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Scam Alert

Scam Alert

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This post has been amended – please read through. This press release was highly misleading and appears to have been submitted fraudulently.

ClickPress | SilentLambs Scam Alert for Jehovah’s Witnesses

[ClickPress, Mon Sep 05 2005] Hurricane Katrina Scam Warning:

There are already “news releases” directing Jehovah’s Witnesses to donate to a “worldwide work” general fund that has nothing to do with hurricane relief efforts.

This way the organization gets to make money while members think they are donating to help those in actual need. Instead surplus monies are kept to fund ‘other projects’ unrelated to the reason donations are being sent to begin with.

HOW TO HELP THOSE IN IMMEDIATE NEED:

Please remember to make sure your donation is being used to directly benefit victims of Katrina unless you wish to make an additional donation unrelated to the disaster.

SilentLamb.org has some resources, and you can eaily check out any charity on the web. It’s best to donate directly and to specify hurricane funds.

****Amendment Sept. 7th**** I wrote to Silent Lambs, and it appears that someone else distributed their words to ClickPress | SilentLambs Scam Alert for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Bill was not aware of the posting for distribution.

I did not distribute this. You can look on the website and see what we wrote at this link,

http://www.silentlambs.org/katrinaupdate.htm

There are those that add to what we say. I simply wrote to be careful funds you send for relief effort do exactly that and provided links to do so. I identified no “watchtower” scam.

So – the Silent Lambs scam warning was a general warning to be careful about donations. It somehow got picked up as a Watchtower-specific warning by this news site (maybe because SilentLambs is critical of the JWs policies on abuse) who also cited Bill as the contact.

Superficially, the item looked the same at both sites – the only things changed were the headline, which became Watchtower-specific, and the word “people” was replaced by “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” I didn’t catch it myself – I apologize for my carelessness, and have changed the title of this post to Scam Alert.

On the other hand, I stand by my response to one of the commenters. There was an official press release from the JW Office of Public Information dated Sept 1 that suggests to me that the emphasis of their own aid is for the benefit of fellow JWs. The Society is not a group that believes in worldly action to care for the needy.

For Immediate Release
September 1, 2005

Local Witnesses Organize to Help Victims of Hurricane Katrina

UNITED STATES—Representatives of Jehovah’s Witnesses were cooperating with local authorities yesterday afternoon to assess the needs of their fellow worshippers and others victimized by the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.

Initial reports indicate that Witnesses who sought refuge in the Superdome in New Orleans are now being evacuated to the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, some 350 miles away. Some Witnesses who are residents of New Orleans and surrounding areas were not in the city because they were attending a Witness convention in Beaumont, Texas, when the hurricane made landfall. By that Sunday afternoon, arrangements were made for all of them to be accommodated in the homes of their fellow worshippers in the Beaumont and Houston areas until they can return home.

Witnesses across the United States were moved to offer their services, donations, and/or materials to those needing assistance. A relief committee is being set up to coordinate these matters once a clearer picture of the extent of the damage is available.

Again, I am sorry for my misunderstanding – and I hope this is illuminating. Now – I’m off to notify the news site.

No jail for JW that sexually assaulted daughter

No jail for JW that sexually assaulted daughter

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The Globe and Mail: No jail for Jehovah’s Witness found guilty of abusing daughter

Ontario JW Gower Palmed pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault. Although the court found he abused his daughter on at least five occasions, Judge Kruzick thought he had already been punished by the civil suit – and after all, he’ll be on a sex-offender registry.

Now a married mother of three pre-teen daughters, Ms. Boer said she hoped her criminal and civil battles would force changes to how Witnesses deal with sexual abuse within their ranks. …

Ms. Boer, 34, was sexually assaulted by her father between ages 11 and 14.

Rather than notify authorities, she claimed in an earlier civil suit that elders told her not to seek outside help or report the abuse. She also said they forced her to confront her father to allow him to repent his sins as outlined in Matthew Chapter 18, Verses 15-18, a process she said was abusive and traumatic.

In 1998, Ms. Boer sued the Jehovah’s Witnesses through the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society for $700,000, saying the abuse and how it was handled by the sect almost drove her to suicide. In June of 2003, Madam Justice Anne Molloy ruled the Witnesses could not be held responsible for all her pain and suffering.

Judge Molloy found the church had not warned her against reporting the abuse, and that only one elder had wrongly applied sect policy by persuading her to confront her father. She did find the organization negligent in allowing untrained elders to hold the meeting and awarded Ms. Boer $5,000 in damages.

“They don’t follow the [written] policies,” said Ms. Boer, who abandoned the faith in the early 1990s.

Spokesman Mark Ruge disputed allegations that the Christian movement tries to deal with abuse away from the prying eyes of outside authorities.

