Posts by steve2

24

Would Michael Jackson be in all this legal trouble if he stayed a JW?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

as you posters know my mom has been a "devout" jw for over 40 years and just won't bend when it comes to the faults of the wts.

i have talked until i was blue in the face for over 10 years since da'd myself in 1993 but just can't crack my mom.

well she made another ridiculous comment to me the other day in her attempts to get me "reinstated" back as a jw.

steve2

No, whether Michael is in the JW religion or out, he'd still be in trouble because of his simple failure to observe a fundamental "rule" for anyone who has ever been accused of child molestation: Don't make your situation worse by continuing to have unsupervised access to minors.

Before the latest allegations surfaced, the foolish man, though, even went on television and defended the sleep overs in which he said it was perfectly innocent to want to have boys sleep in your bed. Hey, what were the parents of these minors thinking when they knowingly allowed their boys to share a bed with Michael, given the allegations in the early 1990s?

25

To All Bodies Of Elders!-----(About Researchers)

by Voyager in

this letter was posted over on (channel c) and (ex-jw california).

thanks stan for posting it!.

christian congregation of jehovah?s witnesses.

steve2

Sorry, I meant to add that the FM on the previous post is official code which means something like, you can only know this if you are in the inner circle (i.e., at Brooklyn). Hey, I don't know how FM captures that idea.

25

To All Bodies Of Elders!-----(About Researchers)

by Voyager in

this letter was posted over on (channel c) and (ex-jw california).

thanks stan for posting it!.

christian congregation of jehovah?s witnesses.

steve2

Would that be special titles like
Ministerial Servant
Elder
Circuit Overseer
District Overseer
etc?

No, no no. Special titles like:

TGBWTFM: The Governing Body Will Think For Me

or:

AITFM: Avoider of Independent Thinking

25

To All Bodies Of Elders!-----(About Researchers)

by Voyager in

this letter was posted over on (channel c) and (ex-jw california).

thanks stan for posting it!.

christian congregation of jehovah?s witnesses.

steve2

Would that be special titles like
Ministerial Servant
Elder
Circuit Overseer
District Overseer
etc?

No, no no. Special titles like:

TGBWTFM: The Governing Body Will Think For Me

or:

AITFM: Avoider of Independent Thinking

27

Brownnose or Scholar

by stillajwexelder in

jw
friends

just a quick pole - who gives you the biggest laugh on this board - you have only two choices brownnose brownboy or scholar?

steve2

I do feel somewhat sorry for Scholar because, despite his robust defence of the Watchtower, that organization holds him in unmistakable disapproval because of his need to communicate with disfellowshipped persons. You can't slave for two masters, can you? Who's a naughty boy now? It's okay, though. I think I understand; I'm a naughty boy too.

74

Are ex-jw's or "apostates" addicted to jw-bashing?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

this might seem like a funny question to ask but my mom told me that "apostates" are addicted to jw-bashing and cannot let it go and have a life.

i asked her what she meant by this statement and she told me that all ex-jw's talk about is the wts and jw's and negative things about the jw's.

she said that we get up thinking about jw-bashing and go to sleep thinking about jw-bashing just like a drug addict.

steve2

I don't think I "bash" JWs but they accuse me of doing it. If they're going to label me, fine; I just wished they'd take the time to read what I say and they'd see it does not meet the (informal) dictionary definition of "bashing". In fact, I often find myself saying (to myself and others!), "Hey, let's be more balanced here and be careful about what we say (i.e., in the sense that it's not an over-statement or whatever)."

74

Are ex-jw's or "apostates" addicted to jw-bashing?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

this might seem like a funny question to ask but my mom told me that "apostates" are addicted to jw-bashing and cannot let it go and have a life.

i asked her what she meant by this statement and she told me that all ex-jw's talk about is the wts and jw's and negative things about the jw's.

she said that we get up thinking about jw-bashing and go to sleep thinking about jw-bashing just like a drug addict.

steve2

Hey there again One:

You are onto something really helpful when you talk about 1) traumatic experiences a person went through in the past - perhaps as a child - and 2) learning to do things in the present that may help them regain a sense of balance and mastery over their lives. The capacity to do this is influnced by many things. What we do know is that if the individual has "models" or examples of how to live their life in new and more helpful ways, there is much that they can do to "move on".

Many well researched psychotherapies - schema therapy, emotion-focussed therapy, dialectical behavior therapy are three examples - include training to learn to separate one's own emotional experience from that of others. This is important for those who were raised in (for want of a better word) "exclusive" religions because from an early age they may have had difficulty separating what they want and how they feel from what others in the group want and feel. The techincal term for this is "enmeshment".

Yes, when we look from a distance at this happening within groups it is easy to see self-defeating patterns. And, I agree with you that very often people in difficult situations have learned, through watching others' examples, unhelpful ways of responding that actually makes their situation worse. You give a really good example: Often troubled people who feel as if there's no solution will engage in (to use your word) "whining" - because nothing else helps. However, I see many of the people posting here as different from that. They are attempting to make sense of their JW experience - as I am too - and it can take a while to learn new and more helpful ways of expressing one's pain and hurt. Yes, when a person also realises that they can do something about it, that is empowering. The whining aspect decreases and the ability emerges to express clearly their views and feelings.. and to take responsibility dfor those views. All power to people developing this ability.

25

To All Bodies Of Elders!-----(About Researchers)

by Voyager in

this letter was posted over on (channel c) and (ex-jw california).

thanks stan for posting it!.

christian congregation of jehovah?s witnesses.

steve2

The part of the letter that said elders should treat researchers kindly gave me the warm fuzzies. It was hard to keep the old goosebumps under control. I pictured in my mind what that kindliness would entail and this is what emerged: Tthe elder would let the researcher rest his or her head on the elder's shoulder whilst the elder gently stroked the researcher's hair. Now that's "kind" - just ask my fox terrier. It certainly would seem to be beat filling out a questionnaire.

15

Greetings!

by PotatoPeeler in

jw
friends

hey everybody!

i'm gay and this has a huge confliction with the mindset of the borg.

i don't think that's why i left though.

steve2

Hey there PotatoPeeler,

Good to see you survived the Watchtower. Be proud of who you are and welcome to a forum that will help you continue to develop a clearer sense of who you are. steve2

50

Seeing JWs in a positive light.

by ScoobySnax in

jw
friends

not a new light, just a positive light.. sometimes on here i worry that all jws are painted with a bad brush when i know that not to be the case.

today i was looking after a jw patient on the ward and she was the most wonderful old girl you could meet, she really made me smile, and she was bright as a button.

later her family came in, who i didn't recognise and they were just as pleasent.

steve2

Hey there again, Scooby. Thanks for your nice words earlier about my post - much appreciated. At times in my posts I do express strong feelings and views about aspects of the Watchtower's teachings, but, as far as I'm aware, I have not expressed any hatred towards the JWs. Similarly, the overwhelming majority of the people I have heard from on this Discussion forum, share their own feelings and views - strong and otherwise - and they are not expressing hatred for the JWs either. You have made some comments about apostates having a "party line" and that is palpably not true. We are free to agree or disagree. And as an earlier post stated, the consequence is not shunning and its disastrous impact on family life.

I realise that you have received much feedback from others over the past day and would understand it if you felt perhaps beleagered by it all. However, do hang on in here. The point is not that we end up all agreeing on everything, but that we each in our own way feel heard - an experience that so many of us never had when we were witnesses. Best to you.