The JW life is good!

by Julia Orwell 34 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Julia Orwell

  For some people. I think of the old man who has no family and lives in a nursing home, and the only time he gets out is when he's picked up for the meetings. He lives solely for that.

  Or people who love routine and busy-ness, people who need to be led.

  George Orwell wrote that the Party is best able to impose its worldview on those least likely to understand what it is that's being asked of them: orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

  I believe a lot of JWs swallow the party line and it passes through them unharmed, like a seed pooped out by a bird. I know quite a chickens who are in there because it's all they've ever known, and live pretty much the same as everyone else, just going to meetings twice a week and placing the odd magazine.

  So being a JW isn't all bad for all people. But I'd recommend it like a gunshot to the head to cure OCD!

  What were some things you did enjoy? What didn't you...
• 

  Black Sheep

  Question #1 There is nothing on the list that wasn't available elsewhere.

  Question #2 The list is too long to bother starting.

  OCD is a good description of the behaviour of many of my JW family members. They live in a world of evil people that bust their asses looking after them in their old age and disease in return for having their babies killed at Armageddon because they didn't join their church.

  They are happy until they have to defend their nasty little killer god to someone who knows what they really teach inside the KH walls.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  What were some things you did enjoy?

  The ready-made group of "friends" and associates. Overall, they are good, honest, sincere people. It's a great social group. Sure some are a**holes, but it's like that everywhere.

  Plus, once you were able to climb the ladder in the Corporation, you had even more friends and greater friends. A few parts on the circuit assembly and you're in high demand throughout the circuit. Same at the District level -- now you're known far & wide in the region. Every Cong wants you for Public Talks. The publishers there are vying to entertain you after the meeting. They remember your name when you bump into them in public (and you have to fake it like you remember them too).

  What don't you like?

  The judgementalism, the hypocrisy, the poltics (when I'm not on the winning decision), the doctrines/policies that destroy people's lives.

  Doc
• 

  StoneWall

  What were some things you did enjoy?

  I enjoyed the "Quickly built" kingdom halls I helped on. Was always fun to join with others and erect a hall in 3 to 4 days back then.
  Liked the congregation picnics we sometimes had and "FishFry's".
  When I was young and single it was always a great time to go to CA's and DC's to scope out all the lovely ladies from other halls. :)

  Some things I didn't enjoy...

  Getting up early on Saturday's for field service or early on Sunday's for the meeting.
  Seeing a DF'd one come in and set in the back row and no one even acknowledging their existence.
• 

  Julia Orwell

  Wow good response! That 'victim' mentality used to get to me even when I was a JW. People would moan about how Satan was putting the thumb screws on them, and I'd think that it was all really a matter of perspective, and from then on, I decided I wouldn't blame Satan if things got bad for me.

  Funny about the nasty killer god, Black Sheep. The elder who came to me yesterday assured me that my mum wouldn't die at A, and no one could judge, and where on earth did I even get that idea? And I said, "I got the WT CD right here, and I can pull up quotes right now that say only JWs are going to live." Yep, even some JWs are blind to that dirty secret. Now when I meet people and tell them about JW beliefs, I tell them right out that they believe God's going to kill everyone not JW. Saves them having to have a Bible Study for months to figure it out...

  Can I count that as time?
• 

  barry
• 

  Black Sheep

  I recently had a JW say that they had a problem with the killer god killing good people and children, then switch to denying they taught that.

  I then challenged them to show me literature to back up their new position. They have made no effort to do that.
• 

  Julia Orwell

  Maybe they did look for the literature, and found none.
• 

  Black Sheep

  As long as they went looking I've done my job.
• 

  Mum

  What I liked:

  At the beginning, I enjoyed the company of the family who conducted our Bible study. They were genuine, good folks. They gave me a place to go to get some respite from my crazy, wacko, weird family. I thought they seemed sophisticated and well-educated, and they were in comparison to my family. I enjoyed going to assemblies because I had not been able to travel and had never stayed in a hotel or motel before becoming a JW. At first, being a JW actually opened my world and broadened my perspective.

  What I did not like:

  I am an introvert, so field service was hard on me. I didn't like the witnesses' attitude about the Kennedy assassination, which happened shortly after I started "publishing." I loved President Kennedy and was heartbroken, but a sister at the KH said to me something like, "and look at the way they're taking on over Kennedy. What are they going to do when Armageddon comes?"

  I missed my friends, but I still hung out with my best high school friend. Her grandmother was a JW, so there was a connection of sorts. I certainly regret marrying a JW, except for the fact that I have my beautiful daughter as a result.

  My daughter has no relationship with her father now. She was never baptized, but he wants nothing to do with her. That's the main thing I hate - the WT's unbelievable ability to destroy natural family affection.