Fornicating, I guess, but I got over it.
What Things Used To Bother Your Conscience???
by minimus 33 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
It's AMAZING that we were all on such a guilt trip. We were told that it was wrong to let our conscience be our guide. It was our "Bible-trained conscience" that had to guide us. Or put another way, "our organizationally controlled conscience".
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blondie
Actually controlled by the conscience of others:
One elder
Body of elders
Elder's wife
Eccentric brother with connections with sensitive conscience
Eccentric sister with sensitive conscience who pesters the elders to death
Books on spiritual abuse talk often about the "unwritten" rules. What a wonderful platform to launch them from: conscience.
The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse
by David Johnson , Jeff VanvonderenBreaking the Silence on an Abuse Within the Church That Leaves Christians Feeling "Used," Manipulated and Shamed.
Churches are meant to be safe places where spiritual leaders help and equip the members for the work of service. There are some churches, however, where leaders use their spiritual authority to control and dominate others, attempting to meet their own needs for importance, power, intimacy or spiritual gratification. Through the subtle use of the right "spiritual" words, church members are manipulated or shamed into certain behaviors or performance that ensnares in legalism, guilt and begrudging service.
This is spiritual abuse, and the results can be shattering. Deeply ingrained spiritual codes of written and unwritten rules control and condemn, wounding believers' spirits and keeping them from the grace and joy of God's kingdom. Believers find themselves enslaved to a system, a leader, a standard of performance that saps true spiritual life.
This is a message for Christians who feel they are spiritually abused and for those who might be causing it. Authors VanVonderen and Johnson address these important themes and point the way toward freedom:
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orangefatcat
what use to bother my conscience was little, I was not all that sensitive. not until the end when I decided to leave. I would see one brother make googoo eyes at my sister who was married and he was married too and I told my sister this elder is on the make for you. and she would deny it over and over and I told her deny it all you want but just watch all he does is call you his little nimrod and put his arms around you and snuggle up to you and you can't figure this out for yourself and this man is a elder hurting his dear sweet wife and two beautiful children. He soon moved away to Phoneix for canada and he would call my sister during the day. I told her, how stupid can you be, any brother who calls you in the middle of the day while he is at work, has bad intentions and is acting wrong.
I use to watch the affluent brothers who had mega bucks invite the rich and others who had positions and even several from Bethel to go to his home for freshly flown in Lobster and shrimps from the east coast, they would make a huge spread of wonderful delicacies and the best of wines and drinks would flow the day and evening long. My sister and her husband always were invited he had money, she would tell me about this and she told me to not tell others in the kingdom hall for fear of hurting other peoples feelings. Of course she never thought of my feelings. Some how she always managed to get an invite for my mom but never for us. I don't really care but it was the others in their hall that were deprived, and doesn''t the bible say when you through a feast invite all. Talk about segregation
what about brothers and sisters who would go to the movies to see r rated pictures and hope no one would see them, or watch the movie to see if it is fit for their children to go an see. That pissed me off.
I would see such hypocricy that it would make anyones consciences stand up on end. Perhaps towards the end when I made my descsions to leave the Organization, I would see more and more reasons why things were troubling my conscience. There was no love being shown, I would see families bicker over finicial woes to the point where one of the families would move away from the congregation and lie about the reasons. I seen people in the truth not wanting to open their doors to a fellow witness to associtate with them, as they had a bothersome personality. A sister and elder husband in the ministry with a brother who was a pain in the neck, was told by the sister to shut up and the husband said nothing...
My damn list can go on and on and on.. Whats the point, its making me crazy. I can't stand being annoyed by jerks who once made me miserable. Those days are gone and thank God for that. I has taken me since Dec 1999 to relax and unwinde from a world that was suppose to be lead only by the fruitages of the spirit. Mostly Love.
Suffering several nervousbreakdonws is not what i call living a happy Christian life. I believe the Org. has cause people to become enemies unto themselves and to their family and it takse years to deprogram yourself from their trap.
Orangefatcat...
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undercover
What bothered my conscience? For me the question could be, "whtt bothered my conscience because certain things didn't bother my conscience?" Does that make sense?
I watched R-rated movies. No conscience bothering there. But then there would be a talk or assembly part about not watching them. Then I was bothered because I didn't seem to see the problem.
I liked to drink. Never to absolute drunkeness but sometimes too much. Didn't bother my conscience until the part on drinking too much. Again it bothered me that it didn't bother me.
I liked porn and pics of hot babes, which usually led to masturbation. Same deal. Didn't feel remorse or conscience stricken. Then there would be the part about masturbating being wrong. Then I would question myself as to why I didn't feel bad about doing it.
Looking back on it, I think that maybe the WTS didn't have a complete hold on my mind as they did others or as they wished they had on all their followers. I don't think that I ever was a "spiritual" person, despite being raised a witness. I think some people need spirituality in their lives more than others and they seek that while others have a way of coping with life as it is, without wondering if there is something better or greater. Now that I am free of the control of any religion, I feel that I don't need religion or God to be happy. I now doubt the validity of the Bible as God's word. I doubt the existance of a God, or a god as the churches like to preach about.
I am free but imprisoned at the same time. Free from the control of a oppressive religion but not free from the ramifications for leaving that way of life. I am looked down on and shunned by some. I am hounded by elders. Some of my family question my sanity. That bothers me more than any "sin" that I committed as a JW.
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Skeptic
Nothing. I thought most of the rules were stupid, even though I followed them. I figured that God was petty.
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minimus
MANY POWERFUL POSTS!!!
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caspian
Excellent topic Min..
I think most of us suffered real guilt trips,
It is difficult to explain the mind control that the borg has over its followers, but this is an excellent topic to shw people.
Cas, whose conscience bothers him talking to Min the wicked apostate...
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minimus
Cas, that is the NICEST compliment you could give me!....Thank you!!!
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minimus
We had a brother that believed he was an alcoholic and suddenly refused to drink at get togethers. But, then he would look at everyone else and say that THEY were alcoholics and that they were offending his conscience. A little while later, he decided he wasn't an alcoholic and suddenly, his conscience was cured.