by conflicted 19 Replies latest jw friends
Hi conflicted
I was a believing walkaway and for 18 years I waited for impending doom while not taking care of my health or planning for retirement.
I confronted my delusions, my superstitions, my fears and my history, and emerged a very different person in terms of rational thought and logical decision making.
I certainly am open to being contacted to see if you can eliminate me as a possible human contact. Just click on my e-mail tab.
gb
I read the Franz books. They were sad but very informative.
Not to be preachy or anything, but I also read the bible for the first time, without any watchtowers.
It was very interesting how easy it was to understand.
I have my grandmothers K.J.V. It has a huge concordance in the back and beautiful artwork. It was the first thing I read that made me
notice the faults with the W.T.S. If I feel like reading about "heaven" that day, I just look up the word and it lists all the scriptures on that subject.
I am so glad to know the truth. I now know why I always felt sick inside when my J.W. family was condemming all the nonwitnesses.
It was my own conscious, I knew in my heart they were wrong.
Conflicted, you answered your own question. Now, just execute it.
Guest 77
...not enough courage to jump in and be 'with the world'.
What do you mean specifically? What things would you be doing differently if you had this courage?
I've thought about JW limbo many times. The only analogy I could come up with is that of a house cat...
Those of us who are RAW (Raised As Witnesses) are like kittens born in a pet store. We are raised as house cats.....when we become teenagers and try scratching our way out for a little 'cat dance under the trailer' ...our owner takes us to the vet. We are spayed/neutered and declawed. We are fed tasteless food and are content to have our ears tickled every now and then. We remain sheltered.
But, one day...our owner accidentally leaves the door open. As we slowly walk toward the foreign territory of the open door, the wind slams it shut. The outside land is alien. We are scared, alone and cold. Ill equipped for survival. Never taught to hunt for food or protect ourselves from predators. We have no claws, no survival skills.
So, we climb up on the roof and watch the world.
This is JW limbo.
Eventually, we are forced by nature to make a choice. We can try to find a way back inside where everything is comfortable, warm and familiar however bland the existence...or we force ourselves to survive in a jungle we aren't equipped for.
************rate this post on the eye roll factor[8>]************
(sorry analogy sounded better in my head)
conflicted...when u find out...let me know. *sigh*
Hey Smoldering Wick,
I'll give you a "G" for Illustrations appropriate to theme, and a "W" for conclusions moving householder to take literature....
You surely understand, anything that has to do with a cat will surely work on this board!! People love kitties here, a very strange phenomenon!
J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Smouldering Wick
I really liked your comparison between RAW and kittens....I much preferred that than Monkeys...but then again...my two brothers resemble monkeys and my sister is a cat lol...I could go both ways.
I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts by the way.
:o)
Beck
btw...was just joking about the monkeys *grin*
Gopher...
Should I lose the eye roll on the next post? lol
Hi conflicted,
I too, was still a believer when I left. I had every intention of living a moral free life :-). My thinking was, I'm going to die anyway, so why not. But for me, living without a purpose or thinking that my life meant nothing was depressing. Read Crisis of Conscience!!!!! That freed me of every lingering doubt about doctrine. Now, there are a lot of views on this board on how you should live after leaving the JWs. IF you still believe in the bible, get yourself an easy to read translation, (I can't really get into the King James version) and read it. I was telling someone in another thread that everytime I open my bible, another JW teaching is proved wrong.
Many thanks to all of you. Every one of these answers had a little something to nibble on:
Beck_Melbourne >
Don't feel like an outsider...because on here you're not...nor are you a worldie...nor are you an apostate....because you have to believe that "shite" to be one. I say keep walking buddy...and don't look back or you will turn into a pillar of salt LOL.Our view about ourselves is based on our life experience - it can't change until we let that old BS go.
Garybuss >
I confronted my delusions, my superstitions, my fears and my history, and emerged a very different person in terms of rational thought and logical decision making.That's where I am now - It's odd how I'm mentally cognisant of such a change in my life. I don't know if that makes sense, but it's how I feel.
Heaven >
Not to be preachy or anything, but I also read the bible for the first time, without any watchtowers.Isn't it wierd how different people can go through similar circumstances and come out so different. I for example will be completely content to never touch another bible as long as I live, and others can find comfort in understanding it. I think both ways are ok as long as the individual comes out well adjusted in the end.
It was very interesting how easy it was to understand.
Guest 77 >
Conflicted, you answered your own question. Now, just execute it.I don't know what exactly you are referring too, but I get the impression it goes hand in hand with Sixofnine's question:
What things would you be doing differently if you had this courage?It's not so much as how I would live my life - I'm happy in my marriage/job/friends. It's more about a lingering fear about people in general, 'they're dangerous', 'don't get too close', 'avoid contact with the world'. I was a part of it, but didn't let myself belong. Now I'm living a life completely void of JW's except inside myself - they're still there inside.
Smoldering Wick > I totally dug the kitty illustration. Yes, with the exception of Fred Hall, I too love cats.
And Jesussaves >
Read Crisis of Conscience!!!!! That freed me of every lingering doubt about doctrine.I will. Thanks again to all of you for your help.
