Hi I was a JW in Montreal and moved to Winnipeg almost 3 years ago. My daughter is in Montreal still so I do visit - not sure when the next one will be though
A not-so-silent lamb
Aspire to inspire before you expire
Lady Lee
JoinedPosts by Lady Lee
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MESSAGE TO LADY LEE
by hawkaw inhi lady lee,.
i just read your story.
wow.. i would like to know - where abouts do you live in canada?.
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Be happy slaves May 26, 2002 Sunday KH
by Lady Lee inmay 26, 2002 sunday talk at kingdom hall .
i went to the talk today.
my first time in the last ten years.
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7
Be happy slaves May 26, 2002 Sunday KH
by Lady Lee inmay 26, 2002 sunday talk at kingdom hall .
i went to the talk today.
my first time in the last ten years.
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Lady Lee
May 26, 2002 Sunday talk at Kingdom Hall
I went to the talk today. My first time in the last ten years. Very odd but very familiar feelings. I waited until most of the men had gone inside and then followed them in.
The talk had already started so I got to miss the terrible singing and the prayer.
I wasn’t too sure how long I would sit there until I began to hear what he was saying. Slaves? He was talking about how all the witnesses should be slaves like in the past.
<<Slavery was a terrible thing. Masters often abused their slaves and the only way out of this type of slavery was death. >>
You can bet my ears picked up. Just where was he going to go with this.
<<Well of course Jehovah was a kind master. Jehovah’s slaves were thrilled to belong to him. So much so that when their time was up they willingly stayed in their enslaved state to serve their master.>>
Are ya with me. He was really saying this stuff. Coulda knocked me off the chair.
<<He started to give warnings about materialism and that it was a trap. It was much better to stay a slave. >>
Ok I am giggling inside about now. Here he is saying that the slaves should not want to lead decent comfortable lives. Meanwhile the org. has somehow lost the humble beginnings and the KHs have turned into showplaces.
<<There are two kinds of slaves - the slaves of God and slaves who are not slaves of God. It was really important to know which kind of slave you were. Jesus sent out his slaves and gave them very specific instructions just like the GB gives out today. We have very specific instructions to follow. Don’t worry about taking care of your needs. God will provide for you. Also make sure that you view the people you meet at the doors as potential slaves for God>>
ah yes the beauty of mind control. Nope they don’t tell you what to do or say.
<<There is still a great need to do the harvesting work since the end is so near. Now we will look at Matt 13: and you probably won’t understand it so I will explain this for you>>
Yup he actually said that. I could not believe my ears. Talk about talking down to people. A baby could swallow the pablum they get fed there.
At this point he makes a redirect in the talk - sort of like he has 2 talks put into one and they are so loosely connected that there is no continuity.
<<Matt 13 talks about the parable of the wheat and the weeds. The disciples want to know what it means so Jesus takes them aside to explain it to them. The workers saw the weeds growing in the field and asked if they should take them out so the wheat could grow. They were told to leave them and in the harvest the weeds would be pulled out and bound up and then the wheat would be harvested.>>
Now it seems to me that if they could recognize the weeds from the wheat they must have looked different But no seems I am wrong.
<<In the book Natural History of the Bible the weeds mentioned was something called "bearded darnel" Seems this bearded darnel looks exactly like wheat before they mature. This makes it difficult for anyone to tell the difference between the two. [holds up picture of both to show they are so alike you can’t tell one from the other] It is no wonder then that the farmers would have to wait for the harvest to get the weeds out>>
hmmm something is wrong here. The Bible says they could tell they weeds were there. This guy says they couldn’t tell. His illustration is well way off the mark but I think I am the only one paying attention. The rest just sit there and soak it in mindlessly.
I was sure he was going to say the weeds were in the congregation - people to watch out for like Bill Bowen and other apostates. But he didn’t go there.
<<The weeds are Christendom and the wheat of course are all those anointed followers of Jehovah. The seed that is scattered is the truth and it is scattered to find more of the anointed.>>
Now does this make sense to you. If all the anointed have been gathered - cause after all it is the end - then why on earth would they be out looking for more of them.
<<How wonderful a blessing that we can share in this work of harvesting the anointed ones>>
Is this new light?
Then he went on to some statistics and how they are only 6.1 million people and there is still sp much work to do. And he pushed anyone who is not yet baptized to hurry up and take that step because
<<it is dangerous to refuse this responsibility>>
And I just about gagged when he closed.
<<You must rejoice. You have to be happy>>
Nothing like telling them be happy or else.
