this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Yes 100%. Born and raised. You grow up your entire life thinking the world is going to end in a few years. Why goto college if the world will end and it won't serve you in the new system? We grow up in terror, see a storm out the window... Is it Armageddon? Constant fear.
Not to mention the fear of being exiled from your friends and family if you "sin". My childhood was lost because I didn't get to celebrate Christmas or Halloween, or goto my friends house from school, or watch Harry Potter or play Pokemon. Instead we went to church twice a week, went knocking door to door at least once a week in the heat and humidity, and did book study once a week where we read their literature and answer simple minded questions about it. Sundays were non-existent because we spent the entire day partaking in those activities.
Shit, I had no idea. That sounds like a fairly anxiety-inducing way to live.
Around the Cretaceous period when I was in elementary school, I had a classmate who was in the JW and their life did sort of seem pretty drab compared to the rest of us, at least based on what they talked about, but I guess it's no surprise that they didn't much venture into the whole Armageddon thing for example, being 7–9yo at the time.
It is anxiety inducing, it's hard to even realize it because they always keep you busy. And they discourage you from having friends outside the religion and teach you that people outside have miserable lives, they only do drugs, drink alcohol and have sex. Anyone outside is only nice to you because they want to take advantage of you.
Youre taught to be scared of the outside world so you never explore it and realize that normal people really are just normal and most people are actually very friendly and want to help each other, and are a million times less judgemental than other JWs.
In other words, it's a cult.
I'm still disappointed in the relative lack of orgies since getting out. I WAS PROMISED ORGIES, DAMMIT!
It's like the "anti drug education" a lot of us had to sit through as a kid. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE FREE DRUGS I WAS PROMISED DEALERS WERE HANDING OUT????