"...jesus loves you more than you will know...whoa, whoa, whoa..."
mrs. barbara anderson, that is.. .
while i wholeheartedly join in with the backslapping and thundering applause being accorded the relentless and selfless efforts of bill bowen and his silentlambs lobby and other men of integrity and conscience---some still, some no longer, associated with the "christian" congregation of jehovah's witnesses--- in exposing the vileness and hypocrisy of certain of the wts's policies, i am moved to hoist a separate and personal tribute to a woman who has turned out to have more integrity and character and courage and conviction than most people with whom i've ever been acquainted and, more on point, than virtually any of the generally good and decent jws i ever knew in my 30 year association---male or female, regardless his "rank" or his/her jw "pedigree.".
Yes, Amnesian. Barbara Anderson is a "Profile in Courage" by any measurement. She put all of her accumulated stature on the line to satisfy her need to do what is right.
An elder's wife, like Barbara, is totally aware that all her actions, words, body language, etc. reflect on her husband. What a torturous, agonizing, courageous thing it was for her to come forward, knowing ALL the repercussions, personal and familial.
TMS
Edited by - TMS on 30 July 2002 19:57:52
it's absolutely true.. folks, i'm reeling with shock at this announcement.
ron & jenny who own the place have decided to take a weeks break at the end of august.. a few months ago, ron & jen went to texas to stay with some americans that they had met while visiting their daughter in japan, a couple by the name of molly and harvey.
he expressed a desire to run a pub in england, so ron has taken him up on his offer.
Dear E'man,
Perhaps b4 the bloke/varmint arrives, a little personal study is in order.
First of all a little novelette about the country of Texas, called simply <i>Texas</i>,written by James A. Michener. 1096 pages.
Since ol' Harvey may talk 'bout his spread: <i>The King Ranch Story</i> by Mona D. Sizer will clue you in to what us Texas boys mean by a "li'l spread."
Oh, the cuisine, er, uh, vittles: http://www.alanskitchen.com/BARBECUE/texas_beef_barbecue.htm
TMS
missing philadelphia girl escapes to safety tue jul 23,10:56 pm et .
by david morgan
philadelphia (reuters) - a 7-year-old philadelphia girl, abducted as she played outside the home of her grandmother on monday night, was able to free herself and flee to safety after about nearly 24 hours of captivity, police said late on tuesday.
| Missing Philadelphia Girl Escapes to Safety
Tue Jul 23,10:56 PM ET
By David Morgan PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A 7-year-old Philadelphia girl, abducted as she played outside the home of her grandmother on Monday night, was able to free herself and flee to safety after about nearly 24 hours of captivity, police said late on Tuesday.
Erica Pratt, a 3-foot-5-inch, 70-pound child, was bound with duct tape and locked in the pitch-dark basement of an abandoned home in north Philadelphia by a pair of kidnappers who left her with little more than a can of water, police said. But the girl gnawed her way through the tape bound around her hands and feet, kicked out a panel in a locked basement door and shouted for help from the front window of the building, police said. Three youngsters heard her, summoned two police officers, and Erica was in protective custody by 8:53 p.m. Tuesday. "She's tired, she's shook up, but she's a very strong little girl," police Chief Inspector Robert Davis told reporters after the girl was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to have duct tape removed from her hair and a bloodshot eye examined. Hospital officials said she appeared to be suffering from a corneal abrasion, possibly caused by tape that had been wrapped around her head and over her eyes. Meanwhile, police said they were looking for two suspects in the abduction identified as James Burns, 29, and Edward Johnson, 23, both of Philadelphia, who were described as having long criminal records. In another of a series of U.S. child abduction cases in the past six months, Erica was grabbed from a sidewalk as she played with a 5-year-old friend at 9:22 p.m. Monday by a man who dragged her screaming to an older-model white car while a second man waited inside the vehicle. Her family began receiving telephone demands for $150,000 ransom within 15 minutes of her disappearance while city police and the FBI ( news - web sites) launched a massive search for the missing child. CHEERS OF JUBILATION News of her return sparked cheers of jubilation from family and friends outside the home of Erica's grandmother in southwest Philadelphia. "We're happy. Everybody's happy," said Erica's mother, Serina Gillis. "I've very happy that my daughter's home." The kidnapping had added Erica's name to a growing list of children abducted in cases that have attracted national attention. But to date, she is the only one of several abducted children found alive and well. On Monday, prosecutors in California filed kidnapping, murder and sex-crime charges against 27-year-old Alejandro Avila for last week's killing of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, who was playing with a friend when she was abducted. Critics say media attention to recent abductions has created the false impression that America's 60 million children are facing an epidemic of kidnappings. FBI statistics depict a decline in child abductions during recent years, with the number of federal investigations involving kidnappers from outside the family declining to 93 in 2001 from 115 cases in 1998. | |||||||
joe anderson thought you'd like to know what caused him to be invited to attend a judicial hearing held in his honor.
