Is the Downfall of Jehovah's Witnesses More Important Then You?

by AllTimeJeff 82 Replies latest jw friends

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  drew sagan

  I think if I didn't see so much exageration and misinformation and sheer blind hatred by some on here I wouldn't be tempted to stay and try in a small way to defend the Jws.

  Just depends upon where you look. There are plenty of people here who show no "hatred". I roll my eyes many times at some of the dumb stuff people say here but I also think there is lots of great info as well. This is a message board, not a book. It doesn't represent one mindset or individual. There are people that are eaisly antagnoized and others who ignore it.

  There has been talk on this site before about becoming an Ex-ex-jw. I somewhat agree with that. Ex-ex-jws are probably the people who have the most balanced opinions of the group. Yet, they are probably not here (or stop by sparatically) because the group is no longer negatively effecting their lives in an intense way (myself included). Sometimes an issue comes up and you come back here and "get into it" all over again, but it's not like it is when you are immersed by JW activity and confrontation. So it may just be that some of the people who can articulate a very good case against JW nonsense without disrespect simply don't want to do it, they have moved on with their lives.
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  yadda yadda 2

  I mostly visit this site because I have a need to see what changes might be happening in the organisation, what "new light", etc. Perhaps this is because I secretly hope and believe that positive reform may yet come to the organisation to clear away all the muck that is encrusted around some good basic doctrines. I think with a few changes to some of their doctrines and policies it could be a great religion to still be a part of. Sadly I doubt any significant reform will come for many, many years, if ever. It's old wineskins. I get caught up in all the criticism and negativity on here as a secondary thing but not because I'm angry or hate JW's (at times I do feel anger towards the stubborn blindness of the leaders though and at times certain posters or comments on here really p*ss me off lol).
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  warmasasunned

  i look back on my witness days....and just feel it was something i needed to calm me down, i was a youth out of control with no direction, heading for death or prision. so it straightend me out, gave me discipline.

  but it was crazy, brain washing...so i`m glad i left. i check this site out to keep in touch with people who have had the same or similiar experience to me. i met a lot of good people in the jw`s but mostly indifferent no marks, with no substance only a head in the sand quality.

  sure there are those who are radical on both sides of this site (they may not be so in real life), i have a smile at their comments, because i just let it drift over my head these days, why would god make it all so hard!....do i want to see jw`s fall.....no.

  what i dont like to see and hear of is people dragging themselves along to any religion or thing that makes them unhappy...so i would say if your happy its up to you.
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  AK - Jeff

  Good thread, ATJ.

  I think that most of what I have written here - maybe a million words? - have been written for myself, more that for others. I think that had I never found this site, I would have spent thousands of dollars in therapy for more years than the self-therapy I have found here.

  I would rejoice if Jehovah's Witnesses fell apart as a religion. I do not deny this. But I think it more likely, that over time, the religion will become bleached and faded, eventually splinter like the WWCoG did, and become [what it already is to most humans] irrelevent. Lawyers run the show now. At some point, due to legal concerns, the watchtower will become what I call - Mainstream Fundamentalist. It will join the ranks of the Mormons, Pentacostals, and some far right Baptist sects that curry little favor with the real Mainstream Christians. But it will have entered an arena that will mean massive changes. Over time, this little cult might actually morph into a fanatical little religion, then eventually into a fundamental church. Holidays, blood, constant screaming that the sky is falling will be distant memories - just like the early teaching of Russell are distant memories of the cult we see today.

  It is not going away - but it will change so that if you came back to life in a hundred years - you wouldn't recognise it fully.

  SO it really is about us as individuals. Most cults change over time - some even become respectable. But the change is slow.

  But we can change more quickly - and need to - our lifespan is but fourscore perhaps. We know that there is nothing that resembles what the WTS suggests after death. No paradise. No ressurection. No future beyond a few glorious years on this planet. At least none we can demonstrate beyond a doubt. So we have to get on with it - love life and what it offers us.

  Jeff
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  shamus100

  It's interesting to note that the large percentage of people who leave the truth aka, apostates, never ever come to this board, and never post on any board.

  Believe me, this is the tip of the iceberg.
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  Spike Tassel

  Spike Tassel (Post 54): Since Jehovah makes stand those who are his own (Rom.14:4), the "downfall" of any of them is temporary, regardless as to whether it's me or anyone else. The criterion as to whether we are Jehovah's own is found at Psa.119:165, which states "Abundant peace belongs to those loving your law, And for them there is no stumbling block." On the other hand, if one is disfellowshipped (in harmony with 1 Cor.5:13), this is equivalent to a physician or lawyer being disbarred for malpractice. In that case, the standard is higher and more rigorous to be readmitted to licensed, sanctioned practice than it is to be admitted the first time. The expectations and responsibilities are set at a progressively higher level each time readmittance is considered since learning from experience and its lessons is required. It is a matter of proper respect for duly-constituted authority.
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  Midget-Sasquatch

  AllTimeJeff

  Thanks for the good place your words are coming from. I'm often on the brink of being Ahab, but also often being the weak Winston from 1984. Your post like so many I've read from other posters are really healing. We've got to hate less the "Other" and our own "Self" and learn to make the most of things in the here and now.

  Renaia

  We're all fallible humans here. And you're right, its not just the JWs that use cold/cool interactions as a means of social control. I don't see JWD trying to coverup anything though. Anyone who's made a mistake has it pointed out to them. Bull---- is called for what it is. There's freedom of expression. Humans are naturally going to be eloquent and sometimes just nasty.

  But we ( EDIT:all | for the most part) intuitively "get" where most of us are coming from. I have to agree with Minimus. You're intentionally trying to provoke the negatives. Maybe because you need to drum up some bit of support for the idea that ex-jws are "hypocrites" too. Don't forget that last word.... too.
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  restrangled

  Jeff, great post.

  When I initially came here I was in shock and in great pain, revisited from when I was 16.

  I think this is a great place for release of frustration, sharing of accomplishments, worries, failures, etc. It feels safe....I hope it does for others. Amongst the emotionally draining posts there is also much to learn.

  I went back the other day and read my posts from the beginning, cringing at what I had written, but you know what?.....it was therapy at the time and continues to be.

  r.
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  Scarred for life

  No, I am more important than the downfall of Jehovah's Witnesses. So are my husband, my children, my friends, my everyday life.

  But I came here very shortly after the death of my mother, in the process of cleaning out her house. I found decades of JW literature and pictures from assemblies etc, etc. It brought back many bad memories. My sister and I also talked about our JW upbringing for the first time ever. I realized I had great anger at my parents for raising me in this cult. I had never acknowledged it or dealt with it.

  This board has been great therapy for me and it continues to be.

  I would be very happy to see the JWs disappear into New York Harbor but the likelihood of that happening is small. I do think the internet is a tremendous enemy to them and may damage them greatly.

  I would love to do some kind of work to help people out of this cult but I don't know anything else to do except be on this board.

  I spent my whole childhood being taught that I was insignificant and unimportant. No more. I and my life in Georgia are MUCH more important than the downfall of Jehovah's Witnesses. If they all disappeared I wouldn't even know it except by reading it on this board.
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  AllTimeJeff

  I would love to do some kind of work to help people out of this cult but I don't know anything else to do except be on this board.

  Me too.... The fact is, I am too burnt out on JW's to do much more then post on the internet. It's not the people, it has everything to do with all my mojo they robbed me of....

  Don't laugh, it was mojo.....