Sorry but I think putting JWs on par with Nazis runnig a deathcamp is a bit extreme. Yes people are capable and will do evil things when they have their blinkers on and when they follow the crowd. But there are degrees of evil. JWs have their failings but what organisation on earth doesn't? Where would you stop? Political parties? A play group where a todler dies falling off a slide? Your local Council? The average JW might be guilty of negligence - yes - but evil on a par with the Nazi's? Sorry I'm not buying that even if that does make me a JW apologist in the minds of some. Even the GB, though arguably much more culpable than the R&F witnesses, are probably more guilty of negiligence than pure, deliberate unadulterated evil.
krejames
JoinedPosts by krejames
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85
I was HAPPY as a JW, how did I get here?
by MC RubberMallet insome have figured out, but i am a poster that previously used another name.
but even then i did not give many details about myself.
i barely cracked 100 posts.. but i have never done a thread to explain why i am here.
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85
I was HAPPY as a JW, how did I get here?
by MC RubberMallet insome have figured out, but i am a poster that previously used another name.
but even then i did not give many details about myself.
i barely cracked 100 posts.. but i have never done a thread to explain why i am here.
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krejames
NewChapter - Yes I agree. Although, on the whole I was deeply unhappy and miserable myself, I had some genuinely good times. I also still have a lot of affection for most of the JWs I have known, including the elders. I never had a specifically bad experience with the people (it was really just the general feeling that I didn't fit in and couldn't really relate to the "spiritual" mentality). Any gripe I have is more about teachings beyond the things written in the Bible and the apparent dishonesty with the organisation's past in hte Proclaimer's book et al.
If someone is happy in the organisation, I say good for them. Someone who is dying for example, might take great comfort in the resurrection hope, whether or not we ourselves think it's a false hope that they shouldn't believe. This is why I don't think it's kind to try and destroy anyone else's beliefs - if they are already unhappy, then it might be kind to point them in the direction of where they can do some unbiased research.(unfortunately, this site isn't the place for unbiased research - bitter people are all too ready to believe the slightest negative allegation and conspiracy theory even when unsubstantiated by evidence - to me that's just as bad as a JW's eagerness to believe some of the unsubstatiated stuff the GB prints). For me it was the earthquake stats that really started to bring home how dodgy the information was in the literature.
I think this is why this thread/story appeals to me so much - if someone was happy as a JW, and isn't bitter from a personal gripe or experience, what would affect them enough to make them realise the TATT?
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I was HAPPY as a JW, how did I get here?
by MC RubberMallet insome have figured out, but i am a poster that previously used another name.
but even then i did not give many details about myself.
i barely cracked 100 posts.. but i have never done a thread to explain why i am here.
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krejames
Really interesting thread. Looking forward to reading the rest of your story
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Schizophrenia
by frankiespeakin inwhile doing some personal research on the subject i came across this.
basically in the jungian world it is discribed as an overpowering of ego by the unconsciousness.
"if the human race survives, future men will, i suspect, look back on our enlightened epoch as a veritable age of darkness... they will see that what was considered 'schizophrenic' was one of the forms in which, often through quite ordinary people, the light began to break into our all-too-closed minds.".
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krejames
May I ask what posters here who have friend or family members with schizoprehnia think of the statement that they are closer to God than what we deem healthy people?
My dad thought he was Jesus...and that my sisters and I were children of the devil. I remember my oldest sister saying to him one time, if we're children of the devil, who does that make you?
On a serious note, we soon learned that the best way to calm him was to agree with everything he said. A lot of his anger and frustration was because no one believed what he was saying. He was genuinely terrified. so in the end, if he said the government was stealing his ideas from his brain, we would act shocked and say how terrible it was. We realised this was the best way to converse with him - he did seem to calm down quite a lot from then on. But it was still a very sad existence for him. Closer to God? Closer to a lot of people's idea of hell, more like.
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just a quick "hi" & introduction
by grumblecakes inim a wee bit shy/scared of all this, but just wanted to introduce myself real quick...here goes.... .
hey there everybody!
im grumblecakes.
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krejames
Welcome! When I first read your post the phrases you used were almost exactly like my best friend in my cong, and for a minute I thought she might have discovered the truth about the truth! But I can see that's not the case if you're from Philadelphia, not UK!
