Why Watchtower fails young people

by kneehighmiah 9 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  kneehighmiah

  1. No fun

  2. Doesn't teach good decision making. JWs cannot choose the color of their underwear without first consulting watchtower publications. This stunts emotional development.

  3. Discourages secular education. When young ones leave, they often missed out on opportunities to go to college. With no parental support, they are forced to begin working and cannot afford college immediately. This sets them back a few years.

  4. Poor marital prospects/lack of understanding the opposite sex and relationships. Watchtower teaches that holding microphones, going in service and giving talks turns girls on. Flirting is evil. Thus young ones have no idea how to deal with the opposite sex. JWs have a fake public persona. Thus when they get married, they have no idea who they are marrying. Sexual repression also causes some to marry only for sex.

  5. Complete abandonment if child doesn't choose watchtower. In modern society more and more young adults rely on the resources of their parents into their mid twenties. However, if you leave watchtower this support system dissolves.

  6. Only acceptable prospects is bethel and pioneer service. JW youth are not encouraged to explore their interests or talents.
• 

  designs

  If you don't mind learning by rote its paradise...
• 

  Band on the Run

  So many times I sat in the KH. My father would kick me and pinch me violently in front of all. No one intervened in any way. I am certain his behavior was criminal. The boredom of counting the ceiling tiles one more time or reviewing the sister's outfits in terms of price and fashionability would be so intense that I was terrified I would stand up and run outside, screeching at the top of my lungs. They would call the police on me. My father would kill me so jail was preferable.

  My father was the only literate male. He would shake his head during WT study. I noticed it and believed the Holy Spirit would slay me dead.

  When they introduced the new songbook, a lurid magenta color, and retired a green cover version, the brother pronounced Beethoven as Beet (the vegetable)ho- veen. Bach (bak) was bach. Handel was hand-el. He was so smart. Oh, as a bro. with an elementary school education he knew more than worldly person. Julliard was nothing. The NY Philharmonic was a funny joke. All classical music was hilarious and grossly evil. I wanted to crawl out the building. Yes, I had a teenage sense of respectability. Far worse things happen in life. I kept reading about Beethoven, etc. The classical albums were too expensive. I had my rock taste responsibility first. My soul ached to learn and appreciate classical music. There was no way to learn.

  People without a formal education have much to contribute. They often know practical things that an academic would not have a clue about. I never understood why the Witnesses seemed to have uneducated only.

  They declared war on teenagers. My mom refused to let me baptized until I was thirty. All my classmates were baptized. Well, for a long time, three and four were disfellowshiped each week for sexual immorality. They were having way more sex than our secular classmates. We had no dances, no barbecues, no cleanup the KH, no special Bible studies, no adults taking an interest in us. I feel so bad that I did not talk to them at school.
• 

  Band on the Run

  So many times I sat in the KH. My father would kick me and pinch me violently in front of all. No one intervened in any way. I am certain his behavior was criminal. The boredom of counting the ceiling tiles one more time or reviewing the sister's outfits in terms of price and fashionability would be so intense that I was terrified I would stand up and run outside, screeching at the top of my lungs. They would call the police on me. My father would kill me so jail was preferable.

  My father was the only literate male. He would shake his head during WT study. I noticed it and believed the Holy Spirit would slay me dead.

  When they introduced the new songbook, a lurid magenta color, and retired a green cover version, the brother pronounced Beethoven as Beet (the vegetable)ho- veen. Bach (bak) was bach. Handel was hand-el. He was so smart. Oh, as a bro. with an elementary school education he knew more than worldly person. Julliard was nothing. The NY Philharmonic was a funny joke. All classical music was hilarious and grossly evil. I wanted to crawl out the building. Yes, I had a teenage sense of respectability. Far worse things happen in life. I kept reading about Beethoven, etc. The classical albums were too expensive. I had my rock taste responsibility first. My soul ached to learn and appreciate classical music. There was no way to learn.

  People without a formal education have much to contribute. They often know practical things that an academic would not have a clue about. I never understood why the Witnesses seemed to have uneducated only.

