by diamondblue1974 36 Replies latest jw friends
It is possible to learn a positive from a negative...for instance, my father was the perfect role model of what I didn't want to be which made me work harder in life. I also developed a rather thick exterior after being chased, taunted and punched on a somewhat daily basis on my way home from middle school for being a JW, hiding in the library and reading all the "forbidden books" one shouldn't read.
Diana
Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!
Plenty of positive, in my particular case of course, from the WTBTS experience.
However, not enough to make me go back into it wholeheartedly. I've just outgrown them.
DY
I think the only positive I learned was how much the JWs are hypocrites, and how the WT publications are full of shit.
I've had to reconstruct my entire personality, belief system, my social skills only to name a few. A lot of the stuff I had to re-learn I should've learned if I wasn't raised with "bible principles"
Yes, realizing I do not need religion in my life.
I think the only positive I learned was how much the JWs are hypocrites, and how the WT publications are full of shit. I am quoting Nosferatu. I tried to highlight and click on the bubble but am new at quoting so don't know if I done it right. Anyway I certainly feel the same as he does. The reason they are so full of shit is because that organization is run by apostates.
Has anyone got anything positive from being a JW?
I noticed that after I left I had a lot of empathy to release. Empathy for those who were disfellowshipped and shunned. Empathy for those I left behind in the movement. Empathy for this and Empathy for that! So I think, what I'm trying to say is, had I have not been so stone cold as a JW I may have never understood what true empathy for people meant. I also understand now what it means to care for people unconditionally, maybe I would never have understood that if I hadnt have spent so many years in a movement where everything is based on conditions.
Ya get my drift?
Nice thread!
Brummie
Some of the positive-positive things I attribute to being a JW are:
Some of the positive lessons I learned from negative JW experiences are:
FairMind
I got free babysitting for my girls while I worked
The only good thing I learned from them was public speaking - courtesy of the Ministry School.
However, I would hasten to add that the price paid for that was far too high!
(I don't even have to use that skill anymore)
Yes. I learned how NOT to think and how not to act. Whenever I am faced with a dilemma involving social interactions or involving how to critically analyze a situation and problem-solve, I try to determine what I would have done when I was a JW, and do the opposite!
