by AK - Jeff 199 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
We are the ones who got off of a sinking ship and we are supposed to take punishment for THAT? No way. When we got on the "rescue boat," we had no idea that it had a small hole in it. By the time the hole got bigger and we realized that it couldn't be patched, we got into a different boat. There should be no punishment for that. It is injustice to take punishment that we didn't earn.
If I missed the point, I'm sorry. I just couldn't read every post in this thread.
Lola,
Do you realize that you left the same way a gang member leaves? When a gang member wants to leave the gang, the other members all beat him up, then he's let go. Wow, JW's never stop beating up the one who want to leave. They just keep hitting and hitting and hitting. There is no let up. It's easier to leave a gang than it is to leave the JW's.
Whitedove,
I suppose if it hurt or bothered me you would have a valid point, but the thing is that at this point it doesn’t, to me they are just people I used to know and friends I used to have, It would hurt to constantly want to be acknowledged by a group of people that don’t give a darn about me, it would also hurt a lot more to go thru life feeling wronged and like the eternal victim, I refuse to spend another second feeling badly because of this religion.
Lola, I understand the need and wisdom of healing and letting go. It's just that it reminded me of leaving a gang. That's just wrong. I'm glad you are healed and done with it:) I'm still hiding.
Whatever I am going through, when I get to the other side, I hope...no I know I will not lose the virtue of empathy.
Josie
I have empathy Mrs. jones, but I also had a question that I thought and still think was very valid.
Lola, do you think the principles of justice or the responsibility of warning others of poison water have any place here?
JW's preach that
1. J. God never forgets a wrongdoing/sin without genuine repentance, even to to the umpteenth generation (the ransom sacrifice is convieniently ignored by JWs.)
2.-JW's teach that "this good news of the kingdom...etc" must be preached to help save as many as possible before judgement day.
These are similar to the principles of many XJWs. Just because you have been able to walk away, tra la la, doesn't make Jeff or others here some kind of whiners.
Ohhh Goody! She's back.
"I have empathy Mrs. jones, but I also had a question that I thought and still think was very valid."
I like to think that if what I just said didn't have some sort of meaning to you, you wouldn't have responded. You may have a point but that don't mean it's empathetic, I actually find it to be slightly immature and shortsighted.
Josie
Not being emotionally invested in this discussion, I find it fascinating. I strive to know what it would be like to realize that I had finally moved on. Is it like a gaingreened limb that one saws off? Is it like a hit and run accident where the driver is caught, the damage is done, but no amount of retribution is going to make you like you were?
Lola, I get what you are saying. It seems to me that you are resigned to a point of view that believes nothing will change the WT.
AK Jeff has I think explained very well why silence plays into the hand of the GB and their attempts to demonize apostates.
In my earlier post, I responded to my initial impression of AKJeffs post on the choice no one really has. Whether you are brought up as a JW, or got baptized after studying as an adult, no one gets all of the information up front. I think it highly likely that few if any would convert in that case. Again, it is insidious and dishonest.
However any of us view another, I think one thing is clear, there is no right or wrong way to "move on". Occasionally, I do feel like Lola does. I wonder why we seem to keep torturing ourselves, why I keep torturing myself with my past. Why open up the wound.
Of course, if Lola, you consider why you are here, I would have to wonder, without any animosity towards you, why you come here, feeling as you do that anger is not correct? I would suspect that any passionate emotion engendered by our JW memories do not serve a very useful purpose if the intent is 100% egress.
I will tell you what posting on these boards have taught me. Not only are no two people alike in their JW exit (please insert your "duh wee Jeff" here), but I have discovered that there are few that can relate to my experience, and I don't expect it.
Thus, how can I expect others to feel as I do, or to reach the point I have?
Pragmatically, I do believe that there needs to be some kind of emotional healing and distance to our JW experience, and that such can be healthy. But what about this other part of our human psyche that is to a certain degree, crushed by the GB?
For some (many?) the only way to rehab that part of us is to point out again and again what JW's are all about. To this, I totally see and agree with AKJeffs point. Silence is what they are banking on. They believe that most of us believe that they can't be brought down. To that they are right.
But the one thing they couldn't see coming, the internet, has really changed that. It has given a voice to the minority, and it does allow those that need to express the crushed part of their soul, that individuality that they try so hard to kill, a place to expose them for what they really are. In addition, the experiences of former JW's do serve a purpose, and the anger is recognized by those still in, who leave in anger after realizing that they were lied to. In this case, anger is an absolutely correct response.
At the conclusion of this rambling stream of consciousness post, I agree with both Lola and AKJeff, except that I differ with you Lola on your take on the anger you see here. I respect your take; at times, I even feel that way myself, but I honestly think that when I get upset at the anger seen here, I am the one in the wrong. It could be that a reinterpretation of the anger you see here is in order.
