How Screwed Up Are You Because You Were A Jehovah's Witness??? (page 5)

asleif_dufansdottir

My guess is, very few people on earth are not "screwed up" to some degree.

However, the problem with the org is, you're not only screwed up (to a greater or lesser extent, by alcoholism in your family, or abuse, or whatever), you are given bad advice on how to deal with it. Horrible advice. Warped advice. Advice that makes the situation infinitely worse (usually).

You are not only given the advice, you are pressured to apply it. Browbeaten into applying it. Threatened with eternal destruction, not only to apply it, but to believe it is good, balanced, wonderful advice, when all evidence and most of your common sense screams at you that it is not.

In short, the organization not only makes your life worse, it browbeats you into twisting your mind into thinking it's better. And browbeats you with guilt if you don't either follow the advice or believe it's good.

In short, it screws with your mind and guts your trust in your own judgement. This is very bad.

rocky220

Herk.....you said it!!!!!!...

I personally found my self-esteem always under attack, I was never good enough......rocky220

Charmed

LOL! Those cartoons are great!!

I think I actually turned out pretty good despite being raised as a JW. Both my parents came from abusive homes. My mother's mother and father were neglectful and mentally abusive. My dad's dad was physically abusive. That's actually the reason they started searching for religion after they had my sister in the first place. They wanted to learn about the Bible, so they could raise their kids right. They were so worried they'd turn out like their parents. And, if you look at all my cousins, I have turned out better than them. Maybe some people need a strict religion to tell them what to do and how to do everything all the time. I don't know. I don't blame them for trying to be good parents. I just wish that they thought they'd done a good job on me too. I'm 24 yrs. old. I married my first love. I got my bachelor's from a private university that I put myself through with the help of scholarships. I have a good job. I try to be a good person. Yet, all they see is that I'm not active in the "truth," therefore they must have screwed up raising me somewhere. It hurts that they are so disappointed in me.

blondie

I read everyone's responses and each one is right for them. We can only answer for how we feel and maybe, maybe what someone close to us has shared. All these points of view are valid for the one sharing it.

I have non-JW family members and they weren't much help with the alcoholism and abuse issues. They too lived in the land of denial. So I have no doubt that even if I had not been associated with JWs, solutions would not have been more forthcoming.

I know this, if I had not been a JW, I would have killed my parents rather than find another escape. For that I am glad.

So we each answer for ourselves. I was read an article not too long ago that talked about why some children come out of abusive situations with little psychological damage and others are almost destroyed. If anyone out there, has one handy, it might be interesting to post it and see what the survival/coping mechanisms are.

Blondie

herk

Blondie,

some children come out of abusive situations with little psychological damage and others are almost destroyed.

I really doubt that anyone, even the best psychologist or psychiatrist, can really know to what extent a person is actually harmed by abusive situations. For some, the damage might not be apparent until later in life. Every experience we have--even every word we've ever heard--is registered somewhere in our brain and can have an influence on us under the right or wrong circumstances.

The fact that you acknowledge that some "are almost destroyed" is sufficient evidence that WT influence is not healthy for anybody.

I heard somebody say once that WT influence is like wine. For some people--those who know how to handle their liquor--wine can be beneficial. On the other hand, wine is dangerous when it's imbibed excessively. The problem is that the WT Society isn't content with people imbibing its teachings in moderation. The Society demands total immersion, something that is ultimately harmful in one way or another to any normal human being.

You feel that you have personally benefited from being a JW. And I agree that anyone can gain some benefits by being a JW. However, overall, when comparing the good with the bad, I don't see how any reasonable person can honestly suggest that being a JW is basically a good thing in any way, shape or form. I deal with so many ex-JWs who are healing or trying to heal from their spiritual and emotional scars that I can't help but warn anyone and everyone to just simply swear off on WT intoxication before it ever gets started.

Some really sad cases I know of are old men and women who spent most of their lives as JWs and who now have very little means of financial support--small pension, very little other income and living in loneliness with very few relatives and friends, if any. In fact, I know of one who has to confine himself to one meal a day and who is constantly in fear of someday being thrown out on the street. I also know of JWs still in the organization who would leave immediately if they didn't fear that kind of thing happening to them.

wannaexit

Not really screwed up but disillusioned and disappointed at having wasted half of my life in the pursuit of nothing.

If I can say something positive about the whole experience its this: I probably wouldn't be digging in the

scriptures today had it not been for my experience in the org. I guess I have to give them credit for that.

How Screwed Up Are You Because You Were A Jehovah's Witness???

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