Posts by besty

31

Randy Watters, thank you!

by onacruse in

jw
friends

this may seem like a shameless plug for www.freeminds.org.

but it's not.. randy has been a source of significant information for me (and countless others) over the last decade(s), and very recently sent me (at his expense) some additional information about the wts.. now, one thing i must say is that randy and i do not share the same ideologies about religious perspectives.

but, ya know what?

besty

What more left to say - but I feel obliged to add my 0.02 as *another* poster who found the truth about the truth from Randy's pages.

S4 - I heard that ring of truth also - loud loud loud.

If anybody is in the Manhattan Beach area on Monday night I'm going to express my appreciation to Randy in person - PM me for the details.

Randy - you are an Apostaceleb :-)

36

Since Armageddon Hasn't Come Yet, What Are Your Plans?

by minimus in

jw
friends

besty

Just a simple thing - Sam and I are moving house - OK we're moving half way round the world with my work - but that would have been frowned on by some other JW's - putting your job 1st blah blah blah

so I'm taking a few years to get used to the idea of no more guilt.

Cheers!!

17

Kingdom Crunch in Vancouver area!

by cultswatter in

i was just notified that the kingdom hall in my area is doing a congregation split.

actually it is a merger of 5 congregations into 4 congregations.

the names of 4 of the former congos are:.

besty

Also in Greater London:

Keston + West Wickham have merged recently

5

thirdwitness.com

by besty in

has this site been critiqued elsewhere on jwd .

.

http://thirdwitness.com/childabuse/default.html .

besty

has this site been critiqued elsewhere on JWD

http://thirdwitness.com/childabuse/default.html

26

Gail Bethea-Jackson -- doctor, as claimed by Watchtower?

by Fatfreek in

gail bethea-jackson -- doctor, as claimed by watchtower?

re: my thread, letter to nbc about watchtower's rebuttal .

in the above thread, there is some reason to believe (thanks to vm44) that bethea-jackson is not, in fact, the doctor as claimed on the official watchtower site which airs her video.

besty

bttt

52

My letter to NBC about Watchtower's rebuttal

by Fatfreek in

i tried to copy this letter into firefox's xinha editor but there were too many conflicts.

i decided to paste into microsoft word, then print to pdf.

let me know if you have problems .

besty

GBJ is also listed here http://mscsw.org/communityworks.html

I have emailed Ellen on the contact list but it does specifically state on the website they don't hold contact details for non-members, which is the case for GBJ.

Hi Ellen

REF Gail Bethea Jackson

I note Gail is listed on your website http://mscsw.org/ - I'm interested in contacting her for more details about her views on paedophilia, which are being used by Jehovahs Witnesses in some sort of official apologetic manner to excuse their current troubles in this regard. See http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917798/ dated 21st November 2007

http://www.jw-media.org/vnr/2122827332/717263.htm

For your convenience I have pasted a transcript as captured from the same website

Dr. Bethea-Jackson:

I don't think, 18 or 20 years ago, we knew much of anything about pedophiles. It wasn't really looked at as a criminal matter. We didn't publicize it as being an act that needed some criminal intervention, so to speak. We didn't look at it … or it wasn't … people didn't have the body of knowledge 18 or 20 years ago to say that this is something that will harm your child emotionally, if you don't address it. Parents didn't know the seriousness, 18 or 20 years ago, and the long-term effects. And as people document the work that they've done, some successes and their failures, that some of that early work did not get to the public. I mean, it was in some New England journal somewhere. But certainly it was in the process of being looked at and studied. That information was not released. We weren't taught that in school. I went to one of the most prestigious social-work schools, at that time, in the country and in all of my studying, we didn't have a course in child abuse .

Evidently this interview was created some time back and I'd like her current opinion on this matter. She is on the record here as saying that 20 years ago the sexual victimisation of children was unknown, not viewed as criminal, information wasn't widely available, and she hadn't come across it as a subject during her 'prestigious' education.

I find all that hard to believe to be honest and would welcome your help in contacting Gail to ascertain her current professional opinion.

--
Best Regards

Paul Morrison
(a concerned parent and former Jehovahs Witness)

59

My Very First Post

by leaving-jws in

i have been so reluctant to post basically because i am so torn about exposing my personal life.

i happen to come across this website by mistake about 6 months ago.

i agreed with your opinions of the jws view on higher education and independent thinking that i found on this website.

besty

Thanks for posting - stick around.

I also delayed having children as I didn't want to bring them up the same way as I had been.

Terrible.

Life is better now and a lot of that is down to JWD - also check jwfacts.com the poster of the same username above was too modest to plug his own website but it is an excellent resource.

Besty

10

Calling all GB biographers....

by besty in

how many of the current gb have been or are currently married?

how many of the gb have had children?

<not in the alleged teddy j sense> .

besty

So I make it as follows:

John Barr - 94 - married no children wife dead
Theodore Jaracz - 82
Samuel Herd - 72
Guy Pierce - 72 - married at least 1 child
Geoffrey Jackson - 52
Gerrit Lösch - 65
David Splane - 63
Steven Lett - 58
Anthony Morris - 57 - married 2 children

Average DOB for GB is 1940.

Not unreasonable to suggest that we are due for some new members, maybe in their late forties/early fifties?

19

Has anyone ever sent mail to the members of the Governing Body?

by What-A-Coincidence in

jw
friends

if so, did you get a reply?

besty

My Dad when he was alive corresponded once or twice a year with John Barr.

Dad would send him a newsy letter with a small money gift and perhaps a calendar from Scotland - John is Scottish originally where he is known as Jack.

John would always write back - I think hand-written - it meant a lot to my Dad.

Also Mum and Dad visited him at Brooklyn in 2004 I think for half an hour or so.

SweetPea and I were staying at the same hotel for Twickenham - maybe 2003 or 2004 - as John and his wife Jean since died.. We were able to talk to him quite freely but there were a few heavies on hand. If only I'd known then what I know now I would have door-stepped him with a few more interesting questions. Nice enough old bloke though - seemed very genuine to us. Old blokes are like that though - they can get very sweet as they age.

PS - The hotel was The Petersham in Richmond - suitably comfortable but not ******.

6

Stephen Bates, "Demob Happy"

by IT Support in

in another thread someone recently mentioned that stephen bates is no longer the guardian's religious affairs correspondent.

(stephen bates wrote the articles that exposed the scandal of wt's un affiliation.

) so, when i came across this article yesterday, i was interested to see what he said.. in this article he wrote for new humanist, stephen bates explains why he gave up this job:.

besty

I emailed Steve recently around the publicity on NBC and he replied he wasn't doing religious stories any more.

Bit like myself really :-)

Happy days.