Are you now ashamed of how gullible you were as a JW?

by biometrics 50 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  tijkmo

  nope
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  happy@last

  Yes, and regret for supressing my concerns for as long as I did
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  wasblind

  It would be a bit different if I had allowed myself to get sucked into the cult as a thinking adult_____Cedars

  It IS different for those of us that allowed ourselves to get sucked in as adults

  born ins have an excuse, they were children, what else could they do ????

  I was a grown ass woman, I should have followed my instinct

  That sister I studied wit' specifically told me IT was not a good idea

  to look up Jehovah's Witnesses on line bcecause I might accidently

  get on an apostate site

  If they had the truth, what was there to fear ??????

  Another thing that should have triggered a big NO in my brain

  was the fact this " Sistah " use the word slave, wit' a smile on her face.

  That alone shoulda clicked that this fool was slap damn crazy

  WARNINGGGG !!!!!!!!!! : If a Jehovah's Witness show you the word SLAVE in the bible

  jus' remember, the souther slave masters also used the bible to justify havin' slaves

  Rise up and tell that Jehovah's Witnesses to get the HELL out of your house

  while their still able to on their own

  .
• 

  Doubting Bro

  Very much ashamed and angry at myself. I was a born in but no one held a gun to my head and made me get baptized. That's all on me. No one forced me to be a MS, then an elder. I could have made different choices but I fully believed that even though there were things I saw that weren't right, that somehow it was God's organization and that He would straighten it out over time.

  However, I look at the experience as a valuable lesson that you should never believe anyone that says they speak for God, to beware of those who try to assert their authority over you and to always, always verify any claims. If you make outrageous claims (like you are the restoration of the "true faith") then extraordinary proof is required.
• 

  Pyramid Scheme

  I am very comfortable with it at this point of my life, but I was angry about it for a long time.

  I was most angry that they abused power, kept people uneducated, and took away critical thinking skills and education opportunities from me.

  I too was born-in, so I never knew anything else. My parents are wonderful people, who have mostly been inactive for 20 years, but still hold on to a portion of the illusion......I have never felt anger toward them for accepting the religion. This is probably not a good example, but it was powerful for me. I read a great deal on Nazi history, and it actually helped me understand how my parents could be duped into the religion. Propaganda and manipulation are extraordinarily powerful tools in the hand of a skilled propagandaist.

  Telling you what you want to hear. Creating false urgency. Having an "enemy" you need to combat. Promising things no man could deliver.

  The thing I am ashamed about is that I left quietly....I am rectifying that now
• 

  Pterist

  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

  No, I learned to check everything like a Berean. I learned to appreciate scripture and escape the chains of the RCC to discover the reformation and the history of the church. During this leading out of darkness to salvation in Christ, the WBTS was a crucible used to shape me for more understanding as I held onto what was good as specified in 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

  Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. We learn greatly from our experiences in life rather than just achedemics and Biblical knowledge.

  Shalom friends.
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  St George of England

  YES - Ashamed and angry

  My only comfort is the thought that I was born in, so I was indoctrinated and brain washed from birth.

  George
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  moshe

  There is a lot of guilt to spread around,- like how my family and my wife's was defeated by a few JW dogmas that they weren't able to easily defeat. Nor did any of them desire to speak to or confront the JWs who were studying with us, which made the JWs seem more powerful in our eyes than the churches we grew up in.
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  wasblind

  Very much ashamed and angry at myself. I was a born in but no one held a gun to my head and made me get baptized._____Doubting Bro

  Seriously !!!!! Not even a beat down from an eye brow ????
• 

  00DAD

  Not ashamed, no. But there is some embarrassment. Mostly I'm angry that people I trusted lied to me. Now they're the ones that should be ashamed!