Posts by Oculos Aperire

79

JWStruggle post: Bethel Layoffs Reveal a Kingdom without Clothes

by Londo111 in

http://www.jwstruggle.com/2013/07/bethel-layoffs-reveal-a-kingdom-without-clothes/.

despite everything, i still have a lingering admiration toward those who serve or have served in bethel.

it is not that i believe it is gods organization in any way, shape, or form.

Oculos Aperire

I got seduced my a whole lot more then the evil weed..

172

Britain | Jehovah's Witnesses hushed up child sex scandal | July 16, 2013

by jwleaks in

church officials hushed up a child sex scandal in their ranks and refused to co-operate with police.. .

jehovah witness ministerial servant gordon leighton admitted sexually abusing a child when he was confronted by his church elders, a court heard.. but during the official police investigation, the 53-year-old who made headlines in the 1990s when wife yvonne, 28, died after refusing a blood transfusion after childbirth on religious grounds denied any illegal wrongdoing.. and when detectives asked elders simon preyser, harry logan and david scott to make statements about the confession, all three refused and said what they had heard was confidential.. for three years, the elders refused to co-operate with the criminal investigation and kept up that stance when the case was brought before newcastle crown court after the victim made a complaint to police.. each was issued with a witness summons which they fought to overturn before being ordered to testify by judge penny moreland citing public interest.. their barrister richard daniels said the men had a duty to god not to breach confidence.. he added: privileged communication between members of the congregation and ministers is an absolute right and duty and there is no power in law to breach such a confidence.. judge moreland said: it is apparent that the three elders who were present when this conversation took place are in possession of relevant evidence as to a point which is of real significance in this case.. they claim the right of confidentiality, they claim that what they heard said by the defendant during the course of that meeting ought to be subject to privilege, as ministers of religion.. judge moreland refused to withdraw the summonses and said: public interest is clearly in favour of this evidence being given.. what was said by the defendant on that occasion is of great significance in the trial.. despite the judges ruling, the men still refused to make statements to police until just hours before they were called before the jury.. leighton, who has since been expelled from the church at lambton kingdom hall in washington, denied two charges of indecency with a child and seven of indecent assault.. he was yesterday found guilty of two charges of indecency with a child and six of indecent assault.

he was found not guilty of one indecent assault charge, on the direction of the judge.. he was remanded in custody until he is sentenced next month but warned he is facing a lengthy spell behind bars.. prosecutor katherine dunn told the court the victim, who is now an adult, broke her silence in 2009.. the court heard how at a special church meeting, leighton admitted sexual abuse and made excuses for his behaviour.. miss dunn said: the elders conducted their own investigation.

Oculos Aperire

Reading this new story is akin to having a lobotomy in the centre of my forehead with a blunt chisel !! I'm speechless!!!

406

ex-jw-uk

by bigmac in

jw
friends

i'm quite new to this site, & have realised some members have a union jack symbol under their avatar.

i don't.. could we have a "show of hands" from any uk members?

i've already found several by reading older posts..

Oculos Aperire

Laika check your pm's..

18

New JW.org video on "helping" prisoners

by cedars in

jw
friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-vjlssg3xi.

you can't help but feel sympathy for these guys.

some of the things they did will have been horrendous, but they are paying their dues to society through their incarceration.. what they don't deserve is to become mentally imprisoned to a damaging cult.. .

Oculos Aperire

Shirts and ties? Are they sure? That's just... mental.

33

It's the JW's fault that I no longer see evidence for god......apparently.

by punkofnice in

jw
friends

if i had a quid for the amount of times i've been told that the reason i no longer see evidence for a god is because the watchtower(tm) damaged my trust in god.....................................i'd have at least a pony!*.

could there be any truth in this?.

have you been told similar for your choices in 'spirituality'?.

Oculos Aperire

Of course the Watchtower can be blamed. They have abused his name.. his teachings.. his message.. his word.. they have destroyed relationships, wrecked lives and caused the deaths of countless numbers of people. They have the most weighty bloodguilt on their hands too. They can rightly be blamed for an awful great deal.

I for one.. still believe in God. But very little else.

49

I lost my pet today...

by tooktheredpill in

she was a 12 year old maltese.

the best pet in the world.

my wife and i never had kids, so she was our only daughter.

Oculos Aperire

People often underestimate the closeness and affection and importance an animal can have in ones life. This may sound strange but one of the greatest affections I ever had and experienced in my life was for a dog. He truly was my best friend. The love that little fellow gave me I can honestly say saved my life in one of it's most dark periods. He kept me sane and grounded and his limitless unbounded love and affection and happiness reminded me that I was human and loveable when nothing and no one else did or could.

Very sorry or your sad loss..

2

No messaging control?

by Oculos Aperire in

do we not have any control at all of our own messaging?

i see no way to delete message from my inbox for example.. or to clear messages i sent.

what if i wish to block someone from messaging me too or flag them as spam.. how can i do any of this?.

Oculos Aperire

Do we not have any control at all of our own messaging? I see no way to delete message from my inbox for example.. or to clear messages I sent. What if I wish to block someone from messaging me too or flag them as spam.. How can I do any of this?

33

It's the JW's fault that I no longer see evidence for god......apparently.

by punkofnice in

jw
friends

if i had a quid for the amount of times i've been told that the reason i no longer see evidence for a god is because the watchtower(tm) damaged my trust in god.....................................i'd have at least a pony!*.

could there be any truth in this?.

have you been told similar for your choices in 'spirituality'?.

Oculos Aperire

I have never been 'told' that, but I sure do feel it. My experiences with the witnesses has left my spiritual life in tatters. Prior to attending my last meeting half a year ago I was reading my Bible daily without fail. I read Genesis to Revelation in under 2 months. I was regular pioneering and thinking to go where the need was greater. I felt I was developing a nice relationship with God. I felt half good most of the time.

Now I can not even contemplate stepping inside a kingdom Hall, I am unable to even touch the Bible.. I don't see how I could ever teach anyone these things again that I used to as I no longer believe it myself. I no longer believe in or respect them as a people as I used to. They quite disgust me in fact.

And yes.. I am currently unable to speak to God at the moment either.

So in answer to your question punkofnice yes the Watchtower and it's followers (especially it's leaders and elders) have all but wrecked any spiritual life I had entirely and my faith in God with it is also very severely dented as he has become so closely bound up with them. I need to separate the two which is far from easy.

I am sifting through the debris seeing what if anything is salvageable. My house of sand and twigs has collapsed entirely. I am having to learn to build everything from complete scratch. Thank you Watchtower.

73

Bitter apostates

by Laika in

witnesses often go on about apostates being spiteful and bitter.

when you get cut off, shunned, or threatened with shunning just for the audacity of thinking differently, it's not surprising that getting angry at the witnesses is the reaction - it's like a self fulfilling prophecy.. but also, i recently posted an email from a 'friend' on this board who told me that everyone he'd spoken to about me said i had changed, become like another person.

it didn't occur to him that the day before i told my parents i'd quit the religion just 3 weeks ago, i met him for lunch, we had a good time and he didn't know anything was up.

In July 2005, he was arrested for“resisting officer with violence.” The neighborhood watch volunteer who wanted to be a cop got into a scuffle with cops who were questioning a friend for alleged underage drinking. The charges were reduced and then waived after he entered an alcohol education program. Then in August 2005, Zimmerman’s former fiance sought a restraining order against him because of domestic violence. Zimmerman sought a restraining order against her in return. Both were granted. Meanwhile, over the course of eight years, Zimmerman made at least 46 calls to the Sanford (Fla.) Police Department reporting suspicious activity involving black males.