To the OP point - yes, I remember not really being able to wrap my mind around doctrine, and felt like I didn't fit it in because I didn't understand everything I was expected to...little did I know that accepting WT doctrine was NOT an exercise of rigorous logic, but rather a suspension of such thinking.
Not to mention, some of my Kingdom Hall contemporaries were starting to 'reach out', as-it-were, and Auxiliary Pioneer over summers and school breaks, and since I hated Field Service fiercely, I couldn't walk that plank...
While at the same time, the WT and my parents did their best/worst to make sure I didn't fit in with the kids at school...
Few friends in school and fake ones in the Kingdom Hall. I was a kid on an island.
And yet they were all astonished that I bailed on the religion. I was miserable in there, and yet it threw them for a loop that I balked at a lifetime on the hamster wheel. They really couldn't understand me - never could, I guess.
hybridous
JoinedPosts by hybridous
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Do you remember this?
by Gorbatchov inwhen g. was a litle kid, remembering the watchtower study at age 9, hearing all the stuff, the paragraph, the questions, the answers, about topics i could not understand, so it became so abstract that it was not entering my ears and brains.
it felt that i was no part of the group, someone alone on a distant planet.. do you remember this feeling?.
g..
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hybridous
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Their Last Message of Damnation
by new boy inthe leaders of the witnesses are preparing their flock for the day when they will have to give that last message of damnation.
they will soon be announcing how their loving god jehovah will soon becoming to kill off the vast majority of mankind.
billions of men women and children,.
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hybridous
Also, the 'Last Message of Damnation' (OP), is a scenario where the "ark" of the saving Organization is shut, right?
So at this point, there's no more recruitment, no more disciple-making, no more Bible-studies....
No need for much literature or tracts. Maybe they save this final step for the days when the Org is so financially strapped, they're staring at their own demise, and thus proclaim and project their own mortality onto the world-at-large... -
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Their Last Message of Damnation
by new boy inthe leaders of the witnesses are preparing their flock for the day when they will have to give that last message of damnation.
they will soon be announcing how their loving god jehovah will soon becoming to kill off the vast majority of mankind.
billions of men women and children,.
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hybridous
I don`t believe they will ever do that because its not something they could walk away from or explain its failure to materialize ,however they will always be on the brink of delivering such a message........ in the near future.
Dangling the carrot before the donkey scenario.
Good comment, smiddy. I had always seen this similarly. The 'Good News of the Kingdom' (or whatever you want to call their message, now) is really the penultimate message. Contrast with the final, ultimate, message (see OP).
And really, once they went to the final one, it's that or nothing. I don't see, outside of some 'Jonah clause', how they could renege and stay Jah's vengeance day. The 'Jonah clause' has never been part of the JW narrative regarding the end of the system. Total Armageddon destruction has always been treated as a foregone conclusion. Repentance was never an out. -
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why the watchtower is so short of money
by pepperheart inthe watchtower is so short of money because they have to pay for all the upkeep of so many branch offices around the world.because so many of the branch offices are in very poor countries and they are not balancing the budgets.
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hybridous
Does it really mean anything to predict that the JW religion will be 'still be around in 100 years'?
What exactly, will be 'around in 100 years'?
It's been observed many times over that today's WT cult is markedly different in many ways, when compared to what we were involved with a generation ago; even more divergent when compared to what our grandparents were involved with 2 generations ago.
This 'religion' is evolving to find its homeostasis in a modern age with new pressures applied to it. It will continue to evolve and adapt to these pressures, or it will die. Each step it takes into the future removes it from its origins - ironic, given its grandiose claims.
So if we fast-forward 100 years and look up the JWs, what will we find? A pared-down internet-based religion? Some weird mutant frankenstein that found common cause and merged with SDA and Mormons? Don't laugh! It's about survival at all costs.
Whatever lasts won't be what's here now. -
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JW culture of "informers" is very similar to Communist China under Mao
by TerryWalstrom infirst, let's look at what counsel is published by the watchtower and required as proper behavior in the congregation.. *** g88 9/8 p. 20 should i tell on my friend?
***understandably, you may not feel you have the spiritual qualifications to readjust an erring friend.
but would it not make sense to see to it that the matter is reported to someone who is qualified to help?
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hybridous
"I'm paying a high price--THEREFORE--it must really be worth it all."
Yes, I am reminded of the terms: loss aversion and the sunk cost fallacy. Even when met with irrefutable proof that the religion in false by its own standards, the average JW can't concede anything.
Looking back on years of sacrifice and suffering to belong to the religion, what would it mean to do an about face? To admit you were wrong?
Tough pill to swallow. The a**holes that run the religion, however, have a way of forcing it down. -
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introducing * drum roll* me
by gabcol ini'm a long time lurker, first time writer on this site.
years and years ago, i was on another ex-jw message board though i'm not sure if it's still around or not.
i really enjoy reading all of your stories.
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hybridous
Quite a story. Glad to have you aboard - the worst parts are behind you.
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Hatred From My Children for Not Leaving the Organization Earlier
by new boy ini'm not proud of the fact that it took me over 50 years to realized what the organization really was and to finally leave it.
not proud at all, i feel pretty stupid.
however i didn't lose my children.
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hybridous
Then tell him to pull his head out and look forward not back.
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Hatred From My Children for Not Leaving the Organization Earlier
by new boy ini'm not proud of the fact that it took me over 50 years to realized what the organization really was and to finally leave it.
not proud at all, i feel pretty stupid.
however i didn't lose my children.
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hybridous
And I hope lurkers are reading this and taking it all in.
If you are a JW parent and wondering about leaving vs staying and how it may play out with the kids...behold.
It is unlikely that your kids will thank you for raising them in a cult.
The very minute you realize that this 'religion' is a dangerous scam, and you admit to yourself that you don't believe it...should be the last minute that kids are made to endure this shit.
Yes, I know this is an oversimplification and exits need to be planned and such, but you get my meaning. -
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Hatred From My Children for Not Leaving the Organization Earlier
by new boy ini'm not proud of the fact that it took me over 50 years to realized what the organization really was and to finally leave it.
not proud at all, i feel pretty stupid.
however i didn't lose my children.
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hybridous
This is good stuff.I would strongly encourage you to apologize to your son, to the degree that you feel comfortable. By acknowledging his anger you'll help him move past that. If you don't acknowledge his anger, he's going to stay angry most likely, and that will impede your ability to have a relationship with him. You did play a part in raising him, and it's clear that you feel regret and some responsibility. Just tell him that.
Anger and resentment serve a purpose. They are a normal and healthy response to threats to our well-being.
Serving a childhood sentence in this miserable CULT certainly qualifies.
The son is entitled to his feelings and they need to be acknowledged and validated before he can choose to start moving past them. -
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Hatred From My Children for Not Leaving the Organization Earlier
by new boy ini'm not proud of the fact that it took me over 50 years to realized what the organization really was and to finally leave it.
not proud at all, i feel pretty stupid.
however i didn't lose my children.
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hybridous
Yeah - I have a lot of resentment toward my parents. One is deceased, the other is fully indoctrinated.
I can't forgive their shitty decisions. They don't/can't even acknowledge that they did anything wrong!
New boy, you at least have that starting place with your son. It's something. It's better than nothing - which is what many of us have with our families.
You have offered your son something I've wished for...for years.
Something I will likely never get.
You've done the right thing by your son. I hope that before too long you can both takes steps forward in your lives together.
Keep trying with him. And keep us posted on your progress. Good luck.