Posts by Band on the Run

24

Female Watchtower Lawyers and submission

by Lady Lee in

now this has to be absurd.

they have a few female lawyers at patterson - well they did in 2003. christine benham.

connecticut michelle dickinson ossining nylisa douglas patterson, n.y.carolyn r. wah.

Band on the Run

Our KH encompassed a ghetto. The few brothers were not functionally literate. I read the WT is on a fifth grade level. As they read and answered questions, I noticed they had little to none reading comprehension. Since I was in fourth grade, I wanted to please my family and be loved by God. I never understood Peter summoning the HOly Spirit to kill the couple at the start of Acts. I still think it is way, way over the top. Jesus would not kill. Reprove, yes. Murder, no. The Witnesses emphasized they were the Holy Spirit and sinning against it was unforgivable. Yet my noticing the reading comprehension was so accidental. I never discussed it with my parents b/c I knew to be ashamed that I noticed the brother's mistake. God condemned me so readily. It truly traumatized me.

Another think was when I was a young child and there was an assembly in NYC. One speaker announced that Jehovah was present. I was about four. Again, I did not know what to do. Did I recall the moses' story about not living if you see the face of God. Craning my neck, I spied out every ventiliation hole. I wanted to see Jehovah but then Jehovah killed readily.

I was sorely oppressed by this male worship of the penis. Penis worship is it. Women need to stop worshipping penises and start worshipping vaginas. What is inherently godly about the distinction between a penis and vagina. I feel men are very put out that they will never give birth, the wonder of all wonders. Procreation in the highest. I cried and cried. Now I would have some choice words about emasculated, nonmanly men trying to compensate for their smallness and effeminatity by emasculating the clitoris. A knife can easily cure their affliction. I am a nice girl but the Witness men tread too far. It is revolting to see women adopt their view. The women;s movement and modern birth control have brought change.

97

I sued the local congregation

by chukky 594 in

jw
friends

several years ago, before my wife and i left, my 5 yr old daughter got up during the watchtower to cross the aisle to sit with someone else.

she tripped on the roving microphone wire and smashed her head on the foot of a metal chair.

the bleeding was profuse and an ambulance was called.

Band on the Run

The liability of the KH is clear. Children don't have to exercise the same degree of caution that adults do. Torts has never been my strong suit. I represented Lloyds of London general counsel. Society as a whole pays for these claims. The increased cost to the insurer is merely passed on to the general public through increased premiums. So not just the KH or insurer paid. We all pay. This is not an illogical way of covering accidents. Modern torts focus on Calibrese's economic analysis more than the old common law rules.

There are no winners in these situations. Society wants accident victims to not lose everything b/c of an accident. Too many people think insurance, well it is not out of the person's pocket. This is a major fallacy. Everyone in society pays more. A form of social contract. Tort law is constantly reformed but I don't see any ideal balance. Assuming the costs of an accident might make sense for small claims. When someone lose's life or millions are lost, that result seems harsh. American tort law evolved around the power of the railroads. They were very dangerous. Consumers had no equal bargaining power. Law is more accomodation to interests than justice. God does justice.

I broke my ankle in a slip and fall at the Y. What I did was wrong but the physical therapist I was seeing there also did not perform his duty. Many people think I am wrong to sue. My viewpoint is that the laws set policy. Any lawyer would think my suit was feasible. Perhaps it is important to view this as a common sense from the public plus a more nuanced view. I see no rights or wrongs.

97

I sued the local congregation

by chukky 594 in

jw
friends

several years ago, before my wife and i left, my 5 yr old daughter got up during the watchtower to cross the aisle to sit with someone else.

she tripped on the roving microphone wire and smashed her head on the foot of a metal chair.

the bleeding was profuse and an ambulance was called.

Band on the Run

I'm a lawyer so my take is slightly different. Wires should be fixed firmly to the floor with duct tape. A child is not negligent for tripping on wires that were not secure. Under modern negligence law, comparative negligence is the norm. The child need not cause the accident. Damages are discounted by her amount of fault. The KH was on notice that children run around. If no children attended, the notice would be not as strong.

24

Female Watchtower Lawyers and submission

by Lady Lee in

now this has to be absurd.

they have a few female lawyers at patterson - well they did in 2003. christine benham.

connecticut michelle dickinson ossining nylisa douglas patterson, n.y.carolyn r. wah.

Band on the Run

I am a lawyer and love it. It matches my spirit. My specialty is civil rights, particularly the Establishment Clause. The Witness battles led to my interest. Once I was doing some research for my writing sample on faith-based social organizations and federal funding. As I scrolled down Lexis, I found a law review article about Jehovah's Witnesses in Japan both before and during WWII. My eyeballs popped out. When I saw the author was a woman, they almost needed to call 911 for me. I dropped my research immediately and started to read.

The ordeals Witnesses faced could make very moving stories, underlying eternal legal truths. The article did not reference a single person! It was a tribute to the Society. The Society was not tortured, lost income, imprisoned and murdered! I wanted to vomit. Next, the female part. My JW father tried to pull me out of high school so he could watch me bag groceries. It was JW, plus punitive with his own craziness. Not even my strong ties to my mother, brother and sister, would make me submit. I spoke to the principal in vague terms, knowing I would move to a foster home. It was clear that I would graduate and go to college. The price would be very, very high. Fortunately, he died first. My mother not stopping him would have killed my soul.

