WORLD OF XJWs - ESSAY (page 2)

crawdad2

essays can long,
essays can be short,
but to many words,
just confuse the report.

FreeFallin

Amazing,

Insightful thoughts, as always.

Free

DanTheMan

I am happy to be out of the Watchtower. Yes, I wish in many ways that I had never been a JW ... then again, had I done something else, would it have been that much better or that much worse?

Good question, this is one i'm wrestling with. As a newbie exjw, I am still bewildered from my experience and still not sure what to make of it all. Some days I'm bitter as hell, and in a strange way this bitterness makes me want to run back to them, so that I don't have to feel the bitterness of being an ex-jw. I've said it before on this board, the communal aspect of the org was the strongest addictive element for me. I swallowed my doubts for years because of it. I am having a rough time adjusting to facing life on my own.

I seem to have a personality that invites abuse and exploitation. If the WT hadn't stepped in to take advantage of me, something else would have, something that could have been much much worse. After all, none of us can really say that our JW experience was 100% bad. I had some good times. I'm sure glad to be a living exjw as opposed to being a dead Branch Davidian. Some cults are worse than others, for sure. The WT is bad, but they're certainly not the worst.

Amazing

Hey Dantheman:

"I seem to have a personality that invites abuse and exploitation."

This is something I have wondered a lot about. Is it our personality or just our vulnerable circumstances at the time we got hooked by the JWs? Without doubt, my circumstances led to my being attracted to the JWs - my age, mom's death, dad abandoned me, Catholic Church was standing on its head, civil right, hippie, and anti-war movements were taking their toll, along with a battered economy - I thought the world was going to have to end.

Yet many other people faced vulnerable circumstances during tough times - and they did not become JWs. Was it that they were lucky the cults missed them? Or was it that something in their personality would never allow them to join cults? If the latter, then as ex-JWs are we 'cured' of this personality trait, or could be still be easy prey for yet another slick-meister religion?

Hey Crawdad2: Yes, 'too' many words can confuse anything. My essay was 3 1/2 pages long. Hummmmm ... guess you don't read too many books now, do you? I find that some long posts intrigue me, and the words go by fast. Other posts are more difficult, and require more effort to get through ... learning to read more than comic book level has helped many to greatly reduced the risk of boredom, and increased their comprehension. Ah shucks ... I think its time for some coffee.

SYN

Nice post, Amazing. You bring up some good points about the GB essentially speaking for God, even tho every Dub apologist who's come here has professed loudly that they don't. This obviously means that they have a lot more to answer for.

"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)

crawdad2

hi amazing,

yes, you're right...

after reading the watchtower and awake for so many years, i'm used to comic book type articles!....thanks for the insightful explanation..........carful with that coffee, now,... you might start writing again...

DanTheMan

Amazing:

I don't know if I'm cured, but I definitely am wiser from the experience. I was talking to a friend the other night about how the WT uses Matthew 24:45 as its authority scripture and how they quote or cite that scripture continually at meetings and in the publications. The first and foremost mark of an abusive church or cult is postured authority. The WT postures authority like no other.

"If the Bible is true, then I'm Christ." - David Koresh

teenyuck

I think this was a very good, thought provoking thread....I liked it. Thanks.

SEAKEN2001

Hey Amazing,

I found your essay easy reading and neither too many or too few words. Don't ever let anyone tell you what is too many or too few. You decide just how many words are needed to convey your thoughts.

It seems to me that many people today are poor readers. Probably due, at least in part, to the TV and radio culture. How can we possibly get a balanced understanding of anything without thorough consideration of the topic? Can a 60 second news spot take the place of several hours of good reading before we make up our mind about how we feel or proffer an opinion? I hope more people will fight the tendency to be lazy and read, read, read. If you don't learn to read, even when it's hard, you'll be at the mercy of those who presume to tell you what to believe.

At any rate, all these words just to say I don't agree with the idea that your post's are too long.

Sean

Simon

Very perceptive and insightful as always Amazing.

I think one thing is shows is the reason that people who may have left the trooth 20+ years ago still find it useful to talk to people about things is that they are still affected as you say.

Little things that other people take for granted like social events can mean major upset when close family and relative are still 'in'.

I'm learning to walk and am probably at the hobbling stage

WORLD OF XJWs - ESSAY

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