What JW Things Did You Have A Hard Time To Let Go?

minimus

I had a hard time accepting that Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult. I would even agree that they might be "cult like" but I didn't want to accept that I indeed was part of a cult.....What about you?

minimus

Did you have a difficult time in letting go of the notion that there's a faithful and discreet slave? Or that this MIGHT be the "truth"?

I had a problem with not living through the "end" to see the New Order here on the earth! For 30 years I had focused on that and envisioned it, so it was hard to let that go. I remember on H20 how I argued that point in Psalms (as a JW) and couldn't accept anything less!

I was so wrapped up in that notion, that I fretted constantly about where I was living---my deceased family members all live in MA and I wanted desperately to be there when they were resurrected!!! I had no idea how I was going to get there with no cars, trains, etc! It presented quite a dilemma---but the old standby--"wait on Jehovah" kicked in and I tried to stop worrying about it!

Annie

Chia

Yeah, I still kinda feel like the Dubs aren't necessarily a cult, they're cult-like in a lot of aspects. But I just stopped going to meetings maybe a month ago, so maybe after a few more months or even years have passed, I'll view it differently. I also have nagging feelings that maybe sometimes they are right and I"m wrong. But it doesn't make me feel bad enough to go back there. I can't live that lie anymore.

skyman

I at times have a hard time with not being with my old friends. I feel judged by my brother and this is the biggest thing for me. Never after leaving have I ever felt the Witnesses are right. The facts are over whelming that they are wrogn.

Sunspot

Yeah, I still kinda feel like the Dubs aren't necessarily a cult,

Chia,

I had that same reaction for a number of months after leaving. But now it makes me more comfortable---knowing that it IS a cult, and cults are known for deception and lies (AND a ton of other stuff) to get recruits to come in. Being duped by a cult (to me anyway) is far easier to bear than thinking I was tricked by say, the Methodists or Baptists, etc. It's all in the way you look at it!

Annie

tetrapod.sapien

i had a hard time letting go of my friends.

apart from that, i am super surprised how fast the "faith" i had been building up for years came crumbling down in a matter of days/weeks!

love2Bworldly

After years of submerging it in my subconscious--I think I finally feel free. All my nagging doubts left after I learned everything about their lies and the abusive behavior that is tolerated.

Crumpet

Initially I misunderstood your question Mini - seem to be making a habit of that today. I thought you were asking what things did we miss from being a JW - not which belief systems were so ingrained that we still believed them even though we didnt want to.

And since you;ve been patient waiting for someone to contribute to your thread you sweet little red button of joy I'm going to give you a very full answer.

Here is the A-Z of things I was taught to believe and have clung to since I was 16 up until this past few months.

ARMAGEDDON - NOT on its way to destroy me and 6 billion other reasonably nice human beings.
BIBLE - NOT inspired of god but one which HAS destroyed and killed more than it has saved.
CHRISTMAS - NOT a terrible sin, but a fun family holiday and get together giving rest from work.
DEATH - NOT my sentence for being a bad person, but the natural evolutionary progression of my life.
EVERLASTING LIFE - NOT any closer to the truth than the moon being made of cheese
FALSE RELIGION - NOT all religiously minded people except JWs
GONORHEA - NOT what I am going to get just for sex without being married
HATE - NOT a good basis for a so called loving religion - ie JWs and another reason not to belong
INTOLERANCE - NOT a good quality, but a bad trait ingrained in me by JWs
JEHOVAH - NOT a loving god but a childish, immature, petty, jealous, warmongering, sexist, egotist. No wonder millions of people now calling themselves JWs are also like this.
KINGDOM HALL - NOT a place full of genuinely happy people, but people pretending to be happy for the outside world whilst they beat themselves up and battle the continual barrage from the platform teaching them "we're not worthy" for underserved kindness
LOVE - NOT displayed by disfellowshipping your children, parents, siblings etc or very much in evidence amongst JWs at all.
MORALITY - NOT sole premise of JWs, anybody and most people I have met outside are genuinely more moral and can at least explain why they don't do things with good reasons - not just WBTS says I can't.
NORMAL - NOT how I was raised but far from it
OBEDIENCE - NOT a good idea when you do so blindly and unquestioningly like lambs to the slaughter.
PREACHING - NOT a very good way of getting a message across. Who likes to be preached to? Preaching and Good News in the same sentence - mutually exclusive.
QUESTIONS - NOT permitted for JWs. All answers are spoonfed and if they are not digestible then its literally tough luck.
RIGHTEOUS - NOT the same as self-righteous, smug, superior JWs.
SHUNNING - NOT the policy of any God or Organization I will have anything to do with.
TIME - does NOT belong to God or WBTS, but to us alone and we must be wise in how we spend it - and not surrender ourselves to mindless slavery.
UNITED NATIONS - NOT good enough for me just on the basis its good enough for JWs to belong to.
VIRGINITY - NOT essential to be preserved until marriage and the loss of it certainly not to be grounds for never speaking to your children again. Its biological - marriage is just a tradition!
WATCHTOWER - NOT an instrument of God on earth, but a money spinning, brainwashing magazine
XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS - NOT a bad looking lass at all (!)
YOUTH - NOT to be wasted in a publishing organisation slaving away without an education or a job
Zzzzz - The only thing to do if you still have to attend meetings whilst you are fading!

crumpet x ( there are lots i've missed out - like Blood, Molestation, Masturbation and Beards but I'll leave it there and let anyone add things they were taught and they found hard to mentally disengage from!

MerryMagdalene

Well done Crumpet!!! An excellent list of untruths.

I easily let go of EVERYTHING but my FAMILY...oh, and a few isolationist tendencies...and my superiority/inferiority complex

~Merry

What JW Things Did You Have A Hard Time To Let Go?

Share this