Posts by nixi

11

Cold Water Scuba

by LB in

there are lots of things to see in the waters of the nw.

temps are normally around 50 degrees or so, but it's very comfortable if you dress right.

here are a couple of pics i found from diving in washington.

nixi

Here's my favourite cold water diving spot: The Verzasca River in Tessin/Switzerland:

29

How Many Scuba Dive?

by LittleToe in

jw
friends

just curious.. i started diving (scuba!!!

) in 1990, progressing to advanced instructor with the british sub aqua club (equiv.

3 star instructor cmas).

It's more or less like cave diving - but you don't go that deep into the cave - max. is around 60 meters from the entrance (real cave diving is also possible - with the Brevet "Cave Diver"). The (fresh) water is 24 degree warm, cristallin clear - the visibility is endless (I'd guess far more than 60 mtrs).

You normally reach the entrance by car and by walking the last metres through the forest. Strange feeling, when you are used to boat trips

We went diving with the "Aktn Dive Center", a small dive center directly at the main road from Cancun. They also have some rooms (clean but quite... well, there's a bed and a shower...) and a very nice small restaurant (the best Fajitas on earth *sigh*).

There are some nice pictures on this page: http://www.aktundive.com (Our Services -> Cavern Diving)

HTH,

Nixi

P.S. Cozumel isn't that bad either... the Palancar reef is very nice, but too crowded...

29

How Many Scuba Dive?

by LittleToe in

jw
friends

just curious.. i started diving (scuba!!!

) in 1990, progressing to advanced instructor with the british sub aqua club (equiv.

3 star instructor cmas).

nixi

I started scuba diving in 1993. CMAS*, PADI AOWD, doing my PADI RescueDiver right now. Around 150 dives now (mainly in the Read Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Andaman Sea and the Caribbean Sea. Some dives in German lakes, a Swiss stream and the Mediterranean Sea).

When you're in Florida, you should definitely do a short trip to Mexico/Yucatan: In a small village called Tulum (around 1hr south from Cancun) you can do incredible dives in sweet water cenotes.

Nixi

34

Do Jws help disfellowshipped ones or apostates?

by haujobbz in

jw
friends

.

do you think that, if say you fell over and and seriously injured yourself in the street, would a jw you knew passing by help you knowing that you were disfellowshipped or so called apostate.

maybe even come to see you at home if you were unwell or depressed,i mean how many witnesses have assisted or helped you when you needed it mostly,you see i thought they were supposed to encourage you to become so called spiritually stronger.but saying that when you were active as a jw do you think you were helped in times of distress or illness by your fellow jw,for instance i know a woman who's still a witness but hasnt been to meetings for say a year and thats because she has severe athritis and guess what only 1 j-dub has wrote to her so to her it seems like if your not a regular at meeting you may as well be classed as disfellowshipped.

nixi

Another example from my former congregation:

The neighbor of a JW-couple got df'ed. She is a single mom of 3 or 4 little children (don't remember). The couple decided to continue helping her with the children. An elder, who is living in the same village, saw the couple together with their neighbor and reported it to the congregation... Soon afterwards they got df'ed as well.

They protested against this decision, but since they didn't regret helping her, they didn't get reinstated.

So there are 2 more apostates in Germany now

Nixi

37

porndealer supports silentlambs.org?

by Bernd in

dear sirs, .

domain http://www.silentlambs.de please note .

hans georg kolpak is a well known .

nixi

Hi German,

if someone else is going to host silentlambs.de, it's great for me. I think, Manfred Gebhard would be the better choice, since Detlef Zwarg has some problems with guys like Bernd, too (spamming his discussion board).

We'll see, if Hans agrees to leave the domain to someone else...

BTW, firstly nobody asked to host it, it was offered as a CD-ROM. Then Hans came and decided to do it. Take a look at Drahbeck's comments.

I reread the whole thread at Infolink again - maybe I should always do that before posting

Nixi

37

porndealer supports silentlambs.org?

by Bernd in

dear sirs, .

domain http://www.silentlambs.de please note .

hans georg kolpak is a well known .

nixi

Hi German,

I see your point. But I still think, Hans meant well in this case, I mean, he was the only one in months, who was interested in hosting this page...

Nixi

37

porndealer supports silentlambs.org?

by Bernd in

dear sirs, .

domain http://www.silentlambs.de please note .

hans georg kolpak is a well known .

nixi

Bernd,

please stop posting this crap in all (x-)JW-boards!

Im a frequent poster in most of the German boards. So I know, calling Hans a well known pornodealer is just laughable. There are no links between silentlambs.de and any of the other pages, he hosts. The original content of silentlambs.org wont be modified, only translated into German. As far as I know, Hans is in contact with Bill Bowen, so why should you bother?

