Besides giving up our time and assets,is there anything that you particularly felt that you truly "gave up" to become or remain a Witness?
What Did You Give Up To Be A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus 32 Replies latest jw friends
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OrbitingTheSun
My true love.
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Sirona
My spirituality.
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teenyuck
My family on both sides. The religion caused divisions that date to my being 5 years old. 35 years later, I have no relationship with 99% of my relatives...father's or mother's side.
Not being able to see family during holidays, etc. really creates a wall.
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Funchback
When I first started going (about 8 years old) I gave up Christmas and Birthday's.
When I became inactive (at 14 years old and baptized) and began to come back (17 years old), I gave up most of my true friends.
When I still was struggling off and on with my comeback (about 20 years old), I fell in love with a "worldly" girl. I truly, really loved her. I gave her up because I didn't want to be unevenly yoked.
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Dizzy Cat
1. A sense of magic - everything slowly faded to grey
2. Cannabis - some would say a good thing
3. Birthdays - not a huge sacrifice
4. Sanity - became very depressed after two years of service
5. Interesting friends who had their own ideas and were allowed to be different
6. A sense of security - suddenly the world became demon infested and dark
.... decent dress sense
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OrbitingTheSun
Poor Funchback...I lost my love by the same reasoning. Have you ever loved again since losing her?
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minimus
The majority have given up their own special individuality.
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Mutz
I gave up the chance to go on with my education as an engineer to degree level thanks to the "what do you want to do that fooooor, armageddon will be here soon" brigade. I gave up the love of a gentle sweet woman to keep my witness family happy. I gave up having a 'life' and freedom to live it the way I wanted in order to follow the dictates of some old farts in Brooklyn and their local stooges. I guess I am pretty pissed off about it :)
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NeonMadman
Let's see:
Family: My father remarried the same year I got baptized (my mother had died when I was born). Because I was becoming a JW, I was not invited to live with my father and stepmother, but continued to live with my grandparents.
Education: Couldn't go to college after I graduated high school in 1969 - Armageddon would most likely be here before I even got my degree!
Happiness: I became clinically depressed after a few years as a JW and remained so until I left the group (and my JW ex-wife left me).
Girlfriend: I was madly in love with my girlfriend during my senior year in high school. Because I was becoming a JW, I stopped seeing her. This one has a happy ending, though. When I left the JW's for the final time at the age of 48, I contacted her, to find out that she had been widowed a few years earlier. Now she's my wife.
Integrity: I spent way too many years conforming to JW teachings and practices at the expense of my own conscience.
Edited by - NeonMadman on 3 December 2002 9:48:51