Rattlesnakes. Piranhas. Sharks. Multi Level Marketing people....kind of similar actually but way less destructive.
Mrs. Flip
i stole this, from of all places, rick fearon.
i don't know who he stole it from.
please think of more.. things i trust more than the jehovah's witnesses governing body+ the media+ mexican tap water+ cappuccino from bill cosby+ a bigfoot sighting+ a politician who says "trust me"+ an al qaeda who wants flying lessons, but skips landing and take-offs+ a hillary clinton war story+ bill clinton wanting to give a speech at an all-female school+ gas station sushi+ a brian williams or bill o'rielly news report+ email from a nigerian prince.
Rattlesnakes. Piranhas. Sharks. Multi Level Marketing people....kind of similar actually but way less destructive.
Mrs. Flip
i am sitting at the recent assembly, bored out of my mind (have you ever heard anyone call these things fun?
) and the next speaker walks out on stage.
he starts off with an illustration.
No one has turned this into a joke. Most here know how much damage the watchtower has caused with their downplaying of child abuse.
The criticism wasn't ridiculous - it was right on. The talk was ridiculous, disgusting and dangerous.
One pearl of wisdom given by elders to victims of child abuse: "Just put it out of your mind. Jehovah will erase those memories in the paradise." Convenient.
A connection that isn't there? Ay, caramba.....I give up.
Mrs. Flip
i am sitting at the recent assembly, bored out of my mind (have you ever heard anyone call these things fun?
) and the next speaker walks out on stage.
he starts off with an illustration.
SHADOW- The point of the thread is that the JW elder speaker MINIMIZES child abuse by saying that " Satan " is more dangerous than pedophiles. Which is a bunch of crap. "Satan " is a non-existent marketing ploy used by " Christians " and Jehovah's Witnesses to scare members of their respective organizations. Pedophiles are REAL criminals who are dangerous to society and children in it.
To insinuate that Outlaw is " illiterate " because YOU think he didn't get the point of the thread reveals your own ignorance. Actually- you don't get the meaning of the thread . By the speaker saying " Satan " is more dangerous than pedophiles it IS minimizing the WT child abuse problem within the organization in an innuendo kind of way. Like many people of religious ilk- you seem to look at things in a black and white or an all or nothing fashion. No sense in putting others down when you are as ignorant as the people you are dissing
i stole this, from of all places, rick fearon.
i don't know who he stole it from.
please think of more.. things i trust more than the jehovah's witnesses governing body+ the media+ mexican tap water+ cappuccino from bill cosby+ a bigfoot sighting+ a politician who says "trust me"+ an al qaeda who wants flying lessons, but skips landing and take-offs+ a hillary clinton war story+ bill clinton wanting to give a speech at an all-female school+ gas station sushi+ a brian williams or bill o'rielly news report+ email from a nigerian prince.
i have often wondered if there is more harm done to people who are stifled or smothered from expressing their natural conduct, feelings or actions because of it being condemned by religious ideals?.
so if a person keeps suppressing their real personality and tries to mould themselves to the "perfect" or "ideal" version as expected from those controlling them, could they eventually "bust" so to speak?.
for instance, witnesses condemn many forms of entertainment.
In my opinion after having been born and raised in the JW cult since birth ( finally exited 11 years ago at age 44 ) the guilt that many people suffer from within the JW's comes from EXTREME lack of self esteem which the WT Society indoctrinates HEAVILY into JW's brain neurotransmitters.
I'll give you a couple examples : For instance just think about how OFTEN we were told NOT to trust our own understanding, not to trust our SINFUL heart - but in actuality once we trusted our instincts we are usually right. Or we were told that due to our alleged " sin and imperfection " that the organization knew what our needs were more than we ourselves. But what WT leaders DO NOT tell you is that they have an angle or motive to tell us that. To make us BELIEVE that we cannot trust ourselves. Because it will make them more money $$$$ if we trust them - and not ourselves. THAT is the angle they aren't honest about.
So once we discover that WT Society making us feel insecure about ourselves is ALL about their needs - and not about our needs- then the picture becomes perfectly clear- WT leaders are conning us into becoming co-dependent on them for everything and creating us into pathetic little weaklings unable to think for ourselves. That's why it's so infuriating to them once we start thinking for ourselves. They lose their hold on our minds and lose out financially if people leave
as many of us saw in the pbs news hour program and the abc news nightline program the elders from one congregation failed to communicate properly to the elders in another congregation concerning the child molester jonathan kendrick when he moved to a new congregation.
i have parts of this " introduction letter " from the fremont congregation to the oakley congregation elders so you can read it for yourself and decide how irresponsible these wt appointed elders were.
dated 1/16/98 it opens : .
I saw this thread had a couple responses- thought I'd bump it up and respond.
JW DAUGHTER- True- the WT Society has an " organization" - of sorts - however there are one set of rules for the rank & file JW's and an entirely different set of rules for the Governing Body or WT leaders. And those " rules " are followed inasmuch as it affects the financial welfare of the billion $$$ WT organizations financial interests. WT leaders allow themselves to BEND the rules or even create NEW rules along the way in order to meet their financial agenda . Even if that involves not obeying court orders to release information and even if that involves covert criminal activity involving the protection of pedophiles. Point I'm making is " these boys ain't saints ". They just really do not care. Money is the important thing to WT leaders.
