You haven't been wasting their time. If they hadn't been at your study, they would have been making up their field service time by knocking on doors. You have actually done them a favour because they would rather be at a study that be out in the cold getting rejection after rejection.
Want to quit Bible study
by confusedstudent 89 Replies latest jw friends
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jookbeard
you have to come down hard now on these bloody pests, reply to one Email and request that they cease all Email contact immediately or you will inform the police and service provider, likewise if they continue to call tell them in no uncertain terms not to call any more and make a prerecorded voicemail that if the JW's are calling please go away and leave me alone I have found out the truth about the truth and you people are a zillion miles away from having it and it's got nothing to do with Satan! I'm sure the Military base personnel will respond to your requests about being left alone and that you do not want your privacy invaded any more by these vermin.
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skeeter1
If you think quitting a Bible Study is tought, just wait until you are a baptised member!
By then, you will have taken thier advice and quit your worldly friends. You will have developed a circle of close, JW friends.
You will have either indoctrinated your relatives, or have alienated them altogether. If anyone inside your family has converted to Jehovah's Witness, they will shun you (or, if lucky, have extremely limited, strained contact with you) once you leave.
You are feeling alot of pressure just to quit a Bible study. Just wait until you are a full blown cult member. No one joins a cult becuase they are "joining a cult." Rather, it's all on the best of intentions.
Skeeter
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blondie
1) Immediately delete all e-mails from them and have your computer identify messages from them as junk. There must be a way you can identify them to be automatically deleted by your server.
2) You are correct that they cannot get on base without being authorized by you (or to see someone else). I remember that my mother had to call and give permission for the jws to come on base and see us but only us. If they went door to door they would be "ejected."
3) Get caller ID since you can't change your phone number.
4) Also the WTS has a "do not call" feature here in the US where you can send a firmly worded letter to the jw who coordinates the body of elders to the kingdom hall address. I would recommend putting it in writing rather than calling.
5) I have not been around the military for awhile, but couldn't they help you with the e-mails and phone calls, unwanted?
Their extreme persistence is amazing. Perhaps it's the Japanese throughness.
Blondie
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skeeter1
You did not waste their time. Do not feel guilty. You were a trophy.
Your bible study conductor counted the time on her publishing cards to prove to the Watch Tower Society that she was super worthy of Jehovah. It is a big "plus" in the Watch Tower to have an active Bible Study, especially one who is a wife in the military! You were a BIG ASSET to your study conductor. I'm sure your bible study conductor gloated and gloated about you to the rest of the Hall, well before you even stepped in the door. "Oh, I can't wait to tell you about the bible student I found, she's a military wife! (blah, blah, blah). I hope I can get her to a meeting (blah, blah, blah)"
Most JWs get a rare bible study. Pioneers may get more becuase they do the door-to-door more regularly. Except for children of JWs and those who knew the JWs as kids, there are usually just a few studies going on (especially with people who never heard of the religion). Even fewer who actually go to the services or conventions. They were wetting their lips becuase of you.
Skeeter
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skeeter1
As for working with the military - in our area you could not work for the military or any company that actively engaged with the military. I wish I could find the quotes on the stuff. Harris Corporation was in our area - and they did, in part, the scud missile. They also worked with NASA and made copiers. But, because they were heavy miltary aligned, it was really frowned on to take a job.
My brother started studying again when he was older in life and going through a bad marraige. The JWs didn't say anything about his job working with semi-tractor trailors while he was studying. Then, when he went to get baptised, the elders came down on him real hard. They said he had to either quit or get a different shift because he didn't have weeknights off. Therefore, he'd miss too many Thursday night meetings (and Tuesday meetings they used to have) to be a baptised member. Becuase day shift was given by seniority, he would not qualify for many years. Because it was a union job, he'd lose out on pensions, benefits, and great pay he needed to keep a roof over his and his family's head. He figured out it was a cult before I did. He left it.
Skeeter
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Ding
Confusedstudent said,
The guilt trips seem endless
You hit the nail on the head here regarding the essence of the WT religion.
Guilt trips are how they keep the whole thing going.
JWs are on an endless treadmill of works, especially meeting attendance, report filing, and door to door witnessing.
You could do what the WT religion tells you full time for the rest of your life and still the WT would keep you wondering if you had done enough to please Jehovah so as to be worthy to survive Armageddon.
That is not Biblical Christianity.
There, when you repent of your sins and accept Jesus' sacrifice by faith, God REMOVES your condemnation forever.
In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said: "28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Romans 8:1-2 says: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death."
Regarding your salvation, the WT religion says, "Never good enough; keep doing more."
