Has anyone got anything positive from being a JW?

by diamondblue1974 36 Replies latest jw friends

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  Sunspot

  As much as I detest the WTS, there have been a few (very few) benefits from my 30 year stint in the JW women's army.

  I never was comfortable with giving talks, (scared to death) but I could approach people in their yards and at their doors. It helped me to be more at ease with the people I had to address (fearlessly) when I was a Special-Ed advocate.

  I also went to a whole lot of cities for assemblies that I wouldn't have gone to. I didn't SEE the cities (just the roads going to and from the assembly site) but I CAN say I was there!

  Annie
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  frankiespeakin

  I don't really have anything that is really worthwhile positive. I was dupe by a bunch of frauds that got me to sacrifice my time so they could sell more book and buy new buildings. They got me to be so busy that I didn't have time to think and when they had no more use for me the cast me out of the congregation because I knew they were liars and cheats.

  Wasted vacations,, poorer standard of living,, amd made to alway feel guilty that I wasn't doing enough.
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  Freedom Fighter

  As a child, having to interact and meet a lot of new people was good for me in terms of making me more extroverted. This was also a spin off of field service.
  
  Also, in a perverse way, having to stand up and say 'I can't do this or that' required me to exercise courage and not be afraid to stick to my guns, although we all know that the principles involved were misguided -(mild term, hey I'm feeling generous).
  
  Like Mary I am a whizz at Bible quiz questions - my friends look at me in astonishment and say, 'How did you know that?' ;)
  
  
  FF
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  Dragonlady76

  I think public speaking was great for me, I also can say it taught me good morals.

  And that's about it!!!!!!!!!!!!1
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  jeanniebeanz

  The most important lesson I learned from being a JW was when I was disfellowshipped. I learned what true friendship meant; my worldly acquaintances gathered round me and helped me when my JW friends did not care. I learned the meaning of family; my worldly acquaintances families took me in as a daughter and a sister when my own abandoned me.

  I learned that I was much stronger than the witnesses will ever admit that you are as a person. I was told that the world was a horrible place and that worldly people will take advantage of you and hurt you and that people who leave the organization lead miserable lives and are not happy until they return to the 'fold'.

  What I learned was that there are good and bad people, just like in the organization. That it was possible to make good friends and new family. That I did not shrivel up and die upon leaving it all behind and that it is possible to go back to school and grow a career and take care of myself, thank you very much.

  So I would have to say that the best thing that I took away from being a JW was the knowledge that the world is a better place than I thought it was, and that I am a hell of a lot stronger than I ever felt in the borg. I don't have to fear the future anymore.

  Jean
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  diamondblue1974

  Wow...when i posted this thread i didnt think i would get such a deep response...i agree with you totally; the world isnt what it is made out to be at all...how free are we?
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  frankiespeakin

  I don't think you can be free. To be free to me means no restaints there is only so many options open and those are the ones you face and recieve knowing that's the way it is,, and avoid holding on to or offering resistance. Is there freedom in pure surrendering to the all encompasing self with no second? I mean isn't that what makes this whole illusion of space and time the self if everything is one or the universe is nonlocal you are me I am you we are the chair and the bright sun if everything is one.
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  diamondblue1974

  freedom is subjective but when you compare it to what we have had...its a damn sight better now...interesting point though.
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  franklin J

  ...the only thing I could possibly give them any credit for is teaching me self discilpline .....and even that I had to relearn.
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  mrsjones5

  well after growing up in the madness I was fairly positive that I would never get baptised as a jw and would leave as soon as I could get out of my parents' house.

  Josie