Xanthippe

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Posts by Xanthippe

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  32

  AUSTRALIA - Petition to Cancel the Charity Status of Watchtower and Jehovah's Witnesses

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  a petition has been launched in australia to coincide with the child abuse royal commission's adverse findings against watchtower and jehovah's witnesses.

  the petition is to the australian charities and not-for-profit commission to cancel their charity status.. https://www.change.org/p/australian-charities-and-not-for-profit-commission-acnc-cancel-the-watchtower-bible-and-tract-society-s-charity-status.

  [quote].

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  Xanthippe

  I've signed it, but what happens when it reaches 500 signatures? If you get 100,000 in the UK parliament will discuss it.
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  102

  Any atheists here? Have you come to terms with your new reality?

  by kpop in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alone, without my safety net of "god" being there to remember me when i die.

  after much consideration, examining science, history and using logic, i have come to the conclusion that there is no "god" at least certainly no loving, personal "god.

  " shortly before my final conclusion was reached, i read an excerpt from an expression attributed to marcus aurelius, .

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  Xanthippe

  Hi kpop. I am content that there isn't a god. I live each day as it comes and try to be happy. I'm not afraid of death but I believe there is a distinct possibility consciousness can exist beyond physical death. If I'm wrong, then I won't know or care.

  I think we should live ethically, do the right thing even though no one's watching and treat other people with respect. I don't need a god for that. I hope you're coping with your changing beliefs, it can be challenging.
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  9

  For any victims of abuse by Elders/Watchtower

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  if you are still holding on to your story and struggling alone please, please consider speaking up now.

  the australian royal commission into child abuse has shown that these enquiries are not toothless and can in fact make a difference, but only if they are empowered by brave individuals like you.. now it's the turn of the uk.

  yes, there's been a few false starts but now is the time to tell them what happened.

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  Xanthippe

  Although I appreciate your sentiments Nic I think if people don't want to speak about being sexually abused that's up to them, that's the way they need to deal with it. I particularly object to you telling them to be brave. Don't you think someone who was raped continually as a child and then managed to grow up, have a life, have a sexual relationship as an adult and not kill themselves has already been very, very brave.
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  31

  Endure or Enjoy??

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have we ever noticed how witnesses are constantly being told that life is something that needs to be "endured", rather that "enjoyed"?.

  life is always so tough, so hard, so difficult in "these last days".

  "persecution and trials abound".

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  Xanthippe

  I pulled him up and said "why wouldn't she be nice? Why did you draw that negative conclusion that because she was not a witness, that she might not be a "Nice" person!

  Yes Stuck I'm glad you pulled him up on it. It's so bad for their mental health to have an us and them attitude to people. No wonder so many JWs are depressed. People are never a sea of faces, they're individuals.
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  30

  ARC report released today.. and phew!

  by zeb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  "the response of the jehovah’switnesses and watchtower bibleand tract society of australialtd to allegations of childsexual abuse".. this report is 110 pages.

  it is imperative to look it up on the arc website each and every one of you.. http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/c2d1f1f5-a1f2-4241-82fb-978d072734bd/report-of-case-study-no-29.

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  Xanthippe

  Thanks Zeb, there's a lot to read for later but I'm just putting up the ARCs conclusion for now. So I suppose this will be submitted to the Australian government and then we will see.

  We do not consider the Jehovah’s Witness organisation to be an organisation which responds adequately to child sexual abuse. We do not believe that children are adequately protected from the risk of sexual abuse for the following reasons:

  • The organisation relies on outdated policies and practices to respond to allegations of child sexual abuse. Also, those policies and practices are not subject to ongoing and continuous review. The policies and practices are, by and large, wholly inappropriate and unsuitable for application in cases of child sexual abuse. The organisation’s retention and continued application of policies such as the two-witness rule in cases of child sexual abuse shows a serious lack of understanding of the nature of child sexual abuse.

  • The organisation’s internal disciplinary system for addressing complaints of child sexual abuse is not child or survivor focused in that it is presided over by males and offers a survivor little or no choice about how their complaint is addressed.

  • The sanctions available within the organisation’s internal disciplinary system are weak and leave perpetrators of child sexual abuse at large in the organisation and the community.

  • In deciding the sanctions to impose and/or precautions to take in relation to a known or suspected perpetrator, the organisation has inadequate regard to the risk that that perpetrator might reoffend. This demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of the nature and impact of child sexual abuse.