“We abhor any sexual misconduct or abuse, especially when children are involved,” Mr. Ruge said from Georgetown, Ont. “We abide by the letter of the law as far as legal requirements are in reporting to the appropriate child-welfare services.”

How many of these cases will it take to get an action? JWs consider themselves part of a theocratic kingdom, and resist any intervension by “worldly authorities.” For an organziation that will kick someone out for smoking, they are strangely lenient about disciplining their men when they internalize and literalize what they’ve taught them about their authority.

When the Catholics came out with this sort of thing, there were charges, there were new policies. Somehow the JWs are able to send in lawyers who deflect that.

How many more cases will it take before they are held accountable for the so-called “secret” rules that everyone knows?

I applaud you Ms. Boer.

Ask a Former JW: JW Gramma Won’t Participate in Church Wedding

Ask a Former JW: JW Gramma Won’t Participate in Church Wedding

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I will be married soon. Upon telling my Grandmother (a 40+ year JW), I was informed that she can’t come if it’s held in a church. My grandmother told me I was being selfish for not holding the service someplace where everyone can attend. Any advice on how to make her understand that she is more than capable of walking into a church?? Do you know of any biblical references in HER bible that I can refer her to? (edited somewhat for reasons of privacy)

It’s your wedding. You do what you want to do, whatever is most meaningful to you and your future husband. You are not being selfish. It’s your day, not hers.

If she doesn’t feel that she can participate, witness, and help cement your matrimonial bond, then she just isn’t part of that community and network who will be there for you. That is her choice, not your choice. She doesn’t get to dictate what kind of wedding you and your future husband decide to have.

On the other hand, don’t take it personally – she would be disciplined if anyone found out she had come to your church wedding. It’s JW policy not to participate in any sacraments of any religion or to set foot inside any church or other religious building. Wedding vows, if held in a church, are off-limits, and so are baptisms and funerals.

It is unlikely that you will be able to convince her to act against the JW dictates on this, especially since they all had big assemblies this summer on the importance of submission and obedience to their local elders (as well as to the governing body in Brooklyn, who they believe are directly inspired and will rule with the Christ after Armageddon).

Entering the church is the problem – they firmly believe that all other religions are part of “Babylon the Great,” “the great Christendom,” that is to say, that they are ruled by demons.

Since the issue is really about location, an alternative would be to invite her just to the reception – sometimes Witnesses will do that (although she won’t throw rice – it has a “pagan” origin). Have a video camera recording and sending the image outside, or have someone hold a cellphone so she could hear. That’s all you can do if you are inclined to be accommodating.

As a practical matter, there is another option for how to handle the situation. If you just want to save yourself some aggravation, and the wedding in the church happens to be your fiance’s desire, then she will respect that. The man is the head of the household, even before you are married. Whether you particularly agree with the idea of the man as the God-appointed boss or not, it will put an end to the discussion and accusations of selfishness. I’m not suggesting that you fob it off on him (although with his agreement on the matter, a joint action on this might be helpful).

You ask for bible verses from their translation of the bible. It might be better to get her to try to explain to you from the bible why she can’t come to the wedding. Any such reading would have problems that you could probably point out to her.

I doubt that it will make any difference even if you had every verse memorized and delivered a flawless argument. Even if she can bring herself to hear you out, she would probably go to “check” with a brother or elder. Independent thinking is also against her religion – she will say this with a straight face and in all authenticity.

Nonetheless, these did occur to me.

Matthew 22:8 “The marriage feast indeed is ready, but those invited were not worthy.”

Ok, that’s not very nice. Part of the problem is that the early Christians didn’t have church weddings (or churches), but open wedding feasts. It would have to be a general principle.

Perhaps the strength of faith that allows you to eat food sacrificed to idols? No, it goes on to say that it might affect those with weaker faith to see you do it. Ok, now I’m just curious…

Jesus attended a marriage in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-11) with his mother – where he turned water into fine wine in response to her noticing that the wine had run short. He first rebuffed her, saying “What Have I to do with you, woman? (literally, “What to me and to you” meaning, according to their annotated bible, an idiom of repellent question indicating objection) My hour has not yet come.” But then his mother orders the ones “ministering” (that’s the word they use) to do “whatever he tells you.” He tells them to fill the jars with water. When they brought some to the “director” of the wedding to taste, he compliments the bridegroom on holding the best wine in reserve – the opposite of custom. Why did Jesus turn the water into wine, although he had no obligation and it wasn’t his time? Perhaps because it was an important occasion for his mother? He told her that it had nothing to do with him, but then… he did it. Why? Kindness? Love? Possibly.

