As a witness, what view of the world did you have? Heres my story

by stillstuckcruz 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  stillstuckcruz

  So heres my story:

  I just turned 20 years old. Like many I was raised as a JW. My dad is a devout elder much loved in the KH. My mother if very involved in the FS. daily witnesing, every JW cliche....she's it. All my life I've had my doubts about being a witness. Is it really the Truth? Is the NWT the true bible? Do I believe in God? All very common questions among others. I was baptised in 07'. Not because I wanted to, but because it was expected of me. And if I didnt get baptised, as you all know, your looked upon as bad association, goaless, and "on the border", even worldy. My brother did it, so I did. I've been falling off in the past two years. I havent done much of anything. I avoid FS WHENEVER possible. When I do go out, I leave the magazine and say "have a nice day", hoping I won't get "brotherly" advice from whomever i'm working with at the time. I give comments at the meetings maybe once every two months. I associate with no one from the hall. Not that there's any "good" association anyway thankfully in our hall. I look forward to work three days a week to give myself something fun to do. (love my job at Disney). Currently i've been given several assignments at the KH. Mike carrying and stage. #1 &3 talks. woohoo . I avoid them if possible. Fake sick or something. My parents have noticed my stone "progress" and have discussed it on many occasions with me, attemting to subtly "encourage" me whenever they can. I ignore it. I love them but just don't want to disappoint them, which will happen inevitably when I leave and they'l likely never speak to me again. Great work Society. . Anyway, main question is...what sort of view of people and the world did you have as a witness? At work theres an elderly woman that I see every so often. She is beaming every single day and when I ask how she's doing, she says in the most sincere way that she is soo blessed and happy. When I see people like, I can't help but think what am I doing.
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  Joliette

  I'll have to bookmark this for later since I am getting ready to do online homework for school.

  Your 20? Wow. I'll be 28 next week, and let me tell you something, CHERISH YOU 20'S! They go by very very fast. I'm cherishing the rest that I have left. But I hear the 30's are a lot better. Its good that you've joined this forum. Get ready for a ride that you will never forget.
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  Mr. Falcon

  Great question. Personally, I was raised to believe that these people were hopelessly lost, doomed to a miserable existence. But now I realized that there are WAY more depressed people in "The Truth" than there are walking around in "The World."

  it's kind of like the culture in North Korea. Those people are suffering from a rather wacky and disjointed government that oppresses them, but at the same time they are constantly brainwashed to believe that everyone else, especially their neighbors in South Korea are sad, pathetic, suffering horribly and starving to death. And since they are so isolated, well, they believe it, so a good portion of them are "content", simply due to not knowing any better.
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  potleg

  The WT tell you you're so blessed because...

  They rip of your head - (destroy your thinking ability and common sense)

  then they....

  Vomit down your throat - (Fill you with their crappola)

  after which you are expected to say "Thank you, please give me MORE!"

  Listen, I've been in and now I'm out. When your in you think the world is evil.

  When you're out you see the Organization, (not people like you mom and dad) is the evil one.

  I wish I could slap them all, not to cause pain but rather to wake them from the trance they've been seduced into.

  The sweet , sticky, sickly words have oozed into their brains and gummed up their reasoning senses and nothing I say seems to mean anything anymore.

  They see my lips move but they don't hear my voice.
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  Open mind

  "At work theres an elderly woman that I see every so often. She is beaming every single day"

  No doubt she's helped you realize "worldly" people aren't all bad.

  Here's some unsolicited advice.

  1. Keep the peace with your parents if you can.

  2. Let them know you NEED to get an education.

  3. Make career, school and social contacts outside the JWs.

  4. Enjoy your path.

  om
• 

  ranmac

  Joliette you pretty much read my mind.

  Cherish your age my friend. My early 20s were completely ruined trying to figure myself out and please the constant tide of negativity from the org at the same time. Do your best to block out the negative bullshit that can distract you from finding out who and what you are. I lost alot of vital years and am still trying to deal with this. It was a major setback.

