Posts by Oubliette

An oubliette is a form of dungeon which is accessible only from a hatch in a high ceiling. It is from Middle French, from oublier to forget. And so it is a place of forgetting.

My Oubliette

In this case, it is not the prisoner that does the forgetting, but rather the ones that sent them there are able to forget about their prisoners by sending them away to a far-off, forgotten dungeon.

I thought it was appropriate because the WTBTS would like to forget about those of us that have woken up to TTATT and realized that they have lied to and abused us. The isolation we feel as a result of shunning is a psychological prison.

You can read my intro post From my oubliette ...

Oubliette

PS - I know the picture which I chose for my avatar is not technically an oubliette because it has a door, but it gets the point across.

19

Elders and former elders: Judicial cases how often?

by A question in

jw
friends

how many judicial cases did you serve on, in how many years as an elder?

feel free to talk about the cases too..

Oubliette

I didn't formally keep count, but I estimate I served on 40-60 JCs over 20 years. Sometimes we'd go a year or more without a single JC, but then we might have three or four going simultaneously.

The JCs I served on dealt with pretty tame stuff compared to what other have already mentioned: there was the typical underage drinking, use of marijuana, and sex "sins." Among the adults we dealt with alcoholism, adultery, and "fornication." One case involved a single woman in her late 60s that confessed to giving someone (not a congregation member) a blowjob. All the elders looked at each other with a WTF expression on our faces!!! "Who'd she do?"

We never dealt with any apostates while I was an elder and fortunately never dealt with any pedophiles.

In retrospect, I look back with much regret because I realize there are basically two very serious problems with the JW judicial process:

In the vast majority of these cases, elders are dealing with matters that are frankly none of their damn business. Most "judicial matters" are trivial things that should not be considered sins and should be private matters for the individual to work out or not.
In ALL of these matters, the elders are seriously under-qualified to deal with the issues involved. This is particularly disastrous when dealing with actual serious problems such as alcoholism, drug addiction, mental illness, domestic violence, pedophiles and other serious issues.

Real counselors are highly trained professionals that have many years of education in the particular area in which they specialize. They often have to pass rigorous tests and undergo an internship under the supervision of a more experienced mentor.

The idea that a high school graduate (hopefully) that works as a janitor can be "qualified" to help people deal with serious issues and problems such as these by attending an "Elder School" lasting a few hours and reading a few pages of the secret "Elders' Manual" -- well that idea is just ludicrous. It would be funny if it weren't for the fact that these men do so much damage to so many people.

Some elders mean well, but that does not make them qualified.

I know I was one of those. I am in need of forgiveness from a lot of people. Sadly, it doesn't look like I'll ever be able to apologize to them.

16

Here comes Baruch again

by stillin in

jw
friends

somehow this weeks book study, which covered some more about baruch, managed to turn it into a slam against education or trying to improve yourself very much.

ok, he didn't "seek great things for himself.

" but to twist that into the diatribe against college education, under the pretense of a bible study, is simply appallingly irresponsible!

Oubliette

BOC: The bible is just a vehicle for their cult behavior control tactics.
XBEHERE: this Jeremiah book is nothing more than an attempt for the Org to push its policies under the guise of "bible principles"

This is exactly right.

The Bible is essentially nothing more than a prop for the WTBTS. They pick and choose scriptures that they can twist and force fit to give the illusion that what the GB wants is what God wants.

11

Does 'TRUTH' change? Came across this gem....

by Newly Enlightened in

when i was looking for a quote for data-dog's topic.... wt 1966 10/1 pg 607-608. .

questionsfromreaders?.

at times there are changes in viewpoint on biblical subjects discussed in the watch tower societys publications.

Oubliette

It is to be expected, then, that at times there may be changes in viewpoint.

So now I get it, I wasn't disfellowshipped and subsequently shunned by my family and former friends for disagreeing with and breaking Bible truth, but a changeable WT viewpoint.

I feel so much better now.

I'm glad that's all cleared up!

33

A Brief look at the "question box" September 2007 KM

by AK - Jeff in

here is the text of the box.

could someone please confirm that it is correct, as i garnered this cut and paste from a non-witness locale, and have no way to confirm that it has not been altered.. question box.

* does "the faithful and discreet slave" endorse independent groups of witnesses who meet together to engage in scriptural research or debate?matt.

Oubliette

I agree, we should "shun foolish questionings" and instead seriously entertain legitimate ones.

An article like this proves that the WT leadership isn't interested in anything resembling open discussion leading to "accurate knowledge" or truth.

They are in charge and you're not.

I have a niftly little slogan for this: "Listen, Obey and Be Blessed!"

16

The Story of Joe

by dozy in

jw
friends

when i was a young pioneer , over the years i had built up a route call and every wednesday afternoon myself and a couple of the other pioneers would walk ( or if adverse weather , drive ) around the streets of our town and the surrounding villages distributing the magazines.

most houses were empty , which didnt really matter - it was a pleasant diversion from what was generally quite a harsh unfruitful territory to work.

we would talk about the things young ones talk about girls , football , tv and , er , girls chewing the fat over the latest gossip.. in our congregation , joe , a retired brother in his 70s lived with his non-jw worldly ( but very pleasant and hospitable ) wife , jean.

Oubliette

dozy: I was a victim of a system that valued distributing literature over showing genuine kindness.

That pretty much sums up the religion of JWs.

51

HI! im new here...

by outofthelionsden in

i have been reading post on this forum for many months and i wanted to thank you all for all the great posts and comments that have really helped me get through this hard year of fading.

my husband and i where born in jdubs and almost 1 year ago we started to fade , now that we think about it has been a few years that we were suffering from cognitive dissonance without knowing it.

we feel that finally we have our life back , a life that is just starting.

Oubliette

Welcome, outofthelionsden!

I'm sorry that your family is shunning you even though you're not even DF'd or DA'd.

This is just further proof that this is a high-control cult and not a legitimate religion (if there even is such a thing).

I look forward to your story.

Oubliette