Scully

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Posts by Scully

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  19

  What is new about the Candace Conti trial

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  whats new in the latest developments.

  smiddy.

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  Scully

  More pressure on Caleb: Giving makes you happy!!
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  43

  Richard Dawkins Fail...

  by tenyearsafter in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  wow...hard to believe anyone would openly make this kind of comment.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/09/richard-dawkins-pedophilia_n_3895514.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003#slide=989667.

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  Scully

  If you read The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, there is the description of her own experience of molestation as a child by a male relative. When she told her mother, there was no alarm, no reports to the police, her mother asked her "did he hurt you?" and when Jeanette said "no", her mother told her to stay away from the relative, and then they picked up and moved away. There was no big deal made of the incident but the family knew to stay away from 'the funny uncle'. I felt sick when I read that.

  It *was* a time when things were handled in a matter-of-fact way. There were no laws or legal penalties. People couldn't afford a lawyer to sue for damages and they didn't want to drag the incident through the courts, forcing children to recount what was done to them.

  That's the way pedophilia was handled 40-50 years ago. That's part of the reason why molesters got away with their crimes for so long. It's why we've had to wait until the late 20th century for the breadth and depth of the ramifications of child sexual abuse to be studied and compensation to be sought in the courts.

  Dawkins may have been able to minimise its effects on his own life but it was a mistake for him to minimise the effects it has on anyone else. The Zeitgeist changes, and our values and attitudes must change with it.
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  73

  Nov 2013 KM Question Box. Head coverings on Doorstep bible studies

  by BroMac in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  should a female publisher wear a headcovering if she is accompanied by a male publisher at a door step bible study?

  when a female publisher conducts a regular ,scheduled bible study and a male kingdom publisher is present, she should wear a head covering.(1cor.

  11:3-10)the july 15, 2002 issue of the watchtower, page 27, explains: this is a pre arranged session of teaching where the one conducting the study actually presides.

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  Scully

  I think this is as good a reason as any for all Sisters™ to boycott going Door-to-Door™.

  The WTS may as well keep them barefoot and chained to the kitchen too.
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  6

  Employment issues unique to Jehovah's Witnesses

  by Watchtower-Free in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just found this site .

  thought i would share.

  http://jwemployees.bravehost.com/index.html.

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  Scully

  Telfairs v. FEDEX

  Although the Telfairs lost overall because the USDC ruled that FEDEX had offered "reasonable accomodations", this USDC did rule that the Telfairs' belief that they were required to perform field ministry and Bible study on Saturdays was a protected "bona fide" religious belief -- at least at the summary judgment stage of a court case. Jehovah's Witnesses across the United States possibly may now point to this decision as legal justification for refusing to work on Saturdays. This USDC Opinion states, in part:

  In their affidavits submitted in opposition to summary judgment, both plaintiffs aver that they hold a sincere belief it is their religious obligation to conduct Bible study groups and engage in field ministry work on Saturdays as members and elders in their Jehovah's Witness congregation. In deposition testimony, both further acknowledge that while it is customary for Jehovah's Witnesses to engage in field ministry on Saturdays, Jehovah's Witnesses are encouraged and permitted to pursue field ministry on Monday through Friday as well. Similarly, they both acknowledge that Bible study and faith sharing are permitted on days other than Saturday, and that there is nothing in Jehovah's Witness doctrine, scripture or tenets prohibiting its members from working on Saturdays, nor is there any sanction (excommunication, shunning, expulsion) imposed against Jehovah's Witnesses who work on Saturdays.
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  16

  Forum updates

  by Simon in

  1. forum
  2. announcements

  the rss feed should (may?

  ) be working again and hopefully performance should be a little faster now as well.. as always, please let me know if you have any issues or notice anything not working quite right..

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  Scully

  I haven't selected a location in my profile, but I'm noticing that mine and lots of other people are showing the flag of Zimbabwe??

  
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  2

  The Symptoms of Religious Addiction

  by Scully in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i'm re-reading a book that i first read in 1994, when i was considering leaving the jws.

  it's called when god becomes a drug - breaking the chains of religious addiction and abuse, by fr.

  leo booth (tarcher putnam, 1991).. on page 59 is a checklist of "the symptoms of religious addiction", and this was a complete a-ha moment for me when i read it such a long time ago.

