Posts by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

21

So what would "Perfect Life" REALLY be like?

by stuckinarut2 in

i wonder sometimes just how jws try and comprehend what perfect life would really be like if "adam and eve" had not sinned?.

how would we live?

what would the realities be like?

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@stuckinarut2 Ah, the good ol' rule of scarcity.

When I was 15, I told my father that we're meant to die - it's what makes anything about us matter. I still believe this.

8

Random Musing of an ex-JW Pondering About ex-JWs

by StarTrekAngel in

long ago during my awakening process i was presented with a somewhat extrange proposition.

i can’t recall for sure where i read it.

i wandered thru so many sites over the years.

@StarTrekAngel: "Say it as it is, we have a hard time letting go of each other for a number of reasons. We may no longer feel safe or we may have nothing but loneliness if we let go. We may simply fear being out of touch with the latest scandals or, at the very worse, being reminded by our JW family that they were right. That this is what apostates are like."

Chilling words. My circle of associates can probably be numbered on one hand. I've accepted that the loneliness you speak of is in fact the greater alternative to weak companionship.

23

what as your first jolt that started your wake up process?

by yourmomma in

jw
friends

you know when you are in a deep sleep and something happens that may put you on a different level of sleeping, not as deep.

anyway, then i thought, 90 minutes for lunch?

so, there is a group waiting to cross the street.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Wakanda That.

Was hands down.

The greatest.

Apostasy trial.

I have ever listened in on.

My God, the man was was so eloquent, he may as well have been reading from the greatest script any apostate could take notes from. No wonder it left an imprint in your psyche over all those years!

For a goof, check out 20:22 when the apostate in question pulls out a paper print out. The elders, suspecting it's "apostate literature" literally duck for cover as though he'd produced a loaded weapon.

7

Isaiah 45:7 I make peace, and create evil

by pleaseresearch in

what is your thought on this particular scripture?.

how do you think a jw would respond to this if shown?.

king james biblei form the light, and create darkness: i make peace, and create evil: i the lord do all these things..

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Well, the first problem believers should be having is in clause number one of this verse: "I form the light, and create darkness..."

Darkness is not created. It is not a force or substance that can be formed. It is merely the absence of light. For the so-called scientifically astute Isaiah to be referring to it in such terms betrays his grasp of the electromagnetic spectrum.

66

The urban legends we heard as JWs!

by stuckinarut2 in

how often have we heard some sort of sensationalist urban legend as jws?.

here is an example i was told as a kid:.

the experience of a sister who knocked on a door and was greeted by a big fierce looking man- intimidating and mean.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@punkofnice: "The made up story of the bloke that didn't want the 'Truth book™' so bunged it out of the bus window. Whereupon, it hit some geezer on the head and knocked him out stone cold. When the bloke woke up, he read the book and became a jobo."

BAAAAAHAHAHA This one actually made me guffaw. I have an idea! Let's circulate a new urban legend! Listen closely... it goes a little something like this:

My father's friend from another congregation's Uncle of a District Overseer ALWAYS insisted on carrying his Truth book in his breast pocket. No one knew why he'd stubbornly refuse to remove it. No matter what shirt he was wearing, that Truth book remained firmly in his front pocket. One night while finishing up evening witnessing in a rough neighborhood he suddenly got caught in a drive-by shooting! One of the bullets was aimed right at our dear brother's heart. And MIRACULOUSLY...

...he had something to read while he bled to death.

You can't make this stuff up.

56

Spiritual "Protection" - a Menace on Psychological Development

by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho in

not quite a week ago, @lost in the fog created a thread entitled: do you have this illness?.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5187824140681216/do-you-have-this-illness.

in my year of being on this forum, i have browsed many a disillusioned thread of ex-jehovah’s witnesses expressing similar symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder when detailing their awakening - my own story included.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Diogenesister: "I think this often happens with JW kids who break free without knowing ttatt, Whose parents learnt to 'parent' from Watchtower ...they are the kids I find in rehab😞"

That was 100% me the first time I escaped the cult at age 21. I had no clue that it was all false. They say knowledge equals power? Well, I had zero knowledge. And what followed was bad decision after bad decision after bad decision. I went down the route I'd been shown to take for all those who even dared to leave. And after a few stops between rehab and hell, I was gently steered back in the direction of the organization. Looking back, I can see how clearly it was all mapped out for me.

@eyeuse2badub: "The trauma of unearthing ttatt really sent me reeling. The pain of having my belief system shattered actually caused me to check my self into a mental health facility for 3 weeks. And then another year or so to fully recover."

