Advantages to being a JW (page 3)

EvilForce

Growing up a witness helped me to sit for hours on end in a lecture hall looking interested in what the professor had to say.

Growing up a witness helped me to overcome my car sickness tendency.

Growing up a witness hepled me to get used to spending lots of time alone w/ no friends.

Growing up a witness helped me to read inane drivel and formulate that crap into a "talk" aka... lecture. My medical students still hate me for this.

Growing up a witness helped me to realize how "not crazy" the Christian Scientists are.

Growing up a witness taught me how to not care what my neighbors thought of my lawn care.

Growing up a witness taught me how to tell people things they didn't want to hear.... ie, stop smoking, stop overeating, get this surgery or die.... etc, etc.

Growing up a witness taught me how to judgemental.... aka a republican. Thank God I figured out that true loving people are democrats and helped change my thinking!!!!

zugzwang

Growing up a witness taught me how to judgemental.... aka a republican. Thank God I figured out that true loving people are democrats and helped change my thinking!!!!

Because I grew up a witness it is easy to see religious fraud in other people and organizations. . . such as the Republican Party.

El blanko

Being a Witness taught me the joys of having to wear a full suit, on a summers day, in a sister's house, whilst studying the big red Climax book ... (man - I used to really sweat during those sessions).

On a more serious note, being a witness did instill discipline through a period of my life when it was needed. I had fallen into a drug habit and a deep depression. A few years of association with the JWs really helped, then I started to slowly fade away.

Deputy Dog

Mark

I'd say that the biggest advantage of being a JW is that you learn the Bible.

I have never met a JW who knows the Bible. They only know a few verses and of those, they only know what the org. says about them.

D Dog

cheeseman

You acquire a vast array of suit jackets, trousers, shirts and ties.

MGonzales

Deputy Dog, I disagree with you. Regardless what the org. tells them, I think JWs know their Bible very well. Some of the best scriptural arguments I've come across have been from ex-JWs who, while no longer associated with the WTS, still learned the Bible as a JW.

I guess you might be referring to interpretation that you don't agree with more than actual wording and location of scripture. But I'm sure some ex-JWs will disagree with you that they hadn't learned their Bible as a JW. Again, not WTS interpretation but rather the contents of the book.
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Mark

NeonMadman

I guess you might be referring to interpretation that you don't agree with more than actual wording and location of scripture. But I'm sure some ex-JWs will disagree with you that they hadn't learned their Bible as a JW. Again, not WTS interpretation but rather the contents of the book.
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I'm with Deputy on this one. I was a JW for 30 years and never learned the Bible with any thoroughness until after I left. While Bible reading and study are given lip service, for most JWs Bible study means study of Watchtower publications. As David Reed pointed out, the "good" JW who follows all of the Society's suggestions for study will read about 300 pages of the Bible in a year and about 3000 pages of Watchtower materials. Most JWs don't know the Bible in any depth and couldn't even give you a good general outline of the Bible's historical flow (for example). What they learn are a lot of proof texts, many taken out of context, chosen to support their peculiar doctrines.

MGonzales

NeonMadman, you were a JW for 30 years and didn't learn the Bible? Didn't you ever go to those weekend JW get-togethers and play those corny Bible quiz games? I would have felt stupid if I gave a crap because I hardly ever knew the answers, yet I've always known a lot more about the Bible than any of my non-JW friends. Give me any scripture in a Protestant Bible and I bet even today that I can flip right to it. My buds might know that Genesis is in the front and that Revelation in the back, maybe. I guess it's all relative.

jgnat

Not a JW here but a bible freak all the same. My bible knowledge came in handy when I took my English literature course. There is so much symbolism borrowed from that hoary book. I look wearry wearry smart when I reference that original source of so many of our dreams and nightmares. Like it or not the Bible has heavily influenced our culture and world view.

P.S. I agree that most JW's don't know the bible very well. They are not taught to study in depth or in context. There is a teeny bit in Revelation and Matthew that they can recite by heart. I can run circles around my JW honey with my rich knowledge of all the OT and NT stories and tales.

FairMind

Another advantage is that you cannot blame God for not warning you about what is to befall mankind. I?ve come to the conclusion that since we humans are incapable of seeing things from Gods perspective we fail to appreciate the justice in what he does

Advantages to being a JW

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