By contrast, the New Testament gospel says, "Done for you... by Jesus!"
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asleif_dufansdottir
Confusedstudent is no longer cofused!
First let me say I am SO IMPRESSED WITH YOU. You were far enough along in a JW study to become an unbaptised publisher, and you STILL listened to your own inner voice, your instincts and your common sense! Do you realize how rare that is? You deserve a commendation for that. You even realize that your study began under false pretenses (ie-'just wanting to discuss the Bible') and the the goal the entire time has been to indoctrinate you into joining. JWs are never really honest about that with new studies.
If you (or your husband) know anything about psychological manipulation techniques, you might now be looking back at your study, and the study materials, and seeing how very carefully and quietly the Entire Process is geared to teach you to STOP thinking for yourself and to get you, ever so slowly, to start doing exactly what the WT and local JWs tell you to do in every aspect of your life.
You would be amazed, horrified and sickened to know some of the things that individual JWs did, or allowed to be done, even when their inner voice was telling them it was wrong...because the Organization said they must. JW mothers have stayed with men who physically and sexually abused them and their children because he was 'the head of the household'. JW parents have kept quiet about other JWs who molested their children, rather than go to police, because they were told to go to 'the authorities of Satan's world' would 'bring reproach on Jehoval"...Parents have let children die without medical care.
I am sure the JWs that you innocently considered your loving friends are astounded and angry right now. They thought they had your hooks into you Deep. They still think they have enough influence on you to pressure and guilt you into 'getting back into the program.' Obviously they're so blinded by the 'culture' of the Society that they can't see that their actions right now are just proving to you that you made the right choice.
Anyway, I wanted to encourage you. I know it's easy to feel bad about the WHOLE situation...that you were sucked into something at a very weak point in your life (and let me offer you my condolences on the loss of your children), that for any length of time you allowed their influence to cause problems in your life and marriage...even that you might be 'hurting' them by stopping the study or 'wasting their time' (you didn't btw). I mean the whole mess just kinda sucks, doesn't it?
So many things for you to potentially kick yourself for?? Well don't! I'm a lot older than you and I can tell you that while the whole thing kinda stinks right now, in the first place you are FAR from being the only person this has happened to (they're very practiced at this) and you have learned some very valuable lessons...about life and about yourself. Lessons about common sense, and the importance of listening to your inner voice, and the good news that you really do have the guts to stand up for yourself and your family and face an uncomfortable situation and deal with it! You will be a better person, wife, mom, and friend from this...you've gained some insight and wisdom and you will be able to advise and comfort others who are having messy experiences in their lives.
Plus, can I suggest in the future you warn people about your experiences with JWs when the topic of them or other high-control, problematic 'religious' groups come up? And tell your husband "thank you for your service" from me?
Liz
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DesirousOfChange
They just said they wanted to discuss the bible with me.
Tell them THESE are the BIBLE doctrines you need to address now because a "friend" provided you with information from online sources that implicate JWs with several issues that you think would disqualify their claims as God's ONLY Spirit-Directed religion if these things are true. DO NOT LET THEM GET YOU OFF SUBJET. THESE ISSUES MUST BE ANSWERED FIRST:
1) REVELATION 18:4 "fornicating with the Great Harlot" as an NGO member of United Nations
http://4jehovah.org/images/stories/downloads/jehovahs_witness/history/unfax.pdf
2) 1 TIMOTHY 3:2-7 how can they claim to be irreprehensible when they paid multimillion dollar legal settlements for mis-handling child abuse cases
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917798/ns/nightly_news/
3) DEUTERONONY 18:20-22 How can they claim to truly be speaking for Jehovah God when they are frequently changing "Bible" doctrine i.e., on "the generation" -- FOUR times since 1990 alone on this one "principal doctrine" (why is the Holy Spirit MIS-directing their "spirit-directed" organization with so many mistakes?)
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/generation.php
I have been getting emails ALL day. Phone calls that I haven't answered too. Mostly about apostate websites and how Satan is trying to lead me astray.
Tell them that if any of the above allegations are true, it seems that SATAN IS LEADING THEM ASTRAY!
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OnTheWayOut
While it is all well-meaning advice here to change phone numbers or emails, you don't have to go to such extremes. Mark their emails as spam and don't open them. Screen your calls. The occasional JW that gets through- tell them what you want to say about JW's religion and keep it impersonal.
They are trying to gather their lost recruit and will give up soon enough. Sorry you lost some friends and I hope you make new ones.
If you want to learn more, ask questions here or read books. But you are not as deeply involved as many of us were, so I recommend you just put the JW's in your past and move on. I wish you well.