snare, belief in evolution is not a df offense (according to the WT, evolution happened after the flood, going from a fiew dozen species to thousands). You don't even have to believe in God, as long as you believe the GB is the sole channel of God on Earth (good luck making sense of that one).
Miles3
JoinedPosts by Miles3
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37
JWTALK.NET: 'Apostates are having a field day with this child abuse case'.
by Joliette inboo!.
some of the utterly ridiculous comments that i've read on jwtalk.net:.
'i pray fevently jehovah will sanctify his name.
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What do you think that a Christian will occasionally buy a scratch ticket?
by wolfman85 in...because i have done that a couple times and won $38!!!
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Miles3
I won a scratch ticket with my first 5$ try, so I've kept at it all those years. Why stop when I'm on a winning streak?
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Proof that humankind existed at least 28,000 years ago
by The Oracle ini wonder how jws will react to this recent evidence that intelligent man existed at least 22,000 years before adam and eve arrived on the scene?.
it looks like membership will continue to decline as far as intelligent jws are concerned.
i'm sure there will be plenty of society's bottom feeders who will continue to find their way on to the jw publisher lists.
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Miles3
While we appreciate the advances science has provided us, we are also aware that science often makes mistakes. The atomic bomb, the machine gun, the atomic bomb, the machine gun are all examples of what can happen when man trust science.
The evolutionist and datation expert Mitt Romney recently said: "Science has many problems and should not be taken for face value. Plus, tonight was cooler than yesterday's afternoon. I will implement a long-term solution with Senate to address this issue".
Evidently, if even experts in their field reject their own results, are we not to listen to this wise Bible counsel: "The faithfull drone watches his steps, because the bull will leave its dejections at his doorstep".
Logically, what would we trust more, the perfect and unfailible saying of God, or the failible saying of men that reject Jehovah and his glorious Governing Body? True Christians(TM) know that in the new world soon to come about, they will recieve answers far more fulfilling than the flickering "knowledge" available today.
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What Some Loyal JW's Are Saying About The Oakland Case.
by Bangalore inform the pro-jw site jwtalk.
this is such a ronald mcdonald court case.
i can't believe what i am reading.. lie: "the lawsuit alleged that watchtower had a policy that instructed elders in its jehovah's witnesses congregations to keep reports of child sex abusers within the religious group secret to avoid lawsuits.".
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Miles3
Bobjohnrob, i do think even minor child sexual abuse offenders should not be able to enter an association or an organisation that cares for children, nor should they be allowed to work with or near children.
I think that's part of the issue here, though I haven't read all the court documents. But that issue was also raised in previous pedophile cases involving the Watchctower. The fact that pedophiles (minor or not) are required by policy to engage in door-to-door ministry is an issue, and should certainly not be allowed unless he was supervised at all times by an elder. Also, since preaching is organised by the congregation and by the Society, and local elders are the one overseeing it (that's how the Organised book shows it), both have a responsibility in ensuring children engaging in that organised activity do not get into contact with pedophiles. Think about it like a church organised activity, whether Sunday school, or some church-organised sport or game.
The fact is, the way preaching is organised, there is no way to prevent a pedophile access to children unless you warn each and every member about it. While elders are overseeing it, they are far from attending all service groups - yet the Legal Department forbids them to even give instructions to the ministerial servant or group conductor about not sending the pedophile with kids, or in a group with kids. Worse, in the past elders that were part of a pedophile's JC have sent the pedophile with a single mom and her kids (if you know how it goes, there's always the single sister with kids nobody wants to preach with, and the akward pedophile is the default choice...), or with a kid alone. The congregation and the Society bear responsability, because the Society consider warning the pedophile about paying attention with kids suffisant. It is not, and it's for that policy, which is still in effect, that the Watchtower is being fined with punitive damages. There can be no real protection for kids until the Society repels that policy, and the jury seems to have understood that. I do not believe Conti's advocate has misrepresented the Society's policy, because it really reflects the reality of the situation. Not just the reality in the 90s - sadly, the problem remains the same in 2012, and you know that each years in the US alone it's at least dozens of kids being raped that could have been avoided. Changing that will protect more kids thant attacking one pedophile.
