i just ended a three week sabbatical from attending my usual christian fellowship.
going back last night, i was struck by just how superficial and shallow the worship service was.
it was almost as if the worship leader was trying to manufacture joy in the believers.
I have been to a couple of "Happy-clappy" type churches and at first I was a bit overwhelmed because it was so different from the JW's sombre meetings. Then I saw how sincere and joyful the people were and the ones I went to didn't seem enforced. There were also more subdued songs which were sung with lots of emotional feeling. I found it all quite refreshing.
Maddie
for those of you, newbies or perhaps others who haven't read steve hassan's book - " combatting cult mind control" here are some very important things to remember of how jehovah's witnesses and other " mind control" cults operate .
it may help you to understand some things to see how we were all faked out at one time in our lives.
hassan's book states , " in totalistic cults , the ideology is internalized as " the truth ", the only "map" of reality .
Looking back now I realise it took me longer to break out of the mind control than I thought. Even now sometimes I experience a certain amount of JW induced fear, even though I see it for what it is. When I was df I still believed it was the truth, causing me great anguish. It wasn't until I was reinstated that I began to find out things and research and that was only with encouragement from my husband. Before then a part of my brain was shut off to being able to think outside of the JW mind set.
Maddie
at our hall, so many entire families were jw's.
an elder told me that all the other members of his family were of another religion.. this made me wonder if some families could be genetically prone to be religious?.
Those that have a propensity to become addicted, many times, more from one addiction to another. Religion can be an one of their addictions, as can sex, along with drugs, alcohol and gambling. I believe that thereis an addiction gene, one that leads some people, to join cults.
PEC - I agree there may be something in what you say to a degree. I have an addivtive nature thats for sure
Maddie
let me just start off by saying wow.
never thought the day would come i'd see myself write that kind of title.
so, you may or may not remember me from my post a few weeks ago about my ex-jw g/f from europe wanting to see what a meeting was like in the states.
Be on your guard or you might become involved before you realise it. The mind control can be very subtle.
Maddie
at our hall, so many entire families were jw's.
an elder told me that all the other members of his family were of another religion.. this made me wonder if some families could be genetically prone to be religious?.
Dr Dean Hamer, director of the Gene Structure and Regulation Unit at the National Cancer Institute in America, asked volunteers 226 questions in order to determine how spiritually connected they felt to the universe.The higher their score the greater a person's ability to believe in a greater spiritual force and, Dr Hamer found, the more likely they were to share the gene, VMAT2.
This experiment has been criticised for its reductionist approach. Maddie
i like variety and different opinions and i don't see that in the jw's...... what can this lead to?.
No not in the way JW's do. They lose there individuality and don't think for themselves - hence become part of the "collective".
Maddie
i dont think i can.
i dont think there is anything i could hear or see that would make me turn red or cause my mouth to hang agape.
its used to be a source of pride for me.
I used to have a terrible problem with blushing when I was young, but not much now although sometimes I still do.
Maddie
my father died last monday, the 4th at the age of 82. he had suffered from severe alzheimers for the last few years.
his funeral was yesterday.
as my brother and i made the arrangements (my mother died in 2003) he suggested and i agreed that we would each give a eulogy.
I am sorry for your sad loss Lenny, but happy for you that you were able to say goodbye to your father in such a loving way.
Maddie
i was wondering about this the other day before i went to sleep, out of habit and my spiritual beliefs now, i spoke to the spiritual realm above and asked for guidance and protection.. i remember my journey of leaving the jw "borg" (a new term i have picked up here - i like it!
) and at first i refused to pray at all, and then i wasn't sure i wanted to or not, and then i developed my own sense of the higher power above and spirituality and every night before i sleep, i feel blessed to have another day of life, to do it all again.
even on days when i am not having such a good day, i take time to ask the higher realm for strength and direction.
I am finding it difficult to pray right now.
Maddie
i can only think of one person who actually seemed to have "joy in her heart "on the min when i studied , and even the dubs used to hate being put with this person, it all seems so obvious now that it has nothing to do with a love for god , but doing whats expected of you
Yes I was happy when quite new to being a JW because I sincerely felt that I was doing something good. I never liked knocking at doors very much but thought that was the way it had to be done.
Maddie
