it has taken me a long time, but i have finally put together an article outlining how i used the law to force bethel to send me my personal files.
it is a very long article full of scans, so i have linked to it at http://jwfacts.com/watchtower/experiences/personal-files-privacy-act-1988.php.
in brief, in 2006 i requested that bethel send me my files on the basis that the australian privacy act 1988 entitles people to receive a copy of any information a corporation holds about them.
er that's just the other side of scary. I don't want to know what is written about me. You're braver than me but the cause of JW Facts is worth it.
leavingwt this is a pretty cynical read. I can already hear JW's trying to justify it - but frankly - it's nasty.
MMXIV
i can get a list of their corporations:.
http://appsext8.dos.state.ny.us/corp_public/corpsearch.select_entity.
but how do i get to the financials of these organizations?
If you can get your hands on them I'll sift through them. I've done this with what UK figures were available and found one interesting payoff.
MMXIV
despite my post count im not exactly new here.
i used to post und lost_light06 on the old board.
anyhow, i received this email from a jw family member.
Hmmm. The email is happy to quote the media having a go at churches but no mention of the media that identified similar things amongst JW's over the last decade? Cherrypick the good bits why not.
MMXIV
this was always one of the main justifications for me in leaving the wt behind.
i was just wondering how many of you have ever reasoned in the same way.. i have often wondered how jesus christ would react if he came back to the earth now and how he would view the organisation who claim to represent his standards?.
would jesus really want to be associated with paedophilia, false prophecies, shunning, the destruction of families, lies, untruths, hypocritical leaders and the lack of love amongst members?.
he'd walk into Bethel and turn over tables spilling KH title deeds onto the floor
one thing this site has made me reflect on the baptism practice in jw land.. many of us were raised in the religion, thus you were given the pressure early on to shoot for baptism as a goal.. i remember feeling bad because i waited until the ripe old age of 14 to take the plunge.. looking back, i realize that when i was 14, i didnt even know what my favorite color was, let alone have enough knowledge to make a life altering decision.
yet, growing up in that climate, i would say anyone who waited past their early teens to get baptised was viewed with great suspicion and was likely to be viewed as "bad association".
kids who took the dip at 8-9 years of age were viewed as "wise beyond their years" and the like.. how old were some of you when you were baptised, and what are your feelings on the matter?.
16. Peer pressure er..."good association".
I still played with Lego. The highlight of my tv viewing was watching Neighbours and I wasn't to experience the effects of more than one pint of beer for another 2 years.
How anyone even younger than me could have understood the impacts of such a life long commitment I'll never know. Any sincere organisation that didn't want to trap it's members wouldn't allow lifetime memberships until they were at least 30 and even then have a tick box offering the option to unsubscribe from this cult religion at any time.
MMXIV
PS. Don't even ask what music I was listening to - really embarrassed about that one
it's not too soon to start mentioning that to jw's- let them know that 100 years is a long time and even g-d only made the israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years, before he brought them to the promised land.
let the doubt begin creeping in and let the jw's know they aren't the only ones with doubts.
i will mention 2014 to jw's from now on- it's a date that the wt hopes the jw's will ignore..
Evidently
MMXIV
here and in other websites (such as jwfacts) i learned that the wt frowns on higher education but is also aware that it needs trained staff.
i also learned that at some point they weren't as tight on learning more skills because they found that the rank and file witness had trouble finding a job that would let him do for a more decent living.
well, i wonder what happens in poorer countries, where salaries are much lower, jobs much more scarce, and where an university degree is still a huge advantage but no guarantee of anything.
I didn't get an education. Truthfully because I didn't try hard at school - what was the point if Armageddon was coming before I left? I was very bright before I became a teenager - top of the school but afterwards only did enough to get by. It was frowned upon to do any higher education in the congregation and although I started pre-uni studies I quickly dropped out. The teachers couldn't believe it but I explained it was so I could become a full time minister. I recall meeting one teacher of mine in the street a few months later (I had been top of her class just before I left) and she blanked me in disgust. The PO and other pioneers thought I was great though.
Roll on a few years and I was doing part time sales work earning enough to put petrol in my car. A kid from my old class comes into my shop - he was a disruptive type - very cocky with average grades. He'd done his pre-Uni exams (A levels) and got himself a job as a trainee stock broker - was driving a great car and still only 19. That's when I knew I'd screwed up cos I was pretty materialistic.
Eventually I went to college in the evenings for 6 years - oops that did mean missing some meetings which I didn't hear the end of but I was fading. Somehow I've salvaged a great career, life etc but only after a decade of incredible effort.
For anyone out there that thinks (or is told) education later in life is a waste of time - it isn't. Do it. For me it was meeting replacement therapy and a chance at a new life.
MMXIV
i guess i should tell my story.
i'm a born in.
both parents are jw, they did the pioneer serve where the need is great thing.
I'm very sorry you have had to go through this. Very hard for your mum but tougher on kids because that's your start in life. I'm still amazed that being respectable and loving at the KH is considered far more important than what goes on behind closed doors in the family. Whitewashed graves springs to mind.
It doesn't sound like any possible outcome can compensate for what you have had to go through so don't be disappointed if you get continued lack of justice. There can be no real justice in this case.
best of luck
MMXIV
i was thinking of a few celebrities i have met over the years -.
neil diamond, matt damon, terry bradshaw, robert downey jr to name a few..
Film: George Lucas, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Keanu Reeves, Danial Craig, Natalie Portman, John Barrowman, The Queen, Ewan McGreggor, Thandie Newton, Anna Friel, Laurence Fishburne, Dougray Scott, Jane Campion
Music: Thom York, Kylie Minogue, Noel Gallagher, David Gilmour, Robbie Williams, Bill Wyman, Edwin Starr
Sport: Maradona, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, British boxers (Eubank, Benn, Cooper, Lewis, McGuigan, Honeyghan), rowers (Pinsent, Cracknell, Redgrave), Seb Coe, Daily Thompson
Other: The Queen, Prince Philip, Stephen Hawkins, Elle McPherson,
MMXIV
today i was remembering how angry i used to get at the meetings and all the little irritations that in the end would just make my blood boil these included:.
prayers that go on foreverstudy or wt conductors still taking comments when its clear that the point has been covered 20 times alreadymeetings over running by more than 5 minsmy favourite was this one elder who would play guess the point i am thinking of.
he would keep rephrasing the question from the wt until someone would bring up the point he was thinking of.
If all I am going to hear at the boasting sessions is how important the boasting sessions are, they are not all that important after all.
Yup some irony. A meeting talking about how important it is to be at that meeting when all the people who it is aimed at are not there to hear it.
MMXIV