  Mr. Falcon is spot on. Especially regarding isolation. I always thought my religion was the only group of people who had everything figured out. The wtbts portrayal of the world and history is so unbelievably narrow and ridiculous. It doesnt take much to see thru it.
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  Bungi Bill

  Seeing things from only a JW perspective does give you a very distorted view of the world:

  - somewhat like looking at it through a surveyor's dumpy level, after firstly being reflected off one of those trick mirrors!

  There was a time that I swallowed the WTS's line totally that the Witnesses were different from everyone else. Then for a long time afterwards, I desperately tried to keep on believing that this was the case.

  In reality, the JWs are no different to any other religion - despite what they would have you believe.

  There are some good people amongst the JWs, but no more than there are amongst the population in general. Furthermore, such ones would most likely have been good people either before they became Witnesses, or if they had never ever been JWs in the first place (as in those "born in"). Certainly, there is absolutely no basis for the claim (as discussed in a recent post on this forum) that, only upon being baptised as JWs, do people then become "productive and law abiding citizens."

  Some four to five years ago, I made a point to reconnect with people that I had been very close to before the Watchtower Madness took hold. This served as a reminder to me just how many pleasant, decent people there are in "The World."

  For sure, I knew any number of good people over the years amongst the JWs:

  - but I knew none, absolutely none, amongst the Witnesses who were any better than these that I had known before "coming into The Truth."

  - these same people that I had swallowed the WTS line about as being "evil", "wicked", "immoral"; and one or two other most unpleasant adjectives!

  These same persons were even obviously happy to have me as a friend once more, despite the fact they must have thought that I had taken leave of my senses some forty odd years ago!

  (Conversely, my first introduction to domestic violence was just after I began associating with the local congregation - quite a culture shock to a boy of 17, who had already been indoctrinated with the idea that the JWs are somehow "different"!)

  What else is there to say, but best forget everything the JWs taught you about "The World" (or anything else, for that matter) - unless it can be corroborated by other sources.

  Bill.
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  Black Sheep

  Welcome to the forum, stillstuck.

  I love them but just don't want to disappoint them, which will happen inevitably

  Just remember .... you are not letting them down by leaving their shonky religion ......... they let you down by encouraging you to join it.

  Just about every warning my parents gave me about how bad the world was, was an exaggeration or complete rubbish. Back then, there wasn't any internet, WTCD and in my case, even access to an encyclopedia was a rare thing.

  Still, there was enough loopyness in what they said to stop me getting baptised, knowing that I would be DFd and shunned if I didn't give lip service to believing it all and following rules that even their own Bible didn't support. Thank God for that.

  Now, if they try any funny business, I accuse them of being less than honest with me when I was growing up. Their religious leaders had a history of failed prophesy before I was born and they hid that from me. Not long after they were baptised Judge Rudderless made an ass of himself (his own words).

  If they want me to believe that the WT is God's channel, they are welcome to present me with a king list of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, complete with all of the resources they used to draw it up. If they don't want to do that .... I want to know why. I make sure that they always know that I don't see them as having any moral high ground until such time as they answer this one question with honesty and integrity. No distractions, diversions, or accusations go without comparisons to things they have said about leaders of 'false' religions. I want them to feel guilty for every excuse they make to not draw up this list. I don't know if they have tried to draw it up, or not. They say they haven't, but they are not exactly the most honest people I have ever met.

  I wouldn't say we have a healthy relationship. It has been dysfunctional since I first refused to give a MS talk when I was fifteen, over forty years ago. I would describe it as an uneasy truce. At least I'm not shunned.

  Chris
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  kimbo

  hello and get an education .
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  VIII

  Hello and Welcome to the forum!!

  I like Mr. Falcon's analogy of North Korea: The JWs are like the North Koreans. Kept cold, hungry and not given any outside information. They are told that the outside world is evil and bad. There is just no good way to look at it. Stepford Wives. Robots.

  When you see that smiling lady at work, look around you more as you go about your day. You'll see lots more smiling faces. They don't want to harm you. They aren't evil. They just want to live their lives. Like most average Joes out there.

  As noted above--try to get an education. Once you have that no JW can ever take it away.

  Good luck.