  • The organisation’s general practice of not reporting serious instances of child sexual abuse to police or authorities – in particular, where the complainant is a child – demonstrates a serious failure by the organisation to provide for the safety and protection of children in the organisation and in the community.
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  24

  My Son's wish granted from Make A Wish

  by azor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we leave friday for his disney cruise wish.

  he's also a big star wars fan, and they have a star wars day on one of the seafaring days.

  to say we are all looking forward to this is an understatement.

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  Xanthippe

  Azor that's fantastic. Hope you all have a great time you really deserve it. Hope your wife is well now too. What a great charity, some amazing people in this world.
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  9

  paradise could last twice as long elsewhere

  by waton in

  1. social
  2. current

  6 planets around the dim, slow burning star trappist-1, have the temperature to permit [almost better, longer] "everlasting life" in paradise.

  this distant "sun" will give light for another ~ 10 billion years, unlike our sun, which is already half done., with only ~ 4 to go.

  everlasting, overlapping life on our planet: naturally impossible.

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  Xanthippe

  Do the JWs wonder if that system had an earth-like planet with an Adam and Eve, a Satan, a Jesus, the issue of universal sovereignty. Do they think there must only be life here?
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  29

  The true cost of being raised as a witness

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how do you view your upbringing as a witness?.

  most of us who were raised as witnesses would appreciate that some aspects of our upbringing were ok. a foundation and measure of stability came with it.. but, it struck me too, that we also lost so very much!

  and we lost a lot of potential.. by this i mean, we need to look at not just what we lost, or what was deprived of us, but what that ended up costing us as adults into the future.. if i take $10 from you, you have lost just $10.. but, if you were going to use that $10 to buy something that would end up earning you $1000, then i actually took $1000 from you!.

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  Xanthippe

  When I go to a big party and I'm introduced to the host's family, their old school friends, friends from college and old work colleagues from way back, then I know what I've lost.

  Plus the fact I'm a tense person who finds it very difficult to relax because as a small child I was told everyone in the 'world' is bad, not to be trusted and invisible beings are trying to hurt me. Why would that make a child tense! Go figure!
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  31

  I need some advice please

  by JaMu in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i am a non-jw girl dating a jw man for almost 5 years now since end of high school.

  most of the relationship has been long distance.

  when we started dating, we wanted a serious long term relationship that would end in marriage one day.

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  Xanthippe

  You have to make the arrangement to meet once a month or he wont bother. Does this sound like a man in love to you? Why isn't he desperate to see you? Your children will be raised as JWs whether you like it or not. So no birthdays or holidays for them either. They don't do Valentine's either by the way, but does he buy you flowers at other times?

  Your sentence below worries me. I don't know your boyfriend but JWs are not open minded about religion, believe me. I have been separated from my JW family for nearly thirty years since I said I don't believe it any more. Kids that I didn't see grow up. A baby I have never seen. You need to know this, I am pretty sure you will be asked to convert and it will impact your relationship. Good luck with your decision. I know it won't be easy.

  I'm a open minded person and it didn't bother me that he was a JW as long as I was not forced to convert or anything
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  26

  I feel like I'm losing my religion/faith

  by christina1111 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i'm a baptized jw...been baptized for 8 years...and throughout the years i've been baptized i see "hypocrisy" so to speak in the religion...when you're new and not baptized that's when the jws want to invite you to every gathering they have, they want to appear like they're your best friend...they want to help you out when needed and so forth...however, once you're baptized you go to the elders for help they don't help you....all they do is gather you around the office...have bibles in hand and so forth...they give you articles as well, instead of physically helping you out....but yet when you weren't baptized they would physically help you out and not throw scriptures and articles in your face.

  also when you ask for help and so forth with the bros/sisters they want to throw the "each one must carry his/her own load" scripture at you.....but yet what happened to the scripture of taking care of widows and people who are orphans?.

  it's not just one congregation...throughout the 8 years i've been baptized i've been through many kingdom halls...many towns...many states...when i was inactive for awhile i even pretended to not be baptized and just play dumb when the witnesses came to my door...they're much nicer to you when you're not baptized then when you are baptized...why is that?.

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  Xanthippe

  Welcome Christina. Google love bombing and you will see that this is what cults do. They are all over you to draw you in and then they leave you to it once you are committed to the religion.

  I'm afraid it's all about judging you now and deciding if you are fit to stay among them or if they should throw you out. Sorry this is a shock to you but we've all been through it here. Stick around and we'll try and help.