Posts by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

31

Anyone pissed at their parents for raising you in the cult?

by blownaway in

my mother was not the most emotionally stable person.

she was a follower and instilled in me the idea we were better than those worldly people.

its hard to go to school as a child and you can not be friends outside of school, you can not celebrate any holidays, and you are told all these people are going to die.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@blownaway "Pissed" is an understatement.

Excerpt from a letter I sent to my parents a year ago:

"You raised me in a cult, and it was one of the worst things you and mum could have done for me. For her to then say "I feel sorry for this infant," tonight (referring to WHAM! Jr) is another slap in my face. My son absolutely DESERVES to see my open defiance to such injustice, to this thought-control you and my mother seem to seek refuge in. My silence on the matter would only be reinforcing my acceptance of it. Mum may feel such unwarranted pity for my son, but I can assure you that I will be the kind of parent who raises a child who never has to question my integrity, honesty or love for him the way I question yours. Mark my words."

Full context here: https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/4717375272255488/im-new?page=21

15

Nothing in life is stable as a Jehovah's Witness...

by silentbuddha in

at least in hindsight it would appear so.

i remember as a small kid not making friends because ultimately they were going to die.

i never saved anything because money would be useless in the new world.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

I remember @Sour Grapes' post from a couple of months ago about "world conditions" never being as bad as they are today. @Giordano brought up an interesting quote from Eric Hoffer's book, The True Believer:

"Not only does a mass movement depict the present as mean and miserable - it deliberately makes it so. It fashions a pattern of individual existence that is dour, hard, repressive and dull. It decries pleasures and comforts and extols the rigorous life. It views ordinary enjoyment as trivial or even discreditable, and represents the pursuit of personal happiness as immoral."

I think Watchtower deliberately imposes such uncertainty and instability on its members' lives. You wonder how people continue to put up with it, @silentbuddha, and it's because any other route is conceivably impossible for the Witness. Watchtower keeps its members by baiting them with the offer of certainty of "God's promise". The offer of complete security if you do everything right within the organization... The offer of an impermeable faith that can't give way, should you ignore anything that does get in its way. And in the midst of Watchtower's induced uncertainty on the member's life, this seems like an offer worth holding onto.

I sometimes think of Watchtower's "imminent destruction" theology as a marketing scheme in the same vein as, "hurry now! Offer ends soon." False urgency is created in people and those studying with Jehovah's Witnesses. "Gosh, if I disagree with what I'm being taught, I might miss out on the deal of a lifetime. Better block out the negative aspects and commit to purchase before I miss out!"

40

Welcoming Our Latest JW Apologist JTrottigy

by pale.emperor in

i'd like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome our newest jw apologist jtrottigy.

.

he'll likely only be here for a few days like most jw defenders before he runs away when presented with his own doctrine.. so far he's already said some hilarious stuff, like "there's no such thing as nepotism in jehovah's organisation", "confidentiality is paramount to elders" and, my personal favourite "the overlapping generation is so simple to understand".. yh don't think i don't remember you from jwtalk..

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Carla: "I really don't get why someone need to be 'approved' to stand around a cart and have people walk by and ignore you." That's a perfectly valid point you've raised from a non-indoctrinated perspective.

@john.prestor Your theory on their vulnerability to apostates is a good one. I've also thought about this and believe some of it has to do with Watchtower's degrading technique of classing otherwise menial things as "privileges". Check out this post to see what I mean: https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5934430200791040/unprivileged

29

Kids in my kingdom hall

by Akid48 in

i think my last post i said i went to a new congregation,i'm going to just talk about some of the shit i have seen in my congregation.. there was a kid trying to talk to a adult next to him i think it was his dad,the kid just started taping him because he wanted to tell him something and the dad gets mad then boom the kid gets elbowed.i look around to see if anyone saw him do that to his kid and nope or they didn't want to say anything about it and just like wtf.. in my old congregation,the younger kids would do random stuff in the middle of the meeting to not get board.

when the mom or dad got mad i would see then get dragged to the back of the kingdom hall and hear them start crying.when i was still mentally in i just didnt think about it at all when it would happen but when i woke up im just like thats fucked up..

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

I remember one night after the book study (which was hosted at our home), we had the coffee and cake afterward. It was a monthly treat and all us kids would get to hang out and play together. I was maybe eight or nine when this happened...

