Do you have good memories of associating with JWs?

by asilentone 26 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  VIII

  NO.

  Like all of these threads, any group you "associate" with will have some people who are *nice*. However, the dubs are trained to shun you. How many of you are able to call up your old JW friends and just hang with them? Like, today? Or on this coming Friday when just about everyone will have the day off? Are you going to call your old JW friends/pals and wish them "Happy Holidays"?

  Yeah, thought not.

  Which is why I have zero good memories of associating with them.

  Which goes to the qestion:

  Associating with JWs? What happened to hanging out with them? What happened to the true friendships? To being friends with JWs, etc. Being in a mind controlling cult is the whole problem being in the JWs. You "Associate" with people. You aren't really friends with them. True friends don't dump and shun over a disagreement with them over dogma.

  Only people in a cult do. People they "associate" with.

  Sad.
• 

  jookbeard

  yeah, many, during the early first couple of years after baptism the social side was good, C&D assemblies were fun checking out the talent, and the crowd we hang about with were always the hip lot, and the younger years pre 1980 when the WTS was far less dogmatic and and extreme were good days as well, C/A's at The Dorking Assembly hall are fond memories.
• 

  undercover

  Having been raised in it, I can say that there were good times. My parents were decent people, decent parents. They were just fooled into believing this stupid religion. They really did want the best for us...too bad they were indoctrinated to believe in the JW way.

  There were ups and downs as a kid. School was very though as a JW kid. And being a teenager was tough. But in between the tough times, there were fun times. I remember parties get-togethers and picnics. I remember my parents taking extra time at international conventions so we could enjoy what ever city we were in. I remember sleep overs...I remember my first crush...I remember my dad teaching me to drive...I remember summer time as a kid with no responsibilies...I remember traveling with friends...I remember making friends at assemblies...

  The fun times seemed to come harder the older I got. More was expected, not just from school and home, but at the congregation. Do this...do that...more service...help out here...help out there. Male JWs are groomed to become pioneers, MSs and elders from an early age. They're encouraged to have Bethel as a goal.

  Even then, I remember having fun, though at times there was guilt associated with it because we weren't always following WT rules in our behavior or conduct.

  I don't regret not having a 'normal' childhood. I don't fret over missing out on holidays and b-days and other 'worldly' things. There are kids all over the world who don't get 3 meals a day or have a decent roof over their heads. My troubles from being raised in the WT cult pale in comparison to what many kids have to go through.
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  Finally-Free

  You "Associate" with people. You aren't really friends with them. True friends don't dump and shun over a disagreement with them over dogma.

  Too many JWs don't know what friendship is. Some of my friends and I disagree on a number of things, and we're different in many ways, but we're still friends and we're there for each other. Some are closer than family.

  W
• 

  babygirl75

  I've got tons of good memories...it's not all of the people themselves that are bad, it's the indoctrine that sucks a big one!!
• 

  undercover

  You "Associate" with people. You aren't really friends with them. True friends don't dump and shun over a disagreement with them over dogma.

  Too many JWs don't know what friendship is. Some of my friends and I disagree on a number of things, and we're different in many ways, but we're still friends and we're there for each other. Some are closer than family.

  True statements. But as a kid, none of us understood DFing and shunning. As kids we were friends. Unfortunately as we grew older, we became indoctrinated just as our parents and everyone else in the religion. So the friendships formed as kids, for the most part, did not become a forging of lifelong best friends forever thing. We started to be judgemental and we put our loyalty to the WTS first, everthing else second...including friends and family even.

  I can look back to being a kid and how our friendships were and compare that to the teen years and learning how we came to be judgemental based on who was or wasn't a 'good' JW and then to adulthood, in how we were suspicious of any behavior that wasn't in line with WT counsel.

  Yes, there were good times, but there were bad times and bad things as well. But I dare say that's pretty much true of any situation. School, work, family. It's just that in our case, we have to add religious cult to the list.
• 

  WTWizard

  Retrospectively, all were waste. Virtually everything was linked with field circus and boasting sessions. If an a$$embly or boasting session was not the highlight of an event (or field circus), it was not there.

  What a bloody waste.