Being called Jehovah's Witness, embarrasssing?

by LyinEyes 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  LyinEyes

  Even though I was raised to beleive everything the watchtower ever
  said, ... I always doubted that God would destroy everyone at armeggedon. I couldnt understand how my Granny , even thou she was
  Catholic would deserve to die. When I asked olders ones about this they said well, it happened in Noah's day,,, only God's choosen people with His name were saved. This just did not seem just to me.
  So in my heart all the years I was a faithful witness, I felt they were wrong about at least that teaching.

  Tonite , I was watching a special documentary on the Sept. 11 tragedy. It looked like a scene from what armeggedon would look like. There were people, many people, crying, speechless and dazed.
  People that held up pictures of family and friends that were gone,
  but they were still hoping for the impossible , that they would be
  found alive.

  But what got to me the most was when they showed all of the volunteers. People who didnt have any personal reason to look for
  family or friends. Just New Yorkers, others from all over the country too, just wanting to be helpful. Grown men, crying at feeling so hopeless, that they would risk their lives just to make a
  difference. There was a picture of several truck loads of volunteers
  , all races, men and women, going to help . You could see the love
  on their faces, the true feeling that they had lost something precious, the loss of life.
  
  But these are the ones that will die in armeggedon!!!!!
  NO WAY!!!!!!
  I will never beleive that ever ,,,, I will never go back to being
  a Jehovah's Witness, for they are so smug in their ,, "we love our
  fellow man so much we preach" crap. What I saw on t.v. tonite was more of what I think Jesus meant when he spoke of loving our fellow man. I know God will not destory good hearted people like I saw on that day,,,, And these are the terrible people the WT warns you about , the "worldy" ones. I am now proud to say I am part of the
  "world", being called one of Jehovah's Witnesses is embarrassing.
  I make it a point to tell people , that I am no longer a Jehovah's Witness.
• 

  cellomould

  Very interesting comments. About the embarrassment...didn't it feel like we were always defending the indefensible?

  cellomould

  "You're crying 'why am I the victim?' when the culprit is YOU" Stevie Wonder
• 

  cornish

  When I was a witness,a guy who I worked with always said to me,you Jehovahs always talk about the bad being done in the world,never the good.

  Now I look back without my Watchtower blinkers,how true his words are,I mean their is a lot of wickedness in the world but at the same time a hell of a lot of good,that Sept 11th tragedy shows as you have mentioned the genuine spirit in so many strugling to do good and help,mankind seeking to aid their fellow man,but their are so many examples of people all over the world risking their neck to aid their fellow man,yet according to the watchtower,God will destroy them because they are not on the JW club,a fine example of ethnic cleansing,eh.

  On a related note Witnesses always talk about how evil the world is compared to the pre for 1914 era when Satan was apparently chucked down here but if you compare today with the era when the Watchtower had its beginnings pre-1900 in a supposed Christian society back then if you were unfortunate enough to be poor or infirm or whatever the outlook was extremely harsh,you would end up in the workhouse of begging on the streets or worse,in a Charles Dickens style society,go back a few more years and you had public beheadings,hanging drawing and quartering in public,burnings at the stake,etc

  I have several JW members of my family who recieve various state benefits which is fine yet had they been living back then they would have to go begging in the streets or in the workhouse,yet they think the world is so,so evil,but they are so blinkered to what a caring society we have in the west compared to the past.A lot of people are as you say working hard for the good of their neighbour.
• 

  dmouse

  Excellent comments.

  I wonder if the tendency of JWs to dwell on the badness and evil in the world results in many ex-jws no longer believing in God. I mean, that's the reason I don't believe in a loving God anymore - the absolute awfulness of the human condition, it just precludes a loving God.

  I never thought of it that way before - The WBTS mindset destroys faith in God. No wonder Satan protects and nurtures them.

  And I agree wholeheartedly with what you said, Cornish, what do they think people died of before 1914, sheer happiness!?
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  Marilyn

  :::::::::I never thought of it that way before

  What a classic. I used to use this line all the time when I was the householder for the sisters presentation on the Ministry school. Anyway dmouse I gave up believing in God at the same time as I gave up believing in the WTS - and I think you have hit the nail on the head as to why.

  LyinEyes, I could never really get my mind around the destruction of mankind at the hand of God. Blood up to the bridles of the horses etc. Then my worldly neighbours were so kind when my first child was born. Brought in lovely food and flowers. Geez didn't they know they were wicked and deserving of death 'real soon'?

  Marilyn
• 

  Amazing

  Hi LyinEyes: I had not thought about this issue in a long time. I was always slightly embarassed at revealing to people I was a JW. It diminished over the years with habit and lots of door-to-door work. But there was always this subtle, uneasy feeling that emerged when I met non-JWs in professional or other settings ... a barrier to gaining what might have been many good and close friends - all because of a religious label. The barrier was mostly with me, as many of these non-JWs were quite willing to overloook my religion to be friends.

  The Watchtower is largely a religion of talk - public talks, training to talk at meetings, millions of words in magazines, talk at the doors, and talk among themselves - whereas - many, if not the majority, of the non-JW world is about action. The difference is quite clear, and as ex-JWs we feel this difference most painfully at times.

  Your mention of justice is also on target - I cannot accept that a just, merciful, and loving God would ever kill someone simply because of a religious label, a label that they may never had had reasonable opportunity to wear.
• 

  Will Power

  On a related note Witnesses always talk about how evil the world is compared to the pre for 1914 era when Satan was apparently chucked down here...

  I thought it was Jesus who returned ... invisibly? [now that is embarrassing] Is this a slip of the keyboard or is this true WT doctrine? No wonder they make so many parallels between Satan & Jesus. Subconsciously Jesus should not be followed!
  

  No wonder Satan protects and nurtures them.

  No wonder they are afraid of the light [truth].
  I am not a JoHo but was embarrassed that I was related to some, and some are such nice people. But they sure turn in an instant to protect the almighty WT! over common sense, and love.
  That is embarrassing.
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  SEAKEN2001

  Hi LyinEyes,

  nice topic. When I was younger I was not given to embarassment too much. I was one of those over-confident types and was not ashamed to be known as a Witness. I gave talks and reports in school based on JW theology and was well known in my home town as a "preacher". I was a nice kid though and didn't bang the Bible and tell everyone they were going to be toast "real soon now". I just believed I had the truth and wanted to share it. As it turned out I was quite popular in spite of being a JW. It seems the "world" really didn't give a damn what religion I held to. Now, I am probably more embarassed about having been a Witness than I ever was as a Witness. But that mostly comes from me since I am so pissed that I was fooled for so many years. As always, most people do not care what religion I profess. Most do not even know anything about what a JW really is so there is no sense in me feeling embarassed about it.

  Will Power,

  yes, the JW teaching is that shortly after Jesus took the throne in 1914 he kicked Satan out of heaven down to the vicinity of the Earth. But the math doesn't work. They connect this event with World War I but then say that Jesus took the throne in the fall of 1914. Doesn't make sense. As usual, the Witnesses just swallow it and don't think about it.

  Seann
• 

  Will Power

  Sean
  I thought that when Christ ascended into heaven he sat at the right hand of God. In Matt 28:18 He says that All He had ALL authority at that time.
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  lv4fer

  After tomorrow night It will be very embarrasing to say you are a witness. I've been trying to tell all the people I work with that I'm not a witness anymore. I'd like to put a sign on me that says I AM NOT A JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ANYMORE!!!

  "The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."

  Rita Mae Brown