LayingLow,
Thats what I ment to say, I think you nailed it.
Free
Can any who grew up JW relate to this?
by Mickey mouse 46 Replies latest jw friends
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White Dove
Get this: I was 8 years old and standing in the back of my dad's pickup one evening alone when I just felt so desparate. I said a prayer outloud to Satan to take me away so I could celebrate Christmas like all the other kids get to. I hated Jehovah for not letting me be normal. Now, how would an 8 year old know what was normal and abnormal? All the teachers and kids at school told me so.
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SnakesInTheTower
I can relate to this...I was raised in from age 4 or 5. It was 1970 and my mom was the first to study and get baptized... here is what I think were the reasons they sucked her in:
a)... dad was military, she had us 2 young (under age 4) kids, dad was gone all the time...she lived in a small apartment that was conveniently a block from the KH...she knew nobody except the next door neighbors........special pioneers got hold of her.... dad was alcoholic....abusive... she was lonely for adult company and the pioneer couple gave it to her..3 times a week 2-3 hours studies in complicated litteratrash like the Babylon the Great book....gave her lots to think about....cured her boredom...gave her a purpose....PERFECT
CANDIDATEVICTIM FOR THE DUB MENTALITYb)... this didnt occur to me until recently: Mom was an immigrant from Europe.... came here as a teen...she went right from home to her first marriage..lasted 6 months...introduced to dad by her first husband....she divorced him...married my dad..... never had to think for herself..... never was by herself until dad died...then another man (JW) starts to take advantage of her until she woke up..... then she marries again....still controlled....
(My Dad left military less than 3 years short of retirement..he could have reitred before age 40....started a federal job....retired by 60....and had a good life...instead he dropped the military (pre 75 hoopla).... went from dead end job to dead end job for years..finally got a good city govt job,....the stress killed him at 58.)
Now mom marries non JW (ex military again....)..her 3rd marriage to a bad boy (this time ex Hells angel).... and in my opinion he is as subtly controlling as the dubs....yet she is clueless....he never verbally or physically abuses her...yet he controls her...keeps her in the dark about finances and she refuses to ask him.....and her husband has the gall to tell me she is in a controlling cult...but he "lets" her do what she wants.....
"Lets"? LETS???? WTF???? just like the dubs "let" people do independent research...(as long as it is Borg literature that is)..... so my mom is a grown adult and yet she still....in her retirement years....is "allowed" to do certain things.....she thinks she has freedom...and she doesnt....she has been controlled her entire life....I love my mom dearly...breaks my heart to know that she will always be a dub....
I dont know why the hell I stayed in as long as I did! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest...LOL
Snakes ()
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wings
Alright Mickey Mouse, you got me....I'm an idiot. I admit it. I'm in theraphy trying to deal with it. My kids are tired of my apologies, I need to get a new tape to play.
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restrangled
Born in and could never figure it out either. From what I hear now, they are either getting back in the ones who left and haven't discovered JWD or their own kids.
On this subject, apparently someone was studying with an old dropped out JW in my moms hall and an ex-Jw got her hooked up on a forum....after that, no dice! Wonder if it was this forum? (Thats why you have to be careful about how many details you post....you just never know)
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wings
Most converts are some kind of christians in the first place. (Look at the statistics, rarely any progress in non-chritians countries.)
Dubs are very good at showing you what YOUR CHURCH is doing wrong, so "we must be right then".
I am this person....going through a divorce....fell in love with a DF'd JW....hook line and sinker. 34 years old, three small kids. I will say this, understanding why doesn't make me feel like less of an idiot. I have tremendous empathy for those who were born in. My step kids are 5th generation, and I got an intimate perspective of those who had no choice. I could say so much more.
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BluesBrother
Human nature draws people to what sounds like a good deal . Everlasting life, peace, happiness, health, sounds good to me....
Mankind has always been the same. Demosthenes noted this 300 years BCE
"The easiest thing of all is to DECEIVE one's self; for what a man wishes he generally believes to be TRUE."
and more recently, Bertrand Russell gave this opinion
"If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way."
Sympathies for White Dove, who could at least see through it at an early age. I could not see through it, I had a smug self satisfaction in refusing to celebrate birthdays and Christmas - I was going to have the last laugh in the New World and have a lion for a pet...The ultimate pussy cat