JWinSF

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Posts by JWinSF

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  82

  Prevalence of JW Suicides - Real or Imagined?

  by AMNESIAN in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in one or two recent threads i've seen reference to the possibility of a rising number of jw suicides being another of the organization's very dark realities about which it is vigilant in keeping concealed from its pub populace.

  is there anyone reasonably informed regarding this?

  is there reason to suppose the incidence ratio among jws is any higher than among any peoples/religion?

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  JWinSF

  My personal feeling/belief is that suicide is disproportionately higher among JWs than among members of other religions in general.

  The reason I say this is the following experience a few years ago at our first "A Common Bond" conference. It was in Washington, D.C. We wanted to have a memorial for those who'd committed suicide [but not in the JW way that doesn't really memorialize a person's life but rather shamelessly is used to promote the Organization]. The idea came up because in an email group that many of us participated in, someone brought up the subject. Then another mentioned they knew of a suicide and/or contemplated/attempted it themselves. It snowballed as many commented they personally knew JW suicide victims.

  At the Conference during the Memorial [there were approximately 60 of us in attendance] we were asked by a show of hands how many people personally knew of someone who'd committed suicide. Virtually everyone in the audience raised their hand. It was then asked how many contemplated it themselves. Again, a high number raised their hand. It was finally asked how many actually attempted it. Can't remember the exact number, but I'd venture to say that about 10% had raised their hand.

  Even though the audience was a gay/lesbian audience, we were basing our collective experience on knowing anyone who'd actually tried/succeeded in committing suicide. In my case, I knew a straight sister in Michigan who succeeded in committing suicide. I also knew a sister in California who'd attempted multiple times to commit suicide. I personally was planning my own suicide in the summer of 1993, starting to plan out how my disabled mother and sister would continue be taken care of [they were both in nursing homes at that point].

  So, yes, for whatever reasons, I firmly believe that being a JW does not in itself make one want to live. If anything, the pressures can either make a person of strong conviction consider suicide or can make someone who is predisposed to suicidal tendencies to follow through.

  Far from being congregations of "Jehovah's happy people", the organization has immense blood-guilt, IMO.
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  60

  My JW Mothers' Words Of "Love"

  by Ranchette in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, i just received a letter from my mom and i dont know how to describe my feelings at this time.

  i thought id share parts of it with you and see what yall think.

  i will delete names and add my own words in parenthesis to describe whom shes talking about.. after a few lines of small talk she says this..........i do want to tell you, since (you and your husband) have rejected the truth, i am so glad (your son) is not old enough to join or be drafted into the military.

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  JWinSF

  With love like hers, who needs hate?
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  20

  Tornado almost got me yesterday :(

  by bboyneko in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  geez, this is friggin maryland, we never get tornados..anyway at around 5:30pm (quittin time at work) i got notified that a tornado had touched down in college park, (my college, university of maryland college park) and had killed 2 people already and was headed directly in our path, it would arrive in like 10 minutes.. i went outside and it was black..the funny thing was you could see very clearly where the black ended and see clear sky right after that border.

  the clouds where movin fast.

  i talked to saffron online and told her to grab the kitty cats and head for a basement.

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  JWinSF

  Whew! That was a close one. Funny, we had a freak storm here in San Francisco last night as well. Not as bad as the one you had, though. But, it also occured around the same time PST, around 6-7 PM. We had heavy rain and --- something all in the mid-west and east are familiar with but very rare in the San Francisco Bay Area --- a lot of thunder and lightning. It reminded me of when I lived in Michigan. Actually, I kinda miss those storms. Sitting in a blackened out living room and suddenly, with a flash of light, being able to see everything clearly inside.

  College Park --- is that in Baltimore? I know the college area in Balto and love it there. In fact, have been toying with buying a place there.

  Good that you're safe.

  Toodles
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  41

  I D Cards First Step Down Slippery Slope?

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the uk government has announced that it is very serious about making it compulsory for citizens to carry an id card in view of the risk of subversive activity increasing.

  it seems to me that this is the thin edge of the wedge.

  i spent years trying to get out of a repressive organisation, and then even more years getting that organisations brain-washing out of my head.

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  JWinSF

  Hi,

  There is talk about a more formalized national ID card in the USA. We already have a quasi national ID card called the Social Security Card. Unfortunately, it's easily forged and/or stolen, has no picture ID. Yet, everything financial in this country is tied to that card. For example, tax returns, bank accounts, loans, credit cards, etc.

  So, for me, a national ID card that would be tighter in it's safety would actually be no problem for me. Hell, they could even have people get a new form of Social Security card with pic IDs, that'd route out a lot of people out there with stolen cards.

  I see this as no different from having to produce a driver's license when entering an establishment to prove ones age, e.g, over the legal drinking age. For me, I'd gladly see this put into effect if it would tighten up security/safety.

  Again, I speak only for myself.

  Toodles,
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  21

  Sunday Meeting 9/23/01

  by peaceloveharmony in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sorry all, this is quite long.....and of course, nothing new.

  but i found it interesting...i've been out 9 years and this all sounds eerily similar, like i'd heard this bs all before...... ------------------.

  opening song #91, being taught by jehovah.

