Posts by Kaethra

9

Slander in the congregation.

by VioletAnai in

jw
friends

kaethra's comment on a sister's paranoia about slander behind her back got me thinking of my mums own suspicions.

she married my dad when he was an unbaptized person and this was frowned upon.

she'd been previously married and had to divorce cause he had another wife in another country.

Kaethra

VioletAnai,

I'm sorry about what your mom has had to endure.

I would like to point out, however, that my friend is not being *paranoid* about slander being spread about her. I'm certain that she is indeed being slandered, for many reasons. Slander is a very effective borg weapon when the elders find one difficult to deal with for one reason or another...it would seem that you are already aware of this because of knowing your mom's history. My friend was difficult to deal with because she left an abusive husband...her husband, on the other hand, is well-connected in the congregations and has all his "privileges" intact. (My friend has not been disfellowshipped nor disassociated, by the way.)

I once heard an elder conducting a meeting on the topic of disfellowshipping say that a person can be reinstated but that 'it's never the same'. I remember thinking at the time, 'What a cruel thing to say...what's the point of being reinstated if it's never the same? Does Jesus' sacrifice mean nothing for the reinstated then?' I believe that that elder's comment reflects the mind set of the leadership and thus the majority....that is, that those who have been disfellowshipped and reinstated are still considered by many to be fair game for the vicious borg gossip mill.

9

My JW friend and Silentlambs...

by Kaethra in

jw
friends

i caught up with an old friend on the weekend.

she's still a loyal dub but has had terrible marriage problems in the past (they've been divorced for some time now) and feels that she has been slandered in the congregation.

she's also pretty wild for a dub...anyway, that's a discussion for another time.... over lunch, we got to talking about one of her friends (also a dub) and she mentioned that she is very promiscuous.

Kaethra

Ranchette - I offered to email her the Silentlambs website but I got the "deer-in-headlights-that-sounds-like-an-apostate-site" look and so I backed off. Too much information too soon will frighten her, as it would any dub. I just want to make sure that the door is open in case she ever wants to question things. For a jw, she is very non-judgemental, no doubt from everything that she has experienced in the congregations herself.

P.S. I made your spinach dip at my Christmas party this year...it was a smash!

9

My JW friend and Silentlambs...

by Kaethra in

jw
friends

i caught up with an old friend on the weekend.

she's still a loyal dub but has had terrible marriage problems in the past (they've been divorced for some time now) and feels that she has been slandered in the congregation.

she's also pretty wild for a dub...anyway, that's a discussion for another time.... over lunch, we got to talking about one of her friends (also a dub) and she mentioned that she is very promiscuous.

Kaethra

I caught up with an old friend on the weekend. She's still a loyal dub but has had terrible marriage problems in the past (they've been divorced for some time now) and feels that she has been slandered in the congregation. She's also pretty wild for a dub...anyway, that's a discussion for another time...

Over lunch, we got to talking about one of her friends (also a dub) and she mentioned that she is very promiscuous. I asked her if she had been sexually abused. She said 'yes, by an elder.' The elder has been disfellowshipped but she didn't know if he had been reported to the police (not bloody likely). As he has not gone to jail, it would seem that he was not reported. Then she said something to me in a shocked voice. She said she had heard at a meeting the other night something she had never expected to hear from the platform. She said that the "brother" counselled the congregation that there are pedophiles in the organization and that they should not trust their children with anyone. She couldn't believe it. Well...this proved to be too much for me to resist. I told her all about Silentlambs and the upcoming Dateline story. I told her that that was probably the reason for the announcement and she agreed that it was probable. I'm certain that they are trying to prepare the rank and file for this shocking exposé. I tried to be as neutral as possible for fear of alienating her but I couldn't help but get a few digs in about how the truth has to come out and how the borg has vilified the Catholic church over the same issue, and how the policies of "two witnesses" and not reporting abuse to the authorities has resulted in rampant child abuse in the org.

So, I guess Silentlambs really is making 'em shake in their boots after all!

125

Ya'll dont believe in God?

by flower in

jw
friends

i have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.

i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.

this is disturbing!

Kaethra

Expatbrit -

Don't mean to be a drag, but I'm logging off now....it's past my bedtime. I'll definitely have a look at your thread tomorrow. :)

125

Ya'll dont believe in God?

by flower in

jw
friends

i have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.

i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.

this is disturbing!

Kaethra

Expatbrit

Yes...

Even being "self-sacrificing" (borg term *hack*) has its own reward....

I am reminded of a "Friends" episode in which Joey challenges Phoebe to perform one completely selfless act. Everything she came up with was wrong of course, because no matter what she sacrificed, she always ended up feeling GOOD about what she had done for someone else...so there was no truly selfless act.

125

Ya'll dont believe in God?

by flower in

jw
friends

i have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.

i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.

this is disturbing!

Kaethra

Expatbrit,

"Doing good is its own reward"

For me, the reward is in knowing that I did something right, perhaps something that helped someone else, perhaps something that merely validated to me that I am living by my own code of ethics. I don't expect, need, or even want external validation for my good conduct. Despite my many doubts about the bible, I do believe in Jesus' words to not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. (maybe he was talking about masturbation...hell, I don't know!)

125

Ya'll dont believe in God?

by flower in

jw
friends

i have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.

i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.

this is disturbing!

