Choosing Death (for born ins) (page 2)

Anti-Christ

Very well said brinjen, it takes a lot of strength to leave, especially those of us who have family still in. When I look at my friends and family who still believe, they seem to be dead inside all they talk about is what their are told they should talk about. They just parrot and repeat what they read in a WT or what they hear at a meeting and the rest is superficial, "How's work? Crazy weather..." Sad.

passwordprotected

Our former BSO, when I told him we weren't coming back to the meetings, said the following;

Well, what appeals to me about Jehovah is Jehovah gives you choice, you've got life or death, you know, you've made the choice, so you just have to live with the consequences. Jehovah doesn't force you to do anything so if you've made the decision to turn your back on Jehovah, then that's your choice.

This is the JW way. Reject their organisation and you've rejected Jehovah. Reject Jehovah and you've chosen death.

However, didn't Christ die so that men of all sorts would be saved? Didn't Christ come into the world to demonstrate God's love for mankind, dying for sinners? Doesn't really square away with the life/death option JWs feel they are constantly presented with.

Nosferatu

I've thought about this myself and realized that death is better than living a life of slavery

WuzLovesDubs

Have you ever seen the movie "Logans Run"? What you said reminds me of that movie. There is a society in the future underground away from the outside world where everyone lives a totally hedonistic life but when they become 30....they must either submit to euthanasia or be involved in a sick spectator game where they are suspended from the ceiling and try to attain the apex of that ceiling to be "Renewed". No one ever gets renewed but the faint hope of living makes them desperate to do anything to avoid dying. Some try to run away, and there are some who are trained guards to recapture the runaways and keep them inside. When one of those guards becomes 30 himself...his attitude changes and he seeks to become a runner and live.

We became runners...at great cost in family and friends...but we did it. And we are free. And those who sought to keep us bound and enslaved are too afraid (yet) to come out to where we are and breathe that freedom.

passwordprotected

@ WuzLovesDubs - great analogy.

SnakesInTheTower

very interesting post brin...

I may as well have been a "born-in." I was about 4 when my mom started studying. My little brother was probably under 1. My mom was stuck in an apartment with two little kids by herself for a month at a time while her hubby (my dad) was on a Coast Guard cutter. Only people she knew were her non-JW next door neighbor family. Kingdom Hall a block away. Special pioneers knock on her door. Of course she jumped at the chance for adult conversation. Mom says it saved her marriage. Dad quit military 3 years shy of retirement (and pension).

After what was probably 4 years of a "normal" childhood (I seen pictures of one birthday party and one christmas), spent 14 years of my childhood and over 22 years of my adult life slaving for the Organization. It was chosen for me.

Funny, the whole death thing never scared me. I figured there was no burning hell so what was there to be scared of. The only thing that bothered me for awhile was finding out I would never see my JW father again in the resurrection. That was hard. I had never properly grieved his death. I nearly had a breakdown about 5 years afterward, but I was still a dub. 8 years after the near meltdown (and 13 years after his death), I had to grieve all over again because I found out the truth about the Truth™.

I guess the dubs still have a small hold on me because of my JW mom. Once I leave the area I grew up and served as an elder, I dont have to acknowledge the Witnesses again. I will become just another worldly person.

Snakes ()

journey-on

Very thought-provoking post, bringen. When I left, I went through that stage of doubt and guilt, but something deep inside told me that having been raised a witness, my choice to search for spiritual fulfillment was being limited. To find truth, you have to be allowed to do the search and go wherever it takes you without the threat of death and destruction hanging over you 24/7. You are right. When you take your spiritual life in your own hands, you are actually displaying strength, not weakness and imo, showing more faith than someone who banally sits by and allows another to robotically feed them a program of man-made doctrine.

civicsi00

You're right! There's something to be said about people who go against the current and choose this "death". I don't think we're weak at all.

Some of us are here because we SAW things that are/were very wrong with the WT. Does it make us weak to question it? Better yet, why would God give us this intuitive ability to examine things and determine if it's good for us? If God really wanted robots, he would have created us that way. But it's in our nature to investigate things. Fear of examining things can be a powerful weapon against the weak-minded.

We are not the weak ones, they are. They, the JW's, who toil day and night to please their invisible Governing Body (most don't even know who they are or how many there are). They think that by obeying them they will have life.

dinah

bump

I really think we chose life.

garybuss

For me, it was choosing sanity. The Witnesses who tried to influence me were lunatics.

Choosing Death (for born ins)

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