Posts by umbertoecho

21

A small update on the ongoing investigation by the Royal Commission

by umbertoecho in

i think you people would like to know that since the public hearing has finished.

there has been ongoing contact made to me by the staff at the rc.

they have been inundated with calls and the same experiences or similar ones are being related.. the staff are not backwards in coming forwards with insights that they have shared.

umbertoecho

Elders from the congregations are doing shepherding calls. Some who have phoned the RC are saying this is happening. I don't know the figures though.

20

badly handled from Elders

by Olivia Wilde in

i am still attending the kh, i actually recently became aware of the ttatt, what i believed came as a huge surprised for me, i wasn't raised as a jw and have been for about 15 years.

i have always been a very open minded individual all my life always seeing both sides of any situation with logic and common sense and so i believe discovering all of the doctrines i have been taught sense 16 years of age, wasn't extremely hard for me to realize in my heart it was a lie.

well it was me discovering the watchtower society being a ngo member of the un nations for 10 years, after that the snowball just got bigger for me.

umbertoecho

wing commander. I see you feel rather strongly about this and other experiences.

I don't think you would do this, but I do get the "gist" of your feelings.........(.a touch of irony)

Therefore I can't slap a red sign against you......I really hope you are just expressing a verbal reaction though....ha!

21

A small update on the ongoing investigation by the Royal Commission

by umbertoecho in

i think you people would like to know that since the public hearing has finished.

there has been ongoing contact made to me by the staff at the rc.

they have been inundated with calls and the same experiences or similar ones are being related.. the staff are not backwards in coming forwards with insights that they have shared.

umbertoecho

I think you people would like to know that since the public hearing has finished. There has been ongoing contact made to me by the staff at the RC. They have been inundated with calls and the same experiences or similar ones are being related.

The staff are not backwards in coming forwards with insights that they have shared. For example, some of the people who have called in are suddenly getting these "Shepherding Calls". Quite a few actually, so I was told. Many of these people are a bit intimidated or wondering what to do. They are given advice and follow up calls to make sure they are handling things okay.

This advice includes their legal right, there rights as individuals, the right not to feel in some way intimidated by this sudden interest in their waning faith. Not once have I been cast off or left wondering what was going on behind the scenes. The lines are constantly busy in the aftermath of this particular RC.

I have complete trust since these follow up's are not a one off thing. People are asking for help and getting it......

6

I've heard 2 people have found the RC hearings

by Dagney in

jw
friends

one "brother" was just texting me how good the regional convention was 2 days ago, when today it was "did you see what is happening in australia?

jackson was interviewed!

" lolololol.

umbertoecho

It may not be news worthy in many countries, but I'd love to be a fly on the wall in all the Bethel boardrooms.

It's on the net. It's transcribed in word or pdf on the RC site. It's there for ever. I'm very very bloody happy about that. It is good substantial material from a very public and government approved Public Platform. I feel all fluffy at times when I click on RC JW or child...abuse RC...Up come the media, the sites, the video's. Something about us humans that I do like, is our curiosity. There will be those who would perhaps remain forever in the dark, then one day something will piss them off and they will go to the net and find this wealth of information...Not from some apostate site, but from a government site. I was terrified a few years ago...........not now though......

7

For All Australians Present: How are Australian JWs Reacting to the Royal Commission?

by Littleleslie in

hi everyone:.

i was just wondering how were the baptized jehovah's witnesses responding to the royal commission inquiry.. i know there must be a number of australians present here that could tell us this.. i was especially wanting to know how the jehovah's witnesses were taking the testimony of the governing body member geoffrey jackson?.

thanks for your comments.. littleleslie .

umbertoecho

Oh, forgot; the elder I queried said......:" It's a lot easier than I thought it was going to be...much easier. There won't be any problems....". ( This was after the first few days, before the heat was turned up)

Next time I asked about their feelings.......Zero comment. They moved right on past that one.

Justice McClellan, Angus Stewart, the lawyers representing the victims, were flaying them on every lie. They did NOT like it at all. So, I never heard another comment....wonder why?

7

For All Australians Present: How are Australian JWs Reacting to the Royal Commission?

by Littleleslie in

hi everyone:.

i was just wondering how were the baptized jehovah's witnesses responding to the royal commission inquiry.. i know there must be a number of australians present here that could tell us this.. i was especially wanting to know how the jehovah's witnesses were taking the testimony of the governing body member geoffrey jackson?.

thanks for your comments.. littleleslie .

umbertoecho

Sabin. Jdubs in Australia think their the only ones in Australia, not on the planet. Everything comes from the American WTBTS, for them. Head office is just an extension of the headquarters in America.

In general the few I know of were initially willing to have a look at it, thinking that the elders would " show them worldly people wot for..................." .Then they went sort of "quiet" as the hearings continued. Now they would rather pretend it never happened....So from where I am I have to agree that they either stopped watching it after they realised it was a well researched investigation and the prognosis was looking rather bad as each elder lost his memory. Tool was outright lying, Jackson backed away from one of their principle FDS teachings............. re god's chosen channel on earth.

