Has Your JW Background Benefited You In Any Way? (page 4)

Vidiot

As I've said many times, the WTS did a superb job inoculating me against any other form of religious expression...

...so I'm perfectly comfortable living a secular lifestyle.

DOC - I think the older JWs (and older genres) had higher moral compasses in general especially ones involved with their churches. The JWs I knew in the 60s seemed like very good people. I really missed one friend when she abruptly stopped attending the Baptist Church and became a JW - WOW! She and her family joined up with the JW ranks but they were good people to begin with - they didn't have drug/drinking, etc., issues to work on -- and not that most witnesses (as far as I know) had bad issues.

I had one young witness girl working for me in the 90s and she told me not to be naive about witness teenagers. She said she did it all -- drugs, drinking, smoking, blah blah. I couldn't believe but she turned out so well - her parents (JWs) instilled good, honest, work, ethics, in her -- I was thrown off guard with after she ran out on her husband -- I couldn't believe she took off or that she was truthful about JW teens!

Wish I would have learned the public speaking skills of JWs. I believe many of you are great public orators - some phenomenal intelligence on this board so it doesn't surprise me at all! My adult-child is asked to attend important business meetings (on behalf of her/his employer - I only have 1 adult/child) and is quite an impression in the business/speaking arena - can't attribute it all to JWism because of college and lots of presentations but I'm sure the weekly mic (canned/brainwashing) experience helped.

Did the JW school copy the toastmaster book -- seems I read something on a board?

Diogenesister

I think it has taught me, as a youngster, patience.

Some kids these days want entertainment 24/7. I learnt How to deal with boredom!!!

Also, I think it helps with reading SKILLS ( not content!)for kids who don't naturally enjoy it and wouldn't read of their own accord.

Diogenesister

Seriously impressed with AfrikkaMan for taking the huge negative that is Watchtower, and turning it in to the positive that is your business in presentation skills/public speaking training.Kudos!

Ex-JWs Brazil

It gave me a micro model of the world so I can extrapolate what I know from this closed system into the big world.

Tallon

For me, the theocratic ministry school (TMS) played a huge part in my overcoming a speech impediment - I stuttered / stammered. As part of my job description / role I am expected to give presentations at management meetings therefore the skills I learnt at the TMS has helped me considerably.

LV101

Diogenesister - it's the opposite on reading comprehension skills in the west. Many of the JW teens had difficulty reading. I think because so many striving JWs power mongering and schmoozing for status in the halls pull their children out of the public education system. Sad the states turned soft on public education. It's a problem and more than a few life-time JWs pointed it out to me. Very sad. Strange that the so many excel in pubic speaking but they do.

Jrjw

I was ridiculously shy before I became a jw so it helped me with that but i'd much rather be shy still and have those wasted years of my life back!

I quit!

Possibly. I once had a old friend I grew up with tell me he thought me getting involved with the JWs may have saved me from where he thought I was heading with drug use. He smoked more pot than I did but I liked a lot of other drugs. I think I would have out grown the drug thing anyway but who knows.

Getting burned by the JW Armageddon BS and finding out that most of what they believed (and what I believed) was nonsense made me skeptical of other religions and gave me the ability to pick and choose what parts of a religion I wanted to accept and what parts I wanted to reject instead of feeling obligated to accepting an entire package. It also gave me the ability to dump a believe once I found out it wasn't true. Sometimes a slow process but always heading in the right direction.

I also think it may have helped me to become a pretty effective sales person. I've spent half of my adult life in sale so being able to approach people try to sell them something and accept rejection were good things to learn. I've known other xjws who have benefitted in this way from WT door to door training. If you can approach people and try to sell them a fantasy paradise afterlife then selling insurance, furniture, real estate etc..isn't quite as hard.

Whynot

The morals I was raised with are also cultural. My non-JW family were also raised to avoid alcoholism, gambling, theft etc. I actually have pretty awesome cousins, uncles and aunts and they are not in the cult. I'm actually very jealous of them because they went to college and have a good balance of family and career. So I can't say it made me personally a better person.

Now, maybe it helped me meet a lot of people and kept me busy on the weekends. I wasn't allowed to go out unless I was preaching.

Has Your JW Background Benefited You In Any Way?

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