Hi independentthinker. Please don't be scared. But don't rush anything. I found out the things you have recently and I'm a born-in in my 50's! It's very frightening at first and you don't know what to think, feel or do. Just take it slowly, don't talk to anyone just yet (except maybe here). Read as much as you can but not so much that it overwhelms you. It's a difficult place to be and as I've found there's no going back to 'not knowing'. It's like opening a Pandora's box. We've all been there in one way or another. Just take it slow!!
Want honest answers
by independenthinker 73 Replies latest jw experiences
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skeeter1
Hi Indeendentthinker!
Nice to meet you.
I was born in, raised in, parents and a grandparent all JWs. I was a lad in 1975, terrified that the world was going to End. It didn't. In the 1980's, the WTS tried to convince me that the Generation of 1914 "would not pass". This meant that the end of the world was coming in the early 1990s. I wasn't supposed to go to college. I was a teenager, just like you. I didn't agree that college was bad, or evil. It was what the student wanted to make of it. I stopped being a publisher. The elders asked me why. I told them that I didn't believe that the Generation of 1914 would live to see Armegheddon. I also told them I wanted to go to college. The elders announced that I was no longer a publisher. I didn't care. I went to college, got married, had kids, and have had a good life. Yes, there have been hard times; but also good times. I lived each & every day.
But, I still thought that much of what the JWs taught was the Truth.
Then, in the 2000's, I discovered that the WTS changed its teaching on the Generation of 1914. I COULDN"T believe it. The WTS demanded ALL of us youth put away college dreams, pioneer, for a failed prophecy. I also discovered all the changes in the blood dogma. Allowed, not allowed, fractions allowed, not allowed, all fractions allowed, etc. The WTS demanded ALL its followers die for a blood dogma it itself didn't believe in!
THen, I discovered how the WTS TWISTS the words of secular writers. Bethel's writing department routinely misquotes non-JWs, to make whatever position the WTS wants.
Now, I see why the WTS wants its followers to 'avoid' independent thinking; and rely only on the WTS. There are some WTS articles that tell followers to NOT research what Bethel has so lovingly provided! In other words, take what Bethel writes as the Truth, don't waste your time researching it, etc.
I started to research cults & high control groups. I met with a noted pyschologist. Know what he told me? Cults (or high control groups, a less offensive name) exist all over the world. Religious cults, exercise cults, economic cults, political cults, etc. But, every cult leader uses just two (2) basic rules:
Rule #1) Convince the recruit (or follower) that the leader(ship) speaks for the most pure form of (God, Jehovah, Christianity, Buddhism, Hindu, ballet, yoga, get rich scheme, extreme Right, extreme Left, etc.)
Rule #2) Tell the recruit (or follower) to "sit down, shut up, OR ELSE"
With the JWs, as with all cults, you are super afraid to show that you dissent or think inpendently of the leader. If you do, you lose priviledges, or are disfellowshipped and labeled an apostate. Lose your entire JW family &, if applicable, JW employment! Then, they have brainwashed you into thinking that if you are not a JW, Jehovah is GOING TO KILL you at Armegheddon (but Hitler has a chance of Everlasting life)....
As a born in, you don't have a "normal" to fall back on. Your "normal" is life in a high control group. This makes your post exit harder to absorb. I feel and struggle with "being a stranger in a strange land." I will never "fit in", no matter how hard I try. I see a baseball game, and think "worldly competition." My first thoughts are always JW thoughts. I catch myself all the darn time!
Eveyone who leaves goes through a spriitual journey. I first went to a mega CHristian church. I found out that they don't "dance with Satan" at church services. Rather, it much more modern application of the Bible - teaching morals, focusing on one scripture (not running around the Bible trying to make the Bible say what they want it to say), focusing on building families (even had a single's only night), feeding the poor, driving the elderly to doctor's appointments, fixing up cars & bikes, etc.
Then, I read up on the Bible's history. Now, I'm not so sure I believe in the God of Abraham. Personally, Jesus could have been partly raised Buddhist. Sound strange? It is. When you open your mind to new ideas.