Some of the kids were playing in this little passageway under our staircase during hide and seek. Well, WHAM! Sr did not like this conundrum at all. I suddenly felt myself being dragged up the entire staircase by my ponytail! By the time I was up the top, my father smacked me so hard across the face. The other cheek turned red from embarrassment as all the kids had stopped their playing to witness my unexpected beating.

When I managed to ask WHAM! Sr what my crime was, it turned out that "under the stairs" was an out of bounds zone for children. When I protested that I wasn't even the one playing there, he told me in no uncertain terms that my public smackdown was to serve an austere lesson for the onlooking children who were playing there.

29

Kids in my kingdom hall

by Akid48 in

i think my last post i said i went to a new congregation,i'm going to just talk about some of the shit i have seen in my congregation.. there was a kid trying to talk to a adult next to him i think it was his dad,the kid just started taping him because he wanted to tell him something and the dad gets mad then boom the kid gets elbowed.i look around to see if anyone saw him do that to his kid and nope or they didn't want to say anything about it and just like wtf.. in my old congregation,the younger kids would do random stuff in the middle of the meeting to not get board.

when the mom or dad got mad i would see then get dragged to the back of the kingdom hall and hear them start crying.when i was still mentally in i just didnt think about it at all when it would happen but when i woke up im just like thats fucked up..

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@Akid48: "When the mom or dad got mad I would see then get dragged to the back of the kingdom hall and hear them start crying."

Oof. You just brought up some memories. Back in the mid 90s, our hall had vinyl-covered seats instead of the more plush fabric ones today. I was a toddler fiddling with the freshly sharpened lead pencil and pad of paper I'd been given to "take notes". I'll never forget testing out how sharp the pencil was, because I punctured the vinyl cushion with it.

Big mistake.

When it made the little "pop" sound, I looked up at my father. Wordlessly, he wrapped his iron-vice hand around my little spaghetti noodle arm and dragged me to the back foyer of the hall. I knew what was coming as my feet couldn't even touch the ground when he strode up the aisle with me.

That was one of many instances of getting pulverized at the back of the hall that I can remember. @john.prestor's research into shame and domination (https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5163702555770880/jehovahs-witnesses-shame-domination) when recruiting new Witnesses goes right back to JWs being recruited out of the womb. Because that's all I felt as I was kneed back down the aisle after everyone had heard my cries and screams; red faced and stifling sobs, I was filled with shame after being dominated.

18

WOODSTOCK

by lastmanstanding in

it’s starting to filter in, the truth about why the grumpy buzzards wanted to move to warwick.

lol.

they are unhappy that their best time in life was moved to bethel and are hoping to relive woodstock in the place it should have been 49 years ago next month.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Guardians of Baloney.

18

WOODSTOCK

by lastmanstanding in

it’s starting to filter in, the truth about why the grumpy buzzards wanted to move to warwick.

lol.

they are unhappy that their best time in life was moved to bethel and are hoping to relive woodstock in the place it should have been 49 years ago next month.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Guess you're no longer the last man standing.

18

WOODSTOCK

by lastmanstanding in

it’s starting to filter in, the truth about why the grumpy buzzards wanted to move to warwick.

lol.

they are unhappy that their best time in life was moved to bethel and are hoping to relive woodstock in the place it should have been 49 years ago next month.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

Googley-eyed Buttholes. *sniggers* We both know how fast @Brokeback Watchtower would re-convert if that were true.

18

WOODSTOCK

by lastmanstanding in

it’s starting to filter in, the truth about why the grumpy buzzards wanted to move to warwick.

lol.

they are unhappy that their best time in life was moved to bethel and are hoping to relive woodstock in the place it should have been 49 years ago next month.

Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho

@punkofnice Giggling Baboons.

40

Welcoming Our Latest JW Apologist JTrottigy

by pale.emperor in

i'd like to take this opportunity to warmly welcome our newest jw apologist jtrottigy.

.

he'll likely only be here for a few days like most jw defenders before he runs away when presented with his own doctrine.. so far he's already said some hilarious stuff, like "there's no such thing as nepotism in jehovah's organisation", "confidentiality is paramount to elders" and, my personal favourite "the overlapping generation is so simple to understand".. yh don't think i don't remember you from jwtalk..