That sounds like PTSD to me... And how did it occur? Watchtower's black and white system for us to interpret the world:

Organization = completely trustworthy. Outside world = satanic cesspool.

So when your credulous eyes were opened to the fact that your one and only source of truth was corrupt and that the outside world may hold shreds of honesty to explain this corruption... your whole world turned upside down. I'm so glad to see you've recovered nicely. Yeah, you're jaded and cynical - but at least there's more room for shades of grey there than the previous disposition you'd been raised to hold.

This forum has documented the growth of so many. From my first post, to my current one. To @pale.emperor's first post to his latest ones as he delves into the secret society of JWT undercover. All of us - we're taking incredible strides to catch up to our ages intellectually, emotionally and psychologically. Getting "older" has never felt better.

7

Undue Influence

by Lee Elder in

this is what "undue influence" looks like.

it's how you train someone to abandon their children, become a martyr, and drink the kool-aid.

watchtower november 15, 2013. p.19, para.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Contrasted that quote with another one to highlight the murderous recklessness of the current eight cult leaders:

46

What is the most troubling or disturbing biblical passage you ever had to rationalise when a Jw?

by stuckinarut2 in

now that we have stepped away from the jw faith, how do you feel about the bible itself?.

what about those awkward sections of scripture?

how did you rationalise or justify those sections?.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

The appetizing account included in the Holy Book about King Eglon:

"Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it." -Judges 3:21,22

Holy sh*t. Literally.

Usually, I'm pretty smooth sailing with sick humor. Ask any one of my buddies and they'll point to me, like "she's the gross one".But at the time that passage was being considered for the weekly Bible reading, I was pregnant with major morning sickness and nausea.

My father and I were doing the Bible reading together and I was so sickened by the idea of feces oozing out of a pierced, tub of lard like Eglon. I remember being so furious that those details just HAD to be included in the scriptures. I actually stopped my old man from reading and told him that was the most revolting thing I'd ever read - why the hell would the Bible even say that?!

20

Celebrating a birthday for the 1st time

by Whynot in

after almost a year of thinking and eh feeling, not sure... i decided to throw a small birthday party for my son.

this feels so strange, i have never been to a birthday party.

my husband doesn't feel comfortable with it but he decided to play along lol.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Whynot: "How was it for you guys?"

I never, ever thought I'd be celebrating birthdays when I first woke up. I still had that horrible feeling of dread associated with the concept. And when @stuckinarut2 and @Unstuck invited me to their joint birthday party, I held the invitation they'd handed me with the same trepidation of clutching a .45 semi automatic.

I did go. And what unfolded was one of the most pleasant and happy experiences I could possibly associate with birthday celebrations.

I loved it that much and was so inspired that a month later, I gave my son his very first birthday:

You're creating memories for your child, @Whynot. And, if you're anything like me, you might get that frog in your throat the first time you see your child's face light up with delight as everyone unites to honor them for the afternoon. There's nothing more rewarding than gifting your child with the happiness of celebrating their life. It's a gift we were robbed of, so it's extra special when we bestow it upon the new generation of cult-free children. xxx

56

Spiritual "Protection" - a Menace on Psychological Development

by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho in

not quite a week ago, @lost in the fog created a thread entitled: do you have this illness?.

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5187824140681216/do-you-have-this-illness.

in my year of being on this forum, i have browsed many a disillusioned thread of ex-jehovah’s witnesses expressing similar symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder when detailing their awakening - my own story included.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Not quite a week ago, @Lost in the fog created a thread entitled: Do you have this illness?

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5187824140681216/do-you-have-this-illness

He provided a link to an article which discussed a condition known as Post Traumatic Church Syndrome.

In my year of being on this forum, I have browsed many a disillusioned thread of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses expressing similar symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder when detailing their awakening - my own story included.

It’s interesting to note that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder occurs when a person encounters an experience that blows out the axioms of their knowledge system. It’s just so unexpected that they cannot account for it within the confines of the system that they’re using to interpret the world. It’s no surprise then that for all those who had their belief system painfully shattered, the common denominator was a distinct lack of critical thinking over the years.

In a religious sense, such as Post Traumatic Church Syndrome, we can identify Watchtower’s overly simplistic system of interpreting things (“Satan’s world versus God’s organization”) as the breaking point for many encumbered minds upon awakening. (As a side point, perhaps this would explain why so many current Jehovah’s Witnesses subconsciously refuse to entertain their cognitive dissonance.)

