I never questioned anything until I fell into a sex relationship with a worldly girl. I ended up confessing. The elders told me she was wicked, licentuous, stupid and death dealing. My instincts told me the opposite. I left as a result of following my heart ,which belonged to her.
What Was The 1st Thing That Made You Question?
by minimus 102 Replies latest jw friends
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Swan
Refiners Fire,
That was really romantic! I have a question. Had the elders even met the young woman they were so quick to vilify?
Tammy
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refiners fire
Hmmm. Well, I became involved with her and naturally decided that she had to join the truth. So my father started a Bible study with her. I never forget, one night they were discussing the existance of God, and of course I sat in on the study, and he presented the arguement that the choices were either Creation, or Evolution. Two options. This 16 year old girl said "What if theres a third option?". My father snorked with laughter. "Like what?" He asked. She said," Well,an option that noone has even thought of yet !".
I was totally BLOWN AWAY. I was 23 years old and knew nothing.It had never occured to me that there were other possibilities at all. After that, she was branded as a very dangerous thinker. Bless her.
I have to go to work now, thanks for the inquiry.
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Swan
Refiner's Fire,
Wonderful post. She clearly thinks outside the box, and that spells big trouble for JWs.
What a gem!
Tammy
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Oreopandabear
When my alcoholic, abusive step-father was appointed Ministeral Servant.
Oreo
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IronGland
The fact that I was 1) not supposed to question the org and 2) I was not even to read any literature critical of JW's made me extremely suspicious. I then became very interested in science and came to the conclusion that God (at least as he is envisioned by fundies) was a delusion.
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Mulan
I was a regular pioneer, calling on a youth minister for the local Baptist church. He asked for some specific WT's. I agreed to get them for him. In getting them assembled, I read the paragraphs he had indicated and saw how the WTS had flip flopped over the years regarding 1914. That made me question. But I shelved it. It was inconceivable to me that this was to deceive us.
A few years later, my elder husband brought up the same issues, and we talked for a few more years. I always denied any deceit done on purpose, to us. He read COJ's book, shared much of it with me, and it all started to unravel.
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startingover
Although I never felt like I fit the mold, I played the game. Got married, started "reaching out", and then I was appointed MS. Having been raised around a father that let "elder secrets" slip out quite a bit, the first CO visit and the servant's meeting was not what I expected, nothing of any value. And then when I went to the special MS school at the assembly hall, I knew it wasn't for me. Just another meeting, nothing new or interesting. A real waste of time I thought. What really got me though was at the end when an extremely zealous appearing MS got up and read a thank you letter to the GB, just packed full of brown nosing BS. I thought, did he write that? If so, when? Who arranged for him to get up and read this letter supposedly written on behalf of everyone there? What kind of a game is this anyway?
So I still played along, struggling to put in 8 hrs/month. Then came the elders visit telling me I was not "visible" enough in the field service. Next thing I know I was taken aside at the meeting and told they were removing me as a MS. I almost passed out. But I decided that I was not going to let them do that to me. I went in front of the whole elder body at the CO visit and told them I didn't understand how I was not "visible" enough with my 8 hours when some other MS who had families got around 10 but they were using a family study to get 4 of those. They let me stay on, but within a few months I quit. I couldn't play that game any more. Just gave me some satisfaction quitting instead of getting fired. After that I could tell they didn't like not having anything to hold over my head.
So I lived with the guilt slipping farther and farther away, and then came the internet and the rest is history. I guess the 607 thing really started me thinking. Thanks to Randy and freeminds for explaining what really happened in 1980. And thanks to Ray for writing his books. So glad to know what I know. Just wish I had found it sooner.
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target
For me it was new light. It just seemed that if it was from Jehovah it should be right the first time around. That one always bothered me. But the thing that got me researching was when a sister made the comment that sometimes it is hard to believe that all the elders are appointed by holy spirit. The more I thought about that comment the more I knew that holy spirit had nothing to do with it. Then the house of cards started coming down. If the elders were not appointed by holy spirit, then none of it made any sense. Then I found this site about the time the UN scandal broke. The next thing I knew, I was an apostate.
Target
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NaomiB
For me, it was realizing how mistranslated the NWT is. Just compare John 1:1 to any greek interlinear, and the falsehood is clear. In fact, many versus are obviously a bias translation, and some are just plain wrong! It was extremely scary to find that they would actually alter God's Word, and from there is was only a matter of time before everything came to light.
Love,
Naomi