I decided to start this topic when ozziepost shared the experience of a Bethel representative telling him and Mrs. Ozzie
"And don't forget, we've got your children!" !!!
It's important for us to hear these experiences and to share them with each other. It helps us tear down the mistaken beliefs that the incidents that happen to us are not isolated ones, but are in fact par for the course when one parts ways with the JWs and WTS. It helps us recognize that the Organization™ as a whole is beyond repair, that there is - at its core - no love for the Sheep™ on the part of the Shepherds™.
I know I've read several of these experiences that amount to pivotal moments for individuals. They are the lashings that make us decide, once and for all, that we can no longer in good conscience remain associated with the JWs or WTS. I would like to start a thread devoted solely to this phenomenon, a collection of these events in one place that will stand as a testimony to the hatefulness we have walked away from.
Once again, I will share my own experience: I had been suffering from severe postpartum depression and felt overburdened by the JW lifestyle. I called a JW-sister whom I had, up until that time, considered to be my best friend. We went out for coffee to a busy restaurant. I poured my heart out to her, and told her that I felt like a sheep being attacked by vicious wolves. Instead of comforting me, she looked me straight in the eye and said in the most arrogant and hateful tone:
"If you are going to turn your back on The Truth™, you may as well take your three beautiful children out in the back yard and blow their heads off with a gun. That way they won't go down with you at Armageddon and will have a resurrection in the Paradise."That was my pivotal moment, it happened almost 10 years ago, and the memory is as clear now as if it had just happened. At that instant, I knew I could never have anything to do with the JWs ever again.