Posts by Nathan Natas

8

Helping My Children

by TheLiberator in

i try not to think about it everyday but every now and then i seem to get very down about the fact that i see my adoptive children being raised as jehovah's witnesses.

they are 10 and 13 years of age.

my wife continues to raise them in this religion.

Nathan Natas

Liberator, hopefully you've been able to catch the "Scientology & the Aftermath" series that Leah Remini and Mike Rinder presented on the A&E network. Fortunately, you can view episodes on

http://www.aetv.com/shows/leah-remini-scientology-and-the-aftermath

I have some additional suggestions; the OLD 1981 movie "Ticket to Heaven" is about a guy who got into the Moonies (the Unification Church of Korean cult leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon). A review is here: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0CE1DA113BF930A25752C1A967948260 you can get a copy from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Heaven-Nick-Mancuso/dp/B000MTEFTQ.

"Ticket to Heaven" came along at a good time for me. Interestingly, the cult deprogrammer Steven Hassan was once a moonie. He isn't any more, of course.

The Mormons are another group worthy of criticism and analysis. One great DVD is "The Lost Book of Abraham", which you can find here: http://www.mrm.org/product/the-lost-book-of-abraham.

Actually, almost anything that promotes critical thinking skills will be helpful, but a multi-angled approach is best, because the kids will learn that the world is full of opportunistic liars who promise everything in exchange for your mind.

Admittedly, some of these films were made by Christian Evangelicals with a goal of gaining more converts. I am not a Christian Evangelical. I describe myself as a "non-practicing atheist." I'm selling nothing. Literally.

Here's a lisy of documentaries about cults from the Internet Movie Database(IMdB):

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls039207955/

8

Helping My Children

by TheLiberator in

i try not to think about it everyday but every now and then i seem to get very down about the fact that i see my adoptive children being raised as jehovah's witnesses.

they are 10 and 13 years of age.

my wife continues to raise them in this religion.

Nathan Natas

I disagree with Landy's advice to let the Mom indoctrinate the kids since they are ONLY ten and thirteen.

My objection is based on my own personal experience.

My mom accepted a free home Bible study from the JWs when I was about 7 years old. In less than a year her marriage to my dad was destroyed and from that point on I was raised by her, totally indoctrinated into Watchtower dogma and "end of the world" theology. She was a hard-liner -- I had NO friends in school, and engaged in NO extracurricular activities. I wasn't even allowed to associate with the kids in the Kingdom Hall because she wasn't sure they were "theocratic enough"!

By the time I was in my mid-teens I was chronically depressed and my sense of self was almost non-existent. I had no view of the future other than that Armageddon was coming and that after that... well, no one really had any idea what to expect, but it was going to be WONDERFUL! Did I think about suicide? Yes I did, but since suicide was a sin, I didn't think about it often. I did have some accidental "close calls," though. Were they subliminal suicide attempts? Quite possibly.

So I would urge you to do whatever you feel you are capable of doing to offset the JW mindwash and keep your kids emoitionally healthy and optimistic. If you can get away with it, I would even urge you to tell the kids that "mom has some silly ideas about religion" and make sure you learn about OTHER cults and share this information with your kids. Tell them that they can be FREE in their own minds, even if it means PRETENDING to go along with the JWs. Tell them to ALWAYS tell you when their mom beats them. JWs are really big fans of corporal punishment in addition to psychological abuse and torture. Emphasize to your kids the importance of them doing EVERYtHING that can be done to nurture their talents and interests.

Or you can be like my dad was. He did none of that, because he didn't care. His excuse was always "things could be worse." It never occurred to him that things could have been better, too.

He's dead now. He was dead to me since I was in my teens.

22

Hi I'm new to the site

by Raque Invierno in

hi everyone, i've just registered and thought i might introduce myself and tell my experience.

my name's raquel.. i was born into a jw family.

i started leading a double life around 14y/o and got caught drinking by another sister when i was 15 and saw that as my opportunity to quit the panthomime and stopped going to the meetings.

Nathan Natas

Raque said, "... i have been on the bringe of returning (about 6/7 times over the space of 16 years) "

I wonder if each one of those times you were worried that Armageddon was "SO close" and yet 16 years have gone by, and >nothing<.

Remember 1914? "Pastor" Russell originally predicted that in that year the Theocracy would be fully in charge of the Paradise Earth. He kept having to change his predictions because, as the Monty Python skit puts it, "SUDDENLY... nothing happened." And "nothing" is going to keep happening with each year the JWs pick.

