by JNS2 29 Replies latest jw friends
: wonder, among all the ex-JWs here, are there some who were exemplary in all these areas that still managed to come out from under the control of the WTS?
I was also a super dub and I got out. I think reading the shit they published so studiously helped me to see what a joke the dubs are.
Farkel
No matter how much you do, you never do enough. So maybe you were lucky.
I never studied as much as I should have, I never was able to read the Bible every day, I did not get to all the meetings, I never managed to read the daily text every day, I did not read all the literature as it streamed out, I rarely read the releases cover to cover as they came out at the assemblies, I rarely read the WT & Awake cover to cover each week, I quickly studied the WT for the Sunday study (underlined so as not to feel ashamed if someone noticed), I didn't pray as much as I should have, I was never as zealous in field service as I should have been, I assiciated too much with "worldly" people, & on & on.
JNS2, the thing is, doing those things has little to do with spirituality and lots to do with mind control.
Any JWs that do all those things do not remain "strong" JWs due to being spiritual; it is due to being too busy to think for themselves, a common mind control tactic. High control groups like to keep you very busy doing repititious stuff for them. This has two effects: it keeps you too busy to think critically about what you are learning, and the repetitiuous nature bores your brain so it just accepts what it is told.
So, you see, you did nothing wrong. And I agree with the others; "falling away" is a negative term that implies you did something wrong.....what happened was you had an awakening, a positive term that lets you know you did something right.
Richard
Why did I fall away from the truth???
Gravity. The weight of evidence against so many teachings finally grounded me on something a little more solid: logic.
Strange thing is that elders often are the worst offenders when it comes to personal study, field service, etc.
I have read both the new books from last summer but I would bet that none of the elders in our congregation have. None of them would be able to tell you what the major changes are between the old Worship book and the new. A pity really, as the biggest change is the omission of the chapter on blood.
Eyeslice
The only purpose in all that study is to keep you too busy to read anything contrary to their teachings ,
Like all of us you wised up, not fell away.
When the penny dropped for me I was the Watchtower Study Conductor, The Congregation Secretary and a Book Study Conductor and served over 20 years as an elder. Ok i am not saying I did everything that one was supposed to, but pretty much.
It did not prevent me from changing my views .
Don't let yesterday take up too much of today. Or any of today. Face your new and improved future head on and don't look back. Face forward and live in the infinite NOW. You're already an eternal being, what's 22 years? Mere training. Now you know not to follow any man or organization of men ever again. Cheap at the price. Forward go!!!
francois
Thanks for the comforting thoughts! I am thankful for seeing the light with still some time left for breathing free air. I used to wonder about those religious zealots that go around beating themselves with chains, cutting themselves, etc & wonder how anyone could be so crazy. But when I think back on what my life was like & the schedule I kept, I wonder what is really crazier. When I think of driving around for all morning in field service or even all day, going all over town making return visits where noone was home, back & forth, I can hardly imagine anything much more tortuous. And the meetings. Maybe self flagelation isn't so bad after all.
JN,
***When I think of driving around for all morning in field service or even all day, going all over town making return visits where noone was home, back & forth,***
Imagine the 1,000's of gallons of gasoline consumed (wasted) by jw's 'car groups' over the past 100+ year's. How many acres of forest have been sacrificied to the WT god, in the form of pulp for making paper?
Considering how quickly the Wt printed materials turn into 'old light', when if ever will the WTBS be held accountable for the henious amount of waste they have been responsible for?
What other publishing company, has ignored demand by actual reader's, and simply decided to print millions of copies of publications?
Armed with a salesforce of fanaticaly loyal non paid zealots, who will purchase at thier own expense every single copy of each and every publication, knowing they will probably trash a majority anyway, must give the publishing house, carte blanche as respests the quality and content of what they write. Think maybe?
Of course they must organize 'sales rally's' on a regular basis. At these 'conventions' they must build up anticipation for the 'new light' (which will be 'old' before the next rally), causing thier all volunteer sales force to stand in long lines, seeking (just one copy) of the new publication. 98% of these eager 'publisher's' knowing full well they will never even crack the book open, until they are back at their local sales headquarter's (KH), where they will find hundreds of copies of the same publication waiting for them to sell. Most will purchase thier entire allotment without ever reading a word of this new material.
Scam is just not the word. I can't think of a bigger rip off perpetuated on so many, for so long a period of time.
What is really sad, is so many of us did all of the above and more, without ever giving it a second thought. So JN join the rest of us who are simply glad, finally to have awakened to the ruse.
Glad you woke up.
Danny
I was a "model" JW for about 30 years, read all the pubs I could get my hands on, including all of Rutherford's books (written before my time, but still golden nuggets of truth hehe). Viewed what the WTS said and did as being virtually the word of God. RP, Bethel, MS....buduh buduh buduh.
The flip side was that I took the "urge to study" into other areas, like learning Hebrew, Greek and Latin so that I could even more thoroughly understand the "truth." The seeds of doubt were sown, as I progressively saw that much of Society dogma was just one possibility among many. But I continued to "run a racket" on myself anyway. Then I went to college ("had" to, mid-life career change) and water was added to those seeds.
One thing that helped me along the way was finding out what "truth" is, and what it is not. The Biblical concept of truth is "openness, sincerity, a 'not-hiding' ." It is not the possession of a body of correct doctrine, but the process of openly learning. "The truth shall set you free" is correct, when the concept of "truth" is understood properly. "Truth" as the WTS uses it enslaves. And the way they use the phrase "the truth" is patently wrong.
So, here I am today, finally and for the first time really taking Jesus' advice and becoming free as I truthfully learn.
Craig
PS: Another way of putting it...I didn't fall away from the truth, I fell into the truth.
Edited by - onacruse on 11 January 2003 10:13:26
