Thinking out the box - how long did it take you?

jambon1

When I studied, I believed it all. You know, not only the new system stuff but all the things relating to how bad 'wordly education' is, elders deserve our unequivocal support, apostates are evil, etc etc.

It must have been about 2 years into my love afair with the org that I began to have serious misgivings about the conduct of elders. I also began to realise that we NEEDED educated professionals to carry out the services which we all partake of (doctors, lawers, etc). I began to think along contrary lines to what the official party policy was. I felt guilty about it, thinking that I was somehow a weak witness although at face value I was your true blue JW.

IMO, 2 years passing before 'thinking out the box', was`nt really a long time.

So, how about you? Is this a normal amount of time to pass before questioning the org? When did you start to think about things? What were the things you 1st began to have problems with?

drew sagan

I actually remember wanting to believe it all, but actually not totally believing it all. I would read the Bible and see that things didn't match up, but reasoned that I just didn't quite 'get it' yet.
I went along because I thought is was the best thing to do and reasoned that it must be the truth because of world conditions. Then one fateful day came.
About two years ago I decided I wanted to do some research on 607 B.C.E. I just wanted to find out more about the destruction of Jerasalem. Not even expecting it I came across tons of articles talking about how the date was wrong and how only JWs hold to the date. All my doubts came back to me. That was 5 years after getting baptized. Once I started to question again it was all over. It took about a year and a half to see through it all.

under_believer

This question will have the most meaning for those who came into the truth as a Bible Study, but I'll take a crack at it, even though I was "raised in."
My first questioning started when I was around 8, and started learning more about the animal world. The "promises" that the Witnesses claim Isaiah was making, about lions laying down with lambs, poisonous snakes, etc, just didn't make any sense to my young mind. That would be the first of many many instances of thinking outside the box.
Of course I kept this all to myself, and now I'm an adult and still nominally "in," so I guess all of the thinking outside the box in the world won't help you if you're too cowardly to do anything about it.

misanthropic

I was raised as a witness, so I didn't actually ever think about what I believed or did not believe, I just went along with what I was taught. Then once I became inactive and was away from it for awhile, I had a chance to reflect more on what "I as a person" believed in. Even then it took me several years to get past alot of it. I was still afraid of "apostates" up until even just a year ago, I thought they were evil horrible people lol.

parakeet

jambon1:
Thank your lucky stars that you were in the org for only 2 years. Your chances of a complete recovery from JW indoctrination are very good.
Those who were in it from childhood are the ones who suffer most, both as children and as post-JW adults. Indoctrination of a child, no matter who does it, is extremely difficult to overcome later in life, even when they can see that the perimeter of the box is a glowing neon.

Gregor

Thinking outside the Box? To put it into an actual time frame it was probably a matter of a few HOURS. It may have taken several months to digest and process, but once I allowed myself to step back and begin to question the WTS teaching I had been saturated in my entire life it was inevitable for me to rebel against it.

I think there are many who have that "outside the Box" moment but it scares the hell out of them and they mentally retreat from it. Some never allow themselves to get near the edges again. The WTS helps by keeping up a drumbeat warning against this kind of independent thinking. The internet is making it more difficult.

evergreen

Hi Jambon1 ,

I was an absolute zealot for about the first year. I started thinking out the box, when first an MS siad that wearing a beard was equivalent to walking into a KH with a pony tail. (i had a very tidy beard at the time). Then an elder approached me a few weeks later to say that J dubs dont really wear beards and went into his speal about grooming etc. I was totally stumbled at this point and it was just before i got baptized.

The other thing that i quickly found was, i was stuck in the house week in and week out. All my old pals were out at the weekends and here was me drinking cans of beer in the house, which was something i never did before. (bad\associations etc) I resented not being able to go out and being a small congregation in a small town at the time, there was no "brothers" i could go out with for a qiuet drink. So i would say that it took me about a year and a bit when i first began to have some "nagging"doubts. The beard thing has always been an issue with me from the beginning.

blondie

What box?

jambon1

Thank your lucky stars that you were in the org for only 2 years. Your chances of a complete recovery from JW indoctrination are very good.

Parakeet

Just to clarify. I was in the org for 10 years but had this mindset from about 2 years in. The rest of the time I just kept putting things to the back of my mind even though I was continually thinking 'wong thoughts'.

I agree with you though, that for those raised in the org it must be very difficult indeed.

J

Thinking out the box - how long did it take you?

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