Lets be fank (O'er I,ve got to do something about my spelling .Frank obviously)with ourselves here , especialy if you were brought up a witness.How much of what you consider to be you , your personnality your way of thinking, is a result of being a witness?
If you were brought up as a witness all you earlly years were exclusivly based on watchtower thinking .Your parent taught you as instructed.
Ok we went to school and learnt a lot of new things and met many different people, this will have effected us.
But many left school to again be only amongst other witnesses.
When you reason have an emotion or feeling about something do you wonder if that is really the way you feel?
Or has it been programmed into me?
Is that the way I would think if I had never been a witness?
Has the watchtower molded your personnality?
by sleepy 6 Replies latest jw friends
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sleepy
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ConnieLynn
Sleepy,
I was brought up a witness and I think most of my personality is the result of being raised a JW. I have come a long way, but I still catch myself worrying about what other people think or how things appear. I wish it wasn't so, some of my Non-JW friends don't give a rip what someone else thinks... I tend to walk the straight and narrow even now; it is who I am. Sometimes, if I go out and party it up, my conscience bothers me, like I did something bad.Guilt is another piece of baggage that came with me (I wish I could ditch it too). If I ever so speak my mind about something, I usually follow it up with an apology (hoping not to have offended). That could come from being not only raised a JW but raised in a very southern-JW household. Growing up in the south, we made an art out of being polite before all else, so that was a double wammy...
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William Penwell
Yes no matter how far we go away from the Jdubs, part of them stays with us. So we have to realize that this is part of us and understand our weaknesses.
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 -
2SYN
FANKs, Sleepy!
"Until they become conscious, they will never rebel. Until they rebel, they will never become conscious." - George Orwell
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flower
being born and raised a witness definately molded my personality and who i am. the good and the bad.
my honesty, morality, sympathy, caring and ability to empathize with people around me i think comes from being a witness.
but my low self esteem, poor judgement, social retardation, difficulty in thinking, reasoning and make decisions, co-dependancy, lack of confidence, depression, anxiety and every other aspect of my personality i blame on the watchtower.
it may be that i'd have some of these problems anyway but we'll never know and i do know that i could have been much more than a single mom struggling to keep a roof over our heads. i know that i had the brains and dedication to have become successful if i hadnt been held back by brainwashing. now, i may still have brains and dedication but starting over at 30 with a child and all the struggles associated with that and being unable to shake all the emotional, mental, social and psychological problems that living so long in the watchtower has brought on it is unlikely that i will ever reach my full potential.
i will never forgive the watchtower but i think the best revenge for me personally is to do all possible to overcome all the obstacles and beat the odds. and to make sure my son has a fullfilling and happy life in this world.
flower
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Carmel
Only in very subtle ways has the dubs affected my adult personality. Pretty much everything I learned from them I set out to un-learn and replace it with something consiously chosen. Probably the most obvious has been going from being highly judgemental to very tolerant.
carmel
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Reborn2002
Actually now that I look back in retrospect being born a JW had it's positive sides as well.
- I begrudgingly became much better at public speaking. (Theocratic Ministry School anyone? LOL)
- I learned quickly how to "charm" someone so as to develop rapport, even if you dont give a rat's ass about them. (Excellent quality in the business world)
- I learned the nature of politics. (Anyone who does not believe politics and maneuvering does not take place within the Borg or in the real world to achieve success is blinded)
Then after leaving..
- I learned what it meant to be deceived. Because of this I became very skeptical of any and all things someone else said to me, and learned to be an independent thinker and after researching the matter thoroughly to develop my own conclusion.
- I learned to accept some things as they are, and to move on with my life. (Family remaining in the Borg and shunning are examples of this)
- I learned what it meant to hate. Being born into the JW you are nurtured to believe in this dream world full of safety and love and indoctrinated to believe every one of your "brothers" was out for your best interest. After getting a little older, I realized this was DEFINITELY NOT true. I am capable of the warmest type of love so as to sacrifice myself for someone else, but after exiting the JW I now understand what it means to hate something or someone because not everything in this world is inherently good.
Just a few examples of how my personality has been molded.
It is not religious persecution for an informed person to expose publicly a certain religion as being false, thus allowing persons to see the difference between false religion and true religion.
WT 11/15/1963 page 688 paragraph 3