by misguided 11 Replies latest jw friends
Have any of you had similar experiences while in the org where you've been made to feel (by the all-powerful, spirit-begotten know-all elders) like you're crazy, disbelieved, or like you somehow dreamt the whole thing up; when in reality you've really just stated the real TRUTH of a situation?
Rose
Yes, it happened all the time. Eventually that and just plain being treated like crap led to me leaving forever. It's so funny when you take a step back, realize the craziness of it all, and then try and reason with them. That's when you realize the extent of the brainwashing. It's sad that they act like I'm crazy, when they are living in this false reality they have created.
Yes, I got treated like that once when I had issues with my family. Basically, they are not trained counsellors & really don't know how to handle people.
Yeah, you're preaching to the chior here! But honestly I've had those experiences it's crazy making at it's best.
Your question is a valid one and I totally understand how you feel, just know what you know and forget about trying to convience anyone else, it's useless, been there done that have the crumby T-shirt!
Yes. It's a common tactic of cults and other groups like them. Get the individual to question their sanity, to question what they know to be real, verifiable and true, and you can get them to believe anything the leaders / elders / organization tell them to believe.
When you can't trust yourself anymore, it's sooooo much easier for the cult / cult-like group to get you to trust them. That's why JWs always ask someone who is having doubts questions like the following:
These questions are designed to deflect away from ANY and ALL true, verifiable and documented evidence that JWs do NOT possess The Truth TM , do NOT show love among themselves, and do NOT follow in Jesus' footsteps (among other things). The questions are designed to make someone who is having doubts feel like an idiot for even having doubts based on EVIDENCE and RESULTS.
oh absolutely. I even thought I was going crazy because they told me that I was practising interfaith ( I never even knew I was) Got so bad that I ended up cutting myself repeatedly so that I could let the 'fustration out'.
hey rose,
yes! join the club! it's free membership!
Not to me, but I have heard many others encounter the exact problem with elders, as well as others in the hall.
They put the blame and doubt squarely back on you. Not to be Scully sycophant today...but she has posted lots of good advice today on other threads too...by using the questions and control tactics that she mentioned they remove the isssue at hand and put back on you. It's like saying "Can 6 million of your brothers and sisters really be wrong?" No, but 10 old men in Crooklyn can be.
But to be fair to the elders, they are not trained in this kind of thing. They have various guidelines and rules and just tell the troubled one to wait on Jah or just go to more meetings. Simplistic advice to be sure. As much as JW's love to lampoon the Catholic Church...their priests spend 8 years in education and training themselves in helping people. No one is perfect....but hey can you imagine a priest telling a troubled congregant to come to 2 services instead of 1 on Sunday and they will be ok?
at my reinstatement hearings they asked me if i was on medication...i didnt understand the question and i wasnt so i said no...must have appeared mad to them...they didnt realise that if i was then it was them what done it to me
but i was mad wasnt i...mad to believe
