Posts by SwordOfJah

139

WTS Addresses Child Abuse - er, kind of...

by iiz2cool in

my wife, who is intent on re-activating herself as a dub since i da'd myself, went to the convention this past weekend.

she showed me this new publication entitled "learn from the great teacher", and placed great emphasis on these two pages i scanned and am posting.

it makes a poor show of telling children what to do when confronted by a child abuser.

SwordOfJah

amac: Although we don't see eye-to-eye on many things, I do appreciate your logical view.

Gopher: Like many here, you are looking too much into what "they are really saying" instead of what they are actually saying.

139

WTS Addresses Child Abuse - er, kind of...

by iiz2cool in

my wife, who is intent on re-activating herself as a dub since i da'd myself, went to the convention this past weekend.

she showed me this new publication entitled "learn from the great teacher", and placed great emphasis on these two pages i scanned and am posting.

it makes a poor show of telling children what to do when confronted by a child abuser.

So let me get this straight. If the Watchtower does nothing to educate and protect children, you criticize, if they publish straight-forward advice like this book to help children and parents, then you also criticize. Does anything satisfy you people? This book will help open a channel of communication between parent and child. I know you all think that you are the best parents in the world, but the truth is, that most parents do not discuss these private matters with their children. They allow the schools or their classmates educate them. Of course they are misinformed. It IS the parents responsability to warn their children about these sexual predators. The Watchtower are helping the parents do this. I'm sure since you all are the wisest people in the world , that you have a better idea of how to educate parents and how to talk to your children, but this books helps the other millions of parents that don't.

98

Repressed, Triggered and Recovered Memories

by Big Tex in

first of all, let me say that many, if not most, of my memories of abuse and early childhood were recovered.

some people feel that this diminishes my experience, or in some way denies what happened.

i suffered from major depression and was quite suicidal for 2 years before something happened to trigger my memories.

SwordOfJah

Notice how these JW apologists do not comment on this subject.

Big Tex: Thank you for allowing me to comment on the subject. First of all, I want to let you know how sorry I am of the abuse you received. I do believe in hidden memories.

In regards to the elder that said: "Jehovah is far too busy in heaven to worry about your petty little problems.": Well as one of Jehovah's Witnesses I also think he was a jerk for telling you something so mean and not showing empathy. But I cannot charectarize every elder as evil because of the comments of this one elder. I know many, many elders that are the complete opposites of that one elder and that would have listened to the events you remembered.

23

Women as Viewed by the WTS (continuing installments)

by blondie in

jw
friends

as i do research, i come across other things said by the wts that makes me wonder why i didn't leave then:.

11/1/85 wt p 24. .

further, such a woman is humble-minded, not haughty; kind, not surly; tidy, not unkempt; sympathetic, not belligerent.

SwordOfJah

If you are able to find fault in that wise counsel, you really are lost.

24

Witnesses still having some success at doors

by JH in

jw
friends

riding around the city this morning i saw 2 witnesses from my congregation talking to a man at his door, and they seemed to have placed a book or magazine.

although they did not enter his house, they stead there at his door a couple of minutes.

although most do not answer or accept anything from witnesses, he seemed to be an exception.

SwordOfJah

To be honest, the house-to-house work is getting tougher these days. The main reason is because householders are very busy. Many are working so it's hard to find them at home, specially in the mornings. That's why the Society game the recommendation to try house-to-house work in the evenings. Our congregation has had success in the evenings as most people are home after work.

The toughest test is finding people again that were interested. I find many interested ones in the first visit, but it's hard to track them down as their schedules are full. This happens specially during holidays, they might have a day off and I find them at home and have a good conversation, but then to find them home again is nearly impossible.

I've found much joy in doing informal witnessing. There is a car wash near my home that is always packed, many are waiting for their turn and are just standing there doing nothing. I've had many biblical conversations this way.

48

WTBS' Financial Empire...the tip of the iceberg!

by MacHislopp in

jw
friends

watchtower bible & t

SwordOfJah

Do you have a problem with this cycle SOJ? I do.

I don't have a problem. It's called using the funds wisely. Would you rather they lose money? I'm glad they use the money wisely, if they make money out of a sale for to further on the preaching work. They go ahead and do that. Now if they were selling a property below it's value, then I would have a problem with it.

Here is an excellent example from the town that I live in:

Bought property for Hall in 1972 for $20,000. Remodeled building to suit purposes in '72. Remodelled in 1988 at a cost of $40,000. The name of the title was under the Society. We sold the Hall in 1993 at $120,000. Although the Hall was under the name of the Society, we did not return that money to them, instead we used it towards a new Hall with the Society's blessing. We built the new Hall in 1994 at a cost of $250,000. We financed through the Society the difference of $130,000 for 10 years at 3% interest. The first year, some of the congregations had financial hardships and we could not cover the payment for about 6 months. The Society said no problem. Not a bad lender, eh?

