Don't Give Away Your Good Self-Esteem!

by sunscapes 2 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  sunscapes

  I took this quote from another thread, because I thought it had universal appeal here:

  TR said,
  

  Try putting some confidense in yourself. The desire to be loved by someone is great, but you should put more effort into YOU.

  Interesting.

  This augers well with my mom's experience, who got sucked in to the hall only after years of abuse and battering, then left when the self-esteem and confidence levels rose...

  It may sound bad, but cults often prey on the low-self esteem types and that's why people of sound mind spurn them thoroughly. Because the JWs measure up perfectly to the 21 characteristics of a cult listed recently, I firmly believe them now to be so.

  Perhaps the one who TR wrote about is experiencing a bout of low-self esteem, and Satan is working overtime to draw her into a controlling group who will "show her Jehovah's way" of strict "righteousness" and "truth". This invariably appeals to such ones, because it replaces insecurities about self-worth with structure. In women, generally this is magnified because of traditional views on womens' value in societies.

  Unfortunately, understanding proper humility is always confused with lowering one's own self esteem. Pride is often portrayed as evil, yet God Himself has proper pride. If you assume we were created in God's image, why then, as his creations, we glorify God every day by having pride in ourselves!!! For instance, that's why we have pride in our appearance, our careers, our good name, who we helped today. Otherwise, why get up in the morning?

  The JWs have refined the art of persuading people that they don't even amount to dust, therefore the Society is correct in all things and must be trusted, lest you become "spritually weak". Going thru the motions to be men-pleasers is hardly the route to having a PERSONAL, (read: INDIVIDUAL) relationship with God and Christ. Yet, this is how many things in the organization are set up. Many aspects are numbers-based. Independent thinking is condemned quite firmly in WT literature. Yet, one would glorify God by USING one's brain, and TRAINING one's own conscience. This would be true Christian freedom, as all matters come under the province of self-discipline and good reasoning.
• 

  William Penwell

  Sure most Jdubs have very low self esteem. They don't know what to do if they didn't have the religion top lean on. Haven't you ever heard a Jdub say "where would I go"?? They are scared s***less of doing anything that they would have to make there own decisions. I know because I was just like that about 20 years ago. I learned the hard way away from the borg to achieve a higher self esteem. An interesting quote I read from a book.

  "A careful look at Jesus Christ will reveal an extremely self-actualized person, an individual who preached self-reliance, and was not afraid to incur disapproval. Yet many of his followers have twisted his teachings into a catechism of fear and self hate."

  "The leaders of the church misconstrued the teachings of the Great
  Religious leaders and attempted to teach conformity by using fear of
  retribution as a weapon. Thus a man behaves morally not because he
  believes it to be appropriate for him, but because God wants him to
  behave that way. If in doubt, consult the commandments rather than
  yourself and what you believe. Behave because someone has told you to
  and because you will be punished if you don't, not because you know
  it to be right behavior for you. Organized religion appeals to your
  approval-seeking needs. It may produce the same behavior that you
  would have chosen, but you haven't chosen it freely."

  Will

  "I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's."
  Mark Twain
• 

  Lost Diamond

  Yeah for us! I really believe that without self esteem we wouldn't have been able to step back and take a good look at our lives as JW's. We all strongly believed we were worth more and deserved more than the kind of life we were living when we were so controlled. I really feel sorry for those that can't do that...and then look at us with anger, hatred, or disgust. They are stuck and not strong enough to move forward. Life is great and exciting...they're just too afraid to taste it!