Posts by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

56

Spiritual "Protection" - a Menace on Psychological Development

not quite a week ago, @lost in the fog created a thread entitled: do you have this illness?.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5187824140681216/do-you-have-this-illness.

in my year of being on this forum, i have browsed many a disillusioned thread of ex-jehovah’s witnesses expressing similar symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder when detailing their awakening - my own story included.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@mentalclarity YES. The fact that there are so many cookie-cutter experiences of those who left and had their lives unravel in the most depraved ways possible shows that something in our shared upbringing went radically wrong.

It's interesting that you even mention Stockholm syndrome when you consider the countless medical journals that have covered the correlation between it and PTSD. Since PTSD occurs when we experience something so malevolent that we cannot account for it with our existing system of interpreting the world, we go into trauma. I don't believe it's a coincidence that the German word for "dream" is "träumen". This is the kind of daydream a victim of Stockholm syndrome lapses into. The romanticized version of events where the villain becomes the hero is precisely the victim's mind of piecing together the unknown whilst using their current knowledge system: (WT = savior, outside world = roaring lion seeking to devour me).

22

The Excuses JWs use for the child abuse mishandling issue...

by stuckinarut2 in

i have noticed a pattern of regurgitated excuses and justifications used by the average jw if the topic of child abuse gets raised:.

"oh but jehovah's organization is setting the lead in how to handle this issue".

"why are you getting so hung up on this one issue?

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@pale.emperor: "Bob, as you've might have guessed, is a c^nt."

Watch your mouth. That's "ALLEGED c*nt" to you, sir.

8

Census of the consensus

by Normalfulla in

a worldly friend of mine i grew up with at school has at the ripe old age of 40 just posted an honest question on his fb page.. .

"which religion or belief system is the truth?

" be respectful please .

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

I've always thought about it this way: If you're seeking the truth, then what you don't know is more important to you than what you know. That's a fundamental orientation. Some may consider this "analysis paralysis", but if you devote enough time to figuring out where you're wrong (I spend hours before hitting the "post" button sometimes), you strip away the ambiguity and falsehoods. Scientists operate under this principle when testing a hypothesis.

Any religion or belief system that claims to not only HAVE the truth, but to also BE it has committed a paradoxical flaw. That finalistic attitude is the ultimate shut down of the data window which prevents new information entering and contradicting (and therefore updating) the belief system.

Consider the staunch and dogmatic approach of religion. The Bible, for instance, was written when there was no concept of physics, chemistry, biology, meteorology or medicine. Yet, the arrogance of Christianity claims with absolute certainty that the virgin birth was a fact. Dead people being resurrected is conclusive. Sicknesses and disease were caused by divine plagues. Thunder and lighting were portentous signs of Yahweh's communication. This is not progressive. They say that the Bible has never changed and that God remains the same to the tests of time? That's not a virtuous sign of credibility.This is stone age defiance that warrants extinction.

Like language, truth is progressive. We live in error and strive toward the truth. Scientists are willing to rip holes in their own theories and arguments.That is why you'll find countless books on Darwin's Ghosts, Discarded Science, The Origins of Modern Science, and so on. I believe it's in this striving that the truth is most accurately embodied.

10

"Colour inside the lines!"

by stuckinarut2 in

just some random musings here.... picking up on the thoughts expressed in other posts (such as @wake me's post excellent earlier this week), about how "infantilized" jws are, it made me think of this post topic.. just like little children, jws need to be given constant praise and reassurance that they are doing well and doing the right thing.

also, they feel so bad if they stray or deviate from the ideal prescribed course, behaviors or activity that is approved by the society.. if they are told that they have "coloured outside the lines" so to speak, they feel dejected - or worse - defensive, depending on who points it out to them.

(eg a witness vs a non witness).

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

WHAM! Jr in another dozen years:

No, but seriously, when you say the Society has manipulatively made itself into Witnesses "superior mentor", you can see how it's done over the years in their literature. Witnesses will swear to you up and down that it's Jehovah who is their mentor. The definition of "Jehovah" is what has manipulatively been tampered with. For example: you leave the Watchtower organization? "You've left Jehovah." You get a letter from bethel telling you to pack your sh*t and relocate to some barren congregation? "Accept Jehovah's direction." You're worried about not getting all your pioneer hours in? "I made a vow to Jehovah."

The organization has been deified as the ultimate Father. And he's not a very healthy one, at that.

22

The Excuses JWs use for the child abuse mishandling issue...

by stuckinarut2 in

i have noticed a pattern of regurgitated excuses and justifications used by the average jw if the topic of child abuse gets raised:.

"oh but jehovah's organization is setting the lead in how to handle this issue".

"why are you getting so hung up on this one issue?

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

"STOP FOCUSING ON THE NEGATIVE!"

I told them maybe we should do the same when recognizing the fruits of Christendom.

10

"Colour inside the lines!"

by stuckinarut2 in

just some random musings here.... picking up on the thoughts expressed in other posts (such as @wake me's post excellent earlier this week), about how "infantilized" jws are, it made me think of this post topic.. just like little children, jws need to be given constant praise and reassurance that they are doing well and doing the right thing.

also, they feel so bad if they stray or deviate from the ideal prescribed course, behaviors or activity that is approved by the society.. if they are told that they have "coloured outside the lines" so to speak, they feel dejected - or worse - defensive, depending on who points it out to them.

(eg a witness vs a non witness).

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Apostates be like:

8

Census of the consensus

by Normalfulla in

a worldly friend of mine i grew up with at school has at the ripe old age of 40 just posted an honest question on his fb page.. .

"which religion or belief system is the truth?

" be respectful please .

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Which religion or belief system is the truth? Your pal is barking up the wrong tree. The "truth" is overrated. I don't care what Jesus, Pilate or any confucian, feel-good belief system has claimed.

The truth alone has never set anyone free.

It is only DOUBT which will bring mental emancipation.

21

So what would "Perfect Life" REALLY be like?

by stuckinarut2 in

i wonder sometimes just how jws try and comprehend what perfect life would really be like if "adam and eve" had not sinned?.

how would we live?

what would the realities be like?

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@stuckinarut2 Ah, the good ol' rule of scarcity.

When I was 15, I told my father that we're meant to die - it's what makes anything about us matter. I still believe this.

8

Random Musing of an ex-JW Pondering About ex-JWs

by StarTrekAngel in

long ago during my awakening process i was presented with a somewhat extrange proposition.

i can’t recall for sure where i read it.

i wandered thru so many sites over the years.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@StarTrekAngel: "Say it as it is, we have a hard time letting go of each other for a number of reasons. We may no longer feel safe or we may have nothing but loneliness if we let go. We may simply fear being out of touch with the latest scandals or, at the very worse, being reminded by our JW family that they were right. That this is what apostates are like."

Chilling words. My circle of associates can probably be numbered on one hand. I've accepted that the loneliness you speak of is in fact the greater alternative to weak companionship.

23

what as your first jolt that started your wake up process?

by yourmomma in

jw
friends

you know when you are in a deep sleep and something happens that may put you on a different level of sleeping, not as deep.

anyway, then i thought, 90 minutes for lunch?

so, there is a group waiting to cross the street.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Wakanda That.

Was hands down.

The greatest.

Apostasy trial.

I have ever listened in on.

My God, the man was was so eloquent, he may as well have been reading from the greatest script any apostate could take notes from. No wonder it left an imprint in your psyche over all those years!

For a goof, check out 20:22 when the apostate in question pulls out a paper print out. The elders, suspecting it's "apostate literature" literally duck for cover as though he'd produced a loaded weapon.