Topics Started by cog_survivor

3
Shame & Guilt...applied to religious abuse
by cog_survivor in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
i've been listening to a cd book by brene brown who is a "shame researcher".

she has a couple of fantastic presentations on ted that got me interested (google "ted" and "brene brown" if curious).. but i was struck by how much my cult experience caused me to internalize shame and call it guilt.

i love how she simply states, "guilt says, 'i made a mistake'.
23
Does the WTBS emphasize these two verses for control?
by cog_survivor in
1. watchtower
2. beliefs
something i came to understand that the worldwide church of god did effectively was to cut people off from from their feelings and intellect in favor of the "appropriate" thoughts and feelings.. how they did this was by frequently emphasizing these two verses:.

proverbs 3:5 - trust in the lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.. jeremiah 17:9 - the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?.

by means of these two verses i was taught not to trust myself with regards to either my ability to reason or if my gut was telling me something was wrong.. i was wondering if these two verses were emphasized for jws as well..
Anybody seen "Blue Like Jazz"
by cog_survivor in
1. social
2. entertainment
i saw it on cable ondemand last night.

i had heard about the controversy it stirred up amongst evanglelical groups.

so i decided to give it a watch.. basically boy leaves fundamentalist upbringing for liberal college.
14
Cult Life - Disposable Relationships
by cog_survivor in
1. jw
2. friends
i've been reading a lot of the posts and agonizing with/for folks who are trying to fade or come out of the wtbs.

there seems to be this recurring theme of family still in, trying to keep from losing them.. this seems almost universal no matter the group.

there is no middle ground whatsoever.
1
Movie - Paradise Recovered- cult exiting focused
by cog_survivor in
1. jw
2. friends
dogpatch posted a couple of years ago about this movie.

i've been following the news on it ever since it was made known to be in production.. the woman who wrote the script for it is a worldwide church of god survivor like myself.

she wanted to show people what it can be like for people who were abused and kicked to the curb by an abusive church and the struggles they have to go through to learn to think for themselves.. their motto is, "we're not anti-religion, just anti cruelty".
7
Local cult exiting groups - a wish
by cog_survivor in
1. jw
2. friends
reading some of the exit/fader stories my heart breaks.. i wish there were some kind of local support groups for people who want help in leaving behind their cult lives.

living in the heart of the midwest, there really isn't anyone to turn to.

i would have loved to meet with others in a safe enviroment to work through some of the issues.. all the implanted fears make people scared to turn to other religious organizations.
14
Similarities and differences: JWs & WWCG
by cog_survivor in
1. jw
2. friends
some folks expressed curiosity about the doctrines of the worldwide church of god and how they were similar to jws.

so heres the down and dirties of what i think we had similar.

1. armegeddon - yep we referred to it as the great tribulation followed by the day of the lord.
42
Worldwide Church of God collapse
by cog_survivor in
1. jw
2. friends
on my introduction post a few people expressed interest in how the worldwide church of god (wwcg) imploded.

i think maybe in hopes something similar will happen with the jws.

i think the jws will also eventually experience a meltdown but probably not in the same way since the power structure was a bit different.
25
Newbie - Not ex-JW
by cog_survivor in
1. jw
2. friends
i've been lurking on the forum for over a year now.

i'm not an ex jw but have some weird connections to the group none the less.. i was raised in the worldwide church of god.

a lot in common with jws.