Christian Longo testified on Court TV today

by Mulan 14 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Mulan

  Christian Longo, the disfellowshipped JW, who is accused of killing his wife and three children, is testifying now (9:50AM PST) on Court TV. He is explaining the teachings of JW's. The commentators jump in occasionally. Their comments are interesting. One expert said he doesn't believe being brought up as a JW is any more harmful than any other religious upbringing and that his family was close and seemed to be a good family setting.

  It sounds like Christian Longo still believes the theology.

  Edited to change title of the thread.
• 

  mouthy

  I watched part of it. He is so cool calm & collected??? What is with this guy...
• 

  Mulan

  If everyone sends an email to [email protected] telling the damage the JW's do to a person, it would be pretty interesting, don't you think? They are asking for emails. He is very calm as he tells his story. I can't help but wonder "What is his attorney thinking.............he shouldn't be on the stand!"

  This was my email to them: As a former Jehovah's witness (all of my life until age 50) I can understand the damage his association with that religion has done to his conscience. You virtually are trained to rely on them to tell you what is right and what is wrong. Essentially you have no conscience without their direction. They say you develop a Bible trained conscience but that is actually not true at all. I feel very badly for him, and cannot understand why he would be moved to kill his entire family. It is a senseless tragedy. He seems emotionless and talks about his kids as if they are still there, and not dead at his own hands. Jehovah's witnesses have the practice of disfellowshipping which sends many members "over the edge" to many immoral life styles after they are victimized by the organization in this way. Some are driven to suicide because they feel there is no hope for them anymore. Their families and former friends will have nothing to do with them any longer, and they become despondent. If their job happens to be in a company of JW's, they lose their job and thus their means of making a living. The scandal at times ruins their reputation, and if it isn't public knowledge, it soon becomes public through the congregation gossip mill. It's all very sad.
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  starScream

  If their job happens to be in a company of JW's, they lose their job and thus their means of making a living.

  how is that legal?

  I had no idea that guy was a JW. This is the first I heard of it. So much for 'the media reports every little bit of dirt about the WTS to bring reproach on Jehovah's name.'
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  caligirl

  I watched bits and pieces of the trial today - I don't have the patience to watch for long. What I see is a man with absolutely no conscience. I did not see the part where he was testifying about being a witness. Every few minutes they were running profiles in the upper left corner of the screen that stated he had converted to Jehovah's Witness as a child.
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  mommy1

  What a monster. He's so matter of fact. He must really believe that his wife and kids will be resurrected. I just happened to be flipping channels and heard the word kingdom hall and stopped and started watching. Had to turn it off J ho or not just too upsetting.
• 

  El Kabong

  I just watched bits and pieces of the trial today. I really was not following the case at all until I saw this tread.

  Why was his wife so upset with him when she dropped him off at work that night? I got the impression he was caught fooling around on her. Was that the case?
• 

  amac

  This guy is a monster.

  Mulan, I know your intentions are good and you simply want to educate people about JW's, but I don't think attaching that to this case is right.

  I don't think being a JW had anything to do with this guy being a monster. I would hate to see the media use the responses of ex-JWs to come to a public conclusion that JW's create people like Longo. I don't think anyone deserves that except for Longo himself. Just my 2 cents.
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  rocketman

  StarScream, I've wondered the same thing. If someone is fired (or, as in one local case that I know of, "laid off") from his job with other jws because he gets df'd, I wonder if he could pursue a discrimination claim.

  Of course, the basic problem is that the employer could simply use any number of reasons for discharge ('we're slowing down, profits are down, orders are down', etc) so I guess it's hard to prove.
• 

  qwerty

  Mulan

  This is my email I sent also................. A friend of mine in the USA sent you this email with regards to Christian Longo. As a former Jehovah's witness (all of my life until age 50) I can understand the damage his association with that religion has done to his conscience. You virtually are trained to rely on them to tell you what is right and what is wrong. Essentially you have no conscience without their direction. They say you develop a Bible trained conscience but that is actually not true at all. I feel very badly for him, and cannot understand why he would be moved to kill his entire family. It is a senseless tragedy. He seems emotionless and talks about his kids as if they are still there, and not dead at his own hands. Jehovah's witnesses have the practice of disfellowshipping which sends many members "over the edge" to many immoral life styles after they are victimized by the organization in this way. Some are driven to suicide because they feel there is no hope for them anymore. Their families and former friends will have nothing to do with them any longer, and they become despondent. If their job happens to be in a company of JW's, they lose their job and thus their means of making a living. The scandal at times ruins their reputation, and if it isn't public knowledge, it soon becomes public through the congregation gossip mill. It's all very sad. I can only back her up in what she says, I can not put it in better words. I was a Jehovah's Witness for 17 years. In addition to the above - The Witnesses say they do not break up families and that they build strong ones. This is true, if you are able to live with their beliefs and never question the Governing Bodies interpretations of the scriptures. I found that I was always pressured to do more and more, reach one goal and the carrot moved further away. I never felt good enough in God's eyes, being a Jehovah's Witnesses. This alone can make a person crack, emotionally, even violently as in the Longo trial. I was on anti depressants for a while, at one time feeling like ending it all. I don't want to sound like I am condoning the terrible things Christian Longo as done. I just hope that this and emails from others will help you and the jury have a balanced view. Thank you for reading this, [Qwerty]