They said yesterday at the CA," Noah was a success even though he only saved 8 people." WHY??? He did what GOD said to do. So, what does GOD tell us to do? Just hang tight and the GB/SLAVE will tell you what "GOD" wants you to do.
DD
Be effective or people will die
by Odrade 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Odrade
Data I don't think I could go to one of those things, because while I might be able to remain silent when angry, one statement like that and I'd probably burst out laughing.
-
LisaRose
I think being in a cult affects every one in a different way, some people are just more likely to be damaged by the experience. My daughter obsessed about being put in a concentration camp as a child, thanks to the experiences in the yearbook. While it's not good for anyone, some people are just more vulnerable.
I just got through reading a novel about a Mormon family with four children and what happens when the youngest daughter dies. It's very good, the culture of the Mormons is so similar to the JWs, it felt very familiar. The writer was a Mormon until age thirty, so it's was very true to how a belief system like that affects people.
You could see how the same teachings affect the different children in different ways based on age and personality. The oldest boy never bought into the faith, he struggles with having to pretend he believes he will see his sister again. The youngest boy had trouble accepting the death because he has been taught people can be resurrected and doesn't really understand that it can't happen right now. The older daughter worries excessively about making a mistake and not being worthy of the celestial kingdom and see her sister. The mother, who doesn't have a strong belief, goes into a deep depression and the father, a bishop, struggles with being there for his family while still doing his church work, and everyone feels guilty for what happened. The book is called a song for Issy Bradly by Carys Brady.
-
NeverKnew
In my conversations with individuals in their 50's and 60's who were raised as JWs and left (w/o being baptised), they seem to have been adversely affected by the "fact" that the huge buildings they could see in the distance were going to be destroyed and all the non-jws were going to die. I have limited contact with JWs but the striking similarities of childhoods being affected by the fear of death that was going to befall non-JWs seems to be a common theme.
I'm sure that my imagination of this type of childhood couldn't possibly create the physiological effects from which you suffer.
I hate that you still suffer.
-
Wasanelder Once
In addition: I asked a CO once while at Pioneer School, "to what degree does Jehovah draw people compared to how much our presentation matters?" He said, "I shutter to think". I thought, what an idiot. Jehovah "draws those whose hearts are upright with him". I also understood that they have to be "rightly disposed to everlasting life". In addition that "Jehovah opens thier hearts". So what was I but a messenger and a canvassing agent anyway. I never bought into the whole "its on me" thinking. The self importance that is implied by thinking we are pivotal is part of the imprisonment of mind they tried to feed us. Its part of what made us believe we were better than others because "we alone had the Truth."
-
smiddy
You have no need to feel blood guilty at all , ever . the God of the bible Jehovah / Yahweh has to be the most bloodguilty being in the known universe .
Wasnt he responsible for the genocide against the Ammorites the Hittites , the Jebusites ,etc,etc. (And dont forget virgins were the spoils of war )
Wasnt he responsible for the destruction of man,woman and child , as well as every living beast of the earth and fowl of the heavens during the flood of Noahs day ?
Wasnt he responsible for the destruction of man woman and child in the four cities he destroyed including Sodom and Gommaroh ?
All the first born of Egypt ?
The wanton slaughter of animals as a sacrifice for a religous festival ? 1Kings 8 : 62,63. 142,000 in all.
So I`m pretty sure you me and the rest of us dont have a thing to worry about ,no-way can we come anywhere near that bloodguilt.
smiddy
-
Heaven
They said yesterday at the CA," Noah was a success even though he only saved 8 people." WHY??? He did what GOD said to do. So, what does GOD tell us to do? Just hang tight and the GB/SLAVE will tell you what "GOD" wants you to do.
DD
Interesting how God only talks to certain people and those people are the ones who want to foist this so called 'spiritual knowledge', aka opinions, on the rest of us. Misery loves company.
-
Odrade
Smiddy and others who have written me kind words to reassure me that I carry no bloodguilt: Thank you. I do know this. My conscious thoughts are pretty well up-to-date on what is wrong with authoritarian religious ideology. Interestingly, I have very few symptoms of PTSD in the daytime, when I'm in control of cognition. I have some very mildly disordered behavior that mostly nobody notices, because it's in the form of thought processes that mainly result in my being a little more self-contained (stand-offish?) and/or intimidating than the average person. Like a protective mechanism, but not to such a degree that I stand out terribly.
At night when the subconscious is in play, however, I continue to have issues, which even a dozen years out of the Org, and after all of the research and deciding I've done, means that I still have symptoms of PTSD, such as nightmares and panic attacks.
I'm attempting to make the connections with early childhood values formed by controlling groups like this, and even though I know the concept of "bloodguilt," as supplied by the JWs and other fundamentalists, is utter rot, it seems that some of those ideas are still trapped in my subconscious.Interestingly, since writing all of that down, and having the discussion here, I've had a nice week of reprieve from this sort of nightmare. So there is some progressive and therapeutic value in identifying the line of thought. At least for me.
Cheers, all! Don't worry too much about me. :)
-
LisaRose
Glad to hear you are doing better. I do think there is value in talking about how leaving a cult/high control religion can affect you, even years later. Some people can walk away and have no problems, but everyone is different, and its not your fault if you still struggle with feelings of guilt or still have fears or issues. Talking about it can help, so can writing or journaling about it.
I thought I had escaped with no problems but after moving from an area with few witnesses to one where they cover the territories every month, I was surprised that I became nervous when talking to them. It just show how deep rooted these fears can be, you know it's not logical, but logic these fears are n a deep level where logic doesn't matter.