Born-in, my mother was baptized (she was raised in it by her grandmother from the age of 4) my father's family was baptist and he got baptized 3 years after my birth. That being said my parents were never that spiritually strong in the lie. No we didn't celebrate holidays...well we kinda didn't, there was that one year when mother allowed us to go trick or treating (that was strange) and the eating of turkey after turkey day and unbirthday cakes that would show up on the day of my birth . But I never bought it hook line and sinker. I suppose I was fortunate that my parents nor anyone else in my jw family or the congregation pressured me towards baptism, I don't respond to pressure well anyway. I was able to dissect myself from the cult in my early 20s. I don't regret it. Unfortunately my parents have gone über dub in their golden years. That make things a tad difficult.
Why did you become a Jehovah's Witness ?
by Gnosis 70 Replies latest jw experiences
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JWOP
I was a born-in, so I grew up thinking that the adults around me knew what they were talking about (ah, the bliss of childish ignorance!). I didn't see the truth about "the truth" until I was 36. I haven't stepped foot in a Kingdom Hall since (eight years ago).
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J. Hofer
i'm another born-in no-choicer. got myself baptized because my girlfriend got baptized and she would have viewed me as bad association if i wouldn't have done the same. and of course there was the pressure from the only social contacts i had: the loving family of watchtower slaves.
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dalek
My mother had studied breifly with the Witnesses about five or ten years before my birth, but at the time it didn't take. After I was born, she was trapped in an abusive relationship with my father (non-JW) and the reappearance of the Witnesses at her door seemed like a life-saver. She took it to mean that she was meant to "raise me in the Truth" and was baptized when I was an infant, shortly after divorcing my father.
Growing up, I was initially very theocratic and enthusiastic about the whole religion. I loved going door-to-door, answering questions at the meetings, and I even learned learned a second language—now long forgotten—to join up with a foreign language group that had formed in my town after an influx of immigrants. But I was lucky enough to be in the Gifted and Talented programs at school, which pushed a lot of science from an early age, and also to have been born in the information era. By fourteen I was an atheist, and have been so ever since. I was pulled out of public school and homeschooled when my mother found out about my secular beliefs. Literally, I was kept under total house arrest for three years. That, along with my incredibly isolated childhood, caused a lot of mental health issues for me which I'm still working through. I left home for good at age eighteen.
These days, she's either faded or outright DF'ed, I've never asked. We don't talk much about the religion, but it's a large source of resentment and built-up anger between the two of us. I can safely say that the organization destroyed my childhood, and severely damaged my relationships with my entire family, both JW and non. I think I'll always have a feeling of being an outsider, some alien looking in at the world from the outside. On the other hand, I would not have the same passion for science, logic, and rationality that I do now if I didn't grow up as a JW.
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GromitSK
@terry - ditto for me. Plus as was a catholic so had a predisposition to accept the bible and the local priest wasn't interested and could martial any real answers to them. Add in being 18 and with no real role models or friends to consult about something like this, and people showing what appeared to be genuine concern for me. I was a sitting duck. thankfully I only lasted about 5 years.
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sseveninches
I'm not a born-in, but I got into it pretty young (baptized at 14). My dad was home when a couple of JWs passed by one weekday morning and left a brochure, which he then shared with my mom. They MADE us (my sister and I) study, and encouraged (read: pressured) us to get baptized.
Whenever my parents discover something new, I quickly do some internet research to see what it's really about and what people are saying about it. I wish I was smart enough to do it before I got baptized...if I did that, I would have never joined. Now I have to go through the painful process of leaving it, and no longer having a family, unless they wake up too, which is unlikely.
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cyberjesus
i was forced in
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THE GLADIATOR
Like I was a Jehovah before I was born. Like me parents were Jehovah's so I was like a Jehovah too. It’s like Jehovah decided even before I was deceived - nah meant conceived. Anyhow I though WTF and like undid the fix and got out. Nufing to stay for cept parents and they were like seriously screwed. Wot’s it all about - sheesh!
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LongHairGal
Gnosis:
I was simply interested in end-time prophecy and was sort of seduced into joining. They said one thing about themselves but, in time, I learned otherwise. They said they were just "bible students" and that they "had No clergy class". This sounded good to me and it gave the impression that everybody was equal. Boy, was I wrong.
They also said they were different from other religions and that they had God's favor. They said they were a "brotherhood", were more righteous, loving, pure and their bible was "more accurate" and that everybody else's bibles were tampered with, etc.
In time, I came to see that these claims were not accurate and that the religion is no different from other religions. It is just the same story but dressed up slightly different. Not ony that: the religion has No redeeming social points. They have no provisions to help the poor, no soup kitchens, nothing. This distinguishes it from other religions which DO have such programs!
The JWs are just takers in my opinion.
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Ucantnome
I was raised as a Witness.
My parents were sincere believers and raised me to be an honest Witness. When I was a child I witnessed to my school mates and teachers and left school to pioneer. I was baptised at about the age of 13/14.
I don't think I really became a Witness until I was almost 21. At this time I had the opportunity to leave and decided after consideration of my beliefs that I would stay.
At the time as hard as I tried I couldn't find what was wrong with it. I still have some problems with this. Not from a theological standpoint but from a personal experience perspective.