Whatever makes a JW take a step back and view the religion in reality (and all it's glory). You know those paintings that you look at up close and they are just paint strokes of color, but then you hold them out further and kind of squint your eyes and all of a sudden...you see a clear picture of something? That's what happens when you wake up and personally I don't think it's something that you can force someone else to see. It happens when it happens. I think it requires some distance/perspective/detachment. Most JWs get that as they get "weaker" - when you miss meetings or you associate with non jws, for example. There's a reason the organization warns against these things. It's because it provides "distance". If you step back enough you can see the ridiculousness of the religion and it's teachings.
mentalclarity
JoinedPosts by mentalclarity
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What’s the most effective way to wake the largest amount of JW’s up?
by Farmer Jim1 inwhat can one person do to save as many people as possible from this organisation?.
youtube videos?.
mail shots?.
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2018 Convention videos leaked by brave insiders
by Room 215 inanopther coup for cedars: http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/leaked-2018-convention-videos-celebrate-anti-lgbtq-bigotry-unquestioning-obedience-doomsday-fear-mongering
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mentalclarity
Honestly I don't really see anything "new" with these videos. It's the same stuff I was raised on. I remember when the congregation divided in my area and a needs talk was given about following the proper arrangement. Everyone pretty much went where they wanted anyways....And the whole "martyr" complex in the retail store....people are really so self absorbed and individualistic-no one is really paying attention if you're donating or receiving a bracelet.
The great thing about the videos(all the vids in general) is something I read on this forum...It gives you a clearer picture of standard JW beliefs. Sometimes when listening to a talk or hearing someone in a meeting, you could kind of convince yourself you didn't "hear" right, or that was some hardcore JWs belief. But the videos put the "standard" belief front and center. There's no disputing it. The videos are accomplishing something that we should be ecstatic about- a different perspective. A way for JWs to observe their beliefs as a third party.
When I watch the videos, I think to myself..how on earth could I have believed this stuff? How was it that all of us here really believed that Armageddon was going to come and kill everyone but us. Makes me really reflect on the dangers of just going through the motions and doing busywork without really "thinking". I will never do that again.
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Languages, Dialects, Accents
by LoveUniHateExams injust though i'd start a thread devoted to languages, dialects/sociolects and accents, with the idea being that posters can comment on any language, or dialect or accent of any language, on this thread.. any phrases, expressions or idioms that you find interesting are also welcome.
first, the subject of english accents came up on another thread.. the british isles have many different types of accent (although many of the dialects may be dying out), and if i start to take a closer look, i can't help but see 'patterns' .... in received pronunciation of standard english, the letter r is pronounced initially, between vowels, and after consonants, e.g.
red, arrow, break.
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mentalclarity
@LoveUniHateExams That's so cool you're learning Arabic. I know a few people that were studying it in school. It's certainly not an easy language to learn, but there's a "critical" need for it and there's funding available in the US for those who want to study: http://www.clscholarship.org/news/2017/announcing-the-2018-cls-application
Have you ever watched the PBS program, Do You Speak American? It's a documentary about the different variations of English across the USA. Really interesting....
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Celebrations?
by Freedom rocks indoes anyone celebrate valentines day since leaving the borg?
and which other celebrations if any do you now take part in?.
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mentalclarity
Celebrate everything pretty much. Any excuse is good for me to get together with friends and enjoy life. I kind of find Valentines a bit cliché, but still enjoy a nice evening out. Used to really like St Patrick's day, went to a local brewery for Burns night not long ago. Seriously, I'm all about celebrating!
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Tattoos?
by Wild_Thing inif seems to be quite fashionable nowadays for ex-jws to get a tattoo or a series of tattoos to symbolize either their time spent in the watchtower or their escape, and i kind of don't get it.
i don't understand why someone would want a constant reminder on their body of such a horrible period in their life.
on another forum, one woman shared that she was getting 25 bees tattooed all over her body to represent the 25 years she spent in the org.
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mentalclarity
I don't understand it either, but, you know, to each his own.
On the other hand I've been dying to get a cross to wear around my neck and parade it around....
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Porter Resignation: Spousal Abuse: Mormons = JWs?
by Joe Grundy inreading the reports of porter's (alleged?
