Anyone leave the org without the help of the net?

by Miss Chievous 53 Replies latest jw experiences

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  noni1974

  Yes I did. I left in 1998. I Da ed myself because there was going to be no fading for me. I have a very involved family members. That comes from being a 4th generation born in JW. I got baptised at 19. I left at 23. I knew that my family would never leave me alone and let me live my life without butting in, so I Da ed myself. I had told my mom about a week before I did it that I didn't believe and had never believed. I expected her to keep it to herself. She did not. She went to the elders and ratted me out. So I Da ed. I didn't find any EX JW board until 05.

  My uncle died in 05 and that is what caused me to google JW's. I was told in my uncles room the day before he died that some people who were there were uncomfortable with me being in the waiting room with my family, so I should go find another place to sit away from my family. I practically had an emotional break down from that. I started crying and ran out of the hospital. I called a cab to go home and was balling in front of the hospital. My mom called my cell phone and talked to me and then my aunt ,who I hadn't spoken to since I left, got on the phone and told me that no one had said that to him and he had no right to say that or anything to me. My aunt told me that my family needed me and I should come back. I calmed down and cancled the cab and went back up to the waiting room. I googled JW's when I got home later that day. I found this board and another 2. I joined and started posting.

  That elder made me an apostate. Before that I was content to just live and let live.
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  Aussie Oz

  I left 10 years ago. I moved away to another cong territory. I never dared to turn to the internet or the library. I just figured i had to do this alone and anyway, i was not interested in seeing if they e\were wrong, i just did not want to live like a christian anymore.

  been on here about a month or so

  Oz
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  asilentone

  I left the org many years ago, but I was trying to come back little more than several times, but I did not last too long everytime. If we never had the internet, I would probably be a JW today.
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  zzaphod

  Yes I left around `87, and did a very good job of burning all my bridges in the process.

  Paul UK
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  Palimpsest

  I stopped going in 2005 and stopped self-identifying as a Witness in 2006. I didn't post on any websites until a few months ago, and today is my first day posting here.

  How did I do it? My brain cells finally began to fire once I found literature. Not even religious literature -- I'm talking about Camus, Kundera, Eliot, Joyce, O'Connor, Faulkner, etc. I started immersing myself in reading and thought, ignoring the admonitions of the elders to not waste time on such things and instead only read "Bible-based literature." It was only natural that I started getting really philosophical, even as a teenager. As my 19th birthday approached (I'm 24 now), I used the excuse of maintaining my health care insurance, which required full-time student status once you were past age 18, to enroll at my local community college. And then it just went from there. I went to my last Memorial, which was my last meeting of any kind, during my first semester of college. Within a year, I was a new person, the person that had always been lurking underneath.

  It's amazing how, once you start thinking on even the most basic levels, all of that garbage they shovel into you just...goes away. You're both fading and getting stronger at the same time. It's a wonderful feeling. I will always treasure those first few years and months away, and the incredible feelings of satisfaction and stimulation that I got. There's nothing like realizing you have a mind and that you can do whatever you'd like with it.
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  palmtree67

  I think I left before I even realised I had left.....if that makes any sense.

  So many things had bothered me for so long, but I just kept shoving it down and trying to not think of it....Finally, it just got to the point where I couldn't deny it any longer: This religion, these people were absolutely CRAZY!!!

  The problem is that they keep you too busy to really think about things. It was the hypocrisy that got to me at first. And I seriously thought I was the crazy one. Until I came here and realised other people saw the same things I did.

  Being here allowed me the freedom to research onn my own. Yes, I read stuff recommended on this site, but I did alot of other reading as well. And I came to the most important conclusion in my whole life:

  I AM NOT THE CRAZY ONE.

  Was it just the net that helped me to leave? No. I had all the pieces. It just helped me know where to put them.
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  HappyGuy

  I don't use the internet for serious information gathering. I might use it to get pointed in the right direction but I do my real research in libraries. I left the JW cult in the early 90s and the Internet was not what it is today, it was around but only for the diehard geeks.

  Too many people on the internet are of the mindset that if Google didn't find it it does not exist, or if it isn't in Wikipedia then it cannot possibly be true. I think it is dangerous to put too much faith in the internet.

  I didn't really get any input from anyone else. I had a shipwreck of faith and did some serious study over a two year period, mostly in University libraries, trying to reestablish my faith. What I found out told me that the shipwreck was the result of a faith built on lies. That is why I left the JW cult.

  I haven't been all that active on these ex JW boads, I was on one in 2002, I forget the man's name who ran that, I think a lot of people on here know about that old board. I didn't stay on there very long, there was an idiot on there called himself Dragon or something who calimed to be some sort of martial arts voodoo black magic master. The guy was a real piece of work. He was married and spent a great deal of time trying to seduce women on the site. He was a real scumbag. I called him out over his ridiculous behavior and it just turned into a constant hassle.

  I found this board while researching something. I was fairly active for a couple fo months but only come once in a while now.
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  xbro

  this is the first abnti jw stuff ive read,i left the jw in 94 ish but believed their teachings until very recently. for years i was worried about armageddon but told myself that big j could read hearts and that i wasnt realy bad. i think since i joined here i have fealt truly free,still a lot of anger against the cong,and Br qeer for forging my mothers will,Br Boring for coercing the money out of her b4 she croaked,Br 144000 for being more closely assosiated with the 666.
• 

  LittleSister

  Like you xbro even though you leave the doctrines stay with you. I think there are many still out there that have left, but still believe the JW BS.

  I did the most stupid thing got out in 96/97 and then sucked back in, wish I had known then what I do now.

  The Internet has been a great help and it’s also how I make a living so I love it.
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  Damocles

  The internet had nothing to do with my quitting.

  I 'officially' quit around 2000 but really quit in 92-3. Stayed because of the family. I read anti-witness lit all along even before I joined in the early 70s. It didn't change my mind - just confirmed things I already suspected. Franz' book was illuminating but again just confirmed what I already knew. Thing about high control organizations is that the local group is usually a near perfect reflection of the larger one. So what you get with the local elders ought to be the same as the GB. Scary thought, huh?

  I quit because the dubs are wrong pretty much about everything they teach. Besides mostly they're a miserable bunch of sad sacks. Really depressing to be around.

  I didn't get on here till a few years ago when my daughter wanted me to come to her wedding - which is bizarre since she hasn't talked to me at all before or since. People are strange. I came to this site before I went to the wedding to catch up on what was going on in dub land in the 8-9 years since I left. Still wrong and still miserable.