So the only reason I see, why silentlambs.org could loose its reputation is you, posting this bulls*** over and over again. But maybe this is your intention

BTW I dont want to receive any further private emails from you. STOP SPAMMING ME!

Nixi

edited for typo

Edited by - Nixi on 19 July 2002 10:52:12

25

How many ex-JWs out there?

by EXJWBrit in

ok, i'm really green.

i heard about this site because of a link on the bbc website due to the paedophile stuff.

i'm a little confused.

nixi

Hi there,

I'm not df'd due to the fact, I never got baptized. But I'm definitely what they call an apostate...

I was raised a witness, started to rebel at 16 and finally left (both the Org and my parents) at the age of 17. Now I'm 24 and shunned by my whole family, which is still in.

I agree with Stuart at this point - I also spent the worst years of my life as a JW-child. Things can only get better...

Nixi

5

Great Article in Germany

by OhHappyDay in

www.spiegel.de

nixi

Hi there,

just found this translation on another page.

I think, the translation is better.

The headline is a bit different in German, though.

Nixi

-----------------------------------------------

SPIEGEL ONLINE - 12. Juni 2002, 9:04
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,198436,00.html

Child abuse with the Jehovahs Witnesses

The Silence of the Lambs

Of Alexander Schwabe

Weighty accusations are being raised by Jehovahs Witness against their own religious community. The organization protects child molesters from prosecution by legal authorities. Some of the critics are being disfellowshipped for speaking out.

Bowen, who makes a living by the production of fragrance candles, had many privileges within the organization due to his long years of service. He served in many managerial and administrative functions within the church. He had participated in well over one hundred judicial committees, in which of the failure of brothers and sisters were judged in one of his last administrative capacities he had to face a decision: Should he stick to the theocratic rules of the Watchtower that were required to be followed, or should he make public that there were sexual crimes in Jehovahs organization.

"Leave it in Jehovahs hands"
In the year 2000 Bowen was faced with a problem involving a fellow Elder in the Congregation, it was discovered in records that this elder had molested a child on multiple occasions. The chairman of the original committee within the local witness community decided to keep the case hidden. Bowen contacted the Circuit Overseer, which wanted to keep matters quiet also, according to Bowen.

The candle maker decided not to follow the instructions from Brooklyn. Instead to protest Watchtower Policy by resigning as Presiding Overseer and elder at his congregation in Draffenville, Kentucky, and take the case public to bring attention " to the public the fact that children were being hurt and Watchtower policy must change."

In order to increase the pressure on leadership within the Watchtower home office to act "in the interest of the flock, Bowen created the website www.silentlambs.org , in the course of the last year more than one thousand Jehovahs Witnesses tell their stories of sexual crimes within the church. "The lambs were silent for a long time", says Bowen. Now they have a place, where molestation survivors can speak out and take legal action against those who hurt them.

"Thousands are sexually abused"

Erica Rodriguez had been raped as a child from the age of four to eleven years on a weekly basis. In the January she filed a lawsuit for how she was treated when she came forward about her abuse. The elders encouraged and supported not Erica but the former best friend of her parents, Manuel Beliz, 49, who was sentenced in the fall of 2001 to eleven years prison for molesting her. In the civil action submitted in the Federal Court for the State of Washington raises similar issues against the Watchtower as Bowen. She accuses them that, child molesters find on a routine basis "refuge, protection, sympathy and support", and often escape prosecution. The 23-year old estimates that the Watchtower organization has "thousands" of children and young people that are sexually abused.

This is basically untrue, says the Watchtower Public Information response in Brooklyn. The Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses claim an outward appearance of having a proper and progressive approach when it comes to sexual misconduct. "If church elders learn of child abuse, they proceed strictly in accordance with local laws, if it is required they report it", in a statement of the Brooklyn office for Public Information from January 2001. It is neither forbidden to the victims or their parents nor is it discouraged to report child abuse to the authoritys even if the accused one of is a Jehovahs Witness.

"God will kill you"

The truth according to Bowen is quite different. Hundreds of abused were afraid of making statements because they were intimidated and threatened. Should one dare nevertheless to open their mouth they could count on sharp punishments to the point of disfellowshipment. When a person is disfellowshipped the organization requires that no one of the faith including immediate family will even speak to the individual who is being punished. Bowens father was forced to state on a video, which was passed on the press, his son is a liar - although Bowen father was not even aware of the case he was dealing with. His fellow brothers and sisters spread malicious rumors about his personal conduct and his family. Bowens parents and his mother-in-law want to have nothing more do in the meantime with their grandchildren. In letters they have communicated: "God will kill you for your point of view."

