by greendawn 17 Replies latest jw friends
Thanks for sharing the experiences. I'm working on a novel in which one of the turning points for a JW is meeting someone in the H-to-H work who really gets him thinking. the guy becomes a regular return visit, but guess who is teaching whom!? This isn't exactly what happened to me, but this character in the novel is a synthesis of all the books and individuals who got my mind working right.
Your experiences are great! Keep them coming.
S4
BTTT. Boy, did I kill this thread 2 days ago or what!! Anymore experiences?
S4
Already facing doubts about the truth of "the truth" I tried my best to please Jehovah by pioneering for a year. (Get an extra helping of Holy Spirit for my sacrifice and go to Pioneer School, so they can clear up any doubts and get me back on track.) Anyway, I was working with a sister who was paranoid schitzo (sp) and her presentations were very bold, forward. Her look was odd, clearly someone on medication. She did her presentation to a man who was young, had long hair with a gray streak dyed in. He totally fit the part of a laid-back free-thinker. He asked us "If God's name is Jehovah or Jesus or Allah, it doesn't really matter, but let me ask you, do you think God brought life to you just so you can spend the entire life praising him? Your people say you have to do this preaching to live forever- Is He so insecure that he needs to make everyone into preachers? Didn't he create us to work hard and then enjoy life? The message Jesus taught is love, and not to have religion be a burden upon you. If you want to go to church and praise God there, wonderful, but if you just meditate or read the Bible on your own, can't you still find God's love? Won't God bring himself to you? Won't God forgive you if you relax on the weekend?" I was able to mutter some standard JW stuff to him about God bringing himself to you thru the preaching work of his faithful servants, but to tell you the truth, I was profoundly affected by his words. They actually helped me to research differently than I had before. My year of pioneering was totally different because of this one man and his casual straighforward free-thinking.
two things stick in my mind- one of the last times I was out in service a young teen whose father was not a JW said she was so happy because she now realized via another witness that if her dad was destroyed at the big A it wouldn't bother her becasue J wouldn't allow her to remember him. her dad was a very nice man - it sounded horrible and she really was full of glee (and now no longer a jw if i have heard correctly)
another ex-jw referred to a Hospice for families of terminally ill children as the "house that greed built" and I was the only one in the vehicle that did not start shaking their heads and agreeing with her...
way to many sick memories of warped people
Pioneer Spit...oh, i mean Spirit
I just wanted to say your name made me laugh.
I had many experiences, many because of my own inadequacy. I had been a JW for over 20 of my adult years and still would never have been able to explain the doctrines just using the bible.
Haven't had any epiphanies while out in FS. But last Saturday led the group out, and I started into my spiel at the door about the "Are We In the Last Days?" watchtower. I did okay for a minute. The guy identified himself as a Christian and said, "Yeah, but haven't there been people who said it was the end of the world all throughout history? So what does your saying it now prove?"
And of course, he is absolutely right. "Yeah. You have a good point. Okay, you have a nice day."
I really hoped the older sister next to me wouldn't get on my case for not trying to disprove him, but she didn't say a word.
I hate to admit this but I was a hardheaded, stiffnecked and very stubborn JW who thought I had all the answers for anyone out in service or in my family. I sucked down everything the WTS taught without question, and spouted it right back out when needed.
Field service was not my downfall.....the lack of love I experienced was the turning point....
Sunny,
I'm with you on this one!!!!!!
Warlock
While I had had various doubts since being in high school, I just thought that I needed to "study more" so that they would go away. Both my previous ex-husbands are now XJWs and they also had their doubts, etc. One was a former Bethelite and going there, he said, ruined whatever JW spirituality he had. Anyway, back to me......I had a co-worker who was Catholic who was receptive to many things, but always wanted more proof than just the JW literature. When I would find things in the Catholic encyclopedia or some other reference book, she willingly accepted the information, however I did find things which were misquoted or taken out of context. My co-worker lovingly suggested that I check as many references as I could and be like the Bereans. If JW teachings were right, they would withstand anything. So, I kept that in mind, especially since that is what we taught new studies to do with their religions. So, during a time when I was off work after a small surgical procedure (with no JW's visiting or any kind of LOVE shown), I decided that I needed to "make the truth my own" and study, study, study. If I was going to teach my daughter these things, I needed them solid in my heart and mind, as well. Well, that did it. That was the beginning of the end for me. I found so many things that enhanced my doubts. I found misquotes, lies, changing information, etc. I haven't seen that former co-worker for many, many years now, but I will always have her to thank for my truly seeing the 'cult' for what it is. If she had been rude or pushy about it, I would have just dismissed her as being a poor mislead worldly person. Instead she had the right approach and helped a poor mislead JW.
