How Long has it Been since you Last Attended Meetings and What Caused... (page 7)

flipper

I'm glad that all of you have gained your freedom and thanks for sharing your experiences of gaining your freedom of mind . Keep the experiences coming ! This is YOUR thread to share. Who knows ? Your personal story may indeed give current sitting on the fence JW's to jump to freedom of mind. I invite even more to share here. Thanks again. Hope you all are doing well. Here's to freedom of mind my friends

umadevi

Last I attended was Jesus Memorial in 2011. Many reasons why I stopped attending - doubts on the blood issue, higher education, celebration and a lot more. I was very confused but had no one to share my doubts as all my JW friends (I was the only JW in my family) were totally brainwashed. I discovered this site by mistake and that was when I realized that there were others in the same situation as me. This site gave me the courage to leave the WT cult that same year.

Leaving WT world is the best decision I have made. I have the freedom to make decisions in my life. Now I am into birthday celebrations, festivals and made many 'worldly' good friends. I have learnt to respect, accept and love those around me regardless of their age, sex, race and religion. I am not judgemental like I used to be when I was a JW.

Life is truly beautiful now!

transhuman68

I haven’t been in a KH since some time in 1988. It was a city cong, and I was sharing a flat with my JW brother; but for some reason it was a time of crisis for a lot of people, including my brother. The cong didn’t feel like a safe place to be; there were divorces, and people engaged in petty crime: so different from the cong I grew up in. Anyway, I had always wanted to be a hippie, so I packed up and left it all behind, moving deep into the country. I had no idea whether the Witnesses were right or wrong- I just wanted to get away from the chaos.

Aussie Oz

I stopped in 1998.

I had lost all trust that I mattered to God. My internal battles over the flesh and spirituality near killed me literally. I didnt think prayer did anything other than bounce off the ceiling and was nothing more than an empty ritual at meetings. I studied and prayed like crazy and nothing, nadda, zip. Nothing from the so called caring god, not one blip of transmission or even comfort. The elders were useless, just repeating WT rhetoric of pray and study.

I pretty much decided I wanted to be a 'worldly person', free from the things in christianity that were sucking the life out of me. They were crushing me to death by making what were normal things and desires into signs of evilness.

I dropped all 'privledges' and stopped door to door, then all meetings. It was a horrible time of my life, my wife loathed me. I left the marriage. As hard as that was, I still believe it was the correct thing to do.

life since has had a few downs, but nothing like being a JW, just normal stuff. I am glad to say that with no support group around, i was able to repair the damage to my self and build a new life. A real good one, far better than anything i could have had as a WT slave.

Oz

flipper

Thanks again for all the experiences of what motivated you folks to leave. Anybody else please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences as well ! It may help someone else get the courage to exit the Witnesses, you just never know

d

I left because I could not deal with the pressure and anxiety.It was hard at first I went through a period of doubting Belief in God, which lead to an atheist outlook.I also started to adapt more Nihilistic view of life. Which I currently still have. but now five years later, I feel good and free.

NVR2L8

Reviewed my post....June 13 , 2010 (not 2012)...

sd-7

Not since July 2012, the final day of the district convention. But I'd stopped going before that on the night of the Memorial in March 2010. I had already decided I was done with the religion as I'd proven to myself that it just wasn't the true religion. I was going to keep attending to support my wife and stepdaughter, but I realized it was pointless and that nothing would ever make our relationship better after what had happened. And I didn't want to see the people from my old congregation ever again, which is what would've happened if I'd gone to the Memorial--I didn't remember the location where my wife's congregation was having their Memorial, so she insisted on going to my old KH's Memorial. I just stayed in the car that night, and that was it.

The emotional abuse I received from my wife and mother and brother, plus the emotional and spiritual abuse of the elders, convinced me there was no reason to return. They had nothing to offer as a reason to go back other than their own belief in the rightness of their organization. So...it was liberating. I no longer have to dread meeting nights.

--sd-7

neverscreamagain

The last was the 2011 Memorial. Could count on one hand the meetings attended during the 2 years prior to that.

The "Straw that broke the Camel's Back" was sitting in a WT study that included the life saving exhortation as to the wisdom and discreteness of why we should not hold hands or embrace our mates during a public prayer.

Something in my mind literally snapped then, and I knew that this was the end of my life as a JW. This just confirmed my long held doubts about this legalistic, Pharisaical, man directed publishing corporation. To return would truly be like a dog returning to its own vomit.

flipper

Thanks for even more experiences of exiting the Witnesses and stopping attending meetings and your reasons . Very interesting stuff. Hopefully lurking JW's will read bout all of your courageous decisions and stop attending themselves ! Keep the experiences coming ! We bever know who we may influence for the good. Peace out, MR. Flipper

How Long has it Been since you Last Attended Meetings and What Caused...

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