Most of us, if not all, have grown up in a world where good and evil are opposites of each other. Not only are they opposites they are at war with one another.
Old western movies depicted "good" as the fellow in the white hat while the "bad" guy wore the black hat. The Bible depicts evil as darkness and everything that is good as white.
These beliefs are so ingrained in us from very young ages. We expect what is bad to look one way and what is good to look another way.
But this is so incredibly inaccurate and causes such tremendous confusion for people who base their beliefs on this perspective of the world.
When my daughters were young I refused to let them read stories like Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and all the other "chiuldren's stories". As a JW we were taught these stories with mythology and were therefore evil. But I had a more personal perspective on these stories.
Sometimes what is good can look dark and scary. What is bad can come to us in clean and comforting arms. I learned very young that a parents' "love" for their child could be something to run from and hide. It wasn't comfort that my parents doled out upon their children. But I was conflicted with the notion that parents always do what is in the best interests of their child. My world was inside out and upside down.
Then my mother became a JW.
The WTS presented this "religion" as good, clean, blessed and led by God. A part of me desperately needed the comfort offered by JW who surrounded me with acceptance and love. Over and over we were told that a parent loves their child by instructing them and disciplining them when they err. Leaving the WTS and the "safety" of the WTS would spell doom both in the short term (to have a life of depravity, illness and unhappiness) and in the long-term - eternal destruction.
It took me many many years to finall awake to the fact that my mother's love was far more harmful than I knew. And even more time to begin to see that the clean good-looking books that carried WT teachings were so far off the mark that they were harmful to those who believed what was printed in them
It was scary to begin to realize the depths of deceipt of WT teachings. We were told repeatedly "Where shall we go?" as if without their protection we would be doomed. It takes courage to really look at what we were told was good and recognize the real truth.
The instinct to be loved and to belong somewhere is tremendous. Leaving family, friends, and our "religion" wasn't easy.
But freedom from tyranny, lies, manipulations and controls is crucial if we are to grow. It means learning that good things can come in unknown packages. And bad things can be dressed in finery to look their very best. The snare needs to be appealing. Otherwise who would fall for it?
I'm sitting here with the TV on and Lord of the Rings. Yup the bad guys are ugly and slimey, They growl and hiss.
But that is the myth and we really need to look at things on the deeper level; to look for real truth; not absolute truth.
Things are not always what they seem
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