Did u convert to JW because u were ignorant, arrogant or some other reason? (page 3)

bigmouth

I had an abusive and manipulating mother who studied for about 13 years! I was always on a knife edge trying to please her but somehow always falling foul of her moods and temper. I think getting baptised at 18 was my last shot at making her happy. Didn't work. Things got worse. Exhausted myself and faded (disappeared). Hospitals, depression, more study, more field service, more prayer, hospital. You get the picture.
Pete

barry

I studied with the witnesses for a time and there are many aparently attractive things about the witnesses religion.

The witnesses seem a much more united group. In my own church there was never a time when everyone was united on doctrine

The witnesses witness door to door while other christians do witness they never do it with such energy the JWs

The witnesses told me about the trinity being pagan and for a while I thought they had scripture on there side

With all the meetings they have they do seem to beleive and put it into practice more than most

These are first impressions only from an outsider

jwfacts

Thanks for your thoughts. It seems that most people come in with good intentions and are simply deceived by a lack of information.

It is different for those of us raised. A young undeveloped mind can not hope to see through years of being taught only one way to look at things.

wanderlustguy

A young undeveloped mind can not hope to see through years of being taught only one way to look at things.

The opinion of a non professional shrink here...

They see it, that's when they start the double life and chaos within their own social circle. Then they continue to generate drama in themselves and everyone else, eventually "settling in" and getting on the narrow road after they beat their common sense into retardation.

Or...they eventually get it after years of hurting themselves over and over again and are ready to go to sleep for good. Then it's a hell of a ride.

At least that's how it happened to me.

DanTheMan

To think you were so special that God drew you to his organization for salvation. but 6 billion other humans deserve destruction, is placing huge value on your own importance.

Well, yes and no...yes, the message definitely appealed to the ol' ego, i can't deny it...I definitely had a self-righteous chip on my shoulder, maybe I still do. When JW's came calling, it was at at time when my friends had dropped me and my family didn't know what to do with me, lol. I was a pain in the ass, immature and stupid, so ripe for the picking it wasn't even funny.

But, believing that 6 billion other humans deserved "destruction", that was never explicit in my mind and the more it became so the less comfortable I was with our "Good News". For instance, I saw a recent Awake! mag where the cover story was "Who Will Help the Poor" or something like that. During my first few years as a dub, I would have seen that cover story and thought, oh, how wonderful it is that in the the New System™ poverty will be done away with. But, in my later JW years, when I began to contemplate the belief system in a cooler, more detached manner rather than a shallow and sentimental one, the more I realized, with much embarrassment and anguish, that all of our 'War/Poverty/Arthritis/Whatever Is Soon To End' magazine peddling was just so ridiculous. Yeah, God is going to wipe out poverty BY KILLING EVERYBODY WHO ISN'T A JW!!!

SirNose586

Born-in for me. The arrogance was a self-defense mechanism. I mean, when you don't get close to other kids because you can't have the same recreations that they have (birtdays, holidays, etc.), then you have to make yourself feel good. "Well, they can all celebrate their birthdays, but they're all gonna die at ARMAGEDDON!" I'd tell myself. So it allowed me to feel good about being different. I'd always fall back to that reassuring thought...bad people are gonna die. Bad people are gonna die. I'm gonna be okay.
Fast forward to arrogance within the congregation. A pioneer sister gave this comment that God was even going to destroy witnesses in his organization. I was floored. The balls this sister had, to say that God was going to kill witnesses, because they didn't go to every meeting or answer at every study.

serendipity

A pioneer sister gave this comment that God was even going to destroy witnesses in his organization. I was floored. The balls this sister had, to say that God was going to kill witnesses, because they didn't go to every meeting or answer at every study.

and you know what, there are JWs who would be smugly self-satisfied if "weak ones" were killed.

karen96

jwfacts:

It's interesting that you say your Mom has a controlling personality and that contributed to her joining, but in reality you give up so much control in your life!

For me, it was probably wanting to belong somewhere, and find better answers than what the Catholic church was dishing out (not dumping on them, it's just what I was raised as). I came from a big family (8 kids, i was 7th) and surely felt lost in the crowd. So the friendliness at the KH appealed to me, as did the appearance (then) that dubs had all the answers.

Karen

Angelica

Ignorant, young and idealistic...

The doctrines made a lot more sense in the early 70's, when everything was possible! I was 18 and loving the racial equality, unity and love of the organization. I wanted a spiritual connection and didn't see another religion that made more sense (because nothing makes ANY sense). I was obedient and submissive and certainly wouldn't read ANY of that "apostate" literature. I still believe that living by Bible principles is the best way to live... but the organizational "laws" and garbage attached to JW's is a different thing all together. My heart is OUT, now I have to fade the rest of me!

Narkissos

I was 13 and ignorant. My father and stepmother were in their early 40s and quite ignorant of all relevant issues (religion, the Bible, philosophy or science). We were easy game. For different reasons at some point we all wanted it to be true, and so it was to us.

The funny thing is that only one year later or so I was questioning much of the WT teaching, asking embarrassing questions to the elders, dropping meetings and field service, stopping identifying with JWs in school, getting involved in politics, etc. This went on for monts but I was uneasy with it. One night at the KH I broke down and reached the conclusion that I couldn't live without God. And to me that meant either "Jehovah" or "the world" -- ignorance again. I swept my doubts and personal feelings under the carpet and decided to try and run faster than my shadow. Dropped high school, began pioneering etc. Only over ten years later, in Bethel, did I allow myself to question my beliefs again.

Arrogance is hardly the key factor in conversion I guess, but it comes quickly into the picture. Knowing that you have the truth, being able to refute most if not all different ideas in field service, and climbing the organisational ladder, all of this is very appealing to arrogance. But of course it is hardly ever suggested that you can do it all for wrong motives. The self-righteous JW is "spiritual," not "arrogant". You are only being arrogant when you question the organisation.

Did u convert to JW because u were ignorant, arrogant or some other reason?

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