As A Former Witness, Do You Still Carry Your Watchtower Cross?

by The wanderer 18 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  The wanderer

  As A Former Witness, Do You Still Carry Your Watchtower Cross?

  Haunted by old memories, flashbacks and miserable personal experiences
  several individuals on this discussion board still carry the Watchtower “cross”
  on their backs.

  The Time To Move Forward And The Time To Move On

  True, the Watchtower experiences were earth-shattering events in most of our lives
  but why do we still hang onto it? It seems the Watchtower Society has a stranglehold
  on individual’s lives years, if not decades after ending their association with Jehovah’s
  Witnesses
  
  Why.

  Respectfully,

  The Wanderer
  
  P.S. In what ways have, you moved on and left the Watchtower “dead” and “buried?”
• 

  prophecor

  Thinking that I had found the only true religion ON THE PLANET and later on finding out that all I believed in had a lot of holes in its belief structure, the disillusionment that set in afterwards was a huge pill to swallow. Even after all has been said and done, the religion that I regarded as the truth can at times, still seem rather appealing, once being exposed to the hypocrisy of the churches. It will never settle well with me, the things I was encouraged to believe are, too, a lot of misconceptions, but as religions go, some aspects of the organisation have there perks.
• 

  sspo

  As you look at their lifestyle, hope and dream of living in a paradise, truly is not a bad way of living.

  As you look around in the KH, you will see many happy people that truly beleive and are happy doing "God's will.

  You can travel any place in the world and you will feel the warmth of the brotherhood. I have experienced it and it's not fake

  because the majority are sincere. Maybe that's why it's so tough to shake it off even though we know it's not the truth.

  Ignorance for many is definetely a blessing and that's why we find many happy ones in the organization.
• 

  blondie

  Well, it all depends:

  Should we tell Steven Hassan to quit carrying his "ex-Moonie" cross?

  Should we tell Elie Wiesel to quit carrying his "holocaust" cross?

  Should we tell John Walsh to quit carrying his "missing child" cross?

  Should we tell Barbara Blaine to quit carrying her "abuse by priests" cross?

  I'm sure there are more people out there that while they have moved past their personal experience of abuse, still want to help other victims of the same abuse.

  Blondie
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  AMEN, BLONDIE!!!!
• 

  SacrificialLoon

  At first I thought "they had crown and cross jewlery?" lol
  
  I still carry my cross, it's not near as big as it used to be, but it's still there.
• 

  Gordy

  True, the Watchtower experiences were earth-shattering events in most of our lives
  but why do we still hang onto it? It seems the Watchtower Society has a stranglehold
  on individual’s lives years, if not decades after ending their association with Jehovah’s
  Witnesses

  Precisely because it was an earth shattering experience. Would you tell someone who was at the World Trade Centre on 9/11 to stop "hanging on" to the experience.

  Do I forget 30 years of my life was wasted serving a deception.

  Do I forget that I attempted suicide because of depression partly caused by the demands of the Watchtower.

  Do I forget that my wife and two daughters are still JW's and that its OK that they haven't spoken to me for nearly 6 years.
• 

  choosing life

  You can and should learn from your experiences with the Watchtower. However, when those experiences encompassed most of your life, you do not kill and bury them. I don't think that would even be healthy. I spent my entire adulthood in the experience we call the organization and if I buried that, I would have to return to being a child.

  I agree that allowing bitter resentment to ruin the rest of your life would be unhealthy also. Leaving the Witnesses is a different experience for each person and only they can decide what is best for them to heal and move on with life.Many people decide they want to spend their life on a particular cause. Some choose the environment, others civil rights or helping the disadvantaged. Often a person chooses something to dedicate their life to because of an experience that changed their life forever. For example, Lance Armstrong speaks out for cancer research because of being personally touched by that diseaese.

  This does not mean the person has not moved on in life. Maybe they are just dedicated to helping others who have been deeply affected by the same situation that they have. Maybe it is just an experience that they will never totally forget because it has played a part in the person they have become.
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  Mrs Smith

  I have stopped trying to prove then wrong. I know they are wrong and I no longer feel the need to look up all the past mistakes and false prophecies the WTBS ever made. I do however wish I could get both my and my husband's family out as well as a number of friends that are still in the JW clutches.
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  Gill

  It would be a lot easier to forget and let go of the Watchtower Nightmare if I didn't have so many relatives who are still fanatical, and I mean fanatical JWs.

  My husbands side shun us completely which in all honestly is absolutely FANTASTIC!

  My side of the family do not quite shun us now. They will be in the same building as us, but not much else and my parents behave as normal towards us/more or less. However, I would find it a lot easier to let the past go if I didn't have to spend time with them. They are a constant reminder of our past wasted lives and the nonsense that the WTBTS is.

  Shunning from my side of the family would be whole heartedly welcomed. Why don't they just get on with it and then it would be far easier to see the ties being broken as THEIR choices and not ours and a lot easier to just move on and finally forget.