depending how long you where a member or if you where a born in, the watchtower leaves certain marks or traces in your mind that you only notice after leaving them for good.. i think this is similar to a big river, with a high level of water that covers the hidden rocks and cliffs.
once you start lowering the water level, all these rocks come to the surface and suddenly that river is difficult to navigate.. like that river, our minds are flooded with false hope for the future, a naive expectation to have jehovah sort things out for you and lots of fake, conditional love and warmth.
all these things hide the fact that the same organization also put some heavy rocks into your mind called fear and passivity.
You are not alone in feeling such.
But the fact that you recognize it will do wonders in your recovery. You said that you "noticed" it everyday. Thus, you are no longer a slave, but have the opportunity to control your life and much of its outcome.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
Bravo!
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
so the question is posed in this week's watchtower study at our former cult's houses of indoctrination.
i should like to answer it, and i should like to hear your answers too.. the question is in two parts, and i shall address each one in turn.. q. is my life more meaningful?.
my life is more meaningful.
Hip-Hip-Hooray!
Great to hear some real "good news".
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
mrs. zahut made facebook contact with a friend she grew up with.
the friend is from a large jw family.
so far she's only sent the following brief message.. " ....no one in our family are jw.
My JW mom raised four children as JWs.
Me (inactive).
My three siblings never got baptized.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
hello all, it is nice to have a forum for former jw's and see i wasn't the only one out there having serious doubts.
my parents got into it when i was about 4 years old.
my family was part of the granville ny congregation.. my dad in time became an elder.
Glad you are here!
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
when i left the jw's, close friends and some elders discussed my desicion with me,without fail they all concluded the same thing.... "but where else is there to go?!".
at the time, the question just confused me, i could not see why it confused me or the very telling nature of such a comment.
i never thought that once.. firstly, this indicates that many jw's remain jw's simply because of this tunnel vision perspective... everything in their periphery is valueless, but the wt on which they focus is everthing.
BTTT
snare&racket, your OP is exactly what I needed to read. An excellent dissection of the topic.
Recenty I was asked the same "where" question by a well acquainted brother. I told him that it's actually "who".
He responded, "Basically where and who are the same".
I'm saving this thread because of all of the great responses and thoughts.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
john 14:14, in most translations, says something to the effect of, "if you ask me anything in my name, i will do it.
" (my emphasis on "me") the kjv (and relative translations) and the nwt do not have "me" in it.
most of the translations that keep the word were based on the westcott and hort which has the greek "me", however the kjv doesn't because it was based on the textus receptus which does not have the greek "me".
The footnote for John 14:14 in the large reference NWT notes that Jesus said to ask him anything in his name. I used this on several brothers in the congregation to suppport the fact that Jesus can be spoken to on a one to one basis. They couldn't refute this.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
"albert" was 55 years old, and the fifth-born of seven children.
i am the second oldest and babysat him often while he was growing up --- and while i was still at home.. yesterday, albert was out taking his usual morning stroll around his small town, when he collapsed on the sidewalk.
the doctors said it was a heart attack.
May you find strength and comfort during this difficult time.
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
reading a couple of threads here about how to handle jw's when they try to witness to you, i was wondering if anyone had tried to give an everyday situation example with a couple of choices to a jw and asked them what the right answer is.
then when they have picked, show them that the wt would have given the other, more shocking, answer.
well.... let's say john works someplace, and finds out that there is criminal activity going on.
I asked several in my congregation if turning in the field service (time) report was "voluntary" or "mandatory".
After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the only two different answers I got for the question were either...
(1) in between
(2) it's the arrangement
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhc1sqiaqum.
Thanks for sharing your expressions. I really see the harm of shunning and deplore this type of action.
By the way, I noticed that you have Ray Franz's COC and ISOCF wedged between the NWT reference Bible and the Proclaimers book on your bookshelf behind you. Nice .
More power to you!
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously)
