Posts by mentalclarity

12

Anglican Church response to the Aust Royal Commission. What a stark contrast!!!!

by stuckinarut2 in

oh wow...how the gb and the society could learn from this response!.

no victim blaming.

no passing of the buck.

mentalclarity

So I sometimes volunteer for a religious organization and you would not believe the amount of background (fingerprinting) checks and training about protecting children that is required if you are going to have any contact with kids. I see so many institutions implementing this. Even where I work there is a legal contract that I signed basically saying if I am aware of any type of abuse, I must let the authorities know. A legal form signed by me.

Why this is not being implemented in kingdom halls all over just blows my mind. I realize it would shatter the whole "we are different from the world" fantasy, but honestly with all the weird JWs that are populating the halls now- why wouldn't you want to be scrutinizing people to make sure they are safe? JWs have absolutely no room to criticize - I think for the most part, these institutions- whether religious or not- have acknowledged their responsibility and changed their processes to make sure these atrocities don't happen again.

But I realize that's just my naive self trying to apply common sense to a crazy apocalyptic religion that thinks we are all going to be destroyed in Armageddon.....

15

Random Thought on Drugs/Tobacco Being Sinful Under JW Doctrine

by neverendingjourney in

jw
friends

a friend of mine was telling me about her recent trip to peru.

she said she had trouble with the altitude in certain areas of peru but the locals offered her a tea derived from the coca leaf and that helped tremendously with her symptoms.. i began to think about how i would have handled the situation as a jw given that coca contains an alkaloid that is used to produce cocaine.

in its natural form, the content is very low and the locals use it as a stimulant similar to coffee.. however, as a jw i would have probably refused to drink it viewing it as something similar to a product derived from tobacco leaves.

mentalclarity

JWs from the regions where it's used have no issues with drinking Coca tea - probably because it's totally different from cocaine. Cocaine has tons of chemicals that are added in a lab and processed. I think by the time they finish making cocaine it has like 1% of a coca plant.

I do wonder about the JW stance on medical marihuana though now that it's becoming more popular in the states.

49

Favourite Quirky / Low Budget / Non-Mainstream Movies

by Simon in

so the recent topic about film franchises got me thinking.

sure, we all love the big budget, mainstream releases that are so successful they spawn never-ending (it sometimes seems) sequels.

we could watch marvel and star-wars movies for the rest of our lives (and we might just ...).. but y'know what i love?

mentalclarity

Memento (2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFuFFdK7i44

Abre los Ojos (1997) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBtnPuB0x3U The remake was Vanilla Sky and it was awful. The original is much better.

Requiem for a Dream (2000) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nU7dC9bIDg

Not sure if these qualify as low budget.

Thanks for the recommendations! I love intense movies that make me think.

*Fight Club is amazing!

26

Struggling to Live a Lie

by Addison0998 in

jw
friends

it’s been very difficult, much more than i first anticipated to live a lie, (be pimo and a regular active member) i still live with my parents but i plan on moving out at the end of the year, so i really need to keep it together.

but i think people are starting to get suspicious that something is up.

i’ve stopped commenting, going on service all the time, talking at the door, and occasionally voicing something, such as a question that no one has a good answer for, that makes people think, but ahah, thinking is dangerous and wrong so that is suspicious of course.

mentalclarity

I wouldn't do anything to arouse suspicion if you plan on keeping some sort of relationship with family after you fade. No asking questions or addressing doctrinal issues. Make it seem as if you're just going through a hard time personally, in general, with your life - that seems plausible for JWs without getting their "apostate" radar tingling.

I spent most of my teen years double-lifing and completely zoning out at meetings so i know it can be done. Think about plans for the future- do your bills- plan a vacation- just occupy your mind while you're at meeting. Think of it as free thinking time for yourself. I also had my own car so I often came in right when the meeting started and left as soon as it finished. That avoided unnecessary conversations and questions/comments about my lack of enthusiasm. Literally, thousands (if not more) of young adults have done this before you- so many in my hall turned 18, left their house and were never seen again.

50

Receiving so much hate recently....

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

well, as you all know, my wife (unstuck) and i are not df or da.. we just stopped attending several years back after my "apostate" online activity was found by a nosey employee of ours while she was working in our office (long story if anyone wants to know - it would have to be another thread).

we never met with any elders - no congregation judicial activity occurred (as we would never consent to do so anyway).

so our policy has been to be the same kind, loving, normal people we have always been.

mentalclarity

"Sometimes we wonder if some JW's are actually envious of those who leave. How many would love to leave but have the social ties (even with their business) and family relationships that they have to maintain".

