hello to everyone.. i hope you are all well and sorting things out between yourselves.
i have temporary internet access which is probably a good thing for now.
i have been contacted by the arc in a respectful and loving manner today.
Thank you for everything you have done.
Know you have my support and I applaud the courage you have to share your experiences with us.
The outcome of the process will improve and shape the future for the rights of children. This will only result in good.
my first post here and unfortunately it is asking for help.. i was a born in jehovah's witness and from my earliest memories, i know i hated being one.
i hated the embarrassment of being the "outsider" at school and i hated not being allowed to have any friends.
of course i had the obligatory friends in the kingdom hall - none of whom were my age exactly and none of whom i would have personally chosen to be friends with if i had been left to pick them myself in a natural setting.
It has been difficult to tell some of my friends that I was a witness.
I actively started perusing 'worldly' friends around 2004.
I did not witness to them or judge them.
( decade long JW double-life )
Many 'knew', but did not care. Now all these years later, when I have ZERO JW friends, the 'worldly' friends are still by my side.
( the term worldly is stupid )
Everyone I tell is supportive. None have suggested returning to Jive-Hobo...
i am 32 years and have recently left the organisation.
i got baptised in last feb. please excuse any typing errors i have dyslexia.
it has been so hard this year i have gone through so many ups and downs.
Having to choose between 1. family love and living a lie in captivity or 2. freedom seems like a hard choice- at first. A cruel choice.
After 25 years in and now 6 month out, I can tell you, in all honesty:
I wish I had the courage to disassociate immediately and without hesitation at my first doubts and early discovery of the cult and TTATT.
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I imagine it to be a bit like skydiving. That first leap out of an airplane must be chest-pounding, anxiety overload... until you survive.
but your welcome to come as guest we just will not talk to you stupid idiot
I get very upset when JWs do anything in their minds that they think might 'win us over without a word'.
My wife's sister sends over food for me now and then.
Her brother in law texted her to give me a message for a construction project.
Then the invites...
I hear:
"Hey, look at me! I care about you.
If you sit in the back of the KH and pretend you are obeying the GB until the eldurz are ready to judge you , then we will talk to you again..."
---
Never going to happen. NEVER.
{ That is, me going back to the KH or getting the invitation to do so )
dear mentally diseased apostates,.
we are happy to report to you that we are tired of waiting around for jehovah to do his his whole "armageddon thing" and have instead taken steps to expedite the end ourselves.
we are very confident as "guardians of the doctrine" that we can accomplish this by dismantling the wtbts and its subsidiaries which will, in turn, force god's hand and bring about the coming of jesus riding on a white horse out of the clouds with a sword - or skulls - or scales - err, whatever .
Just stumbled onto this topic.
So funny!
It seems to be working.
note: the following is submitted in full recognition of and with compassion and due respect for those who, due to personal circumstance, feel they are unable to employ this powerful strategy.. ---.
anyone who has awakened to ttatt and has conscientiously left the organization--especially a once-prominent, highly-regarded, studious true-believer from a celebrated multi-generational tribe of jws-- after decades of devout, high-profile "serve-us," who continues to put in an annual appearance at the memorial thoroughly subverts and undermines, by this one act, any hope s/he may entertain that his/her departure will stir family or former friends to question the whole watchtower bamboozle.
by this one concession s/he assigns him-/herself by every single jw to their handy and dismissive purgatory: the "spiritually-weak.".
Do they pass the emblems to the DF'd section or is it just nods from the passers to the section and a look of shame and heads hung down by the DF'd...?
If they pass them- eat and drink!
i read in a european ex jw forum that this year they are making a special effort to invite not only the inactive but also a special effort is made to invite all disfellowshipped.
.
i don't know if this as always been a common practice, or something started anew so they can boast about the numbers of attendees..
If any DARE to come to my house and offer me an invitation...
I will invite them right in, offer a coffee or something and start in on a full throttle TTATT presentation! Why the hell not?
I am DF'd for ADMITTED APOSTASY!!
Come on over friends!
Any JW that comes to me at this point is already up to there neck in doubt and has no other outlet. I'm not holding my breath.
( this comment also fits the JW fantasy topic, I think )
only a few days ago i was walking around the house in a mindless wander thinking if i needed to seek professional help.
then i got the courage to seek the comfort of complete strangers on the internet and found a world of support here on this website.
thank you simon and whoever else has made this website possible.
I'm very happy for the both of you.
Such a great experience with the BEST possible outcome.
( I have to admit that I am a little bit jealous )
What a big relief to be able to speak freely and not be accused of evil.
Best wishes on a successful fade, although a quick DA may have the biggest impact if you want to stir people up.
The shunning will begin almost immediately after you start rejecting visits or attempt to reactivate you two. I wish I DA'd years ago instead of prolonging the inevitable.
"Welcome to the real world"
so even though i don't drive much because public transit is so good where i live (and parking is a living nightmare), i always had a paper taped onto my glove box that said "no blood transfusions - jehovahs witness.
see legal documentation in wallet.
going through this "wake up" process as been a very crazy, emotional experience.
I removed my blood card from my wallet shortly after I quit attending for good. Right after the release of the Silver Sword in 2013.
On closer inspection, my blood card had not been updated since 1999.
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Let's say for the sake of argument that JWs have it right on blood.
How is sinning, by taking blood, different than any other sin?
If someone is about to commit fornication, should they intervene by committing suicide? No, they shouldn't.
---
My opinion says this:
JWs in private accept blood as needed.
It's the ones that feel compelled to share their medical history with nosy, gossiping JWs, "well meaning" family and or elders that get DF'd or tormented.
The obvious zealots suffer the worst, as it leaves them with loss of life under the pretense that they are pleasing Jehovah under the direction of the "current light of truth", that is -of course, subject to change without notice...
Bloodguilty. Watchtower is bloodguilty.
a jw that is probably irregular, they don't really attend meetings, they are not up on anything going on, they may even seem like they are faded but they are not, they are just slackers.
a jw that is impervious to the f.o.g.
(ok maybe it bums them, but they are too lazy and self serving to do otherwise).
I can name at least 20 individuals in Napa Ca, where I live and attended the meetings for 25 years that fit this description.
I don't even know why these people cling to the religion, since they think WT is true, they won't survive Armageddon anyway...
So sad.