Nice to "meet" you in any case!
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Schizophrenia
by frankiespeakin inwhile doing some personal research on the subject i came across this.
basically in the jungian world it is discribed as an overpowering of ego by the unconsciousness.
"if the human race survives, future men will, i suspect, look back on our enlightened epoch as a veritable age of darkness... they will see that what was considered 'schizophrenic' was one of the forms in which, often through quite ordinary people, the light began to break into our all-too-closed minds.".
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krejames
My dad was paranoid schizophrenic. he had a nervous breakdwown and was subsequently subject to electro-shock treatment here in hte UK (this is going back to the late 70s). This made him worse and he ended up going back to Sicily for six months for treatment there, and he came back much improved. I have always thought that was probably what started it for him. A few years on from this terrible experience he developed a fear and suspicion of all authority and felt they were stealing his ideas from his brain and spying on him lazer beams. He avoided all form-filling, stopped paying his bills and mortgage and hoarded his money in a cupboard in his house. He must have been very frightened. He was not diagnosed for years and years later (the 90s) when we finally managed to take him to see a doctor, as the bank were threatening to repossess his house but he always refused to take the medication - he never took any as far as I'm aware. As he got older he mellowed and learned to keep himself to himself and eventually moved back to his sicilian hometown. I understand he was fairly reclusive there too and avoided his family there, but I hope he found some peace in his home environment and in the sun.
It's a really horrible condition and I feel for anyone living with it either a a sufferer or as a family member. Thankfully treatments, care and support are getting better in this country.
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I need your help!!!!!!!!
by outsmartthesystem inquick update - my wife moved out and took the kids with her while i was at work.
she went to live with her parents.
she took every last article of clothing and even some of her favorite furniture.
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krejames
Sorry to hear you're going through this.
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A question for Undercover and others
by tornapart inundercover, i was interested in your last post and how you felt that believing in god is a delusion.
i'm not interested in any debates over it but i saw you have been here for 10 years!
that's some stay!
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krejames
I'm still on my journey. I'm pretty much disconnected emotionally and mentally from the organisation (though I still attend meetings more often than not). However, I have woken up to the fact that I want to believe in God. I still have a certain kind of affection for my mental image of Jehovah and mind still turns towards him when I go to bed. But reason tells me, as a Gay born-in, that he surely can't exist or he would not have included the stuff about homosexuality in the Bible, whilst completely ignoring something as abhorrent as paedophilia. It's either that or he is an extremely cruel being that I would not want to worship or that it would be pointless to worship. but at the same time I have been doing lots of reading in scientific articles about evolution - while I can accept some of it to a degree, I still find a lot of it way too far fetched and still lean towards the involvement of some intelligent higher being. In summary: At this moment in time I guess I'm agnostic.
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im stunned
by maccauk11 inhere is something tha thas just amazed me.
i had two witnesses at the door.
i invited them in for a few minutes because of the cold.
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krejames
Even now that I'm ready and willing to believe many of the allegations against the Society, when people repeat the Freemason allegations as if it were fact, they lose all credibility with me. There is nothing but circumstantial evidence and hearsay to support the Freemason line of enquiry. nothing that would stand in a court of law to prove the matter "beyond reasonable doubt". I'm NOT saying it's not possible that Russell was connected with them, he may well have been - just that ultimately it's unprovable and so should not be stated as fact - otherwise we're no better that the GB we're so fond of criticising for their far fetched references in the reasoning book and all . By all means be honest a state that it is an allegation - an allegation that you choose to believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Taze_Russell#Alleged_connections_with_Freemasonry
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Favorite JW Urban Legends
by Christ Alone inwhat are your favorite urban legends that you heard as a jw?.
here's mine:.
a brother, through his work, was asked to give a speech to the united nations.
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krejames
Oh and I forgot, back when I was a kid a circuuit overseer said at our congregation that we were not to eat red Smarties because they contained cochineal which he said is made from beetle's blood. This one spread like wild fire around the congregations with lots of JWs refusing to eat red Smarties and other red sweets. This gave rise to another rumour that Rowntree (Smarties' manufacturer) had threatened to sue the Society for spreading false rumours (now THAT I can believe lol)