We are giving too much power to the watchtower

by sinboi 31 Replies latest jw experiences

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  JaniceA

  Be careful to live life well for yourself. Every endeavour should not be part of a massive f#$k you ,watchtower!

  At some point,ASAP we need to cut those ties to the borg (,there are exceptions!) even if our family members choose to shun, and while it's a shitty thing that the WT enforces, it's on them. We can't control what WT family says about us.

  We don't want to let that shape our whole lives, we don't even need to feel bad if we screw it up and the WT adherents are gloating over it. People can make mistakes! The WT allows themselves plenty. Don't let shame over your growing pains become a vehicle to entrap you in WT think! POMI folks ruin themselves with that shit and often end up as JW apologists who begin every forum or letter to the editor with a disclaimer about not being a JW.

  Congratulations on being smart enough to escape at such a young age. Your parents religion claims they don't shun minor children. Didn't they get that memo?
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  sinboi

  Didn't they get that memo?

  Link Dislike LikeI don't know. You mean they started to treat me better not because of my efforts but because of that memo?
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  stan livedeath

  hey Sinboi--keep it in your trousers. the world isnt quite ready for lots of baby sinbois just yet.
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  scratchme1010

  Over here, I find that we have given too much power to the watchtower. We are reinforcing the idea that we are victims of the watchtower. In this way, we are like saying we cannot do anything about it.
  

  Hello. I agree with you. HOWEVER, please understand that the WT has been a good thing that happened to some people (or at least seemed like it). Some people have been convinced that their lives were saved because of it, just to later find out about what they really do to people. That's not an easy thing for some people to accept and just move on from.

  There are many more who don't give such power to the WT. However,

  1. People who are in that place, many times just leave the forum and move on. A place like this becomes redundant.
  2. Some feel that they need to leave the forum in order to move on since they feel pulled back to the JW mindset by reading and participating in this or other places for ex-JWs

  Some people are just not ready to peel of the layers and layers of indoctrination, and are in that place where they are figuring things out.

  I too share with you that some people refuse to let go. In fact, some people ended being JWs precisely because they do not want to take a close look at themselves and their lives, hence, it's a lot easier to spend their time talking about other things, including all these hypothetical situations that are never going to become a reality. It's a great entertainment against their own reality.

  As for being "victims" of the WT, I do believe that we are. However, remaining victimized is a different thing. Learning about better choices, looking for ways of minimizing their influence, and striving for getting to a point where none of what they say or do matters to you, those are the healthier ways of removing the victim.

  Not every person is ready for that; some never will.

  Thank you for sharing.
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  JaniceA

  Sinboi, the WT claim is that first off they don't shun(,except for all their exceptions,) and especially that they don't shun family members who are minors or still in the family home. The claim by the WT is adamant that they don't shun family members, especially children, which you technically are. They make this claim before governments, under oath in court and in their literature. Call them on it with evidence; They shouldn't be softening up, they should never have abdicated their parenting.
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  Whynot

  You are very lucky to still be able to talk to your family. I'm not disfellowshipped yet my JW parents told me they could no longer babysit my children because my husband is disfellowshipped. I'm not invited even to family gatherings anymore. You're parents sound very reasonable. The congregation avoids me when they see me in public but have no problem talking to me and hugging me at the kingdom hall.

  I agree that it is very annoying when ex-JWs see themselves as victims way longer than they should. It's absolutely normal to go through a victim phase but they must get out of that to move forward in life and be happy. I do admire the ones that move forward and decide to help others.

  The longer and deeper you are in the religion the more difficult it is to leave and even tougher it is to deprogram, get out of the victim phase. These people need extra support and love because their whole life has been built on the organization. It's absolutely normal to go through this phase and shouldn't be criticized. Same thing happens when people go to college for 5 years or more and end up unemployed and not being able to find a job, or to a person who has had a reliable career based on a company/corporation for many many years and suddenly they get laid off. It changes their whole life drastically.

  At 17 you are barely starting to build a life for yourself. Sometimes you don't even know where to start building. 17 is a very fun stage in life. The books you are reading are informative but you can't get to fully understand how it feels being in the actual situation most of us here experience. That's how life is though. You can't judge someone and their reaction, decisions unless you yourself have experienced it in the way they have.

  Btw I do think it's great that you started this journey early. You're saving yourself a lot of pain. Plus you seem to have a great attitude and supportive parents. A lot here will not agree with your point of views and that's ok. Don't let that bother you.
• 

  never a jw

  "Is it really true that we will be the loser in this fight???"

  By mentally exiting the cult you won the war, everything else are pesky skirmishes. You are in control of your mind now! And that's one hell of a victory.

  Mom and dad made their choices and they may even be happy as it is. Focus your efforts mainly in making the best of your newly earned freedom
  
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  Brokeback Watchtower

  I would say that with the information age that is growing exponentially that it will leave the Watchtower Corporation in the dust and ashes.

  When we communicate on the internet in groups like this about the WT corporation we are doing tremendous damage to the Organization. Staying silent helps The WT,, being vocal about these frauds, adds more straws to the camel's back till it eventually breaks.

  So I would say that to communicate in groups like this takes away power from the WT corporation one tiny straw at a time. With all this mass communication and people leaving this mind control cult given a voice kind of in a way levels the playing field against a fraudulent Corporation,, where before the internet our options were much more limited as to what we could do to bring these assholes to their knees.

  And it is good therapy to boot.
  
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  dubstepped

  Sinboi - Is it really true that we will be the loser in this fight???

  Look, according to delusional cult members if life goes well it's because Satan and if life goes poorly it's because Satan. You can't win a fight against delusional people. If that alone doesn't show them that they're just making this up as they go along to fit a narrative that supports what they already feel, not much you or I can do.

  Our fight isn't with them. Our fight is our own, our own life, figuring that out without them, living for ourselves. They are playing their game, and we play ours. Different games altogether. I don't care what individual members do, including my family members. I do care that the organization itself be exposed so that it doesn't hurt more people.

  
  
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  sinboi

  I was simply naive yesterday when I started this topic. I was reasoning in my mind that

  they have just a few men in the gb. We have hundreds if not thousands of people here. We can definitely win over them. I was just ignorant. Ignorant of the power of indoctrination. I may use mind power to control my own mind but can never use my mind power to influence a mind that is being controlled by others.

  Hitler just one person can use indoctrination to control the minds of millions.

  Hey, I have a new idea here...the use of subliminal messages to plant doubts into their minds. In theory it may work....