Do You Clearly Understand That "The Truth" Is Nothing But Bullcrap? (page 5)

Sunspot

Vinny said:

But if I had to do it over again I would never submit to it. The costs for most of the benefits you get are far too steep. Self doubts, never doing enough, no sports for kids, no holidays, risk and worries of death due to the sorry blood policy, no boyscouts for kids, cutting back on non JW people from your lives, including family, no voting or community involvement, viewing others as "worldly" and soon to be destroyed, and much more than I have time for listing here.

So yes, it's a cult, it is not the truth, it was living in a box, living a lie, a waste of much time and more. And you could say such things and such a life is nothing but "bullcrap".

I totally agree with this. The VERY few "benefits gained" from this nutty and very repetitive lifestyle.....far outweigh any "plusses" that you MIGHT end up with in the end.

I only feel the keen loss of so many years that I devoted to the WTS and what I put my kids through, raising them in this hideous excuse for a religion. I can never play enough "catch-up" to make up for all the hurt I have caused my family although there have been some wonderful advances recently being made in this area. I realize it is somewhat counter-productive, but at my age now, I often wonder just what direction our lives would have taken if I had NOT been caught up in all the clever WTS teachings. All families have their problems, but the WTS super-complicates things that other families are never even forced to deal with.

My best advice is to NOT EVEN LET JWs into the house to "chat" about their message, but then, I would guess that most folks that come here have already come to this conclusion.

hugs,

Annie

Finally-Free

Stilla, in that case have a beer on me.

In any event, it must be tough to listen to it from both sides. I couldn't do it.

W

Hortensia

The answer is, "Yes!"

White Dove

*Smiles and sighs while appreciatively looking up to the heavens*

A distructive cult made me what I am today.

*sigh*

I will be forever grateful for all the positive influence it had on my life.

*sigh*

Living in poverty and ignorance and guided by those who know better than I is the best life for me!

*sigh*

Distructive cults are GOOD!!!

*Smiles and sighs again while looking at you with big glazed over dilated eyes*

Seeker4

I like both of you, Min and Stilla. I also understand what can move a person to ostensibly stay in the WTS while in reality believing almost exactly the opposite that the WTS teaches. To be able to do that for 5 years, like Stilla, was beyond my ability. Once I realized it was essentially bullshit, I was gone, family or no family.

I also like that we can have a discussion like this and let the different viewpoints get to see the light of day. As we all know, including Stilla, you'd never get to have a discussion like this in a Kingdom Hall!

I have another take on this. I think that a lot of us had personal abilities that made us effective JWs, and we'd have had those abilities whether we were JWs or not. Skill in public speaking, debate, sales or public relations are hardly JW-only skills. If we were really taught those, there'd be a hell of a lot more skilled JWs in these fields - but I remember how rare it was to hear a really good public speaker at the Hall or even at CAs.

I had one experience where I had a major talk at the DC, and in it I interviewed Jim Howard, who was the MD at Bethel at the time, along with his wife and daughter. The CO who was the DC Chairman listened to the part and wanted some changes made. He was a real asshole by the way. Though this was just prior to the part going on, I handled the changes calmly and diplomatically, and things went off just fine.

Afterward, Jim Howard's wife, who was a bright, educated woman that I'm surprised could possibly remain a JW, talked with me. She said how impressed she was with how I'd handled everything in the part with them, especially the jerk CO. Her comment about it? "Someone with people skills like that would be making a fortune in the business world. Companies pay huge salaries for people who can solve problems the way you did."

My point? I think Stilla is referencing personal individual talents that the WTS arrangement brings to the fore, but that aren't anything that is a result of being a JW. The WTS has a formula for public speaking, commenting, studying, even its writing, music and artwork, that is generic and actively stifles genuine creativity. Prince and Michael Jackson have been or are genuine musical talents of gigantic stature, and the Williams Sisters are the same in sports, and the black actor whose name escapes me at the moment (Terence??) - BUT they only did that by going contrary to what we all - JW and ex-JW know - are the basic tenets of JWism.

And to say that one of the JW pluses is that it taught you there was no hell, while it also taught you that the Bible is the unerring word of God and there was a real Adam and Eve, well, that's just pathetic!

S4

Vinny

Georgiagirl,

I have no problems with anybody fading away. I just want to know why he still builds Kingdom Halls. BIG DIFFERENCE.

We could change his name from stillaJWexelder to stillaJWkingdomhallbuilda

And I do have a problem with this.

Yes I agree with your post. But we all did the best we could at the time, I guess.

I hope you are not too hard on yourself for it.

Take care Annie!

vinny

White Dove

Personal talents, YES!

I had none that was of any use to them, plus I didn't have that oh so important male appendage.

I got a C in my college speech class.

My talent came out in a critical thinking class.

I am a very good logical arguer.

That is not a good talent to have in the "truf."

How can women learn public speaking at the hall when they are not allowed to do it?

minimus

Seeker, I know you like me more.

You bring out some good points. In spite of the Organization, some people can excel in certain things. The religion is not a model for true happiness. People cannot be who they are or what they want to be. It's a stifling control group. If people who come here for years and still can't get it---that this religion is a fraud, it's truly a sad thing. I can only hope that if a person keeps seeing the truth about the "Truth", in this environment, that they might eventually come to terms with the sham that they are living.

I refused to accept that JWs were a cult when I first came here but the evidence, as it was presented,especially by Farkel, made me see the reality. At the time, I thought he was being hard on me and a few others in this regard, but I thank him and others for making me see clearly what a cult is and why JWs are defined as such.

stillajwexelder

I'm not trying to be condescending as much as I'm trying to be realistic. Either you are a hypocrite or you've got serious issues that are preventing you from seeing the obvious that JWs are C U L T !!!!!

PLEASE READ WHAT I HAVE SAID - I HAVE NEVER SAID THEY ARE NOT A CULT

Let me say it again - I agree JWs are a cult - read my replies - I just said it is not ALL bullcrap -some good came from it. Yes they are a cult

And for the record I have also confessed on numerous threads that I am a hypocrite. Wh ywill people not read replies and the thread. Hillary Step is as usual 100% right - people do not read replies

Vinny

Stilla, will you please answer my question?

Do You Clearly Understand That "The Truth" Is Nothing But Bullcrap?

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