Phew I am so glad my daughters and I are out of there.
A not-so-silent lamb
Aspire to inspire before you expire -
25
Do you consider yourself an ex-JW?
by Introspection ini'm gonna go for the direct approach here.
it's kind of strange to identify yourself as an ex- anything, to define yourself using a former identity as a point of reference, one that is no longer.
in some cases you might use it to clarify your relationship, (i'm jane's ex-husband, or whatever) but again it gets weird.. i mean we don't think of ourselves as ex-kindergarteners or something do we?
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Lady Lee
hmmm it sounds like you are saying that while I was a JW I was in some nether world and therefore it doesn't count. Personally I would not say that. Every expereince is worth something. In the healing of this experience I have learned a lot about who I was, who I am and who I want to be. As a 50 year old my future life is very much in my thoughts. I want the future to be as rich as possible. My JW time gave me two wonderful children - certain not a time of doing nothing with my life. As a child of abuse my JW life also portected me from the life that many abuse victims follow. Mind you it gave me a different life but still a life.
Not sure how clear that it
But life is a process. My experiences are only parts of the process
A not-so-silent lamb
Aspire to inspire before you expire -
39
How Many Silent Lambs Do you Know?
by Cassiline ini thought it would be interesting if we started count here on this board.
please list how many you know personally, then add from the previous results, to keep a running tally.
i realize it wont be an accurate count but perhaps an estimate of those that we know or are aquatinted with.. i'll start.. 3 +.
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Sympatico posts story on JWs
by Lady Lee ini think this is an article previously posted by other papers but canada's sympatico (a major internet service provider) has picked up the story.
http://computers.sympatico.ca/news/wired/stories/0,1856,7,00/0,1572,52484-7,00.html.
allegations along the watchtower .
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Lady Lee
I think this is an article previously posted by other papers but Canada's Sympatico (a major internet service provider) has picked up the story
http://computers.sympatico.ca/news/wired/stories/0,1856,7,00/0,1572,52484-7,00.html
Allegations Along the Watchtower
Did the Jehovah's Witnesses excommunicate members over a controversial website? Are websites such as Silentlambs.org fueling the current sexual abuse controversy surrounding churches? By Elisa Batista.
By Elisa Batista
2:00 a.m. May 25, 2002 PDT
Between the ages of 4 and 11, Erica Rodriguez was raped once a week by a member of her Jehovah's Witness congregation in Othello, a bucolic town of 5,800 in central Washington state.
Rodriguez's story and others like hers are posted on Silentlambs.org, a website launched by an ex-Jehovah's Witness who was dismayed at the lack of action taken by the congregation against members he claims are sexual predators.
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"Silentlambs offers them a place to put up their stories," said William H. Bowen, the website's founder. "To put it on paper is a form of healing."
Most recently, Bowen has accused the Jehovah's Witnesses of excommunicating members whose stories were posted on Silentlambs.org.
The Jehovah's Witnesses are a Christian sect of 6 million worshippers worldwide. Commitment is exhibited through a strict regimen of door-to-door evangelism and adherence to rules against blood transfusions, the celebration of secular holidays and displays of patriotism, such as saluting a flag.
The congregation denies Bowen's allegations but it has recently been in the spotlight over some of the child-abuse accusations presented on Bowen's website. There are currently two outstanding lawsuits against the congregation –- Jehovah's Witnesses do not call their religious institution a church -- for intentionally harboring child molesters.
Other religious denominations are also feeling the heat, especially the Catholic Church, which has admitted to shuffling around priests accused of sexual abuse.
Those who say they've been abused and their attorneys contend the current attention paid to sexual abuse in religious institutions is due to the courage of victims to come forward –- and not from information on websites such as Silentlambs.org, Survivorsnetwork.org, Factnet.org and Thelinkup.com. But they also say the websites have been instrumental in victims' healing.
The websites, run by people claiming abuse, offer personal and mostly anonymous stories, news articles on the current scandal in the Catholic church, legal advice, discussion boards and tips on where to go for therapy. Silentlambs.org asks for monetary donations to help victims.
Silentlambs sent Rodriguez a plane ticket from Sacramento, California, to Washington state to appear in court.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which runs the Survivorsnetwork.org site, holds informal therapy sessions –- similar to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings -– in various cities across the country.
"Those two websites (Survivorsnetwork.org and Silentlambs.org) have been enormously instrumental in giving refuge and information to survivors looking desperately for resources they can trust," said Jeffrey R. Anderson, an attorney in St. Paul, Minnesota, who has pursued 500 sexual abuse cases against churches of all denominations in the last 20 years.
