I know TTATT... so why do JW apologists still scare me?

by ILoveTTATT 34 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  blondie

  Because we aren't totally convinced they are wrong...I left 2 times before and came back because while I saw the wrong behavior in individuals but had not done enough studying about the WTS past, doctrines, etc. The second time I came back I did a detailed study of the past, used my families older books; the Finished Mystery book fueled my passion...what crap, deluded statements...yet I knew nothing up till then. I learned that the WTS and their lackeys did not speak for God.

  Once when we were children we may have feared the boogeyman under our bed; but be brave and look and see there is no boogeyman.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  It's PTSD (I'm not joking). Seeing a psychologist who specializes in this really helps.
• 

  KateWild

  The cure is to keep reading deeply of the great philosophers, skeptics and rationalists who can set you free. I'd recommend the brilliant minds of Robert G Ingersoll, Voltaire, Thomas Paine, David Hitchens et al. Imbibe deeply and be healed.- yadda

  Very good mature advice. We cannot assume we are cured, we need to put effort in to fully cure oursleves. I am reading Einsteins philosophies at the moment, but I want a little balance so your recomendations are duly noted.

  Kate xx
• 

  Simon

  It's a conditioned response ... certain triggers can make you feel a certain way even though you know it's not true.

  I weakens as time goes by until it just becomes a memory.
• 

  Ding

  WT apologists can be intimidating because they seem sure it's the truth.

  That triggers all the indoctrination.

  Reading the old literature can help reassure you that the WT leaders are making stuff up as they go along -- The Finished Mystery, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, all the hype about 1975...

  Nothing can change the fact that what "the faithful and discreet slave" proclaimed as truth in those days is obvious nonsense now, even to WT apologists.

  It would be hard to find another religion that has changed its teachings more than the WTS, yet the whole time JWs have been required to accept whatever is taught as "the truth."

  Even if you struggle today with what to believe, it's clear that the unreliability of the WT leadership has been established beyond a reasonable doubt, just by reading what they themselves have put in print while claiming to be God's spokesman!
• 

  jgnat

  I had a similar response on sight of my violent ex-husband. I am a different woman today. From what I hear his life is very sad. I am pretty confident I could handle a situation now. Keep in mind I have thirty years experience on that frightened girl long ago.
• 

  Band on the Run

  I've been out for decades and routinely engage in conduct unbecoming a Witness. Yet I must be candid. A small portion of my brain is warped. This was the religion of my parents and grandparents and...... It was the family norm. I heard about it from my earliest times. Childhood experiences have a different grip on us than adult ones. If I were an adult convert, I might react differently. I hated the religion with my entire being even as a small child. Yet the people I was completely dependent on for life, constantly told me it was right. Everyone else was bad.

  My internal mind set tends to be negative. What does anyone expect with Armageddon as the prime directive? The WT negates all good in the world. It is toxic for the mind. If you are born-in, you have to address all those years that you attended school. I respected my teachers. Yet what the WT taught me was directly contradicted by my teachers. There is no increase in earthquakes, evolution is accepted fact, the Bible is laden with mistakes and contradictions. You hear all this at school and then you attend KH. A child's mind is split apart. Shakespeare is no good. Beethoven, Mozart, Bach - down the drain. The Beatles - WOW. I found Kate's comment about Imagine interesting. Lennon would have have been so vicious about the WT. He would have mocked it.

  For years I lived in two worlds. My neighbors were nice people. They did me no harm. Yet there was a real zeal at KH for them to be destroyed. Born-ins must navigate these treacherous waters. It leads to depression. I often wondered why I could not believe. Ignorance reigns with JWs. Public school and playing with neighborhood kids made me realize what evil the WT preached. My immediate family had no great belief. Reading posts here I now realize my parents were going through the motions to not lose their family. It was a big lie that could never be addressed. There was a large elephant constantly in the room. Despite their doubts, the children they had were disposable. Holidays - let the children suffer. No youth programs - Suffer. Impaired lives - Suffer. This is madness.

  Anyway, I might have a small trained reaction the way Pavlov's dogs did. My rational mind can rescue me. If my rational mind is lazy at the moment, my gut tells me what evil truly is. I am a Christian who studies the Bible. You don't need to be an atheist to feel revulsion. Sometimes I wonder if my reaction is too strong. I remember what was taught at the KH and the behavior at the KH. My reaction is muted. Personal autonomy is important.

  Studying law made me see the control aspect of the WT even more strongly. There are concepts about taking undue advantage of people. Fraud is certainly a legal aspect. Ovverreaching is another concept. We need to teach people how to question more. Ignorance is no virtue.
• 

  LucidChimp

  I still get scared of The Big A now and again.

  I don't believe it's going to happen for a heartbeat, but the old fear just kicks in from time to time and makes me feel like a kid again: waiting for Armageddon in every thunderstorm. It helps to go outside, stand in the storm and laugh to myself... At myself.

  I guess a lifetime of indoctrination leaves its scars on people.

  I like doubt, lets you know you're being honest.
• 

  Terry

  Pavlov rang a bell and his dog salivated.

  The GB rings a warning and your hackles go up.

  Same thing.

  Outgrow believing in ghosts and live in the sunlight.
• 

  adamah

  Nutshell: fear is an emotional response, mediated by the limbic system (the 'fight or flight' system), and not a logical reaction, which is mediated by the cortex (the higher brain, the part above and around the limbic system).

  

  JWs message of fear and salvation appeals to one's emotions (triggering the 'fight or flight' system), and sometimes the lower brain is able to overpower the higher brain (cerebral cortex) resulting in lingering fears and doubts, even though the person rationally KNOWS its BS.

  Island Man said- Another factor could be continued belief in bible-based theism.

  Hugely important advice, since most any form of religiosity relies on stirring the emotions of the limbic system (that "Jesus loves me" warm feeling), and that's the very system that contributes to the irrational fears, as well. Yes, there's a few believers who are able to get their amygdalas under control, but for many, it's the old, "the tail of the dog that bit you" thinking, rather than just giving up the addiction cold-turkey to that endorphin rush that comes from believing in God.

  Religiosity is one of the few remaining culturally-acceptable addictions, IMO, but it's arguably just as unhealthy for some, like drinking excessive drinking of alcohol and smoking.

  Adam