As Witnesses, we were completely naïve and unaware of the full catastrophe of propagandistic indoctrination from a genuinely trusted source. So when we encountered the betrayal and the onslaught of lies that have shaped our very existence, our brains (figuratively speaking) exploded amidst the collapse of our belief system - and oftentimes by extension, our belief in belief systems.

I don’t believe it is an accident that so many who leave the organization experience a breakdown of sorts. This is a malevolent setup for failure that Watchtower has been administering in our lives since the word “go”. Allow me to explain.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been groomed to possess inherently lazy thinking abilities. Intellectual responsibility is frequently delegated (“I don’t understand this teaching, but hey - I’m sure whoever wrote this study article knows what they’re talking about”), and thinking skills are outsourced (“allow me to answer that question by directing you to a link here on this great website).

The high-control nature of the Watchtower organization micromanages its members to the extent of their dress and grooming, the qualities they must favor when considering a prospective mate, the family members they must withdraw love from, the circle of friends they must tolerate, the kind of apps they should either download or remove from their smartphones, the kind of career (or lack thereof) they should pursue, which parts of their anatomy that are strictly off limits, and the weekly timetable members are expected to adhere to.

In a 2017 Broadcast, viewers were endowed with the “blessing” of Watchtower removing the strenuous activity of mulling over how to spend their Saturday mornings by implementing rigid timetables of reserving that day for field service each and every week. This is the degree Watchtower is stripping its infantalized members from decision-making abilities.

“But it’s a protection to have these decisions made for us already,” we once may have reasoned. “I don’t see it as a restriction at all. Imagine trying to play tennis without a surrounding cage encasing the court. We need these barriers!”

Wrong.

Herein lies the very problem for those exiting the organization. All their life, their problems were stolen from them. The remedy? A Watchtower article. A publication to study. A public talk. A Daily Text. An elder who will gently steer you in the direction of one of the aforementioned “solutions”. Every. Damn. Time. Teachers, mentors, instructors or authors of any belief system who are sincerely interested in the personal development and growth of their followers operate under a very simple guideline: Don’t steal the problem.

I see the invitation to overstep arise time after time as a mother. But if I’m going to help my son progress as a human being and grow into a well-rounded adult, my attitude is clear: “you have some problems. If you come talk to me I’ll help you figure out how to solve them. However, I will not spell out for you how to solve them. I won’t steal your problems.”

Watchtower’s suppressive approach to the flock freezes their development to that of a helpless child, unaware that critical thinking even exists. It strips members of opportunities to solve their own problems under the guise of protecting them and dressing it up as “convenience”. That is theft. It is the Oedipal situation of the overprotective mother detrimental to one’s psychological development. (Though the father can play that role too, I’ll stick with the archetypal representation already mentioned.)

The fact is, Watchtower “protected” many a sincere Witness at the cost of their ability to protect themselves. It destroys people’s adaptive confidence, and it disarms them in the mental chaos of leaving the organization. This is a cruel setup which has lead to the PTSD symptoms many of us experienced upon awakening, leaving us in a bewildered, heartbroken, confused and shattered state.

My heart goes out to all those who leave the organization under indoctrinated terms. They’ve walked unarmed into the world; a complete ingénue to the harsh realities that can only be learned through the possession of critical thinking and experience. A downhill spiral can subsequently be predicted, if not expected.

Looking back on things with seen-it-all eyes, I can confidently assert that life is an error-riddled process. Having all the answers supposedly available from an insulated society prevents growth and propagates disaster for those who dare set foot outside of the provided parameters. Am I suggesting it’s healthy to scull the proverbial cup of poison Witnesses so frequently refer to when asked why they have nothing to do with the “world”?

Not exactly. While there’s real utility in staying within a bounded domain of existence, the problem is that there may be information outside of that domain that you absolutely need to know. And this is precisely the case for Jehovah’s Witnesses. And so, part of the problem of being awake on the outside is that you have to continually determine how much you’re going to maintain your stability and how much you’re willing to explore. That stable “Watchtower” part of us was outdated before we even hit our teen years.

For all who have newly escaped and have perhaps stumbled upon this forum, my advice is to equip yourself with shrewd, critical thinking skills. Know your opponents. Anticipate less-than-desirable outcomes. Believe people when they show you their true colors rather than idealistically rationalizing your emotions around them. Arm yourself with the strength to never again encounter something like your awakening that could suck the air out of your lungs and fill your head with white noise. From pain comes growth.

On behalf of everyone on this forum, welcome to the autonomous reality of your life.