by KateWild 50 Replies latest watchtower bible
I threw out ALL my literature. Bibles, the lot. Would you consider doing this?-quelly
Not yet, I need to teach my son TTATT he goes to re-programming sessions at the KH once a week with his dad, I need to have regular de-programming sessions the equalize the balance.
Kate xx
For athiests it won't matter but for those who still believe here is what cleared my mind about holidays......
1. First was noticing how many other christian faiths are far more christ like then JW's
2. Then I asked some of them if they knew about the origins and what allowed them to be able to celebrate it. On JW reasoning if anytime in the past thousands of years it had a bad origin, it must not be done, but their answer was, "I am NOT celebrating or worshipping pagan gods, it's about Christ and God sending him to us for our sins. When the entire world was pagan, changing those pagan practices to something christian wiped out paganism and took the bad out of them."
3. Along w/ the above, in the bible I read the scriptures about not judging the man who puts more importance on one day above another, but doing all things for God's glory. With that scripture, since the celebration is being done in appreciation for God sending his son, that goes with that.
4. Another scripture (I forgot offhand where both are and I gotta run or I'd look them up real quick)..the other is about not judging the one who chooses to observe a sabbath or moon or another day.
5. If doing a christmas tree, not using any angels or anything on it, for example ornaments of smores, pizza, places traveled, trains, snowmen, etc didn't even exist 2,000 years ago so can't even put a pagan origin on those. Can call it a memory tree, ornaments of every place traveled or vacation had, etc.
6. The tree originally was plain with just candles on it and gifts all over it. Electric lights on trees and on houses aren't pagan, they weren't done until the past 100 years. It's a modern winter decoration.
7. The bible says anything out of love has no law again, the law was summed up in love God with whole heart soul and mind and neighbor as yourself. So christmas is loving God for sending his son and loving family, getting together with them, and loving neighbor, taking extra effort to help others. JW's don't do any of that during this time, they don't do charity or help for poor, and find wrong in every tradition that brought family together so they grow cold and apart.
So for me personally, I see scriptually nothing wrong and to be on the safe side, I chose to keep angels, anything that could be thought of as idol out of it.
Kate,
I don't know if you were born-in or converted. Although I left four decades ago and ran away at full force is applicable, images from my chihlhood haunt me. My generation grew up wit the orange Paradise Lost book. We could probably sue on a class action basis for trauma. It was inappropriate for children yet specifically written for young people. The illustratins were horrific. A cow god receiving infant sacrifices. You rusual illustrations of buildings falling down on nice peo[le at Armageddon. Although my mom took us to the library to borrow children's books almost every week day, Paradise Lost was the only readable book we owned.
I recently purchased a copy. It took me four decades of worldliness to feel safe wtih it in the house. My intention is to present it to my brother. We have discussed it often over the years. It warped our view of the world.
My mother and father told me demons do not exist. The brothers promoted demons. My rational brain always knew it was crazy. One encounter with a Witness at the door during college and the lights were burning all night. I engaged the Witness. My siblings were so impressed how my college education enabled me to present strong arguments against Witness beliefs. I was strong at 11 am. Well, when 3 am approached, I woke up from my sleep and screeched my head off that the demons were coming from me. I turned flashlights on besides every light in the house. My mom and siblings stood around my bed, reassuring me that no demons existed. I knew they did not exist but the fear was intense.
The more worldly things you do and don't go to the KH, these fears diminish. This is why I feel the parodies are so important. C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, is my favorite Christian book. A senior demon in heaven writes a series of instructional letters to his nephew in the field. One of the priests where I worshiip thought it would help rid me of my Witness fears. He was so correct.
One important thing we did was when my father died was get rid of the Witness lit in three days. We had lit dating from Russell's time. Within three days, there was nothing in our house that was Witness. Part of me feels sad that so many books that clearly were wacko and showed the hypocrisy of the Witnesses was not put to good use but our sanity came first. All three of us felt the same way. We viewed the literature as almost demonic.
It is a process. The Witnesses are a cult. It is not the same as leaving a mainstream church. Throughout your association, you heard how evil falling away was. All those thoughts are someplace in your brain. Sometimes such thoughts will pop out for brief periods. You sincerely want to be free. The Witnesses were a significant part of your life for a long time. You pioneered how many hours a month? I heard your JC that you posted. All right. I screeched my head off at 3 am. My family members were not angry with me, just very concerned. My brother said the contrast between my day behavior and my night fears was so great. I finally fell asleep. The next morning I did my college assignments and llistened to evil (Beatles, Hendrix) music.
I can't say I've been brain-washed. How can you wash what isn't there? lol.....
WildKate, the old saying, "as the twig is bent so grows the tree", I think is applicable. I have wondered if after leaving wtfantasy lang will we ever be "right". I know what you mean by seeing or hearing things that "trigger" the memory. I talk with friends that have been out from 8 years to 25 years and they still are somewhat dealing with residual issues, they would never go back, but just residual issues. Bless your day, and may you not have a guilty conscience.(((((Hugs)))))
8 years to 25 years and they still are somewhat dealing with residual issues-Jake
Thanks for the heads up, Jake, I don't feel guilty really, just sort of dirty when I see the image I think but I am not sure, we have had a real laugh so far today. Playing jokes on each other, that's our family. Wind up merchants. Hahahaha.
Love Kate xx
A few ideas come to mind. Efforts to erase only reinforce the memory.
Here's another one. Create a virtual box in your mind. Dress it up and put a timer on top. Invite unpleasant thought to inhabit the box for a while. My son has been practicing this and it gives him some relief.
Page 170 "Combating Cult mind Control" has a sub-heading called "kick-out's" that us that got df'd, ones that buck against the authority. SH reports the side effects this group have, it's me to a T.
The candy image, is known as phobia indoctrination, I indoctrinated myself by teaching others on the mino. How saddoo is that, so today I had a dirty taste and I did it to myself.
The thing is, because I now understand it's phobia indoctrination I will be able to move on quicker than if I did not understand how my mind had been controlled, sigh of relief. Slowly slowly, we are all getting better.
Kate xx
I would compare the WT illustrations to Michelangelo, DaVinci, Giotto, Raphael, Remrandt, etc. illustrations or paintings. The Renaissance painters are not so creepy as the Middle Ages paintings or illustrations. There is a reason. Philadelphia's Museum of Art hosted an exhibition on Rembrandt and The Faces of Jesus. When I visit the Cloisters (Nelson Rockefeller donated his Unicorn tapestries to the Metropolitan and paid for a collection of monasteries and convents to house them in upper Manhattan) or the Middle Ages galleres at the Met, I run through the galleries. Jesus is so pale and grotesque. The Rembrandt show explained that a painter could be imprisoned or even executed unless they painted from a set form of Jesus. The Church had a fraudulent painting of Jesus that it believed dated to Jesus' time. The painting was lost sometime in the Middle Ages. It would make a good Dan Brown novel. Jesus is Northern European and quite sickly looking in these paintings.Mary is always wearing the same Virgin Mary blue robes. Rembrandt was freed as a Protestant to model Jesus' face in his own way. He used Sephardic Jews as his models.
There is something in the aesthetic that gives me a feeling at a gut level. KHs violate this aesthetic in every way. It does not have to be Renaissance or Baroque. Shaker worship has good design.
Music is another way to go.
