I would rather be in the JW cult than the ex-jw cult

by questioningmyfaith 60 Replies latest jw friends

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  freemindfade

  You can only play the hand you were dealt. I try not to have regrets about my mom raising me in the religion. There are a lot of good people in it that I still call friends. And definitely some good things can come from a systematic life with boundaries. It's best not to be bitter, I try to only look back to see how far I have come.

  And when it comes to labeling EXJW that label can mean anything, really the only thing all these people have in common is they were once JW, beyond that there are all types. You say exjw cult? Well honestly I don't think there could ever be that much unity in this community. And I am not saying that as good or bad, just the way it is. Once people leave they go a million different directions. I am forever fascinated by this "thing" that had so much influence in my life, how it worked, what's happening to it and so on. I had my bitter moments and lived through them.

  For the record any group with as much influence as watchtower is not good. The Jones town crew wasn't drinking Koolaid all along, and radical Islamists were at one time not so radical.

  Religion is a social technology of bygone era, it just happens to still work.

  f-ck "god" and f-ck religion. Time to evolve.
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  OnTheWayOut

  If I read your post right, questioningmyfaith, you have (or will have) reached a point where you will just go do your own thing. Instead of learning the religion or learning what's wrong with the religion, you will learn a language (and/or other things).

  That's great. The most personally successful former JW's are not here. They are not at meetups. They are not protesting outside of Kingdom Halls, nor are they sitting through meetings inside the Kingdom Hall. They are living their lives, wherever that may take them.

  Good luck.
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  punkofnice

  Each to their own. In my garden I grow weeds. I respect the views of others providing they hurt no one.
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  JWdaughter

  Go watch tv. I see your point, even if I disagree in some ways. I think learning another language is a great idea! I'm learning Urdu, Arabic and Spanish. Trying to learn Arabic, the other two are spoken a lot around me so there is an osmosis effect.

  Salaam
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  Giordano

  Ex JW Cults. Hummmm. I don't throw the Cult bomb at the WTBTS. To my way of thinking they are a high control religion founded on 19th century nonsense. Sort of like the Mormons.

  Both groups make up shit and present their teachings as if they come from a higher authority.

  I also think that this place can be a shock to a number of new arrivals. Especially people who have been complacent about the evil that is a part of the JW construct.

  Be it the pedophile issue...... shunning until death, reckless rules about medical treatments, anti higher education. Anti gay. The propensity to jump on their followers back and weigh them down with ridiculous rules and demands or to slip between their legs and dictate what a married couple can do or not do in the marriage bed.

  When my wife and I exited the JW's decades ago I held no bitterness.

  After Jonestown my attitude changed about a religion like the JW's when I recognized how dangerous it was to embrace teachings that called for blind obedience......... teachings that called on a believing parent to refuse having their child receive a life saving blood transfusion. Who were willing to allow them to die and keep the favor of their fellow believers. A religion like the JW's expects their followers to go about their business with a suicide note in one's pocket that spelled out NO Blood.

  The criticism you experienced in your first post was more about staking out a position that was inconsistent with the reality of what it meant to be a believing and then exiting ex-JW. You still want to label us as an Ex-JW Cult.

  There are many stories to tell about life as a JW very little has to be made up. But if this place is more like a village with everyone having shared experiences and a common language along with the village one also get's the occasional village idiot. Best to just ignore them. There are people I avoid debating or befriending though on rare occasion I will take exception with a point of view but usually I note how much growth is involved in becoming surer about what not to believe.

  The opposite has been true for all of us or as Eric Hoffer said “It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible.” As a believing JW.

  
  

  
  

  
  
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  Diogenesister

  I agree with OTWO. It seems you have reached a place where you can move on...that's great!

  But really..without exjws posting fantastic, informative stuff about the watchtower and its history, how many of us would have learnt the ttatt on our own??I for one admit I wouldn't have been smart enough to work it all out.
• 

  Diogenesister

  Giordano After Jonestown my attitude changed about a religion like the JW's when I recognized how dangerous it was to embrace teachings that called for blind obedience......... teachings that called on a believing parent to refuse having their child receive a life saving blood transfusion. Who were willing to allow them to die and keep the favor of their fellow believers. A religion like the JW's expects their followers to go about their business with a suicide note in one's pocket that spelled out NO Blood.

  Listening to the Jones town recordings terrifies me...you are so right. For me, I always think when I hear it there but for the grace of JW facts and JW.net go I....
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  Crazyguy

  So on one side of the coin your like hey it's no big deal and on the other side your like man you guys suck. Really your bitching about us but give a mudering cult a free pass, WTF is wrong with you?
• 

  RubaDub

  questioning my faith ...

  Welcome.

  In the event that we meet and shake hands, may we ask which hand you use for personal hygiene cleaning ???

  Rub a Dub
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  Finkelstein

  Describing ex-jws has being in a cult itself is nonsensical for a descriptive point of view.

  People who have been involved in the JW religion come out with varying perspectives on religious faith and adherence from their experience within this religion. Criticism are free flowing and unregulated by individuals , some are wrong and some are right but they are nevertheless openly discussed.
  

  Sure there are some who are vindictive upon the organization for their own various reasons and that's perhaps why this religion looses so many adherents because its just too intervening into people's lives , such as telling its members to abandon their own family for an example.

  There are certainly many egregiously harmful things this cult does to people besides the corruptly devised doctrines that were created toward the proliferation of distributing its publications.

  In other words its an organization that creates its own vindictiveness and accusations of foul play and corruption.