I also do believe that on a human level the elders not warning the parents, even if some like you would consider his previous act a minor offense (it's never minor when it involves kids), it horrendous and inhumane. The Society's policy, by forbiding the elders to do so, is even more at fault.
As for the pedophile, and as much as we'd all like hime behind bars, at least the congregation is now aware not to let any kids near him, and his sex offender status is a matter of public record. If he is convicted in a criminal court, that would be good news, but he could be convicted and still get out of it with few consequences (a few years in prison at most). i don't think I'm qualified to judge if the government is too lenient - I believe it is, but on the other hand psychiatrists have a different opinion, and they know those cases better. In a perfect world, we'd be able to cut all those people from children access, contributing to society, while not filling the already overcrowded US prison system.
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Reduction of Announcements
by wisdomfrombelow instarting the week of september 3rd they will cease having local announcement as part of the service meeting.
is there going to be a much reduction of the letters sent to the congregation?
will everyone be expected to read the bulletin board to know what is going on?
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Miles3
They eliminated announcements as a part of the Service Meeting (...) due to the decreasing number of Ministerial Servants. - Billy
Billy, I suspect you're spot on. Having done the planning back in the day, it gets a pain when you're not supposed to give more than 1 assignments per meeting to each brother. People in big congregations didn't have this problem, but if you have been serving in a congregation where there where few appointed brothers (or in a congregation where the COBE has pet peeves against most MS and prevent them even from giving announcments "till they improve their teaching abilities"), the task gets impossible.
They're preparing for the day when, even in 100+ publisher congregations, each of the appointed brothers has to do a part in each meeting (so 2 parts a week, 8 part a month), and two parts when someone is on holiday or sick.
I don't know if Elderelite is already starting to feel it in his congregation, but it would be great when elders still in inform us it's become the case. It's only going to get worse and worse, and I know we had this problem years ago (though a smaller congregation with an abusive COBE).
BTW, even when I was in, since I was a kid the only interesting part of the Tuesday meeting was the announcements. No one in any of the congs I've been in ever listen to the School, even the school servant, and the talks in the Service meetings are designe to make you sick, especially the ones based on a random old Watchtower article where the speaker makes no effort to hide he's just reading the article (for the first time to boot...).
Did people here ever listen or like a part of the Tuesday meeting (except for the mandatory raise your hand part for those that wanted to get appointed)?
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Perfection........
by criticalwitness inwhat exactly is perfection?
for instance jesus had to learn things like being a carpenter learning how to read with learning comes mistakes.
if put him on a golf coarse he would not auttomatically sink a hole in one everytime.
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Miles3
Perfection is a concept created by people that can't stand life and reality, and need to believe the problem is not in their depressed mind, but in a humanity that has "sinned", "fallen from grace" and need to be "saved". Don't judge them, at the time, they didn't have antidepressants nor LSD, and booze was scarce. You make do with what you have at hand, and trust me, crazy isn't a bad option when you're out of wine and can't remember that fancy trick with the water.
It's a certainty, people's little voice in the head is going to make everything better someday, promise! Except for animals that will keep dying, because they don't deserve it, after all we humans are so much supperiors, even though we share 98,8% of our DNA with chimpanzees. They get to keep dying though they can have sex everyday with whoever they want, male or female; we get to live forever with the arrogant pricks our species keeps producing at a steady rate, you tell me who's got the better deal.
Imagine it, being stuck in an endless forum thread of people congratulating themselves they all have a little voice that speak to them.
Guess it's time to go back to the zoo after all. But feel free to chose perfection, at least you get to spend your entire life feeling like a failure!
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Friends, where have I gone wrong as a mother?
by umadevi infirst of all i 'm sorry my english is not very good.. i am feeling very low at this point.
i am a single mother working full time.
i have a 9 year son.
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Miles3
Edit: and yes, I agree with mind blown, a professional would be a tremendous help. Even if you decide to dismiss the violence of the threat, your kid will probably need it for his dad issues and anger. I know I wished I could have talked to a reliable male adult during my childhood. My mom wouldn't, not because she didn't trust psychologists (she's seen plenty), but because (in retrospect) for all the love she pretended to have for us, she couldn't be bothered to exert any consequent amount of her energy, let alone her money, towards her children.
