Why are there so many loonies in the organization?

by Elsewhere 34 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Bendrr

  Some bring their "loony-ness" with them when they join, others learn it. I've watched my mom change over the years. She's not a loony but over the years she's got some pretty strange ideas. Most came from a know-it-all neighbor we had when I was growing up. As a kid, junk food was almost non-existent. Maybe once every couple of months I could have a Coke. Sugar was a big no-no because "eating too much sugar gives you sugar diabetes". Yep. That's the term. "Sugar diabetes". And mom learned that eating too much sugar caused it. Want to know why I don't have a microwave? Because mom didn't want one when I was growing up. The radiation could kill you or at least make you very sick. At least she never linked microwaves with sugar diabetes, but it wouldn't have suprised me if she had.

  Think about it. It's a closed society. Almost all learning beyond the most basic education and job skills is discouraged. The gaps in knowledge therefore are all too often filled with passed-on misinformation. Add the belief that an army of evil spirits is always watching and waiting for the chance to "get them" and I'm personally suprised there haven't been stonings and burnings in their ranks.

  For instance. I remember one brother in our congregation whose wife got cancer. He wanted her to beat that cancer, not merely be treated by the local hillbilly doctors. He researched her cancer (sorry, can't remember specifics) and ended up taking her out of the country for some kind of experimental treatment. He came back to face judicial action because of it.

  Thankfully the internet is changing all that. The Empire can demonize it all they want, but it's here to stay and it's not going to stay out of Witness homes. It isn't staying out of Witness homes. They don't even need a $1000 computer to access the net. All they need is a $100, even cheaper if bought used, box that connects to their TV and what Witness home doesn't have a TV? They can villify it all they want but more and more Witnesses will accept the information superhighway into their homes and lives.

  What I'm trying to say is that there's gonna be less and less loonies in the Empire. Just give 'em time.

  Mike.
• 

  sf

  pots and pans started flying around the house because they bought something from a garage sale.

  ROFLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

  sKally
• 

  Pork Chop

  I haven't seen most of this stuff for decades. I think a lot of that kind of attitude has worn off.
• 

  NeonMadman

  I think it is partly because it is acceptable to BE looney in the org.

  Good point. In how many other groups could you get a sympathetic ear, even respect, by claiming that you hear voices when no one is around, or that your bed shakes in the middle of the night, or that smurfs came down off the wallpaper and bit your kid? In most communities, people would start avoiding you when you said that stuff, and they'd probably be strongly urging you to seek professional help. But the JW organization encourages this sort of claim - it's a sign of your spirituality and close relationship with Jehovah that Satan felt the need to attack you like that.
• 

  Rush

  gumby,

  i read dr.jerry bergman's article on mental health at http://www.premier1.net/~raines/mental.html. his literature reviews were fair enough but i did think the article was a little bit vicious. he used this reference that i found on 'pubmed'. i haven't read the full text but i'm sure you could find it with the reference. it's from the british journal of psychiatry.

  : Br J Psychiatry. 1975 Jun;126:556-9.

  Related Articles, Links

  
  The mental health of Jehovah's Witnesses.
  
  Spencer J.
  
  The function of religion in human society is complex. The part played by religion in psychiatric disorders is even more obscure. Previous literature and theories are divided into two groups: one school believes that intense religiosity is a symptom-complex indicative of psychiatric disorder, while the opposing view is that religious belief in some way acts as a defence mechanism protecting the individual and his psyche. The present study of 50 Jehovah's Witnesses admitted to the Mental Health Service facilities of Western Australia suggests that members of this section of the community are more likely to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital than the general population. Furthermore, followers of the sect are three times more likely to be diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and nearly four times more likely from paranoid schizophrenia than the rest of the population at risk. These findings suggest that being a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses faith may be a risk factor predisposing to a schizophrenic illness. Further studies would be interesting in investigating whether pre-psychotic people are more likely to join the sect than normal people and what part (if any) membership has in bringing about such a breakdown.
  
  PMID: 1174772 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

  all his other references are listed in dr. bergman's paper.

  Rush.
• 

  Latin assassin from Manhattan

  Elsewhere,

  Your comment about the Smurfs cracked me up! I've known many JWs who refused to buy Surfs for their kids because of rumors about the dolls 'coming to life'. Not to mention they had an issue with the name Gargamel. Supposedly, it's the name of a Babylonian god or something. I also remember how many said that TVs have been possessed while watching the Smurfs on Saturday mornings. Good way to scare your kids out into field service!
• 

  NeonMadman

  Not to mention they had an issue with the name Gargamel. Supposedly, it's the name of a Babylonian god or something.

  Not that I'm right up there on my Babylonian gods, mind you, but it sounds like they might be talking about Gilgamesh, as in The Epic of Gilgamesh? Not exactly a dead ringer as names go...
• 

  Swan

  I know one family who wouldn't lick stamps and would get after you if you even licked and envelope. You had to wet them with a sponge.

  Another family wouldn't play Clue because it was about murder. It was only okay if you pretended that it was to figure out who broke the Ming vase.

  (Colonel Mustard did in the Library with the Rope) Pretty lame to break a Ming vase with a rope, isn't it?

  Tammy
• 

  LeslieV

  Personally the main reason that there is a high incidence of mental health issues in the borg is due to the fact that they never are allowed to deal with trauma.

  If someone dies that they love they are told "not to grieve as those that do not have faith" If someone dies because they did not take blood they are told "just think they died faithful they are assured of a resurrection." Trauma after trauma after trauma without understanding what it does to oneself mentally, leads to this crazy behavior that you see. It will come out either in bizzare behavior, suicidal thoughs, feelings of unworthness, immorality, alcohol or drug abuse. Mentally it is how our brain protects itself. JMO

  Leslie
• 

  teenyuck

  Bendrr, reminds me of my mother. No sugar. Same reason. Sugar Diabetes. Oiy!

  Today she called to tell me that her previously totally grey hair had turned brown again! From taking Vitamin B Complex, and a whole bunch of other crap she got out of health guru Adell Davis' book. This stuff goes back 25 years, so it is not rocket science.

  I told her to see the doc....maybe it is not the vitamins. No, she is convinced it is the vitamins. So I asked why not put it into a potion and sell it? She could make a fortune selling "natural hair coloring" to health fanatics.

  She is thinking about it. She is trying to figure out how to crush the vitamins, put them in a bottle, and get people to swallow it...all without letting on it is B Complex and some other stuff, that is over the counter.

  She also told me she goes to 2 book studies....1 on Monday night (the Polish cong) and 1 on Thursday night (the English version). I asked why go to both? "The pollacks are so much fun....we laugh and eat all night afterward...they make such great food". I could only mumble a "Hmmmm" in response. What could I say? She is nuts.