Posts by mindmelda

23

Besty Unplugged - My Life Story Part III

by besty in

<< part ii.

leaving home and losing my religion.

sometime in early 1986 my dad asked me the hitherto unspoken question i had been in patient dread of.

mindmelda

I well remember being pressured into baptism at age 16, just because my dad was an elder at the time. This was in 76 and there was all this pressure all of a sudden to get teens baptized because they were "no longer under the merit of their parents" or some such thought from the WTS.

I don't know about other areas, but it always seemed to me that teens were being pushed one way or another growing up JW. If you didn't want to pioneer, you were pushed into early job/marriage situations. Young people I knew at the time pioneered just to keep their parents off their backs about "finding a theocratic mate" and/or finding a decent paying labor type job that didn't require a college education, like construction or janitorial work.

I never realized until later how this maps your whole life out for you, you just don't consider certain careers, going to college, dating casually, ordinary things that other people take for granted are just not part of your mindset.

54

Circuit Oversear for dinner..."sorry no time to talk" remember this! Like Jesus is coming!

by Witness 007 in

a sister rang and left a message to see how we are....but i called back the next day and she said...."oh sorry i have no time to talk, the circuit oversear is coming for dinner, can you call back?

" this reminds me of c.o dinners it's a major suck up...like jesus and his apostles are coming for dinner.

the pioneers like this sister always get the c.o to come over.. anyone had the pleasure?.

mindmelda

I knew all sorts of COs during my 36 years as an active Witness. Some were nice enough, some were absolute power hungry bullies.

I remember my father, an elder at the time, said "Oh, CO's are just like any other elder" to the then PO just before the CO visit, and got chewed out for his lack of respect for "godly authority". Hilariously, when the new CO came, the first thing he said was "I'm just like any other elder" in his introductory first talk to the congo...I just about died laughing in my seat and my dad smirked as the PO blushed bright red and glanced over at my dad.

35

Do You Believe In "God"?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i know many people simply think that believing in a "god" is simply ridiculous.

i don't.

i can't necessarily "prove" that god cares, or that god exists but i'll tell you what---when something awful happens i do pray to god and hope for the best..

mindmelda

I think there is intelligence behind the creation of the universe. I think God is fairly undefinable, though. Humans try, but they'll never be able to grasp the complexity of it. But, we can know enough to get by. And, I believe spirituality is innate to humans and needs some sort of expression.

What I don't believe in is organized religion. It's largely a failure in helping people become more spiritual. That, you've got to do on your own terms.

42

Jehovah's Witnesses "snapping" under pressure, their flawed doctrine must be sending people "over the edge"!

by the research lady in

jw
friends

in the last year the watchtower's public relations department is being inundated with inquiries concerning jehovah's witnesses and their bizarre behaviour.

the recent murder and cannabalism of a three week old baby is the latest in a series of ongoing horrific news articles linking jehovah's witnesses to acts of violent crimes.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/408515_baby28.html?source=mypi what is causing these problems?

mindmelda

PPD is not caused by being a Witness, of course, because women who are not Witnesses are also suseptible to it, which seems like a rather obviousl thing to say, but I'm going to say it anyway. It's caused by a severe hormone imbalance and often, in addition to a great deal of sleep deprivation and stress. But, it''s mainly organic in nature.

The only factor that might figure into being a Witness there is the stress factor, but many people have stress for various reasons, being a Witness is obviously not the only cause for stress in a person's life. The woman in the story seems to have had some financial and job stress, which would certainly add to the severe hormone imbalances of PPD.

But, I agree that the JWs in general do not have a healthy or realistic view of life in some ways. The failure to take positive action about one's future because one believes that Jehovah will fix everything "soon" hasn't helped many Witnesses I know avoid depression, it's simply not good or healthy cognition. It's a well documented psychological truism that unfulfilled and/or unrealistic expectations continuously put off or disappointed eventually leads to depression.

42

Jehovah's Witnesses "snapping" under pressure, their flawed doctrine must be sending people "over the edge"!

by the research lady in

jw
friends

in the last year the watchtower's public relations department is being inundated with inquiries concerning jehovah's witnesses and their bizarre behaviour.

the recent murder and cannabalism of a three week old baby is the latest in a series of ongoing horrific news articles linking jehovah's witnesses to acts of violent crimes.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/408515_baby28.html?source=mypi what is causing these problems?

mindmelda

I have no doubt reading the account that some JWs will believe she was demon possessed instead of the victim of a serious mental illness. The signs were all there, and her family was even trying to help, but in my experience, a good many Witnesses are reluctant to go for psychiatric or psychological help when they are mentally ill for fear that a mental health professional will blame their beliefs, at least in part, for their problems.

