by truthseeker 8 Replies latest jw friends
I left home at the age of 21 - the time was right and I needed my space and independence.
A few witnesses had their own opinionsabout my move. There were some old timers that said the only reason you should leave home is because you're married.
Some traditionalists think you should stay home with your parents until you're married, as moving out on your own makes you selfish and too independent.
How did your congregation react when they heard you were moving out?
Fine, as long as you moved in with other spiritually healthy JWs and could keep regularly pioneering.
Moving in with non-JWs was bad, bad, bad, even if it was a close non-JW relative.
Moving out totally on your own was not seen as a good move as you might be tempted to do something bad....
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I didn't move out until I was 25.
My Rooster lived with his momma till we married at 26.
I moved to be near a girl I was dating. It did not go over very well. In fact, they said unless I stopped seeing her, things would not go well with me at the hall. I was 18.
I moved. Never talked to them again. It would be interesting to hear what they wrote on my publisher card when I went to the other hall 700 miles away.
I believe an elder told my mum:
"Well that's him out of the TruthTM then".
Such loving comments.
-
Ignored One.
i honestly don't know. i moved to another city and got an apartment and lost touch completely with all of them. the only person still in by that time was my sister, who's still in now, and she couldn't find me 'cause i didn't give her my phone number. personally, i don't think they cared one way or the other. anyway i was not even 19 yet and moved in with this girl from an ad in the paper who was looking for a roommate. suddenly i found myself alone and it was scary. i slept with the lights on all night, the first time i was in the apartment alone. but i had my job to go to every day and friends from work and after a while the panic attacks stopped... it wasn't easy. but i never wanted to go back to that hellhole, no matter how scary the big bad world was... then i met a nice older worldly man.. but that's a whole other story.
I moved out of my parents house when I was 19. I would have moved out earlier but I didn't want it to look like I jumped ship the moment I became an adult. Funny, I've always considered how my actions would look to others. So I stuck it out till 19 and then moved into my own apartment. My father asked 2 other elders (he's an elder himself) to admonish me to continue living in their house, under thier rules and full-time pioneer. I remember the day I moved out my parents told me they would keep my room for me (they didn't think I could make it out on my own). It's been 18 years now and I never looked back. I bet they still have my room waiting though.
Having been a fulltime pioneer at age 17 ( living in my parents house) ; I stopped at age 21 to attend college. I stepped down from being a ministerial servant due to my college interests taking me in a more "secular " direction. .
This did not go well for me with the local elders.
I was still living at my parents home and attending meetings sporadically. My father was an elder; and this, to some extent sheltered me from the elders prying " investigations". I was not married; and as a young man; was being closely "watched". However; after 2 years I went to college overseas in Europe. When I returned home I was "cordially" invited to all kinds of Judicial Committee meetings where I was "wildly" accused of fornication; drug addiction; and anything else the local elders wanted to accuse me of on their "fishing expedition".
What a roller coaster ride!
My advice to any young JWs looking to move out of their parents house: Move to another town!
