Ex-Jehovah's Witness Survey...

by Tuesday 19 Replies latest jw friends

Tuesday

Hey everyone. Another idea came to me tonight while discussing the Pew Forum survey about how only 37% of Jehovah's Witnesses remain in the religion from childhood. The recent Watchtower article where it says the majority of people who leave the religion do so in order to commit sin was brought up predictably. So I figured what the hell we might as well get a real study going to figure out why people leave. I'm hoping for your help in coming up with the questions asked, basically am I covering everything. I'm hoping to go with no more 20 questions so that people will finish for sure.
Name: (First name only please)
Gender: (Male, Female)
Age:
Start of the Questions:
How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses: (Born in, Parents converted at early age, converted early in life, converted in your 20's, converted in your 30's, converted later in life)
How did you leave the religion: (Disfellowshipped, Disassociated, Faded Away, Left Outright)
What Age did you leave?:
Were you Baptized: (Yes, No)
What General reason did you leave the religion: (Fornicated, Drugs, Wanted more Freedom, Didn't Believe it was Truth, Depressed, Felt overwhelmed with all the things you needed to do, Other *Please Explain*)
How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving: (Believed whole-heartedly, Believed for the most part, didn't think about it, had doubts, felt it had alot of wrongs, felt it was completely wrong)
Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?: (Yes, No)
If you were disfellowshipped for sin, did your feelings on the doctrine effect you sinning in the first place? (Yes, No)
Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving? (Yes, No)
What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving? (It is still truth, There are some problems, There are alot of problems, They are totally wrong)
How do you feel about the organization since leaving?: (They're God's channel, They're a good organization overall, They have some problems, There are alot of problems, They are Totally wrong, They are evil)
How do you feel about the people since leaving?: (They're God's chosen people, They're great people, They have a few problems, They have alot of problems, They're hypocrites, They're completely blind, They're misguided but great people, They're evil people)
How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?: (I Hate talking about my time as a Jehovah's Witness, I dislike talking about my upbringing but will if prompted, It's part of me I'll discuss it if it comes up, I bring it up occasionally, I bring it up frequently, I talk about it constantly)
Alrighty folks, if you could add some answers in there or if you have some questions that you think should be included or that you feel would be really interesting to know. When I'm finished with what the survey is, I'll post it here so everyone can fill it out and send it to me. I'll leave an e-mail address you can send it to, It could be sent to my youtube, my facebook, my myspace, I'm also debating whether I just want to put the whole thing on a website to fill out. I think I'd rather get actual filled out surveys because it would create a much better database of answers and hard data that could be looked at.
I'm hoping to get a thousand or more to fill this out so it's a broad sample. Any help as always is greatly appreciated.
shamus100

Name: (First name only please) Shamus100
Gender: (Male, Female) Maleish
Age: LIke I'd tell you!
Start of the Questions:
How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses: (Born in, Parents converted at early age, converted early in life, converted in your 20's, converted in your 30's, converted later in life)
Converted @ 15
How did you leave the religion: (Disfellowshipped, Disassociated, Faded Away, Left Outright)
What Age did you leave?:
Ran away, faded.
Were you Baptized: (Yes, No)
Yep
What General reason did you leave the religion: (Fornicated, Drugs, Wanted more Freedom, Didn't Believe it was Truth, Depressed, Felt overwhelmed with all the things you needed to do, Other *Please Explain*)
Didn't believe truth
How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving: (Believed whole-heartedly, Believed for the most part, didn't think about it, had doubts, felt it had alot of wrongs, felt it was completely wrong)
Felt it had a lot of wrongs
Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?: (Yes, No)
Yes
If you were disfellowshipped for sin, did your feelings on the doctrine effect you sinning in the first place? (Yes, No)]
n/a
Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving? (Yes, No)
Yes
What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving? (It is still truth, There are some problems, There are alot of problems, They are totally wrong)
Totally wrong
How do you feel about the organization since leaving?: (They're God's channel, They're a good organization overall, They have some problems, There are alot of problems, They are Totally wrong, They are evil)
None of the above. They are a cult, self-directed by brain-dead morons.
How do you feel about the people since leaving?: (They're God's chosen people, They're great people, They have a few problems, They have alot of problems, They're hypocrites, They're completely blind, They're misguided but great people, They're evil people)n
Again, none of the above. Just brain-dead prozac ridden twits
How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?: (I Hate talking about my time as a Jehovah's Witness, I dislike talking about my upbringing but will if prompted, It's part of me I'll discuss it if it comes up, I bring it up occasionally, I bring it up frequently, I talk about it constantly)
I don't talk about it at all unless I'm here.
Blue Grass

Name:Spike (My real first and last names are unique and would give away my identity)
Gender:Male
Age:24
Start of the Questions
How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses?:Converted at age 20
How did you leave the religion?:Faded away
What Age did you leave?:21
Were you Baptized:Yes
What General reason did you leave the religion?:The whole idea of the governing body being equal to Christ and that the Bible is only written for the 144,000.
How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving?:I believed whole-heartily until the last 3 months I was in.
Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?:Yes
Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving?Yes, I started reading "Crisis Of Conscience" 2 days after the last meeting I attended and than"In Search Of Christian Freedom"
What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving?: There are a lot of problems.
How do you feel about the people since leaving?: They're misguided but a lot of the "rank and file" are good people.
How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?: I never discussed it with anyone.
SirNose586

