Posts by mindmelda

21

For JWs Who Now 'Smell The Coffee:' A Survival Mechanism

by Room 215 in

jw
friends

for those of us lucky enough to have shed our rose-colored glasses, but still want to maintain relationwhipes with family and friends still entangled in the borg's web, a pragmatic approach, akin to, but less radical than "fading": just slip out to the periphery, treat the kh as one would a church, i. e. show up once in a while, make the occasional comment (ideally without compromising your real convictions and, better yet, worded as to provoke a bit of thought without raising eyebrows); being politely but non-commital, and, after a few "so longs," go home after the closing prayer.

.

mindmelda

I did that for years and never really felt "out" until I quit going entirely. But, it's a step in the right direction. The less contact with the poo poo, the less it's in your head.

But I remember at the end sitting there and mentally arguing against nearly everything the speaker or the Watchtower was saying. The whole meeting became a mental debate for me, with me sitting there wishing I could jump up and say out loud everything I was saying in my head.

It did help me realize that the elders are not geniuses nor are they even very good scholars, not most of them...not at all. It was no great tribute to me that I could constantly find holes in their reasoning or "facts" once I removed the taboo from my mind that we must never go against the Society, i.e. anything in the Watchtower or what was said by the elders.

Gee, just saying that "Never go against the Society" which is an actual catchphrase our presiding overseer used over and over again, sounds like something directly out of an Orwellian dystopia, doesn't it?

18

Please Name Your Favorite Food And Drink

by Scott77 in

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mindmelda

Hm...A really good steak with fresh ground back pepper, a baked potato, asparagus and bourbon and coke.

39

How Many Here Take Prescription Meds?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i only take 1 daily pill, allopurinol, for gout.

i have a number of friends that take a half dozen pills a day!.

mindmelda

I take Wellbutrin for chronic anxiety/depression (other antidepressants I've taken actually make this worse), meloxicam for osteoarthritis (if I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have fallen off a few less horses and motorcycles in my youth!) and I use Symbicort, an inhaled steroid medicine for asthma, which I've always had.

I also take Zyrtec for allergies (which is over the counter now), with which I am plagued and have been since birth! I also receive a prednisone injection every 3 months for allergies.

10

Are you really drawn to a God who wants to kill you?

by hamsterbait in

the question a jw will ask at the doors is often.

"have you ever wondered why the world is in such turmoil?".

of course their "answer" is that a snake told a naked lady to eat some fruit 6 000 years ago, and as a result god views us all as unworthy of life.

mindmelda

I was under the impression that it's life itself that results in death.

But no, Gods who do that crush kill and destroy thing hold no interest for me, whether they be called Cthulu, Jehovah or the Stay Puff Marshmallow man.

35

Tuesday, May 11th Daily Text - The nerve!!!

by Girlie in

just thought i would share what the borg is dispensing as "spiritual food at the proper time" .. .

tuesday, may 11. quickly.

they forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.ps.106:13.. some may have left gods flock because they did not agree with some scriptural teaching.

mindmelda

The fallacy here is comparing people who leave Jehovah's Witnesses, specifically, those who reject the hogwash masquerading as spiritual food dispensed by the GB and the WTS with those who left Christ.

GB=/=Jesus Christ...but that is what they're inferring with that whole paragraph, of course.

I'm so much less depressed and unhappy since I quit trying to do the Witness dance. I'd rather stick my fingers in a door and slam it over and over again, thanks...or rip out my intestines with a fork...or jump naked into a swimming pool full of used needles, thanks anyway.

10

Jehovah's Witness "morality" is NO MORALITY at all!

by Terry in

[if !supportemptyparas] [endif].

mindmelda

"As a neighbor who is here in the loving spirit of Christ, I'm here to tell you that if you don't convert to my religion, you're going to die by his hand."

That's the rough, no BS version, but essentially the soap that Witnesses are selling as "love of neighbor". Frankly, selling ice to Inuits would be easier.

30

Why can't the WTS handle the truth on why people really leave the organization?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

what do you think are the reasons why the wts can't handle the truth on why members quit?

why must they disfellowship everyone who would say something like this to an elder on why he/she no longer wishes to be a member......................................................................................................... '' i do not want to be a member any longer because of the changing ''generation'' teaching,the wts is just a publishing and real estate corporation,the preaching work is just a means to distribute books and magazines,the baptism and disfellowshipping of teenagers is wrong,the meetings are boring,the meetings are repetative, the 144,000 is symbolic not literal ...etc.....etc.....

mindmelda

They can't even handle the statistical truths that 76% of children raised as Witnesses leave it, that they lose nearly as members as they gain through proselytizing, that they have nearly as high of a divorce rate as non-Witnesses, and that their field service and membership figures are gained unscientifically and probably totally inaccurate.

Those are all figures from various non JW sourced studies on JWs, and they probably totally discount them as from "worldly" sources in their usual circular fashion that nothing "worldly" is reliable, honest and a form of persecution because it's influenced by enemies of Jehovah.

Paranoia is so damn useful to this religion.

10

Jehovah's Witness "morality" is NO MORALITY at all!

by Terry in

[if !supportemptyparas] [endif].

mindmelda

Also, what is "goodness" to some isn't to others. Aside from the obvious things like don't murder or steal, what is "good" is a totally subjective assessment.

Religion, with a few exceptions, has been about fear of death and the afterlife and about the epic struggle of good and evil. A pretty good case can be made that it's a reflection of the human psyche, and that's one reason I doubt we'll ever get rid of it entirely. Well, not unless we can convince a whole lot of people that death is final and happens to all aspects of a person so as to end speculation as to an afterlife, and we get rid of all our other fears and inner struggles too.

10

Jehovah's Witness "morality" is NO MORALITY at all!

by Terry in

[if !supportemptyparas] [endif].

mindmelda

What Witnesses encourage and practice isn't true morality, because it's not a product of choice or properly motivated. It's all about guilt and fear and manipulation of natural desires into something repressive and unhealthy, which is what I think you're saying...I can't read all of it, your HTML is showing. *G*

I've always thought that too.

42

Sister in my Congregation claims Jehovah always answers her prayers....including her new skirt and shoes for $20 bucks???

by Witness 007 in

to show you how dumb and shallow my congregation is a one of our "deeper" sisters claimed in field services that "jehovah answers all my prayers...like last week i wanted a new skirt and shoes for field service but only had $20 dollars....and would you believe i found them!!!

now i for one though well, why didn't you pray or the oil pipe in the mexican gulf to dry up...or food for the poor in haiti.

other pioneers tell of vegetables falling off trucks just when they had nothing for dinner???

mindmelda

Well, hell, God must love me half to death, because I just got a kicking brand new pair of shoes at a church thrift store for a dollar and a great jacket for 50 cents!

Why didn't he keep my house from being foreclosed on then? Oh, right...I'm an apostate...never mind. It couldn't have anything to do with the craptastic economy!