by The wanderer 42 Replies latest jw friends
It IS hard for some of us to live a lie yes... i agree...
many "apostates" just can't pull it off and prefer just being a 'good human'
Another thought for your friend- how much easier is it to believe what you are spoonfed by WTS, compared to searching and finding your own spiritual path....
He may have a point considering that he still thinks, acts, and conducts himself in the “Watchtower” mind-set.
He may?
I suppose there are who feel the rules to be to stringent or utterly useless at all. Being ethical has absolutely nothing to do with the bible as a whole.
And on occasion, yes, there may have been some who wish to do all God has forbidden.
So what, does that make the WTS side of things more the Trooth?
So, he may? no, he may not! I wonder, wanderer......Do you really think he has a point?
Cheers
Borgia
First I would like to say good posts Drew
Second your statement Wanderer He believes that many individuals leave the truth because it is hard; and they look for any miscue to escape the organization and their responsibility to God.
Sounds a bit as a contradiction, it cant be hard and yet look for any reason
I believe it is very hard for most to leave as many may have joined when they were not raised a witness, I believe it is hard because many if not all joined because of a love of God and wanting life. Then I think the witnesses get you on a couple easy doctrines and natural desires of wanting "Paradise" then it all starts to fall apart with the hpocrisy, lies, false teachings and yet you are DRILLED this is the TRUTH.
I believe leaving other than if you want to live a debauched life, is hard, you are torn, between wanting to serve God, disillusionment, fear driven doctrines, losing family and friends, the list goes on and on.
I believe that many who leave may keep somewhat of a Witness mentalily from wanting good morals, love of God and Christ, wanting life, but to walk away from the Witness mindset takes courage. I think many of us stayed in longer trying to find a reason to stay and not leave.
abr
Sounds like your friend is projecting. Probably feels guilty about leaving and therefore needs to beat himself, and anyone else who has left, up by saying he/they just couldn't hack it and are selfish.
Maybe he needs to find a better reason for leaving then whatever caused him to wander initially. I would suggest that he do some research on doctrine and other dubious practices by the dubs so he can have a better handle on leaving.
Questioning the motives of people who (dare to) leave is an age-old tactic to keep the rank and file in line. It's used by all sorts of religious, political and cultural groups. Speculating about the motives of those who leave spares the need to examine the institution itself. Attack the individual - or subtly undermine their integrity.
You could play this game, but be aware it is a game - a game to deflect attention away from the insitution itself and, once hooked, the person whose motives are being questioned has to spend lots of time and energy "proving" their motives were honourable and worthy. Or you could drop the rope and let them tug away all by themselves.
Let's face it: The shoe should be on the other foot: Those remaininh in the religious institution cope with people leaving by attacking their motives. It saves them the hardship of examining the institution!
Dear Bible Reader and Xena:
Great commentary!
Respectfully,
The Wanderer
"I think many of us stayed in longer trying to find a reason to stay and not leave." -avidbiblereader
It is the same argument that John used at 1 John 2.19 : "They left us....because they were not of our sort"
I get it regularly, that I was "too lazy" or "too fearful" to continue with the Ministry , or that I wanted an "easy life" . The fact is that would have been much easier to just carry on what was I was doing , ie, follow the routine , give the talks and go through the motions of a ministry. I had done that already.
Could those dubs face up to the fact that everything they had believed in all their adult life was a lie? That they had lived three quarters of their life and wasted it on a useless pursuit? That there is not going to be a New World after all, they won't spend eternity smelling roses and riding horses - they face old age and death just like everybody else?
It takes guts to admit that you have been so spectacularly wrong. Not many of them have it. They just carry on in the same old routine , practicing their religion , why?.........just because ...
Everone has their own motives. Are there people who leave because it's too hard? Sure. Are there those who want to live a life w/o the moral constraints of the Society? Sure. But there are also many, myself included, who just don't believe it anymore. We've seen too much, learned too much and we've dared to think for ourselves. Personally, if everything they taught was according to scripture, made sense and there was no hypocrisy, the "work" would be worthwhile. But knowing that it's not makes the "work" futile.
Like anything else, you can't make blanket statements about people and be right.
Have him listen to "What happened at Bethel in 1980?", a cassette available from freeminds, which documents the reasons that Randy Watters left the org, among others during the 1980 upheaval.
There are of course, some who leave because they want to do their own thing. But the majority, it appears leave because of principles.
I gave the best years of my life to the JWs (from 22 years old), I was gullible and believed that I really was doing the right thing in God's eyes. Then came the UN/WT bombshell !!
As others have said, it's not easy leaving, knowing full well, that from then on, you will be shunned by the friends that you've know for over 30years. But if you have principles, how can you go along with their hypocrisy and lies ?
Twinkletoes
