Can someone out there read Czechoslovakian? If so, I would love to see an English translation of this article.
Jerry Bergman
JoinedPosts by Jerry Bergman
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new study about JW mental health
by Jerry Bergman inauthor.
humpl, lukas title.
translated title the jehova's witnesses - psychological aspects of membership and leaving the group.
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new study about JW mental health
by Jerry Bergman inauthor.
humpl, lukas title.
translated title the jehova's witnesses - psychological aspects of membership and leaving the group.
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Jerry Bergman
The above is another new study about JW mental health (over 20 have been completed now and they all say basically the same thing). This study is not perfect but does contribute to the literature. We need a study of active Witnesses (but that will probable never be done at least in a free society without a draft). Any comments???
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new study about JW mental health
by Jerry Bergman inauthor.
humpl, lukas title.
translated title the jehova's witnesses - psychological aspects of membership and leaving the group.
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Jerry Bergman
Publisher Info Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences/Inst of Psychology, Czech Republic. 2002. Abstract Examined the attitudes and experience of former members of the religious society Jehovah's Witnesses, focusing on circumstances of the first contact with the group, on the period of active membership, and on the mental distress accompanying leaving the group. The members report they are thoroughly indoctrinated and are usually strongly in support of the organization that asks for complete attachment from them. The level of confidence in the group is high and it is connected with the level of attained education. The first phase of membership is usually accompanied by a positive experience and positive emotions. During conflicts and leaving the group the evident increase of negative experience and negative emotions appears; these are related to length of membership. By means of Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire, the author determined that almost two thirds of respondents tended to introversion and 35 percent scored as emotionally unstable. In the milieu of Jehovah's Witnesses, signs characterizing sect groups occur, including the components of mental manipulation: controlled behavior, controlled thinking, controlled emotions and controlled information. (PsycINFO Database Record © 2003 APA, all rights reserved) 26 references present. 26 references displayed.Author
Humpl, Lukas
Title Translated Title The Jehova's Witnesses - psychological aspects of membership and leaving the group. Appears In Ceskoslovenska Psychologie . Vol 46(4), 2002, 323-339. -
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WT Lawyers: "Theocratic Warfare" is alive and well in this organization.
by Jerry Bergman inboy does this bring back memories!
when i claimed i was treated like this many would not believe me!
any other experiences you out there have had like this?
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Jerry Bergman
Boy does this bring back memories! When I claimed I was treated like this many would not believe me! Any other experiences you out there have had like this??
(From Bill)
I am sitting here looking out the tenth floor window of my Watchtower paid for room at the Manchester Holiday Inn. The events of the day before are difficult to comprehend as I reflect on what happened. I feel like I have been in a fight in which the opponent is allowed to break all the rules and my arms were tied behind my back. The last vestige of respect that was held for the organization was pummeled away as these unrighteous men showed just how desperate the organization is to sink to the lowest level in order to avoid addressing the real issue of protecting children.
They attacked my children, my parents, my marriage, my life as a Jehovah's Witness. It was like living a version of "this is your life" from people that hate you. Would you like a few examples?
1. They attempted to put personal information about my children on the public record, their names, dates of birth, and other personal details. When I refused to answer, explaining that I had death threats and this could be a danger, I was told they were planning to go before a judge and compel me to answer with a new deposition that I would have to pay for at my own expense. They also said they would deposition my children to gather information against me.2. When I refused to provide the names of my parents for similar reasons the same threat was offered. The matter involving my father was brought up in a way to say or imply that he viewed me as a bad person.
3. Detail of my marriage such as the age of my wife when we got married, her date of birth, what she does for work was brought up and discussed in great detail.
Finally the most stunning was the material provided by Watchtower. To all Jehovah's Witnesses out there take note-Your information is not confidential. Paperwork was provided by Watchtower that even included my original bethel application. Do you want to know why they pulled this out? Because my first name "Bill" appeared on the application instead of "William." They were trying to imply that this was dishonest in some way. My original letter that I wrote when I left bethel was produced to try to say my time at bethel was less than what I have stated, but again there was no backing for this frivolous accusation. There was CO reports, letters from my deletion in 1992 and all details were provided by the Watchtower for open review to put on the pubic record. As the attorney read from his thick notebook it appeared that he had transcripts of my telephone conversations with Service and Legal Departments. He refused to allow me to review them. It is interesting to note three weeks earlier under oath before the judge, key Service Department overseer Gary Breoux stated that phone conversations are not recorded by Service or Legal Departments. Yet how was this attorney to have what appeared to be a transcript of my phone conversation with Service and Legal from almost three years ago? Did Gary Breoux perjure himself under oath? Who says "Theocratic Warfare" is not alive and well in this organization.
So much was covered regarding detailed letters and reports all provided by Watchtower. Whenever I asked to see the information it was denied. I turned to Mario Moreno and said, "I am now making formal request for all correspondence and paperwork pertaining to myself to be provided and sent to me." He made no comment.
It seemed one of the largest concerns of the Watchtower hired attorney was that I described his Lexus as a $70,000 car. I also used the word "new." He wanted to use this as a basis to say all things on the silentlambs website were untrue or exaggerated. Well I explained we try to be as accurate as possible and if something is inaccurate we gladly correct it. He stated his car only cost $38,000 new and it was three years old and he only paid $28,000 for it. So for any who may have had great concern about the Lexus of the attorney that defends the rights of a child molester for Watchtower, we are glad to make this clarification. There also was some discussion about the amount estimated of retainer fees they were being paid. I generously offered to amend the figures quoted if they would provide the actual amount. They conveniently declined to accept my offer. So I guess I will have to stick with my original assessment.
