Has Your JW Background Benefited You In Any Way?

by minimus 44 Replies latest jw friends

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  hoser

  I don’t smoke cigarettes and have public speaking skills
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  AFRIKANMAN

  I was TMO for 15 years and RC speaker for many years - it definitely has had a reasonable ++ spinoff - I have also managed to launch a business in Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Training based largely on the skills gained there.
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  compound complex

  . . . I invited my friends, and to my surprise they loved the idea of spending what I thought was supposed to be a family-oriented day, with me and not with their families. -- scratchme1010

  Thanks for that observation. It gives me a clearer perspective when feeling down about my family situation.

  Should I say "non-family" situation?
  
  
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  JaniceA

  Nope. Not at all. Unless having a great JW/B.S. radar counts. My non JW parent was pretty sensible though, So I can attribute it to good raisin'.
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  LV101

  scratchme1010: Perfect/you're spot on! Goes along with just fine's "shunning and manipulation and made me realize no one was going to save me . . . " is my toxic family of origin -- except when they needed something.
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  LV101

  Answer to question - NO! Had good father, Grandmother, Aunt that raised me. I couldn't believe how unethical JWs were - there were about 3 that were decent, ethical, human beings.
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  minimus

  Public speaking seems to be a popular response. And I agree it has helped me in business.
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  ttdtt

  No.

  Any small benefit, I would have had 10 fold if I had gone to college and just had a normal life.

  And the negatives are mountainous.
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  WTWizard

  The only doctrine I agree with is the proscription on smoking cancer sticks. There are many teachings they get on with the teaching only to blow it totally on executing (that is, they want people to not do something they really should be doing, or to do something that is dangerous to the soul and helpful in mass enslavement of the world). And even the smoking ban is no reason to break up families--I think it is stupid, not so much wicked, to smoke cancer sticks.
  
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  DesirousOfChange

  Had good father, Grandmother, Aunt that raised me.

  Me, too. But they were all JWs. So do I credit them, or the religion with the fact that I (the only JW kid) was the only kid not to get involved in drugs, or get arrested, etc. as did most of my male cousins -- at least half of whom are still "losers" in life? Or was it some of both?
  

  Yes there were other JW kids in the Cong that did all those things, so the religion is not a protection from those things unless you "practice" the religion or live my that "moral code".

  I do give some credit to the TMS for encouraging public speaking, but I always thought that most of the excellent speakers in the Congs/Circus/District were the personalities that would have had that extrovert style and would have been comfortable with speaking even if not JWs (and just Amway members).

  I don't regret living by the code of morality I was taught as a JW. Unlike some, I don't even regret not celebrating Christmas, Halloween, etc. What I blame the religion for is the discouraging me (and others) of having secular goals of accomplishing more in life. I pinned my future to the Panda Petting Paradise bullshit, because I was gullible/foolish enough to really believe it. I'm confident that many of the a$$holes at WT all knew that it was BULLSHIT even when they were selling it to the Flock so they could fleece them for their own personal benefit.