Kaethra

Ashi,

First off...I'm a dudette! (High Elf Ice Bitch - ask Six of Seven)

Secondly, perhaps you are right about Ab's comments...but I have seen this same argument over and over from him and other atheists. I've never seen it qualified by a 'believers do good but not solely because of religious guilt'. It is always presented as though believers in anything beyond the scientifically provable are somehow doing good only because of the supernatural ramifications of their actions...as if the atheist, free of any ramifications good or bad, is somehow better for extending kindness to her fellow human.

Flower - glad I could help. (((Hugs))) to you!

125

Ya'll dont believe in God?

by flower in

jw
friends

i have to ask this although i have a feeling i dont really want to read the responses but anyway.

i talked to several people here today who dont believe there is a god at all.

this is disturbing!

Kaethra

Abaddon,

OK...I'm no bible-thumper. I'm not even really certain of "WHO" God is....but I believe in spirit. I believe in something/someone greater than this planet and its inhabitants. And I find your comments somewhat offensive. For example:

Flower says: "I've heard them making mock of God and making jokes about believing in Him. I find that hurtful to me because I believe."

You reply: "Mmmmm, but, what about a religionist who believes god took a little boy from his family for some divine reason? Or who believes a woman doesn't have the right to decide what to do with her body? Or a religionist who believes they can kill because of what they believe. I find them offensive. So, I can make jokes about maybe next time the Messiah comes he'll get a cable show, and no one will have to be nailed to a tree, or that Jesus from the cross yelled "Son of god was a METAPHOR you morons!", and they can offend me. It's fair, isn't it?"

No, it's not fair. Because not everyone who believes in spirit, or a creator, or even in Jesus believes that "god took a little boy from his family for some divine reason" or that "a woman doesn't have the right to decide what to do with her body" or that "a religionist who believes they can kill" are correct. You seem to want to lump all non-atheists, (what a double negative category!), into one neat little package here.

Furthermore, what I find truly offensive is your defense of atheism as being morally superior to theism. As examples:

You state: "Someone stops in the street and flips a beggar $5, asks how they're doing. Why? To impress god or be a good Christian/Muslim/Jew/Whatever. Oh. Okay.

Another person does it because they WANT to, because it makes them feel good about themselves, because if they walk on by they feel like shit. How WONDERFUL."

OK...just fucking gag me with your moral superiority here! Did it ever occur to you that many religionists, (including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans, etc.), also believe that doing good is its own reward? Do you honestly believe that everytime someone of faith does something good for someone else that she is doing it in order to receive some blessing from some supernatural entity? I have done good things for my fellow human beings for no other reason than that I wanted to....and I am not an atheist. Perhaps I am an exception to the rule?

59

Guilt over Self-Pleasuring as a Dub. You?

by Lari in

i'm wondering if any of you suffered major guilt over getting yourself off while a dub.

or did you all manage to abstain until you left?

i know it was one of the main reasons i left.

Kaethra

I suffered terrible guilt over it...and I started petting my petals when I was just a little girl. At that time, I just thought it was something marvelously wonderful...touch myself "down there" in the right way, and all of a sudden there were stars in my eyes...wheeeeee! But, when my mom discovered what I was doing, (which I did not try to hide at the time, since I had no idea that what I was engaging in was a sin), she gave me the very real lecture about how our sexual organs were only to be used for pleasure once we were married. Thus began a years-long battle with the problem of self-abuse. (What a phrase! Self-ABUSE? LOL...LOL...LOL!!) It's funny because my mom had told me that it was a problem that many christians had to deal with...and she counselled me, and studied all of the articles in the mags and the "Youth" book with me. She even sat me down and read me something from the bible, (I think it may have been in the book of Solomon), regarding how a stranger was not to be enticed by the breasts of a foreign woman. Now, how that was supposed to help me, (especially as a female), I'm not sure. What I do know is that I was totally turned on by the thought of some stranger being intoxicated by the breasts of some foreign female...and after that helpful session, I was off doin' the nasty with myself again. lol After numerous upon numerous sessions as I grew up of me coming to my mom in tears to confess that I had yet again "transgressed", she finally told me that whatever I had done was between me and Jehovah, who has forgiven me, and that I did not need to confess to her every time it happened. LOL, LOL, LOL...she just got tired of hearing the same old thing fifty times a week!

91

What's the latest on "The Danni X-Files&qu...

by Bendrr in

jw
friends

looks like it's just disappeared.

no more posts from danni.

no more posts from mymy.. just to add my own little tidbit here, has anyone heard of a park hills (or parkhill) congregation?

Kaethra

Dave,

I know that you don't have an inflated ego. And I feel for everyone here who had an emotional investment in this thing, as is wont to happen for pretty much every xjw with a heart. I admire you greatly for everything that you have done behind the scenes on this, for having your heart in the right place, for giving your trust to ones who need it, and for your moral fortitude in coming forward to admit that you have been duped....or, at least it certainly seems so. I would never take a jab at you (at least not over this ;) ). The person who perpetrated this deception is a vile, small creature...pitiful really. Vile, small creatures such as this rarely recognize their condition unfortunately.

I am glad that you feel that this experience has brought some good along with it. Most experiences in life do, especially the most painful ones.

Hugs to you, ya big sexy heathen man,

Kaethra