WHEN DID THE PENNY DROP.....FOR YOU.

by lowden 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  DanTheMan

  I was already 86.4% out, but a Sunday visit to the Whitehall Ohio cong back in December of 2001 sealed the deal. The subject of the public talk was education. I don't know if it was in the outline or not, but the bro giving the talk counseled™ the Christian youths™ in attendance about how much math is Appropriate™ for them to take in school - !!!!

  I hadn't been to a meeting in a couple of months, and I had attended this one as a giving-it-one-last-shot kind of thing. But I was just sitting there thinking WTF?? Math?? Is this a joke??

  I walked out of the KH afterwards knowing that it was over. JWism had become completely embarrassing to me.
• 

  lowden

  Wow...awesome posts, great stories people! Tetrapod that quote is mind-numbing..i've never seen that before. Yes Cog i'm with you on your story and now i understand your name..very clever and sooo true. Hey Still Angry, they really f##ked about with your head...no wonder you're er...still angry.

  I never mentioned that the real BIG penny drop for me was when the PO told my beloved 15 yr old son to 'cut me off' because i was DFed. He did for a time but it messed him up so much that he started cutting himself and self harming coz he was going through so much sadness and grief. He's ok now, no thank thanks to that 'piece of shit' elder who, if i ever see him again, will be on the 'canvas' before he can pick up his briefcase and run. He moved away 2 weeks after his deed....to become a cicuit overseer!!

  Keep em comin'

  Peace

  Lowden
• 

  slugga

  One Sunday morning, the meeting finished, I stood up at the back looked around at everybody else chatting to everybody else and it suddenly struck me, "none of this lot actually talk to me."

  I went and got my coat from the cloakroom, the cloakroom had a big glass window into the main hall, I took one long last look hoping someone would say hello or even nod but no one did.

  So I walked and never went back.

  Matt
• 

  diamondblue1974

  For me the penny was moved ever closer to the edge of the table by the 'new light' regarding the 1914 generation and the obvious movement of the goalposts. I remember the talk like it was yesterday, everyone just blindly accepting it in eager anticipation. Somehow it was twisted round that this new light could somehow mean that that Armageddon was nearer. All the while I was dubious and perplexed.

  I previously had had numerous discussions with christians and had defended my faith to the hilt using the generation arguments; I thought even then that if it wasnt the truth something would happen soon which would move the goalposts; there would have to be a change in thought or as it was said then 'new light'. That new light came around mid 1990s

  Despite this however it only ever moved the penny closer to the edge of the table; I didnt have the balls to challenge it properly and thinking back if I was to leave there would have to have been more of an emotional lever to push me. That lever soon came and pushed its hardest on the issue of child abuse and the WTBTS stance. It caused me to review my thoughts on other issues such as higher education and it was these things that reinforced my fade away. My fade wasnt intentional or preplanned as a way of avoiding being disfellowshipped, it was almost a natural progression given what I had experienced.

  The penny really did drop last year in 2005 when I found this website; after spending weeks reading I knew there was no way I could ever go back.

  DB74
• 

  jwfacts

  For me so many pennies dropped before I had the cents to get out that I was like a piggy bank.

  It dropped when I met nice worldly people that I could not understand why God would kill them.

  Then another one when most of my friends got disfellowshipped one after another and I was told i could not speak to them.

  Then another when a guy in bethel was appointed an elder even though he was having adulterous sex whilst in bethel.

  Then another one when I started to pick up on all the baseless generalisations in the Watchtowers articles.

  Then when i started to research the Watchtower and see the blatant misquoting of sources to mislead the reader to a false conclusion.

  Last penny that broke the bank was when two elders came and tried to make me swear I would not speak to one of my disfellowshipped friends again. I had enough, and told them in no uncertain terms.
• 

  BluesBrother

  When I met somebody who demonstrated that goodness, morality and kindness do exist in the outside world. I wrestled with the conundrum for a little while before the penny dropped . There was no way ever that the loving God that we knew would slaughter decent people just because they were not associated with the Watchtower Society, and that was too fundamental a point to live with and remain a witness. So it is just not true, none of it. "The Truth" was just another man-made version of religion and I had been 'had' for all those years..

  That was it. No going back on that conclusion . I have been mentally out ever since, even though I attend some meetings just to support the family..
• 

  The Lone Ranger

  I’ve being baptized for 20 years now, I’ve seen a lot of injustices and also known some crook elders, but I also thought that they were isolated cases, I was made to think that it was something that was only happened in my congregation and things like this don’t happen normally. I moved around to serve where need for greater etc and still saw injustice. Finally I went threw a bit of a problem, and for the first time I personally tasted a Committee and really could feel how cold they were, and so I asked myself, “If this is what I’ve gone through, what has others gone through?” and then I went against all advice of the WTS and when on the internet. I still remember the chill that went through me when I read about Russell,1914 and the pyramids, and how I’ve being fooled and lied too in the pass 20 years.
• 

  lowden

  Superb posts people...really brilliant!! Quite chilling stories some of em.

  Keep em coming!

  Peace

  Lowden
• 

  AK - Jeff

  I don't know if a moment in time can be surmized in our case. More like the knot slowly unwinding.

  I never entertained 'doubts' in the classic meaning - even through the 1975 fiasco and beyond - but the change in 'The 1914 Generation' in 1995 was a defining moment for me personally. I could not believe that so few witnesses were bothered by the change - it was as if they GB could have told them that the moon was really jusr green cheese and they would accept it without a thought. I was appalled that it has such little effect on the bros and sis's. It took a few more years - but the knot was starting to unravel with that.

  jeff
• 

  lowden

  The 1914 issue keeps being mentioned and you're all right...it was and is ludicrous. It never really sat properly with me. My brother lives in Sweden, he's also DFed and when i told him about it he laughed out in utter disbelief....and he REALLY used to be zealous. Bad, BAD WTBTS.

  Peace

  Lowden