Posted by ANDY on March 14, 1999 at 10:59:21 {MW/LNVTaZvKZ2}:
When I first started to study with the JW's I remember the phrase "put on the New Personality" came up a lot.
I was told that every JW had changed from their "old personality" and put on this "new personality" which to my understanding
was much better than the "old one".
After I became a JW I still remember talks, WT articles, and Awake articles talking about this great thing called the "new personality". They always said how much better we now were with this "new personality".
My question is was it really a better thing, this "new personality"?
When I had an alcohol problem I didn't trust people who didn't drink. I avoided them. My only friends were those who drank also. My social life was at the bars and lounges. What a life!? I had stopped drinking several times, no more than 2 or 3 weeks at a time, but I always went back to my "friends" at the bar. Even though the booze was ruining my life, I kept coming back. My so called "friends" kept telling me things would get better. Sound familiar?
Any way AA helped me kick the alcohol, and it helped me see that people, other than my drinking friends, were not as bad as I thought. I started trusting people again. I sarted helping others in the program. I enjoyed helping others. It was a good feeling. It was to me a "new personality". After five years clean and sober I became a JW.
The problem I have is that after becoming a JW my "new personality" that I had gained in AA started to change. The JW version of a "new personality" seemed to mean that I had to stop trusting anyone who wasn't a JW. I was not supposed to to anything charitable for others, unless they to were a JW. I shouldn't go to any function held in another religions church. I wasn't supposed to join any clubs or organizations, and I was supposed to keep my children from doing these things at school. I started to feel isolated from my family, parents, etc. that weren't JW's, and any thing that wasn't ok'd by the organization.
This new personality was not an improvement for me. Fortunatly I got away, but not till it did some damage to my thinking process. Still today after over four years I seem to isolate myself from the outside world. This is something I am trying to change. My wife also has a problem trusting others, and socializing since she finally decided to get out.
How can the organization change people like this, and say it is for the better? I know some great people who are still JW's. The problem is that they have this "new personality". I wonder what they were like before the "new personality"?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
ANDY: