A question for NEWBIES , especially if you would have died for your beliefs , and / or if you have been a long time in the religion .

by smiddy 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  smiddy

  I`m just curious as to how you came across this site or any other "apostate" site for that matter especially now when the internet on the one hand is so demonized when it comes to the subject of Jehovah`s Witnesses , except of course for JW.ORG ,

  Was it by accident ? somebody has mentioned it to you ? Your own curiosity ? something or someone has stumbled you ?

  any other reason ?

  I for one would find it very interesting how you respond.

  In my own case , many years ago when my son set up a computer for me ( I had been out close to 15 years by then ) I was curious about the JW`s and came across Shaun`s site an ex JW , which I thought was very good ,which then led me to Dogpatch ,which I also find very good ,which led me here ,where I feel it suits my needs and where I can express myself and learn so much more than what I would have dreamed of.

  So please , feel free to contribute your personal experience (without exposing yourself) I`m sure it would be very informative to us all.

  Of course older posters may also give their experiences also ,I just thought that so many newbies are coming in now , how do they find us ?

  smiddy
• 

  Lieu

  I browsed here.

  I'm from back in the early home computer days, real floppy disks, c prompts, and no such thing as a mouse or user interface. My father bought a Zenith home build kit that we kids helped put together. (Looked like today's mainframes). Dad taught us how to write programs in Basic and find stuff. Years go by and I'm a computer nerd. Along comes Compuserve. The first thing I put to the c-prompt was ... you guessed it.

  Back then only 1 text file came back and it was some portion of a Study in the Scriptures. I read it and thought, wtf!!!??? I concluded it was some sort of test file as online storage didn't exist and files were kept on individual computers and had to be transferred. *One file of note was a request for investment into a new start up Company. For 4k, you could be an investor in a new software concept called .... Windows: Microsoft.

  Several years later, UI, mice, Win3.1, and Apple. I'm in college with a computer related minor and here comes baud modems, online servers, and the Internet.

  No one ever said anything to me about my computer interests since I was the one always fixing theirs or showing them how to use some software. Plus a GB member gave me a Bethel app due to my knowledge of computer publication design and programming abilities. And this was in the 1980s.

  And that's the rest of the story. In to the new fangled search engine goes ... you guessed it. Found Free Minds, Lambs, active JW, and other sites. I found this one maybe 15 years ago?
• 

  Heartsafire

  I didn't have the nerve to browse ex-JW websites on the internet until I got a smartphone and could do it easily and privately. I always had nagging doubts about the Borg and its teachings, but never the nerve to research beyond JW material where others could see me.

  I came across this website a couple years ago. I cannot remember what I was researching, but the topic was JW's for one reason or another. I do remember that feeling of doing something sinful. Would the demons attack me if I read this forum? My worries about that were stifled after reading a couple of posts that were humorous and expressed the irony of the situation. Finally I felt like I had found my people!

  I love the variety of people posting on this website: ex dubs, current dubs, doubters, true blue apostates, curious folk, etc. And, all from around the globe too! Nobody here is forced to think, say, or do anything that goes against their personal conscience which is SO refreshing when that's all one has been subjected to in a high control group like the JWs.

  The format of the forum is very good too, especially when it comes to sharing leaked info. Thank you to all of you out there helping everyone keep pace ahead of this controlling org.
• 

  Sanchy

  One day I was doing personal study on our 1914 doctrine which started a chain of events that successively led me here, as follows:

  Personal Study on 1914 -> Decided to seek secular info on 607 -> Found historians disagree with that date -> Found "Gentile Times Reconsidered" -> Heard about an ex-governing body member called Ray Franz -> Looked up more about him -> Found Crisis of Concience -> My concience at this point allowed me to read it -> Realized this was prob not "the truth" -> Visited apostate websites.
  
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  Google is our friend.

  Doc
  
• 

  SpoonFedNoMore

  Left the dubs two years ago based on nothing more than a gut feeling that it was wrong.

  Didn't allow myself to even mentally question the beliefs/teachings out of fear of Satan and the demons and out of respect/guilt for Jehovah.

  1.5 years after leaving, I heard about the Australia Royal Commission. I figured that was safe to watch since it was official court video, not outright apostate.

  I saw an elder say he had never heard of Theocratic Warfare (the concept that it's okay to lie if it's protecting your religion). But i remembered being taught that concept as a child at JW meetings. I was shocked. Then i saw the GB member answering questions and he just seemed so haughty, proud, foolish.

  I then permitted myself to look up Charles Taze Russell, thinking it was safe stuff to read because it was history, not apostate material.

  Again, i was shocked to read some of his beliefs/teachings, his failed end time predictions, the pyramid at his grave site. This was not what i learned in the Faith in Action! videos.

  So then I googled Rutherford.

  Again, more shock.

  Then I GOOGLED JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES! What a terrifying moment.

  Then i discovered jwsurvey.org + the John Cedars YouTube channel. His channel helped me most of all.

  Reading about Ray Franz was really disturbing. A Governing Body member left?!

  I spent nearly two months researching every single day. I would wake up in the middle of the night reviewing everything i had figured out that day. I would wake up in the morning crying, because the weight of my dreams was too much to bear.

  Spoon Fed No More!
• 

  wifibandit

  Google searches for Ministry School answer sheets lead me to Atlantis and this site. Watchtowerletters.com confirmed to me that my doubts were not unique. JWFacts.com used quotes to show me that they had hidden so much history from me. The r/exjw is where I found community and like minds.

  To all of these: I am forever in your debt. I'll try to pay it forward.
• 

  freemamaof3

  I've sort of always been a rebel. When I heard that the internet was "a device of satan to get us to look at apostate websites" at a circuit assembly and was firmly told by my mother to never visit them, I promptly went home and visited them. Mind you I was 24 and lived on my own with my children and husband at this time lol Once a rebel always a rebel i suppose. I left the org in August 2015.
• 

  corruptgirl

  My hubby came to me with all his doubts and I was awakened, not by any apostate site but by examining scipture and realizing it didn't coincide with doctrine. Only after I was convinced this is not truth did I ever get into anything apostate, which my husband also led me to lol
• 

  Themdoubts

  I wasn't around for 1975, but have family who were very much affected by it. Hearing the stories growing up I guess it made me question things from a pretty young age. I was born in and due to recent events in my life i am only recently fully aware of the full scope of facts behind the scenes - as DoC said, google is our friend!