by John Aquila 46 Replies latest jw experiences
Gov, regarding your second point, once I heard someone describe witnesses to someone else...'their religion is like, EVERYTHING to them.' Boy did he nail it. Unfortunately for those of us 'born in', we don't have a real family to go back to, after we leave. :,(
Regarding your third point, my favorite was always when a speaker said 'in the country of Africa...'
If he were to show his face in a kh there would be a sister stampede to grab him! They all like the $$.
and he is doing a very worthwhile job in hospital administration.
I’m just upset I wasted a year of my life.
Be grateful that's all you invested.
How many people spend their whole lives in the borg?
Great story
Best wishes to this young man.
Magnum
If he's upset over losing a year, then how am I supposed to feel? I lost most of my life and all prospects of ever retiring.
Don't feel to bad Magnum, I felt like an idiot when he was telling me the story. I was 59 when I learn TATT. But I didn't tell him that.
I both admire and envy him! It's less difficult to cut loose from your local congregation when you're not a born-in and you've no meaningful connections and/or friends still in.
Once you fully realize the utter bullsh*t going on inside - to say nothing of the shonky teachings - why would you choose to stay What an admirable young man!
His story could also be a reason why the Watchtower is so against education. For myself I am looking into sociology, psychology, anthropology or philosophy for my schooling right now. Courses like these show you how to think, analyze, rationalize and observe specific teachings and arguments and recognize when arguments are weak or are not being supported. If the Watchtower had many individuals just like the one written here the Watchtower would be in big trouble! The thing is, if Witnesses all went to go get educated they would be advancing their education level beyond that of the average governing body member.
People who are educated will not spend their hours weekly doing studies at a grade 2 level. People who are educated are not going to listen to Stephen Lett and take him seriously for anything. People who are educated are going to recognize the weak arguments to back up their religious views used in Watchtowers and talks. People who are educated are going to start understanding why the Watchtowers "logic" is actually not logic at all and most of the Watchtowers reasoning is based on the foundation of fallacy. People who are educated will sit in the hall listening to the Sunday discourse and actually feel their brain melting into goo as they are listening.
Your friend is a great example of why Watchtower doesn't want success or education among the Witness. If you have these two things you will have no problem walking away from Watchtower. With your own success and education there is nothing you can't do! You don't need to be attached to the Watchtower as your only life line if you have education and success. This individual had a lot going for him. He was educated and used his brain to analyze what was going around him. This is taught in philosophy. He was able to critically form an opinion based on what he had seen and heard. He observed the actions of Witnesses in a none biased way. He formed his own reasoning's WITHOUT having to go to the Elders to help him "adjust his thinking" to an opinion or viewpoint he never possessed.
I invited her to fly with me to NY for a weekend to see some theater plays, and I would pay for everything and she said it was wrong to do that. I invited her to go to the San Diego zoo in California for a weekend, and she said that was not wise.
Can't really blame her for that...aside from knowing how as a Pioneer and as a JW this would appear to others, she may have had no interest in him nor the desire to feel obligated to him thereafter because he'd paid for everything.
My aunt had a similar story. She was doing what she could. Which was coming to Sunday meetings. Some A-hole speaker started criticizing people who don't make all of the meetings (back when there were 3/week). She stayed through the morning, but never came back.
Their own damn fault they're losing members.
