Birthday and christmas gifts were replaced with hours of involuntary programming from the Watchtower as well as forced slavery on behalf of the Watchtower corporations. The Watchtower removed most of the joy of being a kid from my life. Depriving my siblings and I of gifts was just one minor aspect of the despicable assault on childhood perpetrated by the Watchtower whose modus operandi included coercement of parents to turn their children into slaves for the Watchtower as well as a sickening need to inflict emotional distress on children.
Posts by 144001
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25DID OUR PARENTS REPLACE BIRTHDAY OR CHRISTMAS GIFTS WITH ANYTHING ELSE?
by diamondblue1974 in.
what about it...i know for me i got gifts throughout the year but i didnt get as many as my friends did on their birthdays etc....what about you...do you or did you replace b/days and christmas gifts or celebrations with anything else whilst being a jw and in particular anything as personal....
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68
A proud brother writes. letter to Bill Bowen.
by avengers in"so william bowen, what did you get disfellowshipped for?
i can't believe.
the false information you are giving about jehovah's witnessess.
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144001
AK Jeff....I agree with you fully. -- Poztate
Birds of a feather . . .
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What does death really mean? How can we reconcile death and eternal Hell
by JerichoForce inmy next posting due early next week will deal with supposed violence and judgement in the old testament as many in this forum have stated that they can't understand the issue of violence as they see a god of violence portrayed in the old testament and can't reconcile him with a god of love.
i will endeavour to address this issue in some detail...thank you and god bless... can i ask a couple of things please, you might be able to help me make some sense of this.
do you believe in hell as an everlasting place of torture?
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144001
. . . yawning
Long post, Jericho, but just one problem: notwithstanding its own self-serving claims to the contrary, the bible was written by man and inspired by greed for power and money. It has been used by the few for the purpose of controlling the many. It is equivalent to the Greek myths as far as its merit as an explanation of human origin, although far less interesting. Thanks but no thanks!
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A proud brother writes. letter to Bill Bowen.
by avengers in"so william bowen, what did you get disfellowshipped for?
i can't believe.
the false information you are giving about jehovah's witnessess.
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144001
Those who enter into the same court as this guy, by criticizing or attacking Bill's financial status, or real purpose in maintaining SL, are foolish. While we do not know the particulars of those matters - we do know the reasons behind his efforts, how he got railroaded, and what he sacrificed to get this issue out in view. -- AK -- Jeff
This guy has obviously not wandered far from the kingdom hall. Asking questions is foolish? Sounds like Watchtower management material to me!
I find it very interesting that those who purport to advocate the interests of Mr. Bowen and Silentlambs in response to very legitimate questions/concerns about him and said organization resort to attacking those who raise such legitimate questions/concerns. Earlier in the thread, such questions/concerns caused a poster so much anger that he had to resort to vulgarity in his response. Many leave the kingdom hall, but does the kingdom hall ever leave them?
If Mr. Bowen is being paid a reasonable salary from the donations received by Silentlambs, I see no problem with that. He has obviously spent a lot of his time in this endeavor and it is unreasonable to expect him to do all this without being paid. Everyone needs money to survive. However, the Silentlambs site claims that "[a]ll work is voluntary and no salary is taken for personal benefit. When you support silentlambs your donation goes 100% to abuse survivors and programs to protect children." I believe this claim to be questionable in light of business realities. My questions could easily be cleared up by the disclosure of audited financial statements.
Contrary to the rather foolish assertions made elsewhere in this thread, questioning the motives and claims of Mr. Bowen and Silentlambs does not amount to "judging" him and that organization. Rather, it constitutes the gathering of data from which one can make wise and informed conclusions, instead of the blind acceptance of the claims at issue that some here appear to be comfortable with. Such blind acceptance appears to be attributable to the emotional appeal of Mr. Bowen and Silentlambs, who have allegedly experienced great hardship as a result of their stance against the Watchtower. However, it is always wise to separate one's emotions from their critical thought processes.