College was sheer hell. Swirling messages of assertion from Columbia and submission from the Witnesses cluttered my mind. Try as hard as I could I could not submit. My family thought I did outrageous things. I was sorely confused. The filter of time reveals I did some such itsy bitsy, inconsequential adolescent behavior. Yet I was labelled. Education was my ticket out from this life style. I studied with a passion even my most Harvard bound classmates could not match. A very elite school in NY gave me a full merit scholarship to study law. Upon graduation, I worked for a massive Wall St. law firm and the U.S. Senate Subcommitte on the Constitution. Minding my own business, I entered the firm's spacious library to do research. Glass walls had a spectular view of lower Manhattan, the Statute of Liberty and Brooklyn. As I sat with coffee cup in hand, I was eerily shocked. I was looking down on the Bethel building with the time and temp flashing. Sweet, sweet revenge.

I wrote a note to the author, one female lawyer to another. Knowing she would not respond, I told her of my shock and briefly outlined my journey. If I submitted, I would bag groceries or clean homes all day. Maybe a lawyer converted. Highly unlikely. The dissonance between legal work and Witness cult thinking is enormous. Perhaps I acquired a certain je ne sais quo living in the NY area. Very few people could segment their minds with Chinese walls. If you think critically about cases (could not practice law without this skill), how do you not employ those skills to the Witnesses? I am bitter. Are these female lawyers trust fund babies. Imagine the power such a person can wield in the Witnesses! A mediocre person in normal life could reach the pinnacle of WT power. Heady stuff. I am outraged.

10

Has anyone WROTE A LETTER to the org?

by frigginconfused in

i was wondering how many out there have written the society and got a responce.

im thinking of writing but i dont wanna waste my time if they wont take me seriously.

i intend to challenge many different things they say and do.

Band on the Run

I think I wrote decades ago. They never responded but I did not expect them to do so. Once I wrote about old literature that belonged to my father. My mom's great uncle gave him the large collection from early Russell days to the present. Years ago I read that scholars were having trouble finding older books. This is long before the Internet. I mentioned ties from my father's days at Bethel. As a result, a brother came with a very young sister in tow. He was in his fifties, she was 18. I wasn't accusing anyone of rape. It was curious.

My vet letter was to express my feelings. I had to put it on paper and then cast it to the wind. It is not as thought I thought my prose so brillliant that someone would convert to my viewpoint. My letter was personalized. I no longer was a robot. Twelve Step programs encourage letter writing. The letters don't have to be delivered. People write to deceased relatives and friends. Sometimes the letters are thrown in the ocean or burned in a ritual. I once enacted my own ritual by burning the New World Translation in a metal can based on Andy Warhol's Campbell soup series. It was a good thing others were home b/c the fire did not stay in the can.

39

Jehovahs Witnesses have a lot more mental problems and much higher suicide rate

by TastingFreedom in

jw
friends

jerry bergman, ph.d. .

the first american study.

the watchtower influence was often not positive, and there was no evidence that it had in the long run helped those who had emotional problems when they joined.

Band on the Run

My problem is that the article is not written from a neutral point of view to quote wikipedia. Rutherford was not a king so he could not reign. The same points would be more effective with less loaded language.

I've always suspected the premise that mentally ill people are drawn to the Witnesses. People find the Witnesses warm and friendly at the beginning. The Witnesses are major stressors.

One thought I had is how much stress comes from the Witnesses being outside mainstream civilization. I felt this keenly as a child. Being mocked is not fun. Mental health is not valued. The Witnesses judgmental nature does not help.

58

WT Society wants Elders to Conceal Information to Psychiatrists- Elders Bk.

by flipper in

jw
friends

my wife and i have read carefully through chapter 5 of the new elders manual when we do our " personal study " in bed on saturday mornings !

so without further delay , notice this quote from the new elders manual, " there are times when an emotionally distressed christian may seek professional help.

whether a christian or his family pursues treatment from psychiatrists , psychologists, or therapists is a personal decision.

Band on the Run

I'm an American lawyer. My use of md applied to me. There is not a special psychiatrist privilege and confidentiality. Rather, it is broader and encompasses all licensed therapists. These rules predate statutes. They are much older common law privileges, developed in the Middle Ages in England. The original ones were spousal and priest/penitent. She was so outside the proper boundaries of her profession. If she reported and you reported her or sued her, she would be finished. Finished completely. Common law rules, backed by modern statutes, are a declaration of state and federal policy. An individual cannot negotiate to alter them. Some areas of law can be negotiated between the parties, such as contracts and partnerships. Negotiation is expected.

It would totally anger a state regulatory agency or a court that she used unequal bargaining power. People are at their most vulnerable when they see therapists. Normal constraints are waived. She had an overwhelming unequal bargaining position. Courts go ape about professionals crossing clear, bright lines. The paper would be worthless. The very act of requesting signature could cause her to be reprimanded or have her license suspended. I am sensitive in this area b/c I've seen therapists and know how not an equal partnership it is.

