Okay, I guess everyone’s replied who intends to. I’ve read and re-read all the posts and I have seen some comments that I think are representative of a large number of witnesses who are, shall we say, uneasy at the present.
All of this has to be considered in the context of that most profound statement made by waiting: “Too much caffine on Saturday morning is dangerous - makes the mind lively, doesn't it?” It’s only on such a Saturday morning that any given witness is likely to devote much time to any of these issues. Then, he’d better get up real early so that he can go out in service later!
Waiting’s statement:
I was emotionally unstable (no one could tell on the outside, btw, - really). I was looking for security for my mind and heart. I was looking for escape from my father & mother, and a replacement - even though I didn't recognize this for what it was. I wasn't, however, looking for answers to the questions of life.
I have taken issue with this (the idea that the emotionally unstable are drawn to the witnesses) before but now I have to re-think it. As witnesses we did relinquish free will and thinking to a large extent. We allowed ourselves to come under the influence of others and willfully become their ‘slaves’. We worked for them tirelessly for nothing. What’s that? (With Amway it’s close to that but we do it in expectation of big bucks at the end!). Waiting case was one of the more severe ones and thus more easily discernible. I’m not saying that all witnesses are emotionally unstable but I am not discounting that a large percentage of them are. I’m not discounting (anymore) that many such like ones are drawn to it. However Jesus once said:
Come to me, all YOU who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh YOU. Take my yoke upon YOU and learn from me, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and YOU will find refreshment for YOUR souls. For my yoke is kindly and my load is light.” –Matt 11:29-30 NWT
Quite an invitation. Why wouldn’t such people be drawn to a society that boasts of unparalleled love among an international brotherhood? And then there is Paul’s comment:
but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put the wise men to shame; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put the strong things to shame; and God chose the ignoble things of the world and the things looked down upon, the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are, ---1 Cor 1:27,28 NWT
“…God's Organization. The Truth. The Hope of Life Everlasting. I mean, we really did think we had the answers to almost - if not all - Biblical (life's) questions, didn't we? –waiting Absolutely. How were we so easily sold on this? Why did we not investigate more closely? Would we have so easily invested all of our life’s savings on such unsubstantiated claims? Why our lives, then?
What makes that organization any different than any other religion organization? –waiting The anger of those that leave or are cast out. I think that this is significant.
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Why is that? Are those the actions of normal, adults? What made us so gullible? Why could you not see then what you see now? Why do you now feel differently than you did then?
Notsure: You have listed some very specific things here in answering the question of why all the anger: “” We put our whole faith and trust in the J.W.'s. We believed everything we were fed and if we did not believe we were afraid to speak out for fear of committee action… Our privacy and dignity was taken from us, whether it was how we "performed" in the privacy of our own bedroom or what we watched on television” –Notsure. The list goes on: lost friends, alienation from family members, lost opportunities for meaningful careers, pursuit of monotonous, menial jobs in order to do a work we now understand to be merely the peddling of the literature of a publishing corporation. I might add that once you realize that you not only did this to yourself but also to your children the frustration goes up to a new level.
For me, personally, I am angrier with myself than I am at them.
There is no other organization that claims you like the Witnesses do. There is no other organization that tortures you mentally, physically and emotionally. We let them be in complete control until we to understand that something wasn't right. How do you explain away so much change, so much hypocrisy, so much conditional love? –Notsure
How in the hell did we let them do this to us?
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These organizations obviously provide (or at least promise to provide) something which some feel is valuable enough to surrender their friends, their own families, their children and parents, an enormous amount of their time, a willingness to die before compromising their dictated beliefs, yes they surrender their very lives. Followers are willing to accept without question that God speaks to their religious leaders even though God does not speak to them.
Frightening. ” I would add that many are lazy and do not want to research and examine and analyze and think for themselves. It is easier to let others do it for them (but what a high price they pay for their laziness” –AhHah Yes, it was very costly.
” I get the feeling when I read your questions that you have not personally been through this process. Is that the case? –AhHah I’m free of it now but it was very painful. I’ve never been on drugs but I can’t imagine withdrawal from chemical being anymore difficult.
” There is also the massive feeling of being cheated and of having part of your life wasted – Simon Very true.
Waiting, I appreciated your analogy of our relationship to the organization to that of lovers and the woman scorned. That is very accurate.
They took my childhood, they turned my adolescence into a drab parody of life, they took a bright future of learning and discovery that might have been and turned it into a bleak period of drudgery and failure. Then I was discarded like an old shoe....of no consequence. I was left with no social skills, no education, no idea of what to do with my life. –Red
…and I did it to my children as well.
” Being deceived and having the proof of such is the main reason for my anger toward the WTS” –Tom That is a common denominator.
Frenchy your questions above indicate to me that many of us who are at the edge have these perplexing, nagging after thoughts. I suppose that our WTS experience is truly more complex than we ever bargained for. –Martini I fully agree. Even ‘knowing’ better is not enough. Time away from it all is needed.
” As for whether an "appearance that they are doing something for God" is better than what appears to be "nothing", that would be an interesting topic for another thread.“ I agree.
I don’t think MDS’ comments were really about this topic. But since he posted here I feel obligated to say something. I fear that he/she is getting out of the frying pan and into the fire. I’m not judging here, just expressing an opinion. I like things out in the open and I don’t go for cryptic messages. Been there. MDS, don't go away mad. Just a suggestion: If you would post with the idea of discussing topics rather than 'preaching' your comments would be more acceptable. Won't you try it?
Thank all of you for your thought provoking responses. We have a lot in common and yet we are so very different. That’s marvelous, isn’t it?
-Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it-
Edited by - Frenchy on 8 November 2000 8:49:5