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  Scully

  So I'm re-reading a book that I first read in 1994, when I was considering leaving the JWs. It's called When God Becomes a Drug - Breaking the Chains of Religious Addiction and Abuse, by Fr. Leo Booth (Tarcher Putnam, 1991).

  On page 59 is a checklist of "The Symptoms of Religious Addiction", and this was a complete a-ha moment for me when I read it such a long time ago. It just crystallized some of the behaviours of JWs (and expectations of the WTS) that were spiritually unhealthy.

  The Symptoms of Religious Addiction

  • Inability to think, doubt, or question information or authority
  • Black-and-white, simplistic thinking
  • Shame-based belief that you aren't good enough, or you aren't "doing it right"
  • Magical thinking that God will fix you
  • Scrupulosity: rigid, obsessive adherence to rules, codes of ethics, or guidelines
  • Uncompromising, judgmental attitudes
  • Compulsive praying, going to church or crusades, quoting scripture
  • Unrealistic financial contributions
  • Believing that sex is dirty - that our bodies and physical pleasures are evil
  • Compulsive overeating or excessive fasting
  • Conflict with science, medicine, and education
  • Progressive detatchment from the real world, isolation, breakdown of relationships
  • Psychosomatic illness: sleeplessness, back pains, headaches, hypertension
  • Manipulating scripture or texts, feeling chosen, claiming to receive special messages from God
  • Trancelike state or religious high, wearing a glazed happy face
  • Cries for help; mental, emotional, physical breakdown; hospitalization

  Not all of these apply to the JWs, but many of these criteria do. Some of the behaviours - like "shame-based belief that you aren't good enough" can haunt a person their entire lives, even after they've broken away from the abusive religious system. I struggle with it sometimes myself even though the rest of the list I've been able to reconcile over the last almost two decades.
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  24

  I had NO idea about the letter to Hitler......

  by Flg8ter in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this was brand new to me........did some research, like we're not supposed to do ;) and dug up crazy stuff that i had no idea about.

  my whole life we were taught have bad and evil "christendom" was for trying to pacify hiter during his rise to power, and how different we were for standing up to him!.

  then i found about the letter dated june 25,1933 from rutherford and his writting team to hiter.

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  Scully

  Yes, nobody knew how evil Hitler was at the time, but weren't the JWs also preaching Political Neutrality™ by then? What's with the hypocritical sucking up to the Reich if you are Politically Neutral™ and "no part of the world"?

  I just received "Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich" by M. James Penton. I've got a lot of reading ahead of me...
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  19

  after sending him a Fb message to be a *true*brother to his brother, my BIL BLOCKED ME!

  by losingit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm absolutely furious about it!

  no message, just deletes me from his friends list-- which is fine.... but i can't even *message* him.

  funny, the bum of a bil just had his district convention in his home country, which he attended with his mother and father.

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  Scully

  Been there. It sucks. Sorry that it's happened to you.
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  55

  "You knew what the consequences were when YOU decided to leave The Truth. This is YOUR decision and the outcome is YOUR responsibility."

  by nicolaou in

  1. social
  2. family

  how many of us have had to deal with a version of that retort?!

  it's hurtful and i suspect - for some - that's partly because of the nagging feeling that our families may have a point.. but do they?.

  i was 15 when i got baptised, is it reasonable that as the 50 year old man i'll be on my next birthday i continue to be held to a decision i made as a schoolboy?.

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  Scully

  The wife of an abusive husband may "know the consequences" of trying to leave him. He may have "promised" to make her sorry for abandoning him. He may have told her that he would tell everyone they know that she went crazy. He may have told her that he would turn their children against her. He may have told her that she would never be able to make it without him, that without him she is nothing, and that she has nowhere else to go.

  The fact that she "knows the consequences" doesn't make him, or a belief system that behaves like him, any less abusive, or any less in the wrong.

  The Watchtower behaves just like an abusive spouse, trying to keep their abused mate to stay in a horrible and untenable relationship:

  They call us "mentally diseased" when we leave.

