Do You Still Act Like A Jehovah's Witness? (page 2)

purplesofa

no, i am not skiddish and scared of everyone, like i was attending meetings, I have always been a pretty nice person. mannerly and friendly.

but i find now that I dont have that seperation anymore from people that i had attending meetings.

purps

Sparkplug

Do You Still Act Like A Jehovah's Witness?

OH MY Goodness!! I sure hope not. I try to keep it real now. Still the same person but accepted for it now. Dropped all the brainwashing and add on good things as I go. I would hate to think that JW's are the only thing that gave me the attributes that I have that made me a humanitarian. I am able to be socially adaptable and with the best intent and heartfelt feelings of what is right and wrong I make my way through life.

The good thing about letting the bad habits and twisted versions I had learned on love, forgiveness and being human is that you open up to so much and unklike my witness self, I think that is a GREAT thing.. I truly think that I am much better than I was as a JW. And I don't want what I had as good qualities going to the credit of being a JW. I think a lot has to do with being a good human.

helncon

I have been out for many years but i still have some of the values that i had learnt while still in.

I don't see the need to get dressed perfectly everytime i step out the front door but as long as it is neat and tidy.

The hardest thing over the many years and still to this day i cannot say happy birthday, merry christmas, bless you and happy easter.

I still can't go to carols by candlelight and sing the carols even though i do know them, i can't sing the national anthem even i know that too.

Even i cant say these to my own children!

zagor

prophecor sophistications you just described here don't necessarily have anything to do with you being a witness. They are quite likely reflection of how you were brought up and what what your inner being was inclined to internalize as it's own.

When I look back I can see that whatever I am today is what I was before I became baptized witness. Like any artificial behaviour you can stick to witness frame of mind only for so long before your real self floats to the surface and refuses to sink to the bottom of your soul anymore. So what you are left with is basically who you really are. Maybe the fact that you are noticing your own politeness and other virtues is because you live among the people who do not value these as highly but I assure you those things were written in accepted social etiquette long before Charles Taze Russell invented his religion.

[to add]
I think Sparkplug summarized it quite well. I particularly liked this

I would hate to think that JW's are the only thing that gave me the attributes that I have that made me a humanitarian. I am able to be socially adaptable and with the best intent and heartfelt feelings of what is right and wrong I make my way through life.
The good thing about letting the bad habits and twisted versions I had learned on love, forgiveness and being human is that you open up to so much and unklike my witness self, I think that is a GREAT thing..

That says it all really.

Gill

No! I'm a really nice person now! I don't look down my nose at everyone thinking that 'I'm a survivor'! I don't worry about whether I 'should' be talking to someone or if they were not appropriate to talk to!

I'm now a much better person.

JWs on the whole are arrogant and do not know how to behave.

I've discovered I'm just a nice ordinary well mannered person and not a stuck up bigot!

Not being a JW made me a much better person and not afraid of everyone and everything.

R.Crusoe

The whole ethos of JW indoctrination is to consider mankind as one unit - hence the one God -hence the one New Heavens and New Earth etc. Even when you leave their organisation so many fundamental principles will be indellibly imprinted on your subconcious that you will not be able to decipher whether what you now believe is who you are or what you've become as a result of contact with them. It's an awkward situation because so many people you come into contact with will have views differing from yours and will consider your views are a result of some sort of brainwashing etc.

I've got my thoughts on a range of things and many of them parallel with JW beliefs so what does that say about me?

It can be difficult to find people of the same mind as yourself and one could end up being part of a group purely as a result of searching for some belonging - a natural human instinct!

I'm secretly afraid of relationships because I'm self conscious that my views are not easily found in others. And I avoid conflicting with others views if possible whilst wanting to feel valued for what I believe in my own right. It's a lonely feeling this search for like minded or cosmopolitan thinkers.

So yes, I think anyone who has been involved with this 'life altering' set of beliefs cannot help but still feel different than others when attempting to reintegrate into a society you may have never really integrated with in the first place. Maybe that's why some are temptred to go back because they identify more with being a JW than with trying to be something they don't really feel part of. It's as if whatever you do is for all the wrong sorts of reasons!

And if all the natural dynamics of family life have been taken from your life you feel completely bereaved - though they're still living - and so you feel cheated and betrayed into the bargain with no power to alter anything for the benefit of anyone. Redundant as a human!

Awkward to say the least - and this is your life! It's why so many feel completely lost and frustrated.