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Raised Jehovah's Witness

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Hi, I am new to the forum. I've read all of Ayn Rands books in the past 2 years and have been learning as much as I can about objectivism and its application. I have been learning simply... how to think.

I am 19 years and was raised a JW by my mom. I wanted to know if there were any Objectivists here that were raised or were once JW's. Id love to talk to you about some questions I have, among other things. Thankyou all!

You can either respond in the thread or PM me. Take care.

(Moderator's note: Edited at request of poster, to remove full name)

Edited by softwareNerd
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Well, I wasn't raised as a JW, but my favorite Uncle and my cousin are members of the Jehovas witness religion. I'll help out if i can, I'd PM you, but I just started using this thing and I have no idea how, feel free to message me.

I imagine that you haven't, or that it was very hard if you did tell your mother about your change in faith. From what I understand it's very hard leaving a religion that is so completely life consuming. When I was younger I went to church with my grandmother for a while, she likes to bring up how I need to go to church all the time...I think she's a little confused...but I prefer to leave her that way. Her delusions comfort her...I think that if I just flat out told her I was an athiest and that God didn't exist she would have some sort of break down, I am the favorite grandchild afterall. Anyway, if one of your questions relates to telling your family, I certainly wouldn't pretend to be a member, or attend services, but I also wouldn't tell them I was an athiest and that they were wrong, people who are extremely ...involved in their religions tend to be unwavering, and it would end up being a useless arguement that would make everyone upset. Anyway, I don't lie, it's just none of their business, and I don't answer:).

Selfishly,

-Ashley

(Moderator's note: Removed extensive quote)

Edited by softwareNerd
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I was raised a Christian, but I am not sure how JW raise their kids. Is it a lot different from "regular" Christianity?
It is usually much more strict in the sense JW parents believe they have much more to protect there children from than non JW's. Since they do not celebrate any holidays, associate with non-JW's (for the most part) or participate in ANY politics, they tend to shelter there kids as much as they can... while they can.

I grew up abit different. My mom was only a JW and my dad was not. It was a broken house hold for much of my life. I am also the youngest, my parents "better" days and come and gone. So even though I did not experience the strictness... or anything for that matter from them, I still went to the Kingdom Hall (CHURCH) on my own, and learned on my own.

Good luck with your studies, and everything else. From what I've heard, going against the JW community can be kind of rough. thumbsup.gif

It is... trust me. Especially when all of your friends... family are involved. If you decide agianst the religion... you are outcasted. Not as much by family, but most certainly by friends.

Ashley,

Thank you for your concern and understanding. The JW religion is indeed, very life consuming. Your advice concerning telling your parents or family is good. They would have a breakdown... that is no lie. I do not attend any of there services, or go Door to door witnessing ... that would be... insincere and fake on my part if I did. The thing is its hard to wash away beliefs that have been ingrained into you since you can remember anything. So I have my struggles, but its enlightening and I enjoy the process, I just thought it would be comforting to find others... that have took a ride in the same boat, I am in now.

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The thing is its hard to wash away beliefs that have been ingrained into you since you can remember anything.

I understood this when I turned 11 and told my grandparents who had raised me since I was five I would not be going to church anymore. Pissed them off something awful. For around a year I had to endure shouting protests of concern from them every Sunday. Before this time I had came to understand in a foggy way I did not believe in the existence of a Christian God, I never had, but I thought I had no other alternative. The only principles that had ever been shown to me were mingled with Christian philosophy, this appalled me, I did not know what philosophy was but I was searching for one desperately. At that time I was ready for Objectivism however I did not discover it until eight years later. During those eight years while I was able to work the God character out of my system I had accepted all of the altruistic principles of the Christian morality and it was driving me into the ground, although I couldn't name at the time for the life of me what was doing it. After my discovery of Objectivism, a friend of mine simply mentioned "The Fountainhead" to me, I found the book and thereafter at first reluctantly but after proof of its correctness I accepted its principles by conviction, I searched out every book on Objectivism I could find.

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I was raised a Christian, but I am not sure how JW raise their kids. Is it a lot different from "regular" Christianity?

I have a friend who was, in the past, a Jehovah's Witness. From what I understand, the Witnesses seek to interpret literally the Bible as originally written in Greek and Hebrew.

This leads to a few key differences. Their local organizations (what most people would call "churches" but they would call "Kingdom Halls") are highly independent, at least when compared to Protestant denominations. There is much less focus on sermonizing (generally there are no sermons) and ritual, and the main focus is on personal and group Bible study. They also interpret the Bible as requiring that they stay out of politics. They believe very strongly in outreach.

Almost all of the criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses is unfounded. They seem, to me, to be much more reasonable about most things than most other Christian denominations. Still, any faith-based religious community can be repressive for individuals (not to mention that it is, by defenition, based on something that cannot be proven).

Edited by Free Thinker
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Hi,

I, too, was raised a Jehovah's Witness. It's great that you were too, so I won't have to clarify the jargon.

I was essentially raised by my grandparents on both sides; my mother and father are divorced and both disfellowshipped. I lived with my grandparents on my mother's side since I was 16 for about two years and my grandfather was the Presiding Overseer of the local congregation. I was studying with an aunt (who I was very close to) and had become an unbaptized publisher when I started having questions about he origins of man. It all started with Genesis 3, where Jehovah doesn't realize that Adam has eaten from the tree until he notices that Adam is wearing clothes. From there I started questioning everything: If God created everything, including all concepts and manifestations of ideals, then he must have created evil and planted it in the serpent to spread to man, therefore, Jehovah is soley responsible for all of the suffering and death in the world, and why would he not want man to have knowledge of good and bad, what was he hiding?

Granted, at the time I was a philosophic mess. I didn't discover Objectivism for another year.

I also decided it was a good idea to abandon the religion when I noticed some creepy similarities between "The Society" and Orwell's immortal Big Brother. The more I thought about The Watchtower, the more I realized that all of the literature and vast volumes of reference material was obvious brainwashing. I also realized that any ideology that prohibited you from exploring other ideas has something to hide; if it isn't true it seems like I would be smart enough to figure it out myself (as you may know the classic JW reference, 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Bad associations spoil useful habits"). I alway thought that it was a little silly that I couldn't talk to anyone who wasn't JW for fear that I would be corrupted.

I'm sorry, this was not intended as a Witness bashing post. It's only that I rarely meet an Objectivist who shares my background and it's good to finally share some of those memories.

I. personally, have come a long way since then and would be happy to help with any questions.

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I have a friend who is a JW, and we've always gotten along rather well. I don't know how "devout" he might be, however, his wife is Catholic, after all.

I'm under the impression that he is a JW because he needs some kind of core belief in his life. Politically he tends toward conservatism, and although he follows the letter of the law (no blood donations, no politics) he remains interested in the outside world. He is one of the only people I know face-to-face with whom I can discuss politics.

The point of this is that I don't think JW's are any worse than any other religious people, really. About on par with, say, Mormons (pardon me, The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints). I haven't met any Scientologists, so I couldn't say on that front. :thumbsup:

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