by obiwan 38 Replies latest jw friends
one of my most vivid memories was as an 8 year old child when i still believed everything they spouted. i can remember sitting there while they went on and on about how the man is the head of the household and makes the decisions and on and on... and i remember thinking, at 8 mind you, that i could never get married because i could never ever be that way. lol this alone leads me to believe had i not been raised a jw i would not have been interested.
jackie
I would give a definite no, to that one. If I had not been raised in the "truth", I would never have accepted it. The idea of a god that killed, was repugnant to me. It ate at my soul. I "tried" to be a good Witness in my early life, only because it was so deeply programmed into me. Eventually my heart screamed out, and I could no longer pray to such a god, and I was disfellowshipped. JamesT
Brought up in it. Left at 21 neither dfd or da'd.
Having totally deprogrammed myself over the past 3 years, I am utterly astonished (particularly in this day with a world of information at our fingertips) how any rational adult who gets 'cold called' by the Watchtower can be taken in by the purile drivel spouted by the Watchtower Society. The very first thing anyone does before making a commitment of any magnitude is RESEARCH, taking into account all points of view. It is very obvious now that the Watchtower only makes converts of the downtrodden, depressed etc because anyone with half a brain will run a mile before becoming involved with this mindless pap and its legalistic rules.
I continually stand amazed that people like my parents can day in, day out remain inside this cult and not see it for what it is. Especially in view of the heartache this evil religion has perpetrated on our family over the years.
Would I be attracted to the Watchtower now as a grown man if I hadn't been brought up in it? Not on your life!!!
6
Even though I was raised a jw I don't think I would describe myself as a religious person, spiritual yes, but religious no. It's always been easy for me to turn sales people away and their coming to the door would have appeared to me as a salesperson wanting to sell me something. I don't think I would have been easily duped.
BTW, Hi, this is my first post here. I've been a reader for a while. I finally decided to jump in and post a response.
ML
It's always hard to predict what life would have been like IF...
If I had not been raised a JW, my entire outlook, behaviour and attitude would be different. I would have probably been raised Lutheran, because that's what my parents once were. I think I wouldn't have been rased as strictly. Without being raised as strictly (mentally, doctrinally, etc), I might not have felt confined and probably would not have been driven to rebel and probably would have turned out like my cousins. Descent people that have a religion, but aren't zealots about it. As a result of my JW experience, I now distrust religions in general.
At some later point in life, who knows? From what I've seen of the Lutheran religion, it's more ceremony than Bible discussion. If the JWs came knocking at my door, confusing me about beliefs and showing me "proof" from a Bible that I believed in, but never read, I may have been suckered in. They sometimes "seem" to know their Bibles and take a scripture here and there and frame it into this pretty picture of me living in a paradise. I have to imagine that's how my dad was taken in.
Though I'm different from my parents in many ways, I'm a product of them and in many ways we're the same. If they were taken in, it's possible I could have been to.
It never bothered me much to be different or lonely while growing up. I looked at it as a badge of honor to suffer for my beliefs. But, after I got baptized and started reading the Bible on my own without the publications to aide me, I discovered what a crock the WTS is. Within the past couple of years, thanks to this site, my eyes have been opened even more. I could never go back.
Robyn
I often thought about that while i was still going. I came to the conclusion that there was no way i would have ever let the jws into my life because i am and i think always have totally non religious. I mean i feel like i haven't got a spiritual bone in my body.
Kwiji.
I often wonder what makes a grown adult join the JW`s.I was raised in it and watched the daily insanity.I was forced to participate in it,and couldn`t get out fast enough when I was old enough to do so..There are many captive dub kids who will do the same when they come of age..So many WBTS members are under age and enslaved to the WBTS,with the permission and enforcement of their parents.....OUTLAW
Obiwan,
I was raised in the "TruthTM". At some point after I left, I came to the realization that I had "outgrown" these antiquated beliefs. It felt wonderful to know that. I felt that I had taken great strides in my personal growth. It may have worked for my parents (NOT). . . they certainly didn't know that what they taught me was not going to work in my life. Going back to the WTS would not happen to me, since I would be taking mega-steps . . . "backwards". . .
ESTEE
My moment of truth came when I was driving my car out in service one day past a jewish synagogue. I saw these small hasidic jewish kids, with the top hats on and long spiralled side burns. It was amazing how time stood still as I watched these kids, and it was at that moment I said to myself, wow!! those poor kids have their lives completely mapped out for them from such a young age, they have absolutely no choice in how they will worship God. Then it hit me! Neither did I. It was at that point I decided to do a totally unprejiduced search into my own upbringing. Didnt take long for me to see how badly I was deceived being brought up in the cult they call Jehovahs witnesses.
