Posts by Mr Ben

60

The Truth About Christianity - Give your views

by Sirona in

ex- jehovahs witnesses often reject christianity based on what they were taught by the wts.

when i left jws it was difficult for me to see what christianity was all about - the non-jw version.

every time i picked up a bible, i could see the watchtower interpretation jumping out at me.

How to tell my JW mum that I'm Pagan

by Sirona in

after about 3 years of being part of a pagan religion, i'm finally realising that this is the time to tell my jw mother.

the question is, how do i put it over to her?

i'm wiccan, and it is true that wiccans refer to themselves as witches.

Mr Ben

Well Sirona,

If you?re gonna go for it, why not try the old ?make it sound worse than it really is? routine, so there?s an easy landing for her?

?Mum, there is something I have to tell you that I have been wanting to tell you for a long time, and? there?s really no easy way to say it? perhaps you?d better sit down. You might get upset but I truly need to be honest with you because I love you.?

She should be shittin? herself at what?s coming next? are you a bank robber? An axe murderer?

?Well, here it is? I?ve come to the conclusion that I should be tolerant of other people who do no harm to me or others, and that I should be the same towards other myself. I feel this natural kind of spirituality brings me into a closer relationship with the God that fills the air & earth & all the mighty Universe. How do you feel about that??

Depending on the answer, you?ll know how much more to say? or not.

Or try a little humour. ?Mum, I have become a Pagan, but don?t worry! I have spoken to God and She?s fine about it!? Perhaps not.

Best wishes, I hope you are better now, as I haven?t spoke to you here for a couple of years at least

Ben.

25

Solve this problem you dumdums :)

by JH in

jw
friends

my nephew sent me this problem that his teacher gave him.

you have to go through each line only once and come back to the starting point.

start wherever you want but you have to come back to that starting point without missing one line.

Mr Ben

Use an eraser... then you can't go through twice. (I'm just a cheat!)

25

Solve this problem you dumdums :)

by JH in

jw
friends

my nephew sent me this problem that his teacher gave him.

you have to go through each line only once and come back to the starting point.

start wherever you want but you have to come back to that starting point without missing one line.

Mr Ben

Hey, did you return to your starting point?

Who said you couldn't take your pen off the paper? :)

34

I'm back online! - and a letter to the elders

by dmouse in

jw
friends

since the breakdown of my marriage i have been living round my mum's - .

hooray for mums everywhere, but especially mine!.

now, mum's not the most up to date person so no computer or internet.

Mr Ben

Congrats on getting out of this abusive situation! You will certainly be DF'd, the elders are probably only interested in your comment:

"After exhaustive research and much soul-searching I was devastated to realise that the religion I had been following all my life was in fact a complete sham..."

which means everything else you said can be dismissed as apostate.

She will give you a bitter divorce for refusing to lie about adultery as it condemns her to celibacy. See a solicitor before admitting things in writing, ask if you can get at least a percentage of legal aid.

PS - Sound like your youngest is really going to need you for support. Best wishes.

Mr Ben

44

My wife stole my books!!!!

by dmouse in

jw
friends

i had an interesting conversation with a jw last week, who insisted that she was not 'brainwashed' and would be prepared to look at any evidence i had that the 'truth' was not the one true truth.. so i went to my book cupboard to get my copies of 'crisis of conscience' and 'signs of the last days - when?

' in order to lend them to her.. and they are gone!!!!

i am absolutely certain they were there only a few weeks ago.. i can only assume that my jw wife (whom i'm not on the best of terms with) has taken them.

Mr Ben

It?s probably going to get worse.

She burned the books. She probably told the elders you have aposto books. What is their advice to a faithful sister who has an aposto hubbie? Let me enlighten. They will tell her this:

Leave your job so you will get Legal aid. Throw him out of the house, calling the police if necessary. Take him to court and demand that you remain in the house to look after the children. He will be forced to pay the mortgage, alimony, and child maintenance, and he?ll probably only have enough left for a shitty bedsit for himself ? but then, that shows what happens to those who oppose Jehovah. He will not be able to sell the house & split the equity 50/50 until the children are 16.

