They are indeed a very grim lot too serious and without any sense of humour. They don't know how to let go, relax and enjoy life. At least that's how they are in the English speaking world.
..Jehovah`s Witness`s.. Lack of real Appreciation for Life
by OUTLAW 16 Replies latest jw friends
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fullofdoubtnow
It's such an insular lifestyle being a jw that it's almost impossible for most of them to have any appreciation of what life is all about. Look what happens to many who leave, especially those born in. They have no idea what to do beyond the wts, no clue of how to have a social life. I guess that's why it takes some ex jws such a long time to adjust to life outside the org, and why some stay, pretending to be happy, instead of finding out what life is really all about.
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LongHairGal
This lack of appreciation for life and looking to the future and wishing the present away is similar to christendom and their desire to go to heaven. The tragedy is that at least people in christendom get to enjoy their present life to some degree and are not stepped in the negativity that many JWs are.
There really isn't too much of a difference between the JW belief of a new system and the other christian belief of going to heaven.
(I might mention that not all JWs are miserable and denying themselves anything. There are some JWs who live quite well and are having it all NOW and expect to have it again in the new system. Self-denial is not for them but they will tell everybody ELSE to. This is what I call real hypocrisy.)
Sadly, many JWs squander their present life and let it run out like sand in an hourglass waiting for the new system where they can finally "start living" because only that is the ""real life"". They are losing a precious thing called time, that can never be gotten back. The sad part is that they wake up one day and realize they are old like the lady described in the post. Now, everybody I know of gets old. The problem (and the sad disillusionment) is for certain witnesses who NEVER expected to get old. They never expected to see gray hair or wrinkles or sickness. What is even more tragic are those who were encouraged to postpone child-bearing until the "new system" and are now too old to have children. They were sold a bill of goods because it is assumed because they have no children they will leave their money to the religion. And, of course I don't need to mention the panic about not having enough money because of job/education lack. And as far as those pioneer sisters who never found a brother: too bad they didn't look outside. The organization just loves these single sisters because they think they have an endless source of drudges who will do favors for people (yeah, like hell!!)
The sad part is that nobody is accountable for this.
LHG -
AlmostAtheist
>>Does believing they will live forever make them less appreciative of the life they are wasting?
Absolutely! All I ever did was wish the time away, hoping for the New system. It was THEN that I would start living. So why worry about a career? Why worry about retirement? What difference does it make in the long run?
Only too late did I discover how short the "long run" is. :-(
>>The sad part is that nobody is accountable for this.
Good point, LHG. Agreed.
Dave
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OUTLAW
Good posts everyone..I think the WBT$ is accountable for the lies and deciet..We make them accountable everytime we participate on a thread..Thanks to all...OUTLAW
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garybuss
Does believing they will live forever make them less appreciative of the life they are wasting?...
I had a conversation with a Witness once and he asked me what I was doing, and I told him I was taking graduate level courses, I was working, and I was taking trips and buying toys . . . basically I was enjoying life.
He said: "I don't believe in enjoying life now, that's for later. I'm waiting for the new world to have fun.".
He's living this life in strife as an application for the next. I didn't tell him I thought there was an extremely good chance there wasn't going to be any next life, or new world.
Some people think this is a dressed rehearsal, I'm not one of those people. -
darth frosty
The last thing the WT$ wants you to do is live a full and meaningfull life. Look at what they put out there for you to do to have joy in life, Pioneering, more time in FS, studying WT books, give me a break. I was watching a family heading in to the bookstudy tonight and they all had there heads drooped. Me I'm running erands and doing things for myself. them they're going to a useless meeting in a book they have gone over before Just cause they were told or conditioned to follow this process. And when they finally get to the new system, have you ever really listen to a witnesses plan? ever hear the one about building a piano but the person wants to plant the tree for the wood for the piano and watch the tree grow. WTF?!? Or how anxiuos they are to delve into the 'new scrolls'. Witnesses independance has been taking away from them thats why when you tell them that the WT$ is full of crap, there response is 'well...where else are we to go'.