Posts by mentalclarity

21

RIP Anthony Bourdain

by freemindfade in

so sad to hear about the loss of one of the best storytellers.

such a great unique personality.

he will be greatly missed .

My failed attempts to help my brainwashed family

by Addison0998 in

first of all i just want to say a quick thank you to all of you who’s been listening to my story and my little rants and dilemmas lol.

this website has helped me so much to not feel alone and to keep me from feeling like i’m going crazy.

anyways, i’m defenitly going to try much harder from this point on to play the part until i move out after this summer.

mentalclarity

So now you're in the stage of waking up that I'll call "reality really sinking in that you will lose your family and there is no reasoning with them".

At first there was this naivety that we want to cling to. My family will be different, I'll be able to reason with them. They are pretty bright people and they'll be able to see through the bullshit. Well, I hate to be so cynical but 9 times out of 10 they won't be able to see it. You can't even imagine how many times I have scratched my head thinking "how the hell can they not see this?"...I mean I'm talking about some pretty sharp family members.

I'm sorry you're going through this- the bad news is that your relationship with jw family will never be the same again. The good news is you'll be able to make new relationships in time that are actually based on unconditional love and that is freaking amazing. If you'd never woken up, you'd never have an opportunity to experience that.

If they do wake up it will be on their own time.

286

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Baker Who Refused to Bake Cake for Gay Couple

by Simon in

seems like such an obviously correct decision to overturn the previous overreach - it should never have been necessary to go to the supreme court but happened because the rights of the religious were being ignored.. as the fundamental level, no one should be able to compel you to work for them or to provide services that go against your beliefs, and certainly not have the government be able to force you to comply.. if this was allowed there would be so many unreconcilable situations that would clog up courts over nonsense.. i also have little patience for these activists that intentionally look to be offended.

it really doesn't do their cause any good to go round looking to make trouble for people.

it's also misguided because it ends up strengthening religious rights over effectively stupid issues.. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/supreme-court-sides-with-baker-who-turned-away-gay-couple.html.

mentalclarity

What if you owned a business that made t-shirts for a living and someone came in ordering a dozen t-shirts that supported Trump who you hate? Do you have the right to refuse? Of course! You would lose a sale but you shouldn't be forced to go against your beliefs. Isn't this what America is all about? Take religion out of the equation- this is about personal beliefs. We should be very fearful of a government who takes away our autonomy. Now, that's fascism.

If you really want to punish a business, just take your money and go elsewhere (and maybe tell all your friends).

45

A&E - Cults and Extreme Belief - Jehovah's Witnesses

by Incognito in

jw
friends

i haven't seen this posted.. tuesday may 29, 2018 @ 10pm (new york time zone).

cults and extreme belief - jehovah's witnesses.

mentalclarity

Watched this last night,

Barbara Anderson - what a class act. I mean seriously, such a great representation for ex jws because you can tell all her actions towards the organization came from a place of personal integrity and it doesn't fit the crazy, bitter apostate narrative.

Romy was very brave to tell her story -Warlocks treatment of her speaks volumes. They are such buffoons- even just for PR they should have handled that totally different.

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?