I grew up with a witness mom and a career military Father. We lived on Marine Corp bases and drove 30 miles to KH. My Dad was embarrassed to have my mom peddle the Magazines door to door , especially any where near the base were his men might see her. She told me of a few times he was drunk and threatened her with a knife to her throat to stop preaching. She of course felt this was religious persecution and that doing more God would bless her . Even though he complained about her using the car for meetings and service he always made sure she had plenty of money for assemblies and we all had good clothes to wear . Our Dad always took care of us ,but we learned because he was of the world we were not to really trust him . We kept things from him ...like if kids made fun of us for being witnesses, or if we felt stupid for not saying the pledge ....we could not speak of these things in front of him. When I was seven and really wanted to go trick or treating I asked him w/o her permission . He told her to let me go..... while she was dressing me she slapped me across the face, and told me to never do that to HER again (.Put her in the position to do something against JW beliefs )? He always believed religion was the womans thing .Now he tells me he wishes he would have put his foot down all those years ago. When he retired and we moved near his parents Mom filled our heads with distrust of them too. She would tell me stories that when the Great Tribulation came they might steal me from her and try to make me forget Jehovah . It is painful to even remember some of the fairey tales of persecution she really believed lay before her. As a child I was so confused, so fearful of everything, so filled with guilt . I was a depressed child early on .Now I understand why . Sadly I know this is where my Troubled Mind originates . I don't blame my mother or my father for the craziness we were taught. I do blame the religious organization that still poisons families to this day though .
If you grew up in a divided home, post your experiences here please.
by jambon1 11 Replies latest jw friends
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Midget-Sasquatch
My father became a baptized jw around the time I was 5 yrs old. Up until then he was a Roman Catholic (albeit only in name). I've got my communist loving grandfather to thank for all the anti-catholic rhetoric he fed my father that primed him for the JWs. My father fully immersed me and my sib in the JW lifestyle: going to every bloody meeting, doing at least the national monthly average in field service, being signed on to the school very early on without even asking if we wanted to or not etc, etc.
My mother remained a RC for another two decades or so though. My father was very insistent on getting his way being the "head" of the household and didn't want ANY birthdays, holidays to be celebrated. My mother being oldschool Italian gave in to alot of his demands but would still secretly try to give me and my sib a small birthday gift every couple of years. She even managed to get my sib and me some costumes two years in a row so htat we weren't total outcasts at school when the kids were allowed to come in costumes (that was kindergarten and Grade 1). She also insisted me and my sib go to a Catholic school which we did (the only thing my father allowed...and I personally believe its because my mother was actually going to leave him over it).
The intolerance of my father (exacerbated by the cultic WTS) oppressed my mother because she couldn't go to mass without having him preach to her on and on, he would freak if she tried to attend the baptisms, first communions, etc of other family and she was very quickly isolated from the family she had here in north america. It was an unhappy atmosphere, and the religious differences sparked endless arguments. I think the loneliness was the sole reson she eventually got baptized as a JW. Unfortunately as soon as she came in to the Org, she didn't get alot of real friends. She quickly became used, always being asked to make food for weddings, jack and jills, memorials, meals for the CO and DO and on and on (other people made salads while my mom was always asked for roasts, meatballs, and expensive ricotta pastries etc). The dubs are leeches. And they broke my mother's spirit.