So Are All Your Problems Brooklyn's Fault Then?

by Englishman 32 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Englishman

  In another post, Jan H said about this site:

  ” …There is a very angry crowd there, for obviously and understandable reasons, who will accept no dissent regarding their core dogma: that the WTS is responsible for all ills and problems in life”

  If what he says is correct, then I am very alarmed at this. I have always felt that it is in everyone’s power to make changes. I look back at my time as a witness and I can see how it is that I often feel the way that I do. But I don’t hold the WTBTS personally responsible for a poor childhood education for example, hell, I can always go to college and put the deficit right!

  If I said that the WTBTS were still having a profoundly negative effect on my life now, after all these years, am I not just giving my power away?

  I would be very interested in hearing from others as to how they feel about this. Do you hold the WTBTS responsible “for all ills and problems in life”? Do you feel that Jan H’s assessment is correct?

  Incidentally, I am aware that he also said other things too in the aforementioned post, some of which I happen to agree with. It was the part above that particularly bothered me, which is the reason why I am taking it to a separate post.

  Englishman.
• 

  Mimilly

  Hell no! The WTS didn't give me mono or chronic pain and fatigue. They didn't injure me at work. They didn't break my marriage up. It isn't their fault that I had a bad childhood or that my brother died.
  I make my own decisions, mistakes and choices. I learn and grow from them because I choose to.
  I get angry that they get away with hurting others through denying blood, shunning, denying those who are depressed to seek proper help and their huge hypocrisy. But that is a far cry from blaming them for anything and everything.

  Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you deal with it. (dunno the author of quote)

  Mimilly
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  SYN

  Well, as far as I can tell, the WTBTS is still responsible for MANY problems and deaths, and the destruction of families and psyches. They are not angels, you know.

  "Vaccination has never saved a human life. It does not prevent smallpox." The Golden Age, Feb 4 1931 p. 293-4 - The Sacredness of Human Blood (Reasons why vaccination is unscriptural)
• 

  Simon

  Well, our washing machine broke recently and I'm sure they had something to do with it

  It's true, they are not responsible for all of our problems, just some of them. I believe that I may have missed out on some opportunities in life because of the further education thing for example and I know I definitely miss out on some family relationships because of them.

  Compared to the majority of the inhabitants on the planet though I think I'm doing pretty well - I have somewhere warm to sleep, food on the table (unless I scupper it with my comments), fresh water, a great wife and two happy kids.
• 

  TR

  Hi Eman,

  Do you hold the WTBTS responsible “for all ills and problems in life”?

  No. I certainly don't. However, I must endure the occasional comment from my wife and kids about how I was not around for 11 years worth of family get-togethers. Evidently, it would have meant a great deal to them, had I been there. But no, I was to absorbed into the WTS at the time. The WTS meant more to me than my own family for those years, and according to WTS rules, that's the way it should be. I cannot forgive myself or the WTS for that missing chunk of time with the ones I love most.

  Ultimately, I made the decision to enslave myself, based on little or no research. How sad. I let a cult take over my life. That's all in the past though, and no problems I have now have anything to do with the WTS. Fortunately, I have very few if any problems.

  TR

  UADNA-WA
  Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America- Washington Division
• 

  belbab

  Eman,

  I'll give JanH a little benefit of the doubt. I believe English is not his native tongue. He says:

  that the WTS is responsible for all ills and problems in life”

  He does not say the WTS is responsible for all their ills and problems.

  The WT is responsible for many, many problems in peoples lives.
  poverty, fear, broken marriages, stunted youth, ignorance etc. Can you tell me some problems that they are not responsible for? Not world events, but personal and family and societal problems.

  I'm not being ornery here, I just don't think he meant it like you point out.

  Belbab
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  ashitaka

  Well, most of the people problems I have are because of the WTBTS. Everything else? No, of course not. The WTBTS is only responsible for the people shunning me, and the hurt they've caused some of my friends, but they're not important enough to do that much damage, they're just annoying, like a horsefly.

  ashi
• 

  jaccilynn

  i think believing that the WTBTS is responsible for ALL problems in life is ubsurd. no doubt it's added to the stress, heartache and difunction of alot of people; but it's not ALL EVIL. i am no longer a member, and i would never go back, but if i said that i didn't get anything positive out of the experience, didn't get a knowledge of the bible, and a set of morals that i can base how things should be for ME now on, I'd be a big fat liar.
• 

  Scully

  I would not say that ALL my problems are Brooklyn's fault. But there are some fundamental things - had I not "obediently" followed the "faithful and discreet slave's" "suggestions" - where I think my lot in life would be better.

  For instance, had I not been pressured AGAINST getting a post secondary education by JWs when I was 17, I likely would have pursued the same field I am in now. At the time, a nursing certificate entailed a two-year program, with government sponsored tuition. I would only have had to cover the cost of books and supplies. A real bargain compared to what my own children are facing. Twelve years later, once I'd told the WTS to take a flying leap, the program was three years instead of two, and the cost of tuition was roughly $1500 per year, plus the cost of books, supplies and transportation. Oh, and child care for three. I will be financially obligated for this venture for the next 7 years or so.

  In the interim, my jobs were a mix of various minimum wage office work and retail sales positions. Had I graduated from Nursing School before my 20th birthday, I'd now have almost 20 years of experience, seniority and pension savings, instead of only four years' worth now. Financially, I think I'd probably be much further ahead.

  I also think that I'd be further ahead socially - in terms of knowing how to foster REAL friendships and relationships, instead of the conditional "so-called" friendships and relationships one has within the walls of the Tower. I feel as though my social growth and development - learning real communication skills, as opposed to thinking that life was just one big demonstration on the platform - was stunted by being a JW. Being a JW requires an almost innate distrust of everyone around you, even those who are supposed to be closest to you. Learning to trust, learning to confide, learning which relationships are safe and which are not, knowing what our own personal "boundaries" are and the expectation of respect for those boundaries, are all part of social and personal development that are ignored for the most part by JWs.

  I'm not angry about it anymore. I've done what I've needed to do to make progress in those areas where I feel that I've missed out. But time is something you can only spend - you can never get it back once it's gone. That just has to be one of those things a person comes to accept, and move on from there.

  Love, Scully
• 

  William Penwell

  To me this is a double edge question. I have learned to break free of the WT and empower myself to make decisions so now I don't blame the Watchtower for everything that has gone wrong in my life. We have to remember though that those still coming out are still in the WT cult mind control. All their lives they have been conditioned to believe that they have no control over their decision making responsibilities and so I can see how some as they are coming out still blame everything on the WT.

  Will

  "I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's."
  Mark Twain