Is it still current teaching that JWs should avoid marrying and having children the better to devote themselves to field work? JW practice seems very hostile to children and family in general.
Kingdom Hall Spankings
by JH 100 Replies latest jw friends
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shamus
Hi Finding Way,
Welcome to the board!
Very true about the abuse - it is uncacceptable to spank children if they can't sit for 2 hours without wiggling around. That is abuse. Also, telling kids that they will die at armageddon. Disgusting.
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Azalo
my parents were of the "you're gonna get it when we get home" class. I got a few spankings at the KH but I had it pretty easy compared to some.
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troucul
I guess I'm in the minority on this one. I was spanked when I was little, not understanding why I had to sit still. And even though I've had to readjust my attitude and be careful as to the reasons why I had to spank my own kids, I'm glad my parents spanked me. We've been over this topic here before, and I still believe that a two-year-old will only understand a stinging bottom. But sometimes witness parents justify this too much and take great pride while beating the living hell out of their kids while at the hall. It's as if they're trying to prove that they take the meetings more serious than others. (not that one should) There's too many extremes. Everything in moderation I say. Take them home, spank them a few times, give them a hug and a kiss, and put them to bed. Witness parents somehow find a way to make things more difficult in the long run.
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nowisee
oh yeah, i witnessed many kids being spanked at kh. i remember one sister grabbing the child of a bible study of hers with an exasperated sigh as this little boy would not be quiet. she had the gall to take this child out and spank him.
but the most horrifying thing i ever saw was when my first husband and i were visiting a co friend staying with a family in tennessee. this young sister had a 3 WEEK old baby girl who had been crying. when we arrived she said she had just finished "tanning her hide" as she had to learn to behave and be quiet. i remember this little infant crying and crying with the mother getting more and more frustrated and out of control. she was not ashamed, not embarrassed. she really thought this was the way things should be done. as soon as the baby's father arrived home he picked her up and she immediately stopped crying and began cooing.
this was in the 70's. this has haunted me. i often wonder what kind of life that baby had and whether she survived. so sad. so sad.
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Brummie
I remember calling on an inactive Witness on the service and they told me they couldnt go to meetings because they thought Children were treated unfair and bullied by adults and it bothered their conscience, I thought they were just exaggerating at first, (though I used to hear one sister sharply smack her kids during the meeting, I thought maybe they were reffering to this).
Anyways, during my final months as a Witness I spent a lot of time in the Kingdom hall library during the meetings doing reseach into all the old literature. THAT was an eyeopener for me, I was horrified to see little girls getting their little legs smacked so sharply they looked like they would bleed. Geesh it sends me cold just thinking about it, no wonder some reffer to it as the Kingdom hell!. Thing is, if you are a kid in the WT you dont realise this is happening to all the others, you are taken out of the meeting when no one else is out there so you just think its a one off.
If anyone doubts this, go spend time in the Kingdom hall library, you will soon change your mind.
Brummie
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drwtsn32
So true... I have seen borderline child abuse at meetings.
I am of the mindset that spanking is wrong. I think if a child is too young to comprehend you telling them why they should not do something, they are too young to understand why you're hitting them. If a child is old enough to understand why you're hitting them, they should understand verbal instruction.
It's just wrong to tell your kids never to hit other children, but turn around and hit them when they do something wrong. Of course, I don't have kids yet so my opinion doesn't really count. I just hope that when we do have kids they will respond to verbal instruction.
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144thousand_and_one
[QUOTE] I still believe that a two-year-old will only understand a stinging bottom. [/QUOTE]
Fortunately, modern civilized society, excluding Jehovah's Witnesses, is collectively moving to a higher consciousness in this area. Violence begets only more violence. Teaching children that it's ok to use violence to address your problems contributes to the pervasiveness of violence in our world. Using violence to compel robotic behavior (e.g., infants sitting still through two hours or more of age-inappropriate drivel due to threat of beatings) will most likely lead to future regrets, as it did for my parents.
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lemon
I'm 24 now, and i grew up as a jehovah witness. I remeber quite clearly as if it was yesturday going to the meetings as a child and if i didn't sit still or pay attention my mom would take to the restroom put me over her knee and give me a spanking, by the time my spanking was done i was sobbing. thats when she would warn me if i didn't stop crying by the count to 3 i would ge another spanking, and another spanking it was every time we went. thats why i stop going is because of. I was given spanking until i was 15.
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Latte
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Lemon}}}}}}}}}}}}
I remember quite clearly as if it was yesturday
I really feel for you, I have recollections of children such as yourself?.it makes me feel ill the remember them. My own mother occasionally spanked me?but it was really quite rare?.not so for other kids!
It really disgusts me how the ?men at the top? who have NO children tell others how to discipline their kids. The sheer boredom which a child endures at the waay too long meeting?s is a tragedy. I remember the hours as a child listening to heavy stuff like the Babylon book?the Ezekiel book?.not to mention the W/T,? and the horrific Paradise Lost book?.all totally boring for a child. The time could have been spent so much better.
Dear Lemon, I am so glad that you have now left! I truly hope that the awful memories which you so clearly remember will become less painful as time goes by.
By the way WELCOME to the board! There are some wonderful people who post on here - hope that you stick around!