Roski

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Posts by Roski

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  21

  untitled

  by exwhyzee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we hooked up with a family member who is married and in bethel 15+ years.

  it's almost too exhausting to go into the details here so i'll condense everything into a few main areas that were talked about over a few days.. bottom line, my wife and i finally let them know that we are not jw's anymore and so far it looks like they aren't going to shun us.

  we had a really nice time with them and their witness friends who assumed we were jw's too and couldn't have been nicer.. our bethelite family members had no idea what we had been through at the hands of he elders that was the final shove out of the organization and were in agreement that things were handled badly.

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  Roski

  This is very interesting - I hope you are able to post more later as it comes back to you.
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  19

  Merry Christmas to you all!

  by Retrovirus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's christmas morning here in victoria, australia, and as usual i'm the first one awake.. hope you all have a wonderful day with family and friends!

  enjoy!.

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  Roski

  You're up early ah...NZ time...
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  84

  Recent C.O. visit: Bad news re: U.S. English meeting attendance

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  visiting a nearby town during his thursday night service talk mentioned how poor meeting attendance is in the english-speaking u.s. congregations.

  he said that when the gb reduced the weekly meetings from 3 to 2, there was a brief surge in meeting attendance percentages.

  after a few months it began to slide and it hasn't stopped sliding.

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  Roski

  At least the women/families that shared this horrid experience can take comfort in the fact that they were part of a 'large army' - unfortunately not appreciating it at the time.

  Sunday was our worst day. That was the ex-husband (and at that time ex-elder's) manic day. My son used to call it "Bloody Sunday". In fact it was sitting in a restaurant after meeting/field service one Sunday that I decided enough was enough.
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  43

  UK charity "Refuge" gives response to WT article on domestic abuse

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i'm sure by now you are all aware of the feb 15th, 2012 study edition of the watchtower, and its outrageous experience depicting domestic violence.. as you may know, i have been looking into the matter in some detail.

  i decided to contact the uk domestic abuse charity "refuge".

  they indicated their concern towards the article and offered to help in any way they could.

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  Roski

  I had a conversation with a CO a few years ago (the only CO I ever found to be a lateral thinker).

  He told me (as part of our conversation re my separation from my ex husband) about a woman in a smaller city (in Victoria I think) that he had visited in hospital who had survived being stabbed numerous times by her unbelieving husband. He told me that the local elders had told her she had to return to her husband, but he told them that was insanity - a woman doesn't have to die for 'the truth'.

  I wonder what would have happened to her had he not been there at the time.
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  24

  Society's position on illegal aliens

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one of the things that has always irked me is the society's position on illegal aliens.. paraphrasing a us boe letter (can't remember the date, not a recent one though), elders were instructed that they are not "policemen", not responsible for enforcing "caesar's laws".

  so, if there are any illegal aliens in the congregation, elders do not report them to any authority.

  no (congregational) disciplanary action at all is taken against them.. however, illegal aliens are not "exemplary", in that they are knowingly breaking caesar's laws.

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  Roski

  I know a woman who was a primary school teacher in North Carolina. When the subject of JW's first came up her immediate response was to roll her eyes and say that JW's are seen as quite a force in harbouring illegal aliens. This was her first response to the subject of JW's. I was quite surprised when she said this and asked for clarification, but she insisted this was true - suggesting that they actually encouraged people to stay and were knowingly breaking the law. This woman is not anti JW and quite liberal in her thinking. She is also not prone to exaggeration. She worked with these children a lot so would know the situation well.
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  43

  UK charity "Refuge" gives response to WT article on domestic abuse

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i'm sure by now you are all aware of the feb 15th, 2012 study edition of the watchtower, and its outrageous experience depicting domestic violence.. as you may know, i have been looking into the matter in some detail.

  i decided to contact the uk domestic abuse charity "refuge".

  they indicated their concern towards the article and offered to help in any way they could.

