Does being a JW damage some children mentally?
Parents are encouraged to set pioneering as a goal for children instead of college. But this article is the best:
The Introduction Of Phobias (Deep Rooted Fears) And Other Development Traits In The Jehovah Witness Child
http://freeminds.org/psych/kidphob.htm
by Randall Watters
Parents obviously have a very powerful influence on their children. Even when they are abusive and insensitive towards their offspring, children still desire whatever vestige of love and approval they can get from their parents, and will often be obedient just to receive attention and care. Understanding this dynamic helps to explain how children growing up in the Watch Tower may be so heavily influenced by the need for approval that they are willing togive up whatever goals or aspirations they may have in order to please their parents, even long after they leave home and/or get married.
In order for the indoctrination to be lasting and effective, PHOBIAS (deep-rooted fears) must be introduced to the child in order to "scare" them away from a course contrary to Watch Tower idealology, and the organization is very adept at planting and nuturing these phobias. As in the case of the elder in Korea with the four children (mentioned previously in our first article), the fear may be the threat of being cut off financially as well as losing dad's approval, but it also comes directly from the pages of THE WATCHTOWER in the form of warnings about being in the very last days, and how Jehovah will not look with approval upon those who "squander their time and energies" in non-Kingdom interests. Jehovah thus becomes the all powerful parent who, even if the child's real parents may not be too concerned, will himself cut the child off from his favour and possibility even eternal life. A powerful motovation indeed!
A Phobic World View
The first step that the Watch Tower takes in their indoctrination of their followers is to develop the concept of the "universal war" that all people are inevitably caught up in, namely, that Satan has declared war on Jehovah, and we are automatically on one side or the other; there are no fence-sitters. If you are not doing all that the organization asks, you are on the side of the devil. Everything outside of the Watch Tower is controlled by the devil, and all persons who are not Witnesses are misled by the devil and are bad or dangerous to associate with. An unbalanced fear of the supernatural is encouraged. Witness children are told to avoid "worldly" magazines, movies, TV shows, music, etc. Any information critical of the Watch Tower is automatically evil and dangerous. Most doctors are evil for wanting to administer blood transfusions. Children have nightmares about mom or dad having to refuse a blood transfusion. Everything is made to appear as part of a large conspiracy to destroy Jehovah's Witnesses. Satan is feared totally out of proportion to the role as represented in the Bible.
What is the end result? The child learns to fear life itself, at least outside of the Watch Tower, so that if he/she were to ever leave the organization, the devil would destroy him/her and he/she would become miserable and suicidal. I personally knew several members of the Watch Tower's Bethel family at their headquarters in New York who knew the organization was wrong, but could not leave due to fear that they were incapable of getting a job, or that their lives would disintegrate. They were the victims of carefully planted PHOBIAS.
Many of these phobias are rather obvious to outsiders. Simple, harmless things are blown out of proportion in order to keep Witnesses secluded from the real world. For instance: Birthdays are evil because someone is being worshipped. Christmas is evil because thousands of years ago someone worshipped the sun on December 25th. Saluting the flag is worshipping your country and a sign that you belong to Satan's kingdom rather than God's Kingdom.
Saying "darn" or "geez" is the same as cursing.
Smoking cigarettes is a form of drug abuse that can lead to demonic control. Little wonder that Witness youths are so paranoid and shy of the world! Even when they leave the organization, the phobias are still there, controlling their lives until they are recognized and eliminated through counseling and/or self-awareness.
Many of our readers were raised Jehovah's Witnesses and still remain VICTIMS of multiple phobia implantations. Many struggle with low self-esteem and self-worth, since the Watch Tower implants and perpetuates such problems.
