Posts by done4good

Lying naked on the operating table during the angioplasty, I was watching a big 100" screen on the wall with my heart monitor on it. The heart surgeon performing the procedure said, "Oh shit..." then I watched the monitor stop. Fortunately, I lived to survive it.

I had no moment when I rethought belief in a sky daddy. I had to accept it might be over. We learn to accept death when we have no choice.

"No atheists in foxholes" is a myth...Just another of the many myths propagated by those not grounded in fact and reason.

d4g

23

Can halluciengins reveal what has been hidden from us and bring more answers?

by Bad_Wolf in

halluciengins, and several recent studies pointed out how we us only certain sections of our brain depending what is happening.

but some of them, like acid, make your entire brain turn on.

heightened senses.

done4good

Psychedelics, (hallucinogens), and all psychoactives, (even THC), tend to clear filters in the neuropathways that allow subconscious thoughts to be processed consciously. This sometimes leads to the "bad trip" (or paranoia in the case of the milder psychoactives). On the other hand, if a person is acclimated to the effects, (much easier to do with LSD or psylocibin than THC, provided the drug itself is not "bad"), the effects are generally a deeper understanding and perception on many matters.

LSD and psylocibin have been used from about 1950-1970 for treating addictions, OCD, etc, and have proven very effective. The Nixonian Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 made such substances schedule 1, (the most "dangerous", according to this draconian law) illegal, and treatments using them all but ceased, until recently. That law was mostly an anti-liberal attack on those opposing the Vietnam war. It made it easy to imprison those opposed to the US government's actions. Don't get me started...

To answer Smiddy's question with all due respect, Steve Jobs, (and likely a good number of Silicon Valley), have used such substances to their creative merit. They are good way to bridge left/right brain thinking actually.

I will neither confirm or deny any personal use, of course...;-)

67

Recent mistakes of the Governing Body contributing to the decline of JWs

by slimboyfat in

they have made so many strategical mistakes it's hard to keep track.

some changes within the last decade or so that are contributing to declining numbers of jws:.

1. elimination of book study groups, the most informal, enjoyable and sociable of the jw meetings, contributed to loss of sense of community among jws.. 2. policy of consolidating kingdom halls.

done4good

Due to the effects of Moore's Law and broader social evolutionary factors, all religion is in decline.

Ideology by its very nature is not based on fact and reason. When an ideology is challenged by facts that demonstrate its dogma to be false, ideologues typically dig their heels in deeper. GB are ideologues. They are responding to the onslaught of information that exposes their ideology as false with tighter controls, emotional manipulation, and a dumbing down of information presented. All of these things work against them, and actually exacerbate the problem in the long-run.

JW are not alone in this respect. We see the same thing happening to all ideological groups that doggedly refuse to accept facts and the effects of social evolution. The Republican party, all other authoritarian religious systems, etc., all are experiencing the same pressure to conform to accepted facts and social change, and all of them are trying their best to not cooperate. The response is one of ignorant refusal. The good news is, facts catch up sooner or later, and will force change whether these groups accept it or not. They can either evolve or die out. The same will be true of the WT.

For those of you that think the WT will be around forever, keep in mind that social evolution follows a pattern very similar to biological evolution, just with a much shorter timescale. Small incremental changes in society eventually result in a larger paradigm shifts, (think of the state of the GOP before it indirectly produced a Donald Trump). The societal changes affecting WT, along with their own stubborn refusal to accept facts, will eventually produce a situation they cannot control, and that will force their demise, or at least force them to take on a likeness that no one would recognize as JW.

d4g

41

One Thing I Don't Get About Brexit

by JW_Rogue in

how did such a weighty decision get put directly in the hands on the average citizen?

and with only a simple majority required?

in the usa the biggest thing that people vote on directly is city building projects or infrastructure.

done4good

bohm - Boris Johnson still appears to be selling the idea that the UK can get a much better (in his view) agreement with the EU than Norway, meanwhile I have not seen a single person outside the leave-campaign who even suggests such a thing.

Image result for donald trump

Similar in more ways than one, so it seems...

d4g

41

One Thing I Don't Get About Brexit

by JW_Rogue in

how did such a weighty decision get put directly in the hands on the average citizen?

and with only a simple majority required?

in the usa the biggest thing that people vote on directly is city building projects or infrastructure.

done4good

The fact that the Brits are Googling what the EU is, after the fact, is all you need to know.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/06/24/the-british-are-frantically-googling-what-the-eu-is-hours-after-voting-to-leave-it/

Emotional decisions almost always end badly.

d4g

96

New Shunning Video - RC 2016

by wifibandit in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g20rww_-7ua.

done4good

When I left 10+ years ago I would have used the following adjectives and descriptive phrases to describe the WT:

- Delusional

- Out of touch

- Idealist

- Naive

- A few others that fit this pattern

Today, I would use the following to describe them:

- Sick

- Manipulative

- Hateful

- Heartless

- Evil

Somehow, I knew better than to watch this video, however since I could intuitively see it was affecting some posters that are typically quite sanguine to become much less so, I thought it might be important to see how far off the mark the WTS might be with this one. I figured at ~3 minutes or so I could get through it.

I was terribly mistaken. At ~1:30 I threw my headset off and closed the browser session in disgust.