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  Roski

  If it is not off-topic I would like to comment on the experience of the sister in Korea who stayed with her husband in spite of the abuse and won him over. I can't recall all of the details exactly, but this is an example of the society taking a situation out of context (in this case cultural) and putting their own spin on a situation that may well have had a negative impact on readers who did not understand certain constraints within the society from which they drew this experience.

  Even today Korean women in general (not just JW"s) tend to put up with more spousal abuse due to poor infustructure and outdated ideas re a woman's place in the home and society. This is slowly changing with support groups now more numerous than before, but even so, abuse is not uncommon. It is virtually always linked to two other things - alcohol and women.

  It is very much a part of the culture for men to socialise after work (often necessary to keep a job) and this always involves drinking an prostitutes - in one form or another. To suggest that the husband of the woman in the experience absued her because of her religion is misleading - he would have been doing it anyway. It is also wuite common for Korean women to belong to a church as a social outlet - more so than men - and it probably would not bother the man all that much which church it was - although this cannot be factored into this particular situation - it is a real consideration.

  It is the usual course of events for a lot of such men - when reaching their 'use-by date' which is quite early - to tone down and for the woman to take more control in the house. This would have been the life-stage when the husband decided to lessen his abuse...nothing really unusual here.

  Also - due to poor social infustructure (menatl health etc) there would have been absolutely nowhere for this woman to go and it would have been seen as a neglect of her duty to even attemp to leave. As said - while this is changing, there is still a stong social attittude in gereral that makes change slow - depending on the area/age/education etc.

  Given the amount of women who have suffered needlessly in such a male-dominated society I'm sure the women (and men) who are working to change this would not appreciate such inane examples of social retardation.

  The writers of such nonsense need to look into the other factors that go hand-in-hand with abuse and educate themselves as to the underlying causes.
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  39

  Combatting Mind Control by Steve Hassan - with WT References

  by ithinkisee in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  (4) emotional control.

  behavior control

  emotional control

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  Roski

  There is a PhD in here for any linguist interested in research re discourse analysis.

  I guess the writers need to keep the same tone to achieve their objective, but I always found it

  amusing (in a sad way) that any "outsider" making a positive comment on anything JW, without fail, used the same

  'voice' - almost the same words, in their comments. A bit sinister when you think of the implications.
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  41

  International Conventions = $$$$. WTBT$ in bed with South Korean government

  by Mattieu in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i remember the whole process of selecting a host city for australias last international convention.

  the australian bethel played the nsw government against the victorian.

  it was so similar to choosing an olympic city and the big boys from bethel knew how to play the game.

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  Roski

  The South Korean government is not fussy about who they get into with. The tourism industry is next to hopeless so I 'm sure they were happy for a few extra tourists. I remember one international convention trip - all the Bethel folks travelled first class. I remember thinking that they had a 'superior' attitude. Looking back that was the beginning of my long road out.
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  49

  The rise and rise of Paul Gillies?

  by JWB in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the rise and rise of paul gillies?.

  here are a view details about the 57-year-old paul stuart gillies.. .

  2011: appointed as a director of international bible students association (ibsa) on 2 november having resigned as a director of watch tower bible and tract society of britain on the same day.

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  Roski

  If this brother's wife is named Judith ( assuming this is the correct Judith) then as the saying goes - behind every successful man.....
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  33

  Missionaries in Tiawan asked to give salaries back to bethel...one resigned!!

  by Witness 007 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  a friend from australia's first "ministerial training school" was excited to go to asia as a missionary....only to return in disgrace!!!

  the government lets them stay if they become "english teachers" and except a part-time job for a salary {which is generous}.

  bethel told him that the money he earns on the side while a missionary belongs to them!!

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  Roski

  When the ex and I were special pioneers we moved to a new assignment and lived in a house which had been built by the previous pioneers on land donated by local brothers. We did additional work to the house. We also paid rent to the society.

  I find it funny now, that in the midst of recent family events I was blown away by the blatant greed and dishonesty of some elders (acting on society's instructions) and yet when I took the time to look back at my own experiences and read past history of the society, I should not have been surprised at all.