It got to be hard being a JW today!!!!

by jam 45 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  jam

  I can understand why they think the end is near.

  In the old days, one was proud to be a JW (well maybe

  not for you young ones) but for us that came in the 60,s

  and 70,s, we felt no shame in our game. We stood out in

  front of churches with the mags, we preach non-stop. We

  indentified ourselves as a JW to whoever we met, no hiding

  who we were.

  Today, my neighbor, it was a couple of years before I knew

  he was a JW. He wasn,t a very active JW but one evening

  sitting in my back yard drinking a few beers, religion came up.LOL

  With all the heat on JW,s, UN, child molestation, shunning, blood,

  false predictions the average JW have no idea what the hell

  they believe, it must to take a toll on those poor souls.

  I believe many are living a double life.
• 

  sir82

  Yep.

  The percentage of total JWs for whom being a JW just means "being part of a social club" or "a ready made list of business leads" is growing steadily.

  Wasting 2 hours a week shuffling to not at homes, and 4 hours per week at meetings, is a small price (for such JWs) to pay.
• 

  raymond frantz

  in my opinion the worst thing is not the problems but the fact that the average JW is denied any knowledge of these problems with systematic indoctrination and this my friend is evil
• 

  jam

  Sir82, Agree "being part of a social club". Before 1975

  the great increase, the social club included some very

  intelligent brothers and sisters, unfortunately many have

  left. LOL
• 

  steve2

  You are spot on the money in your comments jam.

  As a young witness in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, I was part of a thriving number of local young ones who proudly and loudly witnessed near and far. We walked the territory like there was no tomorrow because we fervently believed the world was on the cusp of ending. I remember talking to householders about "Famine 1975!" the book dramatically quoted in the slim 'blue' "Truth" book. I could imagine no future at all for the world. Our kingdom hall bulged with newly-interested people and back-sliders who were being re-invigorated in those dizzying, countdown years leading to that so-called Biblically significant year, 1975.

  It was a whole different world to have grown up in a JW family. We lived and breathed the Witness lifestyle. We were a lot of things, but hypocrites we were not. Not so among the Witnesses today.

  Now it's as if the witnesses just go through the motions. Yes, they must have their worries and doubts - but they have mentally entrapped themselves by telling themselves "Where else could we go?" It is an abject failure of clear, rational thinking and capitulating to stinky fear that keeps them linked to the Watchtower orbit.

  • So many of them don't even witness anymore.
  • They keep a foot in both camps - "the world" and the organization.
  • They are driven by "What if's...?" as in "What if I leave and the end comes?" "What if I get caught up in the world and the end comes?"
  • With the exception of a core group of determinedly hardcore JWs, the faith of the rank and file is not faith at all.

  Fast forward from the early 1970s to the early 2010s - and the contrast is absolutely and utterly stunning. Through decades of delayed hopes, they have lost the fire and the desire; they are limp, shadowy vestiges of what they once were. Sad - but ultimately - you get the life you settle for; you can blame no one else for the failure of rational thinking - not unless you are a craven child.

  Thank God I got out and arsed-kicked myself into a life worth living.
• 

  jam

  Raymond: yes that is so frustrating (denied any knowledge of the problems).

  When the UN problem came out I told my brother(elder), neighbor,

  daughter and her husband. They said the same thing, it,s

  a lie, where did hear that, you can,t believe everything you read.
• 

  jam

  steve2, great summary. My words exactly, good job.
• 

  jam

  May I add "unfortunately many of the intelligent brothers

  and sisters have left". There are still intelligent brothers

  and sisters still trapped in the cult, many here on this site.

  Sorry, don,t want to offend you friends who inform us on

  the latest in the borg.
• 

  DATA-DOG

  Try halving your I.Q around everyone you know, and never giving an honest answer about what you believe, because you can't trust anyone. Accept that your sex life will always be boring. Make peace with wasting countless hours and money for a corporation that will turn you out in a heartbeat. Come to grips with the fact that you will never life a real life, because it is not allowed, there simply is not enough time left in Satan's system.......
• 

  MrFreeze

  I know I never wanted people to know I was a JW. It is still embarrassing when people ask me why JW's believe certain things and I have to try to explain it. They'll say "That doesn't make any sense." "Well, duh! Of course it doesn't make sense. Why do you think I'm not one anymore?"