ......

Do not suppress it-that would hurt you inside. Do not express it-this would not only hurt you inside, it would cause
ripples in your surroundings. What you do is transform it.

It took me a long time to learn to do this. I was a very angry young person because of the life I had led and it went through into my adult life. When we began our first support group here, someone commented on it and esplained how I could transform that anger into something positive. Now when I get angry at the abuse I see people go through in these organizations it gives me the strength and compassion to hold out my hand and if they want to, they can take it and we can both move on from there.

JanG

7

Social Psychology And Group Dynamics

by Jang in

jw
friends

social psychology and group dynamics.

studies have shown that todays cults use a stronger form of control than those of 50 years ago.

the advent of new psychological experiments in the 60s and 70s have produced the modern methods of mind control which are far more sophisticated than the behaviour modification techniques and thought reform developed by the chinese.

Jang

A lot of this info is culled from already existing data regarding the psychology of groups and social psychology. If texts,&journals.

You are right Tina, a lot of it is available but the average person doens't know where to look ... a synopsis never goes astray. When I first wrote this the only book for the general public that was on the market was Steven Hassans, and even then many had problems relating it to the JW's .... Especially those outside.

There has been a real breakthrough because the secular counter-cult people have also accepted that the Witnesses are not just another denomination, albeit a bit strict, and are actually a destrictive cult. This is a big change since Randy Watters and I began campaiging in the 80's regarding this. When Randy was at the Cult Awareness Conference it was just dismissed. Thankfullly by the time I was in Chicago for their conference in 1990 Steven Hassans book Combatting Cult Mind Control had been out for 2 years and another Xjw from Oz who was with me and I sat down with all the experts over there and were able to present this information to hopefully have them add the Witnesses to the destructive cult list. Steven Hassan, after working with Randy on a couple of Jw exit-counsellings was in full agreement.

The important thing Tina, is to make the information available in simple form for those who need it, and then encourage them to keep researching for themselves.

I like to recommend Steven Hassan's books for those who want to read further rather than plough through all those other text books ..... lets face it, texts books are not that much fun

Combatting Cult Mind Control
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0892813113/107-3627703-5906929

and his new one: Releasing The Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967068800/107-3627703-5906929

JanG

19

Got My Grades From College!

by Lindy in

jw
friends

i am so proud.

just got my grade today in the mail.

not bad for an old lady who hasn't looked in a school book for a very long time!

Jang

Good for you Lindy! That is a real accomplishment!

JanG

7

Social Psychology And Group Dynamics

by Jang in

jw
friends

social psychology and group dynamics.

studies have shown that todays cults use a stronger form of control than those of 50 years ago.

the advent of new psychological experiments in the 60s and 70s have produced the modern methods of mind control which are far more sophisticated than the behaviour modification techniques and thought reform developed by the chinese.

Jang

Bobsy, if you would like to learn more about what a cult is and coping with coming out of one, you can find a lot of info on my web page at:

http://caic.org.au/zentry1.htm

JanG

4

It Hurts!

by Jang in

jw
friends

for those who haven't seen this before: this applies to both cults and spiritually abusive systems.. the emotional pain of leaving a cult.

it hurts.

it hurts even more when it is.

Jang

When this happens, one certainly does feel:
hurt - that I've been betrayed, lied to for so, so many years.
crushed - that my whole foundation has crumbled..the "truth" is all I have ever known
confused - can I trust myself to be able to decifer what is truth now
lost - the rest of my family is still deeply entrenched
guilty - am I doing the right thing...is my mind playing tricks on me..am I even able to reason on my own
without an index in front of me
angry - the better part of my life was spent missing out on things that now I see were not "evil"

I guess I wonder why some here are able to not feel the pain as we describe and can have such a strong outlook
about the whole experience.

Maybe family still as remaining active JWs is a big part of the pain...I don't know yet.

You describe it so well Had Enough.

I think many don't show they feel the pain, and it is not that they don't feel pain. You can see the pain in the their anger, or their nonchalance .... but it would take an unfeeling sociopath not to feel something after this type of experience.

The pain is continually there for those who have family caught up. It resolves to a point, but like an aching joint, it makes it's presence felt in a nagging, persistant way.

Hang in there Had Enough, while the "joint" may ache, after a while you get used to it, and learn to live around it.

JanG

7

HOW DO PEOPLE GET OUT OF RELIGIOUS CULTS?

by Jang in

jw
friends

recovery from mind control .

how do people get out of religious cults?.

different people leave in different ways.

Jang

Prayed out .... My mother and her Christian friends were like that and what was nice was once I was out and not hostile to God any more (when I wouldn't even discuss it) was meeting all the people hwo had kept me on their prayers for so long. I was touched that so many people cared.

JanG