) physical abuse of his ex-wives, i was struck by a few things:.
- abuse was reported to (mormon) church leaders.
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mentalclarity
Things that happen with the Mormons always remind me alot of JWs. I think they are our "close cousins", much more than Scientologists.
I personally know of a few cases very similar to this where a wife suffered spousal abuse for decades and was told by elders to be more "submissive". And, there was alot of emphasis on how it would look if people knew a JW elder was beating his wife and kids. I have no idea how things are handled now.
The whole concept of not bringing reproach on Jah or the organization is the main reason JWs don't go to the authorities on several issues (child abuse/domestic violence/shady business dealings/etc) There's seems to be no separation of church and state when it comes to JWs. The elders are treated as the ultimate authority.
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Session #8: "Bullet in the Head"
by Brian J inso at the phd today with my wife and me, and in slowly getting to the heart of matters (like peeling an onion if you ask me), the dialogue in part went like this: .
phd: if it came down to it, would you take a bullet in the head instead of giving up membership in your organization?
wife: absolutely, i would die for my faith.
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mentalclarity
I feel like the way you worded this kind of set you up for failure. I mean, as a born in I was fed countless experiences from the platform and articles from magazines that glorified witnesses who died for not renouncing being a JW. Think of all those concentration camp experiences, etc. Of course she's going to take a bullet rather than renounce being a JW. For a JW who is still in there is no separation of God/faith/organization. It's one big meshed mess. It took me a very long time to separate these things.
It's a reason of pride and what JWs have been prepared for since birth basically to die for their religion.
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Raising children - thoughts
by CovertsadJW injust some thoughts for today - let me know what you think.
i grew up in the jw faith / cult - .
i can’t prove i am a better person because of it , but in some ways i can prove how it has damaged me.
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mentalclarity
Yeah born-in here as well and there are alot of things that I have to "unlearn" now as an adult. Ultimately, it was not wanting to raise my kids in the religion that made me leave.
However, I can think of some positives:
I went to alot of social events and always had stuff to do with family and other JWs/ I have fond memories of picnics, beach days, camping, theme parks, parties, trips,etc. I do miss that community sometimes and I probably stayed around longer for this reason.
I learned from a very young age to defend my beliefs (yes, they were totally wrong beliefs) but, in my own personal case, I think it made me a person who doesn't mind being being different. Growing up a JW forced me to be different in all scenarios and I kind of got used to that and learned to be ok with it. I'm very comfortable being the outlier - this would really help when i left the religion.
I was exposed to people of many different backgrounds/cultures/races. I've met JWs from all around the world of all different kinds of social status. I preached in areas that were extremely poor and I got to see poverty up close. I grew up not taking simple things like "drinking water" for granted.
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Fear of Dying
by SplaneThisToMe indid anyone else develop a weird fear of dying and death after leaving jw?
i recently left and have realized for the first time in my life that i’m not going to live forever.
anyone else have these same feelings toward discovering your own mortality?
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mentalclarity
I echo LisaRose on this. I was always afraid I wouldn't make it through Armageddon and I really had alot of issues with imagining myself in Paradise (maybe I was of the annointed???hahaha!) I mean the thought of living forever on earth just sounded exhausting to me.
I actually do believe there is something else after my physical existence on this earth ends- what exactly that is, I don't know. But I don't fear it.
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PORTUGAL: Filed a petition to the parliament to erase the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness
by EdenOne inbased on legal arguments that revolve around violations of several articles of the portuguese constitution, and of the law of religious freedom, a petition to the portuguese parliament has been set in motion to extinguish the legal entity that represents the jehovah's witness in portugal and remove this community from the national register of recognized religions protected by law.
the petition does not seek to ban the jehovah's witness as a whole in the country.
the petition denounces the institutional policy of shunning former members as a violation of basic human rights and psychological torture, and asks the portuguese legislators and judicial authorities to take action to stop this abuse, and suspend legal recognition to the branch office entity until the policies of shunning are changed.
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mentalclarity
I'm confused. It's debating that it is against religious freedom for members to shun other members who question or leave their religion? Isn't it religious freedom to belong to whatever the hell religion you want?