myMichelle

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Posts by myMichelle

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  4

  Fleshly families and opposition...

  by detective in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i found this on purelanguage.net.. what a heartbreaking thread.

  http://www.purelanguage.net/forums/showthread.php?s=2ca210ca3f95ef0b112da9f825db2b92&threadid=1297.

  an excerpt:.

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  myMichelle

  Interesting thread...

  I wonder what the poster who said this:

  I told them that it was my life and my decision and that I had as much right to choose my religion as they had to choose theirs.
  I said, in effect, "If you don't like it - Tough!"
  They all stopped calling round to our house and they all stopped speaking to me, my wife and our little lambs.
  That was more than thirty years ago.
  Have any of them changed? No - and it's their loss not mine. They have missed out on having my wonderful wife as part of their lives.

  would do if one of his children made the same decision he did and joined a religion different than the one they were raised in?

  Overall, the thread just proved to me that no one group of people, or religion, holds the monopoly on small-minded people.

  Michelle

  Oh yes, I admire books. I still do. They can preserve a truth for twice a thousand years and teach it to any who has the skill and cares to read it. They can also fix a lie in stone forever. i]--Alice Borchardt, [i]The Dragon Queen
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  24

  Hello...may I post here?

  by KistByQpid in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking here for some time now.

  i'm not a jw, never been a jw, and don't plan on becoming a jw...however my life has been effected by the jw's whether i like it or not (dad's death/mom's conversion).

  seems most here are exjw's or jws...so i'm not too sure if i'm welcome or not?

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  myMichelle

  Hi KBQ,

  I'm also a nonJW, never have been and never will be. I'm married to a man who was raised in the Org, got baptised 9 years into our marriage, and who is now what I term a closet apostate. We're both very careful in what we say around his family, esp. his mom.

  His mom on occasion will do some witnessing behind my back, but my kids who are 7 and 9 usually tell me so we can talk about it. One of the latest was about Xmas, and so I got to talk to them about different beliefs surrounding Xmas and how different people believe different things.

  My Mother-in-law has been a baptized witness since '71/'72, so the new zeal is gone, but still she is ocassionally driven to try to witness to me or the kids. Usually the kids, it's been a long time since she has to me. I think she now knows, I'm not just going to bite my tongue any more and she doesn't want to hear my questions.

  Welcome to the board,
  Michelle
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  38

  Gender discrimination?

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  sixty minutes covered this story a month ago and meet the press brought it up again this morning when rumsfeld was interviewed.... when stationing troops in foreign countries, the u.s. military tries to abide by the rules of the country.

  in saudi arabia, the custom for women in public is that they wear an abaya, a floor-length, long-sleeve, loose-fitting garment that covers everything but the face.

  air force lt. col. martha mcsally filed a lawsuit against the pentagon, arguing that the policy was discriminatory because men are not required to dress in traditional muslim garments.. when interviewed on sixty minutes, mcsally was so offended by the garment that she would not put it on just to demonstrate what it looked like.

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  myMichelle

  Lunchbreak again, now I have time to answer this...

  btw, yesterday I asked: "What, of genuine consequence, would change by her wearing the abaya?"

  No one, including you, answered it.

  I thought I had a genuine consequence when I stated:

  If the rules of dress have changed for military personnel in the last 9 years, and this story surely indicates that, then I think it is downright hazardous policy for our military women stationed in Saudi. Once she dons the robes, she is no longer identifiable as a US Military member and loses the relative security of that identity. She will be subject to the "women police", and no doubt some rather sticky diplomatic problems will arise if any of these woman have the same response the afore mentioned SP did.

  The US Military had negotiated with the Saudi government to permit its female personnel to ride in the front seats of vehicles or even drive as long as they had all of their hair tucked up under caps (to make the fact that they were female less apparent), and this they were wearing military uniforms and driving/ riding in military cars. Given this, during the 3 months my husband was stationed there, there were 2 incidents where the "women police" thought they could ignore this and mete out punishment to female military members in uniform in US military vehicles.

  Two different dress codes for military members based on gender is discriminatory. Like I said in my first post, all military members wore their uniforms when leaving the base on and off duty, seems to me that's how the policy should have stayed.

  And I can't resist a comment on this:

  You seem to be making the (wrong) assumption that women in Saudi Arabia aren't respected. Women there are probably given more respect than women here.

  If this is your opinion, okey-dokey, but reading experiences such as those found in the book Behind the Veil have lead me to believe otherwise. Women in Saudi are considered property, how does one respect property?

  Well, lunchtime is over now, I have to be going.
  Michelle
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  38

  Gender discrimination?

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  sixty minutes covered this story a month ago and meet the press brought it up again this morning when rumsfeld was interviewed.... when stationing troops in foreign countries, the u.s. military tries to abide by the rules of the country.

  in saudi arabia, the custom for women in public is that they wear an abaya, a floor-length, long-sleeve, loose-fitting garment that covers everything but the face.

  air force lt. col. martha mcsally filed a lawsuit against the pentagon, arguing that the policy was discriminatory because men are not required to dress in traditional muslim garments.. when interviewed on sixty minutes, mcsally was so offended by the garment that she would not put it on just to demonstrate what it looked like.

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  myMichelle

  Hi,

  My husband was stationed in Saudi back in late 1992. While he was there, military personnel wore their BDUs, camaflauge, while on and off base. Apparently that has changed in the last 9 years.

