WTBS Phobias --------- What Effect On You?

by Perry 7 Replies latest jw friends

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  Perry

  The conductor ended his talk with an illustration:

  Once a young man told his parents that he needed a break from the meetings. They begged him to keep going and not become worldly. They beeseeched him to not fall prey to Satan's trap of making the bad look good and the good look bad. The young man falsely reasoned that if he didn't like it, he could always come back.

  That very night this young brother started using drugs and later went to a bar where he met a woman. Later, her husband found her and started a confrontation with the young man. Sadly, when the young brother protested the husband pulled out a gun and shot him to death.

  Dear brothers and sisters, let us never fall prey to the machinations of the devil!

  My question is this: Did the Society's phobic characterization of life outside the borg cause you to engage in risky behavior when you left?
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  berylblue

  Perry, I can hear the colllective sighs and see the nodding in agreement from here....

  UGH.

  No; the stupid things I have done since leaving the WTS have had nothing to do with the paranoid spread at meetings about what befalls those who leave. They were simply bad choices on my part.
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  ozziepost

  Did the Society's phobic characterization of life outside the borg cause you to engage in risky behavior when you left?

  Not at all. In fact, we've been surprised to meet people who, because of Christian faith, willingly refrain from the very things that the Borg commanded the R&F to avoid. Yet noone tells them what to do. They do what they do, not because of what others say, but because of what they inwardly decide.

  Cheers, Ozzie
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  Maverick

  The Mags and talks put out by the J-dud masters are repleat with examples such as you discribed. Any personal account or action can be twisted to fit their agenda. The installation of the exit phobia starts with the initial Bible Study and is reinforced throughout ones J-dud exposure. Many duds, upon leaving suffer greatly because of this. They see all the BS and can't understand how a loving God can allow it. And they feel the problem must be with them. Any bad thing that happens is interpreted as God punishing them for leaving "His Organization"! A person has to actively meditate on what has been done to them. Also this web site is a good place to purge. I was haunted by this crap until I had someone give me a book on Mind Control Cults. Steve Hassan never mentioned the JW's but I saw clearly what they did!

  And for evey example they print about the suffering of ex members, there are many more unpublished examples of the suffering of current members. And the J-dud masters created much of their suffering and promote it! Maverick
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  blondie

  How about these stories:

  Dangers at the KH and congregation

  There was a JW family, mother and father, several children. Elders knew that the JW father was violent and had purchased several guns and was preparing for "the end" yet the elders counseled the wife to remain with her JW husband. The wife was kidnapped at gun point by the husband. Luckily the police got there before he was able to shoot her. A book study was being held at the time in this home.

  Another JW husband had a handgun and the elders knew this and that he was unstable having pointed the gun at some of his neighbors. He put the gun to his wife's head and pulled the trigger one day. Fortunately, the firing mechanism jammed, she finally called the police and divorced him despite counsel to the opposite from the elders.

  Several young people were found in the KH restroom, dealing drugs. This had been going on for several years. The situation was finally uncovered by the police tracing an anonymous lead.

  A non-JW husband went into a KH (this was in the news) and shot his wife and the elder she was having an affair with.

  Blondie
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  SixofNine

  Did the Society's phobic characterization of life outside the borg cause you to engage in risky behavior when you left?

  Just the opposite, it made me more cautious and careful. For instance, I now carry a gun whenever I am with another man's wife.

  Btw, we going camping?
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  franklin J

  Oh they did have us on a leash! LOL

  After I left that faith ( having been raised in it), I did not do anything stupid ( wracked with demons, drug addict, fornicator! etc, etc) Sex comes naturally to all of us at a certain age, and at 22, I think I had a late start ( very good excuse, though) . I do not consider that "stupid conduct" ( in hindsight, the sex was great! That was before the days of AIDS) Experimenters now HAVE to be careful.

  My parents had instilled some scruples in me irregardless of what the JWs taught. By the time I left, I did have some ability to think for myself..

  When I was in college, ( having just recently left the "truth", circa 1980, ) I was waiting tables at a restaurant in NYC, and one young couple I was waiting on were visiting NY from Colorado. I could tell from their conversation ( JW lingo) that they were Witnesses, so I initroduced myself and said I was a former JW . They were thrilled ( not with the sites of NYC, but with seeing Bethel) to be visiting Jehovahs Headquarters.

  The husband (about my age) condescendingly told me that at one time he had left and truth and had turned to drugs. He asked me if I had done drugs too. My response to him was " Drugs? no, I do not do drugs, I am not stupid". I explained that I was attending college and did not agree with the teachings of JWs, especially about higher education. They attempted to do their witness routine.

  I recall they left me a meager tip. Dam those cheap JWs, LOL

  Frank
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  Sassy

  risky behavior when you left?

  That all depends on what we define as risky behavior. We were told anything outside the rules is risky. So anyone 'leaving' by some terms is considered risky. Stopping associating or stopping meetings is. Dating an unbeliever, associating with unbelievers. Associating on a board like this, etc etc.

  In the view outside that window, illicet sex, drugs, gambling, etc etc.

  So, yes in some peoples view, I have participated in 'risky behavior'.