What Fears have you Overcome that the witnesses put in you?

by flipper 27 Replies latest jw friends

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  Effervescent

  Um, yeah.... pretty much all of the above for me too. We were suppose to be the "People of the Living and True God" and yet everyone was so scared of EVERYTHING. Makes no sense!

  The two biggies for me were-

  1. Dying at Armaggedon. I knew my heart was bad (even though I put on a good act) so I knew I was bird food once Armaggedon came. I always thought there was something seriously wrong with me, why I couldn't love meetings and going out in service. I can remember when I was in elementary through junior high especially, when we would have loud thunder storms or even sonic booms, my insides would turn with that thought that the "Day" was here and I was dead.

  2. Fear of Demons- Oh my gosh, can't tell you how many nights I couldn't go to sleep because I was petrified demons would attack me in my sleep. This goes along with the fact I thought I was a bad person... I really believed it was just a matter of time before they possessed me, scratched on my window or pinned me down in my bed while I slept. This actually led to panick attacks where I thought I was having an "experience".

  So sad for children to grow up with these kinds of obsessions.....
• 

  flipper

  Effervescent- I can relate to what you said, because when the 9/11 attacks occured I was out of the witnesses for awhile and it scared me shitless thinking this was the biggie, the big A maybe and I came back to meetings. But reality set in, I pinched myself later and saw the normal junk going on in the organization ,then faded again to where I belonged, out of the org
• 

  serenitynow!

  1. demons- was always praying for protection from the devil

  2. "knowing" that there was a god reading my thoughts, which of course were never good. It led to a lot of repetitious prayers for forgiveness.

  3. so called "apostates"
• 

  Darth plaugeis

  Satan and his Demons
• 

  flipper

  SERENITY NOW- Yeah, I think lots of us had the fear of Satan & the demons put in us for sure ! Having what they called " sinful " thoughts. And I've come to see that apostates aren't really bad at all ! In fact- they're a lot nicer than most JW's I ever knew ! LOL !

  DARTH PLAUGEIS- Yep, that old serpent Satan & his demonic hordes ! Now I know they're not real. LOL ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper
• 

  beksbks

  All of them!!!
• 

  cameo-d

  The fear of living forever. I would not want to.
• 

  exwhyzee

  Isn't there a scripture that says something like " the one losing his soul...gains his soul" To me this is true, once I lost an "overly acute" fear of dying, especially at the hands of an angry god, I gained more life...and peace of mind. Does that make sense? Once you have nothing to loose...you are free.

  It was frightening to have been convinced from childhood that if you didn't get it just right, you wouldn't make it through Armegeddon and would be killed right along with all the axe murderers, puppy kickers, child molesters and unwed mothers of the world. It was the most helpless feeling, to be utterly dependent upon a God you didn't really understand or know for sure existed, yet at the same time, were absolutely convinced was going to annihilate most of the human race. They seem to have gotten through to me about the destruction part but the loving God part never sank in.

  I enjoy not having to defend (trumped up) issues of universal sovereignty as if I was ever even capable of such a thing.

  I lost the fear of being totaly honest (with myself and others if they ask) about what I really believe or don't know for sure about "big picture" issues. I will no longer let men/people/religion evaluate my thoughts,beliefs or actions nor will I be afraid to listen to my own inner voice.