Name: Andrew
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Start of the Questions:
How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses: Born in
How did you leave the religion: Left outright
What Age did you leave?: 23
Were you Baptized: Yes
What General reason did you leave the religion: Didn't believe it was "The Truth"
How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving: Believed for the most part
Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?: Yes
If you were disfellowshipped for sin, did your feelings on the doctrine effect you sinning in the first place?: N/A
Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving?: Yes
What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving?: There are a lot of problems
How do you feel about the organization since leaving?: They are evil
How do you feel about the people since leaving?: They're misguided but great people
How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?: It's part of me I'll discuss it if it comes up
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Great questionnaire! I don't know how relevant it is to your survey, but perhaps you could include a question about what age the person was when baptized.
goldensky

Tuesday, count on me to answer your questions whenever the survey is ready. The questionnaire sounds pretty complete to me.
brizzzy

Name: Bri
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Start of the Questions:
How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses: Born in
How did you leave the religion: Faded
What Age did you leave?: 18
Were you Baptized: Yes, at 12
What General reason did you leave the religion: Wanted more freedom; didn't believe it was "The Truth"
How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving: Had doubts
Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?: Yes
If you were disfellowshipped for sin, did your feelings on the doctrine effect you sinning in the first place?: N/A
Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving?: Yes
What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving?: They are totally wrong
How do you feel about the organization since leaving?: They are evil
How do you feel about the people since leaving?: A mixture of the following, depending on the individual person/station: They're hypocrites, They're completely blind, They're misguided but great people, They're evil people
How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?: It's part of me; I'll discuss it if it comes up
Blue Grass

Are all the faders on this site 24 years old?
slimboyfat

Are all the faders on this site 24 years old?
I'm 27 and a semi-apologist fader.
slimboyfat

Name: I won't put my name here, but the rest I will answer.
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Start of the Questions:
How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses: introduced to the Witnesses in very early childhood by my mother who had a study, then my gran and dad who also had 'Bible Studies', and finally my aunt who was a Witness took me to meetings at 13, and I was baptised at 15.
How did you leave the religion: I am sort of fading at the moment (so maybe this survey does not apply to me?). I last went to the meeting about a month ago, and maybe three months before that.
What Age did you leave?: I have been sort of fading ever since I was 19.
Were you Baptized: Yes
What General reason did you leave the religion: I found it harder to keep going to meetings because I disagreed with most of what was said, most fundamentally I disagreed with the idea that we are not allowed to discuss criticisms of the Watchtower Society or honestly consider other points of view. I am also quite liberal and find a lot of the views on women, homosexuals, abortion and so on distasteful.
How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving: I believed it until I was about 18. Then I gradually lost my JW beliefs over the next few years, until now I believe virtually none of it.
Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?: Yes
If you were disfellowshipped for sin, did your feelings on the doctrine effect you sinning in the first place?: N/A
Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving?: N/A
What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving?: Practically the only thing I still agree with the Witnesses on is that joining the army is wrong and war is wrong.
How do you feel about the organization since leaving?: They are just as wrong as other religions.
How do you feel about the people since leaving?: Some of them are good people, some of them are not so nice, and a lot of them have been deeply warped by their association with the Witnesses, having given up families, and opportunities for education, careers and love for the sake of the organization.
How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?: It's okay, which is why I am here.
TardNFeatheredJW

Name: (First name only please) Michael
Gender: (Male, Female) Male
Age: 41
Start of the Questions:
How were you introduced to Jehovah's Witnesses: (Born in, Parents converted at early age, converted early in life, converted in your 20's, converted in your 30's, converted later in life) Mother converted at early age, I was 5.
How did you leave the religion: (Disfellowshipped, Disassociated, Faded Away, Left Outright) Faded
What Age did you leave?: 23
Were you Baptized: (Yes, No) Yes
What General reason did you leave the religion: (Fornicated, Drugs, Wanted more Freedom, Didn't Believe it was Truth, Depressed, Felt overwhelmed with all the things you needed to do, Other *Please Explain*) Wanted more Freedom, Didn't Believe it was Truth, Depressed, Felt overwhelmed with all the things you needed to do, the hypocrisy made me revolted.
How did you feel about the doctrine before leaving: (Believed whole-heartedly, Believed for the most part, didn't think about it, had doubts, felt it had alot of wrongs, felt it was completely wrong) Had doubts
Did your feelings about the doctrine effect the way you left?: (Yes, No) No, I held it in and left quietly.
If you were disfellowshipped for sin, did your feelings on the doctrine effect you sinning in the first place? (Yes, No) N/A
Did you research the religion's teachings after leaving? (Yes, No) Yes
What are your feelings on the doctrine of the religion since leaving? (It is still truth, There are some problems, There are alot of problems, They are totally wrong) They are totally wrong
How do you feel about the organization since leaving?: (They're God's channel, They're a good organization overall, They have some problems, There are alot of problems, They are Totally wrong, They are evil) They are evil
How do you feel about the people since leaving?: (They're God's chosen people, They're great people, They have a few problems, They have alot of problems, They're hypocrites, They're completely blind, They're misguided but great people, They're evil people) Just like other demographics, there are some who are hypocrites, some misguided but good, and some evil.
How do you feel about discussing your time as a Jehovah's Witness?: (I Hate talking about my time as a Jehovah's Witness, I dislike talking about my upbringing but will if prompted, It's part of me I'll discuss it if it comes up, I bring it up occasionally, I bring it up frequently, I talk about it constantly) I talk about if asked about or if something comes up in conversation.

Ex-Jehovah's Witness Survey...

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