then and now 40 years later

bigmac

i want to put "pen to paper" so to speak, comparing what i left behind as a young JW man 40 years ago, with what ive been reading on this site.

i cant include everything in 1 post, so please put up with me while i compile my recollections.

this is not a hate-filled diatribe, but hopefully a worthwhile comparison

i grew up as a JW, being baptised at 14, left school at 15, started pioneering at 17.

the congregation i spent 5 years in, 1966-71, brings back many fond memories, the most important being the love we all shared for each other.

the emphasis was on helping one another; circuit servant visits were eagerly looked forward to, assemblies a treat.

very occasionally, someone might slip up & sin. usually it involved sex, most times the person was put on probation ( ever heard that word?)

in very rare cases, a disfellowshipping. in most cases the offender served their time & were reinstated & welcomed back with tears of joy.

the word " apostacy" was unheard of. i had ni idea what it even meant.

where did it all go so wrong.

cantleave

Where did it all go wrong?

IMO it was never right, but things got worse after the change in the GB arrangement and the "apostate" hunts during Ray Franz exit period.

Strong direction was given to enforce shunning of the DF'd and DA'd, apostates were given the status of the anti-christ and the elder arrangement became more focussed on keeping discipline in the congregations.

little witch

Thanks for the post Mac,

I have been around for a minute too and out for hours...LOL

It has gotten more and more hateful over the years and more paranoid for sure. I feel so much emotion for the current and recent ones, due to all the changes. It was bad before, it is a GD nightmare now....sad...

LW

Scarred for life

I am approximately the same age as you. I left behind the JWs about 37 years ago. I was raised from birth as a JW. But I was never baptized. By the time I got to the age of 14 or 15 and they were really putting on the pressure for baptism because "Armageddon would be here in the fall of 1975" I was running in the opposite direction.

The congregation that we were in from 1960-1967 brings back fond memories. We felt a part of a close community. At least we did at that time.

I do remember circuit servant visits as being positive in that congregation.

I will have to say that I NEVER thought that assemblies were a treat. Total torture.

I remember one person being disfellowshipped from that congregation. Even at my very young age, I thought this was horrible and cruel and wrong. To treat someone like that was the polar opposite of how I had been taught to treat people. That young man never came back to the JWs. His single mother was heartbroken.

We moved to a different city and the JW congregation we attended there was completely different. A Nazi concentration camp. I attended there from 1967-1973. No love. Power struggles. Fear. Guilt. That's what I remember from that congregation. There were more horrible disfellowshippings there. Inhumane.

I never heard of the word apostate until I got on this board 2 years ago.

It was wrong from the beginning. You just thought it was OK because it's all you knew as a child.

Scarred for life

I don't get the impression that things have changed that much. It was a nightmare for me and my sister and I guess my parents also from 1967 until my father died in 1978. I don't know all the details that happened to my parents between 1973 and 1978 because I was no longer involved or attending meetings. I'm sure my "disappearing" did not help the way they were treated.

little witch

Scarred,

Things have changed. For starts, each congo had autonomy more so than now...so things "fit" better then...We used to have get togethers and music and fellowship outside the hall.

Over the years, this has not only been abandoned but downright forbidden....this was the only link I had to extended family who were not "in" and you better believe that is why it was ended...

Just one example...

LW

The Finger

I agree with you I think. The organization seemed too be different when my parents accepted the "truth" I think it changed with the Elder arrangement. I always felt I would never have accepted the "truth" as they did at the time but now it disgusts me.

Scarred for life

I'm just saying that in the congregation that I was in from 1967-1973 and my parents and sister were in all the way until 1978 there were no get-togethers or music and fellowship. The elders in that congregation did not think that was important and created cliques and dissension. They were very paranoid about anyone disagreeing with their rules or interpretations or judicial decisions. This is my experience. I realize that other people's experienes are different. Maybe the Commonwealth Avenue Congregation in Charlotte, NC was a foreshadowing of things to come over the whole cult.

yknot

What happened....

In the simplest of explanations...... it isn't what happened but rather what didn't happen.

Without the expectation being fulfilled the WTS has been forced to make excuses while upping the demand for loyalty as yet another year, decade and century passed with no Armageddon in sight.

They decided to dumb down things, demand uber loyalty lest ye be damned and to keep up the pitch hoping the repetition would lull and dull the senses.....

It worked for the most part until the internet became common place.

yknot

the 'shift' to dumbdown and clampdown came in the 80s...... it was initiated by Jaracz

Similarly we have him to thank for the recent one too!

I see some let up now that he is gone but not anything major until after 2014-15

then and now 40 years later

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