The only other scriptural resource I can think of that might mean anything was the kind of faith represented by Paul. It presents a lot of their language but a counterexample to their obsession with keeping themselves “clean.” They are very concerned about the dangers of contaminating themselves with anything false, worldy, or of “non-believers” (all but JWs), and understand themselves as obedient slaves. You could read this and argue that she could be a greater slave to the good news of the kingdom by exhibiting the fruits of the spirit to non-JWs in the family: attending and showing her love, compassion, loving-kindness, and so on, showing them that she is not hostile to them and setting a good example on how the faithful behave in love. The idea will be foreign, but who knows?

1 Corinthians 9:19-23
“For, although I am free from all persons, I have made myself the slave of all, that I may gain the most persons. And so to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those under law I became as under law, though I myself am not under law, that I might gain those under law. To those without law I became as without law, although I am not without law toward Christ that I might gain those without law. To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to people of all sorts, that I might by all means save some. But I do all things for the sake of the good news, that I may become a sharer of it with [others].”*

*To see some translator differences I recommend a parallel bible, which lists each verse as it is translated in different versions of the bible. Here is an online one, and I’ll start you at the right verse. In this case, notice in particular the alternatives to the word “slave” as well as the different translations of the last phrase. I would guess that the sense of the last bit might really be closer to the idea of having a share, partaking in the good news, rather than sharing it with others. Nonetheless, their own translation puts the emphasis on being close to others on their own terms – an idea that they use in the door to door work, but not much for kinship ties.
http://bible.cc/1_corinthians/9-19.htm

JW Chronicles: Your dumb and sick

JW Chronicles: Your dumb and sick

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A sample of one of my fan letters…

Your dumb and sick you don’t know anything about Jehovahs Witnesses there very nice, loving people, and people like you who read and hear what other people who hate jehovahs witnesses say and you hate them! Jehovahs witnesses go door to door to just try to get there religion around to people. If they didn’t do that they wouldn’t have a religion! Jesus went town to town door to door preaching gods good word! Other religions don’t get up and take time out of there day when they could be doing something else, to speece to people about god. And if you would open your eye and see then you could read and see that Jehovah is Gods name its in the bible. Today and in the past the bible has been changed and messed with! The bible could have been foul of gods name but its not its been replaced by “god and lord”. And if you were to read the bible more you would read that Jesus is Jehovahs son! And for your information you would read in the bible the scripture that Jehovahs Witnesses get there name from it says this that gods people are his witnesses! -Wes

Whew, Wes – perhaps you might indicate exactly what set you off? Um, I used to be one, so I am aware of the things you say. I am neither dumb nor sick, and I do not hate Jehovah’s Witnesses – I simply think that the governing body, which members worship more than they do their God, actively manipulates and controls the membership in a destructive way that shows no real evidence of spiritual wisdom or inspiration.

The name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” was a remake since 3/4 of the previous group – International Bible Students – quit once their prophecies were proven false. Perhaps you need to do a little research on the history of your own religion.

Jehovah is not God’s name. YHWH is God’s name, and the proper pronunciation, known only to Levite priests and only to be spoken in the holiest of holies in the temple, has been lost. If we did know the way to say it, then it wouldn’t be proper to do so.

I have no problem with rank and file JWs or their work door to door – if they want to be good sheep (slaves) to a publishing empire in Brooklyn, that is certainly their choice. But to tell people to submit to elders – people with neither training nor education nor wisdom, people who read talks verbatim that are written by people who won’t even take responsibility – people who have no calling at all and who control the lives and divide families without a shred of christian compassion or forgiveness – well, I just don’t believe that is very christian.

One shallow note: I have noticed that there has been a steady decline in the communication abilities of JWs during my lifetime – especially for an organization that used to put a lot of emphasis on literacy and study (even if only the study of their own secondary publications/proclamations).

Transcending JW Abuse

Transcending JW Abuse

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It’s such a familiar narrative now, and it’s almost comforting to me to see more and more people testifying to it – to know that what I observed and experienced is pretty much the same from congregation to congregation, and not just a matter of my own family or community in the Jehovah’s Witnesses: the fantasies of a paradise earth devoid of all but other Jehovah’s Witnesses, the fatalism toward the coming apocalypse and the lack of engagement in the world, an almost total lack of compassion, paranoia and fear of others, spankings and beatings “out back” at the Hall, the abusive and sometimes predatory nature of many of the elders, the way small slights divide families while larger issues are ignored, the hypocrisy, the mind-numbing repetition in the many meetings – the smallness of it all.

Joy Castro is now a literature professor – it is very heartening to find that so many of us, who were not irretrievably damaged but instead went on to thrive, were able to save our sanity and navigate a different path if we had something else – like intellectual curiosity, a higher sense of ethics, compassion for others – some private treasure to hold onto like a mantra while redefinining faith and value for ourselves.

