It was labouring under an illusion for an organisation that had no real love or heart. I suppose if one had lots of family members there it meant something but for those that didn't it was a very sort of artificial environment.
Was Being A Witness, All THAT Bad???
by minimus 46 Replies latest jw friends
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undercover
Was Being A Witness, All THAT Bad???
I guess the answer to that will vary from person to person.
Some people suffered greatly at the hands of abusive parents or elders who hid behind the WT cloak of righteousness to hide the evil. I doubt anyone who grew up in that situation will have anything kind to say about growing up as a JW.
Others of us had a fairly normal upbringing...well, as normal as it can be not celebrating holidays and remaining spotless from the world. There were good times, good friends, good memories amongst the times of embarrassement and lonliness of being the odd man out in school or work.
It's when the bad starts to outweigh the good that prompts people to question the motives of the people behind the religion and the religion itself. At some point, the vast majority of us were having doubts before we typed "Jehovah's Witnesses" in a search engine. There was already something not right and it was starting to make its presence felt.
It wasn't all that BAD...but it wasn't as good as it used to be or as it seemed when I was younger. Maybe it was my innerself wishing to be free of the control or maybe I just hated dressing up four times a week, but the bad feelings overtook the good ones and it allowed me to question the things that I was afraid of for so long. Once I saw that I what I was taught my entire life was faulty and realized that I was allowing a man-made organization that had lied and deceived to control me, it was a short trip to leaving the JWs...first mentally, then physically.
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The wanderer
Brainwashing regardless of the
cause is bad.
Respectfully,
The Wanderer -
lonelysheep
Yes, it was a very depressing experience, although I didn't let it show.
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Jeepthing
No, it wasn't bad until person realized that it is not "The Truth" and jws were just like anyone else out there. Because, I really believed that being jw was special and thought I was having a geniune a relationship with God. Beinga a member as jw was not all that bad, we could have worse. I personally had good experience when I was one but after I learned that you don't have to be one to have a relationship with God or to believe in God. I realized that it is a personal thing and you don't need another human to mediate between God and me. I came to have better and stronger belief in God after jw thing, so I feel like it was a good experience for that fact. It is the emotinal attachment that sometimes I have problem with. I didn't have whole alot of friends before I became a jw or belong to a big social thing as jw that's why I feel I miss them. My family are still in good friendly terms with jws and they still talk to us even though we made clear to them why we don't go anymore. We aren't df or da by them for some reason. We had a meetings with elders and made it clear to some(more than dozen of them) that we do not believe what jw teach anymore but they still want us to come back. Always treat our family in friendly way, of couse we treat them same way and never make them feel unwelcome in our house. Some do avoid us but most of them even the elders talk to us like we are their old neighbors. Our family don't feel it is necessary to treat them as some we don't like or have to avoid them. They are just doing what they believe and we feel we have to respect them. If they want to talk about religion than we will share but we never make them feel like they have to avoid us. It is their choice and we respect them as we respect any other religion. But we do make clear to anyone what we believe and where we stand. Maybe that is why some people avoid us. Anyway, I could honestly say I do have some emotional attachment because of some close friends I have there. It is hard for both parties in this case and it is not fair. I still have a close friend who knows a lot about why we don't go anymore but of course she still think I should come back and just go through the motion of being jw and be with her and others. It is hard and I feel like I am obligate to go sometimes but than I couldn't see myself going out to service and claiming that this is the truth. There are some good people there and I miss them but just can't be jw again for that reason alone. I feel I owe to God more than my close friends to stand up for I believe. After all He is the only truth... And He did sacrifice for us. But I feel I am obligate to keep peaceful retionship with other humans just as the Bible say love your God first and love your neighbors. And love your enemy too. Anyway, this is how I feel and it really wasn't than bad as being a witness untill we found the TRUTH.
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AK - Jeff
I loved being a witness. Probably like most people love being in the religion they are in - it is an important part of life when we think it is 'Truth'.
What I hate is being lied to and manipulated. That is what made me leave. I don't like liars.
Jeff
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Will2Power
It wouldn't be all that bad except for all the damn meetings and being blackmailed into going out on 'field service'. One can at least have a pretty good social life amongst the JW's, although they are only conditional friendships. But then again, it could be said that all friendships are to some degree conditional.
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JH
It was bad minimus.......because there was too many meetings.
If they would have had less meetings, it would have been better.
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arwen
Yes, it was bad. It destroyed my life and the lives of two of my children to a certain extent. The man made rules that MUST be followed devastes peoples' lives and the guilt put upon us were so merciless. I kept saying,"Where is the love" and they would say.. Wait on Jehovah.....I saw so many lives ruined and so many people hurt and still hurting. It was ALL THAT BAD!
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eddie c
I guess its different for each person. In some ways it was a positive experience for me. I became a witness at a time when my life was heading for disaster. The witneses gave me a sense of direction,i developed as a person in some ways,became more honest and had a desire to follow God. I put my violent past behind me and settled down and had a good family life.
On the down side i became a watchtower robot,blindly following the dictates of the Watchtower. I fell for the 1975 teaching and made changes which affect us till this day. I regret the pain i caused my family by being so rigid in my beliefs as a witness and i regret that as a witness i was misrepresenting the true God.But as someone said above,i would not be the person i am today had i not met the witnesses.
My wife on the other hand views her time as a witness with horror.She regrets ever meeting the witnesses and felt oppressed and unhappy.
Thank God we are now free and are happy and content in our lives.
Life is a journey and along the way we have many and varied experiences,its how we deal with the experiences that will make us the person we are today.
The past is a great place to visit.......but not somewhere to stay.
Eddie