any legal eagles out there have any thoughts on the potential success of a class action lawsuit against the watchtower for their written corporate policy on the treatment of disfellowshipped people?
does their policy fall under religious discrimination as outlined in title 7 of the federal anti-discrimination statues?
i am sure there are many df'd people who have lost jobs and housing and suffered mental anguish as a result of the restrictions of interacting with loves ones and family members.
What amazes me is that people ALLOW the witnesses to control their lives AFTER they are DF'd. It would be their choice if they allowed this to result in their loss of work or housing because they chose to remove themselves from an environment that contained other witnesses.
Dude, if you aren't one anymore why would you allow them to continue to control you??!! If you were fired from a job would you still take orders from your former boss??!! Would you allow him to control where you lived so you wouldn't mingle with his other employees? Or would you tell him where to stick it? It's common sense!!!
further to isp's recent post, i can confirm that jamie reid of the whitefield, manchester congregation, england has, once again, been making fun of invalids in his congregation.
i spoke face to face with a member of his congregation the other day and he confirmed that the reports are true.. my informant (hereafter known as the "mole") told me that the two brothers elder reid poked fun at are called roy taylor and justin brooks.
roy taylor is said to be devoted to the jws, always out on field service and never misses a meeting.
Of course nothing is done. The elders are immune to the policies they are sworn to uphold. Didn't you get the memo? :) Now tell me how they are different from the Catholic Church...
Oh heavens to betsy! We wouldn't want to upset the CO now would we? We are, afterall, supposed to hold him as a venerated and revered person in the congregation... oh wait... that would be called worshipping men, wouldn't it... Hahaha :)
being a bit slow, i just finished reading the january 22 "awake!
", and back-translating from "polish" into poor english, on page 9 is the article "a reasonable view on the peace of your private life" or something like that (as said, back-translated ....).
ok, on page 12, second paragraph left column under the sub-heading "a reasonable view", first couple of lines, it is stated: "the creator has the right to know all our private affairs, but people have not.
A husband is the head of his household and his family. And God is the head of all. And the bible states plainly that a mans family comes before ANYTHING ELSE or ANYONE ELSE. A man answers to no other man in regards to his family. He only answers to God. God has entrusted him with the responsibility and it's a covenant between that man and God. The elders have absolutely nothing to say in the matter. Just use the scriptures against them. It's in their own material and it's stated almost exactly that way. They hate dealing with intelligent people because they aren't as easily led as the idiots are. They love to use the scriptures against you to prove your wrongdoing but they HATE IT when you use the scriptures against them!
By the time I got done with them they had nothing else to say because I argued my case using logic and their own scriptures against them. Use any method neccessary to turn the arguement back on them and cover all of your bases. Be like a lawyer: Anticipate the things they will say and cover that base before they even say it. That way they can't win in the arguement. If you use logic and cover every base you should have nothing to fear.
And then get the hell out of the organization. If everyone knows of these problems but still associates themselves with them, they have no one to blame but themselves. Get out before it's too late.
This is all that motivates them... money. With however many millions of them there are now (what is it, 6 million members now?) if each person gave $1 per meeting that is $5 per person per week multiplied by 6 million. So the danger is to their pocketbooks. $30 million per week is alot.
I've seen an elder DF his own teenage daughter because she had an eating disorder that she couldn't control. Did he get her medical help and counceling? No. Just told her to stop it in a set ammount of time or she would DF'd for being so vain about her body. He didn't look at it like a disease, just that she was being vain about wanting to be thin.
What was everyone told when there was an outcry? Trust on Jehovah to straighten it out in the end. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! Man am I glad I left a long time ago.
being a bit slow, i just finished reading the january 22 "awake!
", and back-translating from "polish" into poor english, on page 9 is the article "a reasonable view on the peace of your private life" or something like that (as said, back-translated ....).
ok, on page 12, second paragraph left column under the sub-heading "a reasonable view", first couple of lines, it is stated: "the creator has the right to know all our private affairs, but people have not.
You can reply by saying that, even though they represent God in this matter, they are not God Himself. They are men and as the scripture says, and is directed at men, Stop mixing in the affairs of others.
When there is a problem in the congregation and they take drastic measures to stop it there is sometimes an outcry from the other members. The Elders tell the congregation to trust on Jehovah, for he is the true judge and will deal true justice fairly then, if it wasn't done fairly now.
Use their same line of thinking with them. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? Tell them, as they tell you, the details are personal and does not concern them. It is a matter between you, your wife and God. And if they don't feel it's being taken care of properly then tell them to trust on Jehovah's ability to deal justice in the end. And then tell them to stop being so damned nosy and hypocritical.
Doesn't the bible also say that a man's family comes BEFORE God and the congregation? If this is the case, they have no say in the matter.
well the inevitable has happened... my mother now knows without a shadow of a doubt that i no longer attend the kh, and that the 'close' sister that i had spoken to about the above, is heartbroken (aaahhhh) that i have made such a momentous decision (how dare i) without talking to the family first..... note : i am 42 years old, 4 children, married for 16 years, lived away from my 'home' for 20 years...and the youngest daughter out of four girls, and i am still thought of as being unable to make my own decisions (as homer would say 'doh!)..
i have with held speaking to my mother for the simple reason that she is very ill, and i did not want to add to her burden, and then be blamed for her death.. she is a strong character, and has raised her family in the 'truth', my dad was not interested in the jw's...but i doubt if i will get any support from him, as he will back my mam, as she is the strong one in the relationship, and heaven help him if he were to disagree with her!!!
anyway, what would i have done without mr nightwarrior, he has been great beyond words, but sadly my mother has decided that he is the one to blame, and (wait for it).... he is part of the 'sweet talking evil slave class'................ when my mother put this to my yesterday on the telephone i politely put the phone down on her... how dare she!
So, your mother thinks that the Faithful and Discreet Slave forwards your prayers to God? Is that not the job of Jesus, as they say? Glad you broke the news to your familly. If they choose to stop having a relationship with you over the ordeal than so-be-it. They may be familly but they are just people, like anyone else. And that doesn't give them liberty to walk all over you.
i can honestly say that i never saw the effects of love /care /consideration / especialy christian love ,but i did experience fickle type backbiting friendships /jealousy/and greed followed by me,ismn charity was never present.the need or concern for others not of the faith was totaly lacking , in retrospect we led our lives, only ocasionaly offering a few ponds to charitys, only if a collector pushed or shook a tin within your face ,.
the reason being that the kingdom work must come first regardless of all the inhuman suffering exploding around you, hunger starvation,death ,pain .
How funny would it be when, during Armageddon, you see the witnesses standing straight and proud and the angel of death just mows them over like grass in a field! Haaha! That would be great! "OOOPPSS!! Guess you were wrong! SUCKA!"
...what i mean when i refer to a high control group?
let me tell you how it works from my experience as a member of one.
once you become a member you're "new personality" must quickly conform to the standards set by the group regarding all manner of things we used to do in ordinary everyday life, but not any more.
I know what you mean. I had a few of them that would get upset because I said Bless You when people sneezed. I just said, "Do you honestly think God is that pety?"
