Were we Gullible? Weak? Lonely? Plain Stupid?
Was Marx right? Did we just need our 'opium'?
Why did we do it? There has to be a common root here!
The reason i ask is that i can't BELIEVE that i swallowed it for so long.
Peace
Lowden
For those who became JW's as adults.
by lowden 23 Replies latest jw friends
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Finally-Free
I was at a low point in my life where it seemed like everything I touched blew up in my face. I was depressed and on medication, unemployed and a JW offered me a job. My life needed some drastic changes, and the JWs were right there.
It was all downhill from there.
W
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lovelylil
I was suffering post partum depression and was isolated from my family. My hubby was in the navy and we had to move from my native NY to Boston area. I knew absolutely nobody. Also I was the victim of child abuse and I have read that this makes it easier to fall for a secure religion, i.e. cult that seems to have all the answers to your Q's. I also was young 22 and naive in a way.
Now I am older and wiser and anyone that says they have all the answers - I run away fast! I actually associated with the Dawn Bible Students for a while after leaving the Tower. They are much nicer people but just as indoctrinated as the Witnesses as they accept EVERYTHING Russell wrote as gospel. I read the studies in the scriptures books he wrote. The first one was pretty good and made a lot of valid points. The following ones were just wierd, strange and filled with lots of inaccuries and false dating that now in this day and age we know not to be true. YET, they hold onto them as true anyway. This smacked of the WT so I stopped associating with them. I will not be easily fooled again. Lilly
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fullofdoubtnow
Were we Gullible? Weak? Lonely? Plain Stupid?
I was none of those things, (well, stupid maybe)
I had just finished university with a good degree, had a bf I had been with 3 years, had a career as a teacher to look forward to, I wasn't sick, poor or depressed, yet I still fell for the bs, and said goodbye to all the things I had been working towards (career, marriage, kids) to become a part - time cleaner, then part - time office worker so I could pioneer. I sacrificed all the dreams I had then for an unrealistic dream, though I didn't see it that way at the time, of living forver in an earthly paradise.
Now, at 47, having seen the wts for the lying, manipulative organisation that it really is, I have no husband, though that will change soon, no chance of kids, and I am trying to resurrect the career I originally planned.
So why did I fall for it in the first place, and why did I believe it for so long? I wish I knew, but that's something I just can't figure out, and maybe never will. The only thing I've ever been able to think of is that the jws were so differrent in their thinking and beliefs to mainstream religion, for which I had little time anyway, and still don't, and I decided to take a look at them,without initially meaning to get really involved, and ended up getting hooked.
I suppose, to a degree, you could liken the experience to people who get addicted to hard drugs. They try them once, like them, try them a little more until they become part of their life, then keep trying them till they become their whole life, and nothing much else matters. That sums up my jw experience, it was just something I decided to try a few times then move on, but I liked it so much that I kept trying it until it completely took over my life, and by that time I couldn't have stopped even if I'd wanted to.
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twinflame
I was newly married and wanting to please my husband who had studied previously and wanted to get back into it. We split up over it but then I was struggling too much on my own raising 2 kids back then. I came back with the agreement I'd commit to it all. Downhill slide from there..............
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Ironhead
I fell for the bs also. I basically hated religions involvement in war, and I can never forget serving in the forces the military chaplains emphasising that if don't believe in god, you won't get his blessing during battle. The fact that the duds as an organisation are neutral, and was searching for god, made me listen to them.
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Swamboozled
I married someone who was DF'd and wanted him to get back in with his family (I couldn't fathom the shunning and how he must feel)! I was also raised with no religious background so it was ALL new to me and made perfect sense. I feel like the biggest dummy for not looking into it more closely.
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karen96
My first contact with the dubs was when my Mom studied (this was during my elementary school years), she had no plans to join, just enjoyed the discussions. When I was 18, I met a guy I liked and he started witnessing to me.
At the time, I had studied some religion in college, and felt I needed a better relationship with God, something more than attending Cathlolic mass. They seemed to have all the answers, and I started studying. When the light changed (again) about the 1914 generation, and being in a bad witness marriage, I decided to go.
I still feel a strong relationship with God is needed, but I don't think it has to be in any organized religion, since there are so many problems in a lot of them.
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Dismembered
Greetings lowden,
:Were we Gullible? Weak? Lonely? Plain Stupid?
I'd have to say for me, none of the above. Stoned perhaps. It was 1973 for me, 18 at the time. A time period when watchtower was in the midst of explosive growth due to the "blue bombshell" a.k.a "Truth Book". At one time there were about 15 of us potheads studying at the same time in the same room. The congregation "elders", as well as the Bible study conductor were creaming their high crotched polyester pants back then. I'd have to say peer pressure more than anything was the cause for me going ahead with cutting my long hair and then finally dunking in 1975. What an absolute crying shame that ended up being.
Dismembered