Are you making progress?

by nvrgnbk 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  nvrgnbk

  We're all in different stages of exiting the JW organization.

  How do you feel about where you are at today, compared with a year ago? Do you see positive growth in yourself? Or do you feel stagnant?

  How are you handling the anger that often comes from learning that one was duped or deceived by a religious organization?

  Did you leave JWs but stick to the Bible? If so, how have you been able to do that successfully?

  Or has deprogamming yourself from JWism also led you to question religion and faith in general?
• 

  VoidEater

  I've got to admit it's getting better, it's getting better all the time...hey, I've heard that somewhere before...

  I have no "religion" to call my own, and feel fine with that.

  I believe in God, but due to experiential non-evidence not due to what anyone tells me.

  Lost faith in the Bible as the one true inspired word of God, but think it has some wisdom.

  The only healing left to do is that which time takes care of on its own...nothing more to do but notice the ripples as they break the surface on occasion, and notice I'm not in agony any more (get a sharp pain every once in a while when some memories might get triggered).

  Being here helps.

  When the anger comes, I write about it. Again, this board helps. I used to talk about it in therapy, and that helped, too. I meditate, walk, see that there's more in my life than my past...
• 

  nvrgnbk

  Hi there, VoidEater.

  I don't think I've welcomed you properly.

  There's been alot going on.

  Glad you're here and expressing yourself.

  You do so very well.
• 

  VoidEater

  nvrgnbk: I have enjoyed being here, have enjoyed the conversations (where I agree, where I differ), and your posts in particular.

  Thank you very much -ve
• 

  AK - Jeff

  How do you feel about where you are at today, compared with a year ago? Do you see positive growth in yourself? Or do you feel stagnant?

  I left 'unofficially' 4 years back [almost], but have seen the largest percentage of positive growth in the past 6 or 8 months. I am allowing myself far more latitude of opinion now, have wiped the slate clean of most of my judgemental-ism now, and have allowed the bitterness to ebb away [attributable partly due to time and partly IMO to the influence of Zen thinking - though I have not adopted eastern religion at this point].

  How are you handling the anger that often comes from learning that one was duped or deceived by a religious organization?

  The anger is less frequent and not as deep as before. I am still anchored to the "I used to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses", as proven by my presence here, but that statement is not as laced with anger as it was before. I take a far more balanced view of the fact that many religions have done many things that have affected people in a negative way - not just Jehovah's Witnesses. I am more intimately aware of those matters that are unique or significant among the JW's, so my focus is more there than on other groups - but I have determined rationally now that organized religion is not likely to ever occupy much of my life again. The further I get from the Jw's - the more they look like the Anabaptist' or the Mormons, or the Presbyterians to me.

  Did you leave JWs but stick to the Bible? If so, how have you been able to do that successfully?

  No - my doubts about the Bible have become stronger - though not militantly so - since leaving the Jw's. At first I could not separate myself from that Writ. Now I find less attraction to it, and have become far more attracted to philosophy and eastern thought [Buddhist]. I have elected that my life should be positive, not negative. I want my energy to reflect positive energy, and find the Bible to be negative on many levels now. And a year ago I would never have said that. [See question #1]

  Or has deprogramming yourself from JWism also led you to question religion and faith in general?

  Yes, religion I have and do question now, though not always critically. Faith and spirituality are something different to me, more natural. I took God out of the box in the past few months.

  Jeff
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  nvrgnbk

  The changes I've seen in you in the last month or so have impressed me deeply, Jeff.

  To see you post that Carl Sagan item the other day was a very pleasant surprise.

  Peace, brother.

  Nate
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  AK - Jeff

  Those damned Jw's had a pretty tight hold on this aging mind, brother.

  40+ years I believed it to be the 'truth'. It's taken a few to cut some of the bullshit loose.

  Jeff
• 

  LoverOfTruth

  I've been out for about 20 years now. It seems like a dream I was ever part of it. The only physical reminder I have is a grown son who went back after college and an ex-husband who refuses to let go of the tit. My boy won't speak with me and my ex-husband has little to no contact with our other three children or our little grandchild.

  Otherwise, I'm living a normal, healthy life with no regrets.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  How do you feel about where you are at today, compared with a year ago?

  A year ago, I had turned in my first ZERO hours on a field service slip.
  A year ago, I was silently sitting through meetings at the Hall, even occasionally commenting.

  I am now inactive and attending ZERO meetings.

  I already knew the WTS was a false religion, a publishing company only, a mind-control cult.
  I still have much of the bitterness.

  I am visiting a real support group now for my problems I have ignored for about 20 years.
  I also started visiting an Ex-JW group socially for personal friendship and comfort.

  That's much progress with more to go.

  How are you handling the anger that often comes from learning that one was duped or deceived by a religious organization?

  I still have to work some of that out. I found out many new things in the last year.
  I see more of the destruction this WTS has caused. It's starting to taper off.
  What I need to do is get out there and enjoy life more. I am getting better about that.

  Did you leave JWs but stick to the Bible?

  Or has deprogamming yourself from JWism also led you to question religion and faith in general?

  The second one. I am adrift spiritually. I see the problems with the Bible, regardless of
  the translation. I feel that religion is a snare and a racket.
• 

  sweetstuff

  Or has deprogamming yourself from JWism also led you to question religion and faith in general?

  Yes, and I got the answer I was looking for. Spirituality is all that matters, in whatever form it entails, belief in a divine Entity or belief in humanity's ability to improve itself. Religion only seperates us from true spirituality IMO. Because the very guidelines of religion inhibit the spirit and thus divide us from creation at its core.