by The wanderer 44 Replies latest jw friends
Someone on this board summed it up very nicely a while back:
The only people that give a freak about the Jehovah's Witnesses are Jehovah's Witnesses and ex-Jehovah's Witnesses. Not all that many people, in the grand scheme of things.
By the way, there's a great chapter about the JWs in the book The American Religion by Harold Bloom, from 1992.
And check out Letter To A Christian Nation by Sam Harris, just published. (Not about JWs.)
Why are you here then?
D wanderer,
The same question to you too ...
I have learned so much from others experiences and I try to pass a lot of information on to my JW friends and family that are still in. It's great to get so many different views on a subject and be able to pick and choose how to present info to others that might just be what is needed to open the door to free their thinking abilities.
A few months ago, I sent a close relative the case of the elder at Patterson caught in the child porn situation.....she called me last week all mad and said she wanted to talk to me about something. I thought she was going to break off our relationship or something...we've been very close all our lives. Instead, she started in on a tirade about the recent Watchtower study, where an elder was caught running around on his wife! She is furious that NOTHING is ever said about child abuse or molestation and that the WTS acts like it doesn't exist!!! She didn't even mention anything about the "new tract"...which she would have in the past...I wonder if she's even going to give her share out!!! She was really MAD!!! Not only that, but about 5 other women including herself were talking about it and were disgusted and getting fed up!
My point being...you never know what is going to hit a nerve with someone...so I try to keep abreast of the info posted here and want to thank all those that keep on putting it out there for others to see!!!
Personally, I have worked through so many issues and feel good about where I am as far as religion goes. I don't have any answers and that's o.k.! What others choose to believe is o.k.! I may die and never know if I will ever live again...that's o.k., if I'm dead...I won't know it anyway! If I die and wake up with a set of wings, I'll fly around and try to make the world a better place! If I die and wake up with horns and a long tail, I'll wreck as much havoc as possible!!! LOL!
Now if I die and wake up in a Paradise Earth surrounded by JW's you will hear "the scream heard around the world!"
Swalker
Why are you here then?
I like to interact with friends and most of my friends are here.
Next question, please.
........myself, i haven't been a jw for 30 years. so you know that a LOT has changed in that amount of time. i enjoy seeing what "new light" they have to offer. what new rules they have. what new scandals locally & thru out the world will pop up next.
the stories of those who have recently left are an insight to how the borg treats it's followers compared to the way it was back then. all & all i guess i would say it is for the entertainment value.
magoo 
As soon as the WTS is no more and the Governing Body and Faithful and Discreet Slave doctrines are shown to be the load of dingos kidneys I know them to be, I won't give another thought to this stupid organization and its idiotic beliefs unless asked or feeling nostalgic for "the bad ol' days."
Until then, as long as my family is affected I will be affected, sad to say.
Respectfully,
AuldSoul
1.Having your world view utterly destroyed when you are absolutely convinced it is 100% correct is traumatic. Trauma is a condition of loss.
2.The unique experience of a religious cult can only be understood profoundly by those who have shared the experience themselves.
3.Anger at the wasted loss of one's energy, time and commitment requires either retribution or catharsis.
4.The removal of a "god" from one's consciousness leaves a huge vacuum which must be filled.
5.(This next point is perhaps too profound, but; here goes anyway) We are all mirror images of our fractured self/selves in varying time parameters. We engage our own self in the form of others here; some behind where our conscious identity now exists and some far ahead. The longing is to integrate and resolve all selves into one SELF.
6.There is extreme intimacy among us because we all thought exactly the same way, felt exactly the same way and shared exactly the same values and longings. Our mutual loss is identical. A grief shared is half a grief; a joy shared is twice a joy.
7.The Watchtower ideology presents a positive future which, when destroyed by reality, is impossible to replace with the empty nothingness which reality represents.
8.Misery loves company.
9.Our past is the clue to our future. But, we--if cynical now--cannot embrace the future. If we plunge into another mere variation of spiritual all-or-nothingness the destruction of our ID becomes all the more tragic.
10.We are ghosts and haunt our selves through the resonant embrace of others.
My past, is me! No shame, and anyone who fully tries to disconnect from their past, is in denial of there true self. Does not mean I have not changed, but to understand me, you can not study from 1997 on. It would not make any sense, you have to see the whole picture, the accumulation of days from ones birth to death, is the person.
I am here because I like the counter I am trying to get to the next level. I think it might be 500 post. But I do know something about the subject JW's as I was adversely affected by them for 33 years. And arguably for an entire lifetime. Everything I am and do today was shaped by my formative or unformative years. The Watertower society gave me someone or somebody to blame all my short commings on. Why I wasn't able to live life to the fullest. The watertower society gave me lemons and I got a pretty cool lemonade stand going now. On the positive side, had I not been a witness I may have been killed or crippled in Viet Nam. Not really cause I had a high number. If I wasnt a witness I dont know what I would have been, because my parents were not very guiding or supportitve or concerned with my future. But overall I think being a witness was a very negative experience. So I guess Im here for the counter. Im trying to unwind after work. And I do know something about the subject. If I wasnt a witness it could have been good or it could have been bad, I have no way of knowing, so I will be happy with the life I have today. This is kind of like the movie the butterfly effect.
I am here because there are people here behind these posts. We don't need a reason to be here, really.
B rainwashing's results are not easily forgotten.
There is extreme intimacy among us because we all thought exactly the same way, felt exactly the same way and shared exactly the same values and longings. Our mutual loss is identical. A grief shared is half a grief; a joy shared is twice a joy.
So very true, Terry.
And check out Letter To A Christian Nation by Sam Harris, just published. (Not about JWs.)
Thanks, I will. I enjoyed "The End of Faith".
