Posts by Xanthippe

104

Do you feel vindicated by the exposure of the WT Society in Australia? It seems like a feeding frenzy on here! I love it. You?

by Wasanelder Once in

are you pleased with the exposure of the society in australia?

do you feel personally vindicated by it?

do you think it gives you credibility with others now that all the things you said were going on, actually are documented?

Xanthippe

Yes I am very happy about the exposure this cult is getting as a haven for child abusers. It is horrible that this abuse has happened but the fact that it is being exposed and people like Candace Conti and the Brit lady are starting to get justice is wonderful.

I do feel vindicated yes especially after nearly 27 years of being out and my family staying in! At first I was sure my sister would never see all the web news but just today my non-JW cousin told me my technophobe sister has an iPad. Wow! So pleased, because we all know what comes up when they type in JWs now!

15

Does the royal commission have the power to force the Jws to change how abuse is handled?

by hoser in

i'm wondering if this is just a hearing or if this commission has teeth?.

some very damning things coming out nonetheless .

Xanthippe

It is wonderful that WT policies and leaders are being exposed, but in the end, what "punishment" if any can result?

I assume the findings of the Royal Commision will affect the way churches are treated because of their child safeguarding problems. In the UK the Charities Commission is investigation whether or not JWs should have charitable status and therefore tax exemption because of their child safeguarding problems. Presumably the same things will be considered in Australia when this ARC reports its findings.

1

VICE NEWS article about child sex abuse.

by C0ntr013r in

vice, a news outlet that i like to use are now covering the story as well .

link:.

https://news.vice.com/article/more-than-1000-jehovahs-witnesses-have-been-accused-of-child-sex-abuse-in-australia-and-police-never-knew.

Xanthippe

Good article thank you. Particularly liked the link about the JWs being a dangerous cult which takes you to an article from the Sydney Morning Herald in 2013.

58

Royal Commission convened for now, but Jackson is an asshole

by umbertoecho in

i have just finished listening to this man jackson.

i remember him well.

he is twisting things around as much as he is allowed.

Xanthippe

When the counsel for BCB suggests to the elder how inappropriate it is for only men to handle a case of sexual abuse against a female child and not to include a woman, a sister, in the proceedings, he just stares at her!

When the judge asks Jackson if he realises how many changes have taken place in criminal courts as regards not having children confront their abuser because of the stress this will cause Jackson says he is unaware of these developments.

The world has moved on in understanding and treatment of child victims of sexual assault but this religion is clueless, having nothing in their instructions to elders, as was clearly pointed out to Jackson, about considering the feelings of the child or trying to reduce their stress. Obviously this is the last thing on the minds of the writers of the Shepherd the Flock book.

35

JW Hatred and Elders Apathetic Manners Drove Me Here! Why are JWs fooled in to thinking the WTS Cares?

by Judas Maccabee in

for years i've been screwed with by some very bad people, people satan would kick out of his organization because even the devil might let up on evil just to allow someone to catch their breath.

with the jwism's bad people move up while good people move down or leave the kingdom hall for good.

i was talking with two elders who said "you know if you return to the kingdom hall, jehovah will bless you and these people will stop screwing with you.

Xanthippe

Welcome JudasM. Why are JWs fooled into thinking the WTS cares? For many of them they grew up in it as you and I did so they know nothing else. They think it is normal to treat people badly and get away with it. This is not normal. In normal society there are checks and balances to prevent managers at work or leaders of organizations from treating people like dirt.

It's just that in the JWs these checks and balances have been removed by saying that elders and the GB are appointed by God. When this happened in Europe and the monarch ruled by divine right hundreds of years ago terrible atrocities happened. If you don't want to stay in a medieval religion then leave as soon as you can. Glad to have you here.

33

What can you tell me about this painting?

by Esse quam videri in

Xanthippe

Morpheus I expect he/she was going to tell us that it was painted by Hitler, ergo religious people can do terrible things. Big surprise!

