by Stealth 16 Replies latest jw friends
There are some JW's who will leave the watchtower orginization for years and then suddenly show back up at the KH often saying they have regrets of leaving and are often heard to say.. "there is nothing out there."
As I contemplate my official exit from the Borg, this question keeps coming up...
What is it that makes these people return to the Borg after leaving for years?
-stealth
Maybe it's because they never learned the true history of the WTS, and never really stopped believing in WTS doctrine. They just wanted to taste the "world" for a while.
A friend of mine in Seattle was df'd years ago, but WILL not talk to me about what I know about the WTS. He will NOT visit XJW internet sites or any others that show the WTS for what it really is. He still says that the WTS is the "closest thing to the truth." Meanwhile he's gettin busy with the "worldly" pursuits.
TR
I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.
--Robert Frost, 1935
TR,
I think you may have nailed it. Even though they leave, they still beleive it is the truth in their hearts, so when something bad happens in their life, they come running back to mother.
I wonder if there are any who have learned the truth about the truth ever come back?
What is it that makes these people return to the Borg after leaving for years?
It depends on the reasons why you left in the first place. Someone who left for doctrinal disagreements will most likely not go back, because he knows there's nothing of value in what the WTS offers. Now if someone left for sexual issues (like I did, following the majority I think), and they don't find "the truth about the truth", they will probably go back. The everlasting-life-in-paradise thing, as opposed to eternal death, is a very convincing reason to go back if you still believe it.
Personally, I had been out for 4 years and still believed it was "the Truth", until I accidentally discovered Randy's homepage. During those 4 years I lived a perfectly happy life, but I was completely uninterested in religion. Or more to the point, I was completely convinced that the JW had the truth and there was nothing of value outside (religiously speaking), so I didn't bother looking for something different.
It's amazing, now that I look back, how powerful mind control is, especially when you were raised a JW.
I wonder if there are any who have learned the truth about the truth ever come back?
Damn! That'd be weird! I think I've heard of JWs who've read "apostate" literature, and it didn't phase them. Well, Like YK. I think he claims to have read "apostate" literature. of course we all know that YK is the farthest thing from a run of the mill JW.
And, what about Yadirf? He claims to be a JW, but doesn't go to meetings, and hasn't for like 25 years.
TR
I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.
--Robert Frost, 1935
Joseph,
Personally, I had been out for 4 years and still believed it was "the Truth", until I accidentally discovered Randy's homepage.
That's what happened to me, only it was two years. During that two year period though, I was fearful for my life and that of my family's for having left the "truth."
TR
I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.
--Robert Frost, 1935
It's interesting what TR says about deliberately avoiding to know the truth about the WT. That wasn't my case, but I can understand it. Denial might seem a self-destructive behavior but it's actually self-preserving (at least for a while), because your world is not shaken so completely as otherwise would be. In my case it was a good thing (although as I said, it was not exactly a conscious denial) because I could deal with problems on a first come - first served basis.
"....You want the truth....YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH !!!!, Jack Nicholson from the movie A Few Good Men.
I've got the impression the JWs are so comfortable being led around by their nose by the WTBTS, that anything that disrupts this programming is slanted as being evil. Anything that smacks of being independently concieved is a threat to their comfortable knowledge that all their questions can be answered in time by the FDS and not by running ahead. Just wait on Jehovah, they say, but never how long. HOw long should you wait: till you've used up your whole life peddling magazines for a publishing company till you're old and grey or until they get around to finding something to DF you for?
It's my perception that most of the young people out there are only going to the meetings because it's what their parents require them to do. What's their option, getting kicked to the curb or the loaded guilt trip of bringing shame to the organization or ones family.
Stealth,
The Watchtower offers many promises that people love to hear over and over again. It gives them hope and makes them feel secure that things are going to get fixed.
It fits a need for these people.
People who don't have the need for things to be really true, but just need to have a steady secure belief system and support system available find help in the Watchtower.
Joel
Joseph Joachim: Hi! Sorry about the catfight the other day, I fully agree with your post this time. Us apostates must stick together! We shouldn't let arguments tear us apart...we've all been burned, haven't we? (Although some worse than others).
I too drifted in a religious Twilight Zone until I discovered this place. I don't even remember what it's like not to be absolutely sure that the WTBTS is really just a scam. My past is locked away from me somewhere deep inside my mind...I can't get to it, nor do I really want to. Most of it consists of stuff I'd rather forget about, seeing as how the WTBTS ensured that my childhood and early teenage years were spectacularly boring.
I do feel that maybe the WTBTS-meme takes up a sort of dormant status in the minds of some people - the Primary Meme (the Org itself is the Primary Meme, the meme in the people's minds are just instances of it) rejects them, but the Secondary Meme inside their own minds still continues to function independently for a long time.
The earlier in the forenoon you take the sun bath, the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing. - The Golden Age
