Born ins..Were You Forced to Be a JW Growing Up?

LostGeneration

Myth: Parents who are Jehovah’s Witnesses
force their children to follow their faith.

Fact:Witness parents strive to inculcate love
for God in their offspring, just as the Bible
commands them to. (Ephesians 6:4) Nevertheless,
they realize that when a child becomes
an adult, he or she will make a personal
choice with regard to worship.
—Romans 14:12; Galatians 6:5.

The above quote is from the Feb 2012 public WT. Its an outright lie in my book.

I was beaten physically as an early teen when I resisted going to the meetings. Of course, it didn't take long for me to realize that going to the meetings was better than getting hit, so I got in line real quick. Other methods of "forcing" continued through my teens, whether it was threatening to take my car, being grounded, or having other things taken away from me.

The ultimate tool though is shunning, which is used by the WTS and faithful JWs together to "force" young ones to stay in the org, lest they lose their parents for the rest of their lives.

How were you forced to be a JW growing up?

breakfast of champions

Guilt guilt guilt guilt guilt.

Fortunately, my father was an unbeliever, so I wasn't completely immersed in a witness upbringing - had some holidays and such. But in the end, my mother guilted me constantly, constantly getting dragged to the elders, never ending, awful family studies, my mom inflicting a particular family - elder and pioneer/elderette- on me, who CONSTANTLY went on and on about how there is no point in going to college, this system's time is up, how foolish to get caught up in this system, your father and sister will die in Armageddon. All that and beating the living shit out of me every day of my life.

In the end, it was my decision not to go to school and get baptized, pioneer, the whole bit. But it was also a decision I WOULD NEVER HAD MADE if not for the constant pressure to conform to this bullshit religion.

BTW- writing this from one of my University libraries waiting for class to start!

fade_away

My mother-in-law threatened my wife when she was a teen. Her mother said that if she decided to stop attending the meetings, she'll throw her out of the house. My parents never threatened me, but I knew that if I left, they will begin an unbearable guilt trip that will last for as long as I lived with them. I know because whenever I said I wanted to stay home, my dad will have a long talk with me that would leave me feeling evil and rotten for ever admitting I didn't want to go. It was more of a psychological technique they had to get me to go to the meetings. That hurt me in my soul as much as a beating with a belt.

troubled mind

FORCED and guilted into it ,NEVER did I feel there was any LOVE of God inculcated into Jehovah's Witness belief system !

Does anyone else think Growing up in the 60-70's was so much different than the soft ,lovey-dovey brand of JWism they have today . I thought I saw a big change in the late 80's ,a softer stance on things compared to what I had growing up .

undercover

Nevertheless, they realize that when a child becomes an adult, he or she will make a personal choice with regard to worship.

This is the WTS admitting in a roundabout way that they are losing many of their "born-ins". What they don't bother to say is that by the time the children become adults, they have already been baptized and are officially a member of the organization. Choosing to leave as an adult isn't as simple as "making a personal choice with regard to worship". Now they have to weigh the considerations of losing family, home, job, support; because this is what will happen if they choose some other avenue of worship.

Which makes the statement:

Myth: Parents who are Jehovah's Witnesses force their children to follow their faith

A complete and total lie. It takes a lot of balls to make such a bold, false statement as that.

truth_b_known

Jehovah's Witnesses are taught that they are to raise their children to become Jehovah's Witnesses. The rational is that if you are a child living under your parent's roof they have a right to raise you that way. If the child makes it known that they do not wish to participate in that religion they are labelled a "rebel". Jehovah's Witnesses claim that it is a command from God, written in the Bible, to do so.

Jehovah's Witnesses who are parents teach their children that the doctrines of their religion are "The Truth" and all other religions are false and that being an aethist is evil. They teach their children that if they do not faithly live by their doctrine that they will be killed with all the other non-believers during an event referred to as "Armageddon".

Similar to Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses baptise children. I say similar in that the children are never given a choice to opt out of the religion.

When I was about 15 my father told me that I was ready for baptism. He told me I should let our congregation presiding overseer know because there was a Circuit Assembly coming up. At the next meeting the presiding overseer CAME UP TO ME and say, "Your father tells me you want to get baptised." What was I supposed to say?

Iamallcool

yes

its_me!

I was forced. Every day of my childhood. An coerced in my adulthood for almost ten years.

Mickey mouse

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

undercover

We need this page posted next to the page of the WT study where it admonishes parents of children who leave the faith behind to shun them. It has a photo of a husband consoling his wife as their son leaves out the front door with his suitcase, implying that he's leaving the "true faith", thus breaking their hearts...and Jehovah's.

That would be an interesting comparison...

Born ins..Were You Forced to Be a JW Growing Up?

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