Posts by Will Power

30

Life After JWs

by Uzzah in

jw
friends

i wanted to share some very cool (in my opinion) news.

in two months i will have been gone from bethel for 14 years and attended my last meeting 11 years ago.

i spent 11 years at bethel sacrificing all of my 20's to the borg and finding myself at age 32 with no resume or real work experience.. it has been a tough haul with the majority of my energy going into building a career.

Will Power

Great news! Alot of people take freedoms for granted. You're living life all over the place now - CAUSE YOU CAN !! and it's sweet!

congrats all-round

will power

55

Class action suit for pain, suffering & discrimination

by lettib74 in

jw
friends

i am very interested in filing a class action law suit against the society for pain, suffering and outright discrimination.

i know that my situation is not unique one and i have several people who are interested in joining this suit.

i have contacted a lawyer in hopes to get the ball rolling.

Will Power

Maybe Step One could be:

WT org officially classified as a DHCG, (dangerous high control group) They easily fit all the models - even to the extreme in some areas.

Charitable status removed.

from the above article Cults in Court

The cult problem, however, is ongoing and ever-growing, and remains a threat to America's young people. One anti-cult organization estimates that there are more than 2,500 cults and other "destructive totalist" organizations now active in the United States, and these groups control approximately six million members. [2]

Combating the cults presents its own problems. Those seeking to hold cults accountable for their actions against individual members inevitably clash with the cults' assertion of their fundamental right to religious liberty. The courts have tackled these competing interests in several recent cases with results that may give hope to critics of cult groups. But the battles are far from over.

Cults [3] are coordinated programs that systematically apply undue influence and behavior control techniques to produce in members substantial modification of fundamental modes of thought, world view and conduct. Margaret Singer, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco and an expert on the impact of cultic influences on individual personality, defined cults as:...

and this one:

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2006, pp. 351-373
The Psychobiology of Trauma and Child Maltreatment
Doni Whitsett, Ph.D., L.C.S.W.
Abstract
The exploding field of Neurobiology has provided a new dimension to our understanding of child neglect and abuse. The effects of early stress on the developing brain and nervous system is now well-documented in the literature. Many of the symptoms experienced by former cult members and observed by clinicians can now be conceptualized as a sub-optimal stress response resulting in affect dysregulation in its various forms. Due to the inadequate and often abusive parenting practices to which members were often exposed it is not surprising that symptoms such as anxiety, depression, rage, dissociation, emotional constriction, and substance abuse/dependence might occur. This article seeks to explain how these symptoms develop and what might be done to repair the harm.
Full text available through ICSA E-Library.

55

Class action suit for pain, suffering & discrimination

by lettib74 in

jw
friends

i am very interested in filing a class action law suit against the society for pain, suffering and outright discrimination.

i know that my situation is not unique one and i have several people who are interested in joining this suit.

i have contacted a lawyer in hopes to get the ball rolling.

Will Power

We need Erin Brockovich!!!

I believe one person can make a difference.

VERY INTERESTING info at this site

http://www.icsahome.com/idx_articles.htm

especially this one called "Cults in Court"

http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/van_hoey_sara_cults_in_court.htm

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1993

The Group Psychological Abuse Scale: A Measure of the Varieties of Cultic Abuse

William V. Chambers, Ph.D.Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.Arthur A. Dole, Ph.D.James W. Grice, M.A.

Abstract

The Group Psychological Abuse (GPA) scale was developed from a factor analysis of 308 former cult members' characterizations of their groups. Four subscales were derived: Compliance, Exploitation, Mind Control, and Anxious Dependency. Reliability and validity findings suggest the GPA should be useful in characterizing the varieties of abuse and in differentiating cults from innocuous groups.

10

Pretty good Article about Hughes in the National Post

by Will Power in

i hope this continues to get attention.. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1629449.

thank you mr. hughes.

wp.

Will Power

wobble says:

No active JW is in a position to make an informed decision. the cult makes sure they don't have the information

You nailed it.

I'd also add that the WT sytematically sets out to destroy a person's critical thinking ability for their own advancement.

wp

6

A bad day for the Watchtower lawsuit on wrongful death goes forward !

by koolaid-man in

jw
friends

lawrence hughes has said he won.

appeals court decision against watchtower society and their attorneys.

you'll have to read the following carefully; much of the starting part appears against him but toward the end it appears to balance out more.

Will Power

link to the National Post. a little more insight if you ask me.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1629449

10

Pretty good Article about Hughes in the National Post

by Will Power in

i hope this continues to get attention.. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1629449.

thank you mr. hughes.

wp.

