well written exit story in huge magazine

waton

https://www.stern.de/neon/wilde-welt/gesellschaft/zeugen-jehovas--wieso-meine-eltern-mich-haetten-sterben-lassen---und-ich-ausstieg-8353584.html

Clear story of exit from WT, would suffer in Google translation imo. also:

https://www.stern.de/panorama/zeugen-jehovas--ein-aussteiger-erklaert-den--psychologischen-terror--7587542.html

waton

smiddy3, sorry, just go to "Der Stern," a german magazine, it should come up, I am not used to german watchtower speak, so it was hilarious to read. leaving the wt with spunk.

zeb

Ich nicht versten!

Translation would be greatfully received if anyone could please.

steve2

If there’s a translated version, could someone start a new thread? Thanks.

fastJehu

12. September 2018 06:19 Uhr

Notorious religious community

"My parents would have let me die" - why I left Jehovah's Witnesses

For many years our guest author was a member of Jehovah's Witnesses. For NEON she talks about everyday life in the faith community and the moment when she decided to leave.

A guest article by Sophie Jones

A pretty good girl, with a long skirt and a high blouse, who knocks on your door and wants to talk to you about paradise - I was the little one. Because I grew up with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Actually, I was a normal child. But who took a closer look noticed that something was not quite right. Hardly any free time with classmates, no cinema visits, no rappers or rock bands. Instead I was dressed differently, withdrawn and insecure.

I knew Bible verses by heart and when others celebrated birthdays or Christmas, I prayed to God and the day went like any other.

"The good Lord is proud of you"

When you're small, it's still possible. I didn't know anything else, I grew up like that and so I thought for a long time that the others were funny and abnormal. Until I noticed then sometime: I am the outsider. And the older you get, the clearer the difference was.

Mobbing from schoolmates? It's not that bad, after all you can bear it for God! "The dear God is proud of you and sees all that", I was told. Well, thank you.

For a while I talked myself into this successfully, cried into my pillow at night and asked God to end the suffering. Nothing happened. I had "friends" in the congregation, but they were the only ones. My free time was filled with preaching and Bible reading. When I wanted to spend time with other teenagers who unfortunately were not in the "truth" (i.e. unbelievers), it was said that they were bad company for me. And immediately afterwards a Bible text: "Bad dealings spoil useful habits".

Does God really see everything?

There they were again: feelings of guilt. God does not want you to meet people who do not believe in Him, it was always said. But I wanted to have friends! Also to be normal. To be invited once, to the cinema or to a party and be able to say "Yes"! But that was soon over: With time I was hardly invited any more and didn't have to think about any excuses anymore.

Nevertheless, the guilt continued to spread. I should stand by what I believed and not deny it. "Jehovah will be so disappointed. And he sees EVERYTHING" was a typical sentence of my mother.

The thought that God sees everything drove me crazy. As if he was just waiting for me to sin and come crawling to beg his forgiveness. To see if I'm watching a baller film, drinking beer, wearing a skirt too short, snogging, smoking, swearing, lying, whatever: He's watching me!

But there was also pressure from the other side, which was just as bad: "Why don't you celebrate a birthday? Where do you always go on Thursday evenings? Why aren't you allowed to go to the party with us? What are you wearing for funny things again? Whaaat, you don't know this new crass band?"

My classmates, of course, wanted to know exactly. And when they found out about the witnesses, the questions became more difficult: "You can't have a blood transfusion if you had an accident? You are not allowed to have sex before marriage? Why are you no longer in contact with your father?

Jehovah's Witnesses must not have contact with excluded persons.

Unfortunately, I had no answer to these questions myself. I was unhappy. It was clear to me that I could not believe all these teachings and did not want to live by them. I knew that in case of a medical emergency my parents would have decided for me: No blood, even if it means death. They would have let me die in the name of God. And worst of all, for years I was manipulated in such a way that I would have gladly agreed to the whole thing.

For a long time I was bubbling over. At the age of 17 I still let myself be baptized. From then on, contact with my father was strictly forbidden, for he was an excluded man. And Jehovah's Witnesses must not have any contact with the excluded, even if it is their own family. I could not cope with that. I was torn back and forth, angry and deeply sad. I just couldn't believe that a "God of love" had created families - and then tore them apart.

I have my life back

About a year later, I broke free and built a completely new life for myself. I have left everything behind me, moved and created a new person: MYSELF AS I WANT TO BE. The way I want to be, the way I am happy.

Now I am 23 and live as free and content as never before. I don't have to please anybody anymore, go my own way and have met so many valuable people who love me without conditions and are always there.

It was not always easy to hold out and find my way in a world that seemed so often strange to me. But if you take the risk of leaving something behind that doesn't do you any good, you can win the most important thing: your life.

https://www.youtube.com/SophieJones

translated by https://www.deepl.com/translator