I never knew the future. Nobody does. So I don't really see it as a loss. It's a lot like a Nigerian e-mail scam. You're told that $800,000,000 is waiting for you as long as you send in the $80 processing fee. When you find out it's all a scam, yeah it's disappointing, but you didn't actually lose anything by ceasing to believe it. That money was never yours. It never existed. Am I okay with not having $800,000,000 of a Nigerian prince's money? Sure.
After Exiting the Witnesses - Are you O.K. Not Knowing about the Future ?
by flipper 76 Replies latest jw friends
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JRK
Yes, I will die when I die. I do not care about the religious stuff.
JK
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sizemik
B_Deserter . . . love that illustration . . . very appropriate.
Still not totally happy about the $80 though . . . I could've done with it.
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nugget
I had to face the fact that as a witness I did not know the future I only thought I did. It was harmful because your life was always postponed until the future when there would be time and health and it was all so close. It made you lazy and neglectful. all that time slipping away where we were all sitting in halls and audatoriums all feeling miserable and none of us owning up to it.
I am happier not knowing life has so much potential the secret is to grasp it. Knowing time is finite means that you have to take those chances and embrace your opportunities. Relationships count for more, time together counts for more and the future is still there to be influenced and made better. It is not all decided it will not just get better on it's own but billions of little acts by individuals is what will make the changes happen.
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charlie brown jr.
Tomorrow Never Knows.............
I like that ...where have I heard that...........
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WTWizard
Actually, I have a better idea of what the future has in store now than I did as a witless. By keeping up on various issues like what is really going on in the Fed (and all those bad bills passed in 2010), I can figure out what this all means. For sure, I am not claiming to have it perfect--the Rothschilds are doing all they can to prevent anyone from knowing what they are up to, and they can make it look like things are behind their schedule only to lurch ahead in a week or less.
However, I am not disappointed in knowing that Armageddon (Washtowel style) is never coming. I figured that out myself--"It's close, it's getting closer" means nothing if it never actually comes, and it is mathematically possible to be close and getting forever closer without actually crossing. And, the prospect of getting slaughtered by the Rothschilds because I "don't fit in" or because I am too old to do my job is better than living forever in Jehovah's New Dark Ages with nothing but men in my life, forever.
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Heaven
I love Gandalf's quote from Lord of the Rings:
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Some things we know will happen and some things we do not. I am OK with this because this is the way of things and I cannot change that. No sense beating my head against it. I make sure I continue to learn, especially gaining knowledge in useful skills that can be applied regardless of economics.
Knowing that one day I will die makes me cherish life more than I believe JWs do. I see an apathy in my JW relatives; definitely a lack of desire to do anything. Their minds have been closed and disabled and it shuts them off from so many wonderful experiences in life.
Each day dawns and their precious new system is still not here. They waste time on useless pursuits in the hopes they will gain some magical prize some day 'soon'. They ignore things they should be doing because Jehovah is going to fix everything tomorrow. Each day I see less and less joy within them. They do things that are contrary to having a healthful, joyful, creative life. It is a shame.
And every single one of my JW relatives born on or before 1914 has died. Every single one. I have also lost JW relatives born after 1914 as well.
We all die sometime. Everyone of us. No one gets out of this life alive. Use your time to it's fullest and enjoy it as much as you can.
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Gayle
For sure the GB don't know about the future. The ones I knew back in the 70s are all dead now. The ones now are just as clueless. In no position to direct people lives. I realized I could guess about future as good and better as any of them.
I realized I really just need the simple things in life to enjoy and have fulfillment. I learned to embrace those simple things more fully and be more thankful for them.
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snowbird
I don't mean to say I'm not planning for the future.
What I was trying to convey is that I don't worry about adhering to someone else's (WT) view of the future.
I spent the best years of my life doing that, and what do I have to show for it?
Bad nerves, rocky relationships with my daughters, and dodgy finances.
To hell with them!
Syl
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Justitia Themis
I do now know as much about the future as I did when I was a JW, which is/was nothing.
Do I miss having the illusion of knowing the future? No. I'm too busy enjoying life.