Did the Watchtower leave you in a No-Man's Land?

by JH 22 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  staceman

  Yes, this is an interesting thread.... I don't post often but I find myself really wanting to here....

  Sassy, I can relate to what you're saying! I'm right there with ya. You think of all the years you go thru school being different, not joining any sports, not participating in any after-school activities, not doing the pledge, not singing happy birthday, not being someone's valentine or turning someone down... constantly being taught that we are no part of the ungodly world. I still vividly remember the picture in the Paradise Lost book with the lightning bolt striking the building and the people falling into huge cracks of the earth. Then growing up and dealing with work people, thinking to ourselves "if only they knew that they were probably going to die very soon at Armageddon"...

  And now, kinda suddenly you're not 'in the fold' anymore... and you read and hear things about the org. that shock you but then you still find yourself humming "We Thank you Jehovah" or something... Yes Sassy, like you I just try not to think about it too much anymore.. No Man's Land it is!!!
• 

  Undecided

  It didn't bother me much, I just put it out of my mind. Recently I have been trying to figure what life and nature is all about. I will just have to forget all that too, there is no answer. Now I'm a little depressed, don't know why except I'm getting near the age of dying and I don't like the idea of leaving my family behind. When I finally accept that there is no choice, I guess I will be OK.

  Ken P.
• 

  galaxy7

  Staceman you said it perfectly. I shudder when I think of how smug I was in thinking I was amongst the chosen few.How silly I must have sounded to freeminded intellegent persons when explaining how we came to 1914.How socially inept I felt and I really believed only"I" was going through this wilderness.

  It has taken a long time for me to realize I am not in a No-Mans land that the ORG is that place.

  I am surprised at how th ORGs fingers have wrapped around so many people and for some the hold still seems quite strong
• 

  Satanus

  I was never in that situation. After i left the wt system, i still had the bible. I passed smoothly into attending churches. I found that some of them were closer to christianity than the wt. It was when my bible belief vaporised that i was hanging in the air for a while. That was a rough time.

  SS
• 

  BluesBrother

  I was doing ok in "The Truth", just jogging along like all the rest. Life was a long round of preparing to conduct the group study, conducting the study, preparing a service meeting item, going to the meeting and doing it, preparing to conduct the Watchtower study, taking it on Sunday. Throw in a little field service, and the occasional elders meeting and so there was little time to stop and think about what I was doing.

  Something happened that stopped me in my tracks. My eyes were opened to the fact that good and honourand love can exist outside "In the world" . I just knew from then on that there was no way that those on the outside were condemned . It was not Godly , not right, it made God into a monster. Suddenly the unthinkable thought hit me and I sat at my desk at work mouthing silently "It's not true, it is all not true" over and over.

  From that moment I have never had a moments doubt and it is crystal clear that the WT is just another man made religion. So no time of limbo for me mentally.

  I am still in limbo socially . Due to family being "In" I have not been able to really start over and get a life for myself, but at least I think for myself!
• 

  Special K

  It kind of hit me like Staceman.

  What Staceman said is basically about how I felt and reacted to it all.

  It took me about 3 years to feel like I was on some type of level ground again.

  I wonder if it depends on how much family you loose when you leave. I found that to be the most devastating thing. Kind of like being kicked and knocked down just when you need all that family support...

  It still hurts to realize how much I truly and sincerely believed what I was taught. I can honestly say that it was many years that I believed it with all my heart. Kind of like having your heart and soul ripped out and stamped on when you realize how much you have been let down.

  sincerely

  Special K
• 

  staceman

  Interesting mention about going to a church. Ya know, I don't think I will ever be a member of any organized religion. Again, having it engrained in me that they are all part of Babylon the Great, the World Empire of False Religion has just stuck and won't go away in the foreseeable future. I always shuddered whenever I was inclined to go to a funeral or something that was held in a church and quite frankly I don't think I will ever miss it.

  I have to say here that for all those years of giving of myself to others and preaching 'love for the brothers', being an Elder and giving about 90% of my waking hours to the congregation... Theocratic School Overseer/Book Study conductor held in my home/backup Watchtower Study conducter.... etc,etc,etc....and then in an hour that I needed help all I got was the "Trust in Jehovah" comment... for 6 months... ugh... As the other elders were going on vacations to the MN Twins spring training camp, Alaska, Cozumel...... I was struggling with no job and still trying to fulfill my duties as Elder.... even covering for them while they were away... Oh, it still ticks me off to this day. Thanks a lot for nothing!

  How can you identify the True Religion?? "By the love they have among themselves!?" WHATEVER!

  Thanks 'Brothers'.............
• 

  garybuss

  
  I think when the pimple faced twerp called me back to the Kingdom Hall library and counseled me for not wearing a neck tie to the sales meeting in 1974, I realized two things.
  
  1. I was not important to them.
  
  2. Jesus would not have been welcome at that meeting dressed as he did in Palestine and as he is shown in Tower Publishing Corporation produced religious literature.
  
  I went in service again after that day but I never turned in time again on the Corporation provided Field Service Report slip. I had a problem with that for a long time.
  
  I guess I had one foot out the door and one foot on a banana peel and the complaint about my costume was the shove I needed. My problem was I was too enmeshed with the Corporation's members . . . . wife, relatives, acquaintances. Really, it was all of it. The faulted core beliefs made it all possible.
  
  
  
• 

  seeitallclearlynow

  I only felt like I was in a No-Man's Land until I became convinced that Jehovah's Witnesses did not have the Truth. That took a couple of months of researching I guess. Once the foundation under the Org crumbled, I was able to drop all of the BS teachings and take the world as I found it.

  And that includes the churches. For awhile I felt like a kid in a candy store, with so many lovely places to choose from. I realized that they can't be all wicked like I was taught, if the ones who taught me that are actually the corrupt liars themselves. So I had a clean slate religiously, except that I still only want to be Christian. But I don't detest or fear the other religions now, as before, in the cult. And I now fully respect the peace and kindness that I see manifest in many of the members of other religions. You can't argue with good fruitage.
• 

  seeitallclearlynow

  Gary B -

  I just read your response, above. I don't know why you have the ability to absolutely crack me up. I just love the way you word things.

  "I didn't wear a tie to the sales meeting." OMG why is that so funny???

  Thanks.