by impala63rag 137 Replies latest jw friends
On the other hand, how can I trust someone who has withheld the truth.
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"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me".
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This entire religion's history is based on deception, double standards and revisionist history. Listen to your intuition...it's screaming for you to listen.
Impala63rag,
There’s not much I can add that folks haven’t already said. Good job being alert…keep your eyes continually open. The key is take in as much information as you can from as many sources as you can. This combats the Information Control of the JW “Bible Study” program.
The people who are studying with you sincerely believe they are doing the right thing, but are misguided, the blind leading the blind. They do as they are trained to do when it comes to recruitment. They know better than scare an interested person away by talking about the Faithful Slave, No Blood, Shunning, ect…
In general, not just true with the Watchtower, but cult indoctrination regardless of the group, like a good pot roast or BBQ, is a low and slow process over the course a weeks, months, years. It starts with readily agreeable outsider doctrine and over the course of time a person is introduced to insider doctrine.
If you haven’t already, read the “Bible Teach” book over the course of several days, including the appendixes. Even then, this publication does not truly delve into the nitty gritty of Watchtower theology. For instance, that Christ appointed the leaders of the Watchtower in 1919 as the Faithful Slave.
If you play your cards right, you might be able to give them something to think about before they discontinue association with you. At the very least, you can plant seeds, whether or not they germinate.
Welcome to JWN!
Hi impala63rag[top?], and welcome!
It may be that your Bible study conductors are "awake" JWs; i.e., they are aware of "the truth about the 'Truth'," and know the shortcomings of the Watchtower organisation - but are (for some reason) unable to leave. They may not WANT to indoctrinate you in watchtowerisms, only holding to the Bible - for the sake of their own conscience.
In such a scenario, it is understandable that they would continue Bible-only studies with you (clear conscience + countable service time, to meet the required minimum) - even without signs of JW-approved "progress".
I was never told that JW's were expected to believe the same thing.
They never told me that either, or I wouldn't have joined. There is a lot they don't tell you when you study. Even after being baptised for years, there is a lot you aren't told. They misrepresent and withhold information, and if you challenge them, then they come down on you with all this stuff, and you're like, WTF? I've been in 15 years and didn't know they can take my family away from me for not believing xyz?!
This religion bears most of the hallmarks of a cult.
Hi Impala,
A couple of observations I would like to point out:
1) As was mentioned before, Witnesses track the time they spend preaching, some have a minimum number of hours they need to hit to maintain a congregational title. Bible Studies (that you are) are considered "easy hours". So long as they can stop in and have a conversation, they can keep the meter running. It is surprising that much of the basics of the Witnesses have been skipped, but if you were resistant to their publications, a Witness might be inclined to continue anyways since participating in bible studies with outsiders is a prestige item at their Kingdom Halls.
2) You may feel that you have a bond with this person and are a genuine friend, but I can tell you that it is a one way relationship. If you told them that you did not want to become a Witness but wanted to keep them as a friend, they would decline and drop you from any social interaction. It is sad to invest so much emotions into a friendship only to find that they were only interested in using you. They are trained to be kind and welcoming to anyone interested in studying, but on the same token they are told that all non-Witnesses are followers of Satan. There are only two groups. If you are not interested in joining their group, you are left as a follower of Satan and to be avoided. They have already hinted at this to you. The person whose sister was disfellowshipped was dropped and cut off for 10 years now. Imagine what your family would have to do to you to force this reaction from you. Does changing religion qualify? Personally I told my family I was not going to be a Witness and shortly after that, one by one they all told me that they would never speak to me again. That was 7 years ago.
hey impala for the horde lol i was a born in long story short i had no choice in the matter you do run..very fast from this cult can you believe i left in 91 as a teenager an all the brainwashing it took me 20 some years to do research on the org on my own.HAd a fear of commiting some sin against the governing body or being an apostate...after learning the real truth about the org i feel pity for my family members that blindly follow this cult and to add on when i went to the hall if you werent serious about getting baptised after a year we were told to move on so that is odd to me that these witnesses have studied 3 years with you.....and if you are ever on dragonblight look me up im diesslowly a tauren shaman
Welcome to the forum.
Glad you are here and getting good advice. Now is the time to ask questions; after a person is baptised, asking questions is considered "being critical" of the organization. My husband and I were JWs for over thirty years. So glad we are no more. They slowly indoctrinate you until you have no opinions of your own and do not think for yourself.
You are to follow the dictates of the "faithful and discreet slave" which is the governing body of men in New York. You must believe every pronouncement from the Watchtower magazine, and when the doctrine changes, you must not discuss "old doctrine" but merely go immediately with whatever the change is!
What you do is up to you, and it sounds like you do not rush into anything without a lot of thought. This will serve you well.
jdubs are batshit crazy.
Impala,
I can't add much that hasn't been said, so let me share something personal.
Me - Raised a JW from 2 years old. I served in the congregation, pioneered (90 then 70 hours a month in door knocking), served in foreign countries, etc....
Recently, I decided once I went further into the doctrinal rule regarding refusal of blood transfusions, some blood products, and some medical procedures involving blood.....that I was WRONG for believing it. I shared it with a couple people, and I was almost disfellowshipped JUST FOR TALKING ABOUT HOW I FELT. I am not kidding.
So I shut up about it, and stopped attending. I disagree with many other things now as well. I have lost friends (who simply know I no longer attend meetings), because I am considered "weak". Unless I come back and change my views, I could be disfellowshipped for a variety of things.
celebrating my toddlers birthday
accepting a blood transfusion
publicly disagreeing (even respectfully), of the faithful and discreet slave.
Voting (yep......voting)
Talking with disfellowshipped people (for real.....this one is the easiest way to get kicked out)
Just TODAY (I am going to write another post), I spoke to my mother, who kind of breached the subject of meeting attendance. I was careful about what i told her, but the short story is she started crying, said the blood of my wife and babies would be on my hands if I didn't turn back (sincere plea, not a curse), and shejust left my house. She even suggested that by not attending meetings, I had "disfellowshipped myself".
Most JW's are good honest people, and are probably not very happy about the more dogmatic and unloving principles they hold to.
My advise, is not to approach them like they intentionally witheld information. My advise is to pick a subject (blood, voting, birthdays, shunnign for not falling into uniformity of thought), and study it. jwfacts.com is 100% accurate, but do not tell them where you got the info, because it will immediately be dispensed with. Then, tell them you were told some things, and you wanted to run it past them because in three years they haven't mentioned it. Be honest, and expect the same honesty in return.
I hope they will remain your friends afterwards, but I would emotionally prepare to possibly lose them.
I'm sorry mate but a lot of what you are saying just doesn't add up. I'm sorry but I'm struggling with the fact that you could study with someone for 3 years and not know about some of their key policies.
