Yeah this level of harassment/guilt is way out of line. Involve the police if it keeps up, what you are describing is unacceptable.
Is this normal witness behavior?
by confusedstudent 38 Replies latest jw friends
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fokyc
YES! It is 'normal behaviour' for a large number of JW's.
Just ignore them and enjoy your life together; you have had a fortunate escape!
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the max
When I was a witness, I could use fear by using and twisting scriptures, even more so than that which you have experienced, I (brought)a person into JW,s At the time I thought I had done well. Now I feel incredibly guilty, I wish I could turn the clock back, but I cant, I think of ways to get this person to question the lies. I may have inadvertently messed up someones life. I have to carry that around with me.
You have had a narrow escape, JW,s Know every trick in the book, and then some.Had you joined,got baptised, the consequences for you and your family could have been catastrophic. Every aspect of your life would come under such scrutiny, and judgement, and loss of personal freedom, that moving to Afghanistan becoming a moslem and wearing a burka would have seemed like a good career move.
On the topic of fear and paranoia, It got most of us on this forum, to subject our thinking facultys, to become Robotic, mindless automotons, I have not embraced another religion, however I cant recall a single incident where Jesus had to resort to fear and intimidation to teach and enlighten people, and as Christians,we were to follow in his footsteps.
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AnnOMaly
Grrrr.... I wish I could go back in time and get the last year of my life back.
Be thankful it was only a year.
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daringhart13
Their entire platform is built on guilt and fear......something that Jesus said would NOT ......NOT be present in his message. Read 1 John.
Delete it. Do not try to reason with them.
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Reality79
I would just laugh it off like your husband for the rubbish it is.
There's sooooo many booby traps - from not drooling over the governing body, to wearing the wrong colour shirt, to scratching your head the wrong way - that can prevent someone getting into the fictitious paradisiacal land of milk and honey that no one will make it there anyway.
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doublelife
Yes, this is definitely normal JW behavior. You can just imagine what it's like growing up in this cult. When I was a child, I used to think that any bad behavior on my part would cause all of my schoolmates and teachers to die at armageddon because they wouldn't come in to "the truth" due to my bad example.
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factfinder
I agree this is normal witness behavior. My jw brother told me I am responsible for my brother and sister not becoming witnesses and that it is because of ME that God will destroy them (and me), because I stopped going to the kh and stopped preaching.
I feel bad for you that the cult members in that cong keep on harrassing you.
I was a witness for some 30 years, but since I gave up meetings in 2005 nobody from the congregation has tried to encourage me to come back.
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J. Hofer
i can confirm this is normal. when i was in my teens and expressed doubts or some unwanted hairstyle / beard whatever... they'd tell me that i'm having an influence on the other young people and that i am responsible and what not. when i was married, they'd tell me that i should stop having doubts, because i have to care spiritually for my wife.
of course i didn't stop having doubts, i always told them that everybody's got their own brain and mind.
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Hadit
Hello confusedstudent,
Good for you for taking a stand! I’m sorry to hear of what you are going through. Don’t let them push you around. Tell them that they are harassing you and that you expect them to stop and that if they don’t you will contact the police.
Fear is the only thing they have to keep you prisoner to their belief system.
As for the Armageddon threat – there are three things for sure in life: your birth, your death and change. There is nobody that escapes death – it is a part of life. Armageddon or not – everyone dies at one point or another. To be in a constant state of fearing death is wasting your precious life now – while you are living. Armageddon is man’s way of facing death en masse, together, rather than alone. There is solace in not being alone. The fear of death is so strong that they come up with myths to appease their fear. As for responsibility: the only person you are responsible for is yourself. The only person you have power over is yourself. Fear uses force to keep people controlled and love liberates and seizes one’s own power and self-worth. The love that they preach is false – you cannot be in fear and love at the same time. True love liberates the soul and brings about freedom.
I highly recommend you do some research on your own and two books which shine light on religions, control, misogyny and how patriarchy took hold on humanity:
Of Woman Born by Adrienne Rich and The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power by Barbara G. Walker.
These are excellent books for women to read in general so that you can understand the dynamics of what is going on around you and why you hold some of the beliefs that you do.
I wish you all the best!
Hadit