I guess hell awaits me for questioning the rather lofty claims of Silentlambs and offending those here who failed to learn the most important lesson taught by the Watchtower, which is the need to question authority of any kind, even that which seems to agree with one's own viewpoint.
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What was your favorite thing about service?
by Dustin ini used to love break time.
especially if it was afternoon service, and we stopped at taco bell.
i used to be damn good at eating tacos in the car without spilling anything.
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144001
I hated every moment of my childhood slavery to the despicable Watchtower corporations, with the exception of one. I went to one door with an elder and the screen opened, letting loose a large "standard" poodle, who promptly charged the elder and savagely bit him in the groin. That dog didn't want to let go, and was shaking his head, with the elder yelping in pain. Frigging hilarious!!!
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I can't get to grips with being shunned
by chuckyy inmy wife and i have been disassociated for about 2 months now.
every day in our small town we are being shunned by former friends.
one in particular annoyed me today.
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144001
Teenage misconduct resulted in a surprise visit by a pack of elders to my house. I was never baptized, but these elders had the gall to tell me "you're this close to having your name announced from the platform" (said with thumb and forefinger placed in a position that violated my personal space). I was told they wouldn't "announce" my name (i.e, slander me) if I terminated my associations with my best friend, who was also a non-baptized teenager with JW parents. I hated the Watchtower so much at the time that the threat was absolutely meaningless to me. I told them to "go ahead and announce my name, as I could care less if I ever talk to any Jehovah's Witnesses again, and my friendship with X is more important to me than Jehovah." Neither of us were formally "disassociated," and, I've had rather pleasant encounters (accompanied by unwelcome efforts to "witness" to me) with witnesses I've come across (who knew me back then) since.
Decades later, that best friend remains my best friend, and neither of us have attended meetings since the time of that elder visit. Unlike the JWs, whose friendship is conditional upon compliance with the edicts of a group of related book publishing corporations, that friendship is a real friendship that is of extremely high value to me, and one I'll take with me to my grave. Looking back, it's laughable to me that the elders thought I would actually care about their threats.
Chuckky, as painful as it is, you must come to terms with the reality that these individuals were never really your friends; rather, they were conditional or "fair weather" friends. I'd rather have no friends at all than to associate with spineless individuals who allow corporations to dictate who their friends are and how they should act. As another poster put it, these folks are like robots.
You should look into getting involved in your community, as the "worldly" associations and friendships you'll eventually develop will be far superior to the conditional friendship extended to you by the Jehovah's Witnesses. I wish you the best of luck!
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144001
A shoe salesman.
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68
A proud brother writes. letter to Bill Bowen.
by avengers in"so william bowen, what did you get disfellowshipped for?
i can't believe.
the false information you are giving about jehovah's witnessess.
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144001
Poztate,
In addition to being rude and inappropriate, your response did not answer the questions, so why would you expect me to answer yours? Your efforts to advocate Silentlambs using misrepresentations of my statements does nothing to answer the question of why Silentlambs does not disclose audited financial statements, but it does speak volumes about your character. I will not communicate further with you.
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68
A proud brother writes. letter to Bill Bowen.
by avengers in"so william bowen, what did you get disfellowshipped for?
i can't believe.
the false information you are giving about jehovah's witnessess.
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144001
Poztate,
I'm not hiding anywhere. My words, despite your Jehovah's Witness-like efforts to misrepresent them, speak for themselves. You make a lot of assumptions and ought to consider asking for clarification before hastily arriving at false conclusions. -
68
A proud brother writes. letter to Bill Bowen.
by avengers in"so william bowen, what did you get disfellowshipped for?
i can't believe.
the false information you are giving about jehovah's witnessess.
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144001
Poztate,
I never made the assertion that Mr. Bowen's Silentlamb activities were done with "only monetary gain as the reward." Accordingly, I won't respond to your comments relating thereto.
Most of us who have had the experience of breaking away from the Watchtower cult have suffered the same or worse consequences as those you cited on Mr. Bowen's behalf. How are such hardships relevant to the question of what Silentlambs does with the money it receives?