Has anyone got anything positive from being a JW?

by diamondblue1974 36 Replies latest jw friends

  • dins
    dins

    It is possible to learn a positive from a negative...for instance, my father was the perfect role model of what I didn't want to be which made me work harder in life. I also developed a rather thick exterior after being chased, taunted and punched on a somewhat daily basis on my way home from middle school for being a JW, hiding in the library and reading all the "forbidden books" one shouldn't read.

    Diana

  • Doubtfully Yours
    Doubtfully Yours

    Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!

    Plenty of positive, in my particular case of course, from the WTBTS experience.

    However, not enough to make me go back into it wholeheartedly. I've just outgrown them.

    DY

  • Nosferatu
    Nosferatu

    I think the only positive I learned was how much the JWs are hypocrites, and how the WT publications are full of shit.

    I've had to reconstruct my entire personality, belief system, my social skills only to name a few. A lot of the stuff I had to re-learn I should've learned if I wasn't raised with "bible principles"

  • lonelysheep
    lonelysheep

    Yes, realizing I do not need religion in my life.

  • Alwayshere
    Alwayshere

    I think the only positive I learned was how much the JWs are hypocrites, and how the WT publications are full of shit. I am quoting Nosferatu. I tried to highlight and click on the bubble but am new at quoting so don't know if I done it right. Anyway I certainly feel the same as he does. The reason they are so full of shit is because that organization is run by apostates.

  • Brummie
    Brummie
    Has anyone got anything positive from being a JW?

    I noticed that after I left I had a lot of empathy to release. Empathy for those who were disfellowshipped and shunned. Empathy for those I left behind in the movement. Empathy for this and Empathy for that! So I think, what I'm trying to say is, had I have not been so stone cold as a JW I may have never understood what true empathy for people meant. I also understand now what it means to care for people unconditionally, maybe I would never have understood that if I hadnt have spent so many years in a movement where everything is based on conditions.

    Ya get my drift?

    Nice thread!

    Brummie

  • FairMind
    FairMind

    Some of the positive-positive things I attribute to being a JW are:

    1. Quit smoking (had to in 1973 or be DF’d)
    2. Gained poise, confidence and teaching skills through TMS
    3. Gained knowledge of Bible teachings (some of it accurate) and benefited through application of many.
    4. Met my current wife

    Some of the positive lessons I learned from negative JW experiences are:

    1. Never trust anyone who says you can trust them
    2. Everyone really has their best interests at heart and not yours, despite what they may say
    3. Right, wrong and fairness are not the real issues within the WTS, but unquestioning obedience to the authority structure is.
    4. Some JW elders really do assist in family breakups.
    5. Watch your back

    FairMind

  • Jez
    Jez

    I got free babysitting for my girls while I worked

  • Reefton Jack
    Reefton Jack

    The only good thing I learned from them was public speaking - courtesy of the Ministry School.

    However, I would hasten to add that the price paid for that was far too high!

    (I don't even have to use that skill anymore)

  • rebel8
    rebel8

    Yes. I learned how NOT to think and how not to act. Whenever I am faced with a dilemma involving social interactions or involving how to critically analyze a situation and problem-solve, I try to determine what I would have done when I was a JW, and do the opposite!

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