If you had the choice ,when you became a jw,,,,,,,

kls

Would you have been better off being born in to it or have been better off being recruited as an adult

What are the pros and cons of both.

desib77

I would say recruited as an adult is better. At least that way I would have had a normal childhood.

Desi

I was recruited as an adult. The cons were damaged family ties, loss of friends, and everything else associated with being a JW. On the positive side, it's probably easier for me to re-integrate into normal society now that I'm out. I can't imagine how hard it must be for someone indoctrinated from birth.

Walter

truthseeker1

Tricked into it as an adult: When you leave, you usually don't lose your entire family and way of life, you can return to normal.

kls

But as an adult should you have known better ? Should you have researched the cult ?

Also as an adult you might recruited others

undercover

I was raised in it. Missed out on a "normal" childhood and teenage life. I hate that I had to be an outcast and realizing now with no good reason. I spent a lot of adulthood too as a good little dubbie. Being raised to believe that JWs were right and everybody else was wrong, it was hard to face any doubts or questions that I had. I squelched them and put on the good little JW act.

The one solace I have of being raised in it, is that at least I wasn't conned or fell for it as an adult. I excuse it somehow by saying to myself "I just didn't know any better. I wouldn't have fallen for it as an adult." That's not to belittle anyone who chose JWism as an adult. I'm sure that living forever in a paradise earth would be appealing to anyone, but I'm not one to buy religion on my front door step. I do regret that it took so long of my adulthood to face my questions and doubts and realize that I was part of a cult-like religion though. I feel that I was weakminded in not spotting them as charlatans sooner.

Country Girl

I would *never* have entered this religion as a fully informed adult. I was FORCED to be a JW, and if I didn't agree with it, I was beat within an inch of my life. I had doubts, but kept them quiet until I was grown. My favorite birthday was 18 years old. When you're forced to live like this, you are forced to act like this at all times, especially if you had the watchful eye of a JW mother who assumed you were a harlot from the day you were born. I learned to lie really well... too well, perhaps. My Mother was convinced that all female children would be harlots that would be swayed by the first man that looked their way. She put enough fear in me that I stayed a virgin for a REALLY long time! She had me scared that all men would use me and throw me away, and I'd get a reputation, and embarass my Father. She was always sniffing and looking around and doing all that stuff like a private investigator. I wonder sometimes if she ever thought that I brought the sexual abuse on myself, at four years old, because I was being a harlot! I have always wondered that. I felt ashamed and upset that when I reported the abuse, I was made to feel that I brought it on myself. At four years old? She never did anything about that.. and she never asked any more questions about it. I faced it when I was older, and she wasn't one to help me. She kept bringing me to my abuser. He didn't abuse me but once, but that was enough. I was sexualized at four.

I would NEVER have become a JW if I was exposed to it. I knew it was wrong about five years after we were in it. I had read Darwin's "Origin of Species" at nine years old. While I didn't understand all of it, I understood enough. I was smart enough to recognize, at nine years, the inconsistencies, in their doctrine. I knew it wasn't the truth, so I never put myself wholly into it. I used to think it was my fault, as we females in the dubs are taught to believe. I wasn't doing enough service, etc. But eventually I just gave up and said if God was gonna kill me, let him do it. I didn't care anymore.

My salvation was that later I found out that God said that his burden was light. Amazing. I am born again.. and I believe to this day that his burden is light. It doesn't MEAN making 10 hours a month in service. Jesus didn't mark his hours, Jehovah doesn't ask for hours.. he only asks one thing: that you love him. That is what I do.... it's not between me and a publishing company. It's between me and God...

Country

iiz2cool

But as an adult should you have known better ? Should you have researched the cult ?

Yes, I probably should have known better and done some research in something other than watchtower material. Somehow the JWs are good at getting people when they're at a low point in their lives.

Walter

undercover

Somehow the JWs are good at getting people when they're at a low point in their lives.

Exactly. Just a few days ago, I was trying to think of all the people that I knew of that became JWs as adults. I tried to remember one that was a completely happy, well-adjusted, individual with no family problems, health problems or violent/criminal past. None came to mind. Everyone that I knew of had some kind of issue with life in general. They had been mistreated someway, somehow and were not truly happy. They were in search of happiness or answers and the JWs knocked on their door one day.

I remember when no one responded to our ministry, how some would always say that these people already had their paradise or how these people were complacent with their lives. It wasn't that so much that as it was that these people were happy and comfortable and didn't want some doomsayer to frighten them. These people were content with their lives. You may not be rich, or have found a soul-mate, or live exactly the way you want, but most people find a way to be content with what they have. How many JWs are content? They may claim they are, but they aren't. The fact that they eagerly await the great day of god the almighty is proof of that. They can't wait for their "new system". Until then they'll whine and cry about "this system of things".

franklin J

...in my experience, being recruited would be easier.

My parents converted to JW when I was too young to remember ( toddler).

When we exited; I was the one who left behind EVERY TEACHING and friend I had ever known. It drove me to a therapist to help deal with what was labeled "culture shock".

My parents went back to the life they knew prior; holidays; friends and some family ( who had never converted). They "transitioned" very easily.

If you had the choice ,when you became a jw,,,,,,,

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