Anderson is currently suing the Jehovah's Witnesses on behalf of Rodriguez.
"The sad thing is our mainline institutions -- the churches -- have not been victim-friendly," he said.
Anderson said he doesn't actively recruit clients from the websites, although its readers are often encouraged to take legal action. He has, however, found witnesses on them.
He recently subpoenaed Bowen, of Silentlambs.org, to testify in Rodriguez's case.
"He has a key understanding of the inner workings of Jehovah's Witnesses," Anderson said, referring to Bowen.
The Jehovah's Witnesses congregation, with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, denies it has excommunicated members who have contributed to Bowen's website.
But David Semonian, spokesman for the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, admitted the group sometimes looks at the website "when necessary." He also said it attempts to "readjust (the) thinking" of those who post material critical of the religion on the Web.
"This is what the Bible directs," Semonian said. "If someone is writing or causing dissension, we would meet with them -- two elders (congregation leaders) usually -- and discuss the matter. If indeed, he were causing dissension as the book of Ecclesiastes describes it, we'd 'readjust the man in a spirit of mildness.' You'd calmly discuss it together so you can bring them back to their senses. There is no automatic excommunication. We want to keep our members."
Semonian declined to comment on Rodriguez's case.
Rodriguez, 22, recalled reporting what she claimed was regular abuse to two elders. She said they promised to "take care of it" and told her that if she told anyone else she'd be "disfellowshipped" or excommunicated.
No action was ever taken by the congregation against her perpetrator, Manuel Beliz, an elder.
A few years ago, Rodriguez reported the abuse to Sacramento police. Beliz was tried and convicted of raping her. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence in a Washington prison.
Rodriguez is now seeking damages against the Jehovah's Witnesses, charging it knowingly harbored a child molester, she said. Anderson said the Othello congregation violated a mandatory child abuse reporting law in Washington.
"A lot of pain and suffering could be prevented if they would forget about the church's image, take sexual abuse seriously and start reaching out to the victims," Rodriguez said.
A not-so-silent lamb
Aspire to inspire before you expire -
10
TO ALL UPITTY JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
by FRUSR8TD ini posted this on another thread but i know it got buried....i thought it was an important that the jw's on this board hear this.. do you think that bill or any silentlamb would have to resort to such public measures if the wtbts had listened in the first place.
think about it...these people are putting a lot on the line...do you think they would be going to such lengths to be heard if the wtbts had responded to there more "discreat" pleas for help?
you are only seeing the tip of the iceburg...they have been trying to get the wtbs to not just hear them but listen to them for years.
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Do I have a sign on my back??????
by noidea inok..someone please tell me..do i have a sign that says elder's please drop by any time unannounced..if it's there will someone please take it down..[>:(].
everyone wave to him.
i guess they know that i can't make an appointment to a gynecologist on a sunday..well that excuse worked once.. ok here is the question he is asking as i'm typing this right now..your husband has been to the meeting two week-ends in a row you haven't been there either time and i wanted to see if your ok.. hmm..my answer "same as the last 9 months of no attendance..never felt better..thanks for asking"..yes, i'm trying not to giggle.. maybe i should show him my picture in the paper from the press conference in ky.. ~~~noi~~~.
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Do I have a sign on my back??????
by noidea inok..someone please tell me..do i have a sign that says elder's please drop by any time unannounced..if it's there will someone please take it down..[>:(].
everyone wave to him.
i guess they know that i can't make an appointment to a gynecologist on a sunday..well that excuse worked once.. ok here is the question he is asking as i'm typing this right now..your husband has been to the meeting two week-ends in a row you haven't been there either time and i wanted to see if your ok.. hmm..my answer "same as the last 9 months of no attendance..never felt better..thanks for asking"..yes, i'm trying not to giggle.. maybe i should show him my picture in the paper from the press conference in ky.. ~~~noi~~~.
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well I am off to do some witnessing
by Lady Lee ingot my bag yup.
got my bible - nope.
got my wt and awake!s nope.
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Lady Lee
Mulan there is no way I would have done this in Montreal - way too many people know me there but absolutely no JWs here know who I am - I love it
Oh I would just love to have stayed around to watch their reactions and then to find the cards all over the outside of the building
crawdad - well if I ever get into bigamy I'll let you know
A not-so-silent lamb
Aspire to inspire before you expire