Posts by mpatrick

9

Please offer support

by mpatrick in

jw
friends

this is a post from beliefnet.org from a young girl who could use our support...i was hoping some here could post a reply.

Maybe just letting this young girl know that many of us have been in a similiar situation at times in our lives and that it doesn't have to be this way. Maybe reassuring her that there are people that will love and care for her whether or not she did something deemed "wrong" by the Organization. This is the perfect opportunity to help someone in her position.

There are times when I think that the org is a harmless religion that some people choose to believe in, this reminds me just how evil they really are.

Random Task, that is exactly how I feel!

9

Please offer support

by mpatrick in

jw
friends

this is a post from beliefnet.org from a young girl who could use our support...i was hoping some here could post a reply.

mpatrick

Here is a post from another post she started:

Jessishere9/13/02 8:45 PM	1 out of 1
	If you have looked at the topic of "i made a mistake" then you can understand why iam asking these things. I know that i will be disfellowshipped. Iam anxious to get it said and done so i can be on a path of righteousness again. But i dont know a lot about being disfellowshipped. Will i be able to go to book study(since it is a tighter area of contact) Is it okay if a "friend" that is a witness tells everyone what i did? FOr some reason since her dad is an elder she knows everyones business about their spirituality. He is also the elder iam afraid of. Is that okay for her dad to tell his family about my situation. Of course there will be those that will know why i got disfelloshipped but i dont want them to know until after iam reinstated. And i also want to choose who i want to know. I hate this sooo much. Of course if i could take it back i would in less than a second. I wish now that i could tell everyone to never have sexual relations until you are married because it is a serious sin and it is hard to deal with when you are then rejected from the guy you did it with. I want to know the answers so badly. Can i still call the elders or are they not allowed to talk to me either. I have been crying since the night i did it and feel sick to my stomach and cant eat. I have lost so much weight from all the emotions of disappointing jehovah to why did i do this. I think i dwell on it way to much but since the age of eight i have loved jehovah and feel that i have messed up really bad. Does Jehovah know how sorry iam? HOw do i prove it to everyone that iam sorry? Do most witnesses treat you the same after you are reinstated? or do they shuve their noses up as if you are terrible and disgusting? I have to know this to be at ease. I know for a fact that everyone will be absolutley shoked when they here my name on the podium. I just want to start going to meetings and get it behind me. I am soooooooooooooooooo sorry.

9

Please offer support

by mpatrick in

jw
friends

this is a post from beliefnet.org from a young girl who could use our support...i was hoping some here could post a reply.

mpatrick

This is a post from Beliefnet.org from a young girl who could use our support...I was hoping some here could post a reply.

84

Should I have a Christmas tree?

by scuba99 in

hi folks,.

i'm rather new here, only posted a couple of times.

although i have been visiting the site daily for a good 2 months now.

mpatrick

I still remember my first Christmas...I wouldn't put a tree in my own house, but I put my best friends tree up for him. The only wrapping paper I would buy was winter related...nothing Christmas. I remember telling my non-JW husband that I had too much respect for my JW father to ever put up a tree until my father passed away. Even though I celebrated that year...I was guilt ridden!

What made the difference for me was researching pagan traditions and finding out that even though JWs like to think of themselves as being seperate from anything pagan, they still participate in a lot of pagan traditions...they just don't know it. As far as disappointing my father, I tried to keep in mind that I wasn't doing this to hurt him but that I had to do what was right for ME.

I realized that people celebrate holidays for the happiness and joy that it brings them and their friends and family. The first year that my husband and I finally put up our own tree, he told his mother it was like having another kid in the house. I finally enjoyed Christmas for what it was...a time for family and friends. Since I didn't have a family of my own to celebrate with...I soon began to realize that family doesn't have to mean blood relative...family means the people that love and care about you!

I hope you do decide to celebrate with your wife...Christmas is only what you make it (much like life)...so make it great!

Blessings, Michelle

36

Let's shake things up at Beliefnet

by professor in

jw
friends

i've been reading and posting over at the jehovah's witnesses challenge & critique section of the mega-religion site beliefnet.

the moderator (a jw) is starting to get her undies in a bundle over some of the posts!

i think it would be cool if some others from here would go over there and rattle the cage a little.

mpatrick

Thank you professor! It is good to see some new posters over at Beliefnet. It seems as if we have a new poster by the username "b12345" who is having some fun posting this thread over at the Beliefnet board.

Edited by - mpatrick on 9 September 2002 21:43:24

36

Let's shake things up at Beliefnet

by professor in

jw
friends

i've been reading and posting over at the jehovah's witnesses challenge & critique section of the mega-religion site beliefnet.

the moderator (a jw) is starting to get her undies in a bundle over some of the posts!

i think it would be cool if some others from here would go over there and rattle the cage a little.

mpatrick

I have been posting on the Beliefnet site for over a year now. I use to post as "mpatrick" there but changed my username to "loveofwaterlilies". I like it because I can keep up with it a little better than I can here (threads move way too fast for little ole' me).

It is good to see some new posters over there. It seems if you like talking more doctrinal issues, it is the place to go. But, I still like lurking here for the "good association" with all you fellow "opposers"!

RedhorseWoman has become quite the valueable asset over there! I really enjoy reading her post! (Even though I heard she was Wiccan..LOL!)

Michelle

32

Oprah Awards $50,000 to Silent Lambs

by abbagail in

jw
friends

ah ha!!

now that i got your attention.... well, oprah hasn't yet awarded $50,000 to silent lambs, but she very well could if enough of us "nominate" silentlambs (bill/sheila/joe/barbara, et al) for oprah's "use your life award.