48

WTBS' Financial Empire...the tip of the iceberg!

by MacHislopp in

jw
friends

watchtower bible & t

SwordOfJah

I don't think any faithful JW will argue with you that the value of the property in New York is very high.

But consider this: How much was the property worth when it was first acquired?

For example, how much was the Bossert Hotel bought for? and how much is it worth now?

Value does go up when you fix a property. Anyone that deals in real estate will tell you that. My house has gone up in value in the last two or three years, but should I go running and selling it to take the profit? That's not what I want to do, I like my house and it serves it's purpose.

So just because the land and buildings are worth millions doesn't mean the Society should make a huge sale. These properties serve their purpose.

Also, many of the buildings have been owned since the early 1900's. Of course the value has gone up in price.

This is really no big deal, but of course, apostates will say otherwise because they are desperate to show themselves as rightous by discrediting Jehovah's Organization.

138

Ray Franz.....LIAR?

by integ in

one of my witness family members agreed to take a look at crisis of conscience, and after.

perusing the first couple of chapters, said that she thought it could be all made up.

agreed that the documents presented could be legitimate, but as far as franz's personal.

SwordOfJah

SOJ first of all such a case would not be discussed with some low level publisher like you - even among the "Heavies" at bethel they were even afraid to talk about what went down- let me tell you why your comments are a joke

JT: So because you say that it couldn't possibly be true that I asked this questions, then it must be so because you were a Bethelite. Oh come on, this is a sorry way to try to discredit what I said. You try to belittle me by calling me a low publisher. Can't you just keep up with the topic instead of posting personal attacks against me? I really don't care if you believe me or not. The truth is that I did speak to these brothers about these issues. It might be true that it was a sore subject back in the 80s, but twenty years later it's a bit easier. It also helps to know how to word the questions without attacking the organization. I had the opportunity and I took advantage of it. Just because you were afraid to ask, doesn't make me afraid also. And all this nonsence about me being a nobody in the organization, well, everytime this is posted it just makes me laugh at rediculous the poster is. Trying so hard to put the attention in the unimporant issues instead of following the topic at hand.

138

Ray Franz.....LIAR?

by integ in

one of my witness family members agreed to take a look at crisis of conscience, and after.

perusing the first couple of chapters, said that she thought it could be all made up.

agreed that the documents presented could be legitimate, but as far as franz's personal.

SwordOfJah

It does seem that you do remember what was said, without having written it down. Please feel free to inform us what their ‘take’ was on this situation.

I do remember, but I would like to have a word-for-word account. Unfortunately at the time, I did not think about these matters. I don't feel I would be believed if I just posted my memories of these conversations.

It may interest you to know that I have questioned one person on your list regarding the authenticity of Mr. Franz book some years ago.

Could you PM me and let me know who in the list you talked to. I know these brothers very well.

If the WTS pursued just one succesfull case of slander against any one of the people mentioned

Yes, I've read this argument before: If it's not true why don't they sue. But it's really silly to use that argument. The GB would have to make public private conversations, they would have to involve many people as witnesses. The personal attacks by these ex-JWs would begin. There really wouldn't be any solution. I asked one time brother Swingle, who was an awesome brother, why they never tried to stop Ray and his stories. If you knew brother Swingle, you know that he as very open and didn't beat around the bush. Anyway, he said that Ray could write whatever he wanted, but as Witnesses of Jehovah our job was to do his will and preach the good news, not go around suing former disgruntled members.

138

Ray Franz.....LIAR?

by integ in

one of my witness family members agreed to take a look at crisis of conscience, and after.

perusing the first couple of chapters, said that she thought it could be all made up.

agreed that the documents presented could be legitimate, but as far as franz's personal.

SwordOfJah

I have a question for Randy Waters and others....

I have read the testimony of what happened in the Ray Franz era from his book and also those posted at the Waters' site. These few testimonies are of those that left the organization.

Why is it that there is no testimony from Witnesses of that era that are still in the Organization? It shouldn't be hard to find and as many are still in Bethel. How about testimony from Harold Jackson, Liverance, Baltasar Perla, Karl Adams, Joel Adams, D. Mercante, Robert Wallen, and David Olson. I have had the pleasure of asking some questions to these brothers about what went on duing the 1979-1980 era in Bethel. They're point of view of the matters is very interesting. Unfortunately, I never wrote this information down. But someone should be able to do an interview with these brothers about their recollections. Only by having both sides of a story, can you honestly come to a conclusion.