Did or does being a JW cause a person to be immature?

gentlesoul

I have noticed that most Jehovahs Witnesses and many who have left are very immature. Could you please give me your oppinion on that. Do they go as far as controlling your maturity ?

gumby

Depends.

If a person has been raised as one....then DEFINATELY yes! If a person has learned to use lifes skills first....then becomes a dub, the effects are different.

When all of your thinking and decision making in life are robbed of you by a bunch of old men wearing smelly underwear, your maturity level is much slower at peaking than the rest of mankind. In fact.....it may NEVER peak.

Gumby

gentlesoul

OK gumby I got to ask, How doyou know if their underwear was stinky ? LOL

freelife

I think that me being raised in the borg I was very nieve to things in life. I think that I am too trusting because of the way I was raised you know you can "trust "all your brothers. I don't know how many times this has screwed me over in my life.

gumby

OK gumby I got to ask, How doyou know if their underwear was stinky ? LOL

You can smell those guys a mile away

You raise a good point. The maturity level you speak of can be seen on this board.....and I don't mean to be facitious in saying that. People who leave dubdom that have been greatly influenced by the religion have never experienced many things in life that others have. Part of it is being naive to things they feel are forbidden, but learn later when they leave the dubs, realise is not forbidden by god.

Dubs teach a false sense of reality about life and people and so there adherants never grow to mental maturity.

Gumby

hillary_step

GSoul,

I have noticed that most Jehovahs Witnesses and many who have left are very immature. Could you please give me your oppinion on that.

I presume that you would not include yourself in this observation?.... Of course you may need to explain what your definition of maturity is in order to be to able to gain any valuable opinions on the matter. We do have a psychologist on 'Board' called 'Larc' who is probably able to shed some light on this matter. For what it is worth, here is my opinion.

The tendency toward arrested adolescence is not unique in enclosed societies, in fact it has been well documented. Of course, many feel that modern Western Society with it's focus on the fulfillment of self is undergoing a sort of universal social adolescence itself, and there is probably more than a seed of truth in this also.

It would be of interest to read what most subscribers to this Board would define as 'maturity'. One thing is sure, few of us would define it as having a group of Corporate managers of a large printing company, whom most have never met, deciding important often life-threatening decisions for them. It is true that some emerge from the WTS and dependent on their own emotional make-up, may actually rely too heavily on the opinions of others on Board's such as these. One hopes that in time as they shake themselves free of WTS domination, they will begin to find or rediscover their own personalities and take flight to the stars.

Best regards - HS

Mysterious

A lot of times they aren't forced to think about their decisions. And of course there is a great deal of stunted social skills as well. I wouldn't necessarily say they all come across as immature, but inside there are definitely some gaps there. Although I believe the leaving process forces them to gain a certain level of maturity in the process, especially if there were extenuating circumstances involved.

got my forty homey?

At Eighteen when I left my parents home because of differences of opion as to whether I should pioneer or not I would say that I was mature but very niave. Not really knowing how bad people can really be since I was raised a around JW's, thus all the trouble I quickly got myself engulfed in.

I felt like Midnight Cowboy in Times Square.

gentlesoul

Yes and I was not implying any thing here either but what I see. I think it is very sad that a religion takes away a reality of life and blinds people. I see this immaturity im my family members who are JW's. I think that is why they remove that from those who believe is so that they are allowed to control them easier. It's like being a child as a child does not know much and follows their parents in their teachings and actions, so as the same in the borg. They try to keep their followers as little children to gain them...I have a word for them liars of Gods word but I will not say it here...

Oh and your right Gumby you can smell them a mile away.......lol

mustang

I have heard the term "arrested development" used to describe people who have had their growth stunted. This is usually a "mental" growth; to my recollection this term is seldom applied to physical growth.

So, that would seem appropriate. Could someone with a counseling or psychological background address this?

Also, I am reminded of such people or cultures as the Amish, Mennonites or Hutterites. These people live in strictly defined colonies, compounds or other regulated environments. The average JW (outside of a Bethel site) does not live in such an obvious environment. But the control and conditioning certainly approach those levels. Either way is a virtual prison without walls.

I am certain that this isolation generates those symptoms, as some other have described.

Mustang

Did or does being a JW cause a person to be immature?

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