Let's Talk About Mental Health, Brainwashing And Betrayal

Picture yourself raised in a home where not only did everyone believe in demons but they were probably targeting us specifically because "we were god's people, so they wanted us to suffer." Now be aware that most of the family has mental health problems so we'd be more sensitive to delusions of this sort of thing.

"Where are you going with this?"

Well imagine confiding in the 2 people who you thought were your best (local) friends, and one cut you off completely. I was ghosted, no word of why till nearly a decade later when i finally caved and asked her over Facebook...

I haven't heard from the other in months... A year? She was the first I asked to look into the checklist of what makes a cult. What's worse is I don't know if its just cause she's a little scattered, moves a lot and had cut off most of her social media and cellphone usage "for her spirituality," by then. The amount of stress I remember that girl feeling due to JW shit specifically makes my heart hurt. I'm terrified to email her for a definite answer if she's cut me off or not.

Skip this paragraph if you're sensitive to talk of suicide. Now picture a boy raised into the JWs, he was an elder's son poster boy but just to look at him you could almost feel the clouds of depression around him. Picture this boy getting disfellowshipped for a worldly girlfriend whom he took to the JW celebration of the Memorial, where the talks are all about the resurrection thanks to Jesus' death... Now picture this girl killing herself not long after. Now he's disfellowshipped, alone, and brainwashed enough to block me when I mentioned the characteristics of a cult.

Now imagine you study a whole book with an elder, and with your husband. We wanted to study as a couple since we'd studied solo for at least 2 books each. We thought we were friends with this elder. Guess who didn't come to our wedding because it wasn't in a Kingdom Hall (because we weren't allowed to have it in the Kingdom Hall because neither of us were baptised... because the elders in general wouldn't let us do that either... JOKES ON THEM, we can't be disfellowshipped!) This elder is also suddenly asking us to study again. So that's a thing.

"Why do you keep bringing up cults, it's clearly chasing people away."

What if you knew the stress of living in these conditions? What if you knew how much of a relief it was to cut yourself off from the expectations of everyone? To be yourself? To cut off superstitions you didn't know you had (they're told superstition is bad but "leave your bible open to god's name to scare away demons" tends to also be suggested so i got some bad news).

You'd want to give them the same relief would you not? I can't not be scared but I can't not try either.