Posts by Rainbow

27

Am I selfish?

by Jules Saturn in

tonight i had an argument with both my parents.

my parents are aware of my feelings towards the organization, and it saddens them because i am their first born son.

they had high expectations of me, my father dreamt of him and i serving together as elders.

It's not unusual to feel guilt in your situation, but it is misguided. Your parents are trying to hold you responsible for something you have no control over: your beliefs. No one can truly decide to believe anything (though they can decide to PRETEND to believe things they really don't) because beliefs are simply conclusions that our minds draw from the available evidence. You can no more choose to believe in the Watchtower BS (Belief System) than you could choose to believe that the Earth is flat, motionless and lies at the center of the cosmos. Once you understand something, you can't ever go back to not understanding it.

That said, your parents probably should feel guilty. While no one can control their beliefs, most people can control their behavior to some degree. If they are going to shun you simply because your mind isn't capable of ignoring the overwhelming evidence against the Watchtower BS, then this is a behavior they have definitely decided upon and they are totally free to change it despite the threat of emotional blackmail they are living under.

17

Magistrate says Jehovah's Witnesses are complicit because they failed to report to authorities

by jw news 2017 in

"former jehovah's witness jailed for historical sex offences against young sisters... .

sentencing magistrate bernadette boss noted it was "most unfortunate" that once again a church had failed to notify the authorities about an allegation of sexual abuse.. that made the church complicit in the matters and "appears to have exacerbated the effect on the victims of the offence," dr boss said...".

quoted text from the web page :.

Rainbow_Troll

I in no way condone what this man did (what a creep!) but I've got to say that the long term psychological damage these girls suffered seems way out of proportion to what they endured. Being groped and fondled for a few minutes just seems so trivial to me; revolting and skin-crawling yes, but not exactly traumatizing! I was groped and fondled almost every day while on the school bus, but compared to what I had to worry about when I actually got to school, it was nothing.

I guess this testifies to how messed up my own childhood really was.

19

Ran into my brother at a concert; first time I've seen him in years......

by dubstepped in

my wife and i went to a concert on friday night.

there was a friend of ours there doing security, and she happens to be an exjw too.

she sent me a message on messenger to inform me that my brother and his wife were at the show, not knowing that i'd be there too.

Rainbow_Troll

I no longer live in the same place as my old JW friends but I wish I had possessed your courage back when I did. Back then I would just try to avoid them as much as possible... something I really regret now that I've finally grown a pair. The problem is that even if I now had the opportunity to meet them in person, I'm afraid I'd still be the anxious one while they would come out of it calm and unperturbed. How do you pull it off without looking like a desperate, jilted lover?

27

How to convince someone to leave.

by Smiruk in

jw
friends

hey everyone, long time lurker, first time poster.

i'm currently in a jehovah's witnesses household, which is very deep into the "truth".

i woke up a few months ago, and i haven't told my parents yet.

Rainbow_Troll

There are a lot of sound, logical, ethical reason to leave the Watchtower and I encourage you to look into them; but when it comes to your family or any other JW I'm afraid that there is only one reason they will accept: you would rather sin than serve Jehovah. Tell them you're gay, addicted to heroin or whatever and it will be easier on you than if you told them your true reason for leaving.

16

Warning: A. Vogel (JW-run organization) treatments popping up in the US

by Anony Mous in

i've noticed a few of my local grocery stores are stocking a. vogel homeopathy products.

a. vogel is a company ran primarily by jehovah's witnesses, the "brains" behind the operation, alfred vogel, has since died but he claimed to be one of the anointed.

the bolle family (co-founders of the company) is a well-known, (now very wealthy) family in the netherlands and there have been significant "contributions" in the past from the company to the watchtower organization.. alfred vogel was a well-known conman, he claimed blood transfusions would change someone's personality, he claimed to have studied native american herbal healing methods... from a native american tourist photo-op actor.

Rainbow_Troll

My aunt is into homeopathy which surprised me, since I've always taken her to be fairly intelligent. How anyone who actually understands the principle behind homeopathy (the lesser the dose, the greater the effect) could believe that it works is beyond me!

But maybe I should try it. Something that counter-intuitive must be true. No one could invent homeopathy anymore than someone could invent particle-wave duality or quantum tunneling. Nonsense like that has to be discovered! Genuine pseudo-science always sounds superficially plausible; only the truth can defy common sense.

8

Imagine if Jw ran schools ?

by Chook in

after learning the alphabet no other education required.

history would be distorted, science rejected.

i'm surprised that gb didn't realise there is big money in education, big tony could be the professor of bullshit..

Rainbow_Troll

Chook: Imagine if JWs ran schools. After learning the alphabet no other education required. History would be distorted, science rejected.

That's a very interesting conspiracy theory.

26

To kill or not to kill

by Chook in

how many jws would kill a violent rapist in there home or protect their family with lethal means .

the one thing i love about the usa is the right to defend oneself with lethal force in their own home.

it's not that i want to kill someone but better them dead than my children..

Rainbow_Troll

JWs are politically neutral, not pacifists. I can't see anyone who owns a gun hesitating for a second in a situation like that.

7

Who Is An Apostate?

by NeonMadman in

maybe you've heard the story of a brother in the watchtower's writing department who was very smart, hard working and a good writer.

we'll call him charley.

charley was so good, in fact, that he advanced through the ranks and became a co-editor of the watchtower magazine.

Rainbow_Troll

According to the Oxford English Dictionary an Apostate is "a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle." (Interestingly, the word is derived from the Greek apostatēs, which was a term used to designate a runaway slave.)

The fact is that any JW who wasn't born into a Jehovah's Witness family, and who practiced a different faith before their conversation, is now an apostate by definition! My mother was raised a Methodist, not a JW. Thus, the moment she decided to abandon her childhood faith and get baptized, she became an apostate. There are so many JWs with similar backgrounds and any JW who calls you an apostate should be reminded of this fact. In fact, an apostate who criticizes others for being apostates is also a hypocrite and we all know how Jesus felt about hypocrisy.

29

"Child abuse is abhorrent to us."

by Hecce in

birds of a feather flock together.

australian cardinal george pell: "they are false.

the whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me.".

Rainbow_Troll

Yes, his hypocrisy is disgusting. If it were me I would eagerly confess to my crimes against children, but without the slightest hint of remorse in my voice. I'd tell them, frankly, that there is nothing in the Bible that condemns pedophilia and, in fact, the church has been practicing it for nearly all 2000 years of its history. I would insist that, as a member of the clergy, I am immune to both civil and criminal prosecution per the concordat held between many nations and the church; furthermore, as a citizen of the Vatican, I cannot be extradited on these charges since the Vatican has no extradition treaty with Australia. I would then conclude by telling the Aussies to go fuck a wallaby.

9

What the craziest thing you have heard of someone hauled before a judicial committee for ?

by Chook in

anything that's true

Rainbow_Troll

Back when I was about 11 years old my best friend's big sister was tried and DFed for 'kidnapping' after she drove some JW kids to an amusement park without their parent's permission (I don't know where they thought their kids were going). She was so angry that she didn't even apologize or try to get reinstated. Her side of it was that she thought the parents knew and just wanted to do those kids a good turn. For many years I admired that woman, even though I barely knew her. Sadly, she has recently rejoined the flock. I guess it's nice that she and her sis can be buddies again, but I was hoping she would keep it up, since she was the only member of that family to ever leave. Did I mention that she was an elder's daughter?

Rainbow_Troll

Posts by Rainbow_Troll