When you tell "worldly" people about life as a dub...

wanderlustguy

Do they get angry? My s.o. gets furious to the point I haven't even told her 10% of my past as a dub.

Do you find it strangely amusing tha they get angry, and laugh or chuckle for some reason? I do, and I think it's because I find it so ridiculous now and to see someone get flustered over it kind of reaffirms my feelings.

Does it make your relationship difficult? Yes for me. Since I can't share my entire past, it's hard for her to understand me at present. So there's a lot of baggage on that one.

How about you?

WLG

Finally-Free

I try not to tell people too much about the JWs. A brief overview is often enough to make them look like they might blow a fuse, and I don't want to feel responsible for elevating someone's blood pressure, or causing a heart attack or stroke.

W

mouthy

Oh I am so sorry your angry... But I think you have to patient with her. I am sure when you saw all the dead lying on the floor at Jonestown you thought to yourself how stupid!!! Or watching men women & children burning willingly to death with Koresh..... Your friend is hearing part of what you have gone through & really she cant imagine an intelligent human being believing we had to go through all of this...
"Oh the gift that God had give us to see ourselves as others see us" Try to be patient with her...I have spoken to HUNDREDS at schools, churches, gatherings, I havent met ONE that understands. UNLESS they too have been a victim of a cult....Which we were in. Go slow friend else you wont have her much longer ((((HUG)) You asked what I thought so here is my two cents (((HUG))

AlmostAtheist

The most fun comes from telling them something that I had considered normal and seeing their unexpected reaction to it. When I realize how something I thought was normal was actually stupid, it's a moment of growth for me.

And yer right, seeing them get angry over the shunning and other idiotic Watchtower ideas is validating. Not that we need any validation on it!

Dave

Effervescent

I guess I worry too much about people thinking I'm a nut on some kind of anti-JW quest!

With my husband, I would just share a very little bit at a time instead of hitting him all at once with stuff. It seemed like if I talked about too much at once he'd get this glazed over look and I think in his mind he was thinking "Ya ya ya... I had to go to Catholic school... the kind with NUNS, talk about traumatizing!" He knows pretty much the whole story now, but I think it took a couple of years into our relationship before he knew everything.

My friends, same thing, I share stories here and there. Enough to make them think twice before accepting any kind of literature from the JWs or allowing them to preach to their family.

OnTheWayOut

I have only talked with a few people about the crazy doctrine of the borg, but
I don't try to soft-sell it. I let them know what I used to think.

I tell them how the end of this [world] was supposed to come before all
people alive in 1914 passed away, particularly by 1975, because that's the
year mankind had been around for 6000 years. The worldwide flood happened
about 4000 years ago, the entire animal population (including man) came from
what fit in the ark and spread out- even across oceans somehow.

We know all this because Jesus has been invisibly present since 1914, which
date the Bible helped some really religious men calculate, and the Bible was
written to find 144,000 people to rule in heaven with Jesus. A dozen or so of the
men from that 144,000 are speaking for God / prophesying / being inspired by God /
directed by God / directed by Jesus / directed by angels / directed by others in the
144,000 who are now in heaven living in Brooklyn- telling JW's what to believe and
how to run our lives. We can never read information from former members, take
(whole) blood, vote, celebrate holidays, we are not supposed to go to college or hang
out with non-members. I mention the pedophile issue and what disfellowshipping
means- how I am trying to avoid that so my wife and mother can talk to me.

Most of you know the rest. I reminded the few people I talked to that I believed
virtually all of this stuff at one time- I allow them to see it for what it is.

alt

mouthy

Sorry I read it was YOU that was angry Put it down to old age So disreegard my answer above

DanTheMan

What I've found in every case so far is that worldly™ people know little or nothing about JW's. A lot of times I've found that they're not even aware of the most significant brand-differentiation aspects JWism, such as the belief in an imminent apocalypse, the blood issue and holidays.

With regards to the sociological aspects of JWism, I think that people who have never experienced a high-control religion or relationship have a hard time getting a sense of what JW life is like. And if they can, they're dumbfounded trying to comprehend why anybody would ever join or stay in a religion like that.

fullofdoubtnow

I'm lucky in that I live with another ex jw anyway, so he totally understands.

As for talking to friends, they are incredulous when I tell them some of the things I used to believe in and do.

moshe

It has not been a casual topic of discussion on my part for 15 years- I only discuss some aspects of the past with my grown children since they were in the middle of it and suffered as a result of their mother divorcing me over leaving the WT.

When you tell "worldly" people about life as a dub...

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