42

Jehovah's Witnesses "snapping" under pressure, their flawed doctrine must be sending people "over the edge"!

by the research lady in

jw
friends

in the last year the watchtower's public relations department is being inundated with inquiries concerning jehovah's witnesses and their bizarre behaviour.

the recent murder and cannabalism of a three week old baby is the latest in a series of ongoing horrific news articles linking jehovah's witnesses to acts of violent crimes.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/408515_baby28.html?source=mypi what is causing these problems?

mindmelda

I had a religious obsession during post partum depression back when I had my son 16 years ago. I discovered this is pretty common with PPD, for some reason.

Fortunately, my PPD wasn't very severe, and I didn't have a psychotic break like some women who go unrecognized and untreated but I did become obsessed in a fantasy sort of way with the idea that if my whole family died, we'd all be guaranteed resurrection to be in the new system together. I'd already lost one full term baby, so I figured this was a workable plan if only I could figure out some way to do it without being a murderer! That's what stopped me from doing anything. I finally went to my doctor for help and was put on Paxil and Wellbutrin for about 6 months which straightened things out.

I know other Witness women with PPD who confessed to me that they had similar ideas..one elder's wife said that when she had PPD, she quit driving because she had this strong urge to drive her whole family off a bridge in the car so they could all die together and be in the new system together, guaranteed resurrection!

She had also previously lost a baby to SIDS, interestingly enough.

42

Jehovah's Witnesses "snapping" under pressure, their flawed doctrine must be sending people "over the edge"!

by the research lady in

jw
friends

in the last year the watchtower's public relations department is being inundated with inquiries concerning jehovah's witnesses and their bizarre behaviour.

the recent murder and cannabalism of a three week old baby is the latest in a series of ongoing horrific news articles linking jehovah's witnesses to acts of violent crimes.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/408515_baby28.html?source=mypi what is causing these problems?

mindmelda

20

what was the jw`s high water mark?

by warmasasunned in

jw
friends

when were the jw`s at there peak.

i remember when i became a witness in 1986 there seemed to be almost an electricity in the air in my part of the world nottingham england (for all those outside the uk where robinhood legend comes from).. when we went on the ministry there would sometimes be as many as 60 people mainly in there early twenties, we couldnt fit in one room and had to stand outside sometimes, now when i see the jw`s out and about there maybe 4 or 5 in number mainly old people.. i remember those days, coming to the end of the cold war, berlin wall coming down, band aid (feet of clay prophecy) peace and sercurity etc etc, it seemed arrmageddon was just round the corner, of course the jw`s still had there sell by date then (1914 gen).

was that when the witnesses were at there strongest.

mindmelda

I haven't seen a lot of wild enthusiasm among the Witnesses for a few decades now. They peaked in the early 70s and then briefly again in the early 80s and since then, nada, at least in the USA.

14

My story...(part 1)

by IronHill in

my parents were already witnesses when i was born, therefore i was raised in their version of the truth.

i was baptized at the age of 11, and became a regular pioneer at the age of 13. i did that for about 5 years, and honestly they werent all bad times.

a lot of my friends then pioneered too, so we spent a lot of time goofing around out in service.

mindmelda

I'm glad you're fading together. But, yeah, the only reason I smile and nod when certain things come up is I don't want to upset my elderly JW parents.

I don't live near them anymore, so it's easier.

Good to have you here!

24

Is This a Silly Question? (The answer started my fade)

by journey-on in

jw
friends

me at 20: "wasn't the urim and thummim like a ouji board?

if it's wrong to use a ouji board, wouldn't it have been wrong for god's people to have used the urim and thummim?

isn't god the same today as yesterday and tomorrow?

mindmelda

I had that same question about Urim and Thummin, which was a form of divination known as "rolling the bones" and is popular in many cultures and belief systems. Our dice games are the remnant of that form of fortune telling!

Card games also had their origin in fortune telling, but I've played cards and dice with plenty of JWs. It's silly, because they're just games now, but I've always wondered if Witnesses were aware of the original connnections.

The fact is, the ancient Hebrews did many things that were later labeled as "pagan" and more often than not mixed in other things with their worship of Yahweh. Rebekah, Isaacs wife brought her female household deities with her when she married Isaac, and no one apparently told her to get rid of them. This was way before the ten commandments and their injunction to forsake idolatry, but still, Isaac and Rebekah weren't condemned for such things. Abraham brought his elderly pagan god worshipping father (he made idols for a living!) with him and didn't make him convert to worshipping Yahweh, either.

Seems the exclusiveness of devotion asked for by Yahweh developed gradually with the Hebrew people. It wasn't a command until after the exodus, like many other things and prohibitions in the law.