hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness...
) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness?
if so, for what reasons?
i apologize for a significant typo in the last message... what i meant to say in the first paragraph is this:
"but my viewpoint was internalized... the witness character interacts with the lead character much like the real-life witnesses and i interacted... but i had little reference for what her life might be like outside of the interaction..."
hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness...
) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness?
if so, for what reasons?
free2beme,
the narrative depicted in the story was drawn vaguely from an occurence in my own life... so in that way i was writing what i knew... but my viewpoint was internalized, and the character, who interacts with the lead character much like the real-life witnesses and i interacted... but i had little reference for what her life might be like outside of that interaction...
you see, i don't always have control of where the story goes.... and if it goes into a realm of unfamiliar territory, then i will do my best to discover as much as possible about that unfamiliar territory, in order to give the characters and situations realistic motives and significance...
writing is mostly an exploration for me... it gives me new directions to focus my learning, and then i can expressively implement that knowledge back into the writing... it's a cycle of exploration...
if i don't approach it that way then i will never get out of my shell of, admittedly, very shallow experience... just "writing what i know best" might be comfortable, but it's not ultimately conducive to growth in writing or in life...
i had customers yesterday, a couple, who said they had to get to a meeting by 7:30 last night.
(red flag!
) i asked what was the nature of this meeting, and they said it was like church, and i asked what religion, and they were hohos.
it seems as though many of you are concerning yourself with the consequence of the particular situation... something like saying, "in the end it did not hurt the buyers" or "doing something like this can come back to bite you in the ass later, when they find out you were lying"... but what about the principle of the action?
when one actively deceives they make a an choice that condones the action of lying, of falsifying, of consciously distorting reality... regardless of the outcome, regardless of who the action hurts or how it affects your environment... the person that lied has willingly and knowingly done so... is that a principle that you want to inwardly define yourself by?
now, i don't want to get morality all entangled in this... what one group of people believe is "right" and "wrong" does not come into the frame here... but you do have to consider the "principle" of any action... you have to question, "if everyone had acted as i did in the same situation, would that benefit the world or hurt it, in my eyes?"... and if you find that the answer is that it would hurt the world, but you did it anyways... then you are doing much worse than just deceiving an individual, you are being untrue to yourself, and that really is the only kind of evil...
also, pope, thank you for the reassurance...
hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness...
) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness?
if so, for what reasons?
auldsoul,
that is all invaluable and thought-provoking knowledge...
i was considering the fervor of 1975 as a contribution to her membership initially... but you have given me plenty of other ideas, as well...
the psychological aspects that you brought up will be especially helpful...
mj,
i have written before, but this is my first expansive foray into writing... i just enjoy knowledge and implementing that knowledge into any creative art...
all,
i have long been atheistic, and my bias leans toward assuming that individuals only end up in organized religion out of weakness or the need for stability/comfort... it's unfortunate that i discover that this may be the only way to portray my jehovah's witness character, i was hoping that i would discover a perspective that countered my own...
but what i have discovered through your stories and insights, instead, is just as valuable... it is knowledge and inspiration that i did not have before...
but again, i understand that you all have (quite logical) biases against the organization, so until i speak with current witnesses, i cannot completely formulate an opinion...
but i must say... you all have welcomed me so warmly, though i am coming from an outside perspective... i can't say enough positive about this board or the individuals on it... whatever you may view as mistakes in your past, know that from my little bit of exposure to you all, you have all grown far passed them and into wonderful, thoughtful individuals...
i had customers yesterday, a couple, who said they had to get to a meeting by 7:30 last night.
(red flag!
) i asked what was the nature of this meeting, and they said it was like church, and i asked what religion, and they were hohos.
perpetuating mistruths in any fashion is what hurts the human race... this whole board is comprised of individuals who have been utterly devastated by lies... in the same position, i would make a lasting effort to avoid any further lies in my life... whether they be ones i tell, or ones told to me...
i can understand this general discussion could be a touchy one for some around here... but it was not my intention to initiate conflict...
hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness...
) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness?
if so, for what reasons?
i never expected such a vast array of insight... i can't thank you all enough...
the story (i call it a story though i don't know if it will be a short story, a novel, or an everlasting collection of ideas) is an exploration of different social interactions... their purposes and effect on one's psyche... the (current) lead character is not the jehovah's witness that i am acquiring information for... but he has a very tense encounter with a pair of jehovah's witnesses early in the narrative... this is just one occurence reinforcing his social anxiety, many of which culminate to give the lead character nihilistic views and a subsequent lack of any kind of respect for social norms...
i'm seeing a very interesting dichotomy here, though, having the opportunity to speak with you all... the lead character has spent so much time dwelling on the ugliness of society after being so immersed in it, and that's what stigmatizes him... conversely, witnesses spend so much time in a "sheltered" existence, that they may be severely hindered socially...
considering society from someone that is newly experiencing it with freedom will be an incredibly helpful viewpoint...
i intend, now, after having been given so much perspective into ex-witnesses... to spend a considerable amount of time developing the "JW" character(s) outside of the lead character's world... and to possibly delve into them leaving the organization, if i ultimately feel that's what the life in the story holds for them...
but to answer "why" a jehovah's witness... that is what, at the time, served the story... but i was concerned that i wasn't distinguishing between the individual and the religion... i don't want the character (however minor or major her role in the actual storyline ends up to be) to be simply a caricature... she is a human being that has a history that led her to that point, and she has a future that will go on from that point...
hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness...
) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness?
if so, for what reasons?
thank you, little drummer boy
if i may pry further... do you truly consider those years completely wasted?
as a result of your struggle with faith and with the witness organization, didn't you learn an immense amount about yourself? granted, much of it may have been through repression and the subsequent nightmare of detaching yourself and rebuilding your lifestyle... but wasn't that struggle one of deep self-revelation?
i've seen many people go through life, never believing in anything strongly, and therefore never being shaken out of that belief by a revelation... some of those people never begin the path of self-discovery throughout their entire lives, because they never have any kind of trauma to instigate questioning or investigation...
if nothing else, i would imagine, after so many years of denying yourself urges based on belief, that finally satiating those urges would be much, much sweeter than the common experience ever could be to someone who didn't go through the same struggle...
i guess, i'm just hoping that you (and the others on this board) don't feel regretful about the long periods of time you spent with the witnesses... it seems that you were all able to go through a complete rebirth after leaving the religion, and rebirth is a pretty valuable thing a lot of people do not ever achieve...
please, refute me if you consider me wrong...
warlock,
ultimately, i will certainly speak to a few practicing jehovah's witnesses... hearing the perspective of one who is still passionately in the belief system will be just as beneficial as hearing your retrospective stories...
but, out of respect to those who do follow the belief system, i would not allow myself to become inducted into the religion... because my intentions would be out of the desire to examine and gain knowledge, not out of faith... and that is unjust, and quite frankly an insult, to anyone who is in the organization because of faith...
so i will make most accurate representation possible based on accounts... writing has to be vicarious sometimes...
i thank you for the suggestion, it was something i honestly had not thought of before...
i had customers yesterday, a couple, who said they had to get to a meeting by 7:30 last night.
(red flag!
) i asked what was the nature of this meeting, and they said it was like church, and i asked what religion, and they were hohos.
i apologize, i am not a regular on this board so i do not mean to come off as judgemental... i am just bringing this up as a point of debate...
because they were witnesses, did you feel it was alright to deceive them? was the deception somehow part of contempt for the religion they still practice?
did you not feel that you were somehow betraying your liberation from the religion by associating yourself (however briefly, and however untruthfully) with the religion again?
again, it is not my intent to rustle feathers... just let me know if my questions are out of line... and if they are, i do apologize...
hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness...
) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness?
if so, for what reasons?
warlock,
that certainly is an idea, speaking to witnesses at the kingdom hall... i just stumbled upon this message board, and i was impressed by the amount of thoughtfulness, introspection, and lucidity... i felt that you all could give me some helpful insights... and so far, you all have... i thank you again...
hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness...
) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness?
if so, for what reasons?
hello all who may read this, i am in the midst of writing a story, and a character who has appeared in the story is a jehovah's witness... i am attempting to gain a better understanding of the religion and its practitioners so as to present witnesses in a fair light... i am of no religious affiliation, but i assume that anything that a person believes is valid as long as they have put it through much consideration and thoughtfulness... i see that most (all?) of you are ex-witnesses, but i would like to know about what first attracted you to the religion to begin with... was it just passed down in your family, or did you make a conscious choice to become a witness? if so, for what reasons? and what reasons, today, would you still follow the religion? i see a lot of you talking about brainwashing... but is that the full story? is there nothing attractive about the religion that would keep someone of sound mind attached to the belief? i've done a lot of reading about the ideas and practices and history of the jehovah's witnesses as a group... but i am not concerned about the group... i would like to hear about individuals, and that's only something i can hear from individuals themselves... please allow me some insight into what attracted you to the religion and what about it kept you attached to it (or perhaps what keeps you attached to it until this day)... if you'd prefer to not post these insights on this board, my email is [email protected] i thank you all... kent
