by expatbrit 26 Replies latest jw friends
christmas ended in 3rd grade for me..........
I was in till I got married @ 22..then faded.had my triumphant retrun last year for the end of the greatest man book.....and am gone without the guilt and happily so.......
was thinking of posting my letter of farewell on the information board this Sunday Evening. :)
S
Born into the Tower and raised by a die hard nutter elder and his wife -
she was too cold and violent to be called a mother.
Regular pioneer at 15. Left home at 17, lived in bedsits and pioneered.
Stopped pioneering at 19. Many doubts, took 6 month out and moved to London,
grew long hair, drank heavily. Drifted from town to town.
Talked into coming back. Married 18 year old blonde from congregation when
26. Both left 4 years later. Family won't talk to me - what a blessing.
Still married after 19 years - still blonde - her not me!
Weren't you paying attention - it wasn't that boring!
Trevor
Born in
Hot summers of service every year. Annointed brother told me to persevere, took me to dairy queen one day, thought i was going to get a treat, was taken behind the dairy queen to a water fountain, that was my treat after hours in the heat, but I'm not bitter.
Baptized at 15, though now I don't believe I ever was dedicated.
I remember going back in the dressing room at Atlanta stadium (Hank Aaron's dressing cubicle) and looking around to see if I was still attracted to the naked men around me. I was.
Bethel at 19, fell in love with a brother, told him, out of Bethel at 20.
Pioneered for a year or so, trying to get back into Bethel (felt I would be incomplete if I didn't). Was told in a very unkind way by a CO that I would never be allowed back into Bethel. Had emotional breakdown. Started crying out in service one day. One sister complained to elders about me crying. Fell off pioneer list.
Moved to Jacksonville Florida to come out of the closet but didn't due to fear of AIDS, attended meetings periodically for next 10 years. Came out when I was 30, first kiss in Key West Florida (on a beautiful starry night). Went to one more meeting. Been out for 13 years now.
hugs
Joel
21 years:
My mother began studying and attending meetings in 1972, i was 2 at the time. I was raised by my single mom until she remarried in 1976 to an up and coming R&F who was yet to be babtised. I was enrolled in the theocratic school by the age of 5, and gave my first bible reading shortly after. In 1985 i was babtized at the stanley theater, though i had my doubts, i went through with it thinking it was my rebellious teen years poking through and that it would subside, i was 15 then. By this point my step-dad was an MS.
I auxilaried several times through the coming years as well as staying active in the school, had mike, music and sound duties as well. About 2 years later my eyes started opening, and i started voicing my questions that had begun about the age of 13 at a much more audible level. In 1993, i attended my last district convention and it was also the last time i ever set foot in any type of JW gathering. I walked away, without being DA'd or DF'd and was called only once to see if everything was ok. Currently i am 30.
My story in a nutshell
CHUCK
came in in 1974, after 2 tours in vietnam i was ready to be plucked.
i was and i was off like gangbusters, a true believer,how many times i beat myself up when my mind would begin to kick in and start to logical think.
the straw that broke it all was the "new light" in 96 or97 regarding the change in doing alternative service , before it had been totally out and those who were faced with that issue went to prison and worse to be 'loyal to god" . with the new light these ones were sold out with the words '" their consciences were to hard therefore they went to prison, but they have no regrets".
after that i went to the library and read c of c and apocalypse delayed. the scales came off . then found the old h20 site and that was it.
stepped down as an elder last year. the gossip started among the most lovingest people in all the world. its enough to turn my stomach.
still have some knotty entanglements[ family]etc.
i am thankful for sites like this which expose the masters of propaganda. i try not to be bitter. life is a gift that i will no longer waste by filling it with guilt and other wt tools.
jeffory
my parents were baptized in '75-i was 1. got baptized at 14, and started to question and drift at 19. by 21 years of age, i wasn't buying it anymore, and by the time i turned 23 i was totally done. i was officially df'ed last year, and i'm 27 now. the more i learn, my decision to leave is only affirmed.
I was in for a good ten years, I knew right away it was just sincere people trying to do their best. it was later as I srated to research the history that I saw things, and discovered the truth.
My reason for leaving had noting to do with the governing body, the disoc theology or the politics behind it all. It simply had to do with TRUTH.
And as I read and researched more, I realized that I was spiritually stagnant and needed to move on, and so I did, the last seven years there, I already knew, I stayed until I had my feet firmly planted on God's Word, and set out to search for God's people!
_______________
Less Religion and more Jesus!
