WHEN I was a JW I was dogmatic and had all the answers re what I absolutely knew was true now I find the more I've learnt the less I know Confused by what i just said check out the thoughts expressed in a song I can fully relate to called Both sides now in keeping with the theme Who defines crazy? and how can I know if they are crazy or not?
You know it's the Truth, because it attracts crazy people.
by schnell 31 Replies latest jw friends
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dubstepped
One day we were at a meeting and I told my wife to look around us. I asked her, out of all of the people on this earth, do you think THESE are the ones that have it right? The people that we knew in the organization from our birth congregations to where we ended up later in life were NOT known for making wise life decisions. I looked at the disaster of a family that introduced my family to "The Truth", I looked at all of Jehovah's "happy" depressed people around me at the meeting, the people that believed that garlic enemas kept you healthy and that something made from a 9V batter and some wire at Radio Shack cured cancer. I watched people that somehow always had every rare side effect to every medication that they ever took, and people that made poor financial decision after poor financial decision.
I also watched my own life thrive the farther I got from "The Truth". I watched my crippling social anxiety and suicidal depression nearly vanish. I watched my bank account grow. I watched my wife's face as she started to smile and seem more alive than ever. I watched as people that I thought loved me all turned their back just as my life was starting to get good, and I watched people that I was told to be scared of embrace me and celebrate my new happy life.
Jehovah's Witnesses are crazy. The second definition of crazy is "extremely enthusiastic". Jehovah's Witnesses are crazy about Jehovah's Witnesses. They have lost touch with reality. They believe in another world altogether and have buried the authentic person within under the "new personality". As a result, they suffer from mental and physical illnesses. It is sad. However, if a person is actively in the organization, just look around you and ask yourself, are these people known for good decision making and accurate observations? It just may save your life.
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Rainbow_Troll
On that note, check this out:
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/mental-issues.php
To sum it up, studies show that JWs are 2 to 17 times more likely (depending on the study) to suffer from mental illnesses than the general population.
My own mom, though she hasn't be diagnosed as such, is almost certainly suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and I think the WT is primarily to blame.
Of course it could be argued that people predisposed to mental illness are attracted to the WT's teachings, but it is equally probable that those same teachings exacerbate mental illness. When the GB tells suggestible people, who accept their word as gospel, that they are surrounded by invisible demons who want persecute them and that, in fact, the entire world is controlled by Satan, this is bound to result in some JWs going insane.
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Finkelstein
....but then again crazy people are kind of attracted to end of world apocalyptic religious cults.
Mix a portion of weak education with some psychological instability, leveraged with the basic belief in the writings of the bible and wallah you have the potential of a devoted member.
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fukitol
The Society basically admits it attracts nutters since it puts the recent large increases in partakers down to mentally and emotionally unbalanced persons taking the emblems.
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Finkelstein
And that's even more funny when its realized most of the GB men are partakers.
We know we attract nutters, look at us and what we do.
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scratchme1010
@James Mixon:
People that believe in a talking snake, are they crazy?????There are millions of believers that believe it.....A friend of mine Aunt worked in a mental institution, she was attack several times by patients and the last time a lady killed her. A big difference in people that have a mental disorder and folks who have been told a big fat fib.
I think most of us agree with that. However, I'm not sure that it gives us the entire picture. Millions of people used to believe that using leeches in medicine were an excellent idea. Millions of Americans in the 1800's were sold on the idea that wearing butt plugs will prevent diabetes and other health conditions (interesting historical fact that I imagine why no one talks about today). I think that you know where I'm going with this. Millions of fools believing something doesn't make that "something" true.
And yes, there are people who are completely in their right mind with no issues at all, who voluntarily choose to accept and believe the entire Jehovah crap that the WT teaches. Those are not the people we're referring to. Those, in my observation and in my (and based on some of the posts in the thread, others') experience were the minority in their and my congregation.
The vast majority of people who join cults don't do so to learn something, but because they are looking to feel something. And BTW, what they are looking for doesn't necessarily has to relieve them from something negative; it's not always coming from a bad place. When you look at it form that point of view, then you can see how attractive the WT can be to people with issues, ranging from simple, to mild, to severe. Hence, our experiences and comments.
@dubstepped:
The people that we knew in the organization from our birth congregations to where we ended up later in life were NOT known for making wise life decisions. I looked at the disaster of a family that introduced my family to "The Truth", I looked at all of Jehovah's "happy" depressed people around me at the meeting, the people that believed that garlic enemas kept you healthy and that something made from a 9V batter and some wire at Radio Shack cured cancer. I watched people that somehow always had every rare side effect to every medication that they ever took, and people that made poor financial decision after poor financial decision.
Those were exactly my thoughts when I started recovering from my WT-induced depression. I looked at some of the fools in the congregation, and to some of the intelligent ones who were dealing with issues rather than logic and actual knowledge, and the nut cases who were just downright creepy, and started telling myself "This doesn't match such spiritual paradise I've been told all my life about; I'm not sure I want to spend eternal life with these people".
One more thing, dubstepped. Please, please tell me you didn't try the garlic enema thing!
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Vidiot
"You know it's the Truth, because it attracts crazy people!"
Funny how back in the day, they tended to hold up their calm, rational manner as evidence they had "The Truth" (as opposed to the overly emotional behavior of "charismatic" churches).
Now, though? Not so much.
"Everything is proof we're right! Even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"
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Vidiot
LongHairGal - "...I blame the fools who study with them..."
I always felt awkward when a pioneer I knew had RV regulars with obvious mental health problems... it felt just a tad too exploitative.
LongHairGal - "...not all making divine claims are mentally ill...
...but it helps. :smirk:
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dubstepped
Scratchme10101: Those were exactly my thoughts when I started recovering from my WT-induced depression. I looked at some of the fools in the congregation, and to some of the intelligent ones who were dealing with issues rather than logic and actual knowledge, and the nut cases who were just downright creepy, and started telling myself "This doesn't match such spiritual paradise I've been told all my life about; I'm not sure I want to spend eternal life with these people".
That last statement about spending eternity with them was one that struck me too. I'll pass.
One more thing, dubstepped. Please, please tell me you didn't try the garlic enema thing!
Ha-ha, nope, never tried it. My mom told me the story of the Radio Shack 9V battery. She was playing cards with sisters, some elderly, and one elderly sister was telling everyone how she was curing her colon cancer by shocking herself with the 9V battery. She could tell it was working because her stool was black. That's the cancer leaving the body, she said. Who could possibly argue with such sad, deluded logic?
