Did an EX-JW wake you up to TTATT or did you put the effort to wake up yourself?

by John Aquila 112 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  John Aquila

  How many of us were woken up by some Apostate yelling “False Prophets” at a convention?

  How many of us were woken up by someone holding a Sign and yelling, “What happened to 1975”

  How many of us were coerced to investigate the WT because some EX-JW pulled up a bunch of OLD Watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?

  How many of us would listen when we were told we were in a cult?

  How many of us would even listen to an EX-JW aka-Apostate?

  In our view the whole world was lying in the power of the wicked one.

  I’ve been noticing that most of us took the initiative to explore the Watchtower either on the internet or in a book published by an EX-JW like COC by Ray Franz not because someone recommended it to us but because WE WANTED TO INVESTIGATE. No one forced us and no one encouraged us. It was all us.

  What usually happens is that “WE”

  see the hypocrisy or the inconsistencies in the organization or

  we or a family member is treated unjustly by someone in the Kingdom Hall, like by some elder, or judicially by elders or

  we notice a “Change” that really affected us, (Think Overlapping Generation)

  and eventually it starts the process of opening our eyes and it leads us to exploring information either in book form or internet.

  So it seems that the majority of us took the initiative by ourselves, when we were fed up and ready to explore the Watchtower on our own without anyone’s permission.

  But very few of us were woken up by some EX-JW-Apostate.

  Perhaps this will give us an idea on how to help those we love that are still trapped in the cult. It has to be kept simple. Just like waking up a baby from a deep sleep. Shout, and he cries, picking him up slowly and caressing him softly will make him more responsive.

  How many of you were woken by an Apostate?

  How many of you took the initiative on your own to wake up?
• 

  konceptual99

  Ray Franz woke me up through CoC :-)
• 

  John Aquila

  konceptual99 Ray Franz woke me up through CoC

  But did someone encourage you to read the book?

  Or did you take it upon yourself to read it with no one telling you to do so?
  
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  Woke myself up.

  I will admit that it's possible that some interaction with an apostate helped some. When I was ~13 I was allowed to go to a door with a friend of mine of about the same age. First time this happened, a woman accepted the magazines on the condition that we take a tract from her - we didn't know any better and did so, and later we read it with his family and ridiculed how stupid it was when it talked about how CTR sold his business for the equivalent of millions of dollars and started his publishing company. While at the time it strengthened my resolve that anyone critical of the cult doesn't know what they're talking about, it did stay with me. When I heard things at meetings that made me think "If I was trying to set up a cult, I'd definitely include that teaching" I would think back to that day and wonder if maybe that little tract was truthful after all.

  In the end it was definitely 99% my own doing, and I don't think it would've happened much differently without that experience. I am, however, eternally grateful for what that woman tried to do that day.
• 

  Londo111

  I agree 100%. But it was an uphill battle just to start investigating. I remember the fear and the skepticism to information that was potentially critical to the org. Of course, once I saw the men behind the curtain, it was downhill from there.

  I have a vague memory of sign wielding "apostates" at a convention back in the 80's, but I was a child. The next time I encountered them was when I went to visit Bethel in 1990...I was absolutely frightened! The signs about Jesus was my mediator too did not sink in. There were also signs that basically said to "arrest Fred Franz"...that did not help in the least.

  I remember ten years later, a person dropping seeds of thought to me, like how the organization used to teach that Jehovah lived around a certain star. It sounded like nonsense, but then, I had no access to the information and I didn't seek it out. And then when I found he had looked at "apostate" information on my computer (along with gay porn), that really made my aposta-alarm go off.

  I guess the old saying is true that, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."
• 

  mommyfirstandalways

  The second public annual meeting a year ago woke me up. I left so discouraged after hearing about yoga pants.colorful socks and tights pants. You have friends dealing with mental illness. Abuse. Illnesses and that's what u want to focus on?!
• 

  Simon Templar

  I realized that something was wrong when 1) The CO was a thug. When he visited the congregation he cornered the sisters, picked up gossip and their ideas about who and what were wrong and then went on a spree investigating things (improperly) and persecuting the BOE. Not the way it was to be from the Watchtower/KM and assembly/convention talks I heard. 2) The BOE fought with one another, didn't follow the rules, manifested blatant incompetency, demonstrated so much wrong personally and organizationally that a little voice in my head said "what's going on here". I started researching things based on the conduct of the CO, BOE and a sister who yelled at me, gave me orders of what to do and wouldn't speak to me at the Meetings. The BOE did nothing about it. I realized something is "wrong with this picture" and it isn't me. Then I started researching things on the internet and hard copy. That was 10-12 years ago. I am still for various reasons that I wont go into now. In my view, they brought it on themselves.
• 

  KateWild

  Cedars woke me up. He bumped his site on Google some how and I clicked on it by mistake.....we exchanged few emails and he finally woke me up.

  I was experiencing injustice at the hands of elders I must admit.....but still very indoctrinated when I spoke to Cedars.

  Kate xx
• 

  prologos

  a self-made man here, started with superior authorities, flawed bible applications, had my own website, but shut it down after discovered the superior, jwfacts, trumpet, pticket, jwn sites. now in full deist mode, rejecting talking snake "truth".
• 

  brandnew

  Looked up charles taze russel, and it was a wrap.....being df'd for 19 years helps a lil too ....tee hee 😀