Posts by headisspinning

24

Jehovah's Witness children and creativity...

by Tuesday in

jw
friends

hey there folks,.

i remember some time ago there was a wonderfully written website which dealt with jehovah's witness children specific type of suppression causing a higher number of very creative children than other religious forms of suppression.

i was wondering if anyone remembered what this link was?.

headisspinning

Does this help?

7. Dewing & Taft, Some Personality Characteristics of the Parents of Creative Twelve-year-olds, 41 J. Personality 81, 82 (1973):

A second demographic variable found to be related to creative ability was unusual religious belief. In particular, a disproportionately large number of highly creative children were Jehovah's Witnesses. Four children from the total sample of 394 were members of this sect, and all four showed high creative ability. The girl who gained the highest total score on the Torrance tests, and the girl who was the only child, male or female, to be included in the top 20 percent of all five performance measures, were both Jehovah's Witnesses.

19

Then & Now

by headisspinning in

i was born in the 70's and my jw mother spanked us a lot... actually, beat us is more accurate.

i know of other people from the same generation (lol!

) and it seemed to be somewhat common during that time period within the organization.. i also remember wearing a lot of second hand clothing and having pretty dismal school lunches and we were simply not allowed to ask for anything - needs or wants.

headisspinning

The one thing I think is interesting is my mother told me that it never even occurred to her to spank/beat us until she became a JW. An elder at the hall took her aside and told her I needed a good spanking (keep in mind he had no children of his own). My mother was so offended and shocked that she thought about never attending a meeting again. But in the end, she took the counsel.

I was six months old.

22

Question for all you Current/Former Elders out there

by dontplaceliterature in

jw
friends

the "situation"a brother and sister from my parents congregation committed adultry with one another.

he was single, she was married to another brother in the same hall.

her husband divorced her.

headisspinning

I guess we're gonna be SOL for a loooooong time!

19

Then & Now

by headisspinning in

i was born in the 70's and my jw mother spanked us a lot... actually, beat us is more accurate.

i know of other people from the same generation (lol!

) and it seemed to be somewhat common during that time period within the organization.. i also remember wearing a lot of second hand clothing and having pretty dismal school lunches and we were simply not allowed to ask for anything - needs or wants.

headisspinning

Oh no... my dad was an unbeliever 'til I was about 15.

19

Then & Now

by headisspinning in

i was born in the 70's and my jw mother spanked us a lot... actually, beat us is more accurate.

i know of other people from the same generation (lol!

) and it seemed to be somewhat common during that time period within the organization.. i also remember wearing a lot of second hand clothing and having pretty dismal school lunches and we were simply not allowed to ask for anything - needs or wants.

headisspinning

My mother's favourite weapon was the flyswatter when we were little. Then a heavy wooden ruler when I was about 7. Then a yard stick. We were told to pull down our pants and lie across the couch or bed. If we struggled or made a sound we got it harder. The last time she beat me I was 15 years old. I was too afraid to stand up to her so there I was with a bare ass submitting to her beating.

After that she would more just attack us - I remember her trying to break my toes, punching my sister's face and throwing her down the stairs.

42

What Are Their Motives?

by headisspinning in

i have a question.

if jws are a cult, what is the motivation of the leaders?

what are they getting out of controlling all these people?.

headisspinning

Thank you for your comments, Mad Sweeney.

What I was thinking about yesterday is how if you are a cult but you don't want to be labeled as a cult, then you could just look at all the identifiers of a cult and then cleverly adjust your operations so that you sort of slip through the cracks of the established definition (so to speak). Do you know what I mean? For example, if a cult generally has one human leader, why not divide the power up between say 7 men and keep an air of mystery over the whole operation.

I'm still thinking all of this through and just trying to get my head around it...

42

What Are Their Motives?

by headisspinning in

i have a question.

if jws are a cult, what is the motivation of the leaders?

what are they getting out of controlling all these people?.

headisspinning

What Sab said is very interesting because my husband was just telling me last night that the WT operates like it's own little world. Rarely does it need to go outside of the confines of the organization - everything is in house - from medical care to lawyers to investors to real estate agents. It's really crazy to think of.

19

Then & Now

by headisspinning in

i was born in the 70's and my jw mother spanked us a lot... actually, beat us is more accurate.

i know of other people from the same generation (lol!

) and it seemed to be somewhat common during that time period within the organization.. i also remember wearing a lot of second hand clothing and having pretty dismal school lunches and we were simply not allowed to ask for anything - needs or wants.

headisspinning

I was born in the 70's and my JW mother spanked us a lot... Actually, beat us is more accurate. I know of other people from the same generation (LOL!) and it seemed to be somewhat common during that time period within the organization.

I also remember wearing a lot of second hand clothing and having pretty dismal school lunches and we were simply not allowed to ask for anything - needs or wants. I thought it was just us but I have talked to several other people (raised as JWs) and it was the same for them - somehow JWs parents during the late 70s/80s were really stingy when it came to providing for their kids in comparison with how 'worldy' kids were provided for.

What are your observations and have you noticed changes over the years?

My observation is that people who were born-in during that time period and who are still JWs now seem to have gone to the other extreme on both counts. Most will rarely, if ever, resort to physical discipline and kids seem to be almost spoiled now. I am speaking from my own experience here because I simply cannot bring myself to spank my kids - it feels so very wrong to me. And not only can they ask for things they want, I actually try to be alert and anticipate what they might like so they don't feel deprived. I'm not saying this is right either but it's almost like I'm trying to overcompensate for my own childhood. One downside I've seen is that my children are much less appreciative of what they have then we were... kids almost take things for granted nowadays.

42

What Are Their Motives?

by headisspinning in

i have a question.

if jws are a cult, what is the motivation of the leaders?

what are they getting out of controlling all these people?.

headisspinning

I have a question. IF JWs are a cult, what is the motivation of the leaders? What are they getting out of controlling all these people?

Some motives that I could think of are money, sex, power or sincere belief.

Although the WT is very wealthy, I don't think the individuals themselves are lining their pockets and living the high life.

It's definitely not motivated by sex!!!

I can see the power being addictive but it's divided up between a group that switches up it's members - I can see power being more of a motivator where there is one human leader.

So that leaves sincere belief...

I'm not pretending to have this all figured out. I just want to know what others think or what conclusions they have come to on this topic...

64

Hello..this is my story..

by Lozhasleft in

jw
friends

i'm pleased to have found this site...i've browsed a little ...read quite a lot and gasped at some stories, giggled at the one liners and nodded in recognition of others' strong opinions and can relate to a great deal.. i'll try and keep my intro as brief as possible for anyone kind enough to listen.. i got involved with the witnesses in the late 70's in the uk.

i was in my early 20s and had had a love and fascination for the bible since my difficult childhood.

i soon brought my life into 'line' although it took a long time for me to pack up the smoking which didnt go down well in those days when 6 months of study should have been enough and if you hadnt cracked it then it was suggested that you were some kind of loser.... i reared my 4 children in the 'truth' as well as i could but i cant claim that we were a 'strong' family in their terms...just muddled along really..my husband at the time was a very difficult and abusive man and home life wasnt easy for any of us with his anger, jealousy and violence.

headisspinning

Hi Loz...

I just read your story. Wow! You have certainly been through a lot. I'm happy to see you landed on your feet!