lurkers,.
are you a victim of information control?
i spent almost seven years at brooklyn bethel.
Welcome lurkers. If you don't want to read (or don't like to read), here is a video of Raymond Franz speaking to people in the Czech Republic . I'm sorry that Raymond Franz is dead, because he seems a lot nicer and more honest than any GB member who you will ever meet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c6I0fjiYNU
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
re: results of november 8 court hearing.
yet again, all five cases remain intact and are still in the criminal justice system.
oh, how the wheels of justice turn ever so slowly.. .
Thank you to Band on the Run and smiddy on JWN for inspiring me to write the following letter to the editors of the following Austrialian newspapers:
Herald Sun - Melborne at www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/letter
Courier Mail – Brisbane at www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorials/letters-form
The Sydney Morning Herald at www.smh.com.au/national/letters
The Age Melborne at www.theage.com.au/national/letters/submit
Adelaide The Advertiser and The Sunday Mail at www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/send-letter
Thank you to AK - Jeff and Broken Promises on JWN and Aida, Hotelkalifornia, strypes, DJ, and Jeffro on JWSF for your comments and encouragement.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
Dear Editor:
South Australia's chief prosecutor Stephen Pallaras, Attorney-General John Rau, Senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon, Senator for Queensland Sue Boyce, and others agree that urgent action is required to deal with immense emotional, psychological and financial harm suffered by hundreds of thousands of Australians by the actions of some cult groups. So, why has the Office of Public Prosecutions, Victoria not taken over prosecution from Steven Unthank, a carpenter, of five criminal cases (i.e., Steven Unthank verses the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and its leaders)? Shouldn't a religion embrace supporting child-protection laws instead of defying them? Wouldn't a barrister be better at prosecuting the Watchtower than a carpenter?
My experiences with members of the Watchtower began by feeling that Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) are friendly, well groomed, and knowledgeable about the Bible, and changed into believing that the Watchtower is a dangerous cult. I attended bible studies and meetings at Kingdom Halls and read Watchtower literature. Knowledge is power, so I did independent research and critical thinking prevented me from becoming a JW. I visited www.jwfacts.com , www.watchtowerdocuments.com , www.wikipedia.org , and www.silentlambs.org to learn more about the Watchtower and its history. I communicated freely with current and former JWs about the Watchtower by visiting www.jehovahs-witness.net , www.jwsupportforum.com , www.exjehovahswitnessforum.yuku.com , and www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com . I affirmed by suspicions about why some JWs behave strangely by reading Steve Hassan’s books and visiting his website www.freedomofmind.com to learn more about why the Watchtower can be classified as a dangerous cult using Hassan's Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional (BITE) control model.
The following example demonstrates how much control the Watchtower has over JWs and their children. JWs believe that they must blindly follow the Watchtower Governing Body even if that Body directs JWs to refuse whole-blood transfusions that might save their lives (or their child's life) and to shun a JW, who elects to receive a whole-blood transfusion to save their life (or their child's life). The Watchtower even encourages JWs to shun their family members.Sincerely,
Robert (please publish first name only)
i would like members of jwn to read the following proposed letter to the editor that i wrote and post their comments to this thread.
i am an american so i feel a little uncomfortable sending this message to australian newspapers.
as a christian, human being, and someone who was adversely effected by the wtbts, i feel that i must do something to help other people from being recruited by the wtbts.. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.
Thank you AK - Jeff and Broken Promises for commenting on my Letter to the Editor. I tried to include your comments to shorten my letter and to give it a more personal perspective. Please read and comment on my 2nd "rinse".
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
Letter to the Editor:
South Australia's chief prosecutor Stephen Pallaras, Attorney-General John Rau, Senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon, Senator for Queensland Sue Boyce, and others agree that urgent action is required to deal with immense emotional, psychological and financial harm suffered by hundreds of thousands of Australians by the actions of some cult groups. So, why has the Office of Public Prosecutions, Victoria not taken over prosecution from Steven Unthank, a carpenter, of five criminal cases (i.e., Steven Unthank verses the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and its leaders)? Shouldn’t a religion embrace supporting child-protection laws instead of defying them? Wouldn’t a barrister be better at prosecuting the Watchtower than a carpenter?
My initial reaction to meeting members of the Watchtower are that Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) are friendly, well groomed, and knowledgeable about the Bible. Based on my subsequent experiences with the Watchtower and JWs, the Watchtower is an international publishing and distribution corporation that should be classified as a dangerous cult according to the Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional (BITE) control model developed by Steven Hassan (www.freedomofmind.com). Steven Hassan is a recognized expert on cults and a former member of the Unification Church. And, JWs do not practice unconditional Christian love as I first believed.