Life has no neat little answer. There is no magic tomorrow that is going to erase your today. Rather, all the decisions you make today, will shape your tomorrow. Did you see Bill Gates video of his graduation speech? In it, he said something to the effect of, "We live today, when we realize we will die tomorrow." I find that many of the JWs don't really live today. They go through the motions of today, hoping the End is going to give them a redu. Like a child's baseball game. Everyone wanting a redu. Perhaps some of them were so abused in the past, it's the best "hope" they have. But, for others, like us, we don't need the JWs pipe dreams and false predictions to help us through today. Rather, we want to go out and cease the day.
Skeeter
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Norcal_Sun
Welcome, Independentthinker! If you want to try to get to your mom, you may want to recruit the rest of the family to help. I suggest reading Combatting Cult Mind Control and Releasing the Bonds by Steven Hassan. You are up against some powerful programming, and there are right and wrong ways to approach your mother. Also another thing to think about is, are your siblings aware of all of the things you now know? Sometimes people leave but they are still mentally trapped. They think they are just too "wicked" to be a witness or other similar hangups. It would be great to get them on the same page as you if they aren't already.
Kudos to you for being brave enough to be honest about your beliefs. It is a humbling experience to find the truth about the truth. If you have any questions post them here, everyone is happy to help!
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skeeter1
Sorry, I meant Steve Jobs. Late night for me. Starts at about 9 minutes in, but the first 9 minutes are awesome advice for any young person.
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dog is god
Welcome here kiddo!!!! I was a born in. I am so happy that you are young and won't be stuck there. Just remember, the elders, the WT. bethel et all.......THEY HAVE NO POWER OVER YOU...........unless you give it to them. If someone called me to go to a judicial committee meeting I would just say I am not interested. No one can force you into anything. I think not having "Jehovah" anymore was really hard for me. Like I lost my best and only true friend. Truely that was not true. I had lost myself. You are smart and resilient. Just keep reading. xoxo
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startingover
Regarding independent thinking, what other type of "thinking" is there. If it's not independant, then someone else is doing it for you.
Good luck in your future. As has been mentioned, you are on the track that many of us wished we had been on earlier.
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mP
@biometric
dont lie about ctr, he learnt everything from the fds of that time. i dont know where or what they called themselves but its obvious that his insights were from them and in term straight from the apostles and jesus himself.
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DesirousOfChange
im in my final year of school, and i realise that my whole life is possibly a lie. ive noone to turn to, cant talk to my mum or dad as they would report me, i poured out all i learnt to my best friend, and while that was good for release, its not answered any of my questions.
Hey, thinker:
It's too damn late for me to read all these posts, but I can whole-heartedly tell you that what you've stumbled upon IS ALL TRUE. Yeah, man, it shatters everything we've EVER believed and lived for. You are one lucky SOB. You are 18. It took me an extra 40 years to find out what you have just discovered.
I'm not encouraging you to run off and apostacize and go against everything you have learned nor all the "godly principles" that have driven your life to this point. Just wake up and smell the roses enough to see that SO MUCH of what is being taught by WTS is "fable". Don't LOSE your present opportunity for life by following their instructions regarding obtaining the "real" life. It ain't REAL. Their's is more of a fairy tale than what the world offers.
You are young, and have most of your life ahead of you. Don't go out and go ape$hit crazy like some have done. But don't base your life and hope on the promises of the WTS. No matter HOW sincere they have been or how sincere they are now, they have been nothing but WRONG as far as THE END of this system of things. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Why would Jehovah want to deceive us all like this? Why would he want good people to sacrifice their productive lives and compromise all potential they have to only gain a Dirt Nap at the end of it all.
I was told I would never start school to face the "Pledge".......opps, I mean never finish school to face the draft . . . . oops never be old enough to be married. . . . oops.. . .. . to have children. .. . . oops . . . . I mean THEY [my kids] would never START school . . . . . , ooops . . .. . I mean FINISH school. . . . . oops I mean . . . . Get My Drift??????????????????????
HERE"S THE REAL KICKER! My parents and grandparents were promised the same. Yeah that's right.....that is the one area where the WTS is RIGHT about overlapping generations............ ALL THE OVERLAPPING JW GENERATIONS THAT LISTENED TO THEIR VOICE, LIVED THE SAME LIE. We all overlap.
Be glad you have waken up to smell the roses NOW in your life.
Doc
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Spectre
I envy you for knowing what you know at age 18.
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Spectre
......Oh, and welcome to JWN!