There's plenty of things your kid isn't telling you, and will never tell you, not because he doesn't trust you, but because he loves you and see the hard time you're having. A really trusty male adult role model (but such a relationship would take years to develop), or a psychologist (takes a few times only to break the ice, since it's an outsider and the kid is guaranteed total trust | no judgment by the patient-therapist confidentiality)
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Friends, where have I gone wrong as a mother?
by umadevi infirst of all i 'm sorry my english is not very good.. i am feeling very low at this point.
i am a single mother working full time.
i have a 9 year son.
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Miles3
umadevi, in response to your recent comments, I'm happy your kid was ready to talk, because that's not evident. Did you manage to track the behavior to a specific thing - movie, discussions with friends, seeing a friends do it as a 'joke' on another (weaker) kid? Kids aren't angels, and can be quite cruels between themselves at school, it's sure your kid has already seen someone getting bullied.
Movies and games are not the problem (as long as you check the age ratings, many don't), seeing them by himself the first time is. If a kid has an adult next to him, if he's explained afterwards the difference between reality and fiction, if he knows what the actor did is unconcievable in real life, then he'll never consider doing it to a real person. A kid has killed thousands of indians and cowboys by the time he goes into highschool, doesn't makes him violent. Contrary to the Watchtower's misinformation, violence has gone down as tv use, then game use have gone up.
Has your kid told you he realises now the emotional harm a victim of his conduct suffers - even when he himself didn't have the intention to act on it? Has he stopped and try to imagine himself in a situation where someone was really going to take his life, and can he imagine what the thought of losing him would do to you? How does he looks now on bullies at school? Has his opinions of them changed? Does he realises that people can't read what he thinks, and if he takes a knife they'll rightly assume he has the intention to use it? What does he think about someone using fear to coerce people to change their behavior/opinion - does he feels there's times it's ok to use it? Does he knows for what reason the saying goes that noone should take in hands any weapon unless they're ready to use it, and can he be ready at 9 yo?
As for his dad, I can't tell you to lie to your kid if you know what his dad really feels. Your kids will have to decide that for himself, maybe you can tell him that as he see more and more of life he'll realise things are not in black and white. Like he could realise he's not a 'vilain' because of the mistake he did, but the victim could easily see him as one (and might, for her protection ;) ). People he love can make horrible mistakes, and those can mean they can't give him the time he'd like. That's not in term of 'love', that's in term of mess his dad might have directed his life into. As for fairness, and comparisons, ask him to figure all those happy kids he's envying, and imagine what's he's not privvy of - the mom's cancer, the dad's alcohoolism, the abuse at home while looking all happy family outside, the sister that died in an accident, the autistic sibling that takes all the parent's attention, etc.. And what about the others, the ones that don't have any friends at all because their lives is so bad he can't imagine it? Life's not fair, if it was it wouldn't be life, and as enjoyable as a Watchtower distopia. He can fight for fairness though, and that certainly doesn't involve knives and threats.
He does need male role models. I know I spent one night of my whole childhood in a functionnal family, with a good dad, and I still remember it and am glad for it. Even a small amount is good if he knows what to do with it - try to get him to put himslef in that male adult's feets. If he's just bitter because it's not he's dad, he'll remain hurt. Kids (and adults) need to be told to project themselves into the future, to imagine the kind of person they want to be in 5, 10, 20 years. That's a tremendous force when life keeps thowing curve balls at you.
Club, sports clubs and the like are good places to look for if you lack reliable male relatives or friends. You don't need one sure 'dad' substitute either - diversity and going out of the cocoon is a good thing, because staying in a house with the same person(s) all your free time isn't natural or healthy, even if you're the greatest mom in the world for your kid, which you are.
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Friends, where have I gone wrong as a mother?
by umadevi infirst of all i 'm sorry my english is not very good.. i am feeling very low at this point.
i am a single mother working full time.
i have a 9 year son.