They have no grounds to state this or that was "not true" in the light of documents....They will hope the end comes within a few days or so...........My family have suddenly shut up about it.

13

JW's Approach To Bible Interpretaion

by JW_Rogue in

it will come as no surprise to many here that the jw approach to interpreting the bible is greatly flawed.

the reason that it is so flawed is that before anything is examined there are already some false assumptions that are made.

jws believe the following about the bible without evidence:.

umbertoecho

I was shown a book written by supposed scholar known as Dr Jason Be'Duhn, as a means of showing how "perfect" the NWT is in comparison to other bibles.

I went looking for any information as to this man's credentials as a scholar of biblical texts and his knowledge of languages and linguistics.

I found some interesting refutations of Be'Duhn's apparent neutrality and knowledge base.

One of these interesting refutations was by a Dr Thomas A. Howes who delved into the credentials and found them lacking......very good read.

The other was by Trevor R. Allen who wrote. A Review of "Truth in Translation". (Be'Duhns book)

This book "Truth in Translation" is not recognized by any scholar, by any University, including the one he teaches at and is not used as a valid source of trustworthy research. Jehovah's Witnesses cite Be'Duhn as a highly credible source of verifiable information when supporting their own particular bible. However his leanings are highly biased in favour of the WTBTS. He is used frequently to point out the uses of the name of Jehovah in the NWT and it would be easy for someone to take this as an established and highly respected and neutral position. Be'Duhn, does not stand up to scrutiny though and the few that have decided to take him to task over this misleading statements as to his credentials, have trouble in finding anything of substance to his "boastful" claims.

So, next time you are confronted with this so called scholarly proof of the Silver Sword or the older NWT, remember that you are being shown a very biased opinion that is not based upon deep knowledge of linguistics, historic texts taken in the context with which they were written, and even a lack of true knowledge of the Greek Koine language. I think I may have spelled that one incorrectly.

21

I wish Geoffrey Jackson wasn't being questioned at all vs a video link...

by thedepressedsoul in

i'd rather them not even question him at this point.

by allowing a video link, they put the ball 100% in his court.

i don't get what they expect to accomplish by having a video link only.. 2. he won't feel any pressure.

umbertoecho

Yes, It can happen. I have no doubt that things like this have happened. Mr Jackson just happened to bring it up at the worst or best moment. I suppose I should have clarified what I meant. I mean it's very difficult to coach thoroughly a little child of say three or four into a consistent statement of abuse..........The authorities would be best at handling such things, they would have the nurses, equipment, experiences, there would be some good coming out this approach from both sides of that argument.

No religious society is capable of know what to do forensically and in terms of clinical forensics. This would have saved that poor guy from being abused by the society as well.

Leave it to those who really know what they are doing. I believe that is the safest policy we have to rely upon to date. I do understand that this was a rotten miscarriage of justice regarding the good old two witness thingy and that there was no way he could defend himself. I believe in leaving it to the experts, to establish if something has been lied about....Not a group of men, with absolutely no experience. I stands to reason that one would want an expert or four to help establish what really happened.

Back to Jackson. He was a bloody idiot to bring it up at that point though. He was alluding to the lying of children, when his is not qualified to do such a thing.

36

How many here believed, down deep in your heart that the end would come in 1975?

by James Mixon in

i was straddling the fence on that one, just in case they were right.

i don't recall.

telling anyone this is your last chance.

umbertoecho

In 1975, I must have been out of the loop because I was busy working and doing other things. I must have missed that bit of the end of the world because it looked okay to me as far as I recall. Oh, that's right, I had nicked off, got away from the bloody JW family. They thought I was about to burn up I suppose.............I only found out about it later, much later. That was interesting. Yes, I was being shunned at the time for crimes against everything............I know, a bit of hyperbole, but I couldn't help it and I'm so tired lately. Can't sleep.......

49

Why won't they simply change policy on sex offenders? Will they?

by punkofnice in

why won't they (the wbt$ head honchos), simply change policy on sex offenders?

will they?..especially after the arc for eg?

it seems that with all the bad press and now the arc among other institutions that are exposing the wbt$ for a haven for paedophiles, why hasn't the wbt$ simply changed it's insane policy?.

umbertoecho

I have a small group of psychologists who have become interested in this religion and the evidence that came to light. Two psychiatrists are now more than ever curious about the reasons for certain "seemingly unfixable problems" they have encountered with young adult witness people and teenagers. These were in health care for vague reasons and depressions that really got so bad, they self harmed and a few died.

I have been very busy in my part of the world......Don't care what anyone thinks JW wise anymore...Just doing my bit. Printing out testimony, called four Women's Health Centres with information and links............Sometimes it takes a while, but someone will come across a confusing case, sometime and go Ah!! Who was that mad bitch who called that day talking about a RC, and where's her bloody number......oh! Here's the link and the testimony she posted...........small steps and giant leaps of faith, to be real corny