Posts by xjwsrock

9

New Tool To Help Cult Survivors. From an EXJW

by TTaTT4U in

.

https://bonniezieman.com/2017/05/09/cracking-the-cult-code-for-therapists-what-cult-victims-want-their-therapist-to-know/.

xjwsrock

Therapy can be a matter of opinion and judgement. Different therapists can approach a situation different ways. Coming from a place where I lost someone very close to me in my extended family to suicide, I realize the seriousness of always putting every safety net in place imaginable if the threat is real. Hotlines, doctors, family, friends, you name it. I'm sure Bonnie would agree with that if asked.

I must say, I am reading Exiting the JW Cult and it is just as healing for me as actual therapy, which I have had. It is hard to put into words what it means to be understood by a professional and have your feelings and thoughts validated. This cult makes you second guess yourself. It is part of the programming. Using some of the recommended practices for healing like journaling my feelings daily to get them out has been enormously helpful. My confidence is building and I am putting together concrete plans for my fade. I am a pimo elder married to a devout witness. I am 4th generation. She is 6th. The potential fallout is overwhelming.

Anyhow, I look forward to finishing this book and reading more of her works. I fully recomend her books as a substitute for therapy, if it is not available or possible, or as a supplemnt to your therapy.

18

Apostate carts

by Normalfulla in

so i've recently been travelling about usa and mexico and of course seen the carts parked at tourist spots all over and i had a funny thought ...if somehow we could get a bunch of identical carts together and print up a placard with a few key facts about the real truth with jwfacts logo and just park them right in the same areas ,dress up in our old meeting clothes and stand about with a coffee and look on our phones i wonder what response we would get from anyone ?

or park them outside assembly's and just stand.off at a distance ...basically the same thing they do to all society !.

xjwsrock

I think it would be a very entertaining you tube video. I would love to see how many more people spoke to the apostate cart. I think it would be many more. Some good scandalous headlines would do the trick.

Pedophilia anyone?

20

April 19, 2017 BOE Re: Kingdom Ministry School for the 2018 Service Year

by wifibandit in

april 19, 2017 to all bodies of elders and ministerial servants re: kingdom ministry school for the 2018 service year.

xjwsrock

I guarantee handling the satanic attacks of apostasy in the congregation will be discussed and how to swiftly and decisively handle it.

6

The challenge of " truth" and " moral opinion"

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

when growing up in a "proper" j.ws household:-.

a) our moral opinions are conditioned by this environment and upbringing.. b) to hold to jws belief and moral opinions gives our life purpose.. c) what we believe we hold it to be true.. d) in terms of approval it can be difficult for the mind to accept logical evidence if our life is based on "truth" and " moral opinions" that conflict with our conscience.. anyway i am not sure where i am going with this o.p?.

i guess my point is that settling factual and logical disputes with jws has proven more challenging than i realized.

xjwsrock

Your post made me think that as JW's we used the organization as due north on our moral compass. Basically what they said and did was right and what they preached against was wrong. We didn't really have our own morals. We adopted the morals we were told to.

In other words when you try to appeal to a JW's morals by pointing out flaws in the organization, you are actually attacking the JW's morals. They can't separate the two. Maybe on some level they start to short circuit. Whatever happens it gets personal quick and can even get violent. It's very sad to observe.

........

I think there's a breaking of the camel's back that has to happen for somebody to get out and you never know when that will be. Until then they are practically robots.

10

So, how's it feel, Watchtower -- now that the shoe's on the other foot?

by FatFreek 2005 in

yes, your cult has been banned in russia.

what surprises me is that this hasn't happened in more countries.

what surprises me is that civil suits in the u.s. haven't flooded the courts -- violation of civil and human rights because of the cruel act of shunning of disfellowshipped ones, even members of one's own family.. discrimination is a form of cruelty and civil and human rights define such.

xjwsrock

Yeah I get it but the org bullies people into doing it by threatening them with emotional abuse. There is plenty of blame to go around. It's a sick dysfunctional mess.

If all jw's would just stand up and walk out. The bullies wouldn't have any power. Oh to dream....

13

New York's Bethel tunnels are no more . . .

by neat blue dog in

http://www.brownstoner.com/neighborhood/brooklyn-heights/jehovahs-witnesses-brooklyn-heights-tunnels/.

xjwsrock

effing weirdos....

I don't know if I think it was a good idea for the sake of efficiency or if I think it is creepy weird. It is hard not to find it creepy weird.

52

Australian Congregations announce Child Safeguarding Policy is available upon request

by wifibandit in

this week all congregations in australia have been instructed to make the following announcement:.

if a member of the congregation would like a copy of the child safeguarding policy of jehovah’s witnesses in australia, please see the coordinator of the body of elders or the secretary.. .

childsafeguardingpolicy-eau.pdf.

xjwsrock

It is a vast improvement, but you can see they are just checking off boxes for the commission.

I think what bothers me the most is that they only report to the authorities when forced to by law or if the child is still in danger (who is going to determine that?).

A single-person-witnessed allegation that is denied by the perpetrator will receive nothing but maybe a raised eyebrow and a note in a file folder. That means hundreds of molesters will slide through the organization still getting protection behind an ignorant 2-witness rule.

Also there is no mention whatsoever about any concern for the welfare of children in the community. They honestly don't give a f*** if a worldly kid lives or dies.

