Looking forward to reading the next bit MC.
Think for me I had what I considered a happy childhood and adult life. Despite the doubts, it never bothered me too much. I think Doc summed it up beautifully! (page 2)
I was HAPPY as a JW, how did I get here?
by MC RubberMallet 85 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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NewChapter
Sab, I'm not under obligations to have experiences that have value to the world. All experiences ARE about the personal. We are talking about our PERSONAL experiences here. And they were real. Your alcoholic/JW analogy is a poor one. Your sweeping statements are tragic. Not all alcoholics follow the usual pattern, BTW, but this really isn't the place to discuss that since it has nothing to do with being happy as a JW. By conflating the two, you are making the issue muddy.
The fact is that all people will experience happiness to varying degrees in different contexts. We can not come along and tell someone what they feel is not real---if you feel it, it is real.
I am stunned that you just bashed everyone that would have a happy memory that you have decided they shouldn't have. How would you feel if I told you that your pain was not real, and not important to the world, and only really matters to you? That would be wrong. Why do you think the exact same thing (insert happiness) is right?
Lighten up. Stop begrudging that some people find some happiness sometimes---even if they drink---even if they are in a cult---even if they are in prison. It happens whether you approve or not. I happen to think that is a good thing.
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cobaltcupcake
Disillusioned1 - I live in Charlotte, too. Sent you a PM.
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sabastious
Sab, settle down....Lighten up. - NC
NC, I know you feel powerful, but you really should just take off the mommy apron already and set it aside. Your assessment of my assessment of the situation is just a drop in the bucket in the world of assessments. Have fun with it. You don't get to dictate how I act and feel, so stop trying.
-Sab
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sabastious
I am stunned that you just bashed everyone that would have a happy memory that you have decided they shouldn't have.
^ Also, this is a blatant and cowardly lie. What I said was this:
Now I am not saying we should look back at our happy memories as Witnesses and discount them, don't get me wrong, but they should be put in the proper perspective. From an objective perspective they are valueless and counterproductive because they are just enabling a dysfunctional and destructive environment that ends in pain and death. From a personal standpoint, however, they are cherished and should be, but it's a trap to call them REAL and of objective value to the world.
Clearly you are just reading my words with some sort of slant that I am powerless against.
-Sab
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sabastious
Here is a good video on how the Watchtower kills gay people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGLsF2Obx1g
At the very end of the video slanelcla makes the point that the Watchtower wants these people to die. It's an opinion of his, but I totally agree with him. There is no way there are these grumpy old men atop the Watchtower printing articles about the "pressure to be gay" without FULL KNOWLEDGE of what takes place because of them. Yeah they are captives of a concept, the concept of getting away with manslaughter. Simply said, they are OK with the loss because, really, how are they going to deal with them? They are not about to change any doctrine or lift any ban on gay people, this is the Watchtower we are talking about.
No matter how much happiness we, as humans, were able to create in the disgusting JW environment, it wasn't worth it. Sure, look back on it fondly because you were HUMAN and the people that were with you were HUMAN, and HUMANS make the best of what they have. The Watchtower never gave us a shred of real happiness. We should give them nothing because they have given us worse than nothing.
-Sab
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Vidiot
BlindersOff1 - "Being a witness with any critical thinking skills at all can lead to severe depression."
Yup.
Nothing sucks more than feeling like you're alone.
BTW, I was happy...
...ish.
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King Solomon
NC said:
"The fact is that all people will experience happiness to varying degrees in different contexts. We can not come along and tell someone what they feel is not real---if you feel it, it is real."
I'd agree, as long as we remember that it's an emotion, and is "real" as an experience: it doesn't mean that the emotion is warranted, or cannot be changed by altering one's perspective with more information.
I'm reminded of the words of Eleanor Roosevelt:
"No one can make you feel inferior without you giving them the permission to do so."
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Vidiot
sabastious - "Yeah they are captives of a concept, the concept of getting away with manslaughter."
I have a bit of trouble visualizing the GB as mustache-twirling comic-book supervillains,or steepling their hands like Monty Burns, thinking "eeeeeeeeeccellent" at the thought of LGBTs dying (maybe "apostates" dying, but still...), or that they're playing the long con and are smirking in the Tower about how they've pulled the wool over the R&F's eyes.
Almost everything we see points (either directly or indirectly) to the assertion that these guys truly believe what they say.
Deaths, dysfunctional families, resentful castaways, and pedo settlements are just collateral damage, as far as a True Believer is concerned.
Or at least, it has been up 'til now...
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sabastious
NC you have a PM.
-Sab