by snowbird 63 Replies latest jw friends
I remember a lot of happy times, field service, get togethers, assemblies, international assemblies, meeting "brothers and sisters" abroad in many countries, attending meeting in other countries/taking part in field service in other countries, reading the magazines, yearbooks...
Also: Most witnesses I knew (living in Scandinavia) read newspapers and followed the news...some people more than average, some people less. But it was not a trademark being a witness and being ignorant.
Magnum,-
thanks for your post! Things were so different back then. It truly was a different religion than it is now. I also enjoyed the deep books on prophecy and doctrine. They don't publish books like that anymore as you noted.
InquiryMan- what part of Scandinavia are you in? Norway?
Good guess
I grew up in Germany as a born-in and this was never fun. Especially for a kid.
Many of you have fond memories of past times (yes, the cult now sucks even more!) because you where young and had a sense of accomplishment (even if it was based on fake "facts") also many of you obviously had the good luck to be in congregations where the individual people themselves where fun or more on the human side. THAT made it nice, not the structure.
Also what I considered "fun" back then was only a way of coping with the fact of being in a cult. As a teen I had a blast knocking on so many doors and trying to get in (I am suuuuper curious) and try to find out as much as possible about the household. I visited and sat in the living room of: Hitlers Piano player (I studied with this old chap, he even wrote a Kingdom Song for us, died without ever becoming a JW), a fashion model (that used to appear a lot on German TV - man the pictures in her fantastic, luxurious apartment made me horny for hours after the study), a crazy Neo-Nazi (he did study with me and had all the parafernalia in his room - he said that he liked JW religion because it resembles a lot the Nazi ideology - pure race ideas, the perfect society and he often mentioned the way we keep woman "on the line" - he was a creepy asshole, but I was a pioneer and needed the hours!)
I could remember many more "interesting" persons here. One thing that I am actually thankful for is that it moved me to go to Central America and that lead to many very adventurous things that I would never have seen otherwise. Although this is relative as many of these things had nothing to do with WT (going scuba diving in the caribbean sea was one of the most marvelous things I did in my Life, also going up to an erupting volcano).
BUT. Big BUT:
I started lying from a very young age. I participated at Christmas parties at school, lying to my mother, stayed at home not to go to meetings - lying to my family (playing sick), had to "evade" being catched....for YEARS. Still today my girlfriend says that I have a "persecution complex" and have an uncanny ability to lie, just purely lie to people without becoming red faced. I feel ashamed for that and I also despise the twisted and fucked up mind that the WT created. It will take me many more years to get rid of their influence (if it is possible at all).
NOPE. What we considered fun is exactly the same "kind of fun" these folks are experiencing (and kidding themselves):
"YEEAAAAAAAHHHHH, we are soooooooooo happy - being a North Korean is the Best that happened to us!!!!!!!"
I guess it was worse living a double life...
I'm enjoying this thread, also.
Thanks for all the replies.
No, I don't want to go back; I'm just contrasting the then and now.
The grass is never greener on the other (former) side snowbird....
I have a lifetime of fond memories, but now knowing TTATT, I see that I was misled with falsehoods!
I guess I am still in the angry, bitter stage of grieving.......
I do not want to get back either, cause I made a decision that took years to accomplish. But I still see my Jw-background as an ingrained part of me and do not regret either.
I believe every experience in life serves a useful purpose.
I don't go to any religious meetings now, and can spot a charlatan a mile away!
