When you were fully in, did you believe that you would not die? (page 4)

Spiral

At first I did, growing up in the 60s and 70s. Everyone seemed to, so as I child I remember thinking "they can't all be wrong." The 1975 mess didn't throw me off too much, because I thought that if we didn't know they day and hour, how could we be so sure 1975 was the year.

But later - I started to realize that the natural world just doesn't work that way. Why does everything else exist, live, and then die (or be replaced, as in nature) but humans would be on this recycling program of sorts. What makes us so special? It didn't make sense. Also, I began to realize that people are followers, and if they want something bad enough they'll do whatever mental gymnastics it takes to keep their belief going.

I agree with undercover, once I starting doubting all the beliefs just became ridiculous. I regret not doing a lot of things while I was younger, so to be honest I am trying to play catch up. It is a harsh realization to know you could die at any time, but it makes you want to really live in the now.

eewx2

Yes, I believed I would not die. I believed I wouldn't get old. Now I am the big 4-0, and grapple with the idea of growing older. I, too thought that I would go thru Armageddon and be with my husband forever. Now I know that I must cherish this life to the best of my ability, but sometimes it is still hard to think I don't have eternity to do whatever I want.

flipper

ttwsyf - the dislike was likely a mistake.

I think the jws who think they will live forever are the ones most likely to shun their own kids. They like to say it's done to bring them back to the truth, but after years go by and the kids are still out, you'd think they'd get a clue. They are shunning to save their own butts.

Human survival instinct gone selfishly awry.

Mrs. Flipper

Freeandclear

I was 15 or so when I first heard the "good news" and about living forever in Paradise on Earth. So from that moment on I pretty much believed I would end up there, in Paradise. I didn't know if I would see armageddon or if I would even live through the GT but either way I'd end up alive forever in the big P.

When I became fully awake about a year ago now I had to face reality. I would indeed one day die, and not too far off either. Life is short and time gets faster and faster (from our perspective) as we age. I'm 44 now and I know that the next two decades of my life will simply seem to fly by. I don't expect to live much past 70 to be honest. I have a shitty lifestyle and don't really take care of my self....my issues..... so yeah, it's gonna happen. Everyone dies, it's that simple.

That was a hard pill to swallow for a while and I had an existential crisis for a couple of months, but I'm actually completely at peace with the idea now. It helps me to appreciate and enjoy each day that I'm alive and breathing. What happens after death is anyone's guess. We really don't know and we can't know. Chances are pretty good that nothing happens. It's just the end. Lights out forever. But the "idea" of something else happening is something that ALL humans cling to.

We are unique in one very big aspect, we can look ahead into the future and see how things will play out, to a degree. No other animals can do this that we know of. So HUMAN's have invented God because to see our own deaths and not think there might be something more is terrifying to say the least. The idea of our own eventual end is shocking and thus we created the idea of God and all the various religions along with it as a defense mechanism to combat this fear of death and to help us keep living our lives with some measure of hope and happiness. This is the conclusion that I've come to after many months of thought and research on this idea and topic.

We will die. We will probably be dead for real. BUT the idea of something more gives me hope (and yes, I know it's probably ridiculous but whatever....as long as it helps me get through life now I don't care).... lol

Tallon

I liked the idea of living forever and deep down hoped that this teaching is true however, as the years went by it dawned on me that it was a fallacy.

nicolaou

I tried to explain to my brother that everyone else who has ever lived in the past has died and only Jesus has [physically] rose from the dead.

Oooh, so close.

But to answer your question, yes I believed.

Ucantnome

I believed that I had the possibility of living forever and never growing old. There was the possibility of dying from illness, as one young witness did that I knew, or in some accident.

Surviving Armageddon was not totally secure in my mind as I believed it was the organization that would survive and not necessarily the individual.

As a young person the prospect of unfortunately dying from one of these situations and coming back very shortly in the resurrection with no prospect of sex or marriage was a depressing thought as was the thought of the elders being princes in the earth.

Phizzy

Ucantnome, that was my belief and feelings exactly.

After I had been out for a couple of months, I had a conversation with a XJW girl who had been out for some years, she stunned me when she pointed out : " But Phizzy, we ALL have to die !"

I had not confronted my mortality at that point, I proceeded to do so.

The idea of living forever is a wonderful dream, or of a really wonderful Afterlife as the Vicar described it at a Funeral we attended today, but I fear such ideas have no basis.

Therefore Carpe Diem is the best motto, "seize the day", or better "hunt down the day", in other words, do the very best we can with whatever time we have.

Worldling9

The JWs appeal to a base level of ego with their fairy tale. IMHO one would have to be a narcissist or emotionally immature to buy it. My mother was a narcissist; I was a child.

Xanthippe

Yes I did believe I wouldn't die. I believed in the new system. Why would anyone stay in that miserable religion if they really didn't believe it?

When you were fully in, did you believe that you would not die?

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