Posted by Kristin [Kristin] on April 04, 1999 at 17:36:43 {th2VaRoznYgIYA54YD7Qoe7EI.M9QY}:
In Reply to: ***A Pardon From The King? posted by Doug on April 03, 1999 at 23:57:30:
G'day Doug! Telling you this is putting me at risk, as it's a small community where I live, but my teenage son killed himself as a result of the elder body disfellowshiping him. I abhor the disfellowshipping policy and believe they (the GB) have twisted the scriptures all around to support their doctrine. Disfellowshipping is the easy way. No social responsibility is required. The elders are trained by the present sociopaths serving as GB simply sweep the "problems" under the carpet until the problems they compounded beg to come out or die.
You said, "I also believe that meaningful reform in the WTS is, if not a fantasy, a tough, long hill to climb."
Thank you for acknowledging this! I wouldn't have become part of the reform efforts if I didn't believe our faith and years of hard work wouldn't reap miracles.
You also said, "If they would simply stop their shunning as is now practiced and go back to the Bible principals on the matter, I will go away. Forever. Promise."
I agree! I also have discussed the banning of Covert with Rick and The Australian. I would have opposed it from the start because it destroyed the life of my son. Banishing someone from the community in any form should only be reserved for the most severe violators. Posters of porn, committers of illegal acts, and the like. Although there is some disagreement whether young ones as Covert will lose respect if allowed to attack others character, I chalk this off to impetuous youth. Contrary the my dear friend The Australian's belief, youth in these harsh times really require come TLC (tender loving care) and occasional kid glove treatment (especially when their souls and hearts are already bruised enough as it is).
I have removed Covert's 3 email addresses from the ban, and appended his 3 login IDs and encrypted passwords to the htpasswd file. All is restored to as it existed Friday. To the Australian: don't discount the impossible; I did just travel back in time to wrong a right. Speaking of "wishes," I wish that Covert would have the good full life my son missed.
I close in telling you about a realisation I must have subconsciously arrived at this morning. What is astonishing is I shared this with Rick in email and he had a very similar dream the other night. I dreamt that it was the year 2999, a thousand years into our future, and I was looking through the eyes of someone. I picked up the Watchtower Society's Watchtower Magazine off a coffee table. The caption of the main article was backed with a photo of beautiful mountains, fields and running streams. It read "2914 to Present: IS THE NEW WORLD CLOSE?"
I got this astonishing jolt we are milleniums away from the end of this system. I felt a suffocating feeling as I awoke in our room. And wondered, Is this the feeling Christians a millenium ago felt when they became aware the end was far into the future? A feeling of sudden mortality. A feeling one is no more special than the billions who have died throughout history. A realisation that one will with certainty grow old and die, pay the penalty of sin with death, and die with nothing more than pure faith we shall then receive the promised reward of life with God?
Kristin