There were some good things about the organisation...

by Do I Stand Alone? 54 Replies latest jw friends

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  crazyblondeb

  I have to agree with everyone above me. The only thing I learned was that it is not appropriate to question anything, or to think for yourself. I learned public appearance is everything to them. Doesn't matter that a young girl is being molested for years. The head of the family is to be obeyed, no matter what the consequences are.

  When I ran away from home to get away from being molested by my stepdad, a MS-- I learned how to think on my own. That I was not a piece of property. Nursing school taught me how to think, question, and to present myself in a professional way. I was encouraged and felt unconditional love from my real dad---something I didn't know existed.

  I could go on and on. Maybe YOU got some good out of the JWs-- but you're looking in the wrong place to find any good out of JWs.

  shelley
• 

  cyd0099

  Good catch, Odrade.
  
  This fellow is headhunting for minions.
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  Dan-O

  "o I Stand Alone?"
  
  Yeah, I think so. I could have been a Fuller Brush man and goten te benefits you mentioned.
• 

  sass_my_frass

  I can't imagine why you'd think that doing your prestudy was giving you an education.
  

  As a woman I can't pretend that the school gave me public speaking skills... unless you count reading from a script, but I don't. I'd have done better with twenty years in a speaking club.

  The field service was good for teaching me that I didn't want to be in sales.
• 

  seattleniceguy

  Hello, Do I Stand Alone, and welcome to the board!

  I understand where you are coming from, and I have considered the question of benefit from the WT in the past, but in all honesty, I don't believe that there was any true benefit, except possibly in gaining firsthand experience of how people can be controlled.

  With regard to the possible benefits of gaining confidence in public speaking, I have two things to say about that. First, not many Witnesses actually are good public speakers. Certainly, there are a few standouts, but I think it is more probable that the ones that were good speakers were simply naturally attuned to that. And secondly, even if there were some marginal benefits in this regard, it is possible to find benefits in anything. For example, if your house was run down with a bulldozer, you might be able to look on the bright side and see that at least you were finally going to get a chance to redecorate your bathroom. But surely there were less traumatic ways of getting there!

  All in all, I don't think the JW organization offers any positive benefits to its followers. I think the reality is simply that some people are able to derive benefit in spite of the organization.

  Just my two (or maybe three) cents. :-) Hope you'll stick around!

  SNG
• 

  DannyBloem

  I think indeed that there are some good things in the WTS. There are some good things in everything, but I think the lies and deception are worse then the good things.

  I can see the usefullness a public speaker (but yes only for men)

  With the door to door shit I did learn to loosen up, because I was kind of shy, and learned to deal with people. But this can be done in many ways.

  computerskills I learned at the university not from the JW.

  I think also that we learn some good moral values. I mean not to steal, take care your parents etc. There are some wise things in the bible that we learn, and that can have a good effect.

  I do like the view of the witnesses on military service, and here they have an exception position. you just say you are a JW and you do not have to go into the military service. This was really a advantage. I think that without being a JW I would have also refused service. But I think that doing alternative service is ok though.

  WHat else good? In the less developed countries you see that the dubs are more educated. There the ones reading the awake have at least some idea what is going on in the world, where most others have totally no information.

  Danny
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  Frog

  You were a parrot of the WT Society.

  You were a student of WatchTower apostate lies.

  Your adept commentary was not yours. It was what the Governing Body of Apostate JW's told you

  You were well educated in hating your fellow man and looking forward to the day they would all be offed by the demon WT god.

  You were confident that the WTBTS and only the WTBTS spoke for God.

  The source of your education and knowledge was flawed because it came from an organisation that is so far removed from Christ they do not know Him.

  Hopefully, you are free from the WT chains of oppression and spiritual darkness.

  Amen honesty

  Sure you can learn to sift out the positives of any given situation, and it's our challenge to do this. However, I fail to believe that anything I learnt, or was taught growing up the borg has in any way prepared me for the life I live now. It is only a result of the tremendous challenges that I've faced through leaving the borg, that I am the person I am today. Frog
• 

  Whiskeyjack

  DISA...welcome to the forum.

  I actually did rack my brain to think of something but the best I could come up with is a lack of fear of public speaking but that pales with the cost I paid to get it.

  (There were some "good" things about the Nazi party as well I suppose-full employment-, national fitness programs, etc...)

  W.
• 

  Sparkplug

  DISA- I think that the points you mentioned have to be taken with a grain of salt..hehe...so to speak.

  Yes we did learn some of those skills you mention. But it is a sad fact that what I have lost has outweighed what I gained and what I HAVE gained, I would gladly give back for less hard lessons.

  It is kind of like the JW's themself preach about not needing to roll in the filth to appreciate being clean. I personally have become in some ways such a tough person. I really do not want to be this tough and I really do not think it was what the organization was meaning to teach me.

  I agree with what someone said that about the knowledge given was really a let down when I saw how much more people who actually had participated in educational advancement, or sports or extra activities had been taught. I thought that because I can whip up a speach and deliver it in a few minutes flat...that I had gained so much. That was until I met people who were in Toastmasters and or professors, or fellow students. They did not have to give up youth and later the whole family and friends just for being human. They could give a speech, have an opinion, make mistakes, and still have love from the people who claim to love them.

  It really sobers me up to see how much I dont have. Yes I am very appreciative for what I do have. I just wish I had less hurt also.

  Sometimes the juice just "ain't" worth the squeeze. I really hope this is not someone trying to sway others to a marketing scheme. Lots of people get together here and chare talents and such...just seems a bit too invasive to try to jump into a board and start talking marketing or money. Makes people suspicious.
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  red orc

  The Watchtower magazine taught me how to masterbate,now that's an interesting story that I may expand on one day.

  red orc