Quit smoking-- Quit cursing! & It helped me stay with my abusive hubby-If I had left him & learned later of the horrible way he suffered -before he died-I would have felt guilty- Now I know I did everything in my power to give him comfort while he suffered so. I can live with my self.But he was right- he told me the WT would stick a knife in my back-----( Guess I was married to a TRUE prophet)
Name Something Positive About Being A Witness
by minimus 75 Replies latest jw friends
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TresHappy
Like cruzanheart, I certainly did learn the JW version of the Bible. I could thump better than most back in those days.
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acsot
I know more Jewish history than most Jews.
Ditto for me, I often have to fill in details on Jewish laws/customs/history to my boss, a non-religious Reform Jew.
I learned two other languages fluently; others here in the office who have learned Spanish, even doing graduate studies in Spain, have asked me for help in translating things, so all those meetings/field service/preparation sure helps in learning a language.
I've travelled to Egypt and Israel which I will never regret, and I know I would not have visited these areas had I not been a Witness. I'm also glad I know my way around the Bible.
And if my former classmates in my hometown are any example of how I may have ended up, I'm probably in better health physically (no smoking, no drugs, no STD) because of being a Witness.
Sorry Minimus, this probably isn't what you were looking for ! Being in the borg for me actually wasn't a total loss.
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NeonMadman
Much as it disturbs me to give the evil borg credit for anything, I must admit that I learned most of my sales skills from them. And I do currently make my living as a salesman.
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La Capra
Ditto on the Jewish History. Knowing the Torah and the Prophets is making my conversion very easy.
Shoshana -
Nosferatu
- It drove me to do self-analysis and self-improvement. I decided to make myself a better person than what I had become because of the religion.
- I saved a lot of money not buying xmas gifts.
- Publicly speaking in front of a large crowd.
- I learned how to tell people what they wanted to hear, even though I didn't believe in it myself.
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NameWithheld
Ummmm. I guess nothing's coming to mind.
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SheilaM
I met my hubby
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Liberty
Everything everyone has stated is valid. We did learn much while JWs but we are still trapped into thinking things are important when they really might not be without our religious goggles on. Knowledge of the Bible in the modern age is about as important as having knowledge of the Koran, Book Of Mormon, or ancient Egyptian death spells. Bible knowlege is really only important if your culture thinks it is. Many people today who have no Bible knowledge live good lives and make fine livings because they spent their time learning valued skills in the scientific age instead of superstitious mumbo jumbo and skewed region specific history. I would trade all my Bible knowledge for a Computer Science degree. It is possible to have both but my Bible knowledge is really useless except when it comes to arguing with religious fanatics, so it would have been easier to just spend the time and effort on useful and productive knowledge for the real world. Also many of us paint a dark picture of ourselves had it not been for the Watch Tower's teachings yet most "worldly" people I know are not dying of STDs, are not drug addicts, and are not smoking so I think we credit the Society for far too much, which is understandable since we were brainwashed over and over again about how bad we'd be if it wasn't for the Watch Tower's iron hand to save us from ourselves. In short, any learning has value but Watch Tower learning tends to be over inflated by us exJWs because we are still hoping to find something positive in our years of wasted time and victimhood. We hope we recieved some benifit from our captivity but we should always temper that hope with a good dose of reality.
Edited by - Liberty on 17 January 2003 12:26:12
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calamityjane
I learned to kick butt, especially after all those years of abuse from kids at school. Wasn't that fun! NOT. Which reminds me I gotta start another thread, unless somebody beats me to it.