Laws apply to everyone. A Jehovah's Witnesses cannot carve out an exception. Of course, she did. Mormons cannot sign papers making underage polygamous marriage legal. This was overreaching on a large scale. Lawyers can no longer chase accident victims to the hospital and shove papers in their face. Privacy concerns are becoming a central motif in law. Her act eroded all privacy.

Lest I come across judgmental about someone continuing to see such a person, I was very, very ill with utterly agonizing pain for decades. The worst pain known to humankind with a suicide rate in excess of 95%. Doctor after doctor overreached with me. I knew they were wrong in my gut. In fact, one dentist kept me coming back to his office and administering gas. I felt no pain when I was out. Once I came out, it was just as bad. He started asking me sexual questions. The bastard critiqued my eye makeup. He would make me wait until I was the only patient in his office. Rather, than stop treatment and maybe report his behavior, I called my mother and asked her to come from NJ to be present with me. Local friends were not asked b/c I feared their judgment that I was not reporting him.

I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on doctors offering me no relief. It is one thing in black and white in a magazine article. Life has a different application. These situations were hard precisely because I was so desperate. I was totally shocked and nauseated by what I would accept. It is this phenomena that makes these laws necessary.

22

I got turned down for a bible study!

by frigginconfused in

a freind of mine went online and requested a bible study.

they showed up while she was gone and i talked to them.

i told them they could come over to talk to me and we could try to find my place in the org.

Band on the Run

I went door to door at a very young age. Of course, I always went with my mom. Around eight, I was supposed to do the presentation. I so much wanted to please everybody. Every little bit was memorized. If someone announced they were a religious denomination and said it smugly, I was trounced.

Many people have told me I question too much and that I am bright, a bad trait.

Very well done. You won the debate. It doesn't matter that it wasn't drawn out or over an important doctrinal message. You showed the thought control. The arrogance involved with educated Witnesses. I don't know how to treat individual witnesses respectfully. They deserve it. The beliefs they parrot are not their own. I just get so angry. When I snap, I feel bad. When I tread lightly, I feel I did not articulate my viewpoint well. Something in me just wants to shame them.

I doubt if they struggle similarly in their rush to condemn me. Think as I do or else. Twelve Step programs say their members take hostages in relationships. The Witnesses do this.

11

Suggestions for JW-themed university project: Part One [HISTORY]

by honorsthesis in

hello community,.

i am a senior undergraduate student from the university of florida.

i am in the midst of writing and formatting my senior honors thesis.

Band on the Run

Yes, don't pay attention to Band. Isn't that a Witness statement in its character? If anyone has time to waste, please search for my posts. This is the last item will post in this thread. My belief is that honorsthesis has some character problems but it is not my business. People can make up their own minds.

19

Tonight on Glenn Beck. The anti-Christ is Muslim.

by villabolo in

joel richardson, author of the islamic antichrist: the shocking truth about the real nature of the beast, is going to be appearing on glenn beck's show tonight.

he believes that the whole book of revelations centers around the muslim world with an anti-christ muslim.

no wonder glenn likes him.. watch his videos and get a sense of where ultrafundamentalism may be leading us to.

Band on the Run

Daniel is so much older than Jesus or Paul as scripture. Ultimately, who cares? Glenn Beck is dangerous.

I lived in Manhattan, downtown Manhattan on 9/11. My last job was one block from the World Trade Center. I was in there about five times a day. Half of my local firehouse was killed on that day. That horrible day and the following months of always being conscious of what happened. Never being able to escape. I was exposed to Moslem before that day. Decent people. Islam is a very decent, mainstream religion. It is like HItler, a dangerous antiChrist b/c he happend to be Christian in name.

I was so exposed, flinching as the air force patrolled the skies overhead. Commuting hours out of my way. The Exodus from the WTC walking past my apartment building, all dazed and in shock. My fear was overreacting and blaming all Muslims. The East Village has NYU dorms now. When I came home, students across the street, removed their bed sheets and painted peace signs on them then flung them out for the public. I was serenaded by John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance and Imagine 24/7 the first few days. I heard as I attended the vigil in Union Square park, then later when I went to Ground Zero to cheer the rescuers as they changed shifts. I saw the Fire Department ambulances escort the dead bodies to the Medical Examiner's Office. People stopped what they were doing and saluted the dead. Bellevue was a sea of thousands of flyers of the missing with votice candles on the ground. My stake was high.

I had to attend a program at Bellevue a week after 9/11. A woman walked in heavy purdah. No one bothered her. It was not remarkable. My body was so revved up. She did not need a police escort. No one blamed her for the attacks. Later, I freaked when I had to hail a taxi b/c the drivers are Middle Eastern and North African. I had a male taxi driver from Egypt, a university student. My fear was that I would start to assault him. I was so full of rage! The trip was great.

Actual people blow stereotypes and misconcpetions to smithereens. Know an actual Moslem family and try to hate them. Glenn Beck can go to hell. Does Beck care or does he know sensational headlines bring increased ratings. Beck can't be so stupid, or is he? Sanity and rational thinking are crucial