Anyone with Happy Memories from being a JW born in, please post here....

SkyGreen

FIRST UP, HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hi everyone, ok I guess this is controversial, but Im doing it as therapy for me - so Im not bitter about the way i was raised. Plus I want to see if I can be the OP of an "EPIC THREAD"!!

Before I get to the point I want to make something clear....I find it so sad reading some of the personal experiences here of people who really had it tough - abusive parents & others in the cong etc, made worse by bad WTS policies that allow elders too much power, and elders that are not acting the way they are supposed to. If only EVERY professed JW really acted like one should. It is heartbreaking that these kind of things happen and I am so sorry for those who have been put off the religion in this way. And I thought it was hard to wake up to TTATT just by growing up and researching the doctrines and history of the WTS!

I am a fader, so in no way an apologist, however as stated in the beginning of my post, this thread is like therapy, so I dont get to bitter.

My Mum and stepdad are "Uber Dubs", and I find it hard to have a conversation with them these days without wanting to scream "you sound like a bloody robot!!" Freaky stuff. Anyway, I just smile and nod because they really are genuinely lovely people, salt of the earth types. especially my mum.

So I was essentially raised by very loving, kind, proper JW parents. And although it has been so painful to wake up and realise I have been part of "just another religion/cult", there are reasons to be happy about my upbringing (which I realise as a parent myself I can do also, without the religion). For oe thing, I believe it was a protection during high school/ puberty years. I am a pretty impulsive person, but with my conscience well trained/ brainwashed, I avoided so many things that I saw hurt lots of girls around me - teen pregnancy, heartbreaks, stds, drugs, cigarettes, alcohol abuse.... etc etc. That sort of thing was commonplace... my high school was in a rough area!

My Mum did get me treatment for my depression, so I wasnt neglected in that way. Healthcare wasnt pushed to the background.

Through being a JW, I met my husband (im 3rd gen, hes 2nd gen), if either of us had "woken up" earlier, or not been raised a JW, we wouldnt have each other or our gorgeous (yes they really are, Im not just biased because Im their Mum) children.

In our marriage we have faced ups and downs like any other, with our personalities, if we hadnt had the upbringing/religion, I dont think our marriage would have survived, and again, we wouldnt have our lovely children.

I do have a genuinely nice family life and I believe a good chunk of that is due to being raised a JW.

I have to admit, the WTS sucks with the handling of child abuse/molestation cases and many other "judicial matters", the elder arrangement is crap, the 607/1914 doctrine also BIG CRAP, and so on and so forth.

But in some areas, I do believe they get it right - common sense prevails, not that they necessarily think of stuff first. For instance, does anyone else recall the dangers of practical jokes being mentioned in the mags at some point? That kind of common sense couldve prevented some recent events in the UK regarding Aussie DJs from ever happening.

And despite the prevailing attitudes amongst many JWs (yes admittedly because of the WTS articles in the past,and even some more recently that gloss over the topic) about depression/mental illness, the series on mood disorders did state the need for professional help, and that depression was not a spiritual problem.

Again Im not an apologist, and saying that the mood disorders article was enough to make up for years of treating depressed individuals like rubbish, would be like saying that the whole 1975 thing didnt count because in the 80s and more recently they made half arsed comments about disappointed hopes.

I also wish that my parents had been more focused on my education, or encouraging me in sports, it would have helped my development enormously. But now im getting way off topic....

OK, so OVER TO ALL MY FELLOW BORN INS.... what are some of YOUR HAPPY/POSITIVE THOUGHTS ON BEING RAISED A JW?.... it could be therapeutic...

Happy stuff only, pretty PLEASE... ...

Love,

Sky

l p

i am posting bec i fear that you may not get any replies.

born in

the only happy memory was of my mother, not the religion. My mother was very loving.

however no happy memories, almost no memories at all

SkyGreen

sorry to hear that lp. My mum is the best too, unfortunately so brainwashed though, that even though it would break her heart, if I officially left the "truth" she would absuolutely shun me.

i hope i do get some happy replies... I cant be the only one who can see the positive side...

Maybe I should edit the thread title! Can I do that?

Listener

Growing up as a JW was very hard but on the positive side it taught me that I could never put my own children through this.

DATA-DOG

I grew up in the country and have happy memories of playing as a child. We had all kinds of animals, and lots of forrest to run around in all day. Being a dub had nothing to do with any of that. Sorry

SkyGreen

I guess this illustrates to me that "worldy" parents can do just as good a job of raising their kids lol

My born again christian friend at highschool has gone on to have a successful career and happy marriage (from what I hear)

Another friend from high school who i still keep in touch with who was raised with no religion at all has also gone on to have a very happy family life with her husband and kids, and some success in her music career.

Sigh

dang it my thread is a dud!

konceptual99

I share some of your opinions SkyGreen - I have a really good marriage and I do think the upbringing we both had has made a massive contribution. I certainly would not have met my wife if I had not been a witness.

i don't resent my upbringing but I do wish I had seen the light earlier and not wasted so much time involved in pointless activities.

supernerdboy

Um. Let me see... It helped me to be a 21 year old virgin, not sure if that is a good thing? So ya, not much. Had a hard child hood. Servurly behind on education, and other things. So most of all I am mad at wt and mom/dad! happy new years though.

Ticker

Some of the social aspect was fun I suppose. It used to be better years back as I've heard they have started to crack down on allowing any social activities outside of the Kingdom Hall. Used to have dances and play sports with others in the congregations. It's hard for a born in 4th gen as myself to make strong connections outside of the JW Church, especially since most of your life long friends are made during your youth so it took me some time to adjust. I made social connections with other Christians at a local Baptist Church and its really helped.

However that would be one thing I enjoyed at times was the social activities with other witnesses but even then it was tempered with bouts of people showing how self rightous they were. Overall though there are many friends that I had and miss when I chose to leave the religion. They were good people just misguided.

dazed but not confused

I have a lot of good memories. I was born in and it was all I knew but looking back I had a pretty good upbringing. I was born in and my dad left my mom when I was 2 because of the religion. My mom did her best raising 3 kids on her own. There were a lot of good men who stepped in to fill the “dad” roll for me. Took me fishing, camping ect. There were brothers who would help my mom and I with anything we needed. She was disabled and couldn’t work.

My favorite time was between 15 and 18. High School was ehhh… but my friends from the hall and I did a lot of crazy stuff. Things that if we got caught, we would have been either arrested or DF’d and probably both. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Everything in my life led me to this point - where I learned TTATT. My one friend that rarely talks to me said “Out of all our friends, you were the last one who I thought would leave the truth.” And so was I. I was such a drone in the BORG that 2 years ago I never thought I’d be here. But here I am.

Anyone with Happy Memories from being a JW born in, please post here....

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