Any other thoughts/ideas?
Should Ex-JWs Speak Out?
by girasole 12 Replies latest jw friends
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rebel8
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girasole
BabaYaga,
Your comments about fear resonate with me as well. Admittedly, I am not completely forthcoming about my current beliefs and opinions with my family because I fear losing them. I am not DF'd or DA'd and my JW family still speaks to me. So in a sense the WT still has control over me because I do not feel free to be completely honest. When I have told non-witnesses about my experience as a witness there is always this nagging fear that my family will find out that I'm marring the WT image in the community ( I live in a small one so this is not altogether unlikely).
I find that most non-JWs know very little about the religion other than that they do not celebrate holidays. People are usually shocked when I share my experience with them.
i agree that it would be counter productive in most cases to engage in any kind of heated shouting from the rooftops. For current JWs it would just give more fuel to them as they woudl just say, "See, just like Jesus said, we are persecuted and hated." Isn't it just amazing that the JWs have it so perfectly crafted so that even negative things said about them just empowers them even more. To them even the existence of this forum and other sites just lends proof to their argument (in their eyes anyway) that Satan is blinding people and does not want for them to know the truth.
For those already on the inside, I think in most cases those ones need to move through their own processes and what Dansk said is true - the best defense is being happy in one's own life. I can't even name the number of stories I heard about people who left the "truth" and then ruined their lives. Another great fear tactic!
girasole -
Kristofer
I think it would be a very good idea for churches to have workshops like Bible study in being able to defense against and answer Cults. Some denominations are better defended than others because of their Bible knowledge.. But I know from personal experience in the Catholic Church that the Bibel isn't read with the same emphasis. Consequently, in my personal experience, I've noticed that the JWs I know were converted from Catholicism.