fyi, joe sent a copy of his resignation letter to two governing body members, dan sydlik and jack barr, men who joe and barbara were quite friendly with.
he thought that since so much time had passed since barbara's appeal letter was given to the local elders and nothing was happening to bill bowen or barbara, that maybe these gb members were holding things up because of receiving his letter and giving more thought to the whole issue.
JT:
THE ONLY ISSUE WAS would you be on the District convention smile
We white bros lived to get that spring letter from Watchtower, too. It validated us. When I would get in from work, usually around April, my wife would say: "You got a letter from the Watchtower, today." It was my speaking assignment for the District Convention. I would open the letter carefully, hoping it was something I could sink my teeth into, make my own, so to speak.
But as you so accurately state, this validation was even more important for black brothers. An "ADMINISTRATION" badge was worth two jobs, even it meant running the Cleaning Department or the Lost and Found.
In all honesty, much of our efforts in the field, in the congregation and in our families was all made worth while by a 30 minute speaking assignment in run down coliseum.
As you always say, James: "So sad." LOL
TMS
joe anderson thought you'd like to know what caused him to be invited to attend a judicial hearing held in his honor.
fyi, joe sent a copy of his resignation letter to two governing body members, dan sydlik and jack barr, men who joe and barbara were quite friendly with.
he thought that since so much time had passed since barbara's appeal letter was given to the local elders and nothing was happening to bill bowen or barbara, that maybe these gb members were holding things up because of receiving his letter and giving more thought to the whole issue.
Farkel and JT finished off some of my incomplete thoughts. First, Farkel:
I've thought long and hard about why the society has been so darned STUPID with their actions on the NGO thing and now this child abuse thing, and I can only come up with a few reasons:1) They really ARE stupid
The skill level has been extremely low. The library card/NGO response was lame, at best. The absolute hard line exhibited toward those questioning the molestation policy was a little disappointing. It seems that at least one seasoned Tennessee elder would have approached Joe Anderson: "Brother Anderson, we know Barbara's situation has been extremely stressful for you. . . . . . . . "
JT:
We worked for a company folks- it had nothing to do with god so many want to believe so badly that wt is connected to "God" It ain't and just like anyother company that folks work for that shaft it's employees and we were employees - just had a crappy benifit program, even thought the employee manual and material was printed on GLOSSY PAPER
From this perspective, Watchtower responses make perfect sense. I have worked for a similarly dim-witted company for 28 years. Their words and actions reveal their firm belief that any one of us could be replaced by anyone off the street without missing a lick.
Watchtower handling of matters reveals a similar arrogance. No matter how dedicated the service or accomplished the skills, anyone questioning is dismissed as "not of their sort."
TMS
Edited by - TMS on 23 July 2002 20:41:46
joe anderson thought you'd like to know what caused him to be invited to attend a judicial hearing held in his honor.
fyi, joe sent a copy of his resignation letter to two governing body members, dan sydlik and jack barr, men who joe and barbara were quite friendly with.
he thought that since so much time had passed since barbara's appeal letter was given to the local elders and nothing was happening to bill bowen or barbara, that maybe these gb members were holding things up because of receiving his letter and giving more thought to the whole issue.
