Did we take nothing good from the JW's? (page 2)

email

Very good post dragon.

I can honestly say that those skills have help my career A LOT... I am able to do presentations and trainings without fear and knowing I can do this... AND... I also have to agree with ThiChi and ORBIT!!!! lol

<email>

Francois

Kenpo, my experience indicates that there are some people who will resent you and accuse you of being some sort of "know it all" or some sort of intellectual elitist just because you have a good grasp of the language and express yourself clearly. And when they let you know they think this way about you, it's almost like they're asking that you apologize for being intelligent. They seem to want you to "dumb yourself down" and be on their intellectual level instead of seeking the opposite.

Having said that, I can also say that I did bring some very positive things away from the organization. A calm, cool, collected pubic speaking ability is one of those things.

An ability to spot brainless bullshit from half-mile away is another.

An iron-clad determination never to follow another organization of men, or any individual man - I will follow only the small, quiet voice of my own inner leading. I've been doing that now for over 25 years, and I much prefer it to the meandering, stuttering, upside down garbage of ANY organized religion. And I've learned to never risk ignoring or taking lightly that small voice.

francois

jurs

funny timing!! I was just reading "might as well jump in" post and someone gave the definition of pompous and it made me chuckle how still like JW's we are sometimes and your right its not always bad. Where else do you find people giving definitions and giving illustrations?? Even the way we try and solve the bickering that goes on by wanting solid proof before giving an accusation and being HUMBLE has JW overtones. This definately is a JW influenced atmosphere. Can you imagine Catholics or Methodists being so alike in speech as well as thoughts. Were definately products of a cult !!! ..............................jurs

Robdar

One other thing I thought about. Since we weren't allowed to do much or have much fun, I learned to appreciate the simple pleasures in life.

I am grateful for that.

Love,

Robyn

LyinEyes

Because of being a female, my public speaking was limited , thank God or I would have died of panic attacks. I never got over my marvel at the brothers who could get up there on a seconds notice and deliver a public talk. Or work up some part on the stage as they were going. We can from a very smalll congregation , so my hubby had lots to do. Once time he ran the whole meeting, public talk and watchtower study conductor, and do laugh but he may have even read the paragraphs!!!! Good thing there were some to do the commenting. The other elder had an emergency family trip to make. So I was always grateful for the way the brothers got up there , even ones who were not that good at it. My son had alot of practice from the age of 8 giving talks, and before we left he was doing #4, and many demonstrations. I would beam with pride.

I guess if you ask what I could say I took with me was those moments. The feeling that even tho it was bullshit, even tho it was tiring, we did it together. I was so proud of my kids when they did their first comment at 1 or 2 yrs old. Their first talk, their first presentations. Things like that.

I do look at our memories as a good thing, most of them.

Kenneson

What I learned from JWs? I'm not afraid to get in front of a crowd and speak--thanks to Kingdom Ministry School. They introduced me to the Bible--and I'm still into it. But I don't buy all their interpretations anymore. They taught me conscientious objection, but I'm striving for pacifism.

Beck_Melbourne

Kenpo

I think it is quite clear that you are a charismatic individual...this can be useful or harmful. I do not regard you as a threatening personality and I only encounter peace and calmness in email exchange. You are not a provocative poster and you reflect kindness in almost every word you utter. If you have been criticised for this, more power to you my friend.

Whatever you have retained from your JW experience has been a benefit to you. You have chosen the skills you needed and you chose wisely...don't ever change.

I have to admit that I still practice my attentive listening skills and when I am communicating with a stranger I try to keep my conversation clear, concise and confident, always checking my tone and volume LOL. This works out charmingly for me in situations like job interviews or when approaching my boss over a grievance.

~Beck~

KD

I guess what I learned from the JW's are several things. First the organization taught me not to except things blindly or to take at face value. I try to research as many things as possible, even though there are not enough hours in a day. I also learned a lot about biblical history. Of course the JW dates maybe off a bit, I still had a chance to study many events in time. I now work with an engineer who is a Middle Eastern Jew. At times we will talk about many trivial subjects from the Old Testament along with other areas such as the works of Josephus. Others at work whom grew up Catholic or some other religion have not the foggiest idea what we are talking about.

czarofmischief

I took away many good things:

Reading the Bible is useful - I don't believe most of it, but it is the literary foundation of Western civilization.

The emphasis on family is good, even though some of the ideas are parochial, but loyalty to the unit is a good concept.

Broad spectrum of educational topics.

JT

SYN

As far as I'm concerned, the one good thing that came out of my Dub Years (TM) was the ability to detect BS more accurately. Still, to this day, I'm a very gullible, literal-minded person who sometimes has trouble detecting sarcasm. Whether this is just me or a result of my Dub Days (TM) we'll never know.

Oh, and now we all get to use witty XJW jargon like "get-together", "apostate", "district overbeer", and my all time favourite, "dubbies"!

Did we take nothing good from the JW's?

Share this