by JH 49 Replies latest jw friends
The moment where the curtain was rent in two: Pioneer Services School where CO says that Nathan Knorr at age 37 was appointment
President of the WT. "Can you imagine," he says, "to be ruling over the whole Earth at age 37?"
NO. I could not imagine it.
I read Crisis of Conscience in the summer of 1999, while on holiday,
and knew it wasn't the truth.
I was still a ministerial servant then, but came home and stood down
immediately. I never went in the ministry again, and left the organisation
altogether in November 1999.
Yes, a little less than 2 years ago.
I was told by several witnesses that I would not be df'd, since I was inactive for over 15 years. I got 2 1/2 meetings in before my JC meeting, for them to tell me that I was df'd due to the lifestyle I led those 15 years!
The last meeting was about dec 05 when i went to collect mags and the brother was really rude to me for no reason. The last time on the ministry was just before that when this sister took me to a 'weak' couple from our other congregation, then proceeded to gossip about several in the congragations, private things affairs, etc, things i didn't want to know about and that was none of our business. I carried on helping her with two studies she had with the new teach book, but found myself questioning her about several things, which she did'nt like in front of the studies - she didn't care that all the innocent babies etc would apparently be killed with their parents, including her grandchildren - i've got plenty of others, she said. I stopped that, googled jehovahs witnesses read coc book. The final straw came when my hubbys step father came round saying he wanted to help and when i tried to say i'd give my children blood he said i was selfish and looked at me as if i was dog poo - the fanaticism i saw on his face actually scared me when i realised he 100 percent believed it all - i knew then i had to get out of something so rotten. I wrote a letter leaving, my hubby wanted me to meet face to face with them but i knew from my experience of talking to his step father they wouldn't listen. Wish i'd done it years ago.
Mentally, I think the tipping point for me was my posting here. Once I allowed myself to see all the problems that I already knew existed with some of the theological problems (especially the 607 thing) in a big picture kind of way, I realized that the WTS is not God's organization. So, I started working on slowly divesting myselft.
Physically, I'm still "active" but barely. If I can show my wife the truth, then physically I'll be gone as well.
Isn't it unreal to go from gungho elder to unbeliver in just a few months? Just shows how fragile the whole belief system is. You pull out one or two cards and the whole thing comes crumbling down. Much different that what Jesus described as faith built on a rock mass. More like the faith that is built on sand.
It took about a year, but several "defining moments" that took place during the breakup of my marriage to my first wife, and the subsequent months thereafter. The doubletalk in the elders meetings, and JC, the dishonesty that was tolerated by them, the whole thing. I was being taught things without even realizing it. Soon meeting attendance stopped, moved in with then girlfriend, (now wife), etc. One day I woke up and noticed something strange. I was happy for the first time in my life. Now I needed to now why... Then I found JWD and Freeminds. The rest is history.
j
Meeting my first girlfriend at 17. Like bunnies we were. LMAO
2001 DC Drama "Repect Jehovah's Authority"
It was so heavy-handed that it almost seemed like a parody of Watchtower indoctrination methods.
I learned after my exit from JWism that Brooklyn felt that the warnings of spiritual dangers that were highlighted in the drama were of such grave importance that they felt it necessary to put together a video production of it to distribute on DVD. I'm still speechless at that.
A lot of events led up to our leaving, however it was my removal as an MS that opened my eyes because there was no reason for the removal. The committe couldn't give me a scriptural reason for why they were removing me. Could it be because my wife had a fall at a circuit assembly and we were asking for help from the insurance department because she was disabled and had between 70K-80K of medical bills??? Hmmmmm.
Even though we stopped going to the meetings after that I still felt that they "had the Truth", but that there was apostasy going on and that Jehovah would straighten it out. In the meantime, we moved to Florida and quietly faded away. I was still left with the fear that I was going to die at Armageddon until it dawned on me that the Bible said I would be able to identify true Christianity by the "love amongst themselves" and by the "fruitage the tree was bearing". When I looked back at how poorly the WTBTS, and the local elders, handled my wife's situation, coupled with many years of being treated poorly, I realized that they could not possibly have the "Truth" because they were failures with the identifying mark in the very book that they claimed to follow. The fruitage was horrible. As the Bible says, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit. It amazes me sometimes that people overlook this very simple, yet powerful statement. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit. There is no such thing as "the men are imperfect" scenario that the JW's are so fond of using when the elders are goring the sheep. If the rotten tree fits, you can't acquit.
The final straw was when I heard about the UN NGO thing. I knew absolutely at that moment that I had nothing to worry about. I KNEW I was not walking away from "Jehovah's Earthly Government". I knew then that they were just a bunch of crooked people skinning money off of people and taking advantage of the good nature of fellow human beings. The WTBTS is the lowest form of pond scum on the earth. They make the Moonies look like pikers.
exjdub
Two things
Five years after I left I considered going back. I spoke with one of the elders on my JC. He was so rude. I could hardly believe this man that i looked up to had this side in him. Then when I went to a meeting he arranged for my ex to read the WT and say the prayer.
That was too hard to stomach. But I still thought they had the "truth".
Another five years and a friend asked a question about the witnesses and I went on the Internet to do some research.
I came across the info on the Malawi/Mexico and that was the end for me.
I still didn't think the WTS was bad. I just thought they were terribly misguided. My head kept wondering about the money. They had to have a reason
A bit more research and I found out about the masses of money the WTS holds
That was the end for me