Will Power

I hope this continues to get attention.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1629449

thank you mr. hughes

wp

93

Awesome blog re blood issue

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

just found this.. http://freeminds.org/blogs/kerry-louderback-wood/kerry-louderback-wood-an-introduction.html .

.

Will Power

Passwpd: What you just said makes alot of sense. Look at the "tree of knowledge" story.

Adam and Eve are told not to eat from it, they do, they are banished.

JWs are told not to eat blood, if they do, they're banished.Why try to wiggle around it with reasoning?

Now, gaining knowledge is their ultimate goal to make god notice & approve of them. Straining out the gnat in their god's name.

hmmm these guys crack me up - really!

32

The Issue of Christ as Mediator

by passwordprotected in

i think i've hit on why the wts love to downplay christ's role as mediator.

it's not just so that they can have their two classes of christians.

they have to downplay this aspect of christ because it throws up the issue of his divinity.. who is christ mediating for?.

Will Power

Chalam - no way, They say their track record is better than anyone else's on the earth.

Although imperfect there is NOTHING else out there!

32

The Issue of Christ as Mediator

by passwordprotected in

i think i've hit on why the wts love to downplay christ's role as mediator.

it's not just so that they can have their two classes of christians.

they have to downplay this aspect of christ because it throws up the issue of his divinity.. who is christ mediating for?.

Will Power

there is another curious side to this. Recently I've "witnessed" a witness say that God is not omnipresent. I wanted him to broaden that idea for me. He said that God could not be more than one place at a time. (I told him it didn't seem very almighty to me - but thats another story).

can you imagine if they went a few steps further in their thinking? How could a simple man (albeit perfect) take on such a thing as being a mediator for the entire world? even if they just included the christians, even if it was just the really good christians, or just the jws, or even just really deserving jws - phew - if jehovah can't do this sort of thing - how could they give these qualitys to a mere angel?

Better off given to a group of men in brooklyn.

wp

33

The Evidence For Evolution (From "why do we say 'I believe evolution'")

by Spook in

i started this as a new thread because the orignal was getting rather long and distant from the op.

mad dog and i were circulating what, i maintain (or admit) are some fairly specific grounds for starting the discussion.. he was defending a version of (as i understand it): it is unfounded or irrational to accept the theory of evolution as probably true because either the evidence is insufficient compared to what should be observed according to the theory or the evidence observed, while corresponding to the theory, nevertheless is based on unfounded or irrational assumptions.. he is not saying, as i understand it, the following: there exists some evidence which either falsifies the necessary conditions or some other theory which better fits the data.. i was defending and will defend: it is rational to accept the theory of evolution as probably true because the evidence closely corresponds to and is sufficient compared to what should be observed according to the theory and (if we ever get there) it is irrational to reject or postpone judgement of the theory on these grounds.. i'll certainly leave the last half for now, and cut right to the chase in as terse a way possible to allow a likewise pointed rebuttal.. if the theory of evolution were true.... 1. the necessary condition of variation within a population of organisms should be observed.. 2. the necessary condition of a means of heredity should be observed.. 3. the necessary condition of mechanisms os selection should be observed to act on, within and between populations of organisms.. (these conditions, if proven, satisfy that the theory is at least possibly true, but does not constitute grounds to determine rational belief or disbelief in common descent.).

4. there should be evidence observable in the present and derivable through repeatable analytic means therefrom that life has existed on earth for a long time with respect to the life span of any known organism.. 5. any evidence for the existance of past life forms which is observable in the present should by comparative anatomy, geographical location, computational dating and other methods correspond to the prediction of the descent of species from common ancestors.. 6. the current biogeographical distribution of species alive today should be observed to correspond to the theory of common descent and also fit the evidence in (5).. 7. given genetics, the observable evidence in (6, some of 5, some of 1-3) should be verified to match any corresponding prediction derived from the theory.. (these observations, a posteriori, would constitute strong evidence for the conclusion that probably, evolution is true and may or may not constitute logical grounds for rational belief depending on exactly how an opposing position is developed.

Will Power

Why are some people so afraid of evolution? It's a natural process.

Why do so many people think that if they study evolution they have to give up God?

If you believe in God, wouldn't God be able to exist in a world/universe/reality that evolves/grows/changes/creates?

If Bill Gates was trying to sell the internet to the middle east 2,000 years ago, what sort of language could he use so that they would understand?

I wish people would stop trying to force the literal bible (which is can be quite successul if used in a spiritual way) into a scientific and material culture.

They both speak of the same things BUT IN DIFFERENT WAYS, using different language.

wp