FINKELSTEIN- Good point. An open disclosure would have been the SMART thing for WT leaders to have insisted upon with regard to disclosure about Kendrick or any other former child molester. So he exploited the hush hush policy as you state. And he should have been brought back up on charges of abuse- but he kept denying the Conti attack. This guy must be covered with Teflon or something. He needs to be locked up for sure
so what are the signs that indicate that people are in a "toxic relationship"?.
particularly in relation to those stuck in the org still..... .
Good question. In Steve Hassan's 3rd book titled " Freedom of Mind- Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs " he delves into some of this you mention. His website is : www.freedomofmind.com.
There can be a lot of signs that people are in a toxic relationship . Some are that they continue to stay in a relationship where they personally have NO control and have to give in constantly to the other partner. Or they stay in a physically, spiritually, or mentally abusive relationship and allow themselves to be at the receiving end of that abuse from an abusive partner. A co-dependency can occur where an innocent partner supports another partners alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, or sexual abuse of children - without holding the guilty party accountable for his or her actions. Thus the toxicity of the relationship continues.
As regards the WT organization - it mirrors personal toxic relationships in that there is one dominating party that benefits from the relationship - the WT Society- and not the rank and file JW's. WT Society has free reign over the lives of JW's and has no "checkpoints " in place to assure mental, physical, or emotional abuse doesn't occur. The elders may be " appointed " as checkpoints in the congregations - but they are about as useless as tits on a boar hog. They instruct JW women to stay with husbands that are abusive , either to the wife or children, even to the point that many JW women have stayed with JW men who have abused children, even their own children. THAT is pretty toxic. And in general JW's are instructed to give, give, and give more to the point of exhaustion in field service, parts at meetings, financially strapping their families in attending district conventions - to where people are exhausted with nothing left to give ! Then once they sit down for a second to breathe they are told to " put the kingdom first " and give MORE ! Who benefits ? Not rank & file JW's - WT Society does.
The toxicity of the WT Society directives and instructions to members continues in more serious areas - not allowing members to have life saving blood transfusions, shunning of DFed or inactive relatives causing some former members to commit suicide, refusal to report child abusers to police for punishment or refusal to protect congregation members from child abusers , discouraging and condemning higher education or going to college for young people, and promising " everlasting life in a paradise earth " when it's just imagination and WT leaders cannot deliver on that false promise. I this behavior all toxic enough to cause people to see the need to leap out of the WT or JW organization as the good ship Titanic ( WT Society ) gradually plunges to the depths of toxic oceans ? I think it's a very good damned reason to leave . So- this is kind of how I see toxicity happening to people on a personal and organizational level
sorry for the long post but i need help.
ive been a jw for 20 years - still active and attending meetings, baptised at 18, i have recently become very dissillusioned.
a few reasons: ill treatment of my kids by a prominent 'assembly speaker' elder, then my son left the truth at 15 (not baptised) and was 'dropped' instantly, despite this community having been his whole life for 15 years.
LHS123- So many great points made by some very caring people here on the board ! A big hug and a welcome to you my friend from me and my wife ! I was born into the Witnesses and I stopped attending at age 44 over 11 years ago. It wasn't easy- but yet it was harder for me to continue living and believing in a lie than walking out of that kingdom hall the final time. Freedom of mind is priceless - a beautiful thing - a rare commodity in which we are ALLOWED to use our open mind and critical thinking ability to make INFORMED , intelligent decisions. And that's the thing about having been in the Witnesses- we were never ALLOWED to research or have access to information outside of the WT publications. But with the advancement of the Internet - WT Society cannot really keep their secrets or skeletons in the closet anymore . Which is a good thing.
The advice you've received here has been fantastic. I agree with virtually all of it. Keep researching, keep informing yourself with information from different sources off the Internet as you become more fully aware of what's really going on behind the scenes within the WT Society. As you stated we were all told to " leave our doubts to Jehovah " and He would show us the way in time if we saw injustices inside the organization. But as you mentioned if Jehovah is NOT running this WT organization then it's important to ask ourselves what IS the motive of the people leading the WT organization ? And if God isn't running it- then perhaps it's a sign that we need to use our God given - or - natural authentic human personality and mind to find a better , healthier, more empathetic, kinder type of lifestyle in order to free our children or family to be able to live a kinder, happier life. Just something to think about. I know I thought a lot about it as I was exiting the Witnesses .
Just please know that we are here for you- the advice to be careful about what you disclose to JW's who are close to you or you are associated with is good advice. The information you are learning will be misconstrued as " negative against the organization" so be careful in what you disclose to the elders or others in your congregation. If you need to vent, vent here we all will help you. Many of us have gone down the same road as you but I can assure you that freedom of mind is worth it- not being enslaved to concepts that are designed to keep us in mental captivity . We will continue to be a support to you and your children. If you ever want to chat on the phone with my wife or me, please PM us and we'll give you our contact info. Take care. Hang in there, Peace out, Mr. Flipper
whenever we visit the board we see a lot of angst among jehovah's witnesses who are just learning the tatt (the truth about the truth).
hey, don't feel bad, we had it at one time ourselves.
"angst means fear or anxiety (anguish is its latinate equivalent, and anxious, anxiety are of similar origin).
yes friends.....this is the comment said to me by an elder!.
"your bad attitude is evident because you don't bring your meeting bag anymore!".
i calmly replied: "but everything i need is on the tablet now......".