Also many people that I knew were genuinley not happy, they were miserable. This was not supposed to happen. Basically once I started to think outside of the jw box, without fear, I was able to come to a very definite conclusion that this was not The Truth.
What Was "IT" That Finally Made You Leave The "Truth"?
by minimus 88 Replies latest jw friends
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DanTheMan
well, i initially left because i came to realize that i couldn't go on living as a witness any longer. i didn't even care if it was the truth or not, to be perfectly honest; i knew that i'd rather be destroyed at armageddon than to continue to be that miserable for one scrap of a second longer.
ditto, well-said tink
I got my "privileges" taken away in October of 2001, most people in my situation would have gotten DF'd but one of the elders on the JC was pretty liberal. During the inquisition one of the elders told me that I was a "spiritual babe". That really got to me, coming from a very self-righteous society-man cheese-cracker-man elder. I went to a couple of meetings at another cong after that, but by January 2002 I was done.
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Blueblades
Unknown to me at the time,it would be the way the brothers handled a judicial matter concerning a member of my family.This led me to pursue the matter more intensely
.This in turn led me to free minds,crises of conscience,isocf,apocalypse delayed,the gentiles times reconsidered,blood on the altar,the sign of the last days when,many other books,this forum.
And finally to minimus whose stimulating questions and answers given, all added up to "IT".There was more and this was not a hasty decision to leave,it's been two years of an emotional tug of war,have not been to the meetings for one year now,inactive so far and no more calls,last call was a month ago when the co.visited the cong.not me.
Our whole family got the "IT" and are out.
Blueblades
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AlanF
Realizing that "The Truth" was quite the opposite.
The Society is comprised of a flock of intellectually dishonest men who are too arrogant and isolated from reality to take counsel from anyone on anything. While I was in college in 1979 I realized this with a shock, when I tried to write a paper defending my JW beliefs using references from Watchtower publications. I found that the references often failed to support the point being made, or even supported the opposite point.
After college I tried being a good JW for awhile, but I kept hearing nasty comments from the Watchtower about college education, which ate away at me. I also began to realize that certain of their cherished ideas about science were nonsense. For example, in late 1983 the Awake! had an article on why evolution was a bad thing. It argued that some people don't believe in God because of the nastiness of the created world in the sense that predators can hardly be the product of a loving God, but that that still argues for creation rather than evolution. The article dealt with the problem of how, if all animals were created to be vegetarians, some came to be predators by saying something like, "After Adam sinned, it's no wonder that the creation fell into chaos." That's an extremely stupid argument and explains nothing. I mean, how would Adam's sinning cause spiders to aquire poison fangs and begin eating other insects? How could snakes decide to grow poison fangs and begin eating other animals? Snakes don't need fangs to subdue fleeing bananas. Several months later Awake! published a few critical letters from readers taking them to task for this bit of stupidity, and the answers amounted to yet more simpleminded excuses. It think it was this nonsense that finally broke the camel's back and led me to decide not to be an active JW anymore.
AlanF
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minimus
Blueblades, I'm glad you found the way out! Alan, I would not think that a man of your intellect could be duped for too long.
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HadEnuf
They (the elders & Good OLD Boys in NY) messed with us one too many times.
I also agree with Blondie...NO LOVE.
The rank and file aren't supposed to lie but the elder's are experts at this.
Making up so many rules that weren't based on anything WE could find in the Bible.
Exhaustion.
Double standards.
NON-involvement in sex abuse cases and the UN "Library Card" incident...."Library-gate"
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...just about anything and everything. Cathy L.
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Guest 77
Bottom line, mind control. When the elder (thought for me) that I wasn't repented, the light bulbs went on! I have always been against anyone thinking for me, jw or not. If you wanna turn me off, think for me. Thinking for others is not in my (golf) bag. Pun intended.
Guest 77
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Hapgood
For me it was lack of love. When my daughter decided that she no longer wanted to go to the meetings, not one of the elders asked about her or offered a shepherding call. It was like she never existed for the last 18 years in that Kingdom Hall. Of course I was devastated, after all to me, at the time, it was a life and death situation, she was going to die at Armageddon. As a result of her treatment (or non-treatment), I was so hurt, I went looking on the internet for other JW's that might have experienced similar things. Well I found H20, then eventually I ended up here. I found out that the so called "truth" is all a sham.
Hapgood
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lovinlife
For me it has to be the lack of love and hypocracy! I think that when I went to bethel and could not believe what I saw there, it really pushed it home for me that there was something really wrong with the WT and jw's in general. Bethel was the most unloving, judgemental, and POLITICAL place I have ever seen! You always had to worry about what you did or said because the gossip was incredible! And even if you were really good...no actions to criticize, you always had your "trusty" housekeeper, that snooped through your belongings. She would have the audacity to say..."I noticed that you have condoms in your drawer...are you sure that you are protected enough??"!!!!!!!!!
When I used to complain to my jw mom about how bad it was, she told me that I was having a negative attitude and that was coloring how I saw things! So, I was the bad guy for calling it like it was! (All this, in addition to having an abusive elder husband!) I knew that I was done even back then....but it took me years of pain before I finally really left.
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minimus
I think the Bethelites are some of the most double-standard persons I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. Getting a friggin' bigger room is such a big deal! I don't get it! I guess if you can stay in Bethel for years, not too much else might bother you after that.