I learned more about what the Watchtower and JWs “really teach” by visiting reputable internet sites and reading Steve Hassan’s books, than through Watchtower promoted bible studies, meetings, and literature. Knowledge is power, so researching and using my brain prevented me from becoming a JW. JWs believe that they must blindly follow the Watchtower Governing Body even if that Body directs JWs to refuse whole-blood transfusions that might save their lives and to shun a JW, who elects to receive a whole-blood transfusion to save their life. To learn more about the Watchtower and its history I visited www.jwfacts.com, www.watchtowerdocuments.com, www.wikipedia.org, and www.silentlambs.org and visited www.jehovahs-witness.net, www.jwsupportforum.com, http://www.exjehovahswitnessforum.yuku.com/, and www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com to ask questions of current and former JWs about the Watchtower.
just an idea: could we contact members of the gb thru email...or even snail mail, to let them know how many of us are aware of what is on the horizon in australia with the wwc/unthank/victoria court case with hopes of urging them to come clean.
if i were amongst the gb members, i would be losing sleep after watching whats happening to penn states joe paterno, jerry sandusky and mcqeary for taking part in the pedophilia scandal cover-up and the responsibility they did not fulfill in contacting the the police to handle the situation instead of handing it of to their next-up superior.
i doubt the gb would be so honest as to take any action, but it would be interesting to test the idea.......make them squirm, perhaps.
mankkeli- [email protected]
e.g [email protected], et al
Welcome mauiboy to the forum. If you do send GB members correspondence, don't expect a response. Also, I feel that your time would be better spent sending Letters to the Editors of Australian newspapers like I am planning to send (i.e., http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/medical/218203/1/Need-Help-and-Advice) in an attempt to encourage the Victoria Office of Public Prosecutions to take over the case against the WTBTS.
mankkeli may be correct about the email address. I have attempted to send emails to GB members using several different formats, including what mankkeli recommends, I believe, and those emails were returned as undelivered for some reason. I have sent emails and regular mail to the following GB members:
You can send regular mail, I believe, to GB members at:
Governing Body Member
Watchtower Bible & Tract Society
25 Columbia Heights
Brooklyn, NY 11201 - 2483
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
i found this site randomly the other day on an unrelated search, and its nice to find a place where people can discuss a relgion that in house cannot be discussed without either being quoted mantras or a very skewed view of the world.. ok about me.. im a 24 year old taiwanese-american, and i have been raised as a jw from the age of about three to the age of 17, when i unoffically left.
i started to have doubts around age 12, but did what i was supposed to to keep mommy and daddy happy.
my parents are jws, as well as my older 1/2 sister, and my younger sister.
AlphaQup2nite - So far what ive read on this sight has been pretty intersting. I was hoping to find a way to talk to my parents and "save" them, but i beleive now that Dogma said it best where (paraphrased) Ideas are great, Beleifs are terrible. Ideas can be discussed, and changed, but Beleifs, well people kill each other over them.
Welcome ((((((((((AlphaQup2nite))))))))))) to the forum and thank you for sharing your JW experiences. The parenthesis "()" means hugs to you.
Depending on how deeply your parents and family believe in the WTBTS cult, the only thing that you can do is send your parents and family lots of emails and letters with pictures of you having a wonderful time with your friends, and to ask them simple questions. An example of asking them a simple question would be, "You sound tired, are you getting enough rest?" to get them to talk about how they feel about being a JW. If you try to discuss their beliefs with them, they will raise their shields and tune you out. I would recommend that you read Steve Hassan's books (i.e., Combatting Cult Mind Control and Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves) and visiting Steve Hassan's website (www.freedomeofmind.com) to learn more about how to communicate with cult members and to learn more about what the challenges that you will face. I would also recommend reading Raymond Franz's book, Crisis of Conscience, and visiting websites like www.jwfacts.com, www.watchtowerdocuments.com, and www.silentlambs.org, and www.wikipedia.org to learn more about the Watchtower so that you can ask your parents and family simiple questions about their beliefs if you feel that your parents or friends would be receptive to the ideas.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
i would like members of jwn to read the following proposed letter to the editor that i wrote and post their comments to this thread.
i am an american so i feel a little uncomfortable sending this message to australian newspapers.
as a christian, human being, and someone who was adversely effected by the wtbts, i feel that i must do something to help other people from being recruited by the wtbts.. peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.
I would like members of JWN to read the following proposed Letter to the Editor that I wrote and post their comments to this thread. I am an American so I feel a little uncomfortable sending this message to Australian newspapers. As a christian, human being, and someone who was adversely effected by the WTBTS, I feel that I must do something to help other people from being recruited by the WTBTS.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
Letter to Editor -
South Australia's chief prosecutor Stephen Pallaras, Attorney-General John Rau, Senator for South Australia Nick Xenophon, Senator for Queensland Sue Boyce, and others seem to be in agreement that urgent action is required to deal with the immense emotional, psychological and financial harm suffered by hundreds of thousands of Australians by the actions of some cult groups. So why hasn’t the Office of Public Prosecutions, Victoria not taken over prosecution of five criminal cases from Steven Unthank of Steven Unthank verses the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and its leadership for the Watchtower not complying with Victoria’s Child Protection laws until the Watchtower was prosecuted by Steven Unthank? Wouldn’t a solicitor be able to prosecute the Watchtower better than a carpenter? Shouldn’t an organization that purposely subverts complying with Victorian laws be prosecuted – especially laws that are intended to protect children?