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  JWinSF

  Gosh, almost forgot about the meetings. Every once in a while [about every 1-2 years], I sneak in a little time to go to one. Usually the DC or the Memorial. Just have to do it for [1] a reminder as to why I left, [2] a bit of comic relief, and [3] to observe how truly sad looking [e.g., the "weight of the world on their shoulders" look] that "Jehovah's Happy People" have.

  Mebbee I'll do a local cong sometime in the near future.

  Toodles
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  3

  Hmmm, why are the WTS sites down?

  by JWinSF in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just wanted to see if on either watchtower.org or jw-media.org there was anything mentioned about the tragedy last week.

  both sites were down.. wonder if they're for a change actually going to put something on the sites that is sympathetic without a "by the way, this is what god's word has to say".

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  JWinSF

  Just wanted to see if on either watchtower.org or jw-media.org there was anything mentioned about the tragedy last week. Both sites were down.

  Wonder if they're for a change actually going to put something on the sites that is sympathetic without a "by the way, this is what God's word has to say".
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  33

  Heres a dub who knows how to milk the disaster

  by GWEEDO in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from the gc.

  desert rose knows what to do:.

  at our meeting last night, we had quite a few more in attendance than usual.

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  JWinSF

  They're just a victim of cult-like mind control. Anyone who does independent research of the identifying marks of cults [definitions by people who never were part of the JWs, so they have no "axe to grind"] will see that the JWs [and many other Organizations] match the definitions of a cult 100%. They aren't like the "wacko" cults of Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, etc. But, that doesn't mean that they aren't a cult.

  One of the prime methods that a cult uses is taking advantage of a personal tragedy. Read any of the materials by Steven Hassan [Combatting Cult Mind Control], Margaret Thaler Singer [Cults In Our Midst], Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman [Snapping], or Ronald M Enroth [Churches That Abuse] will quickly make evident the parallels of the JWs and Cults.

  It makes no difference if a member honestly believes that they are helping the other person or not. The JWs think that they are helping by holding out the carrot of a Paradise Earth. The terrorists thought that they were also on a God-given mission and that God was on their side. I'm not in any way saying that JWs are murderous like these terrorists [although they do bear blood-guilt over suicides and blood transfusion related cases]. I'm just saying that they are not really thinking for themselves. They "think" that they are thinking for themselves. But, they've been conditioned to believe that.

  Anyone who truly thinks for him/her self doesn't have to consult one set of publications [via the Indexes] to find out how to act in an event to the exclusion of all other sources. Anyone who truly thinks for him/her self doesn't have reason to fear expressing a difference of theological viewpoint due to the very real threat of being labeled an "apostate" with subsequent expulsion from the group.

  So, they aren't "bad" people, just severely misguided in my opinion.
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  31

  Will Brooklyn Bethel help New York?

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hope all of you are doing okay in light of this terrible tragedy we have witnessed.

  it makes me want to join the army or something, it's hard to sit back and do nothing.

  upon watching the watchtower's new pr video of the terrorist act in new york city, it is as far away from the reality of what happened as an isolated community can be.

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  JWinSF

  I would offer lodging and food to those displaced and/or in shock WITHOUT the preaching that inevitably is done by JWs to those in vulnerable states. If they truly were a "Christian" organization, they'd do good acts towards fellow humans without the ulterior motive of getting them to join the religion [like the illustration of the Good Samaritan which they often quote but never follow in principle].

  Donation of some money as needed would help as well. Offering the services of helping in clean-up, if those in charge would want it.

  But, again, that's me. The chances of the Society doing anything more than using this tragedy as a starting point to preach their "last days" drivel is quite remote in my estimation.
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  68

  NATO INVOKES ARTICLE V - Serious

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when nato invokes article v, it is more than just one member asking for support from the other member states, but article v invocation means all member states view the attack as an attack on them all.

  in other words, nato aliance is at war with those responsible, and will support the us lead, which will now hold not only the terrorists responsible, but hold those nations that host them as equally responsible.. "brussels, belgium (cnn) -- nato has unanimously declared the hijack attacks on the u.s. to be an assault against all member states.".

  "it is the first time in 52 years that the alliance has invoked article v -- the nato self-defence charter that says if one member state is under attack all other member nations would defend it.".

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  JWinSF

  You echo my sentiments 100%!!!
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  23

  ex-JW's : Would you go to war?

  by Jim Lad in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my ex-brother in law phoned this morning and asked me how i felt about going to war now that i'm not in the org anymore.

  with so many years of being told not to i wonder how many of us still feel that way.

  would you be worldly conscientious objectors or would you defend...etc.... i'm not trying to antaganize or be inappropriate.

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  JWinSF

  Damn right I would. But, they wouldn't have me because I'm gay.

  The hatred I have now toward these assholes who master-minded this horrible atrocity in NYC and DC and PA cannot be put into words.

  I can't wait until they find those who have been responsible, whether it be a group or a country. I'd personally like to dismember their bodies while they were still conscious, without their having the benefit of anesthetics.