by Nosferatu 33 Replies latest jw friends
I have to say the last meeting I went to I had DA'd myself about 6 months earlier. I sat there and could not sit still. I realized how I tortured my children making them sit still for two hours straight. My mind kept wondering..looking around at the rapt silly expression on peoples faces. Many were shaking their heads like in a daze. That is when I said what in the heck am I doing here!!!! I left in the middle of the talk. That was the end for me.
Leslie
My last meeting was almost a year ago . . . last October, I think. I'm technically still in the org, but I'm hoping that was my last meeting for sure . . . anyway, I remember nothing about that meeting. I'm sure that's because the things they said and did were the same as at any meeting, boring no matter what. Thank dog for my imagination, because the only way I could last through them was by spacing out fantasizing.
Oh, me too! What did you say? Was it in the main [front] school? Did you pop open a brew, stoke up a fat one and then walk off of the stage? Guns a blazing baby!?
The thing is, I didn't realize it was going to be my last meeting. I only went to meetings when my parents "encouraged" me. After my talk, my parents never "encouraged" me to go, so I just didn't go. The great thing about not being baptized at the time was that I was able to put my Bible Study conductor through hell. He waited outside to pick me up for the meeting, meanwhile I drove there. I pretended that I forgot he was going to pick me up.
yes, I said to myself and family, "You know we have been going to meetings for 35 years and there is not anything new to talk about. This was a rehash of everything I have heard since 1972.All we have ever done was change from old light, to new light, to old light." This was the start of realizing I hadf been duped and I duped my family.
Nominee, best writing on JWD this year (so far):
Now in the trunk of the old Plymouth, the briefcase that contained all the books and magazines and materials that we needed for the meetings still resides, and has been pretty much undisturbed for the last 16 years. It has the study Watchtowers for a few weeks, the Tuesday study books, Kingdom Ministries for a couple of months, songbooks for the family, green Bibles, field service materials, some small toys and Golden Books that we'd sneak into the Hall for our sons who were still babies at the time. Just everything that a witness needs to survive the meetings. Over the years, I've opened that briefcase up maybe 3 times when I've been in a reminiscing mood, and I can't believe that I did all that. But even more than that, it makes me feel very sad. I was raised in the "truth", as was my wife, and our whole life up to that point is in that briefcase, and I get an overwhelming feeling of sadness whenever I open it.
This is reminiscent of a terrific book by Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried."
The last meeting I went to was a TMS. The CO was in town that week and he was giving a talk on being a slave of god. I kept thinking to myself that I didn't want to be a 'slave'. I left at the song...I just got up and walked out. It felt great!!
FD
it's so weird, i know it was only three years ago, but i cannot recall for the life of me my last meeting
My 'last' meeting was actually at a District convention. I heard the announcer claim that what was being said there was being said by Jeehover himself. It was the culmination of many inconsistancies and doubts i have had in their teachings. It was kind of an epiphany for me. I knew right there and then that I would cease being a JW drone.
I have gone to meetings since then, when I visit my family. I find it incredibly amusing. As long as I dress right I and speak the lingo I am accepted as if I was one of them. I've recently asked a CO to elaborate a little on a talk where he cited Zeph 2:10 (Which speaks of the anhialation of many). One of the major doubts I have is that a 'loving' god will actually slaughter billions. Family members have strenously argued with me that this is not how JW's believe (forgetting that I was one). Well sure enough, if you are on the inside, JW's feel no need to sugar coat their beliefs. The CO (almost cheerfully) elaborated how people will be sorry they didn't listen to JW's. How sick!
I'm definitely having a memory lapse on that particular event in my life. I think it was an assembly. I stuck my finger down my throat, left at the lunch break, walked out into the Texas scorching sun and exited faster than a JW walking in on a blood drive.
I went to my last meeting with one of those small tape recorders and sat in the first row. Each time C.B. Mitchel got on the platform and opened his mouth for any reason, I theatrically clicked the recorder on, held it high so as not to miss a word and recorded everything the old sheep-skinner said.
When everyone stood for the final prayer, I picked up my two year old son, placed him on my hip and walked out. Other than that, there was nothing special about that meeting, just like there had never been anything special about any meeting I'd ever been to beginning when I was six years old and ending on that night in 1980. And I've never been back and will never go back - not for the funeral of either of my parents nor for any other reason. I don't associate with religious cults.
francois
P.S. - Bendrr, as far as I know, C.B. Mitchell, elder and sheep-skinner, is STILL dead.
