by spirituk 35 Replies latest jw friends
If you had to go to a backroom and face a judicial committee, have all your friends and family shun you thereafter, then you would understand.
"And when it is done, when your relationship with Jehovah is....ashes....then you have my permission to die."
Unfortunately you have been misinformed. I'm sure your sources - your cousin and others - mean well and feel like they are sharing facts. Perhaps they are young and born into the religion.
I come from a family that is four generations deep as Jehovah's Witnesses.
This religion does not create people with wealth. This religion does not encourage self improvement or a positive outlook on life. This religion demands complete devotion and personal commitment from each individual. This religion preaches love and compassion on the surface. The deeper message is destruction, judgement and condemnation.
In reality the life of a Jehovah's Witnesses is filled with conformity, fear, depression, guilt, unworthiness, minimal education & minimal financial security. It encourages self-righteousness, arrogance, judgementalism, control and intolerance.
That is the bitter 'Truth'.
I came to the conclusion that if someone believes god exists then it is so easy and he should be a Jehovah's witness.
A person does not need to join a religious cult to believe in or worship God.
It aint that bad to be a jehovah's witness.
Except for people born into the group who risk losing family and friends if they don't submit their loyalty and obedience to the imperfect men on the Governing Body.
If they find a solution to be isolated from worldy people no one will have problem.
You mean like living on some sort of a compound? Why specifically do you think they need to isolate themselves from those outside their group? Again, you're making an assumption that no one would ever want to leave the group, otherwise being isolated would most certainly be a problem.
I hear there's cheap land in Jonestown, Guyana. With a little landscaping I'm sure they could have it looking like "paradise" in no time.
just to clear my self out , i dont believe to any ''god'' and of course i would never join JWs .no never. i just put my thoughts here.
spirituk, why don't you become a Jehovah's Witness just for the social aspect of it?
You will enjoy a wide variety of friendships and probably will be invited to many JW social functions, commonly called "Get Togethers" and you will be bombarded with even more invitations if you are a single male.
If you do join the group, come back in 20 years and let us know how it is working out for you.
Personally...
You really don't want to know the reality of being a JW so I will not bore you with the sordid details that would undoubtedly send you into a fit of depression from which you may never recover from.
spirituk, in your op it seems you're only looking at the outside of the wt 'cup'. Appearances can be deceiving, and in the case of the wt, completely deceiving.
I looked at the wt like that before I became a jw - couldn't believe EVERYone didn't want to be one! After you're 'one of them' the game plan changes. Then you find yourself caught by the false claims and false doctrines. Only then do the rose-colored wt glasses come off. You can't possibly think you, who've never been subjected to wt rules and regulations, can tell those of us who have been - ANYthing about the wt. We're the experts - and you're the inexperienced novice. Learn from us and RUN from that CULT as fast as you can!
You live your fairy tale and then you die :) You pretty much summed it up with that phrase!! You know what else is funny? If you go to any other relgious convention, you'll see the same cars, same Ipads and same stories about progress and expansion. It just happens to be a different fairy tale.
Here is an analogy.
Imagine a group of people riding in a carriage being pulled by a team of beautiful horses. The driver has an apparatus attached to the carriage that holds a large carrot out in front of the horses head to encourage them to continue to move forward as they attempt to reach the ever elusive carrot.
In addition to the carrot the horses are outfitted with blinders attached to their bridles to prevent them from seeing anything else but the carrot so that they do not get distracted with the task at hand that being to pull the carriage. The driver also has a whip that is always at hand to correct the horses if they make an attempt to slow down or stop pulling their share of the weight of the carriag and its passengers. The whip has a distinct sound when used and the other horses know the sound of the other horses being whipped and all are brought to attention when they hear their fellow horses being corrected.
The carrot is the promised things that are in the future and are always just out of reach of the Jw. The blinders are phobias or irrational fears that the WTBTS uses to prevent the Jw from being able to look at anything but the prized paradise earth, always in the future.
The whip can be anyone of the disciplinary actions that the WTBTS holds over the heads of the Jw members. The fear of being shunned and losing the ability to speak to any of their entire social circle and or family members keeps the Jws rapt attentions forcing them to listen and follow all the directions of the WTBTS not because the course is the right one, but because of the fear of being whipped.
I imagine you have it figured out who the driver and passengers are and also who the beautiful horses are.
Don't let the driver lure you in with the promise of a carrot or the next thing you know you will have been hitched to the harness and it will be too late to run away.
We are the ones that have shaken off the blinders and have noticed the pole and string holding the carrot realizing that it is impossible to ever reach it. While we are suffering while still being whipped by the driver we are doing our best to bring this ride to a halt and hope that you are open enough to listen to those that have been hitched in the past.
NJY
Also (back on topic) here is a link to Jehovah's Witness demographics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses
When I was last in the "truth" (1998) they had JUST reached 6 million. now they are a little over 7 million. that is NOT a huge increase and I remember my father discussing that as a religion, they are losing as many publishers as they are gaining new converts. in the total scheme of it, they are BARELY keeping ahead of the people they are losing. I think the 'faders' are the ones that are keeping those numbers up higher than what they actually are, but for any religion their increase in numbers is REALLY slow.
And it's mainly due to so many people leaving.