Sorry I'm getting worked up here ...

17

Emotionally very ill but can't face consequences of leaving

by Isambard Crater in

jw
friends

i'm a new member so wanted to say 'hi'.

i live in the u.k, was born in, fell away as an unbaptised publisher, got baptised in my 30s for reasons i'm retrospectively unsure of, and lost my faith about five years ago around the time of the original a.r.c.

now, being unable to leave is making me physically, emotionally and mentally ill.. i'm not strong enough to da and live with the family consequences, and despite having several good friends outside the faith, none of them could support me in an active way as such.

xjwsrock

You have to find some way to coast-by until you can make your next move. I am a freaking elder coasting. I do 10 minute parts in like 6 minutes. 15 minute parts in like 10. Service always invloves a stop by the hall because I forgot something or an errand I need to do because of a deadline. If I can work in an "encouraging visit" with someone, I definitely am up for that. By "encouraging visit" i mean a visit where I say absolutely nothing about the religion. Lol... i comment like once every other meeting. I miss like one out of three meetings prob.

23

How deep is the rot?

by JeffT in

by now it seems obvious that the gb and other leaders of the wtbs are corrupt.

the pedo scandal and various financial schemes are sustained by either lack of concern or greed at the top.

my question is how far down the food chain does this go?

xjwsrock

I agree with many statements above. To add to ToesUp comment, I will say that they (elders) aren't allowed very many other outlets to be a 'big boy'. It's a sick twisted abusive web. It's like weak personalities are set up to fail in this religion.

I am an elder still. How much longer who knows. I have set a definite line in the calendar sand, though. Summer of next year. I have been hoping for progress with the wife but I am starting to lose hope for that. She literally knows no other way to think and is so damn trained to revolt against "negative speech". Anyway I digress..

To answer the opening question, it falls into yet another category where you have to resist black-and-white thinking. There is no one size fits all with this stuff. Each individual elder and each individual publisher is their own person with their own level of "awakeness" and/or delusion. If they are awake and still serving, it may be for self-serving greedy reasons or it may make them physically ill at times to go along with the deception in an effort to win over family. The religion teaches us all to be huge fakes at the kingdom hall. So who knows who anybody really is or what anybody really believes.

Most on my elder body are pretty bought-in it seems. I see some dissension occasionally but not much. They are all scared of the next guy up the chain. These guys are committed to being elders for life it appears. Never do you hear a peep about stepping aside. It is a big part of their identity.

With that said there are obviously people up the chain that are complete con-artists. Some CO's I would say are. I have met a few that had a funny look in their eye, if you follow me. Some are all about the financial advantages.

That reminds me. I knew an elder once (one of the bad ones). If you pressed him on something incriminating or suspicious, he would stop talking, turn, and simply walk off to avoid answering the question or addressing the subject. LOL. .. Funny to think about now. I knew him before I was awake. He was definitely awake then and working the system.

1

The Field Ministry Experience I Would Love to See

by xjwsrock in

imagine this exchange in the door-to-door ministry:.

.... jw: hello my name is tom, i'm with a group stopping by briefly.... householder: i'm sorry let me interrupt you right there... i know all about you people.. jw: oh really... what do you mean?.

householder: you are that wierdo cult that believes in all sorts of delusional tripe... how can you let them con you like that?.

xjwsrock

Imagine this exchange in the door-to-door ministry:

...

Jw: Hello my name is Tom, I'm with a group stopping by briefly...

Householder: I'm sorry let me interrupt you right there... I know all about you people.

Jw: Oh really... what do you mean?

Householder: You are that wierdo cult that believes in all sorts of delusional tripe... How can you let them CON you like that?

Jw: Oh no ... I'm sure you must be mistaken.. you see there are many people out there that spread lies about us to turn people against us...

Householder: Trust me I know what you believe. It's the same basic story-line of all creepy cult religions.

Jw: I'm positive you're mistaken, please tell me what you heard so that I can set the record straight.

Householder: Ok, no problem... Let me take a minute and explain what I heard... and please correct me if I'm wrong..

You believe that your group is the one and only special group hand-picked by God Almighty. One day soon a spaceship will come and rescue you from this planet that has been judged and sentenced to extermination. You will be taken to a faraway planet where you will be given new bodies and live like gods for all eternity. You will enjoy eternal youth and happiness in an Utopian setting of blissful tranquility. This will be your reward for being God's chosen torch-bearers of righteousness. Meanwhile planet earth and all those that refused to listen-to and join your group will be destroyed in a ball of galactic fire...

So how did I do? How close did I get?

Jw: (Laughing) Oh my god, NO. No. No. No.... We don't believe anything like that! I can't believe someone told you that.

Householder: Oh really?

Jw: No we are Christians! We believe Jesus died for our sins and his coming Kingdom will bring wonderful blessings to Mankind.

Householder: Oh man... I'm sorry... Well I guess you could understand my initial reaction when you knocked at my door..

Jw: Oh yes. I do understand. Whoever believes that crap needs to have their head examined!

Householder: I AGREE COMPLETELY! Now go get your head examined!

Jw: What? I'm confused.

Householder: Like I said I know exactly what you believe. Substitute Armageddon for the Spaceship and Paradise for the New Planet and it's basically exactly what you believe. You're in a CULT Dumbass! Now get off my property!

Jw: (Deer in headlights)

...

Oh to dream :)