Xanthippe

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Posts by Xanthippe

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  10

  Phone call with a disfellowshipped relative

  by Jules Saturn in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so i call my grandfather who has been inactive for several decades and he's at vacation in puerto rico.

  the conversation is normal, we talk about how he's doing down there and how i am doing.

  then he tells me that my cousin who i haven't seen in 5 years, is with him and asks if i would like to speak to him; i said yes.

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  Xanthippe

  Sounds like you had a great chat Jules! Finding family again is comforting. Imagine how it must have cheered your cousin up.
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  9

  1975 - JWs in other countries, not just the U.S. also knew about the prediction

  by deegee in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been wondering, if the 1975 prediction was just a rumour started by the rank & file as the wt claims, then how did jws in other countries, a part from the u.s., also come to know about the prediction?.

  i started studying with the jws during the 80s when i was a child.

  while attending one of my first meetings during that time, a brother commented during the wt study that armageddon did not come in 1975 because it was not known how many years after adam, eve was created.. at the time, i hadn't a clue what the guy was talking about.

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  Xanthippe

  A lot of the instructions on how to live as a JW is verbal, convention talks, CO and DO talks with the net result that the rank and file do what the GB want, sell homes, pioneer, give loads of money to the Borg and later they can step back and say we never said that.
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  45

  UK Charity Commision reports on Moston, Manchester Congregation.

  by snugglebunny in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/investigation-leads-to-improvements-in-safeguarding-at-jehovahs-witnesses-charity.

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  Xanthippe

  In this case that they're commenting on, the perpetrator was known and had been dealt with by the authorities. The main issue that appears to have picked up is how the JWs dealt with it after (the face-to-face JC meetings). - Darkspilver

  No the last paragraph in the article I quoted looks like the statement the bethel press office made to the Times when they were asked for a comment on the Charity Commision enquiry. All allegations of abuse are thoroughly investigated, yadda, yadda. As Simon says it's a misleading statement to give the impression they're always reported to the police when in fact most, if dealt with at all, are dealt with in their kangaroo courts.
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  34

  1975 and the burning question/s??

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  ok. so i'm sitting there at the convention.

  the video comes up about 1975 and the fact that the faithful brother in the video maintained his faith in the bible by adhering to the scripture that says:.

  'no one knows the day or the hour as to when the lord is coming'.

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  Xanthippe

  Top down verbal dissemination of beliefs in this cult to indoctrinate people to do exactly what the GB want without any comeback because so much isn't written down. Would people have sold their homes and gone pioneering if they didn't get the message from the leadership that the end was imminent in 1974?
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  45

  UK Charity Commision reports on Moston, Manchester Congregation.

  by snugglebunny in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/investigation-leads-to-improvements-in-safeguarding-at-jehovahs-witnesses-charity.

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  Xanthippe

  In yesterday's Times report on this, the final paragraph says :-

  The Watchtower Society said in statement "All allegations of abuse are thoroughly investigated and appropriate restrictions are imposed on any person who is guilty of child sexual abuse."

  So they're still intending to investigate abuse accusations internally without reporting them to the authorities. What does it take to get through to these people?
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  32

  For Christians: What do you think about an Armagedon and the Afterlife

  by John Davis in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i don't mean for anyone to get into argument over this, i just want to hear what people believe.i hope that no one will mock or argue with someone else about their beliefs, i know that i won't in this topic.. i still believe in a christian god, not what jws believe, but believe that there has to be something after this life.

  i am not sure about how armageddon would go, would it be like how evangelicals believe with a rapture or timing or anything, though i still believe in a form of armageddon.

  i do think that all good people will go to heaven but i don't believe in a hell.

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  Xanthippe

  For those who think they have to hang on to Christianity for the hope of 'heaven', you might like to know there are atheists who believe in the possibility of an afterlife from anecdotal evidence of those who have 'come back to tell us', without any necessity to appease a god.
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  149

  why jw's commit suicide?

  by notalone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we all know the rate of suicide is high among jw's.

  my question is this- was there some subliminal messages that encourage this.

  i was a born in and my entire life i would have these thoughts that could come out of nowhere,"kill yourself.

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  Xanthippe

  I have no idea what your payoff is, but you are beginning to seem more and more like a troll.

  You nailed it jp1692. When you remember that this topic was posted by someone who has had serious mental health problems and who was asking the forum for help to know if we've had similar experiences, it's worrying to have the troll arrive again and take it off topic as usual. I hope the op poster is doing okay.
  
  
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  6

  Victoria Derbyshire TV show on shunning - video link

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyzbjz8x9y4.

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  Xanthippe

  Brilliant programme! Thanks for the link.
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  19

  Ran into my brother at a concert; first time I've seen him in years......

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my wife and i went to a concert on friday night.

  there was a friend of ours there doing security, and she happens to be an exjw too.

  she sent me a message on messenger to inform me that my brother and his wife were at the show, not knowing that i'd be there too.

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  Xanthippe

  Her smiling face was the first thing we saw, and we talked to her about normal things for a minute. Then I saw another new friend of ours coming up the aisle toward us, and he stopped and talked to us. It was so interesting, like the universe said "here are your real friends" immediately after this experience. It felt good.

  I love that real friends made up for your brother's weirdness. Last night I missed my daughter being at open air Shakespeare with me. She usually comes with me but she had to go back to uni to finish her masters and go to job interviews. No family to go with, same position as you, so I went with a new friend from my Meetup group. She produced a bottle of wine and two glasses and I felt ..... loved.
  
  
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  42

  To Fade or Disassociate

  by Jules Saturn in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello to all, so i did want to talk about this topic because i think it is very important to me.

  i have a grandfather who faded several decades ago.

  he occasionally attends an assembly and the memorial but no longer attends meetings or goes on field service.

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  Xanthippe

  Hi Jules, when my husband and I left we believed the JWs had been the true religion but had become corrupt like ancient Israel. So at the time we thought the right thing to do was disassociate and try and find the 'truth'. Sometimes I've regretted it because I lost all my family and we lost all our friends.

  However it was a clean break for us, we started a new life. We both studied for distance learning degrees, got proper jobs, bought a little house, had a child. There's a lot to be said for starting again. It cleared our minds and allowed us to read whatever we wanted and do whatever we liked. Nobody was breathing down our necks, judging everything we did because they didn't know. Nor were they trying to get us to return and confusing us with love bombing.

  My family have shown themselves to be very mentally unhealthy because even though we made it quite plain we're never going back and we no longer believe in any religion or try and preach at them they still insist on treating me and my daughter as lepers. It's been twenty-eight years. So whatever my early religious life had been I would have had to find some distance from them eventually because they are so screwed up.

  Your grandfather, on the other hand, sounds like a very mentally healthy person, leaving because the religion tried to make him put strangers before family. He's a really together person who recognises cult speak when he hears it. I'm glad you have him as support if all else fails with your parents.

  I'm not telling you to disassociate by the way, just answering your question with my personal experience as you asked.