" any regular oprah-watchers will know what i'm referring to; that during the season, she presents various individuals (on monday's show each week) with this award for their service to their cause (along with the big fat check)... .

mpatrick

I thought this was a great idea! I thought I would bring it back up for anyone that might have missed it.

74

mikepence threatened to sue me / contributions

by Simon in

jw
friends

as you may or may not be aware the poster 'mikepence' has asked people to donate to enable him (and his family?

) to travel to the silentlambs march and to file charges against their alleged abuser.

because he seemed to suddenly become very opposed to the idea of attending the march, i and some others asked him what i thought were simple and reasonable questions.

mpatrick

Wow, I have missed alot lately! Simon, sorry that you are having to deal with all this unnecessary grief. I just wanted to say that Mike Pence sent me this email just a few days ago...

In early March of this year, in the echoes of uncertainty left after the horror of 9-11, just one year after I had nearly died myself from a massive, still unexplained, seizure, I determined that I wanted to be a writer. There were so many things I wanted to write about, my head swirled with possibilities. One topic kept coming front and center, unavoidably. My knowledge of the pain and suffering in the world of the silent lambs would not permit me to write about anything else until I had made a difference for the victims of child sexual abuse among Jehovahs Witnesses. I had to write about that first.

Imagine my excitement when I managed to rouse the interest of Salon.com, widely considered the best of the web magazines by none less than Time magazine. I started working with an editor there, and researching the topic in depth and in earnest. My hope had been that at some point in my career I might manage to get published in this erudite journal, I had never imagined the opportunity would arise so quickly.

Open discussion of the topic of sexual abuse among JWs in my house went on for days. Our children, Ryan, 12, and Becca, 10, are exceptionally intelligent and mature for their years. They were active participants in our discussions and brainstorming. As the sun was setting one particular evening in mid-March, my wife Denise spoke these fateful words to me: Mike, the kids have something they need to tell you.

My children proceeded to unravel a horrific tale of being sexually assaulted by the man who is now Presiding Overseer of our former suburban Philadelphia congregation. They finished each others sentences, as they recalled, in bits and pieces, what the room looked like, what was said, how my son cried out for help, and how my daughter, so young then, struggled to help him, only to be kicked to the floor.

The file folders full of stories of other peoples pain printed from Silentlambs.org seemed, suddenly, very far away.

In the months since, I have published several articles on this topic on web sites like morons.org and kuro5hin.org, widely respected sites. My article for Salon now includes an exclusive interview with J. R. Brown, and details of who in the governing body knew there was a serious problem with sexual abuse in the group as far back as the early 90s. It will be ready for publication at the end of this week.

There have been many tearful days and nights in my house since. It has been a bewildering and difficult time for all of us. For me, helping the cause of Silentlambs and researching the topic at arms length has allowed me to look, indirectly, at a wall of pain in my heart that I know I have not begun to breach. A long, difficult road lies ahead.

We now live in Arizona. Our hope is that we can go to Philadelphia and file charges against the elder who committed this horrible crime, since Pennsylvania law requires us to go there to file these charges in person. This man was our friend. We have reason to believe that his abuse continues to this day.

We would like to fly to Philadelphia, celebrate our nephews first birthday with my wifes brother, who just left the group in the last year, and file charges against this horrible man which we must be physically present to do. Then we will go to the Silentlambs march, and in front of 24 Columbia Heights and the national media, name this man for the entire world to hear. We have a unique chance to do something, to provide the beginnings of some sort of closure for our children, to raise awareness and protect current and future victims of sexual abuse.

In these difficult economic times, we dont have the funds to do this. It will cost us about $1000 dollars just to fly to and from the Northeast. So, I am asking for your help. Please contribute whatever you can to Silentlambs at http://www.silentlambs.org/contribution_page.htm so that the money can be there to fund families like mine who want the world to see that victims of child sex abuse among Jehovahs Witnesses are real, and so is their pain. This is a once in a lifetime chance for former Jehovahs Witnesses and current Jehovahs Witnesses to make a difference.

You may also go to http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T3VSKZI0KMUOOK/103-2337257-7466225 if you would like to help us in our personal quest.

Join us and support us at the march. Contribute whatever you can. Our children and so many other children have been, and are being hurt. Please help. Please sponsor a silent lamb.

Mike Pence
Founder, XJWNews.com

I can only imagine the pain that Mike and his family are going through, but I found it rather odd that he would request funds in this manner.

Michelle

32

Oprah Awards $50,000 to Silent Lambs

by abbagail in

jw
friends

ah ha!!

now that i got your attention.... well, oprah hasn't yet awarded $50,000 to silent lambs, but she very well could if enough of us "nominate" silentlambs (bill/sheila/joe/barbara, et al) for oprah's "use your life award.

" any regular oprah-watchers will know what i'm referring to; that during the season, she presents various individuals (on monday's show each week) with this award for their service to their cause (along with the big fat check)... .

mpatrick

I just filled it out! What a Great idea...Silentlambs is definitely deserving of this award!

70

POST your favorite people pictures!

by mpatrick in

jw
friends

i love taking pictures and especially of the people i love.... here are some my favorites and most recent..... .

this is my little madeline this is my cute hubby!.

this little man is sean, he is the baby!.

mpatrick

betweenworlds, ahhh....thank you for the compliment about Madeline, she is a sweetie pie! I have enjoyed taking pictures of her lately, she use to be impossible to get a picture of!

eyegirl, I like the picture of you and your daddy! My dad is one of my favorite people also. I was always a daddy's girl growing up, but since he is still a JW it has really dampered our relationship. I will always cherish him though, he was a great dad and a awesome friend!