. By sending the Watchtower Society the letter and then giving a copy to the elders was, in effect, "Undermining the confidence of the brothers in Jehovah's organization."
If this was indeed the rationale of the WTBS, it betrayed a tremendous lack of respect for the judgement of the local elders. Stable, well-grounded men should be able to absorb even "wild talk" without losing their spiritual footing.
FYI, Joe sent a copy of his resignation letter to two Governing Body members, Dan Sydlik and Jack Barr, men who Joe and Barbara were quite friendly with.
Yes, I know how Joe Anderson may have felt. You feel that your years of service, reputation give you some sort of credibility, at least enough to buy a listening ear. Not so. You learn that you are what Dylan described so eloquently as "just a pawn in their game."
TMS
Edited by - TMS on 23 July 2002 13:5:22
Edited by - TMS on 23 July 2002 13:19:57
The true value of this forum is that a "Joe Anderson-type letter" can be read here. One of the absolutely frustrating things for a Witness being put into a tight ideological corner is that there is no genuine Watchtower mechanism for hearing his/her grievance.
Although nearly ten years past my own personal crisis point, my wife can always tell when my mind wanders back to those excruciatingly frustrating days. She hears the slap of my fingers on the door transom and even the occasional "damn!"
"What are you thinking about, honey?"
TMS
the dilemma facing apostate jehovahs witnesses, or apostate dubs, as i have dubbed them, (no pun intended) is the very fact of their seeming success.
one of the great ironies of the apostate movement, that presumptuously boasts of "know the truth about the truth," is that apostates themselves are bound by the watchtower's own interpretive shortcomings, and hence are massively ignorant of jehovahs judicial decisions regarding his organization.
in that the presumption in operation is that if enough scandal and error can be brought to light regarding the governing body, the watchtower society's teachings, as well as individual jehovah's witnesses, then that somehow means that jehovah's witnesses have no connection with jehovah god.
. That point is lost upon those who abandon their faith merely because of the error and hypocrisy on the part of some of those taking the lead, as if that relieved any of us from standing before Jehovah in judgment
YouKnow,
Perhaps, you could expand a bit on your statement above. When you speak of "the error and hypocrisy on the part of some of those taking the lead" are you referring to individual Governing Body members, part of what you believe to be the Faithful and Discreet Slave Class?
Would not such "error and hypocrisy" in and of itself disprove their claim to such a role in caring for Christ's kingdom interests?
TMS
very few people in life will ever understand the struggle that we have endured, conquered, and go on conquering.. i've spent long hours, choosing my words carefully, and my intelligent wife, i feel, still has no clue.. we're still here.
living.
moving.
While not surprised that most concur with teejay's gallant words, it did not escape me that no one addressed the allegedly pagan ritual of toasting. I, for one, have always wanted to be a toaster, to speak from the heart in a patriarchal manner on some important occasion words that would inspire, comfort or tighten the bonds of an extended family unit.
Although Watchtower teaching labels the toasting tradition as pagan, it has always seemed so civilized, manly and genteel. At one of the many Watchtower weddings I officiated the non-JW father of the bride stood up innocently and addressed his daughter and son-in-law-to-be. It was one of the most beautiful extemporaneous speeches I have ever heard. I envied that man.
And so to teejay: "clink"
TMS
this quote from another thread:.
mr. brumley "the worst thing for us is a well educated balanced former witness" they are used to the foaming at the mouth rabid apostates of years past.
they do not know what to do with reasonable well spoken individuals like you.. .
This aside from Kismet:
It was at that point Brumley made the comment, I am glad we haven't had any apostates like that...This is so ironic. A generation of JW's were schooled in "letting their reasonableness become known to all men." They stood at the door of the householder with a broad smile, patting the pooch on the head. For them, no question was inflammatory. Nothing rattled them. . . . Just, straightforward, well-illustrated Biblical replies to any question, always cognizant of leaving the householder in a good frame of mind for the next Witness. . . . . .
Now, some of the best and brightest of these have seen through the veneer of "God's spirit-directed organization" and are just as unflappable in presenting what they know.
TMS
