Wrecking the Lives of Children

by metatron 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  metatron

  I will never be able to say what I know in my heart
  to those who need to hear it.

  I am so sorry I ever tried to raise my child as a Jehovah's
  Witness. This attempt has been the greatest mistake of my
  life.

  Ask yourself a simple question: The development of what one
  quality should be made the number one PRIORITY in your
  child's life?

  Love - in all its forms. Kindness, generosity,compassion.
  Do you disagree?

  Instead, you can emphasize DEAD meeting attendance
  and an imaginary ministry made up of selling cheap ignorant
  magazines. You can teach them, over and over, about how
  all their 'worldly' teachers, friends and neighbors will
  be soon slaughtered by a distant God.
  You can teach lies like how shunning people shows 'love'.
  You can teach them about a TOTAL FRAUD like the blood
  transfusion issue.

  The choice is yours. But if you still choose to indoctrinate
  them with Watchtower teachings, don't be surprized at what
  you get when they grow up. Such as:

  Kids who leave home and want nothing to do with you
  (WHO TAUGHT THEM TO SHUN PEOPLE AND 'THROW THEM AWAY',
  Witness Mom and Dad? Are you getting a clue here?)

  Kids who have no goal set in front of them -other than
  magazine sales - WHO GET PREGNANT, WHO SMOKE WEED, who drift
  aimlessly from one job to the next.

  Kids who never have a good, stable, loving marriage
  (Did fear of fornication and masturbation PUSH them into
  getting married too quickly, Mom and Dad?)

  Kids who throw away ALL MORAL RESTRAINT because they view their
  parents as ignorant fanatics who are beyond all reason.
  Out goes the 'baby with the bathwater'!

  I could go on and on about what I've seen in congregations.
  It isn't that these things don't happen in the world.
  THEY DO! The trouble is that the 'truth' makes them all
  WORSE! The 'Truth' IS NOT a solution, it's part of the problem!

  Would you like a loving child
  or a 'righteous' one?
  In truth, you probably won't get the righteous kid anyway,
  no matter how hard you tried.

  Stick with love
  its a winner

  metatron
• 

  Mackin

  Excellent post Metatron.

  So true.

  Mackin.
• 

  nilfun

  What a great post, Metatron...
  
  Love is the thing, yes...

  "The best thing, he knew, was to love just a little bit; everything, just a little bit, so when they broke its back, or shoved it in a croaker sack, well, maybe you'd have a little love left over for the next one" -quote from Beloved, by Toni Morrison
  
  When I saw this scene from the movie Beloved with Paul D speaking to Sethe, telling her
  to love everything just a little bit... I felt like a brick had been dropped on my head.
  
  That's me they're talking about...I thought....that's me
  
  And I remembered how, as a JW, I had loved the brothers and sisters "just a little bit".
  It didn't happen over night...it took some time, abuse, and intense indoctrination for me to become that way.
  
  Being raised in it, and seeing so many disfellowshipped...well, after a while I didn't dare open my heart completely to others. One reason was that if I shared my true self with another JW, I ran the risk of being informed on.
  
  But the most important reason for me was that I didn't want to love that deeply and risk having it all ripped away from me if one of us had our back broken or "shoved...in a croaker sack" -spiritually. I was well aware of the fact that it was possible to be a good person and still be a victim of spiritual murder. So I loved just a little bit...that way it wouldn't hurt so much if they were ever disfellowshipped.
  
  With the passage of time, my love began to simply skim the surface waters of my relationships...No real worldly friends...no real JW friends...
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  Nathan Natas

  Amen, Metatron.
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  Perry

  Metatron,

  When the lights are out and sleep is still coming there is that moment when even the staunchest dub will know what you have written is true....painfully true.
• 

  els

  Metatron, I totally agree with you, you get back what you show your children. I won't say mine are perfect but they were not raised as witnesses and they are pretty incredible. What's interesting is that just before things happened this summer and they started shunning me, my mother and my sister (both avid JWs) told me that my kids were the kindest and most respectful of all the grandchildren. I was actully amazed that they would admit that. I remember when my kids were little and my brother was criticizing how I was raising them, I told him to wait till they were grown and and then we would see. Well he hasn't seen or heard from his son in two years and his daughter just moved away to be with a wordly guy. I guess we can't compare notes though cause no one is speaking to me. els
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  Bendrr

  Metatron, of all your posts that one touched me so much. It makes me look at my relationship with my parents and my younger brother and it makes me miss them so much.

  Mike.
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  Dia

  Thank you. You are an excellent 'stand-in' for those who will probably never see. I hope you don't mind if I just absorb it as if it were my very own, speaking just to me.
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  ugg

  "applause" "applause" thank you.....i wish i could turn back the hands of time
• 

  ashitaka

  Absolutely. Great post for lurkers. Sometimes people need to be hit over the head to realize what they're really doing to their JW kids.

  ash