by minimus 18 Replies latest jw friends
Do you think believe that once a person leaves the Organization that they are all that much different from what they were as Witnesses? Is there still a "cult mentality" in the exjw community? Are there some that still want to feel "special"? Are the old Witness complainers now exjw complainers? Etc.....
Just because we leave "the Witnesses", it doesn't necessarily mean "the Witnesses" have left us.
Do you agree or disagree?
Missed the 'special' element to being a witness. The feeling just never surfaced! So in that respect no. But as respects feeling you think the way you were taught to think - then yes - it's a psychology which entrenches itself in every aspect of your being for years down the line. And safeguarded by a heavy duty filter which only lets in information that can be emptied out at the other end.
Someone said to me "You can take a person out of the JW's but you can't take the JW out of the person".
I don't believe that to be necessarily true, but I do think that it is important for exJW's to have some help to recover. Some may choose Counsellors or therapy of some kind. JWD is very helpful and healing for many of us in aiding the recovery process. It is very important to interact with people that are going through the same experiences and emotions.
Maddie
never sought importance.....was never a mini or elder in the JW's......still dont seek importance....so I am pretty much still the same as before
I think if you're a person already on a quest to find a state of nirvana then you will sponge everything JWs feed you that is there for the soaking. In that sense you will become Jesus like in many ways but under a set of regulation which leads to a destroying of ones free thought and esteem because it places a person in conflict with every other system of thought on planet Earth. When one falls into dark places as many inevitably will by virtue of their lamb like demeanor under such a regime, further problems are inevitable. And those dealing with them are far from lamb like in their general outlook on life, irrespective of whether they claim to follow Jesus or not! There will be many victims of their own experiences in a cycle that promotes a personal 'history repeating itself. It is my guess that a large number of souls who fall into JW baptism have been preconditioned by parents/guardians to be lamb like in some core aspect of their psychology to an extreme where personal demise is viewed as acceptable.
I don't think there's any hard and fast rules and I can only speak about my own case.
I'm still more judgemental than I like. I'm aware of it and I'm working on it. And while I can't blame Jevhovah's Witnesses for all of my dysfunctions, the culture of fear and superiority that they engender makes them the primary source for my antisocial handicaps.
I've mentioned it before but one of the things that I really hold against the watchtower and their pharisaical religion is their exhuberance for believing that they are above the rest of humankind. With mere words, they write off whole groups of people (anyone who believes differently then them actually) and then, leave it in Jehovah's hands. Well it's not in God's hands if they are already doing the snubbing, mistreating, and shunning.
So, in my opinion and in my experience, I do believe that ex-jw are indeliably and negatively marked by their time spent with that organization. I feel too, that with work and determination, It's possible to limit the side effects and rise above the narrow-minded, intolerant teachings.
Judgemental and superior? Are you sure Abandoned? I've learned that regular folks on the street are far more that way than I ever was or will be. And that they think it the opposite and will argue it to be that way almost till you accept that's what you were - more judgemental and superior than them. This is what makes for the antisocial in some of us. Feels like being preached to about the way you were by a crowd of regular folks who think they know exactly how you think and what motivated your heart. Instead of just accepting you and your past as just another 'regular' person trying their best to be that way!
Judgemental and superior? Are you sure Abandoned?
Everyone's experience is different, but witnesses are judgmental and feel they are superior? Most definitely. Not counting the judging that happens ALL THE TIME in the congregation when someone: gets a new car, gets a new suit, takes an expensive vacation, is seen buying an "R" movie, etc., there's the judgment that the religion does against everyone else living. According to them, only they have the truth, only they are serving Jehovah, and only they, as a group, will survive armageddon. Yep, they sound overly judgmental with extreme feelings of superiority to me.
It depends upon the person how it will behave after living jw's
Just from online interaction I would say in general there is some. A few examples IMO:
You see posters who still feel the need to convert others to their way of thinking because they are positive they have now found the "truth" be it a new religion or lack thereof.
You see posters who shift accountability for their own actions off themselves and on to the JW's whereas it was previously the world or Satan that was to blame for their problems and/or issues.
You see a herd mentality at times that strives to sensor anyone with opinions that differ from the majority.
