Posts by jwundubbed

18

How many would leave the organization right now if the shunning rule was removed?

by HiddenPimo in

dream scenario: everyone is made aware of all the wrongs, the false prophecies / csa problem / double standards - .

and they would not shun, how many would jump ship?.

my parents are fully aware of the sins of the org.

jwundubbed

and they would not shun, how many would jump ship?

If they stopped shunning, how many that have left would return?

I wouldn't.

And to be honest, I wouldn't suddenly start talking to the people who shunned me. There is something wrong with their moral compass. I have never shunned anyone in my life. I have set and kept boundaries. But I have never cut anyone off and treated them like they were dead because they didn't comply with my opinions or beliefs. I have never cut anyone off and treated them like they were dead because of any rumored difference in beliefs. People who do that aren't healthy people. In fact, they are so unhealthy that they infect other people with their mental disease. They harm people all by themselves and just having their doctrine altered won't change how unhealthy, harmful, and abusive they are. They have to put in the time and the effort to make those changes themselves, just like all of us have had or do have to do. Then, they also need to make amends and apologize for their actions. They have to hold themselves accountable for their choices and their actions. I don't know about anyone else, but in my experience the people who shun aren't people who hold themselves accountable for their choice in that matter.

17

"I don't want to hear any negative comments about the truth"

by days of future passed in

today the "anointed" sister that drops off tracts at my house, did a little i'll just stop by and show her a website about furniture and then offer the memorial tract visit.. her exhusband is a jw that did terrible things to her by taking property, didn't want to pay adequate child support and had the elders on his side.

she was telling me all about how, because he felt so guilty, now he had intestinal problems.

eventually the conversation ended and she offered the memorial tract to me.. "did you get an invitation?

jwundubbed

Are there any truths that have zero negative points?

I think you should listen to her. She told you she doesn't want to hear anything negative about her truth. So, why keep pushing? Basically she told you that she wants to bury her head in the sand. If it were me, I would make her a deal. I wouldn't tell her anything negative about the truth and she would stop talking about it completely,. stop inviting me to join it. I like truths that are complex. I like knowing all the pros and cons and making up my own mind on something. Having made up my mind, I would ask her to respect my choice and I would respect hers in return.

18

How many would leave the organization right now if the shunning rule was removed?

by HiddenPimo in

dream scenario: everyone is made aware of all the wrongs, the false prophecies / csa problem / double standards - .

and they would not shun, how many would jump ship?.

my parents are fully aware of the sins of the org.

jwundubbed

Everyone against the 'no blood' rule. Everyone who realizes that the entire foundation of doctrine is utter and complete nonsense. Everyone who recognizes bigotry and feels it is wrong. Everyone who watched the Sophia videos taking money from children and associating homosexuals with bombs on planes. Everyone who is left in the cold when the GB closes and sells their KHs without any concern for them. Everyone effected by all the pedophiles that the organization is protecting. In essence all the same people who do and have always left for reasons other than emotional blackmail.

People have always stayed despite all the arguments against the JWs. People have always left when they felt compelled to do so for a variety of different reasons. There are so many variables that make those decisions that simplifying the choice, to stay or leave, down to one or two reasons is naive.

3

Are you a Child Abuse Survivor willing to help “Change Laws and Change Lives”? Read on...

by AndersonsInfo in

are you a child abuse survivor willing to help “change laws and change lives”?.

do you agree that “reporting abuse is the key to prevention and the start of heal...ing”?.

as president of scaars, (stop child abuse – advocates for reform and safety), a non-profit lobbying corporation, i’m writing to inform you that arrangements have been made where abuse survivors can speak with policymakers at the california capitol in sacramento, specifically on january 15th and 16th.

jwundubbed

Do you agree that “Reporting abuse is the key to prevention and the start of heal...ing”?

No. That puts the onus of change on the survivors. It can take survivors of child abuse up to 30 years to be ready to report their cases. Reporting isn't as big of an issue as statute of limitations. You can finally get up the nerve to say something only to find out that the time limit is up and you have no recourse even though you get to live all that time and for the rest of your life with the repercussions of what happened to you.

Reporting is not the key to preventing abuse. Having zero statute of limitations and having prosecutions that fit the crime are the key. Put the onus of change onto the legal system where it needs to be instead of putting all the pressure on the victims to report the abuse.

Healing starts with the person who was abused and is helped when they know that person can't hurt more people. Healing comes when justice is served. Just reporting the abuse can be as traumatizing as the abuse itself, because our legal system tends to victimize the victims all over again and then the criminals get minor sentences for their heinous crimes.

If you mean, that people like the JWs should be required by law to take reports of sexual abuse to governmental authorities, well that would be a step in the right direction and it will help prevent FURTHER abuse... but it won't prevent the abuse that already happened. Reporting abuse, doesn't stop a person from abusing more people. Having the right laws in place and having longer prison times for those criminals will prevent further abuse of children.

21

It baffles me why they would even say this

by Tameria2001 in

back in 2001, i left the jws rather abruptly.

i had discovered things about the watchtower that really made me quite angry, angry because i had been lied to, and it took me just to darn long to figure it out.

before i had left, my husband and i wrote 3 letters, one to the elders at our congregation, and two to our parents.

jwundubbed

Okay... but take a minute to take the cult out of it. These women are from the same generation of men AND women who decide to stay in loveless marriages because they made that choice, because you don't change your mind, because they have invested too much into their lives as they are.

