All Encompassing World Views

by sabastious 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  sabastious

  Well, we are the sum of our experiences.

  PSac, I respect the hell out of you please believe this. Yet, I ask you this question: if we truly are the sum of our experiences, then how did I leave the Watchtower? The Watchtower, from birth instilled all their doctrine and rederick into me, using guilt and fear as means of control. The family that I was born into loved me and took me in with open arms, albeit with an expectation that I would be a Witness. According to my experiences, I should have turned to the Watchtower and it's "Jehovah." From what you know of me and my posts coupled with the principles you have adopted into your life, why, according to you: did I leave the Watchtower in spite of my experiences which gave me strong incentive to continue on as a JW?

  -Sab
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  mrsjones5

  Yeah, something about what PS said rubbed me the wrong way too.
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  talesin

  I was thinking of that expression (PSac's), and was reminded of "whatever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger" ... now, I don't believe that as a hard and fast rule. Some people get beaten down by hardships, and become weaker. But that's just it,,, the same experience will yield different results in different persons.

  For me, the 'flavour' of the expression "we are the sum of all our experiences" means, simply, that all the events that happened up to this moment, have had an effect on our development. We may have been taught something that we did not believe, true, but do we rebel against it, or just go along? We may have been beaten as children, and does that make us violent, or have more compassion/empathy for others?

  It's not that our 'sum' is a compilation of what we were told/taught/shown,,, it's how we internalize those life experiences, how it shapes our character and belief systems.

  Not sure if I communicated that as well as I could, but a bit tired atm. :)

  tal
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  PSacramento

  PSac, I respect the hell out of you please believe this. Yet, I ask you this question: if we truly are the sum of our experiences, then how did I leave the Watchtower? The Watchtower, from birth instilled all their doctrine and rederick into me, using guilt and fear as means of control. The family that I was born into loved me and took me in with open arms, albeit with an expectation that I would be a Witness. According to my experiences, I should have turned to the Watchtower and it's "Jehovah." From what you know of me and my posts coupled with the principles you have adopted into your life, why, according to you: did I leave the Watchtower in spite of my experiences which gave me strong incentive to continue on as a JW?

  I don't think I conveyed what I wanted properly.

  We are the sum of our experiences, the good, the bad and the ugly.

  WHAT we DO with them is UP to Us.

  You can't deny the influence that the JW religion had on you, but what you DID with those experience is what defines you.

  I didn't say we are SLAVES to our experiences, just the SUM of them.
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  sabastious

  I didn't say we are SLAVES to our experiences, just the SUM of them.

  I was regularly indoctrinated from birth to believe in the Watchtower's Jehovah. I truly believed that I was speaking to him and that he was helping me personally in life on a daily basis. I also believed that invisible beings, capable of leveling armies, were on a mission from Satan to find a way inside my mind as well as my trusted peers. Through all this I felt an extreme need for approval from my parents who desperately needed me to continue being a Witness for my own survival.

  As far as I can tell, by all counts, I should be a Witness. I should have continued believing in Jehovah and looked at my doubts as shortcomings rather than virtues. That way my family would see me as a humble and obedient creation of Jehovah. I should have given a good look into the Society's literature even if it takes the rest of my life to sift through all of what they have done.

  The Watchtower had my path laid out for me in stone, but that path is long behind me even though I have only been out a few years at most. They gave me my experiences and when I look back at them they are not part of me anymore. Yes, I can look back on them fondly, like pictures in an album, but they aren't part of me, they are separate from me because I had to separate them to survive. That is what's on the table when you put up your dukes to the Watchtower. They take everything they have given to you and leave a gaping hole for you to sort our on your own time.

  -Sab