by under_believer 19 Replies latest jw friends
Every once in a while I hear a JW say "If I hadn't been raised in the truth, I never would have come into the truth." Have you ever heard that? What do you think that is?
Ive never heard a JW say that.
Ive heard them go on about how lucky they were to find Jehovah etc etc.
I have said it since I left. I think its a feeble attempt to prove that you (I) were brainwashed and wouldnt have chosen that crazy life path other than under duress.
Id really like to think I wouldnt have chosen it if I hasnt been brought up in it, but who knows?
More than once I've heard a JW express regret, along the lines of, "I could have pursued my talent in music, but Kingdom interests come first." Followed by a shrug, deep sigh, and "Ah well, it won't matter in the new system."
When I was in I used to say those very words. I believe it was a way of admitting that deep down inside I knew I didn't really believe it.
my father used to say that about me..................I always took it to mean I was so argumentative, I wouldn't have listened to a person at the door. He was right.
I've never heard a JW admit that. I have heard a few say (and also thought to myself): Would I be a JW today if I hadn't been raised as one?"
That's something I've always wondered about. Would I have questioned God, believed in God, had I not been raised a Witness. Although the rest of my family is Southern Baptist, so........
It does throw a mind warp on ya.
I'm really glad you brought this topic up. I personally have heard that question asked of one self on a few occasions. The one I recall most, was a 'friend' of mine.
He was having a discussion with my mom while we were out preaching. He felt that he would never have become a witness had his mother not raised him as one.
My mom put a lot of energy into trying to convince him that he would have become a witness even if his family hadn't raised him as one. In the end he gave in to my
mother's 'reasoning'(not that anything she said was reasonable) A few years ago I told my mom the same thing, that I would NEVER have become a witness had I not
been raised as one. My mom didn't put much effort into trying to convince me otherwise,, but then again, I've never been easily influenced like my friend was.
In my opinion, when a j-dub makes that statement, I believe what we are seeing is their doubts and questions beginning to surface and this is how it is expressed.
"If I wasn't raised in, I would never have come in."
My wife says that all the time. She is still a believer (although weak and apathetic). Her point is that she does not have a "spiritual" personality, and would have become an non-religious ambivalent agnostic (dare I put words in her mouth) if not raised as a JW.
This statement does find fact in many born-in JWs--if not in word--then in deed.
I've said this many times. So have many of my "brought up in the truth" friends (though privately). The suggested reasons:
- Wishful thinking?
- A tacit admission that either the message is unpalateable for the average person, or the preaching methods are inefficient?
- A statement that they don't really believe it's the truth, but they're stuck now?
Probably a combination of all three , but common sense and logistics mean that the odds would have been astronomic for me to have been contacted and converted as a non-witness adult , when only 0.25% of people are witnesses (and most of them are 2nd / 3rd generation.) As a young(ish) person living in a basically unreligious and godless society , I cannot conceive of any circumstances where I would have had any interest in any religion , other than a token membership to a "lite religion" like the Anglicans or Catholics.
This has been an issue that has puzzled me for many years. JWs (and , in fairness , many other Christian religions) believe that people become worshippers because God "draws" those who have the right heart condition. He looks at people intimately and individually and every person is accountable. If this was true , you would expect a reasonably uniform spread of witnesses throughout the whole earth , and you would expect that the percentage of witnesses children who become witnesses would be the same for the children of all faiths (and none). Yet both these factors (place of birth and parents religious affilliation) are clearly the overwhelming factors in determining the religion of the child.
