i have not been active here lately just lurking mostly but i have no one to talk to and i need some help i guess.i started working out and became friends with my personal trainer(we went to school together).i started going out with him(lying to my mother about what i was doing,another thing to add to the list of lies,it's becoming too easy!
) and i notice i'm slowly becoming the worldy people that the jw's described.i've become very selfish and rude and very apathetic towards everything and everyone.i always thought the values that jw's taught were really good.if i cut ties with the only friend i have now , i would probably slip into a deep depression and i that is something that i want to avoid at all costs.i start university in january and my plan was to stick it out in the organisation until i got my degree and became fully independant but as of late a elder told me i am being considered to become a m.s and told me what i need to work on and since then the other elders have been nagging me to work on the same things.i'm trying to rid my self of my 'priveleges' in the cong but nothings working...if anyone has experienced a similar situation what advice would you give?
, oh and my mom was always super into the religion having been a pioneer and bethel worker for years but we went to the regional convention two weeks ago and now she is even more exasperating (for example a sister asked my why i was 19 years old and not a ms or serving at bethel yet, which is fine i've learnt how to deal with these questions but when i told my mother whom has always been content with me just being in the religion and never pushed me towards anything asked me if i was happy with what i was and if i would not be happier at bethel or regular pioneering.
You have been brainwashed to dislike what is normal, it takes time to readjust.
Trust me, in ten years time you will realise how judgmental and weird the JW view of normal people is and how odd JW's can be,
love yourself and make yourself happy....its totally cool to do that
i asked an old jw friend of mine why so many baptized individuals leave the jw religion.
"did it ever occur to you, old friend, that maybe they know something that you don't know and have valid reasons for leaving?
", i asked.. his response set me back for an answer.
It is impossible, literally impossible for them to include legitimate reasons for leaving as they believe it's the truth,
The easiest approach I found is read Deut 18: 20-22 (a false prophet is one that makes predictions that don't come true) then list as many predictions they have gotten wrong as you know and say... who is responsible for the people that leave for,following that verse?
But remember.....if you could reason with such believers, there wouldn't be any believers to try to reason with.
l know animals do it but their animals.they dont live by a moral code.the thought of 2 men going for it is not normal.what are your thoughts?.
😮
that is all......
is remaining ignorant about the society a choice?.
surely every witness has a moment in time when "something just doesn't seem right"?
perhaps a teaching, doctrine, an article, a talk, a news report about child abuse handling, or a jwdubdotorg broadcast, a video, a cartoon for the kids....you know....?.
It applies to many situations such as people living in fascist regimes, like in North Korea, the facts are the facts but ignorance will keep you alive.
i have always said for me, it is a decision of TRUTH v's COMFORT
I have pondered this for 15 years now and I have found only one reason to justify the ignorance and defend the comfort that I can't argue with. If you were in a river and sure to drown, you look and see a branch, it's the only one currently and only one evidently around, you look and see it is rotten and of no substance, it WILL break when you grab hold of it.....
Will you grab hold of it anyway?......
Tough question to answer as an atheist....and as a human.
i'm wondering if the borg actually studied mind control and coercion tactics deliberately or wether they just evolved over time through trial and error.
from reading steve hassans books, studying hypnosis and methods psychopaths use it all seems very complex.
like it would never occur to me to do a, b and c in the right order at the right time in order to get control of someone or control their lives.. for example, repetition of words (the word "loyalty" was a big one in the last convention), using loaded language, encouraging people not to trust their own thoughts, restricting their information, demonising those who leave etc.
I want to say no....
But then what person encourages, no demands.... fear of knowledge, education or information?
can all indoctrination leave a person , or does it linger in background till death..
The brain is very plastic and develops by our experiences and knowledge. It's the perspective and window via which we eventually see the world. I was in for 25 yrs and I have no doubt that some JW triggers will still exist when (if) I am old and grey,
The good news is, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Bad experiences can have positive effects. Look around you when you leave, even undoctrinated people have a tough life and their own demons. Ours were unique to a belief system, that's all.
My experience with the JW's has taught me to critically appraise all information and personalities I come across. It's now my most potent protection, if not a little too defensive. If I ever have the privilege of children it will be the most important thing I teach them!....... and I learned that by being lost in indoctrination.
Opportunity often comes disguised as misfortune or temporary defeat....
The most important thing is to pursue feeling happy!
The moment animals ate animals 'violence' was born. All want to live, but none want to die......conflict is inevitable. When a thinking living creature survives by consuming/defeating another thinking living creature, for food or to procreate, there is the need for outsmarting snd overpowering another. No animal will subject itself to another without a good reason (some may for complex altruistic calculated reasons in the hope others may for their offspring/genetic releatives) and what is the alternative other than violence? Animals that survive in packs, colonies have developed social constraints as it is .......beneficial for the group and the individual!
Humans have developed reasoning as it is less risky than boxing, but every Saturday night will prove that we are still primitive!
Violence is a difficult term to pin down.... is it violent to kill a chicken as we do in the millions ..to make it into a KFC? Is it violent for a lion to take down a gazelle? What about one tribe dominating another for respect in order to dominate that region? What about two tribes ...separated by football shirts?
As a rule, asking "Why?" with regard to behaviour in humans and animals, the answer comes quite easily when pondering how the mechanism came about and what environmental factors led to that trait evolving.
this is an older letter i wrote to the gb in october last year in regards to their policy around shunning of dissociated ones.
the letter doesn't focus on the disfellowshiped, but am in the process right now of writing to them regarding their recent watchtower on shunning disfellowshipped relatives.. the letter i wrote back in october rambles on a bit, but wanted to express my frustration to the governing body about their very unfair policy toward those who simply choose to leave.. regards.
the governing body.
Did they ever love you enough to reply with a logical scriptural response?
due to unforeseen circumstances, i need to say goodbye.
proverbs 14:16 nlt.
i have every faith that the governing body of jehovah's witnesses will bring about needed change very soon given the continuous pressure they face.
Alternatively you could ask for help if you are struggling and finding life hard, I promise you we have all been there.....
"if you are a young person you need to face the fact you will never grow old in this system of things.. why not?
because all the evidence in fulfilment of bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years...as a young person you will never fulfil any career that this system offers".
may 22 awake!
It's ironic... a JW would read that now and say with a very mild hint of embarrassment 'oh well that was obviously a mistake and with hindsight a little irresponsible' ....meanwhile they are building a bunker..
