Were you a non-spiritual JW? (page 2)

Nowman

No, but I played the act very well, just needed to wait until I was 18, bam! poof! Gone!

Nikki

Open mind

Welcome to "1984". Isn't it amazing what kind of sick twists the dubs put on words?

Spiritual: Toeing the company line.

Meditation: Concentrating intently on specific Bible "truths" or how to solve a problem or reaching future "spiritual" goals. Just make sure you don't try to "empty" your mind of thoughts or you might actually end up truly "meditating".

These are just two examples of beautiful words being thorougly gutted of their true meaning.

And to answer the question, yes, I have always had what I consider a truly "spiritual" longing (seeking truth, peace, harmony, etc) in spite of various phases of being "dub spiritual" i.e. "a good company man" along the way.

Open Mind

moshe

I was an elder for a couple years and managed to bluff my way into the inner circle. The CO only was concerned with about the work I did as a M-servant and he decided I was fit to be an elder at the ripe old age of 25 years. To me being spiritual meant studying the literature really hard and being able to explain all the WT types/anti-types mumbo jumbo. I never found that person. I suspected that most everyone was just like me- going through the motions of- meetings, service, assemblies,etc.

Arthur

We have to remember that the Watchtower organization has instilled a warped mindset about what it means to be "spiritual".

Their deffinition of "spiritual" is different from Jesus' deffinitions. The WT organization puts emphasis on law keeping, or on conforming to organizational norms. Jesus taught that spiritual people would be those who would be conscious of their spiritual need, and then would manifest this by their character. How can you identify a "spiritual" person? Simple: "By their fruits, you will know them." Jesus identified the characteristics or outward signs of a "spiritual" person. It's very simple:

Jesus taught that you must love your God with your whole mind, soul, and strenght; and that you must love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus taught that spiritual people will manifest love, joy peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, and self control.

Taking all of this into consideration, I believe that there are JWs who despite not performing "organizational works", or not having any positions such as "pioneer", "elder", or "ministerial servant", are very spiritual people. By the same token, I have seen many JWs who have impressive positions who are not spiritual at all.

When we study Jesus' teachings about spirituality, we find a huge difference between being a "spiritual person", versus being a good "organizational person".

done4good

It is a good post. And, no, I was not a "spiritual" JW and was probably criticized. But, did I appreciate spiritual things? Yes, I certainly did.
No offense to anybody here but I always HATED the term "spiritual" as used by JWs.
The reason I hated it was that what it really meant, when translated to English, are you parroting the party line and doing your studying, meetings and service, etc. This is what the term "spiritual" means to a JW. I just had a JW friend tell me recently about an argument she was having with somebody who criticized her. She told me she told them "I am a very spiritual person.....yada, yada". I needed all the self-control I could muster to keep from rolling my eyeballs at this ridiculous and unnecessary statement she made in her "defense".
The reality is that we are very physical creatures who have an appreciation for spiritual things.

LHG, great post, very, very true. This whole issue of defining "spiritual" caused untold arguments between me and my ex. She had a take like the jw friend you mentioned above. Used to make sick.

j

38 Years

I must have been because you couldn't even be spiritual if you weren't going to every meeting, studying night and day, trying to increase your field service time and get bible studies. In fact, I remember a couple of times hearing in talks that you couldn't even call yourself a JW if you weren't "active" and "spiritually strong". That made me feel really horrible and I would beat myself up even more about my inactivity. But I didn't love God any less when I was inactive. I would walk into the KH and feel I was unworthy. Sometimes, I would even get up and leave in the middle of the meeting and go home.

It's great to be free from all that!

nvrgnbk

Theocratic is the antithesis of spiritual.

jaguarbass

I dont think the society would encourage anyone to be spiritual, they want magazine salespeople. Being spiritual would probably get you disfellowshiped. There was a period before armegeddon back in 75 when I was a good magaine salesperson.

Now my brothers spiritual, he talks to the spirits and they visit each other.

diamondblue1974

I dont think the society would encourage anyone to be spiritual, they want magazine salespeople. Being spiritual would probably get you disfellowshiped. There was a period before armegeddon back in 75 when I was a good magaine salesperson.
Now my brothers spiritual, he talks to the spirits and they visit each other.

This is on the mark. My sentiments exactly. Gary

Lilycurly

I agree about JWs having a twisted definition of "Being Spiritual".

As a teenage girl, I badly wanted to please my JW father, and the most hurtful thing he would say to me was that I should be more spiritual. It was as if being un-spiritual was the equivalent of worthless. And he always sounded so disapointed and discouraged.

I'd cry if he told me that me not loving to read the publications meant that I was becoming un-spiritual, like my mother. So I'd try to convince him that I *did* like reading them, that I *loved* going out in service. Even though I was miserable. And I beleived that I was really un-spiritual for not naturaly meeting their requirements. Imagine, I never had an actual study and never ever pionnered.

Today I realise that I *was* a spiritual girl, I still am, always will be. This is my nature. But in the actual sense of the word.

*Phew* This is like therapy or something....

Were you a non-spiritual JW?

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