"These Horrible Remnants."

by scout575 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  scout575

  "I once tried to get into therapy to help purge the feelings of guilt and unworthiness associated with Christianity, but there are few mental-professional resources in the South. I got where I am on my own, and its mostly out of my system. Its taken years of contemplation, self-analysis, study, and actively seeking growth experiences to do so, but alot of residue remains. Old habits die hard, but the good news is that they can die. I'm hoping that this community can be a place where I can explore these horrible remnants, and maybe get some guidance on how to overcome them."

  This extract is taken from the forum, ex-Christian.net, and can be found in, 'testimonies of former Christians'. The title of the post is, 'Greetings from Newbie', on page one. If you are a JW thinking about joining a church, please read the whole post.
• 

  greendawn

  Is he talking about a mainstream Christian religion or is it a cultic one? I can't see how mainstream ones can harm because they don't exert psychological pressure on their members. If you don't like them you just leave, no shunning no guilt.
• 

  fullofdoubtnow

  Thanks for the warning, though I doubt I will ever contemplate joining a church anyway. One cult is ebough for me in this lifetime.
• 

  scout575

  Greendawn: Whether or not a Christian denomination exerts psychological pressure on its adherents, it is the Christian Bible that exerts tremendous psychological pressure on its believing readers. Whilst many who bear the label Christian may choose to ignore or 'reinterpret' this psychological pressure into something more 'cuddly', the fact is that the NT tells its readers that if they fail to do what Jesus tells them to do, they will be destroyed ( Acts 3:23 ). Is it any wonder that many Christians end up burdened with guilt and feelings of unworthiness? Any religion that can come up with sentiments like those found at Acts 3:23, is a cult.
• 

  Sad emo

  I went and checked out the whole post and here's my thoughts:

  Firstly, when I began reading and saw the words 'Methodist' and 'acolyte', I thought 'does not compute'! so I went away and googled. I discovered that the United Methodist church (as found in America) doesn't seem to be like the Methodist church of the UK - it's maybe more similar to a 'low'/'middle' Anglican church. Whatever, anyway! I just needed to check it wasn't a fake post.

  Then I went to continue reading - closely - and it doesn't really sound as if the guy has anything against the church itself, they seem to be more angry with their parents for forcing them to go - that was my thought from reading the paragraph beginning 'I hated church...' btw - coupled with the later statement that they appreciated that going to church had kept them out of trouble.

  Perhaps the person's guilt stems more from 'letting their parents down' and their disapproval, not from a fear of damnation as you seem to suggest in your reply to greendawn - hence the fear of telling their parents that they are now an atheist. That being said, there can be some feelings of guilt associated with leaving a few mainstream churches - more usually ones which go with the cultish teaching of 'we are the only true church, all the others are wrong.'

  Consider it this way - If you've become a true atheist, you have nothing to fear from what is written in a book of myths and lies anyway.
• 

  scout575

  Sad emo: My reply to Greendawn was not a reference back to the poster that I quote at the top. Notice that I refer to "many" Christians having feelings of guilt and unworthiness because of texts like Acts 3:23; I don't say from what source came the poster's feelings of guilt and unworthiness. The poster simply does not say where they came from, other than that they are, "associated with Christianity".

  Having spent many hours reading ex-Christian websites and message boards, I know that many Christians do have feelings of guilt and unworthiness because of NT threats of damnation to Christians who don't meet NT demands.

  Whilst the poster that I quote is now an atheist he continues to be haunted by his Christian background. The same kind of thing can be found in some ex-JWs who become 'true' atheists, but who still suffer from the 'fall-out' of their years of exposure to the JW brand of Christianity.
• 

  Sad emo

  scout

  'associated with Christianity' covers a very broad spectrum. This may be trivialising the issue somewhat but I use an extreme to try make my point clearer - I could fall out with Christianity because the bells at the local church wake me up every Sunday morning thus making me feel guilty for not getting out of bed and be traumatised by the loss of sleep! Should that be used as an example as to why one should consider joining a church or not?

  I guess I'm just trying to say that you maybe didn't choose the best quote for consideration this week as it was too open for interpretation (I still think the guy had more of an issue with his parents as a whole than the church alone).

  At the same time, as you say, there are those who are traumatised by their experiences in the church, myself included. A point of interest, do you find many testimonies similar to the JW experiences we read about here - such as physical abuse, shunning (first-hand - I know the poster quoted mentioned an aunt), cover-ups etc?
• 

  Gerard

  And o n the seventh day, while god rested, the devil created religion.
• 

  A Paduan

  Scout,
  
  It's interesting that you use the phrase "If you are a JW.." rather than "EX-JW"
  

  Do you think that the 'church' you're referring to would provide a more guilt and fear laden experience than jwism ?
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  "If you are a JW thinking..........." The risk appears to be small anyway.
  

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  

  "If you are a JW thinking about joining a church" If you're a jw, aren't you already in a church ?
  

  Are jws christian ?
• 

  scout575

  Sad emo: Its remarkable how similar the sentiments of ex-Christians are to those of ex-JWs. I'll quote one for next week's post. I agree with you that this week's quote was a bit vague, but I don't regret using it because my intention in posting these quotes is simply to encourage JW lurkers, who are considering joining a church, to start reading ex-Christian websites and message boards, so that they get a rounded out view of Christianity, and not just the 'spun' version that they may be being exposed to. I would similarly encourage someone considering becoming a JW to read JWD.

  Although many Christians ( JWs included ) live contented lives, the fact that many are made miserable by it, despite their best efforts to live by it, does argue against Christianity being divinely inspired. Christianity simply isn't the panacea that many Christians claim it to be.