People who "leave" but never LEAVE (page 2)

dinah

What mkr said. You summed it up perfectly!

SPAZnik

I think the real difference is not whether a person still agrees with some doctrines (the usual suspect of rejection of trinty, I of S and hell, maybe even holidays) of the JWs but whether a person still believes the ~~corporation~~ organization was appointed by Jesus and is acting as God's sole channel. Without that belief of appointment there can be no bondage to the WTBS.

I know a guy in that precise predicament. I've never (in about 20 years) known him to agree or comply with the dubs re holidays, among other things, and I've always known him to do his own things regardless of what the dubs think, and yet, the one time that we touched on the topic of JWs, (fairly recently), he clarified for me that he still definitely believes they are "the truth" and that he "knows" he's "going down" at the big A, so he's just trying to enjoy life as much as possible before then. He sort of laughed it off, but I felt really sad for him. Finding out that he goes about his life with this belief stuck in his head was heart wrenching. It sort of cast a very dark shadow over an otherwise seemingly happy life. I also felt relieved that the day I suddenly "saw through" the holy spirit / divine inspiration hoax / hocus pocus, I left and have never desired to go back; freed to simply live accountable to my own conscience (in concert/conjunction/collaboration with humanity as a whole). Happily, I don't relate to people feeling guilt at memorial time and things like that, except perhaps as a distant and vague memory of how being "in" felt, at just about every turn. "Spiritually" (read psychologically?) I've never felt more free, alive, strong and healthy as since leaving the JWs. This improves daily and frequently, often thanks to the humblest kindnesses of strangers, none of which are JWs. I agree, though, with the posters that mentioned it takes time to truly LEAVE and that there are challenges inherent to this transition. I chaulk these up to change management, habit conditioning, and social abilities more than anything "doctrinal". So far I've found that the best part about leaving has been overcoming many of my JW instilled fears and prejudices about all nonJW CULTural rituals. It's been a fascinating and rewarding journey. Pavlov's SPAZ

WTWizard

It is the mysticism that religion has created that is hard to break free of. People have spent all their lives being told that there are "sins" (which are actions that displease God but do not otherwise cause harm to people). They are also told that this God is watching us all the time, and that if we do not repent from these sins (hence, guilt), that God will not help them and that they will go to Hell when they die.

Cults take this one step further, often insinuating that disobedience to the leaders amounts to disobeying God. They are also usually stricter, and reading alternate viewpoints is classified as a serious sin. They are usually subject to more intense indoctrination than a mainstream religion. This makes the images more vivid, and is harder to leave the viewpoint totally than with a standard religion. This also explains why too many people that leave the witlesses end up going back.

Obviously, the best scenario would be to never be exposed to any religion in the first place. Genuine morality is much simpler than religion would like you to believe. Basically, it amounts to if a volitional action is harmful to self and/or society, it is immoral (and that does not include sexual immorality like fornication). Unfortunately, very few people have been exposed to that kind of stripped down morality, and there are currently very few good books (and, by very good, I mean widespread and that people actually follow) that rebut the Bible. I am hoping that a few of those "secret societies" start putting out rebuttals to the Bible itself, along with independents. That should take care of the cults along with the mainstream religions, and free people up.

There will still be people that will have been affected by the religious mysticism. True, they do not believe that God is kind or all-knowing. But they have still been affected, and that effect will not disappear. A few will still try to exert control on people, but they will be less successful if their God is shot down. But, without new religious influence, children will grow up in a religiously neutral environment and be able to grow up free of that cancer.

SPAZnik

Nicely put, Wiz.

Warlock

You can leave "the truth", but it NEVER leaves you.

Warlock

passive suicide

Hence my username.............."passive suicide" It seems easier to attribute a wrong decision to ' Jehovah'.....rather than oneself.. It really becomes a path of least resistance. ..........But hey.......... he who laughs last at least has a chance at laughing at all. Cheers. Pasive suicide.

betteroffdead

he "knows" he's "going down" at the big A, so he's just trying to enjoy life as much as possible before then. I heard an illustration in a talk YEARS ago that might help explain his stance. it was along the lines of a business man and a farmer. they both were asked if they knew the big A was coming in the next week what they would do, the business man said he would quit his job and dove head first into religion in hopes of living through it. and the farmer just said he would hope to get all his crops planted and when asked why he said because nothing he would do in the next week would have any bearing on what he's done in his life because it's not heartfelt. I don't know? sounded very similar to me personally. p.s. I'll be damned if I don't know how to quote, sorry

SPAZnik

better off dead: i get what you're saying. i was also thinking the other day that to "live like yer dyin'" ain't all bad.

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People who "leave" but never LEAVE

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