The Watchtower is an international publishing and distribution corporation that can be classified as a dangerous cult according to the Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional (BITE) control model developed by Steven Hassan (www.freedomofmind.com) a recognized expert of cults and a former member of the Unification Church. Most people’s initial reaction to meeting members of the Watchtower is that the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) seem friendly, well groomed, and knowledgeable about the Bible.
The truth about the Watchtower and JWs is very different. Knowledge is power, so please research and use your brains before being recruited to do a bible study with JWs or attend a meeting in a Kingdom Hall. I suggest that people visit internet sites to learn that JWs believe that they must blindly follow the Watchtower Governing Body even if that Body directs them to refuse whole-blood transfusions to save a JW’s life and to shun a JW, who elects to receive a whole-blood transfusion to save their life. I recommend visiting www.jwfacts.com, www.watchtowerdocuments.com, www.wikipedia.org, and www.silentlambs.org to read more about the Watchtower, and to visit www.jehovahs-witness.net, www.jwsupportforum.com, http://www.exjehovahswitnessforum.yuku.com/, and www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com to ask questions of current and former JWs about the Watchtower.
when thinking about the wealth of the organization, i used to wonder how anyone of us would ever really know if someone was actually getting rich, personally profiting or living the highlife using watchtower funds.
i always figured that if there were something like that going on, the u.s. government would surely have found this out and would have gladly exposed it.
then some time ago someone made a post indicating that there are those who are being paid by the watchtower.
If Judge Rutherford had a mistress, was supplied plenty of liquor, traveled extensively, and lived and died in Beth Sarim (Hebrew for "Houseof the Princes"), what prevents the current GB members from living the same way? I'm sure that some of the current GB members are aware of how Judge Rutherford lived and would be tempted to live the same.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
i've posted on here a few times under the screen name of sahara but had to change it, long story... anyway i've posted some of my story being married to a jw for twenty years with four children, none of whom are jw's or are studying to be one.
i've stated on my other posts that i've done lots of research on jw's and watchtower history, i don't think there is anything about the history and tactics of jws that i haven't personally come across or studied, though i could be wrong.
people who are not intimately familiar with jw beliefs and practices seem to view them as strange simply because they don't celebrate holidays or salute the flag etc, but those of us who are more familiar with them know that there is far more than meets the eyes of casual observers.
marriedtoajw - Just to answer everyone else, I am familiar with Steve Hassans work but haven't read his books. I've read COC and Gentile Times Revisited as I believe the 607 B.B thing and how it relates to 1914 is the closest to a silver bullet that there is. I don't think she's trying to fade, I think she's doing what she believes she has to to keep the peace as well. This is all very tough...
Hi marriedtoajw. Being familiar with Steve Hassan's books and having read them is like thinking the WTBTS may not know the "Truth" and believing the WTBTS is a dangerous cult. You will learn alot about how to improve your communications with your wife after reading Steve Hassan's books. Also, I can recommend reading “Getting the Love You Want – A Guide for Couples” by Harville Hendrix to gain more insight into how to resolve conflicts about emotionally charged topics - Chapter 9 is a must read. You can also visit Harville Hendrix's website at http://gettingtheloveyouwant.com/. Good luck with awakening your wife!
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
with the more recent assimilation of congregation properties, profit on sales of major real estate worldwide, and building of the new upstate compound does anyone have a handle on current net worth?
"book value"?.
it would seem some of this data would be available by government charities disclosure.
I can only hope that the WTBTS is asset rich and cash poor. Money is the life blood of any organization. I can only hope that the WTBTS' cash flow statements are very RED.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
it is so antithetical to their way of doing things, and forces you into a state of mind they hate.
it gets you out of whatever bubble you live in.
you're expected to be an adult, which is the exact opposite of what the society wants from you.. in my english 101 class we have watched r rated movies, talked about religion, learned how to recognize and dissect propoganda and my professor openly states that his goal is to challenge our prejudices and ways of thinking.
Hi JonathanH, it sounds like you are having a lot of fun (and hard work). Although I know that the WTBTS is afraid of education and is a big reason why I feel the WTBTS can be classified as a cult, I don't feel that religions need to be afraid of education and knowledge. Religion and education can co-exist with each other. Religion can be thought of as the inspiration of what to reach for, and education provides the tools to grasp what you are reaching for.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