What is the point of all this? Jehovah's Witnesses leadership in my opinion are unscrupulous scalawags that will sink to the lowest level of nasty cut throat tactics to protect their money. Victims be dammed and anyone else that tries to stand up for them.
Watchtower will use all "confidential" records against you that they keep over the course of your entire life. They will make them a matter of public record to try and disgrace, humiliate or discredit you in anyway possible. They will go after your children, parents, wife, threaten them with subpoena, depositions and the expense of making these things happen. They will attack with tactics that sink to the lowest human denominator and use World Wide Work money to finance their wickedness.
What did WWW money pay for in the last two days? See pictures-
http://community.webshots.com/album/75952879gWupNT?324
It is estimated that one day of depositions cost $5,000-$10,000. Two days of depositions were taken this week, so around $10,000-$20,000 of Jehovah's Witnesses WWW money just went to finance the defense of the Watchtower child abuse policy.
Does this make anyone that is a JW proud to know that hard earned money they send for donations is being used to ultimately defend child molesters? In some ways I am thankful to have seen this. It is like seeing a bad marriage clearly for the first time. You wonder how you could have been so blind. At silentlambs all we have stated from day one is to protect children, the resistance and fight Watchtower is putting up clearly shows this has nothing to do with God as they pursue their evil course of hurting children by defending bad policy. -
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The WTS, Downsizing and Contributions.
by hillary_step inas most of you may have gathered, the past couple of years have seen some major downsizing in wts expenditure, not just overseas but in the us and canada, including the sale of some buildings.
building projects have been shelved, some half-way completed.
every congregation around the world was instructed to upgrade kindgom halls, probably for the purposes of asset protection, as the trustees of khs are only trustees *for* the wts.
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Jerry Bergman
I guess Michael Jackson's millions are not flowing to the WT any more. What about the William's sisters? Are they giving millions?
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Maybe I'm missing something about this particular Creationist's arguement..
by Abaddon inhere we have an article about the dodo by dr. jerry bergman;.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/1172.asp.
it discusses the reasons for the dodoes extinction and concludes;now that the bird has been extensively studied, we realize that the facts do not support the evolutionary myth, but do support the moral bankruptcy of humankind.. .
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Jerry Bergman
None of those books address the core problem of Intelligent Design. If complex things have to to be designed, who designed the designer, who is presumably far more complex than us? It's a lousy theory that falsifies itself. Actually most of these books address this concern in detail. Also, as to "If complex things have to to be designed, who designed the designer, who is presumably far more complex than us?" this is one of the oldest arguments for atheism, and has been discussed by many in history, and some do a better job than others. We have the same problem with atheistic ideas though. This is expressed as "why is there something rather than nothing?"There are several ways of answering it, all which can be involved. Also, It would take a book to adequately deal with your concern and to do justice I need to write a book. Hopefully I will and than I will send it to you.
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
Good point. Remember Darwin was trained as a minister and Lyell as a Lawyer. All lawyers are not bad, even thought many may be.
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James Long and Eric Galloway
by Jerry Bergman indoes anyone know bro james long or bro.
erik galloway?
any information would be helpful.
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Jerry Bergman
All I know is he the webmaster for Jehovah's Witnesses United
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
Of interest
Calling the Darwinists' Bluff
UC BERKELEY LAW PROFESSOR PHILLIP JOHNSON
By John Dunlap
When he was in London on a sabbatical during the 1987/88 school year, UC
Berkeley law professor Phillip E. Johnson strolled into a bookshop and started
browsing through a large collection of Darwinian literature. Out of curiosity, he
bought a copy of The Blind Watchmaker (1986), which had recently been
published by evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins, a militant atheist.
For Johnson, the Dawkins book was an eye-opener in ways unintended by the
author. "I could see that Dawkins achieved his word magic with the very tools
that are familiar to us lawyers. [Dawkins was] deciding everything on the
definitions.... If you take as a starting point that there's no creator, then
something more or less like Darwinism has to be true as a matter of definition."
Fascinated, Johnson immersed himself in the vast literature on evolutionary
theory. In 1991 he published Darwin on Trial, a carefully reasoned dissection
of the flimsy evidence supporting Darwinism. Although ignored by most of the
popular media, the book was widely -- and in most cases hostilely -- reviewed in
the scientific press. -
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JW scientist banned from Institute's WebSite because of Creationistic Views
by GermanXJW inrecently, dr. wolf-ekkehard loennig, a jw working in a leading position at the gene-science-department at the max-planck-institute, has been banned from the institute's website for spreading his view about evolution.
he promotes the so called "intelligents design".
max-planck-institute calles this creationism in disguise.
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Jerry Bergman
Perhaps it is because they perceived you as being arrogant and so sure of your opinions. Hardly. I was an agnostic at the time and anything but sure of my opinions Someone like that usually doesn't want to hear any sort of criticism; they simply ask other people to review their works so that they can receive praise about how wonderful it is.. Not at all. Most all scholarly articles are passed around for review (or should be). If all I get is positive feedback from a person I may not pass new material to that person again. The whole point is for them to critically analyze the paper. All papers have flaws (no paper is perfect, and we know this, so try to reduce the flaws). I always pass my papers to at least 4 to 6 experts before it is published.