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

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  notsurewheretogo

  What an interesting thread...and some cracking replies.

  I was asked on the ministry by a young priest how do I know the JW's teach "the truth" since we never check against other sources...it was a good point and we had a good chat about it and he pointed to the date of the destruction of Jerusalem as an example.

  So for months I got up at 6am and researched for 2 hours prior to going to work and naturally I eventually had to concede that 607 cannot be accounted for and the only line of reasoning a JW can use is "it must be right as it comes from the GB and fulfills 1914 prophecy".

  I was an elder at this point and from here I branched out into other studies until I stumbled on here as a guest, on JWSurvey.com and JWFacts.com.

  I spent a few months fighting myself internally until one day it just hit...."this is not the truth and JW's are wrong".

  After I came to that conclusion the rest was easy...resigned as an elder...stopped going to meetings...took me a few months to get mentally out but now I'm the happiest I've ever been.

  I've also come to realize that if others are to do the same in my congregation or my still-in family then they too must do the journey I did, me telling them does little, all I can do is point them to areas and subjects to research.

  But I'm not bitter about it all...I learned some life lessons and developed better social skills but naturally you can do this in a better way and now the hard part is to get my wife and kids out.
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  DesirousOfChange

  I guy with whom I was conducting a Bible Study planted the seeds that eventually woke me to TTATT. My CD suppressed it all at that time, but nothing could unplant the seeds.

  He asked me questions that I couldn't answer, and in turn I discovered the questions that were not to be asked.

  Doc
  
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  Israel Ricky Gonzales

  A co-worker told me about the Candice Continue case. At the time, as the sole provider of my family, I was struggling to put anything in the contribution box. Finding out that what little I could afford was being paid to victims of child molestation amongst the JWs infuriated me. I read a few newspaper articles about other child molestation cases and stumbled upon SilentLambs. Through that website, I found out that 3 brothers in my circuit were registered sex offenders.

  At that time I started looking at apostate websites. JWStruggle was the first one. His videos and apostasy trial helped break down the stereotypical walls. As I started looking at other websites, all the skeletons started coming out and I tried to prove the apostates wrong, but it was wayyyyyy to easy to see that WT was not only wrong but a damn good con artist.

  So to sum it up, it was all on my own. Eric B from JWstruggle played a big part, as well as Londo Mollari's videos on 607. The rest was history. Didn't take long from giving a public talk in March of 2014 to being DF'd for apostasy 4 months later.
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  OnTheWayOut

  The feeling that this religion just wasn't quite right kept building like a fire inside me, with doctrine change, a double standard for elders families or those of other connected ones. Nobody like Rick Fearon with a bullhorn would have woke me up. It had to be on my own. It just built up until I asked "What prevents me from googling 'Jehovah's Witnesses'?" So I did, and went anywhere it took me. The rest is history.
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  John Aquila

  Oubliette

  There is no way that full-indoctrinated cult members can ever have a real, authentic relationship with another cult member

  What a great reminder. We sometimes believe that cult members are like family, but they would abandon us in a second if it clashed with the Governing Body’s direction

  disillusioned 2

  Started going through wt volumes which dated back to 1960. Couldn't find anything about '75. Went on internet, ......... found it! I was thrilled. I was right. I wasn't going mad. Went to the volumes and we had the one it was in. 1968. From that point I became obsessed about proving them wrong. I spent hours over months, even dreaming about what I was reading. I couldn't sleep properly.

  Ha, my story exactly.

  notsurewheretogo

  I've also come to realize that if others are to do the same in my congregation or my still-in family then they too must do the journey I did, me telling them does little, all I can do is point them to areas and subjects to research.

  This is the hardest thing to accept, the family has to do the journey and all we can do is point the way.

  Israel Ricky Gonzales

  A co-worker told me about the Candice Continue case. At the time, as the sole provider of my family, I was struggling to put anything in the contribution box. Finding out that what little I could afford was being paid to victims of child molestation amongst the JWs infuriated me.

  I went through the same thing Rick, I know the feeling. It really sucks.

  
  

  OnTheWayOut

  Nobody like Rick Fearon with a bullhorn would have woke me up. It had to be on my own.

  If it wasn’t for sites like this, I would really feel all alone. That would not be good for my mental health.
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  Pete Zahut

  A lifelong JW friend who was like a sister to me, sent me an "interesting" email about Beth Sarim. She thought it was wonderful to see the old photos and so interesting to see how much brighter the light has gotten and she shared it with all her JW email contacts.
  

  I on the other hand was shocked that as a life long JW, a former Bethelite and as someonene who tragically lost a loved one over the blood transfusion issue, couldn't believe that I had never heard of this Beth Sarim nonsense before and wondered what else I didn't know about this religion and it's crazy founders.

  A google search ensued and all the missing pieces about the religion that I had wondered about but had dismissed, began to fall into place. The rest is history.

  I often wondered if anyone else who received that email from my friend, had the same reaction as I did. When that friend later discovered that my wife and I were no longer Witnesses, (5 years after our last meeting) she said she loved us dearly but if we were leaving the organization, she would no longer be able to remain in contact with us. She asked me what happened to make us want to leave the truth. I told her that her email about Beth Sarim gave me the go ahead to do a google search to find out more and to verify it's accuracy and that's when the JW house of cards came crashing in.

  Let me tell you...she was horrified but I assured her that we were the same moral and decent people and this would have happened eventually anyway. She said that out of loyalty to Jehovah, she would have to cut off contact with us. I told her that loyalty to Jehovah and loyalty to the Watchtower organization were two different things but she didn't see it that way. We made several attempts to visit her and her husband after that but phone calls and emails weren't returned.

  About 9 months ago she was killed in a freak accident and we attended her Memorial which ironically was not too far from Beth Sarim. (we visited the Beth Sarim site while we were there) It was our first time in a Kingdom Hall since Memorial of 2008 and it was strange and bittersweet to hear the old JW speak again.I sniffled and sobbed through the whole thing especially when one of the old kingdoms song was played at the end. It was such a terrible loss and under the circumstances never to have been able to say goodbye.
  

  Her family was delighted to see us and we were invited to the dinner after her memorial and they were truly glad that we came. Other than the family, we didn't know anyone else in attendance at the memorial. Everyone assumed we were JW's and treated us as such. It was heartbreaking that she wasn't there with us like it used to be and such a shame that we never got to speak to our dear friend in the last few years of her life because of her loyalty to a man made organization.
  
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  John Aquila

  

  Pete Zahut

  
  

  Wow, that story is unreal. It's a shame she never became aware of the real truth. What's amazing is the same thing that encouraged her (Beth S.) is the same thing that woke you up. TTATT never stops from bewildering me.
  
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  Beth Sarim

  I stumbled upon learning something was wrong with the Borg. I heard of a website called towerwatch.com with Cal Lehman. I was just moved by his testimony.

  Occasionally on Cal Lehman's site towerwatch.com someone would post links to this website and it's posters. Then along came jwsurvey.org not to mention other sites like Reachouttrust.com, jwfacts.
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  Beth Sarim

  Oh yeah, forgot to add that's where I got my handle.......lmao...... was on a website like jwfacts, and from there I began posting on here 6 years ago now.
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  Aprostate Exam

  My father and one of my sisters always asked my devout mother critical, analytical, realistic, questions about the outlandish bible jw doctrine. This helped me see the many realistic variables life has to offer. The kicker was when I took a religions of the world course, philosophy course, business courses, and psychology courses. Then the internet offered a lot of realities about CTR. I kept digging after that, and then introduced the UN info to my wife. We soon faded and moved away. My children are now growing up cult free and with their sight on higher education.