What Is Your Biggest Regret Because You Were a Jehovah's Witness?

by minimus 50 Replies latest jw friends

  • harleyquinn
    harleyquinn

    not being allowed any friends...i was in a mostly older congregation and only saw kids my age at assemblies....and not being allowed to go to college as an english major...not 'reliable' enough a major, the parents said...

  • Preston
    Preston

    I wish I wasn't such a little shit. Being too self-righteous to cultivate any friendships in shool with the exception of the few I developed in college was a big mistake. I got what I deserved.

  • pratt1
    pratt1

    Not getting to know my "worldly" relatives. I had two Grandmothers and a Grandfather, I berely knew.

    I always feel a little sad when I hear other people talk about their relationships with their grandparents.

    Unfortunately, I didn't wake up until 2 grandparents were dead and one was very ill near death.

    I have cousins that I now asociate with, however we've missed each others childhoods.

  • little witch
    little witch

    (((Preston)))

    Yes, that black eye is most humbling isn't it? LOL

    I really am glad that I was debased and put in my place (by the lord)

    We as witnesses were raised and taught to believe that we were better and more enlightened than others outside our little group.,......how foolish and naive we were. How blessed we are now to understand a higher "truth".

    big smiles and good thoughts .......

  • lonelymom
    lonelymom

    Why are you not allowed to go to college?

  • Soledad
    Soledad

    there are many things, but the biggest regret is not bonding enough with my very loving and kind "worldly" relatives, namely my father. As I JW I often wished that he would just die, and I regret that more than anything. I am so angry at my mother for doing this to us.

  • blondie
    blondie
    Why are you not allowed to go to college?

    Actually it is strongly discouraged. If a JW goes to college, they won't be disfellowshipped or kicked out, but they will be unofficially branded as weak spiritually and bad association. The WTS worries that the average JW child will succumb to the human philosophies taught in college/universities as well as the "wild" living of college students. Of course, if they were well grounded in their beliefs, there should be no danger. The other factor is that the WTS teaches the "end" is near and that JWs should get a job to support themselves as full-time preachers of the WTS dogma. Taking a 4 to 8 year regimen of schooling would be a waste of time in their opinion. In recent years they backed off a little because 1) the end did not come as soon as they thought 2) children of JWs had no skills to support themselves let alone the families they were having. So they said they could go to vocational school or similar to get enough education to do that "encouraging" them to live at home rather than on campus amidst the "bad association." Blondie (who answered without cutting and pasting)

  • little witch
    little witch

    Sol,

    It is not your Mother who is to blame....but a for profit book publishing empire...much like any other get rich quick scheme, we were all duped. Our hope is that our families realize this and overcome.

    Your dear mother isnt responsible for this deception we all fell under.....it is the watchtower corporation that devised this evil program...

    I know how much it hurts.....hang in babe.... things get better!

  • Soledad
    Soledad

    LW thanks for your kind words

    I know ultimately that my mom is not to blame but it's hard to get over the things she used to say about my father and my other relatives and then finding out that none of those things were even true, that she said it to drive a wedge between us and used the religion as an excuse. I have the feeling that even if she wasnt a JW she would have done the same. It's a real shame.

  • redhotchilipepper
    redhotchilipepper

    The mental termoil as a child! That would be my biggest regret! It was awful! I regret ever going back, when I left as a teenager, I should have never gone back to the ORG!!!

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