I often think there is some envy on the other side for sure. I mean, most of us are exuding happiness and the feelings that go along with doing what you really want with your life. It just doesn't fit their narrative so they build this wall around themselves. They are trapped in a prison of their own making, occasionally stealing a peek over the wall and seeing a beautiful life and it totally scares them. What if they were wrong????? What if they had just dedicated decades to something that was wrong???

That thought alone just makes them bury their heads in the sand and insulate themselves more. Just our physical presence is an internal nudge that is too much for them to handle. That's how I see it anyways. It makes me feel kind of sorry for them really.

50

Receiving so much hate recently....

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

well, as you all know, my wife (unstuck) and i are not df or da.. we just stopped attending several years back after my "apostate" online activity was found by a nosey employee of ours while she was working in our office (long story if anyone wants to know - it would have to be another thread).

we never met with any elders - no congregation judicial activity occurred (as we would never consent to do so anyway).

so our policy has been to be the same kind, loving, normal people we have always been.

mentalclarity

@stuckinarut I feel your pain. Who treats people like that?

But the truth is that as a born in I knew exactly how things were going to go down once I became inactive. So it helps to have zero expectations. I'm surprised when JWs are decent to me, including my family. This just saves me a lot of frustration and grief. Having said that, it would be hard for me to be in the same area where I was a JW and feel the constant cold shoulder, and that's why I moved and just made a whole new network of friends and family who are truly genuine and loving people.

Hope it gets better for you. I wouldn't send texts or emails unless you are prepared for a bad/no response and are ok with that. Why put yourself through that?

97

Material such as the film at the end of this years convention confirms that I was right to take my kids out the religion

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

it’s quite affirming to see the horrific material that they’re serving up at the convention this year.

aside from blatant homophobia, the scenes at the end of the convention that are discussed on another thread stoop to new levels of fear mongering.

it seems to occur to nobody inside the organisation that this kind of material could trigger fear, deprsssion, anxiety, stress.

mentalclarity

This video is crazy. I kind of chuckle to myself when I think of how self absorbed and deluded JWs are. I mean, honestly, NOBODY cares about JWs. No one is going after them, no one is signaling them out specifically (Russia is pretty much against anyone not Orthodox Christian- Homosexuals are also targeted so they must also be the chosen ones following the JW logic...)

People in the US barely even know who JWs are, let alone would invest any time/effort/money to stopping them. The persecution is totally in their head and mixed with their own delusions of grandeur.

This religion just keeps getting nuttier- hope these videos help more wake up.

69

murders at school

by zeb in

jw
friends

at a school in santa fe in the us.

many people killed and wounded.

.

mentalclarity

"Relatives and acquaintances of those on the edge should be aware and NOT restrain from making the call"

This. There should be some sort of campaign on alerting authorities and what behavior would warrant that. Kids should be able to anonymously report things they see on each other's social media without feeling they are being "snitches". I agree that there are signs and red flags long before the shootings that should be taken seriously.

69

murders at school

by zeb in

jw
friends

at a school in santa fe in the us.

many people killed and wounded.

.

mentalclarity

Very sad. Seems like a lot of kids falling through the cracks in public high schools. My son went to a funeral a few months ago for a classmate who committed suicide. He was 16. In the last three years at his high school there have been 4 other known suicides. No easy answers.

One thing that isn't helping is sending the message to kids that "adults don't really care about you" and they (teens) have to take care of themselves. The fact that adults disagree on exactly how to solve the current situation doesn't mean that they don't care and are not to be trusted. We need more kids reaching out for help to adults (and not just their peers) not more alienation from adults in family/community.

Bullying should never be used as a viable excuse or justification for shootings or suicides for that matter. This is also part of the problem imho. How many of us were ostracized because we were different in school, yet we didn't shoot people and I don't believe there was anything particularly "special" about us. I just think it wasn't an option and we didn't grow up in an era where being a victim made us less accountable for our choices and actions.

42

"World conditions have never been as bad as they are now"

by Sour Grapes in

i went to a funeral yesterday and ran into a jdub.

of course, he approached me and it didn't take more than a minute into the conversation for him to get into the jdub gloom and doom mode.

he said that world conditions have never been as bad as they are now.. i looked straight into his eyes and said, "i think that world conditions were a lot worse during world war two.".

mentalclarity

This is a great way to plant a seed.

This worked on me when I was waking up. I was telling a non jw workmate something similar about how the world is much worse now and he just matter of fact told me that conditions now were actually better due to technology and advances in medicine etc. It wasn't confrontational- wasn't religious or anti JW so it really stuck with me. These type of "common sense" things were what helped me really analyze some of the JW core beliefs.