by wizedup 20 Replies latest jw friends
Couldn't get my "edit" to post so here it is. Sorry.
FLEUR: We keep wondering the same thing! How could anyone believe that? ooops....that was us.
Isn't it funny when you escape for awhile how rediculous so many things become? Yet it goes to show how gradual brainwashing can be used to control a person. All of a sudden you say," How on earth did we get here?"
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Kwin and I have been having good laughs over these things as well... especially things like "new light" and the reversal of different "truths" (ie. 1914). We have developed quite a sense of humour over things and the WT seems to be the butt of our jokes lately, or we'll correct ourselves and joke that we received "new light" on whatever we just corrected ourselves about. It's so weird, looking back, at how fast our opinions changed about the teachings, once we took them very seriously, now we can't believe we ever fell for it! We can't figure out why they made sense at the time - or were we just too busy to notice?
I can only imagine how it is to become a JW as an adult.. how they caught those when volnerable or something..
Sassy, I was one of those not brought up as a JW, I started studying when I was 14/15 and got baptized when I was 16. I was always very spiritual, interested in God, read my Bible all the time, prayed every night without my parents encouragement, and I was looking for answers that I wasn't getting from my Catholic upbringing. I was very confused, and when the JWs could point to a scripture and answer the basic questions, I jumped at everything else, without doing the proper research. I found my "answers" (not knowing they were wrong - how could they be? This was the TRUTH!" I took it all very seriously, stopped association with my "worldly" friends, stopped celebrating holidays and my birthday right away and jumped in with both feet. They did catch me when I was very vulnerable... Thankfully, I am still young - I was only in for about 8 years. Now, I have most of my adult life to look forward to, and my kids are still young enough to turn things around for them and raise them normally.
Laughter is the best medicine!
2
I just wanted to clarify that I don't look down on anyone who became a JW as an adult...they definitely know how to make the package sound appealing, they are great at sales and love-bombing and then by the time a person figures out what is really going on there is really no graceful way to exit in most cases.
They talk a good game...they hit on all emotional buttons...prey on those who are vulnerable because they've lost people or are alone...there are a million reasons that people buy what they sell, and no one should ever feel down on themselves for having believed.
People believe a lot of things...some hold those beliefs till they die. Everyone is different.
Just felt I needed to clarify because I didn't want to offend anybody.
love
essie
Funny how to apostates, JW reasoning is humerous. To JWs, apostate reasoning is terrifying.
They do prey on the vulnerable and admit it too.
Like when they say: "You never know when someone experiences a death in the family, goes through a divorce, etc. They may be searching for answers. The angels will direct you to these ones."
Well if you go out enough you are bound to run into someone hurting over something, no? Yet, the angels sent you there. What they really mean and can't say is," There are vulnerable people out there who will fall for this if the time is right and they're hurting bad enough. GO GET 'EM!"
That thinking or speaking about anything contradictory to JW teachings meant you were an apostate and possesed by demons. It never left any room for actual free thinking did it? Don't ask questions when you start noticing the contradictions in their words and actions otherwise you're an apostate. Just tell yourself that they were wrong in the past but are now correct.
Well, they said they were right in the past. They are saying they are correct now. They were really wrong in the past. Who's to say that in the future they won't be saying that we were wrong now?
That seems to be what they always say, Crinkle. WE were wrong, not them!
Hmm. The older I got the less I believed, and I can't really blame myself for being gullible as a small child. My main concern was always the truthfullness of Bible accounts. One by one different beliefs peeled off my psyche like layers of an onion, until now... Nothing.
I guess I'm mad at myself for taking the $50 my Grandma had just given me as a gift at ASSembly (age 12 or so) and pitching it in the contibution box to make Jehovah proud.
that if I played with myself I'd die at Armaggedon. Not that I ever DID play with it, mind you!!!
You took the words right out of my mouth Avishai!!
........That my panic attacks were caused by the unicorn pictures I had in my house :o
Kat
