by Stealth 21 Replies latest jw friends
nytelecom1,
You might not be controlled by anger in the JWs, but you will be controlled by every other technique known to man. I must conclude that your comments, made to this group, constitute what you think must be humor. It's that or outright stupidity.
Francois
I am beginning to think that this nytelecom1 is Fred Hall's twin brother.
He sure sounds like Fred Hall.
Stealth: Realizing the truth is not the truth anymore.....will bring anger with it weather you stay in or get out.
The reason is because the most important thing in your life (the truth) turned out to be false! It would be like finding out your parents were really profesional theives after you trusted them all your life.
The anger may remain for years to come, or you may get over it somewhat as some have claimed to.
If you still have family and many friends involved, then the anger is worse than if it's just you. The reason being is you want to tell all these ones and you can't.
If you leave and you are shunned....(if dfed or disassociated)the anger is GREATLY increased.
I feel the anger lasts as long as you let yourself dwell on past wrongs. Sure it's not easy to distance yourself while your family are still JWs, but you need to distance yourself from the WTS religion, and see your family members as merely victims of victims.
I am past the anger stage. As Joy2bfree said, I only feel pity for those still trapped. I have some feelings against the WTS for the wrongs they've done, but I have learnt to not let it consume me.
You will observe many here who have much anger and bitterness against the WTS. Those who can't get over this bitterness are still being controlled by the WTS, despite having left it decades ago.
Don't let the WTS control you!
It's your life now - gain power over your feelings and you will be able to move on with your life.
Prisca's advice above is only practical for most if they CUT VIRTUALLY ALL DEALINGS WITH ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE WATCHTOWER (pro- OR anti-) RIGHT OUT OF THEIR LIVES.
And THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE WATCHTOWER WISHES THEM TO DO
Damage limitation. The WT speciality.
So follow the Prisca Class, and you do the Watchtower's bidding.
So, who is controlling who, eh?
Sure, I know our boisterous Net work does not do much at all to convert existing braindead dubs. Sad, but as I often say, they are uneconomical to educate.
But what we do is SUPREMELY EFFECTIVE at warning off newcomers, as WT growth rates and Internet penetration rates are STRONGLY negatively correlated by country!
For the WT does not solicit knowledgeable, dedicated enemies - ex-Cult members and others hurt directly by the Watchtower - they know the whore too well, and know how to catch her in her Spiritual Fornication.
I am past the anger stage.Well, good for you, then. Bro. Henschel is very happy. There's an article soon coming in "Awake!" on anger management. Probably it will incorporate your advice.
And they are not all "victims of victims" in the WT, as you imply. Stop being so gullible! There is an enormous Wolf Class, fully aware that the whole thing is a fraud. But it serves their wicked, power-loving purposes...
The Allied soldiers who were wiping out Hitler were being, to an extent, controlled by Hitler. His actions influenced their actions. So what?
Opposing evil and channeling the anger is EXACTLY WHAT THE WATCHTOWER DOES NOT WISH YOU TO DO!
The counter-argument (cutting it right off before it gets raised) that by even caring about what the Watchtower does or does not want you to do, you are letting yourself be controlled by the Watchtower should be treated with the same contempt as would the Allied soldiers...
For we know that the WT far prefers you to be, say, spending your time and frittering away your anti-WT knowledge chatting with the Prisca Class about who "stole" her picture which she voluntarily emailed out to lots of people and her amazingly naive horror that it later appeared on a animal-rights website for a few moments...
Don't let the WTS control you!Exactly.
--
Focus
("Godly Hate"?? Class)
Focus,
I could, if I so wished, be a pain in the side of the WT. But I choose not to. Why? Because it's been my decision.
If people want to join the Focus Class, they can rant and rave how dreadful the WTS is, set up websites dedicated to the wrongs of the WTS, and post angry and vengeful posts on jw.com.
I choose not to.
I am getting on with my life. I am not totally away from the WTS because I still have family members who are beguiled by the WTS. And I doubt they will ever leave.
In the meantime, however, I am getting on with my life, and enjoying the sweet taste of freedom.
The WT far prefers you to be chatting with the Prisca Class about who "stole" her picture which she voluntarily emailed out to lots of people and her horror that it appeared on a website for a few moments...
So FIVE people constitutes "lots of people". Yeah, whatever Focus darling.... [8>]
Prisca wrote:
Focus,
I could, if I so wished, be a pain in the side of the WT. But I choose not to. Why? Because it's been my decision.
If people want to join the Focus Class, they can rant and rave how dreadful the WTS is, set up websites dedicated to the wrongs of the WTS, and post angry and vengeful posts on jw.com.
I choose not to.
I am getting on with my life. I am not totally away from the WTS because I still have family members who are beguiled by the WTS. And I doubt they will ever leave.
In the meantime, however, I am getting on with my life, and enjoying the sweet taste of freedom.
Sure, sure - I understood you perfectly the first time around:
I Prisca am "OK" now. So to blazes with warning the next innocent victim, who cares, I don't - leave that work to someone else. I'M OK and that is what counts!
