exJW Obsession and Paranoia towards the Witness Religion- Is it healthy? (page 3)

OnTheWayOut

it is time lost

I hear you. I want to move on. I will one day.
It is time lost all those years of 5 weekly meetings,
preparing talks and studying WTS literature.
It is time lost at 3 day, 2 day, 1 day assemblies.
It is time lost in the recruiting work- pioneering for
some, others just giving up weekends.

Yes, it is a waste of more time to obsess over the WTS,
but most of us need to obsess for a little while.

It is also time lost- sitting in front of the tube (TV- the other one)
I spend most of my free time reading- educating myself.
Reading about cults and WT history could be viewed as time lost,
but I don't think so.

I keep saying I will cut down on JWD. I still need to get around to that.
Point well taken.

J-ex-W

Dude you're tripping. It's not paranoia; it's a part of our lives. We are going on, and we check in here to make sure we aren't giving up the ghost on our lives. I know that there are many people that can go on with their lives as if it were all a dream/nightmare; but many people have post traumatic stress regarding that religion. And many people still have loved ones in the religion. Telling people to go on and forget about it is a rather distasteful choice of words.

This sums up my situation in a nut shell. Except it leaves out the daily hell that is connected with having loved ones still in who are totally ignorant of the true reasons for one's having left...and showering daily approval on--well, some very UN-Christian individuals who 'look' so good for just being there.

I honestly can't say any more. But I will still be showing up here, because I have finally found some support for dealing with this unending, trauma-inducing farce of an 'angels theater.'

MsMcDucket

Here's an analogy for you. A person joins a religion that says that using your left hand is evil. So, you must learn not to use your left hand. You just can't stop using your left hand overnight. So you work and work at it until you master it. Then you see people that are using their left hand that have not been struck down by God. You start having questions regarding why you stopped using your left hand? You find out that it was a bunch of bull!

And then when you find out that someone told you to stop using your left hand because they didn't want you to and not because it was dangerous to your physical, spiritual, or mental health; you get angry because you've changed yourself for no good reason. So, you want to start using your left hand again the way you use to, but you've got to build up the dexterity and start the learning again. You've got to unlearn what you were taught. This takes time. It's not paranoia because you want to use your left hand again. It's good that you want to use it again. You talk to others that have been through this and find out they feel just like you. . . so you start a support group. Other's join because they can identify with you. They too had stopped using their left hand. They start to use their left hand again and use it well, but they are unhappy about the whole thing; so they hang around the support group for their mental health. Then there are others who think that maybe they shouldn't be using their left hand and they find a group that tells them that they've been lied to, that's there's nothing wrong with using your left hand. . .

Do you get the point. People have experienced something that is life altering and it just doesn't go away because someone else calls it paranoia.

Gregor

MsMcD. Nice analogy. From some of the word choices he makes I suspect that he never has been a JW.

MsMcDucket

From some of the word choices he makes I suspect that he never has been a JW.

Thanks for understanding my analogy, Gregor; and you're, probably, right about this guy. He just came to get some of us worked up!

Rabbit

Or perhaps he's still...in ?

timetochange
A phase? How long do you think this "phase" should last? 6 months.....6 years? When does "moving on" and saving what's left of our families begin? Ed

This board and others have helped me tremendously to start "moving on" from the very real damages that Watchtower beliefs have caused me and my family. WT doctrines robbed my Mom's very life [no blood transfusion] from her and our family. My marriage broke up over my doubts and disbelief's...all my children shunned me and I'm not even DF/DA!

During the time I've spent on this board, 3 years now, reading so many others experiences of how they dealt with shunning and other JW related problems...one of my children chose to re-establish a good relationship and another is making progress. The last one I haven't seen in a few years. I believe I have learned invaluable lessons from the thousands of shunned parents, children and other victims of the WT's teachings. I've learned from the only group of people in the world that could possibly understand what I am up against...and that is...ex-Jehovah's Witnesses.

The lessons I've learned and the support I've received gave me (I believe) the tools of patience and understanding that helped me reach my daughter's heart. So, in answer to your question: "6 months.....6 years?" I'll just say...whatever it takes!

What else could be a better goal and time spent than to prove to my kids that a Witness that 'walks away' or 'leaves Jehovah' to become a "worldly person" is still a good person ? To show them there really IS another "place to go" ? Right now they still all live in fear of being shunned and rejected themselves by all the JW's in their life.

It's a tough, tough social pressure and punishment to go thru, but, I love 'em and I will never surrender!

Rabbit

candidlynuts

i've lost my children, my parents, my siblings, my home and all possesions and my mental health all because i left a very bad marriage and a religion that told me to go out in service more, get more studies, turn in more time, give more talks and my marriage would miraculously turn good!

coming here i can search for that one nugget of truth that will give me what i need to free my children from this religion. i now have a binder full of nuggets that i'll be able to use eventually.

coming here i can read and converse with people who are at different levels of recovery and learn from them and find hope.

coming here i can read stories about families reunited after 10, 20, 30 + years, keeps me from sinking into a depression that there is no way out of.

coming here i can read stories from people who are where i was 3 or 4 years ago and i can relate my experience and maybe help someone else.

it is obsession or paranoia? no it's a survival tool

DannyHaszard

I liken myself to a holocaust survivor turned lifelong Nazi hunter.Born 3rd gen Jehovah's Witness to a devout clan whose entire life centered around 'Jesus return to power in 1914' a blasphemous fraudulent lie by the psychopath Watchtower false prophets. Yes,the fiercest enemy is the man/woman with nothing to lose.Bee afraid Watchtower hacks bee very afraid You don't touch my family! Dedicated to my family members, nieces and nephew Lauren, Ashley and Kevin Haszard that have gone missing in the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Undecided

Actually I enjoyed most of my life as a JW, it finally became too much for me to handle and I quit. I don't think it was too different from some other religions. I wasn't restricted like so many are today from having friends outside the borg. I always had friends at work. Now that I think back, damn it did take so much of my time, maybe I've just got over it to the point I don't remember the bad stuff anymore. Hey, I think I'm cured. H2O and JWD did it's job.

Ken P.

Satanus

'Ed'

Are you a jw at this time?

S

exJW Obsession and Paranoia towards the Witness Religion- Is it healthy?

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