  They turn our friends and relatives against us.

  They tell us that when we leave, we are like "dogs returning to our own vomit", that our life will spiral into a nightmarish existence.

  They say "Where else can you go?"

  We went into a relationship based on promises of love, respect and honesty, and when we discovered the relationship was based on us doing all the giving and the WTS doing all the taking, that we were expected to obey without question and respect without having respect given in return, and that everything we were taught was a LIE, that relationship became null and void.

  Walking away from abuse is an incredibly difficult thing to do, even when you know it's the right thing to do. Battered women are at their most vulnerable when they attempt to leave the relationship - that's when most intimate partner murders occur. That's when we can expect to be treated with the most violent reactions too - when we are trying to leave the JWs behind.
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  15

  Question: In what cases is a transfusion of whole blood or the 4 wt prohibited components the only lifesaving solution?

  by Daniel1555 in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  dear friends,.

  my mother in law said, that bloodless medicine works in all situations.. .

  i don't have a lot of medical experience.

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  Scully

  Daniel1555:

  I think that there might be situations during birth or c-section where a transfusion is absolutely lifesaving (as there are a lot of sisters who died during childbirth (at least some cases in the media).

  I've talked about a complication of pregnancy called PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension) before. It needs to be monitored closely and managed effectively. One of the further complications of out-of-control PIH is called HELLP syndrome (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low Platelet count). The red blood cells start breaking down and platelets are being destroyed due to stress on the liver. This can rapidly cause DIC (disseminated intravascular coagulation) and becomes a medical emergency, threatening the lives of both mother and unborn child.

  With severe PIH and HELLP syndrome, the most effective treatment is delivering the baby as soon as possible - sometimes extremely prematurely - and treating the mother with magnesium sulphate. If the conditions are such that DIC develops, infusions of red blood cells and platelets are really the only effective treatment to keep the mother from exsanguination.

  Postpartum haemorrhage is also a very real complication - it's defined as a blood loss of greater than 500 mL of blood (approximately 1.5 units) with a normal delivery, and up to 1000 mL with a c-section. Severe postpartum haemorrhage is a blood loss of greater than 1000 mL. It can occur immediately after delivery or it can be delayed. It is the most common cause of perinatal maternal mortality in the developed world. The American College of OB/GYNs estimates that approximately 140,000 women die of PPH every year - that's one woman every 4 minutes.

  The fact that these conditions only happen with pregnancy and therefore NEVER happen to men, has made me extremely angry with the Governing Body of the Watchtower Society. Ironically (or hypocritically, take your pick), one of the first "fractions" permitted were clotting factors used to treat haemophilia. Haemophilia is a recessive, sex-linked, X chromosome disorder - thus it appears mostly in male patients. The Watchtower Society shows its utter disdain for pregnant women and children by denying them potentially life-saving treatments, while favoring treatments that improve the quality of life for men - potentially Microphone Handlers™, Ministerial Servants™, Elders™, travelling Overseers™, Bethel workers™, and Governing Body™ members.

  Another potentially dangerous condition of pregnancy is called isoimmunization, wherein a female with Rh-negative blood is exposed to Rh-positive blood from her unborn child. This causes the mother to develop antibodies that attack the Rh-positive blood cells of her unborn baby, causing them to break down. The child usually requires intensive treatments with phototherapy to mitigate the effects of jaundice caused by Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn. Isoimmunization can easily be prevented by giving the mother an injection of a blood fraction called "anti-D"/WinRho/RhoGam, which prevents the accumulation of antibodies in her blood stream. The injections are typically given around 26 - 28 weeks' gestation and within 72 hours of delivery. The effects of isoimmunization are compounded with each untreated pregnancy, with the accumulation of more antibodies in the mother's bloodstream, thus each subsequent pregnancy is more dangerous for the unborn baby than the previous one.

  While the WTS permits the use of this fraction, many JW couples (i.e., the husband) will refuse the injection - basically they want to practice the doctrine more stringently, believing that will prove their Loyalty to Jehovah™ all the more. They are deluded in thinking that Jehovah will protect their babies because of their faithfulness, despite the biological processes that they believe Jehovah created in the first place.

  You can't fix stupid.