Jehovah's Witnesses simply go 'against the grain' in so many areas

by jambon1 6 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  jambon1

  Having grown up in 'the word' in a very loving and normal family, certain aspects of the truth never really sat right with me. As an impressionable 17 year old, the things I was learning during my study seemed bizarre & in many ways, just not right. But I swallowed it all eventually. 'Alligning my thoughts with gods' and all that.

  I tried so hard to really believe & practise all the things you have to as a JW. But it was never going to work out 'long-term'.

  After ten years in the organisation, I left. Very abruptly. This was just weeks after I had tried so hard to give the truth one last shot. To study all my doubts away. To try to grasp all the wacked out, bizzareness.

  In the end, there was just too many things that went against my own personal thoughts & beliefs. The things that I was pretty content with before I let the JW's into my life. I was living an absolute lie trying to be a JW & it was killing me. Just some of the things that bothered me greatly:

  • Shunning a family member or friend
  • The blood issue
  • God killing everyone
  • Graphic images of suffering in the magazines
  • The overwhelming 'air' of negativity within JW congregations
  • Elders who were assholes being 'appointed by holy spirit'
  • Pioneers sponging off the state to survive financially
  • Jesus sacrifice didn't seem like a sacrifice to me
  • The changing teachings of the Watchtower
  • The way child abuse was being dealt with
  • Various people who were wrongly judicially dealt with (two parents for 'slandering' the elder who abused their son were reproved)
  • Young men & women sitting in a room with 3 older men describing their 'sins' in detail
  • The teaching of the 'other sheep' - obviously refering to gentiles
  • Children being subject to 'adult topics' at the meetings

  The list could go on..............

  Concealing my concern over matters like these almost killed me - literally.

  How many other people are there who are living the life of a JW but secretly despise some of the teachings & cannot get out the religion?

  My advice to any of you is this; please be true to yourself & live your life the way that you want to. You will be utterly miserable if you don't.
• 

  Newborn

  Dear jambon

  Wise words indeed...every day it amazes me how they can still fool 7 million people!!!! and yes I think there are quite a few who are trapped in the cult mostly coz of family

  It's very sad.

  Newborn
• 

  creativhoney

  • Shunning a family member or friend

  this goes against every shred of human nature. in my eyes, if God is real, he doesnt split up families. they have this all wrong and take it to the extreme, stubbornly.

  • The blood issue

  never agreed with it, never carried cards, wouldnt sign them for my kids. - avoided at all costs.

  • God killing everyone

  I always say the bible is just two religions, how can god be a god of war and one of peace. - if he sees the future, why stall armageddon, - if he killed sodom and gomorrah, because he knew the outcome of all living things, and he brought on the flood for the same reason, then hello, where is armageddon? God seems like a big sulky man to me.

  • Graphic images of suffering in the magazines

  never really thought about that one.

  • The overwhelming 'air' of negativity within JW congregations

  so many people on meds. none of my worldly friends or colleagues are on anti depressants, - any ex witness ones are, and so many witnesses still in I have lost count.

  • Elders who were assholes being 'appointed by holy spirit'

  even ones posting on here whilst lording it over the cong.

  • Pioneers sponging off the state to survive financially

  single mum of 4 on benefits who pioneeered in my cong. mum gave her all our old clothes - she had worked to pay for the nice laura ashley dresses that those kids wore. (incidentally none of them are now witnesses - 5 girls, all had teenage pregnancies)

  • Jesus sacrifice didn't seem like a sacrifice to me

  explain more, this is interesting

  • The changing teachings of the Watchtower

  make it up as they go along

  • The way child abuse was being dealt with

  I dont know here - I think the responsibility lies with parents too. see other posts by me on this, some elders are so naive and think no JW would harm a child I dont always think it is a cover up, think it is sheer ignorance and blindness.

  • Various people who were wrongly judicially dealt with (two parents for 'slandering' the elder who abused their son were reproved)

  again, brainwashing, ignorance and naivety. whats sad is a lot of the elders arent bad people,. - they really think they are doing whats right, and this is dangerous - its like the campaign that ran in the third world that said coca cola is good for you, and soon mothers were feeding it to their suckling babies instead of the milk they so desperately needed.

  • Young men & women sitting in a room with 3 older men describing their 'sins' in detail

  Im sure some people go home and use this as personal mastubatory material. where are the guidelines. if you were being investigated at work you would be entitled to representation.

  • The teaching of the 'other sheep' - obviously refering to gentiles

  never listened that much to doctrinal stuff

  • Children being subject to 'adult topics' at the meetings

  this got my goat. a local elder gave a talk about sex, it was graphic. I was shocked that he was saying some of the stuff in front of kids. - especially when you are supposed to keep your kids deadened to it - his wife had died, he was single a while, he was obviously horny and his whole talk was on how wonderful sex felt. - he sounded like a dirty old man.
• 

  zombie dub

  • Jesus sacrifice didn't seem like a sacrifice to me

  explain more, this is interesting

  I agree with this, if you believe the story they way he died was horrible, but what was 30 or so hours of pain in comparison to then going to heaven for eternity and being next to god? He didn't really die, so yea, where was the sacrifice? A soldier that jumps on a hand grenade to save a few of his friends makes an infinitely bigger sacrifice.
• 

  WTWizard

  And they make such a big deal about little things. What is so wrong with celebrating Christmas and birthdays? All that doctrine does is drives a wedge between the witlesses and worldly people--yet they are supposed to be wasting all their time bringing those worldly people into the cancer! Besides, that adds extra stress--the extreme position taken against Christmas means no enjoying Christmas carols--in fact, it means dreading them.

  The waste of time is another major issue. So what happens if I get everyone in the world into the cancer? There are going to be children among this group that are not "of age" yet, so Jehovah is going to have to put off Armageddon to allow those children to take their stand once they get "of age". In the meantime, there will be another group of children that are in turn borderline, and those children will have to take their stand. Yet another group is behind them, and another--the work never finishes. I never got a satisfactory answer to that problem.
• 

  jambon1

  • Jesus sacrifice didn't seem like a sacrifice to me

  explain more, this is interesting

  I agree with this, if you believe the story they way he died was horrible, but what was 30 or so hours of pain in comparison to then going to heaven for eternity and being next to god? He didn't really die, so yea, where was the sacrifice? A soldier that jumps on a hand grenade to save a few of his friends makes an infinitely bigger sacrifice.

  _______________________________________________

  The above answers my point on this perfectly.

  PS - the opening sentance was supposed to read Having grown up in 'the world' in a very loving and normal family, certain aspects of the truth never really sat right with me.

  I wasn't brought up in the org.
• 

  Beth Sarim

  • The overwhelming 'air' of negativity within JW congregations

  so many people on meds. none of my worldly friends or colleagues are on anti depressants, - any ex witness ones are, and so many witnesses still in I have lost count.

  you know, with a lifestyle that's so far from ordinary & out of whack from general society, it is clearly no wonder at all why the average Witness goes looney tunes.