Truly the sickest single piece of propaganda I have seen the WTS, (or any religious organization for that matter), ever produce.

d4g

52

What does the rise of Donald Trump tell us about the USA?

by fulltimestudent in

i thank one of my former lecturers for drawing my attention to this overview.. after some 100 years, living out its "manifest destiny" dream, as the hegemon of the world, what has this 'dream' done to/for the usa?

the approaching presidential election provides an opportunity to examine this question.. and what of all the appendage organisations (like the wts) that rode across the world on the hegemon's coattails?.

the answer may be here: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism.

done4good

Excellent article from what I had a chance to read. I will read in its entirety after work.Yes, authoritarian type personalities do tend to lean right, and will lean hard right when they perceive a threat. This is almost entirely related to personality types in the scientific sense of their definition. To spell it out, guardian types on the extreme level, generally translate into authoritarians when placed under perceived threats. These are generally extreme xSxJ types, according to MBTI, (not all xSxJ types).

Yes, Trump is a symptom of a much bigger problem that has been iteratively growing in the GOP since Nixon, (or more correctly, Goldwater). Read Nixon, (strong anti-communist); Reagan, (stronger anti-communist still and brought the religious right into his politics); Newt Gingrich, (converted an entire legislative arm into religious right authoritarians); George W. Bush, (tried to go to war with anything and everything he perceived as a threat); the Tea Party, (all government is out to get you); and finally Trump, (everything about established systems threatens our existence).

I do disagree with the thesis thus far though that this is going to be a perpetual problem. I only disagree on the basis that this problem has evolved as a product of a positive feedback loop that has already destabilized the GOP. The GOP is done, (at least in anything resembling its current form). The positive feedback loop already destabilized it, and now it is time to hit the reset button. This won't continue very long. Social evolution will kill this meme off.

d4g

29

Is this a site controlled by atheists?

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

under the exterior of being an ex- witness site, is this site simply converting atheism?.

i pose the question, because many come here in distress and insecurity with the realization that the w.t is wrong but still retain a belief in god.

my personal opinion is the threads on god are not challenged by an atheists personal animosity to believers, they are challenged and become confrontational because the atheist wants an elaboration and factual proof to a believers faith.. is this unreasonable?

done4good

From one perspective, I can see where you are coming from. Many posters do seem to "pitch" atheism, (even if only by inference), to newbies from the start. I would agree that is not necessarily productive. Although I myself came to an atheistic conclusion several years ago, I certainly did not get there overnight, immediately after leaving the WT. It took research, some practical experience, and a long meditative process to become comfortable with that conclusion.

There used to be a really good ex-JW information site called "Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses" that was ran by late Timothy Campbell. Although an atheist himself, he recommended developing a temporary philosophy of sorts upon exit from the WT, one where a person allows themselves to take in information and not commit to a "belief" system, (yes, I know many atheists will argue atheism is not belief; I am not debating that here, so don't). I found this to be an effective method of development post-JW. There are no shortcuts after leaving years of ambient abuse from a system such as the WT.

As far as this site is concerned, I think what you are seeing is a microcosm of some of the changes in society in general. I remember 10 years ago, we had a lot of born-again types here, I think mostly influenced by Randy Watters' Freeminds site. Although Freeminds proved to be a treasure trove of good information I eventually used to draw a conclusion against bible belief, it clearly had a Protestant born-again bent, reflecting the beliefs of its owner. Today, most people are better informed, and once turned off from one religion usually know better than to jump into another one. There are much better sources of information today available than the Freeminds site. I think this leads many to an atheistic conclusion much faster than even in relatively recent years past.

d4g

46

Dan Sydlik

by done4good in

jw
friends

morning warship - he was the only restraint and i'm not saying that lightly.

i know there are a dozen others here who were in bethel back in the early 2000's who know what i'm talking about.

he actually kept me thinking this was jehovah's org because of his sincerity as if the holy spirit was operating in him.

done4good

Thank you all, (especially those with direct anecdotal experience), for your replies. Many of the anecdotes confirm similar situations my friend spoke of, and my brief encounter with Sydlik at lunch in Little Italy 25 years ago. I think the common thread that can be seen is that he, (along with a few others such as Swingle, perhaps), were decent people themselves, that unfortunately allowed their company man status, (really the only status they could possibly have at that level), to bring out the worst of their humanity when certain situations allowed for that, (e.g. Sanchez, Dunlap, etc.). On the other hand, it seemed Sydlik was a moderating force in a system still very much operating under the Knorr template. Life committed to a cult is a bitch, especially for its leaders in some respects, I suppose.

I would disagree with those that claim he was some closet apostate, however. He was from a different time, when the newly created GB perhaps thought it could affect change away from the Knorr/Franz model. Of course, that was both naive and impossible, since the system itself is authoritarian in nature, and as a result, inherently very flawed. The current GB, not surprisingly, clearly has no one left of the 1970s mindset. The immediate goals of the GB's existence today are quite different from what they were then.

It is a given that any one individual or group of individuals that somehow actually believe they solely represent god has the potential to do some very serious harm to those that actually believe in them. In other words, while the system itself is evil to the core, well meaning individuals will end up doing some very harmful things both directly and ambiently, to those that followed their delusional course. Perhaps the worst of that abuse is brought about by sincerity itself, since this quality has the unfortunate insidious effect of convincing others of one's "correctness" of their course of action. I think this gets to the core of why many, (my JW friend included), continue to believe and follow these sincere ones' course to their own demise. It is probably a good thing the current GB are as megalomaniacal as they are. This in of itself is waking people up.

d4g