What was the "final straw" that made you leave the JW's ??????

by run dont walk 52 Replies latest jw friends

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  pamkw

  I was always a rebel. I was df when I was 19, then reinstated when I was 21. I tried for years to be perfect. But no one would forget my mistakes of the past. I was invisible. People in the congregation where I grew up loved my son, but could not remember my name. When I had my second son at 29 and was not df, some people quit talking to me anyway. so being lonely and unimportant I married the first man that would have me (not jw). I used him as a reason not to go to meetings. I got the internet in 1998. Then my mother started talking all the time about how I was killing her grandchildren. The guilt I felt was horrible. I thought I was such a bad mother, but I could not go back. I did not want to be treated like a non person anymore. So after having the internet for a year I decided to look up ex-jehovah's witness. And then I saw that the generation thing has been changed. I was so angry, but I also felt the guilt leave me. I was so overjoyed that I was not a bad parent, and I was not killing my children. I knew then I would never go back. Now I can hardly speak to my mom about religion. We tend to avoid the subject because I will not back down. My sister tried to turn me in when I started to go to a church. But the elders said I had been gone for so long (about 2 years then) that I didn't matter. It was like I never was, which was how the same way the acted when I was going.

  Now I explore all any subject that interests me, and I am totally guilt free. Never been happier.

  Pam
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  jws

  In my late teens, I started getting fed up with certain things and just refused to believe others. For instance, if they came out with one more "greater <insert name here> class" or "greater fulfillment" or "modern fulfillment" to suit whatever they were trying to glorify themselves with this week, I was going to vomit. Other things, I just didn't believe (some of which changed in my favor in the form of "new light"). But, still I believed I was in the best religion.

  At one point, my brother and I were the congregation rebels, drinking, rock music, wordly association, dating worldly girls, etc. And we weren't alone in the congregation - there were others we did this stuff with. But they never could pin anything on us to DF us. Eventually, some of the others "repented", but we stuck to our guns and denied everything, even saving some of their butts by not tattling on others. But, people "knew" about us and took it upon themselves to stay clear - even those who we were partying with. After that, no matter what we did, we could never seem to earn favor back. So, it wasn't exactly a happy climate. Some were nice and we had our worldly friends to keep us company, so we survived.

  Never really liked all the committment. 3 meetings a week and field service. Never liked field service. So, in my early 20's I moved out of state. It only lasted about 5 or 6 weeks (bad roommates) and I moved back. So, I never settled in out of state to a cong. When I came back, I took 2 available jobs, both 2nd shift - one mon-fri, the other saturdays. I also now lived across town. So I had to miss meetings on weeknights and didn't get home until about 3am on Sunday morning, so waking up for Sunday meeting wasn't easy. Didn't feel comfortable with a new congregation, so travelling across town to the old one was an extra effort. So, I got lazy and irregular.

  Eventually, I met a girl who had me watch a religious program on JWs. I found out how to order Ray Franz's book and read it. It opened my eyes, and though inactive, decided not to return. In a way, I envy people who worked it all out and left while they were still regular. I was lazy and irregular as it was. I know I'm in the right, but in the back of my mind, a small voice says it was just a justification for me being lazy - or at least that my JW family might perceive it as such. As if I was weak and that's why I got "snared by Satan". I wish I could have found Franz's book when I was still a good JW. I was interested in it for several years - (as soon as I heard about him leaving I wanted to know the story), but didn't know how or where to obtain it. I know I would have read it and I know it would have led me to where I am now.
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  freedom96

  I was just too lazy to go to the meetings anymore. Besides, it isn't the truth anyways.

  Too much stuff I want to do than listen to the same crap from the same people over and over and over and over and over.........................................
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  Free at Last
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  Free at Last
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  Free at Last
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  Lee Elder

  I was deeply troubled by the needless loss of life caused by the WTS irrational policy on the use of blood and blood products. However, the final straw was when two elders sat me down and told me that the Body of Elders wanted to know when was the last time I had agreed to disfellowship a young person. That was the final straw for me.

  Lee
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  wednesday

  I hung on for years before i finally left. I saw a sister literally get away with adultry, and nothing happened to her. i noticed she was in the "in " crowd. A number of terrible things happenedto me a long time ago, and i have never been able to resolve them. I have been in therapy for years. I finally got up the self esteem to not go back. But mentally leaving is a lot harder.
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  Thirdson

  I was concerned about many things, and felt several doctrines were wrong or in need of change (including the creationism, blood doctrine and much of the 1914 doctrine well -- before I got on line and started researching JW history and while I was an elder). What did it for me was the "generation" change. At that point (late 1995) it was driven home that the whole religion was based on human guess work and had nothing to do with progressive understanding of scripture. Six months later I was deep in to discovering the amazing amount of information on the Internet and by April 1997 I decided to quit the religion completely.

  Thirdson
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  greven

  The final straw? Hmm, the meetings were boring and I just hated the inefficiency of fieldservice. I had this this nagging feeling that if this was the truth, it sure was a boring and cruel one. Also the reasoning behind doctrines often sounded flawed. I started to get tired of this feeling and thought that I could strenthen my faith by doing research. This only convinced me more that the doctrines were seriously flawed. The final straw, I guess, was learing about 1975 and seeing the paralel between the WBTS and the pharisees --> greatest man book.

  Greven.