Hello everyone,
Left the JW’s as a teenager; as with most exJWs I have struggled throughout the years with being a successful adult. I have recently starting addressing some of the psychological trauma of my childhood, and I wonder if anyone else here can identify with any of these self limiting beliefs:
- Pursuit of Wealth is bad (i.e. poverty and persecution is an ‘identifying mark of the true religion’; it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God; better to store up ‘riches in heaven’ rather than worldly riches on earth; who else had a scornful view of people that were successful and wealthy?
- Pursuit of Knowledge is bad (i.e. I was always made to feel ashamed of my love of reading, because all the knowledge that you could possibly require was with the WTBTS; further education obviously out. My parents constantly told me I was only in “worldly” school because it was illegal for a 12 year old to quite school and full time pioneer; if i got good grades or marks I used to hide it from them because they made me feel “worldly”)
- Unless validated/approved by a man, every decision you (independently) make is untheocratic/worldly/satanic (i.e. because ‘every woman must be in subjection to their husbands’, it can be difficult to have a balanced relationship; I tend to second guess myself and look for validation and approval from my partners.)
- The world is against you, and looking to corrupt you and lead you astray at every opportunity (i.e. difficulty trusting people, always believing that their is some corrupt agenda in the background).