They are obviously holding to the Jehovahs Witness theology that is to always protect the image of the organization at all costs. Bowen says: "The sad truth is that no Jehovahs Witness is allowed to criticize Watchtower leadership."

"Pedophile Paradise"

Bowen criticized it. In a letter to the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses that world-wide has approximately six million followers, on the surface they claim to have a world wide brotherhood," Bowen accuses the brotherhood of protecting child molesters by a "code of the silence". The Watchtower organization has became a "Pedophile paradise," due to directives, which are authorized by the Governing Body.

It would be considered traumatic to have the victim, through church directives, to be required to face the molester in a meeting, in which parents and victim describe in detail before the elders, how they were raped. The elders decide if a crime has been committed instead of allowing the police to investigate first. In the event the accused denies the allegation the victim is then required to produce at least one witness to the act of abuse - which is often not possible in the case of child molestation. If the victim pursues the matter by telling fellow congregation members then they could face disfellowshipping.

John Robert Brown, director of the office of Public Information at the home office in Brooklyn, rejects what Bowen says. Brown states they do not confront molested child with the accused in presence of parents and three elders. Also they never threaten anyone with disfellowshipping. Even persons, who were found guilty of serious sins in the organization, could remain a Jehovahs Witness, if they were found repentant by a judicial committee. If an individual was found guilty of child molestation, he cannot under any circumstances serve as an elder. "Elders are religious leaders, says Brown.

The most hated man within the organization

"All lies!" says Bowen, which became in the meantime the most hated man within the organization. It is very likely he will be disfellowshipped. At the end of May he appeared with Erica Rodriguez, California, married couple Carl and Barbara Pandello, New Jersey, and Barbara Anderson, Normandy TN, - all together as Jehovahs Witnesses-on NBC. The program "DATELINE" reported a problem with the way child molestation is handled within the church.

The Pandellos reported, their daughter had been molested by her own grandfather Clement, a Jehovahs Witness, for several years. In 1989 Clement Pandello was sentenced to undergo therapy and received five years probation through the court. Pandello was disfellowshiped for only 18 months when he was reinstated as a Jehovahs Witness in good standing. When the determinations suggested the suspicion that Clement had molested little girls for four decades - among other things also another grandchild -, in 1994 again he was disfellowshipped but in 1996 he was again reinstated and once again accepted back into the Jehovahs Witness community.

Anthony Valenti who appeared in court at the hearing of the Pandellos had stated under oath, as an elder he had encouraged the victims to not report the matter to the police regarding Clement Pandello. The record of the court shows Valenti justified his advice with a reference to the Bible verse, which stated not to take your brother to court.

Disfellowshipping Unrepentant Sinners

Erica Rodriguez repeated to DATELINE the way she was treated when she reported her molestation. When she informed the elders at her congregation in Sacramento of the sexual abuse of Beliz who was not yet disfellowshipped, the elders told her to not report the crime to the police. They went on to threaten her with disfellowshipping if she tried to report the matter: "if you go to the police, you will be condemned by God."

The Governing Body in Brooklyn meanwhile has appointed committees, to provide a solution on how to deal with this problem. A decision has been made on how to deal with those who have spoken out and are considered traitors. The Pandellos have already been disfellowshipped. The reason has nothing to do with them speaking out publicly, says the world headquarters. Also it has no connection with the NBC program. A Judicial hearing is also moving against Barbara Anderson, who served ten years in the world headquarters at Bethel and now assists in Bowens project "silentlambs" she also is being disfellowshipped. When asked for the basis Brooklyn says the procedures are confidential. Anderson was delivered a letter, in which the disfellowshipping was announced. Anderson is in the process of appealing the decision.

A judicial hearing arranged against Bill Bowen was canceled with no notice according to his statement, after he appeared for his hearing with 20 witnesses, who supported his position. Erica Rodriguez to date has not been summoned for a judicial hearing for appearing on Dateline according to Bowen, due to having filed civil actions against the organization.

15

New Here

by AlmightyPrincess in

i just thought i'd drop a note.

i have been reading these boards for over 2 maybe 3 weeks, and a couple days ago registered.

even though i have never posted i feel like i know a lot of you already.

nixi

I think this is also a good place for me to to say "Hello".

First of all, sorry for my English - since I'm from Germany, it might sound more German than English sometimes ;-)

I'm also involved in a German board, but sometimes I would like to drop some lines here too (I've been reading here for about 2 months now).

Thank you for the great work you are doing here!

CU Nixi