Incest

by LoisLane looking for Superman 23 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  life is to short

  I am so sorry for all you have went through and am so glad you have found this board.

  This religion causes so much pain in so many of our lives.

  I want to thank you for your pm's to me they truly have meet a lot. It is so sad to know that you are not alone in the abuse that this religion gives out, I never wanted anyone to go through the pain I have but it seems like there are many of have suffered also. I always thought it was just me, that I was alone and that I had the problem but now being on this board I know that there are a lot of people out there that have been hurt so much also.

  Thanks for sharing your story.

  LITS
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  Etude

  Lois: You are very brave telling your story. I think that act will reward you, knowing you've become so free that that you are able to speak about it. Your story is devastating. But it lays out a sad, sad course too often trekked by so many people. It goes to show what kind of organization this JW cult really is. It's not that they do this things. Some people just have a great capability for evil. But ultimately, the JW cult encourages and even sets people up for it with their dogma. They breed institutionalized dysfunction and people suffer. I think that CoC was the button that blew the door open to what you already knew (whether you realized it or not) was that dysfunction. Hey, I hope you find your Superman. I think you're on your way.
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  Band on the Run

  There are support groups for incest survivors. A social welfare agency set up procedures to help protect me from incest. There was no overt incest in my case. A few years ago, I investigated Adult Children of Alcoholics and other Dysfunctional Families. They have a Laundry List of 14 traits of someone who has been abused as a child. I managed a 13 out of 14. There are meetings. It was an eiphany for me. I assumed I was alone and something was fundamentally wrong with me. The literature showed that I am not unique or bad. The lit suggests that some of these traits that allowed you to survive are malaldaptive today but others are still helpful today.

  Breaking the silence in a safe place is very empowering.

  It has been decades and I still wonder what it would be like to confront my father as an adult. To have some parity of power with him. Of course, it would require that he be an adult.

  Just an idea. Everyone is different. It is a widespread problem. I met interesting, attractive, articulate people who also struggle with the same problems. They were clearly not losers. It helped me cope.
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  Reopened Mind

  Lois,

  As a convert in my late teens I often made the statement that I wished I had been raised a JW. Later when I would say this to my husband TotallyADD who was a born-in he would give me the strangest look. As the years went on and he would tell me what went on in his household growing up. I still thought that was just how he was raised. Surely not all were like that! We raised our 2 boys in the cult, not realizing the damage we were doing to them even though we raised them differently than my husband had been raised.

  My eyes have truly been opened since I have been reading experiences of those raised in on this board. Truly, truly, you have all been through more than I could have imagined. Now I am grateful for my nonJW upbringing. I was not molested as a child. I had birthdays, Christmas, with extended family.

  My sincere empathies go out to you Lois and all others who were forced to grow up in this destructive cult. I do not know what to say.

  Like you I woke up rather quickly after reading an article in our local newspaper on blood and Jehovah's Witnesses and visiting a referenced website. (I read CoC later.) Trouble was TotallyADD was the PO at the time. Well, he had been to Bethel doing temp work and came back with a lot of questions. We carefully danced around each other for a while. It wasn't long after that that we planned our exit.

  Reopened Mind