70

How Far Apart Were Your Legs?

by Joe Grundy in

several threads on here about the excellent bbc r4 programme this week ('the report') focussing on rape and abuse in barry, south wales, jws.

fat pervert mark sewell later got 14 years and i hope he is enjoying every minute of it.. the courageous ladies who spoke on the programme were articulate, reasonable and made a tremendous impression.. the quote in the thread title made an impression on me, and i hope, on all listeners.. forget religious, theological, 'biblical' issues and cut to the basics.

a rape victim was asked to demonstrate - to demonstrate, ffs - to three unqualified (middle-aged at least, presumably) men just how far her legs were apart when she was raped.. i have rarely heard anything so outrageous, and i used to investigate rape and abuse in my profession.

Xanthippe

I remember as a 10 year old standing before 3 crusty men--mom not allowed to be in the room. I described in detail about being digitally penetrated and I was asked, "Are you sure he was not just showing you affection?" Really??? Really???? I shut down. Stopped talking.

OMG I am so sorry you were subjected to this disgusting treatment FreeGirl2006. I am appalled and saddened for the little girl you were. How are these men allowed to interview a minor without an adult being there? Even the police can't do that? This has to be stopped! So sorry for your pain.

70

How Far Apart Were Your Legs?

by Joe Grundy in

several threads on here about the excellent bbc r4 programme this week ('the report') focussing on rape and abuse in barry, south wales, jws.

fat pervert mark sewell later got 14 years and i hope he is enjoying every minute of it.. the courageous ladies who spoke on the programme were articulate, reasonable and made a tremendous impression.. the quote in the thread title made an impression on me, and i hope, on all listeners.. forget religious, theological, 'biblical' issues and cut to the basics.

a rape victim was asked to demonstrate - to demonstrate, ffs - to three unqualified (middle-aged at least, presumably) men just how far her legs were apart when she was raped.. i have rarely heard anything so outrageous, and i used to investigate rape and abuse in my profession.

Xanthippe

This religion takes misogyny and abuse of women to a whole new level. Not only do they blame the victim they demand to hear all the details for their perverted pleasure. Ridiculous religious rules infringing on people's sex lives have resulted in these monsters and their disgusting kangaroo courts.

20

Futility of being right

by JWdaughter in

so, on another thread, about pluto, grreat teacher said something that speaks to my feelings about religon.

"i've kinda been sad since pluto has been demoted to dwarf planet.. you talk about 9 planets and all the little kids at school will correct you real quick and tell you that now there are only 8 planets in the solar system!".

nothing in the universe has changed but the opinion of men.

Xanthippe

I believe this fixation is more likely wed to highly competitive cultures than traditionally-oriented cooperative societies. In the latter, issues of right or wrong don't equivalently inform one's sense of self or identity. The ego may be shaped by other influences such as being honored, respected or altruistic.

Thank you for the link to the article in Psychology Today Oubliette, I really enjoyed reading it. Yes the sad thing is because of our need to get good grades to have a decent career and standard of living we learn to regurgitate what we learn at school and college to give the 'right' answers.

This atrophies our ability to think for ourselves and ruins our relationships because of our huge need to always be right. I found the description above of traditional societies based on cooperation rather than competition very thought provoking, especially the thought that ego can be shaped by honour, respect and altruism rather than ideas of right and wrong.

83

Do not Disassociate, Anull your baptism

by jwfacts in

i am now a jedi, so trust me on this.. .

why dis-associate, you are just playing by the wts rules?

how can you dis-associate anyway, you never thought you were baptised as a watchtower society member, you thought your dedication was to god, so why formally disassociate from something you did not formally join?

Xanthippe

Other questions I answered plain wrong because I didn't know the answer and wasn't thinking with a "spiritual" mindset.

Pronomono's post made me smile because I got a question wrong in the baptism questions. Guess which one? I answered that people were disfellowshipped as a punishment for wrongdoing because that's what I though the paragraph was saying.

The elder said no, no, no, they are disfellowshipped as an act of love to bring them back to the congregation. He asked if I understood. I said I'm sorry but I don't understand it, it still seemed to me people were being punished. Follow what your brain tells you is the obvious truth, I do now.