by Butterfly607 17 Replies latest jw experiences
Did anyone else have a parent who could be described as highly narcissistic who was a JW? How was that for you growing up? Which was worse - the narcissistic religion or the narcissistic parent?
For me I feel like my parent was more toxic than the religion. She used the religion for control over her family and to fill herself up with admiration from others by being a SuperDub.
Narcissist non-jw father, narcissistic jw mother.
Yes, definitely my parents were worse. With you more time everyday, have way more control legally over your life, children are more emotionally attached/dependent on parents. It is easier to leave an organization than to put permanent distance and contact between you and your parents. People are always suggesting you should forgive and makeup with your parents just because they are sperm and egg donors; and not knowing the details and not entitled to them to judge if you have made the right decision.
The answer to your question is yes, yes and yes. It was hell as a child. Exposed to sex perverts to people who should have been in a mental hospital. My dad took it hook, line and sinker because of his hate for religion. He felt he had special knowledge that on one else had. He couldn't wait to see everyone killed by the big A. So happy I am out with my witts or am I. Lol. Still Totally ADD
not my parents--but most certainly my first wifes parents. they lived for the adoration from the congregation of envious malcontent losers. most are long gone now.
My father in law is. I don't think my parents are, but they are in a different category of a negative personality type.
Did anyone else have a parent who could be described as highly narcissistic who was a JW? How was that for you growing up? Which was worse - the narcissistic religion or the narcissistic parent?
My Mom (bless her) tended to be motivated by what others thought of her and used us kids to make herself appear favorably in their eyes. Of course there was the notion that we'd live forever one day, but us giving talks, having parts in the meeting, going in service "placing" a lot of magazines and being well dressed at the meetings was mostly about her looking good in the eyes of others, in the here and now.
Like many, she was caught up in the JW idea that the whole world is watching us and enough is never enough. Knowing that everyone was watching each others works and that they were evaluating each others spirituality by them, mustn't have been easy on her own as a mother with an "unbelieving" mate. Nevertheless, it wasn't fun to be someones trained poodle.
Yes I did. You can have a fairly good life as members (if you must) if you don't take the religion too seriously. But having a narcissistic parent in addition to the already narcissistic organization is of course by its' very nature worse.
i think we have , my wife`s sister and my s.I.l ,who i brought into the religion many years ago and who has been out many years ago now.
My mother was. So were my elder GF and GM, but I think the religion plays on that crap. You are better, smarter and able to see clear because you are a JW. I saw it in kids who would treat others in school as inferior and would soon die. The cult is dangerous on so many levels.
I’d always thought that “narcissism” was irrational and disproportionally high preoccupation with and/or belief in one’s own superiority...
...basically, arrogance dialed up to 11.
