If we were to go back to the borg, would we see any marked difference in the attitudes/environment in the organization? Would it appear more liberal or more strict than it was 20 or more years ago? Or would it appear that not much has changed?
Jrig
For those that've been out of the borg for 25+ yrs
by Jigrigger 16 Replies latest jw friends
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Brummie
I havent been out for so long as 20 years but it has definately changed in the last 10 years, Jws seem cold & brash organisational people now were in the past they at least knew what they believed and had more convictions bible based, albeit misapplied.
Brummie
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Jesika
I have been out for 11yrs, but I don't wish to ever get close enough to want to know if there are any changes. They could NEVER change enough to make me EVER want to return. I have a son and I would never put him through such an environment!!!!!!!
Jes
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Been there
I've been out for 27 years. From what I read here I think it is worse then when I was there. But alot must have to do with the congregation. I went to many growing up, they all were pretty crappy. It sounds like they are trying to gain more control but maybe since I was 19 when I left the control hadn't really started yet. I know they pushed me to get baptized, pushed me to be in a talk on Thursday night. I was petrified of public speaking. Things were pretty tuff around 1975. Okay, I give up, maybe they are, may they are'nt. I'm so confused.
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Robdar
Jigrigger,
Since I have been out of the Borg for just about 20 years, I can't say that I have kept up with WTS policy.
Another poster on this board and I went to the KH last week to do a little apostate spying but we didn't hear anything that seemed different. Even the song books were the same as when I left.
The love bombing was delicious, though.
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KD
Jigrigger,
It's been about 22 years for me. I moved to a different state after college and several times, (before I found this site), I attempted to go back. It actually seemed about the same. The "new light" stuff really threw me though. I was actally sitting in a KH when during the wt study, they brought out how "this generation" now has a different meaning. I almost fell out of my seat, but when I looked around, at the members had blank looks as if it was no big deal!!
I briefly mentioned this on a different post, but I started off in high school with my best friend. After high school, my friend became a pioneer and a few years after that I went apostate and left to go to college. My friend, while in school liked Spanish. Soon after I left, I heard how my friend married a spanish girl, moved to a spanish speaking congragation in a different state and pioneered to spanish people. Now many years go by....This past summer, I get an E-mail from my old friend whom tracked me down on the internet. Come to find out he lives only 1 hour away so I drive out to see him for dinner. We meet up and he tells how he went off to college (while raising a family) and is now teachind spanish at a university and working towards his Ph.D.! "Wow I said, so how long have you been out?" I asked. Then he explains that he has been faithfull since high school and has been an elder for many years in the spanish community. It's ok to go to college he said. But to sum this story up, my friend explained that things have changed a lot and was encouraging me to come back. I won't go back but it really sucks!! There was a part of my live where there were people whom were my friends and now I can never associate with them.
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Farkel
I've been out a full thirty years. It was not-that-bad (relatively speaking) when I was in. It has blossomed into a full-blown Cult since then and the current lying, paranoia and all around duplicity was never that bad when I was in.
The Jehovah's Witness religion is in the toilet today. All someone needs to do is flush it and send it back to the sewer that spawned it.
Farkel
Edited by - Farkel on 23 October 2002 22:4:3
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Mum
I've been out 23+ years. I have family that are still in, but they are lunatic fringe in an organization that is alreadly lunatic fringe. It's all pretty bizzarre. My JW niece recently had her first sexual experience and asked me not to report her to the elders. I just said, "Are you kidding? Me report something to them? Maybe I should because they would not believe "unreliable" reports from an "apostate!"
My biological mother is a JW, but she waited until she was old and feeble to convert, so she doesn't have to exploit herself the way typical JW's do. She lies abed all day and the witnesses come by to offer comfort, support and help. Amazing!
I told my other niece who was attending meetings for a while but never baptized that I am glad I went full-fledged, married an elder, the whole nine yards, because if I had not, I might never have seen the "truth about the 'trooth.'"
Anyway, the JW's appear to be more lax about allowing education, but the child molestation issue is more than any of them should be able to handle. They also seem more supportive of single parents and offer more opportunities to people of non-white races. All in all, though, if it sounds like a cult, looks like a cult, acts like a cult -- well, you see where this is going.
Happier every day to be free and enjoying life more than I ever dreamed possible,
Mum
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Jigrigger
Thank you Brummie, Jesika, Been There, Robdar, KD, and Farkel for your responses.
KD, you mentioned a couple of things that caught I would like to comment on.
:"I was actally sitting in a KH when during the wt study, they brought out how "this generation" now has a different meaning. I almost fell out of my seat, but when I looked around, at the members had blank looks as if it was no big deal!!"
It is almost inconceivable to one that has never been a JW that doctrine can change without members thinking about the implications. For instance, when the Society changed it's stance on alternative service, you would think there would have been a large outcry due to the number of bros who were imprisoned because they weren't allowed to accept alternative service. Same as with organ transplants - how many members lost loved ones due to the Society's ban on organ transplants - only to have the Society reverse it's position. Yet the rank and file don't seem to notice how faithful bros and sisters got shafted, who wouldn't have had they been born 2 or 3 decades later.
About the college thing, I'm wondering if the Society has relaxed it's view on further education only because they realize that they can extract more cash contributions from dubs who have better incomes. Hmmmmmmmmm
Jrig
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larc
Yes brother Farkel, it was a kinder, gentler religion back in those days. I attended a very good, kind congregatioon. I made my departure, not because of the congregation. I left because I started to read the old books by Russell and Rutherford. It broke my heart, but once I read it, I could not go back again, even though I loved my local congregation. It was very sad for me.