Posts by sparrowdown

something which i always found surprising when i attended the kingdom halls i studied was how angry, even vicious, many jehovah's witnesses could become when a watchtower study featured some persons and/or institutions the organization disapproved of, say, higher education and educators, christendom and its clergy, apostates, etc.

many seemed to sadistically enjoy denigrating these persons or institutions when the watchtower study conductor called on them and they were handed a microphone.

i wondered for a long time where this anger came from, and i've developed a hypothesis for explaining this.. according to a book i'm reading by alice miller called "for your own good: hidden cruelty in child-rearing and the roots of violence," children who are strictly controlled and abused (whether emotionally or physically) typically go on to unleash the anger they inevitably felt at their parents, but were never allowed to express, at their children or those around them.

sparrowdown

I found being a JW a shameful experience on many levels. Shame in the congregation shame from the "world" and shame will often translate into rage or passive aggression.

There are teeth behind every JW fake smile, for sure.

56

The Latest Thing Waking People Up...

by pale.emperor in

since i woke up and left i've been contacted by others i knew from my youth who've also left the cult.

also people around the world on facebook adding me out of the blue because we have mutual friends and they occasionally ask me stuff or share their story.. what i've noticed in the vast majority of cases, is that people are waking up not because of the arc or doctrine but apathy.

active jws are becoming less and less interested, less and less bothered.

sparrowdown

Yeah, that's the trouble when you train the critical thinking and initiative out of people eventually they become useless to you.

In the past scare tactics worked but I don't think the FOG is as effective anymore, for fear obligation guilt to work the person needs to be even a little conscientious.

The only other option after scare tactics and rhetoric would be to lower the bar.

25

Nowadays How Does One Become An Elder?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was appointed jan 1 1980 and back then it was a big deal to“qualify”.

i was the youngest elder appointed in the district!

i actually studied everything from the societies publications and listened to anything i was told to do.

sparrowdown

You have to be a parrot who can mimic words without comprehending them.

9

Behaviour in bethel are they like the jw dramas?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

what i mean is, i've discussed recently how odd the behaviour of jws is on the drama films that they show at the conventions.

i'm wondering is the reason why it's so odd because that how's the jws at bethel talk and act in real life?

is the behaviour at bethel so warped from the outside world that they actually think that their behaviour is normal?.

sparrowdown

There is such a massive grand canyon sized disconnect between the perfect JWs, the idealized jw life shown on the screen of borgbroadcasting and regular jws in real life it' not funny. I have never evr met a single jw remotely like the ones portayed in the videos. And I think that gulf of difference only becomes more apparent the further you get from Branch offices and into poor urban and rural areas.

The videos paint this impossible standard of what an ideal jw looks like which ultimately just adds to existing feelings of unworthiness and inadequacy for many striving to be perfect but always falling short.

Being a jw is bad for your mental health.

13

Reconnecting by chance after a respectful parting.

by Ayeitsbooboo in

a bit of context on the situation that occurred 8 years ago.. i grew up with this woman.

beautiful person, not hat asthetically, just such a great human being.

we always had feeling for each other.

sparrowdown

Give it a whirl, why not, just remember, be careful what you wish for.

22

Cotton wool jws

by purrpurr in

there was a talk i heard recently given by a top bethel bro, he was complaining that the type of young jws that have been joining bethel in recent years has been totally unfit for work or even life.

he called them "cotton wool jws" as he says that the parents of these young ones have kept them so sheltered from life that by the time they are of age to strike out on their own they are completely unable to cope socially, emotionally, mentally and that they have no practical life's skills or instincts of common sense or responsibility.

he said that the brothers at bethel have to work at peeling off the layers of cotton wool these ones have come wrapped in and that often when exposed to the reality of life away from mummy they quite literally go running back home.. for once i actually agree with a brother on the platform, i've met many a young teen or young adult whose life has been one long warm bath as it were.

sparrowdown

Yes the borg's very "best fear-based-life ever" creates impotent people.

22

Cotton wool jws

by purrpurr in

there was a talk i heard recently given by a top bethel bro, he was complaining that the type of young jws that have been joining bethel in recent years has been totally unfit for work or even life.

he called them "cotton wool jws" as he says that the parents of these young ones have kept them so sheltered from life that by the time they are of age to strike out on their own they are completely unable to cope socially, emotionally, mentally and that they have no practical life's skills or instincts of common sense or responsibility.

he said that the brothers at bethel have to work at peeling off the layers of cotton wool these ones have come wrapped in and that often when exposed to the reality of life away from mummy they quite literally go running back home.. for once i actually agree with a brother on the platform, i've met many a young teen or young adult whose life has been one long warm bath as it were.

sparrowdown

I think this has been happening for a while because I spoke to a guy once who was in Bethel in the 80s and he said they were complaining about the newest batches of bethel boys all being "clones" as they called them, they looked and sounded the same amd were very "delicate" in constitution.

So, it could only have become worse since then for sure.

22

MUST WATCH! Watchtower's Shocking Admissions

by Newly Enlightened in

watchtower's shocking admissions.

sparrowdown

Hearing the WT hollow men speak makes my brain hurt.