Would you have been one of those jWs singing happily on the hillside while jehovah slaughtered two thousand million little kids of the Birdseed Class, Prisca? It sounds like much the same moral/ethical principle as your abovestated philosophy - only a difference in scale.
Are you sure you are so free from Watchtower-thinking, then?
Food for thought... Not to mention plenty of food for the carrion birds or the Elder Class, if different.
Hey, but do not worry, folks. Prisca is OK now.
I get to sleep at nights.
--
Focus
(To identify and OPPOSE EVIL is a DUTY Class)
Here's a section from The Portable Therapist by Susanna McMahon:
Why am I so angry?Anger is a part of the cycle of grief one feels when leaving the Society. As mentioned in the article, each individual chooses how to channel this anger. Focus has chosen to become an activist in exposing Watchtower lies; Prisca has chosen to let it go.Anger is one of the most basic and also most important emotions. It is necessary for survival as the feeling often generates the necessary strength to do things to protect ourselves that we normally could not do. Anger is also necessary in the infant's development of a sense of self as distinct from others. Everyone has anger. Why then is this important emotion so difficult for people to deal with? Why does anger produce so much denial of the feeling? And so much fear?
The answers, once again, go back to our training. We have been taught, since we were little, that being angry is "bad" and that other people do not like us when we are angry. We learned that most of our anger is unjustified (as if feelings need justification) and that we have no right to be angry because we must consider the other person's feelings before we consider ourselves. We have learned as children to deny our feelings of anger and to repress them so that we will not be labeled "bad." If we cannot deny or repress the anger and we let it out, then we feel guilty and have to make justifications for our feelings. We have learned, usually before the age of five, that anger produces a vicious trap: if we express it, we are "bad," if we repress it, it grows into rage and we are "bad," and if we deny it, we learn not to trust our own feelings and that feels "bad." What is the solution to this anger trap?
Give yourself permission to feel angry. You cannot control your feelings of anger. You do not always know when and why and how you will feel angry. Sometimes you may feel angry without knowing why. And sometimes, when you would expect to feel angry, you do not. Anger lives inside of you along with your other feelings. Accept that you can feel angry. But do not confuse the feeling of anger with the expression of anger. You cannot control the feeling of anger but you can control what you choose to do when you are angry.
Our training has taught us to confuse the feeling of anger with the angry behaviors that we exhibit. Most of us are afraid of what we do when we are angry. We have repressed and denied our anger until it explodes and we are in a rage. We then act in a destructive manner, to others and to ourselves. Accepting the angry feeling as it occurs means that we do not accumulate the feelings until they become rage. Often, accepting our anger as it occurs is enough. Remember, we do not always have to act on our feelings and our thoughts. We can choose what we will do and we have a wide variety of choices.
Practice saying to yourself when you feel angry: "I am angry. What do I want to do with this? How can I feel okay with my anger?" Sometimes you may choose to express it to others. Sometimes you may choose to think about it for a while before you act on it. Sometimes you may want to yell and get upset and sometimes you may want to calmly talk it out. And, once in a while, you may choose to let it go and to do nothing about it. There is no one right way to act when angry. Any behavior you choose is right as long as you take responsibility for it and you feel all right with yourself. If you cannot get past your anger and let it go, ask for help. Most of the time, recognizing that you are angry at the moment you feel it and accepting your feeling without judgment is enough for the feeling to abate. Just as you cannot control your feelings, your feelings cannot control you, unless you choose to let them.
As for "victims of victims" vs. "controlled by a Wolf Class," my own opinion is that most people fall somewhere in the middle. People choose to believe in this religion and subject themselves to the strong influence of men whom they believe speak for God.
I don't consider myself an anti-Watchtower activist. I applaud those who tirelessly expose the lies, and I am happy when I see Watchtower growth rates decline. Still, I know that many ex-JWs jump right out of the Watchtower frying pan into another one. I don't want so much to be anti-Watchtower as I want to be for education, for critical thinking skills, for understanding logical fallacies, and for recognizing unethical attempts to influence, wherever they may occur.
Ginny
Hi all,
and btw, good post Ginny!
It was all too easy for me to forget the anger when I stopped attending, letting it fester somewhere in the back of my mind. But it all came back when I starting visiting the 'NET thang' as JT likes to call it.
It was very nice to know that I was helping people by posting prolifically, but in reality...
I was doing it for me.
If we want to help anybody, we have to put ourselves in their shoes.
For the first time in a very very long time, I prayed last night. Something like : "God I don't believe in you but I still want to settle some things with you..."
And that did it! That put me back into connection with those feelings I was trying to sever. I was able to understand why the JWs I love are feeling hurt by me; I put aside the knowledge that it is their actions which are in fact hurtful, and just listened.
I heard my own pain. And theirs. There was little difference.
Have any other confirmed atheists been praying? Come on, fess up!
I know it must sound like sacrilige, but who is to say atheists and theists don't pray for the same reasons?
Thanks for listening,
cellomould
"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ
