If they did not make us feel guilty, most of us would probably be still be JW. Right?
Did You Feel Living Under Strict Rules Kept You In The Religion?
by minimus 19 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Black Sheep
Too many rules.
I didn't see sense in many of them.
I kind of believed it, but not enough to scare me into baptism.
I knew that if I got baptised I would just end up getting shunned.
So I'm not an Apostate.
I am the Watchtowers' worst nightmare.
An un-shunned non-believer who knows what they do teach and knows what they did teach and who can pull references out of my arse at the drop of a 'how do you feel about the Truth?'
Cheers
Chris
-
WTWizard
There is one basic rule that I can live with. No initiatory force, threats of force, or fraud is to be used against another person or their property. Anything more inhibits intelligence and initiative, keeps people from living up to their potential, and limits their proper development.
-
blondie
That did not keep me in; I was a true believer with reservations, it was love of God and Jesus that motivated me and the belief that the WTS was the best of a bad lot. I finally realized I did not need an organization to have a relationship with God or Jesus.
Blondie
-
minimus
You would think that the GB would get the point and recognize that making people feel guilty does not produce better persons. It might make them more afraid and stunted but certainly not better.
-
flipper
MINIMUS- I feel that " living under strict rules " drove me out of the religion, er cult
-
jaguarbass
I was raised in it from birth.
It took me until I was 31 back in the 80's to disentangle myself from
all of the octopus like tenticles of the Wactower Society.
I dont know about strict rules keeping me in.
As a teen and young man it was fear of Armegedon and the belief that the kingdumb hall
was the modern day Noahs Ark of Salvation.
Then came 1976 and the chains began to loosen.
I read 30 years a wactower slave and then Brother Franz came out with his book.
Plus the Wactower strobe light, they called it a light that gets brighter and brighter.
But I realized it was a strobe light that just went back and forth to the same points.
That strobe light, there never being able to make up their mind and say what
they mean, that drove me out of the tower.
I figured a perfect God would not vacilate and appear so confused.
-
minimus
Strobe light at least flashes. (Tryin' to sound like a JW apologist).
-
undercover
Strict rules opressed and repressed me but I do know some who like living under the restrictions. It takes all personal responsibility away. They just do what they're told without question and feel good that they pleased Jah. They go through life blissfully unaware and ignorant.
With that freedom does come some danger. One has to learn self control and you have to set your own limits on what you should or shouldn't do. But the great thing about this freedom is that everyone can set their own standard. What's a restriction for me might not be for you.
I can attest to what it's like to throw off those life-long restrictions and letting loose. You decide to enjoy some new found freedom and learn the hard way sometimes about some things that shouldn't be explored or at least go overboard on some things.
Some may argue that the restrictions/rules were in place to protect us from those things but I contend that you need to learn restrictions on your own. That's why so many of us have shared experiences of not fitting in with the world now that we're out of that controlled environment. What most people learn in their teens and early 20s we didn't experience and learn from until we were much older and exiting the religion.
-
minimus
UC, I agree! I've experienced stuff the last few years that most kids know by the time their 15. They shouldn't have kept their grip so tight, especially when one's natural personality is never allowed to flourish.