What woke you up?

by MrRoboto 41 Replies latest jw experiences

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  contramundum

  For me, the catalyst was when I started using the Interlinear for my personal bible reading and realised the divine name was nowhere to be found in the original manuscripts.

  I read and re read the Gospels and even went so far as to count the number of times WT had erroneously inserted the name Jehovah.

  Until that time, I had implicit faith in the Organisation but this deliberate and inexcusable attempt at deception shattered my trust overnight. I slowly examined all the teachings I had questioned over the years and found many had no sound scriptural basis.

  When a close friend suggested I research Ray Franz, I initially resisted, still hesitant to look at anything remotely considered apostate, but the more I questioned, the more I became mentally free. I eventually downloaded C of C and what I read shocked me into a decison.

  From that moment I resolved to engineer my fade, no longer wanting to be associated with an organisation I now knew to be harmful and corrupt.
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  fukitol

  I was a born in in the 60s. In the early 90s I developed suspicions and intellectual curiosity/honesty about their 1914 chronology and 'generation' teaching. Researching anything I could get my hands on led to the realisation the Watchtowers chronology and hence constant bleating about the end being nigh was deeply flawed. The final confirmation that it was a scam was the infamous 1995 change to the understanding of what 'generation' meant and the change to the Awake magazines masthead about it. It was a sugar-coated admittance of utter failure and false 'prophesying'. I was disgusted. I realised the Watchtower leaders were snake oil salesmen and mentally quit them, although I physically remained associated or a few more years for social and family reasons.
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  Rainbow_Troll

  Though I am now an atheist, what initially woke me up were certain mystical experiences I had as an adolescent that simply did not fit within Watchtower theology. Of course my mom and the elders thought I was demon-possessed, but after reading Evelyn Underhill's excellent survey of mysticism I realized that there was nothing demonic or even particularly 'mystical' about what I was experiencing. Eventually I realized that the traditional religious explanation for these altered states of consciousness was just a lot of unnecessary baggage that created more questions than it answered.

  Oh, and there's also the fact that WT theology doesn't hold up to any serious scrutiny and that the Bible is a mass of historical and theological contradictions. The GB should really consider forbidding JWs from reading the Bible or even any WT literature that is more than a decade old.
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  waton

  follow up on earlier, post. . The wake up call came in a dramatic way, as I was defeated in a bible study session of the flagship "Let God be True" book containing the Superior Authorities erroneous teaching, the same day (actually within minutes) hat the new /old light became known to me, via the brown subscription wrapper. Wt had made a fool out of us by making us peddle, back up with our reputation, false doctrines they concocted.

  Giving them a second chance to redeem themselves by 1975 (by hedging and building a house), we realize the whole doctrinal structure is false and will have it's defendants hang their heads in shame , better in 1975 then 2075.
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  UnshackleTheChains

  
  
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  ToesUp

  The total lack of love and blatant hypocrisy. We had a CO that was unusally cruel. The years of how the Elders were abusive in their speech and actions. I just couldn't do it anymore. I didn't see the love for the congregation. It just wasn't there.

  Then I learned about Beth Sarim. My spouse started reading Crisis of Conscience out loud to me. We started learning TTATT. What an eye opener. Once you learn TTATT, you can NEVER unsee it. NEVER! We made our exit and feel so much better. Why is that? I was told I/we would be miserable! I guess it was like we were told there was love among the brothers and sisters. They tell you these things and yet they are untrue. So much happier being free of the judgement and hypocrisy! Don't knock it til ya try it. lol
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  Chook

  To be honest I don't think I would of woke up without the internet, all JW history and research at your fingertips in the privacy of ones own home.
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  LongHairGal

  MR ROBOTO:

  In my case, it was the 1995 changed teaching on "Generation" that led me to finally plan my exit from the JW religion.

  Before that I suffered through several rude awakenings over the years. Tenacious as I was I did not leave whereas others might have. The first was a criticism of my clothing which was a let-down because I thought people liked me. Meanwhile, I was being panned. I tried to comply and hoped that was the end of criticism.

  The next was criticism about my full time job. There was nobody there appealing enough to marry so I knew I had to support myself. I let their unwanted advice that I quit my decent job and do housecleaning go in one ear and out the other. Not just that it was physical labor but I'd have to do so much to support myself there would be no time for anything else...So, what the hell were they talking about???

  I realized they had serious issues about intelligent women and anybody who had a career...This was all about "abasing" me, pure and simple. I wasn't going to let this happen. In time I came to see that I was shunned in a way. I realized that these people were not loving and that, in fact, a single woman in that religion with no family there had to look out for herself because she was fair game for all the users there - which in some cases included elders. Nobody was looking out for her interest.

  One stupid sister once said "get with the program"...uh, no. I wasn't pursuing poverty so that people there would "like" me. So, I was a low-hour publisher.

  I won't even get into the issues of not being invited to gatherings because other women didn't want any competition for the few men there....There were also other irritating things like kooks who expected to be humored. I just rolled my eyeballs when there was talk about "anointed".

  So, I stayed on the fringes of the congregation with few friends trying to make it "work" till I realized it was over.
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  Phizzy

  I was born in in the early 1950's. One thing my parents imparted to me was to love,not Da Troof, but to love Truth.

  One day in 2006 I was reading the Bible book of Daniel, and realised that the 1914 doctrine simply could not be extrapolated from it in any way, unless you were a Nutter. ( Like Mad Freddie Franz).

  Of course, it being the Foundation Doctrine that underpins everything that makes the JW religion unique, and makes it function, the whole House of Cards that is their teaching fell down.

  I left shortly after.
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  dogisgod

  having been in the same cong for 40+years, it was appalling how unloving, backbiting, and troubled everyone seemed to be. Girls getting pregnant, affairs between all genders, the elite, the unworthies. I have never been around "worldly" people this out of control.