Some suggest you read books by other XJWs. I'm going to suggest you DON'T read those books unless you want to. The reason why I say this is because you already know that The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society is a snare and a racket -- what else do you need to know?

22

Hi I'm new to the site

by Raque Invierno in

hi everyone, i've just registered and thought i might introduce myself and tell my experience.

my name's raquel.. i was born into a jw family.

i started leading a double life around 14y/o and got caught drinking by another sister when i was 15 and saw that as my opportunity to quit the panthomime and stopped going to the meetings.

Nathan Natas

Hi Raquel!

You said, in part, "... I stumbled across john ceddars videos about a month ago."

Which proves the old saying that even a jackass can be useful if his nose is pointed in the right direction.

Eventually you will realize that John Cedars is about as big a self-serving blockhead as a self-serving blockhead can get, but if he has helped you to see "The Truth About 'The Truth'" then he has done a good deed.

Let me offer you some soothing balm:

"Anthem"

9

1-844-600-HELP

by JunkYardDog in

jw
friends

saw this phone number on t.v.

ad.

stating if you been abused by jehovah witnesses call this law firm..

Nathan Natas

The number is listed to:

Weitz & Luxenberg P.C Legal / Attorneys

700 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 (844) 600-4357

They have a FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/JusticeforSexAbuseSurvivors/

You're welcome.

236

84 Lumber Commercial

by azor in

jw
friends

just saw this commercial and was very impressed.

hoping more companies start doing the same.

most of us are immigrants.

Nathan Natas

Yes, WETBACK. Embrace it as su hermanas y hermanos do...

Wetback

"Wetback is a term used to describe Mexicans who have immigrated illegally to the United States by swimming or wading across the Rio Grande--the river that separates the U.S. from Mexico. U.S. Border Patrol began using the word in 1944 to refer to illegal Mexican immigrants who were easily identifiable by their wet clothing.

In 1954, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service made the word "wetback" official by naming the mission to remove illegal immigrants from the United States, Operation Wetback . In response to the increase of immigrants during the early 1950s, the agency developed the program to force immigrants (particularly Mexicans) back to their home countries. Aproximately one million Mexican Americans were deported in one year.

Today the term "wetback" is often used to express animosity towards Central American or Latin American immigrants--legal and illegal--who do not speak English. Meanwhile, in an attempt to reclaim the word, some Mexican-Americans call themselves Los Mojados, meaning "the wet ones."

Azor gets maximum mileage from minimum facts.

How many of Los Mojados are self-bigoted and self-loathing? Que lastima!

32

Scientology Superbowl Ad

by azor in

jw
friends

simply disgusted with that double standard by our system at times.

cutting ads that question trumps bigoted wall, yet allowing a cult ad in.

wtf..

Nathan Natas

Azor, who brought up the matter of an uncle who fought in WWII? Was he fighting invaders from Dimension X, or Nazis, like all the other allied combatants did?

236

84 Lumber Commercial

by azor in

jw
friends

just saw this commercial and was very impressed.

hoping more companies start doing the same.

most of us are immigrants.

Nathan Natas

Azor, YOU may be willing to break the law on the excuse that doing so provides a better life for your children, but don't presume that I would.

It is almost funny the way you avoid using the correct term: we're talking about "illegal aliens," not immigrants. The LEGAL processes for becoming a US Citizen remain in place. Wetbacks who cross the border under cover of darkness or other subterfuge are CRIMINALS, just as they would be if they were US citizens going south into Mexico without complying with Mexico's laws.

Your "apples and oranges" are wormy in fact and as an analogy.

Immigrants are people who follow the laws pertaining to immigration.

32

Scientology Superbowl Ad

by azor in

jw
friends

simply disgusted with that double standard by our system at times.

cutting ads that question trumps bigoted wall, yet allowing a cult ad in.

wtf..

Nathan Natas

Super Bowl LI Scientology ad

236

84 Lumber Commercial

by azor in

jw
friends

just saw this commercial and was very impressed.

hoping more companies start doing the same.

most of us are immigrants.

Nathan Natas

Spoletta said, " if I thought there was a way to give my children a better life, or protect their lives by going somewhere else, I wouldn't worry too much about the legality of it."

Would you feel as generous if a criminal was robbing YOU to "give his children a better life," or does that apply only when SOMEONE ELSE is being robbed?

You are morally bankrupt.