I seem to have been setting up an exit years before it happened - I moved to the other side of the country, which was quite a start, but then for some reason joined a congregation immediately. I guess I just wanted to cut the family loose before they did it to me. I kind of knew I'd be out sooner or later, but didn't make any attempts at it, I just stayed in the safety zone for a long time.
Did you always know you might leave?
by jws 41 Replies latest jw friends
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penny2
No, I was convinced I'd be in the "new system" by 1975 - or soon after. Unlike others, I enjoyed meetings and FS. I wanted to help others be there after 1975 also.
Took me a while to work it out - but I did in the end.
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Witness 007
No it was the truth I left the truth one brick breaking at a time...before the wall collapsed!
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mrsjones5
I don't know if I always knew but I sure did things that weren't the actions of a diehard born-in: I hated FS and avoided whenever possible, which wasn't hard since my parents rarely went out when I was growing up, I hated the TMS - my mother signed me up once and I did maybe 2 talks and then refused to do any more, I stubbornly refused to answer any questions at the watchtower study or the book study (drove my mother mad ), I had few friends that were jws and none were that close that I really cared leaving them, I loved the holidays - when hubby and I got married I asked my new husband if we could have a Christmas tree (my first) he gave me a strange look and said sure (Maybe I got a little too excited ), oh and last but not least I never got baptised as a jw.
Josie
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Robert7
In hindsight, yes. They would say in meetings that early signs of your "spirituality" (i.e. loyalty to the WTS) slipping are things like lack of prayer, reading/studying, missing meetings/service, etc. I was doing all that.
Plus I never hated the things I should have, like college, worldly people, drinking, etc.
I guess I was ripe for leaving the cult without consciously knowing it But at some point it slowly became more and more conscious.
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dinah
I probably expected that I would always be a Witness. Looking back I can see that I knew it was all wrong. Being taught that crap from birth makes it harder to figure out just how wrong it is. It wasn't my dream to get out, but I can see how I did little things to get kicked out. Started with small "sins" then escalated until they couldn't just reprove me anymore.
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Junction-Guy
I despised the Watchtower since I was little, and was always looking for some way to invalidate it. I eventually quit going to meetings in a last ditch effort to have a normal life before I was destroyed.. I basically said "the hell with it, I am going to find me a woman and get married and live a normal life, so help me God, and if you destroy me then so be it". 4 years later I discovered The Truth was nothing but a lie.
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WTWizard
Once I was told to just meet men at a$$emblies, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I was going to quit going altogether.
Maybe next time you will think before killing all opportunities with the opposite sex. It's too late to ever get me back.
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Finally-Free
I often thought I might eventually get booted for misconduct on my part. I never thought I'd leave because of their misconduct.
W
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Junction-Guy
Yeah WT Wizard, they told me similar things. They did everything in the world to keep me away from the opposite sex.