Bits from the article “Turn of Faith” by Joy Castro
August 14, 2005, New York Times Magazine

Three times a week in the Kingdom Hall in Miami, my brother and I strove to sit perfectly still in our chairs. Our mother carried a wooden spoon in her purse and was quick to take us outside for beatings if we fidgeted.

…
My loneliness was nourished by rich, beautiful fantasies of eternal life in a paradise of peace, justice, racial harmony and environmental purity, a recompense for the rigor and social isolation of our lives.

This bliss wasn’t a future we had to work for. Witnesses wouldn’t vote, didn’t involve themselves in worldly matters, weren’t activists. Jehovah would do it all for us, destroying everyone who wasn’t a Witness and restoring the earth to harmony. All we had to do was obey and wait.

Shortly after our return to the States, my father was disfellowshipped for being an unrepentant smoker — smoking violated God’s temple, the body, much like fornication and drunkenness. Three years later, my parents’ marriage dissolved. My mother’s second husband had served at Bethel, the Watchtower’s headquarters in Brooklyn. Our doctrines, based on Paul’s letters in the New Testament, gave him complete control as the new head of the household; my mother’s role was to submit. My stepfather happened to be the kind of person who took advantage of this authority, physically abusing us and forcing us to shun our father completely.

After two years, I ran away to live with my father. My brother joined me a tumultuous six months later. We continued to attend the Kingdom Hall and preach door to door; the Witnesses had been our only community. Leaving was a gradual process that took months of questioning. I respected all faiths deeply, but at 15 I decided that I could no longer be part of a religion that condoned inequality.

…
I love my mother, but I also love my ”worldly” life, the multitude of ideas I was once forbidden to entertain, the rich friendships and the joyous love of my family. By choosing to live in the world she scorned — to teach in a college, to spare the rod entirely, to believe in the goodness of all kinds of people — I have, in her eyes, turned my back not only on Jehovah but also on her.

Joy Castro is the author of a memoir, “The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah’s Witnesses,” to be published next month by Arcade and from which this essay is adapted. She lives in Crawfordsville, Ind.

Here’s a bit from “Farm Use” in Without a Net, in which she writes about mealtimes:

“Food becomes a measured thing. Each mealtime, my stepfather dishes himself up from the pots. Then my mother may help herself to half of what he has taken. Then, while he watches, she can spoon half of what she’s taken onto my plate. A portion half the size of mine goes to my brother. If my stepfather wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, my brother gets one-eighth. If she gives us more than my stepfather calculates is correct, he beats us with his belt.”

What is it with the belt, anyway? I remember my mother asking my father to hit us with his hand, so that he could feel how hard he was hitting us – but he preferred the belt, followed by a biblical lecture which might well have been a reading from some back issue of the Watchtower magazine. Of course we had all the bound volumes. I remember being beaten one time for standing near to the stereo and looking to him as though I might be thinking about touching it. He wanted his children to be perfect in Jehovah’s eyes – spare the rod, spoil the child. Myself, I always wondered what exactly a “rod” was… I mean, in that context (ha). It always sounded like it might have been a bad translation – anyone know?

Thanks goes to H.K. for alerting me to this.

Another Lovely JW “Elder”

Another Lovely JW “Elder”

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Have You Seen My Mother

It was the mid 60’s when Bryan, at age two, was abducted by his father. Bryan was, stealthily, spirited away and taken from Town to Town by his father, keeping their whereabouts unknown. His mother, at nineteen and heartbroken, felt powerless.

Raised a Jehovah’s Witness by his father, who was an Elder for decades, Bryan was taught at a very young age that his mother was demonized and that she had been physically abusive to him as a baby. As the years went on and Bryan grew older, several times he asked his father for information to contact his mother; his father always shrugged his shoulders. Then at age eighteen, Bryan inquires once again of his mother, only to be told, by his father, that she had overdosed on drugs and died in a mental institution.

After thirty-years, Bryan, faithful to his natural urges, finally discovered his mother. Though it was not the reunion he had hoped for.

Once finding his mother, Bryan embarked on a difficult, heartwrenching journey of discovery; research at libraries and courthouses across the country as well as speaking to family members he had not seen in forty years, has brought to the surface, the ugly truth of the deception wielded by his father, for so many years, in the name of God. Bryan offers his, and his mother’s, bittersweet story in his new book, Have You Seen My Mother”.

—

“This is the Doomsday Cult which influenced my mother’s family, as well as my father’s. Angie Leslie (Poindexter) Turner, my mother’s grandmother, was a Jehovah’s Witness and informed my father where he could find me and my mother, leading to my final abduction. She did this because my mother was excommunicated from the organization and therefore considered dead in the eyes of God.”

The book will be available in November.