  They declared war on teenagers. My mom refused to let me baptized until I was thirty. All my classmates were baptized. Well, for a long time, three and four were disfellowshiped each week for sexual immorality. They were having way more sex than our secular classmates. We had no dances, no barbecues, no cleanup the KH, no special Bible studies, no adults taking an interest in us. I feel so bad that I did not talk to them at school.
• 

  NewYork44M

  The society purposely takes away the childhood of the young ones growing up in the cult. They fill young ones with guilt and other negative emotions and takes away the normal childhood experiences.

  I can remember feeling so guilty in Kindergarten because I knew I had to warn my friends of their pending doom at Armageddon, but I was so shy that I could not start the discussion. I knew they were going to die - but I also knew I was going to die because i did not have the courage to warn them.

  That is a hell of a lot of guilt placed on a barely-6-year-old. What a fuc*&ng way to live your childhood!

  Is it any wonder they lose young ones?
• 

  Still Totally ADD

  I have told this story before. I was about 14 years of age at the time and a fellow school student ask me what the Wt. believed. It told him that the whole world was bad and god was going to kill everyone because they did not believe in the Wt. god. He listen to me and then I asked him what his church taught. He told me that god was love and that jesus loved everyone and would never hurt them. I was taken back by what he said. I had nothing else to say to him. I had no come back for what he told me. Here I am 60 years old and I still remember that conversation with him. Yes the Wt. cult does fail in 100 of ways with young people. Just one other thought when I was a kid I was told many times that children was not important. Because this was the time of the end and the only thing that was important was selling maz. Still Totally ADD
• 

  adjusted knowledge

  How about being given advice like this all the time? You can't even rub one out without being condemn..... oh the guilt

  Young People Ask . . .

  How Can I Conquer This Habit?

  “I began masturbating when I was eight years old. Later I learned God’s view of the matter. I felt terrible every time I gave in. ‘How could God love someone like me?’ I asked myself. I felt sure that I would not make it into God’s new world.”—Luiz.*

  PERHAPS you, like Luiz, have been enslaved to the habit of masturbation. You know that Jehovah would be pleased with you if you resisted the urge and exercised self-control, a fruit of God’s holy spirit. (Galatians 5:22, 23; 2 Peter 1:5, 6) But at times you give in. After each relapse, you conclude that you are a lost cause, that you are incapable of living up to God’s righteous standards.

  That is precisely how young Pedro viewed himself. “When I relapsed, I felt terrible,” he says. “I thought that I could never atone for what I had done. I found it hard to pray. I would start by saying: ‘Jehovah, I don’t know whether you are going to hear this prayer, but . . .’” A young man named André had similar thoughts. “I felt like such a hypocrite,” he says. “It was a struggle to get out of bed in the morning and face the day. I found it difficult to sit through Christian meetings or to participate in the ministry.”

  If your feelings are similar to those of Luiz, Pedro, or André, take courage. You’re not alone, and your case is not hopeless! Many young people—and older ones—have struggled with masturbation and have been able to overcome it. You can too.*
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  He told me that God was love and that Jesus loved everyone and would never hurt them.

  Out of the mouth of babes.

  That sure isn't what JWs teach, is it.

  Doc
• 

  kneehighmiah

  I forgot to mention the incredible loads of guilt. Thanks guys.
• 

  Heartofaboy

  'I can remember feeling so guilty in Kindergarten because I knew I had to warn my friends of their pending doom at Armageddon, but I was so shy that I could not start the discussion. I knew they were going to die - but I also knew I was going to die because i did not have the courage to warn them.'

  Aah yes NewYork44M the responsibility placed on us JW kids to witness to our class mates & have studies with them............like JW kids don't have enough to contend with.

  It's your fault you stupid kid that your friends were killed by Jehovah & because you are blood guilty he's now gonna kill you for not warning them.

  Jehovah's happy people.

  StillTotally ADD............I said much the same to a classmate when I was about 11 & she burst in to tears & told the teacher. What did my fine witness result in...................... I received a slap from the teacher.

  A fine witness indeed.

  And finally.............'You can't even rub one out', that term always always makes me laugh 'adjusted knowledge'.............apparently, according to the Watchtower 'rubbing one out caused me to be gay.

  So that's my fault too.

  Ah well............