by acolytes 43 Replies latest jw friends
sometimes you HAVE to polish a turd. It's all you have to work with.
Certainly this is the best course for many. It makes their life more enjoyable.
I wasn't attempting to rain on anyone's parade, per se. We all have comfortable fantasies that help us exist.
Well, being a Witness taught me about the value of the Bible in everyday life--which I could have learned somewhere else, to be sure. Steven Hassan's book comes to mind, where he mentions the need to give credit to yourself! This religion didn't make you quit smoking or do x, y, or z--YOU did! So pat yourself on the back for that.
It taught me the value of research. I always had little nagging thoughts of "hmm, it would be nice to look up that book they quoted". I always figured it meant they did their homework.
If anything, I would say, waking up is the direct consequence of being taught TOO well. I think the experience itself is enlightening in that it reveals the nature of man. We can ignore even the most basic concepts of right and wrong all because anonymous authority says so. I never believed in that. It was an opportunity to see firsthand what we are all capable of if we shut off our hearts and our minds.
The credit for the positive changes can go to God and to the Christ, not to a human organization. They love nothing more than to take credit for things they have no right to claim. Or if you're not into the God notion, give yourself the credit.
But honestly? Being a Witness WAS so bad. Constant fear, guilt, low self-esteem, taking your most personal problems to men who were so utterly detached from feeling and reality that it is obscene, having to tolerate the gossip and slander and sit through an infinite loop of 'where we are in the stream of time' and cookie-cutter experiences at every assembly, judgmental, self-righteous idiots and their condescending company line, the gradual loss of friends as they become 'more spiritual' and less compassionate, having to explain about the holidays every frakkin' year rather than not being on edge about every conceivable conversation with a non-JW and ready to judge at a moment's notice. Dating under a microscope. Learning how to quantify the value of your worship to God as if it is measured in empirical terms. An avalanche of books and magazines that repeat themselves so thoroughly that some paragraphs have literally been cut and pasted straight from previous books or magazines.
Obviously, it was bad enough for us to take the time to figure out it was a lie, wasn't it? So yeah, it was that bad. It was VERY that bad.
SD-7
This product has helped me greatly in the recovery process.....
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sometimes you HAVE to polish a turd. It's all you have to work with.
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Nobody HAS to. Normal people just bury or flush and most people run from working with any kind of waste product - the longer people say they 'have' to work with turds; they longer they believe it - the longer they stay mired in it. Having said that - each to their own and one must do what one feels best. sammieswife.
