confused 18 year old (page 2)

MsMcDucket

I hope my 18 year old twin daughters start thinking like you! Keep thinking! Use that brain of yours. Jehovah gave you choices, the organization doesn't. You can still believe in Jehovah and not believe in the organization.

Cygnus

You're on the right track. It's okay to be confused. Life is confusing, and JW life becomes frustratingly confusing. The best thing you can do is find people who won't judge you for your feelings, your questions, your fears, and your joys. Center your life around them, and be confident doing so. You have a right to such companionship and support. If you don't find it in the JWs, and it's likely you won't knowing what you know now and the much more you'll learn if you keep knocking and asking, you will find it somewhere. Welcome to the board. :)

Kaylen

Hey Lonelysam,

Welcome to the board. Whatever you decide to do I wish you all the best with. Remember there are plenty of people here that can help and support you with your choices.

dedpoet

Welcome lonelysam,

You are at a stage many of us have previously passed through, doubting what you have been taught but not wanting to lose all your friends by doing something about it. Perhaps all your social activities revolve around the congregation? If that is so, then the thought of building a new social life outside the org must surely seem to be a daunting task. It is not, however, impossible, as many of us have found on here. Think about what non - jw things interest you, and pursue them. Try to associate more with non jws. You will find that the friendships you make outside the org are not conditional and do not depend on you blindly following a belief.

If you do leave, your current jw "friends" will most likely shun you, but ask yourself, have you really lost anything? My former friends shun me, apart from a couple, but I no longer feel any sense of loss because of it. I no longer have anything in common with them anyway.

Whatever you do, I wish you well. Take care

dedpoet

RichieRich

As a 17 year old waiting for my 18th birthday to exit,

All I can say is run like hell. And don't worry, There'll be people running right beside you (like me).

AK - Jeff

I have bad news for you, lonelysam. Unless the molestation was witnessed by someone else, i.e. unless he was caught in the act, there is already at least one other person that reported this man molested them. For an accusation to be admitted aginst an elder there must be at least two witnesses. Sometimes, even that is deemed insufficient.

Not entirely true auldsoul. I would think that most cases end with a 'confession' - not two witnesses to the act. They bring the guy in and grill him a little and he confesses. Or someone tells him he should confess or they will tell. But with no confession your statement is correct.

Of course, they do what they want for the most part, and elders seem to get a pass often.

I think Garybuss has it right - call the authorities and report the abuse.

Lonelysam - welcome. You are only 18. You will be able to recover from the loss of friends quickly. If you desire to stay 'religious', then pick a church and get going. You will quickly find a new group of friends.

You did not mention if u are baptised? That makes a difference if you have a lot of family in the organization. Then you have to think more carefully about how to leave - and if you stay on this board you will see many accounts of how that has been done. But if you are not baptised it is best to just walk away and start a new life, probably. Everyone is different, so there is no single plan that fits all.

Stick around and we will help you thru - Promise.

Jeff

Legolas

Welcome to the board!

I look forward to reading more of your posts.

lonelysam

Thank you all soooo much for the kind words and very good advice, its amazing to see such a large bunch of people who can have an independant thought outside what the organisation want you to. I would like to exsplain a little more if i could.

My family all think the same as me, and we are all in this together, so whatever my choice is, they are beside me, which i am very thankfull for.

The other thing is that the phedophile was convicted, but got a suspended jail sentence. Also this whole thing happened about 10 years ago, how i know about it is through my family, which have very very acurate sources, (one of our friends was a private investigator) not to mention it was my best friends family that it happened to, so i am 100% sure that what i am telling you is the truth.

I will also continue my study into the bible, at the moment i am trying to prove the bible to myself with facts, so far i have found some very interesting things.

Thank you all again, and i will continue to participate in this forum

vitty

You dont know how fortunate you are to have your whole family in the same mind

The problem I made over 20 years ago was accepting the WTs explaination of the bible instead of making my own inquiries

Goodluck

Sam the Man

Thats a relief Lonely Sam, for a moment I thought you had done a runner on us.

Say, do you really believe that Noah can get ALL the animals onto the ark on the 'selfsame day'?

confused 18 year old

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