Posts by talesin

9

Children, you can go to Bethel when you grow up!

by stuckinarut2 in

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/children/become-jehovahs-friend/videos/caleb-sophia-visit-bethel/.

for those who haven't watched this, enjoy!.

hang in there for the very last comment from caleb!

talesin

Too late to put this in my comment, but RIP to FAO Schwarz, I'll not see it now. NYC, wow! Yes, it's the SUPER toy store in the film "Big".

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27

it's easy to think of exjws as being a single amorphous group but the more i think about it, the more i believe that there are two distinct sub-groups and wonder if you agree.. there are those who believe and those who don't.

i know that seems obvious but let's break it down a bit more.

there are those who don't and never believed and some who are looking for a religion to match their beliefs.. i used to think this split would be between born-ins and converts but of course it's possible for born-ins to be believers although i suspect that many, like with other faiths, do so simply because they have never experienced anything else or made a conscious choice.

talesin

I don't understand being born in and staying in. By the time I was 12, I hated it. Being told how to think, told to 'respect my elders' aka rapists in secret, watching liars preach from the platform after being loaded drunk the night before, going door-to-door, no more school (!) ... and especially, those book studies with the crazy prophecies. The fear of retribution and guilt were big pressures, I'll admit, but I never believed all that gobbledeegook, twisted rendering of interpretation of Daniel and Revelations ............ idiotic to my logical Spock-brain. I did get baptized because of pressure - when you are not in school, and no outside contact, and being abused at home, the pressure is immense. I could have chose marriage to a 'suitable' mate, but the prospect did, and still does, make me nauseous. Rejection and constant disapproval and abuse, was too much for my already-battered psyche to bear. So at 14, I got dunked. At 16, I left the first time. It only lasted a few months, due to poor health. At 18, I left for good, determined to be FREE. Nope, I just . don't . get it.

That being said, I consciously work at empathizing with other folk, and respecting their journey. Perception is just that, and each person's perception is unique and valid, as is their experience. That's called FREEDOM!

9

Children, you can go to Bethel when you grow up!

by stuckinarut2 in

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/family/children/become-jehovahs-friend/videos/caleb-sophia-visit-bethel/.

for those who haven't watched this, enjoy!.

hang in there for the very last comment from caleb!

talesin

I remember the vacation to NYC with my parents' friends and their son, and visiting Bethel. I was 14, and of course, climbing up that metal stair that was part of the ginormous printing press was cool. It was quite amazing, I have to admit, seeing those magazines roll off that huge machine. That's all I really remember - the press room and having lunch. For the most part, I wanted to be elsewhere.

We weren't going to anything I chose: MOMA and the Guggenheim, Central Park, Bloomingdale's, FAO Schwarz, and of course, the NYC library (yes, I was a geeky kid). And that was just my personal 14YO wish list.

We did go to Radio City Music Hall and I saw the Rockettes and the hugest freakingly awesome pipe organ was playing. I loved that, and we watched "Huck Finn" on the big screen.

Bethel? It was a big snooze, and certainly not a fun day out. (And from what I've read of others, I think we got the 'special tour', and yes, through 'connections')

Every JW kid's dream vacation. *puke*

3

Sorry little girl, they will be back.

by ab.ortega in

i stumbled upon this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/nick-king/jehovahs-witnesses-meet-a-five-year-old_b_9382460.html.

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sad to say, with this new sophia video, they just might be back with something to "say" to the little girl in this story..

talesin

I was laughing so hard, my roomie had to ask. Now he is laughing, too. TFS : D

14

Outstanding new book out today for you atheists, agnostics, humanists, naturalists and free thinkers

by Cornbread in

i just got back from the bookstore and i can't wait to sink into it based on all the reviews and press it has been getting.

it's called the big picture - on the origin of life, meaning, and the universe itself by sean carroll.. “weaving the threads of astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and philosophy into a seamless narrative tapestry, sean carroll enthralls us with what we’ve figured out in the universe and humbles us with what we don’t yet understand.

yet in the end, it’s the meaning of it all that feeds your soul of curiosity.” —neil degrasse tyson, host of cosmos: a spacetime odyssey*publishers weekly #1 most anticipated science book of spring 2016*"already internationally acclaimed for his elegant, lucid writing on the most challenging notions in modern physics, sean carroll is emerging as one of the greatest humanist thinkers of his generation as he brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on higgs bosons and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions.

talesin

Looks to be a very interesting book. Thanks for the heads-up. I've put in a request to the local library. I liked what he said in the Scientific American interview here:

.

As a physicist, what inspired you to write a book essentially on philosophy?

It evolved over a very long time. I’ve always been interested in not only physics directly, but also the wider consequences. I was a philosophy minor as an undergraduate. I always have thought that doing physics was part of a larger intellectual project of trying to understand the whole world in different ways.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/godless-universe-a-physicist-searches-for-meaning-in-nature/

91

My brother died last night

by LisaRose in

jw
friends

i found out this morning that my brother died last night, he was also an ex jw, 73 years old and died of heart disease and kidney failure.

it was not totally unexpected, as he had been in poor health, but it's a blow, especially as i just lost another brother two years ago.

there were six of us, now only four.

talesin

My sincere condolences, LisaRose. The losses don't get any easier as we age. xo tal

41

Angst and the Jehovah's Witness Mindset

by cofty in

there is no typical jw personality type.. any of us who were in the religion for a number of years will remember all sorts of individuals.

there is as much variety among jws as there is in the general population.

some were arrogant and judgemental but others were humble and kindly.

talesin

Yes, it is pathetic for you to try and make me look stupid. You even lied to in the process.

Shame on you!

41

Angst and the Jehovah's Witness Mindset

by cofty in

there is no typical jw personality type.. any of us who were in the religion for a number of years will remember all sorts of individuals.

there is as much variety among jws as there is in the general population.

some were arrogant and judgemental but others were humble and kindly.

talesin

Great OP and I agree.
Perhaps it's the prevalence of angst that explains why so many JW's suffer from anxiety-related ailments: depression, bipolarity, fibromyalgia, etc
EdenOne

Bipolarism and fibromyalgia are NOT anxiety-related illnesses.

41

Angst and the Jehovah's Witness Mindset

by cofty in

there is no typical jw personality type.. any of us who were in the religion for a number of years will remember all sorts of individuals.

there is as much variety among jws as there is in the general population.

some were arrogant and judgemental but others were humble and kindly.

talesin

I had to reread your OP this a.m., something is wrong with this picture. Yup. Just what is your point? Never mind, you're so obvious.

In your OP, you said: Angst will continue dominate the thinking of ex-JWs until they give up utopian fantasies.

Yet, this is the comment you make after my post, directly contradicting yourself.

Do exJWs exhibit over-exaggerated qualities of angst?

No but that wasn't my point.
JWs do.

btw, there's a grammar error in that sentence, with the verb tense. It should read "Angst will continue to dominate..." or "Angst will continually dominate ..." or "Angst will continue dominating ..."

6

What the freak was this on Facebook?

by Sugar Shane in

i just saw a video on fb, posted by a jw, which shows a bunch of kids singing to some recorded orchestral backup.

it was recorded last saturday, or sunday.,.

it almost looks like the kind of sunday school sing-a-long that you'd find at a 'normal' church.

talesin

Have you seen the "Happy at Bethel" video? :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwKdMjA2Y_I