Fists and Sticks

I used to be beaten as a kid. (I'm not looking for - and don't want any - sympathy.  It was a hell of a long time ago and I'm not brain damaged or permanently scarred).  Today my dad would be described as having 'anger issues' but back then it was 'not sparing the rod'.  The beatings were fairly regular and very violent but pain, I soon discovered, is a momentary.  By the time I reached about nine or ten he realised that I was becoming impervious to pain and his tactic changed.  He 'invented' a home for boys who were disobedient, a place run by tough guards who employed a strict, harsh regime with little food, early morning starts and no contact with family.

It sounds ridiculous but trust me, he would threaten to take me there every time I did something wrong and I was terrified.  I believed him, I trusted him and I was scared that he would take me to it. On a couple of occasions he even put me in the car with a suitcase, ready to dump me at this prison for wicked little boys.

Of course it never really existed, but to a scared ten year old it certainly did. 

When I eventually realised he was lying I lost all respect for him.  For years I wondered how a father could torment their children with something so vile.  Of course the answer is simple.  That is how the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses control the rank and file brothers and sisters in the Kingdom Halls.  He had been a Witness for twenty plus years when I was born.  He had been indoctrinated with the idea that fear is the single most effective method of control.

The Governing Body perpetuate the myth that Jehovah (God) is a father figure who loves his 'children'.  However, if his children disobey him, he will kill them at the battle of Armageddon.  No dissension will be tolerated, no unrepentant sinner will be spared.  Most of you reading this blog already know that the Governing Body lie in their literature, you know that they deliberately mislead the 'brothers' but they get away with it because they have convinced their followers that they have the 'truth' and anyone who argues is an 'apostate'.  

It's not physical abuse but it is psychological abuse and in many ways that is much worse.  Pain you can deal with but fear is a weapon that prays on your mind and leaves you crippled emotionally.

Witnesses are trapped in the belief that if they question, if they argue, if they read or listen to anything that contradicts the Governing Body they will anger their God and risk his wrath at Armageddon.  On top of that they also risk losing the love of all of their friends and family if the elders decide that their 'disloyalty' is worthy of disfellowshipping.

Is there any wonder that most of them won't even glance at blogs like this?  They are terrified of the consequences just as I was terrified of the 'naughty boys home'.

Like me everyone who has the balls to finally leave the JW's loses all respect for them because we finally see them for what they are, but getting to that point is incredibly difficult.  Fear is the greatest of all torture methods because it messes with your mind, it torments you, makes you anxious, creates an illusion that white is black and black is white.  It makes it almost impossible to think clearly, rationally and that is what the Governing Body of JW's rely upon.  They don't want the rank and file to see the blindingly obvious (that they are not Gods chosen people) and so they create this 'fear' to separate their believers from reality.

They might not use fists and sticks but it is not far off.