Times have changed. People get divorced, they change careers. But people of a certain generation and older generations aren't as flexible nor as changeable.

I think this could be a generational thing as much as it is anything else.

35

I Saw An Elder Yesterday Who Told Me 3 Area Kingdom Halls Were Being Dissolved

by minimus in

jw
friends

he said they read the letter to the congregation and were told the kh would be disbanded.

2 other halls in the area were slated for closure.

he said many people in the congregation began crying.

jwundubbed

After that bunker video came out, I worried that the GB would order everyone to build bunkers, then tell them the end was here and make them hole themselves in while the GB ran off with their monies.

If this is how it ends... I will be relieved. I had one congregation that felt like home. Our Kingdom Hall had been donated by my best friend's family. They lived right next door and did all the upkeep. People were worried when they did some renovations but nothing changed so much that it took away what we loved about our KH. If I were still in and at risk of losing that KH... that it was being dissolved and sold off... that would give me a reason to stop going. I always felt very protective and territorial about my KH. If this helps people fade out... then I am all for it.

5

Childish Gambino - EXJW - cancels Australian shows due to broken foot

by jwleaks in

jw
friends

jehovah’s most secret witness breaks leg before christmas (pun intended).. get well soon donald.

your melbourne, australia, exjw fans wish you a speedy recovery.

you’re welcome to perform during our exjw protest in november 2019 while the jws have their international convention at marvel stadium, melbourne.. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-28/childish-gambino-cancels-australian-tour/10438802.

jwundubbed

Jehovah’s most secret witness breaks leg before Christmas (pun intended)

What pun?

13

Bible's flaws

by LostAdam in

what are some flaws of the bible that convince you that its not god's word.

for example what about prophecies like babylon or prophecies about jesus birth and life that jw use to make you believe bible is god originated?

i'd appreciate your comments.

jwundubbed

So... you want me to believe in a work of fiction based on a mythical being? <blink> <blink>

That was my first flaw and I thought it when I was 5 years old. As I grew up, I kept asking how anyone knew that the bible was real and I was told to pray about it.

So... you want me to talk myself into believing that a fictional book written by a mythical being is real? <blink> <blink>

No. That doesn't work for me.

39

Do You Know Of Anyone Who Left JWs And Then Decided To Return?

by minimus in

jw
friends

quite a few years ago there was a poster here that left the religion because he knew it was simply not true.

however, he returned to jws because he wanted to be with his family.

i don’t know how he is doing but gumby was his name.

jwundubbed

@minimus

I never met JWs that cared if people played Chess, and I knew a number of people who did play chess. They even played little magnetized boards on the way to conventions. So... your experience is way different than mine and not JW typical.

I've known two people who left and went back. One was a single sister. She left and came back pregnant. I think she probably came back so that she could have the support of her family. She went all in when she went back and became a true believer... or acted like one at least. She mooched off of Welfare for a few years so that she could go jobless and pioneer. Then she married a man from Trinidad (the Island) who she met through letter. I have no idea how that turned out.

I knew another young man who left because he didn't believe but went back because he couldn't handle being shunned by his family. He was really close to his mother and so he went back for her. He later married my sister who is a staunch JW. If he doesn't believe, he certainly doesn't tell her. I saw them at their wedding, which they invited everyone to even though she was shunning a bunch of us. That was the weirdest wedding I've ever been to and I got to sit in the shunned section. That was the last time I saw either of them and that was about 10 years ago. I have no idea how they are, but they are still in.

11

Is the average JW sycophantic?

by stuckinarut2 in

was just pondering the mindset of the average jw.. would it be appropriate to think that many are sycophants?.

think of the way they act towards those they preach to.

or the way they act towards one another in the congregation - especially towards those taking the lead (elders).

jwundubbed

No. I don't think so. I saw plenty of brown-nosers among the elders... those trying to rise through the ranks. But among the average JW? No. I did not see much fawning. We were taught to believe that we were super important and everyone was watching us. Most people I knew were completely and overly arrogant. I'm still arrogant at times. I saw a lot of guilt as well. But I saw almost no fawning over other people.. The only people I saw being revered were the traveling overseers who had entertaining talks or people who came from other countries. I saw a lot more people avoiding each other.

I don't count the love-bombing as sycophantic behavior. I think that is just a natural reaction to having someone new and shiny in your tiny little bubble. People behave the same way in small towns except that they don't immediately show the new people love because they don't know if the new people are trust-worthy. In the JWs it is assumed that all new people are trustworthy and so love and joy is the obvious and acceptable response. Despite how creepy and cult-ish it is, it is also just really natural human behavior.

Maybe something has changed with the advent of the GB getting into the limelight, but I doubt it. Just because people behave well or are 'on their best behavior' when someone important to them is in town, that doesn't mean that they are sycophants.

A sycophant is a type of person, not a specific behavior. This means that if a person is a sycophant than they exhibit that behavior as a part of their personality not just situationally or on certain occasions. Consider the the type of people that Wormwood and Bellatrix Lestrange were in Harry Potter, the kind of person that C3PO is in Star Wars, even the kind of person that Effie Trinket was in Hunger Games. These are, very different, examples of sycophants. Brown-nosing is a current idea of the word, but it doesn't accurately describe what a sycophant is. While I knew some brown-nosers, I can't say that I knew any sycophants. So, no. I don't think that your average JW is a sycophant.