Don't stress Brumm. Take a deep breath, have a cuppa and call it all good. No need to pack it in because the Philistines are at your door.
Jehovahs Witness Logical Fallacies.pt1
by Brummie 27 Replies latest jw experiences
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Lady Lee
Bradley: We (as a group) need to be more aware of what we think and say.
Well Bradley I sort of agree. The problem is that we are individuals. We do not have a leader or spokesperson to speak for us as if we were united. We aren't. We have a wide range of beliefs and opinions. And that is as it should be.
I think that to try to unite us to speak with one voice - all in agreement - is to take us back to what we just escaped from.
Some people might be put off by the anger that some display. But reading the anger of some might give others the freedom to disclose their own anger.
Personally the extreme anger bothers me - a remnant of my past. I hate name-calling and bad-mouthing people. But I am willing to call a spade a spade if it is honest and deserved.
JMHO
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acsot
We begin to live a “wilderness” existence
Brummie:
Thank you for your post. The above describes exactly what I went through for years. I felt that I could never live up to what the Society (yes, the WTS, not a couple of local elders, not Sister Gossip, but the Watchtower Society), I was depressed and insecure, and finally came to the conclusion that (i) I probably was not good enough to live through Armageddon, and/or (ii) if many of the ones in the congregation were the type of people I'd have to live with forever, then I preferred not surviving Armageddon. Hence, the wilderness.
Posts like yours are extremely important Brummie. Keep them coming.
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HadEnuf
I have always felt that the crap filters down from the top and not from the bottom up. Our experience with the local elders over a period of many years was that we just had a bunch of brainless, interrelated, jerks running the show. Most of our friends from other congregations would point out that it was a local problem and suggested all kinds of great solutions like packing up and moving, or attending a congregation in the next town etc. With young children and ailing parents on both sides, this was not an option. So we plugged along for years really believing that the corruption and power mongering was a local phenomenon. It was only when the elders finally kicked us once too many times that we decided to take matters to the CO (no help; best friends with all local elders); DO (did help somewhat but advised us to take it to society); and thus finally to the Boy's Club in New York. We talked and wrote to those guys for over a year and found out that, contrary to our former naive beliefs; they were just as ignorant, coldhearted and merciless as the local elders. Go figure. So my husband and I said we're outta here.
Until you deal directly with the big boys in New York...and I mean the service dept. AND the governing body itself...the rank and file haven't a clue to how these guys really are. They just go along thinking that problems are of a local nature and just because one group of elders is corrupt it doesn't mean the whole organization should take a bad rap. But as I said in my opening statement...the crap filters down in the organization and pollutes everything it touches. Until the internet came along, a witness who was having doubts or questions about the organization was pretty much doomed to not having any access to what was going on all around the earth with the witnesses and lack of love, corruption, hypocrisy, etc. They were taught to believe that most problems with elders were localized and uncommon. Arghhhhhhhhh!! When I finally worked up the courage to investigate some of these x-witness sites and read Crisis of Conscience/In Search of Christian Freedom (thanks Ray)...my rose colored glasses fell off and shattered in a thousand pieces. And I ain't gonna get them fixed either .
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Brummie
Thank you for your post. The above describes exactly what I went through for years. I felt that I could never live up to what the Society (yes, the WTS, not a couple of local elders, not Sister Gossip, but the Watchtower Society), I was depressed and insecure, and finally came to the conclusion that (i) I probably was not good enough to live through Armageddon
Acsot, thank you. That is an aweful expereince to go through, unfortunately so many here must have gone through a similar crisis. When one considers the anxiety and depression a JW has to go through to get out, the gossip & actions of local JWs pales into insignificance. The Society is the criminal and the root of the evil we experienced. Sorry you had to go through it.
HadEnuf, great post, I think that just about sums it up. What comes from the top is appalling abuse, to try and water the experience down by pinning the blame on local elders or on us "apostates" for getting the wrong perspective is a lame attempt to whitewash or avoid the real issues.
Thanks you guys.
Oh BT, I had a dozen cuppas and I have to tell you, that was great advice.
edited to add: I am not saying some local elders are free from accusation, they are responsible for how harshly they practised the Society doctrine. Still, the Society has never told drawn a line on how much authority an elder has when its using its iron rod.
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Panda
Brummie, This is an great thread for all of us to rethink what our WTS years consisted of and how we dealt with issues which confronted us.
I remember thinking that "my sisters" had no reason to stay home when they should be pioneering. I remember not so much the gossip but always wanting the last word or the "power position" to make others feel bad. Why? Because even at pioneer school I felt unworthy to serve Jehovah, like nothing I did would ever be enough. But The only solace I got was from a tear stained pillow. Even my husband (a pioneer elder) Didn't understand my saddness. My own insecurity made me mean to others. I think this happens w/elders a lot too. They feel inferior somehow and must make up for it with meaness. So I became more non-chalantly uppity, every chance I got to float my pioneer flag. Finally, I realized how unchristian the whole game of service really was and did I want to continue? Nope. And little by little other pieces of individual thoughts crept in... you know the rest.
The WTS gov.bod. are certainly responsible for the trickle down evil which they do promote through their iron prod of law. The patriarchal system only encourages misogynistic behavior.
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Brummie
Panda, sorry I only just saw your post. I wanted to say thanks, I really do appreciate it. It makes a lot os sense to me and it cuts to the core of the real issues we face in our lives when we have fallen foul of a vicious cult.
Sorry you had to go through it also, its a mean existance. Glad you got out.
Brummie
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Bangalore
Great info.
Bangalore