This is how bad it can get. I urge you to go to a solicitor as soon as possible and find out what can be done to minimise this. You could, for instance, start secretly taping her when she?s screaming her intolerant JW bull, and evidence like this might mean you stay in the house to care for the kids while she has to go!

Good luck man, feelin? mighty sorry for you over here in Yorkshire.

Ben.

29

Help! Please! My sister finds loophole...

by FlyingHighNow in

jw
friends

this past july, my only sister decided i was an apostate.

she contacted my former cong.

and spoke to the elders.

Mr Ben

Well,

I haven't been around here for some time, so hello all, once again.

Sorry about your troubles Heather. I totally agree with Maverick. Why? 1. Love. & 2, you said,

"You're right, she is the one allowing their rules to govern her relationship with me. I personally don't give a flying fig about their rules. Thank you."

I disagree, she isn't the one allowing the rules to govern her. Her cult personality, which is not her authentic personality, is the one allowing this. You can still help your sister to mentally escape, but you must keep the door of communication open. When you get a chance to, read, "Releasing the Bonds" by Steven Hassan. Steve is now a psychologist & cult exit councillor & seems like a nice bloke, but when he was an elder in the Moonies, at one point he considered strangling his dad for trying to free him from the cult. His cult personality wasn't so nice. You also said your sister changed when she became a JW.

The best way to help your loved ones, and hit the WTS where it hurts, is to help your loved ones get out!

Good luck & best wishes.

Mr Ben

28

Wordly people, df'ing, my experience

by flower in

the bryant tragedy has really been stuck in my head and heart this week as i'm sure it has been for all of us.

it occured to me though that there may be some here or lurking that do not understand what made robert do what he did.

there may be some who think that his was an isolated incidence of severe untreated mental illness and have nothing to do with his being disfellowshiped.

Mr Ben

Flower,

You are a beautiful person, thank you for sharing your pain, perhaps it will help others here. I hope you have/will get your son back. You were the victim of a cult and I am glad you are beginning to heal. It wasn't your fault.

Best wishes.

Religion n.
An organisation designed to promote atheism.

31

Disfellowshipped For Being Raped...

by Anne Marie in

dear post reader.... i was that young and pretty sister you may have seen...the one with "all those kids".

the one who stuggled to raise her children alone.

the one who was rarely considered as "wife material" because she was "damaged goods".

Mr Ben

Anne Marie,

Full of sympathy for you. Glad you have escaped. Welcome.

Religion n.
An organisation designed to promote atheism.

15

Evolutionary questions.

by sleepy in

jw
friends

is the model we have of evolution water tight?.

i have no problem with evolutionary theory ,it describes how we see nature working today , and assumes this carries back down into the distant past , without much interference, but a few things niggle me.. lets take for example the evolution of speech.. it has been said that evolution of speech must have taken a very long time and was very gradual.. a little advance at a time.

first a grunt ,then a cry until we have the oxford dictionary on english words.. so obviously by the time people could talk fluidly like today, they were very different to non-talking creatures to such an extent they we didnt know we they came from them.. but how do we know this ,as speech can leave no evidence?.

Mr Ben

carmel

If humans, which are one of the very youngest of the panoply of species, developed speach, why didn't older species that have been around for eons?

When you say "humans", do you mean Homo sapiens? What about Neanderthals? Whilst they were human, most theists exclude them as they are a different species of human to Adam & Jesus, as well being before Adam, so why did they die? Anyway, it is proved that they used art – which requires abstract thought. Art and language are sufficiently similar to theorise that they did indeed speak.

Why only humans? It really gets down to evolution likely being a mechanism for creative expression with a purposeful "creator".

Well, we can’t be sure about that, can we? And if we are going to move from fact to assertion, then I could say that squid use a complex language system, but they use colour as the symbol instead of hand-written script, and, well heck, they don’t have hands! What about parrots? No, seriously, parrots can learn English. But we don’t understand parrot yet. What about aliens, or even angels for that matter?

Even if the first assertion is correct, that it is only humans, the second assertion does not automatically follow. There is nothing wrong believing that if you want to, so long as you realise that it is a belief that does not follow from the first assertion.

Religion n.
An organisation designed to promote atheism.