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Miles3
Things that may not have been mentioned:
First, and that's the most important - you need to talk frankly to your friend about what happen - both so your son realises how important and hurtful his behavior was (if it's covered up he'll see no reason not to do it again, as long as he covers it up), and so you're friend's daughter get the help she needs. She doesn't just need conforting, she also need to be reinforced to the idea that noone is allowed to threaten her, even another kid, even a friend. Especially because she's a girl.
If you explain to your friends what you're going to do to help your son, that would make it easier for her to overlook the incident (not forgeting - your kid needs to know he can't threaten somebody and see them act all nice and trusty towards him later).
As for your son, apart for clearly making him understand that such an attitude is unacceptable under any circumstances - even if he's angry, even if the other person has insulted him or hurt him, even if he doesn't have a farther - listening to what he has to say can help him understand he's not rejected, only his conduct is. Then have a good talk about why threats, physical or not, are wrong, and why physical violence is to be banished. Talk about the consequences in society of his conduct - even if he's a kid. Talk about the consequences for him, the kind of person he wants to become.
You can't do that if you're to emotional about it, so you need to stop asking yourself what you did wrong. Plenty of kids raised by disfunctional couples and abusive parents still grow up to be stable adults, what your kid did is not justified by anything in your eductation. Don't enter a debate if your kid tries to manipulate you by guilting you - listen tohim, take note of the few points he could be right (times like those are a good way to see what's weighting on your kid's heart), but don't let them guilt you. Nothing, even abuse, excuses his behavior, if it was the case we'd loose half the kids population every year.
Talk to your family doctor about it, get his recommandations for a good kid psychologist, see the psychologist by yourself and determine with him if it would be a good idea for your kid to see one (don't suggest to your kid he might need to see a psychologist then not have him see one, be sure before you talk to him about it). See with your kids when he has felt like this before (don't say 'menace someone'), assess the extent of the problem. Many of us has behaved badly at least once as kids, and it's not the end of the world, it's just that this event is a serious one.
On the long term:
Kids that read a lot have a far lower tendency to result to violence, because the inability to verbalise long sentences and complex ideas in your head means you only have violence to resort to when solving conflicts.
Martial art classes are really good for a kid's self-esteem and respect of other people's self integrity - judo is really fun for kids, very good to release tensions. Better than other arts like karate, because judo relies not on punches and kicks, but on grappling, and that demands a tremendous amount of energy, especially on the ground, which is what beginners learn first - all the fun of wrestling, without the silly tights that flash your nuts to all your classmates. If you can't because you're still a Witness or your kid still half believes it, any sport is good, check what your kid would like to do. It's the end of the school year, all clubs (city or school) are happy to see prospective members checking them in advance, instead of having kids start in september and realise they don't like the sport a few days later. There's probably open days and demonstrations to, see with your city's sports service. It's really worth the investment, even for yourself if you're a single mother. Happier, more confortable and at peace mom = heaven as a kid in a monoparental family.
Can't vouch for it myself though, our mom never wanted to take herself in charge and we had to be the adults, which is the worst thing you can ask of a kid. So you can see that on the parenting scale you can't be doing that bad, can you?
PS: (humor) "where have I gone wrong as a mother?" I'd usually start with the cult, but that might not be relevant ;)
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Belief in evolution begets belief in God
by yadda yadda 2 ina strange statement i know.
but consider.... if humans evolved, and humans are a relatively recent evolution, then would it not make sense to believe there might be other far more ancient intelligent beings (who would appear to humans to be like gods/a god) who began evolving long before humans?
in a sense, to believe in human evolution hardly refutes god's existence, unless you believe that us humans are the only thing in the entire universe that has evolved into a salient, intelligent, self-aware being.
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Miles3
Why do you feel the need to call such species "God" instead of extraterrestrials, or tooth fairies?
If they're intelligent, they certainly wouldn't want to be worshipped. As a parent, would you want your kids to worship you and live the live you want for them? What kind of sick parent wants that?
Thinks about the kind of garbage that went to another continent/country, and got the native to worship them because said natives thought they were gods. Those people are the lowest beings you could find among a species - that certainly will make them anything but Gods.
And I agree with Gladiator, you imagine a situation that you don't even have the tiniest shred of evidence to build upon. What kind of thinking is that? Bad boy, bad boy Yadda Yadda, Mom isn't proud of you!