Do you recognize this? (page 2)

JeffT

LHG, Truthlover and Blondie

Your stories sound a lot like mine. I was baptized in 1974. I had just graduated from college, only to discover that nobody wanted somebody with a degree in English. So I became a JW. The congregation was pleasant and mostly decent people.

There were a few oddballs and bad apples. One elder was removed for beating his wife. One was verbally abusive too everybody around him (except the circuit overseer), I don't know how he kept his position.

In 1982, against the counsel from the elders I went back to school for a year and studied accounting. One of the best decisions I ever made. We stopped going to meetings in 1987, and disassociated ourselves a year later.

slimboyfat

No, I wouldn’t say so. There were some really bright people in my congregation. Two elders I liked a lot, both converts in the 1970s, with their wives. One was a heating systems engineer for hospitals who also like to quote David Hume. He had a very technical mind and was friendly too. The other was an electrical engineer for a large organisation. He could mend anything. Both their wives were bright too. There were other very intelligent sisters, including teachers and nurses and civil servants. There were former drug addicts, and they were intelligent and thoughtful people too, and turned their lives around after becoming JWs. Sure there were some odd characters and less intelligent people in the congregation, but it was a genuine mixture, including a number of interesting people from different backgrounds, in my recollection, though doctors or lawyers or academics are few and far between among JWs.

Through my association with Christadelphians, in recent years, I have come to appreciate that people in that community tend to have much better education and careers than typical JWs. Many are doctors and lecturers and professional musicians and so on. Unitarians are another step up on the social hierarchy, including senior academics, lawyers, and so on. Quakers are similarly middle to upper middle class, and include an inordinate numbers of teachers and lecturers. Seventh-day Adventists, at least in the UK, include a large number of immigrants from Africa who are doctors, nurses, and engineers.

Vidiot

Vanderhoven7- “…New and Improved Truth with 10% more Bonus Truth…”

Can’t believe I missed this the first time ‘round.

👍

BluesBrother

Congregation had its full share of eccentrics … nutty people with hearts of gold. You could not help liking them….

Apart from childhood when the overseer was anointed, rather like an old fashioned vicar, the elders were ordinary men , unschooled but decent men , often builders , with unusual amounts of management ability… It was better in the old days !

LV101

I've no idea about elders today but couple of bad apples in the early 90s among kind, good, ones. A couple deceased past decade.😥

Vanden -- great post and thanks for re-sharing. I, too, missed the first round.

DesirousOfChange

Being intelligent and/or gifted doesn't prevent one from getting caught up in a Cult, but I do suspect it is more difficult today in the "age of the internet" where most cults, like JWs, have been exposed and criticism is widely available.

I think it was those (that I perceived) intelligent and gifted JWs that kept me in the religion longer than I otherwise would have been involved. There were several brothers that I really admired. They were educated (so I suppose I figured they should KNOW it better than I -- esp the brother that had been an ancient history major).

Today, I don't think there are many "educated" that remain, though some are "intelligent", but still caught up in the cult and drinking the Koolaid.

LV101

3rdgen - what an amazing area you were fortunate to grow up in and quite a congregation. Love, love, love, Monterey/Carmel. I'd stay there forever if I could -- kicking myself for not buying decade or 2 ago - my beloved California.😥

blondie

"Being intelligent and/or gifted doesn't prevent one from getting caught up in a Cult, but I do suspect it is more difficult today in the "age of the internet" where most cults, like JWs, have been exposed and criticism is widely available." Exactly what Steve Hassan has said, many cults target university students and educated people. He was one when he joined the Moon cult.

Balaamsass2

Ditto on what Blonde said about the internet.

I remember when a JW Cousin called about a notorious child molester who had moved into my area in the mid-90s. She had been on AOL (remember that!) reading about Silent Lambs and newspaper stories about him and others, including some early TV programs about JW child abuse I had never heard about or seen because they were on meeting nights!! I read the Silent Lambs website and WOW what a change THAT made in me. It caused me to write back to Bethel and some GB members I knew. The results? Crickets. ZERO response.

As the internet improved and became cheaper, I spent more time researching JWs, actual Bible Scholars, science, and history using it. As an Elder, It caused me to contact the Brooklyn service desk about other local Child, Senior, and Spousal abuse issues...their silence and desire to cover things up deeply disturbed me (I did contact the police). By 2002, I stepped aside as an Elder, never pioneered again, and cut down on contributions, service time, meetings, and convention attendance. I was heartsick, and my heart just wasn't in it any longer. What type of people cover over and LIE about domestic violence, child abuse, and financial abuse of the Elderly? There is nothing honorable or Godly about that! I then read Ray Franz's "Crisis of Conscience"...and BAMM.

I agree with Blondie. If you have a conscience, a few brain cells, and a heart, the internet and the ability to instantly research items will lead you out of Watchtower.

Gorb

Many of us made the same rollercoaster ride in the 90's and 2000's.

I can write a book about these years.

Gorby

Do you recognize this?

Share this