@Half Banana,
The entire premise of Christianity rests on the belief that JC was resurrected. If not for that, the whole thing crumbles. So....who knows. But a whole lotta people believe it, and hope it to be true. Otherwise they are screwed.
chapter seven.
there will be a resurrection.
17 who will be resurrected?
@Half Banana,
The entire premise of Christianity rests on the belief that JC was resurrected. If not for that, the whole thing crumbles. So....who knows. But a whole lotta people believe it, and hope it to be true. Otherwise they are screwed.
so much is said regarding men , in a negative way.
shaving commercials are now lecturing us as to how bad we really are.
men should be less masculine.
Our society is very hard on men. As has been mentioned, boys are told to be strong, not to show emotion, don't cry,... being taught and required to cut off parts of yourself is very damaging. I think what is missing is a broader definition of what it means to be male. Men can be rough and tumble, tender, artsy, creative, .... what I see happen is some traits are conflated with sexual orientation - so boys who like art, dance, literature, or are more "soft" are judged "gay" - which even in 2019 is negative in may places. Rather than accept that masculinity is a spectrum, people judge.
And, because boys have been mistreated, they sometimes grow up to be men who mistreat others, particularly women.
I think it is fair to say that both men and women face societal expectations that are unrealistic and damaging. It does no good to have an us vs. them mentality; there is injury to go around. Cultivating compassion helps us heal and develop lasting solutions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-attorney-general-proposes-making-clergy-mandated-reporters-of-abuse/2019/01/23/2a8f8f72-1f35-11e9-9145-3f74070bbdb9_story.html?utm_term=.1c7f810d688b.
d.c. attorney general proposes making clergy ‘mandated reporters’ of abuse.
by fenit nirappil and.
Since all members of JWs are considered ministers, they should all be mandatory reporters. And I'd like to see anyone with a title (men and women) screened through background checks just like is done at schools or any other volunteer organization that works with vulnerable populations.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-attorney-general-proposes-making-clergy-mandated-reporters-of-abuse/2019/01/23/2a8f8f72-1f35-11e9-9145-3f74070bbdb9_story.html?utm_term=.1c7f810d688b.
d.c. attorney general proposes making clergy ‘mandated reporters’ of abuse.
by fenit nirappil and.
JWs flip flop about being clergy or not. They claim the confidentiality when it is serves them, and they distance themselves from it when it is in their best interest.
How can that be dealt with? Do JW elders in states where they are mandatory reporters realize that is the category they fall into and that is their responsibility?
I am part of a secular buddhist group and I love it.
i personally feel that vaccinations are beneficial.
there has been a modern movement that vaccinations are more harmful than beneficial to which i disagree.
what is your stance as an ex jw on vaccinating your children?
Given I live in Portland Oregon, across the river from Vancouver WA which is at present in a public health crisis with a measles outbreak, I believe in vaccinations. It's proven they work. We need 93% of the population to be vaccinated for it to work. So those who can't vaccinate for legitimate reasons are no problem.
Those who don't do it because they don't believe science, should be forced to do it or isolated in some way.
Putting everyone at risk is ridiculous.
without a doubt, jw life is boring.
and those meetings!
5 congregation meetings, meetings for field service, elders meetings, judicial meetings, meetings to figure out who was qualified to clean the toilets....🤔.
Over time you are trained to cut yourself off from yourself - suppress anything you feel, think or want in service to the organization. If you are born-in, you don't even know you've done it and to what extent until you leave (if you ever do).
It is sort of like the illustration of the fish not seeing the water it swims in...or even the experience of a lobster in a pot of water that slowly warms to a boil....the level of control exerted is undetectable if you are convinced it is for a higher good.
And, most people want to be and do good. So that was the motivation for enduring things that were mind-numbing and sucked the life out of us.
this is a very good document from a law school exploring religious freedom vs an individuals right to religious freedom without blackmail, pressure, etc, and also explores why certain lawsuits did not win and what it would take to win them.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3827&context=penn_law_review.
a person born in, and whose parents or family pressured to shun because they simply left the religion, who has evidence of damages, etc, would likely have a good case if they find a good lawyer.
I have not yet read the posted article...
I could see this becoming legal from the stance of promoting hate. The protected class that could pursue this would be the LGBTQ community. From those foundational arguments, it isn't a stretch to say that ALL shunning is religious persecution since people are either choosing another religion, or choosing to believe something else entirely. It is also true that the JWs could be seen as interfering with an individual's right of freedom of assembly and association since individuals are not free to join or leave a group without social consequence.
i heard it from someone who attended the latest wt study, and quickly posted it with - you guessed it - a picture of a lovely flower bouquet.
.
"how big is your bouquet of truth?".
It should be "How big is your pile of bullshit?"
yesterday i was looking to share a pic with a friend of mine, and i swore it was in my photo albums (i have 3).
so i start going through them, and i see so many jw pics!
i had a huge group of friends when i was 'in', and so there is just pic after pic of assemblies, dinners, game nights, rbc projects, my family and the house i grew up in, people from the hall, etc.
I have a lot of empathy for you.
I realized a couple of days ago, that as a 4th Generation JW, I grieve the life I left behind - I grieve all the negative things that happened to me, and I grieve losing all the good things - for me, it was not all good or bad. In this last year, I've just started to fully see the damage done by being a JW. At the same time, there is a lot I miss about my family ...
It's very complicated.
Be gentle with yourself, and proud of your progress.