by The wanderer 27 Replies latest jw friends
To quote the movie Dogma: "Organized religion destroys who we are by inhibiting our actions, by inhibiting our decisions, out of - out of fear of some -- some intangible parent figure who -- who shakes a finger at us from thousands of years ago, and says -- and says: "Do it, do it and I'll f*cking spank you!"
deep...
I tried to tell my dad that I didn't want to live in the paradise. I was happy NOw...very happy and blessed beyond what I had ever imagined as a child.....I was happy with what ever years I have left NOW and I wanted to live them and do what I wanted which was to love my husband, children, friends and family and do everything to the best of my abilities...now......and the reason I was calling him was to tell him, that I love him and miss him.
He acted like I was telling a lie. He just kept insisting I had to go back to the KH or I would never be happy. And he could never talk to me or see me. I asked if he wanted to see his greatgrandchild that he's never met. He said, yes, he'd like to meet them in a KH.
lisa
Another good thread Wanderer,
Did the fear of displeasing Jehovah or dying at Armageddon prompt
you to stay in longer than you would have?
It use to be fear of dying that kept me around or kept me from doing wrong but now I serve Jehovah and Christ because I love them as I found out by reading the Bible and getting to know them in a whole different way and light.
Genesis 18:25 25 It is unthinkable of you that you are acting in this manner to put to death the righteous man with the wicked one so that it has to occur with the righteous man as it does with the wicked! It is unthinkable of you. Is the Judge of all the earth not going to do what is right?”
Now I believe that Jehovah will do what is right toward all of mankind and I think He has something in store that is going to shock all of us with His mercy and yet believe that when Armageddon hits it will be a very just judgement. But the judgement wont be human reasoning as the witnesses have cast judgement on all of mankind
abr
This is one of the most frustrating topics to attempt to discuss with my jw. He still claims that 'nobody knows' who will survive and jw's do not believe all non jw's will be destroyed. Yet, I have seen the many quotes from the literature that says you must be a jw to even have a hope. My jw too says I am lying when I say I don't fear death.
My question is, if at death you have no consciousness and presumably the same could be said at the big A (for jw's) that you have no consciousness if you are 'destroyed' (killed) then what is the big worry for jw's? God brings you back to life, deems you unworthy and zap! you are no more? That's the worse that can happen to you? you simply see what you will miss, be distraught and then destroyed? Well at least that unworthy feeling doesn't linger on, I guess.
How odd, for Christians they don't care about the where and how the end is, their hope (or assurance) is to be with Christ. The fear the wt instills in its members keeps them immature and needy for their entire lives. They 'need' that next meeting, next new book and so on. When do they become mature in Christ? The wt keeps them forever reaching and just maybe you may be good enough, have worked hard enough, have studied enough wt's to make it into the new system. But you never really know because how much is enough?
What do they think 'to die is gain.....depart and be with Christ' means? Do they only apply it to the apostle?
It was both the reason I stayed AND the reason I had the courage to leave. I will admit that when I get a "brainwashing" attack from my mom or mother-in-law that fear breifly creeps back in and I am in terror again. It may last a day or two and I may have bad dreams, but talking about it with hubby and thinking rationally again puts me back in perspective. Knowledge trumps fear.
At the District Convention of 2005, my husband had to work, I drove 2 small children and myself 3 hours one way to attend. During the final sessions of the afternoon talks, the brother on stage started an almost "hell and damnation" speech. He stated those that weren't going in service a great deal basically were going to be destroyed at Armageddon. I couldn't stand to hear his arrogant speech and I was furious that he would paint Jehovah so cruel. I woke up my sleeping children and LEFT. It was about 30 minutes before the days session was over. I was so mad. I had worked so hard and my faith was so "weak" , I thought, and here I was coming to Jehovah's feast for encouragement and being given condemnation. It was only 6 more months and one last try at a circuit assembly that broke me and I was gone!
Fear of Dying = Fear of Hellfire. Pretty much the same thing other churches use. The funny thing is that any "Torture" you receive while on earth for leaving the org is MUCH WORSE that simply dying forever. IMO.
Harmygeterdun. LOL.
No. What kept me in was fear of my family. Fear of losing them.
The fear of death, kept me in fear of losing my husband or kids. I.e. if I died and no one was there to teach them about the grand and mighty ways of the Organization, then I would lose them.
As far as how did it affect my departure so to speak:
Once I realized that they were liars who couldn't be trusted, I lost all faith in their Armageddon tactic.
Armageddon had been just around the corner for so long that when I decided to leave the wts, I no longer really believed it was coming at all. I had no fear of dying as I didn't even consider that the jws may be right, I knew they were wrong by then.
Did the fear of displeasing Jehovah or dying at Armageddon prompt you to stay in longer than you would have?
Funnily enough , the fear of "displeasing Jehovah " is a bigger tie on dubs , I believe, than is a fear of death. They really do believe that the good and wise God would be hurt by their bad actions, so they keep doing their best.
Of course a threat of death is a powerful one. Nobody wants to suffer, especially in the manner that they gleefully describe