  The regular Saudi police force carry automatic weapons, and at that time, and presumably still, the Saudis have a whole separate police force to watch over the Saudi women, punishing infractions in dress or behavior. These men walk around with switches in hand and use the switch on women who fell out of compliance with the Saudi law. It is my understanding that it was/is against the law for a woman to ride in the front seat of a car, and, if I'm not mistaken, it is a crime punishable by death for a woman to drive a car.

  Saudi rules such as these lead to a bit of a problem, and a lot of negotiating, when US troops were invited into Saudi back in 1990. Incidents continued to arise two years later when my husband did his time there. One incident he shared with me is when a female SP(MP) was riding in the front seat of a military vehicle. She had rolled the sleeves of her BDUs up, as had her male counterparts, and had her elbow resting on the window opening. Driving through town, one of the Saudi "woman police" saw a woman breaking the law by showing her forearm and he hit her arm with a switch when the car stopped by him. Now this woman was part of the Air Force's Security in uniform, in a military vehicle and the Saudi police officer felt it was entirely within his jurisdiction to mete out punishment to her. She didn't take too kindly to that, and shared this opinion with the Saudi police officer in a way that transcended a language barrier.

  If the rules of dress have changed for military personnel in the last 9 years, and this story surely indicates that, then I think it is downright hazardous policy for our military women over in Saudi. Once she dons the robes, she is no longer identifiable as a US Military member and loses the relative security of that identity. She will be subject to the "women police", and no doubt some rather sticky diplomatic problems will arise if any of these woman have the same response the afore mentioned SP did.

  I didn't see the story, but based on this post, it sures sounds discriminatory to me, and more than that it sounds dangerous. Sounds like a military presence in Saudi should be re-evaluated, but as someone stated before, it's all about the oil.

  Michelle
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  25

  please help my friend know she is not alone.

  by hungry4life in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  everyone on this board has always been there for me when i needed help and i appreciate it so much.

  now it is my friend that is in trouble.

  (the same one that i wrote about in most of my other posts particularly the ones about ray franz and coc).

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  myMichelle

  The last week has been the worst he has abused her physically and threatened her severely.
  Uhhhhh....did no one else notice this?

  I did, the words screamed off of the post. This poor lady has a lot more problems than the JWs.

  I agree with calling the police and getting him out. I'm not familiar with all the available agencies and people that can help, but I bet we have posters here that do.

  Seems to me getting her and the kids out of a physically abusive situation comes first, the WTBTS crap comes later.

  Good luck to your friend, I hope she and her kids come out of this situation safely.

  Michelle
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  10

  How A Witness Might Respond to Doctrinal Errors

  by stevieb1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello people.

  i would appreciate your take on the following reasoning.. a witness when presented with some errors of wt doctrine such as 607bce for example could turn round and say, "well we might be wrong on this but this matter is not as bad as teaching that god burns sinners in a fiery hell forever like some religion of christendom do.

  i do not feel that chronology (or some other matter) affects my relationship with jehovah and his organization.

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  myMichelle

  Huh, no 607, then no 1914.

  Without 1914, what other JW Doctrine falls? If there is no 1914, there was no inspection by Jesus in 1918 and no appointing of a Faithful and Discreet Slave. No FDS, no org with all of its many rules to follow...just for a start.

  Bugs me when such a glib answer is given...

  Michelle
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  41

  WTS/UN UPDATE - IMPORTANT

  by hawkaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there has been some more progress on the united nations front and getting more evidence to you very nice people.. for your information i have located an ngo in toronto who houses a small library of quarterly reports that dpi sent to the various ngos.

  this is my first time i have ever seen these and i will have them going back at least 10 plus years.

  my previous ngo friends had offices in new york and thus, did not have these - nor was i aware i could get my hands on them.

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  myMichelle

  Just a little bump back to the top.

  Thanks for all of your work Hawk. I'm in awe of the amount of work you have put into this to help out some friends.

  Take care,
  Michelle
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  34

  I am a daddy!

  by dedalus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my daughter was born at 9:05am tuesday morning.

  she's a skinny little thing, 7 pounds 5 ounces, with a shock of black hair, her father's chin, her mother's eyes, and a fetish for sucking on fingertips that neither of us recognize in ourselves.

  i'll post pictures when i have them up somewhere ... meanwhile, foxy and i are trying to catch as much sleep as possible, which is precious little sleep at all.

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  myMichelle

  Congratulations to you and to Foxy!

  Michelle
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  17

  MORE News Articles: JWs and Xmas

  by MadApostate in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this reporter curiously had access to a number of jws.

  jw himself???.

  jehovah's witnesses reject many holidays and the notion that they are a dour group.

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  myMichelle

  I have a question...
  

  Tanner and his family are among an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in the St. Louis area, people whose religious beliefs prohibit them from celebrating birthdays and most holidays, including Valentine's Day, Easter, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

  What holidays are JWs permitted to celebrate?

  Michelle
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  24

  Mr Dedalus, married man

  by dedalus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  foxy and i were married this sunday in a small ceremony before family & friends.

  yippie!.

  an observation: we hired a justice of the peace more or less at random from the phone book.

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  myMichelle

  Congratulations to you and Foxy! May you have a splendid, loving life together (and enjoy your new baby when he/she gets here).

  Best wishes,
  Michelle