the age of 40?
Seems like a lot have left after 1/2 or 2/3 of a lifetime. What accounts for that in your mind, if you left in later middle years or older?
Jeff
How many left the JW cult after.....
by AK - Jeff 46 Replies latest jw friends
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Honesty
I did at the age of 51.Research, Research, Research the cult and its kingdom and you too will jump off of the Watchtower Express to Pair-o-dice.
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Sassy
Me. I was in my early 40s.. I cant' believe I was so blind all those years.
I just got fed up and quit one day with their rules.. I didnt' leave cuz I saw through them, I left cuz I thought I'd rather enjoy life and die, than be stuck forever in their rules..
Thanksfully once out, you all enlightened me here!
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blondie
I guess eliminated all the other so-called causes of my depression.
Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the
truthcause of my depression.I learned by dealing with the other sources of abuse in my life, sexual abuse and parental alcoholism.
Blondie (slow learner)
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Sunnygal41
Ahhhhh, this is MY kind of post............personally, having left at that age, and read tons of psychological stuff, etc., I think it has to do with reaching the middle of your life and looking back to see if you've accomplished anything worthwhile.........in other words, are you happy with your life as you've lived it? I did that, and I didn't feel like I'd done anything to be proud of, besides being unhappy with who I was and who I had married...........because I knew that I had been untrue to my own self. It really is all about you and is an inside job. You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say "I like that person, and I'm proud of who he/she is."
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AK - Jeff
I just got fed up and quit one day with their rules.. I didnt' leave cuz I saw through them, I left cuz I thought I'd rather enjoy life and die, than be stuck forever in their rules..
Sassy - that was my sister's attitude too. After I left at age 48 she told me she just could not take the rules and the guilt any longer. She spent prob 15 years waiting for that 'lightning bolt' after she left. I enlightened her as to all I had discovered and it was like a million pounds came off her back.
Research, Research, Research the cult and its kingdom and you too will jump off of the Watchtower Express to Pair-o-dice.
Bob - that is how I did it.
Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the
truthcause of my depression.Blondie - I suffered tremendous depression for years too. I didn't leave to relieve it, but it has had that effect in general.
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Finally-Free
I left at 45 after being in for 20 years. From 1983-1992 I was a zealous™ believer. But I was disillusioned with the people, and while I was still a "believer" until 2003, I had no intention whatsoever of living in any "new system" with that bunch of assholes. I had decided to shoot myself immediately after armageddon if I survived it. I stayed in and went through the motions because of my wife. In 2003 I became aware of the watchtower lies and scandals. I decided to fade, but a few months later found I didn't have the patience to do that, particularly after wasting the best years of my life, so I DA'd. My marriage was as much a waste of time as was my stint as a JW, so I got out of that too.
W
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fullofdoubtnow
I am 46 and have only just left after spending over half my life as a jw. It was the elders putting pressure on me to shun a friend (dedpoet) that led me to question what I was doing, as I have always been uncomfortable with the shunning policy anyway. I started to question other things then, and realised what a manipulative, controlling religion I've been part of all these years without even knowing it. Once I realised that, I just couldn't stay in any longer.
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AK - Jeff
I had decided to shoot myself immediately after armageddon if I survived it.
This would have been a problem FF. All the guns would be gone! You would have had to jump off a church or something. O' wait, the churches would be gone too! Maybe you could have drowned yourself in a vat of ink at Bethel?
Jeff
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blondie
Would all the guns be gone or would the elders be in control of the guns?
http://www.macgregorministries.org/jehovahs_witnesses/armagsurv.html
DAY 113
I ran into a group of brothers from Westview congregation. I was detained at gunpoint! Brother Thorn had gotten word to them to be on the outlook for me. I am furious. Why can't I visit my brother ?
DAY 114
Ed Thorn and two ministerial servants arrived today to escort me back "home". They were all carrying guns.
DAY 115
After my attempted escape and several other disciplinary problems involving other brothers, the elders have now set up a gun-toting police force. I was, of course, disfellowshipped at the morning meeting. I have been assigned to latrine duty.
DAY 116
I was instructed to report to the Kingdom Hall after work for "additional instruction." I saw Sam Greene and a couple of other "troublemaker's" there. We were subjected to an hour of "reindoctrination," mostly the usual crap about maintaining a servants spirit and not to think too much of ourselves. We were told to come back next week for more of the same.
DAY 123I blew up today at the reindoctrination meeting. I told Ed Thorn that I was sick of him acting like a theocratic Hitler. I also told him that I was leaving the community and that he better not try to slop me. My mistake. Thorn called his police force in and had me arrested. I am being detained under armed guard in a makeshift jail cell in the Kingdom Hall basement.
I did tell the elders that I would rather live a short, happy life and die at Armageddon than live forever with the people at the KH.