Where were you when the realization hit, that the WTS was not in the truth?

by whyizit 61 Replies latest jw friends

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  whyizit

  I was listening to a testimonial by Valerie Acuff and she said that she was sitting in an assembly, looking around at the crowd and thinking to herself, "This is your family, these are your people."

  She said at that moment she heard a voice inside say, "These are not your people, this is not your family, get up and leave now, and don't ever go back." So she took her two children at that very moment and left, and she never went back. She went on to become a born-again Christian and has been involved in some awesome ministries since then.

  I just wondered if you would share the "moment" you had, when you KNEW the WTS was not right and that you needed to leave? Did you leave immediately, or did you stick around to try to help get others out also? Are you a Christian now? What have you done since you left? Are you interested in helping others (not necessarily just JW exit)?

  We have a mini-blizzard here in Indiana, so I will be snowed in all day. It was all sunshine and daffodils yesterday. They say if you don't like the weather in Indiana, just wait a minute. It's true! It is suppose to be melted off tomorrow. Looking forward to all the posts. I'll be on a lot today.
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  XBEHERE

  May 2002 while watching the Dateline expose' on the pedophiles and the elders that either covered it up or mistreated the victims. It took a few weeks of pensiveness but I eventually broke through the "fog of lies" about apostates and went to the internet and to this site. Though I am still technically a JW mentally and especially spiritually I am out.
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  Legolas

  I was sitting on Arwens sofa when I first heard that the borg had joined the UN and owned shares in a company that had made engines for war crafts....I was in shock!

  But it really didn't hit me till later that night.

  Then I started coming on the boards and found out about everything eles!

  Within two weeks my family and I disassociated ourselves!
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  Hawkeye

  Hi Whyizit!

  I was a walk-away believer for 3-4 years. I stopped meeting attendance, but still believed the WTS had the "truth".

  A sister I knew from our congo would see me now and then at Wal-mart. She would tell me about silent lambs. At first, I couldn't believe it. Finally I went out on the site.

  Being that I have first-hand experience with childhood sexual abuse, I was floored by the web-site. It was then, that I realized how wrong the WTS was. I could NOT be a part of an org. that could just sweep such horrible attrocities against children under the rug.

  I've been free ever since. I feel closer to my God, and have been able to pray to him again. Being in the org. I never felt even good enough to pray to him!!!

  Freedom is a beautiful thing!!

  Hawkeye
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  snarf

  I was home with my sick child and couldn't attend the meeting, so I decided to look up some things on the jehovah's witness site and somehow landed on silent lambs, it struck me like a lightening bolt, there was also a person in our congregation who was on the sex offender registry and I remember comment being made about him only a week before by my teacher in "the truth" because him and his wife had a daughter my daughter's age and was invited to stay the night, I of course said no. I remember my "teacher" assured me that this guy was in "clean standing" as no new charges had been brought against him since learning the truth. I still refused though, asking why their daughter couldn't just spend the night at my place, I got a lenghty explanation on how because I was a single mother at the time, that it would be a "healthy" situation for my daughter to see how a married family operates in the home. I told her the issue was no longer up for discussion and it was my daughter, my choice, and by no means was she going to go. At the next meeting I was able to attend they had a part on how they "keep Jehovahs organization clean", and based on the child molester and what I was going through at the time, I walked out and never went back. I stumbled on to JWD that next day and lurked for about a year, and now here I am...glad to be here, and glad to be free.
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  Lilycurly

  I was in my father's office in the basement, on a nice Sunday morning, and he was pestering me about preparing my WT study. (I was about 20 years old) I looked outside, it was a sunny, happy day and I felt like crap, and depressed....and I realised at that moment that it was because of the meetings and everything that went with it.

  So I told my dad that I wouldn't prepare that study or any other, and that I wouldn't be going to the meetings from now on. It came as quite a shock, even for me.

  But I guess the real realization came afterwards while I was sitting at my computer.
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  Hecklerboy

  Curcuit Assembly in 1996. I was sitting there listening to the speaker drone on and on while looking around at everyone. I suddenly started feeling very uncomfortable. Like I didn't belong there. I kept thinking "there has got to be more to life than this". So I got up and walked out never to step foot into a KH again. I still remember the feeling of walking out of the assemlby, down the steps and out to my car. I was a beuatiful sunny day and I felt so free and happy as I drove away. It was like that bubble I was in exploded and I could see everything around me clearer now.

  I love being out. I tell anyone that ask me about the JW's to get away as fast as they can. That they are a mind controlling cult that rips apart families.

  I'm married now and have a wonderful life. Great job, great extended family, and great friends that are always there for me.

  I've been doing allot of research on the history of religion and it can be very confusing. So many things have been changed and covered up down through the centuries that it's hard to tell who's right and who's wrong. I'm beginning to believe that there is no right or wrong way to worship God. As long as you do your best without hurting other's then God will be happy.
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  hereticult

  When the society announced in "Our Kingdom Ministry" that there is a new Web Site, that will preach the good news in the internet, I went the next day to the computer room at my college to see this site in the internet.
  I had forgotten the correct address and typed "www.watchtower.com" instead of "www.watchtower.org".
  At that time no redirection was installed and I got an error massage. So I had to use yahoo.com
  (Is this enginge still running?) to search for the watchtower site.
  You can imagine what kind of hits I found.
  
  
  
  
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  Honesty

  I abruptly stopped meeting attendance in 2002, but still believed the WTS had the "truth".

  In 2004 a pastor's wife shared the Gospel about Jesus with me at the local pharmacy. A week later I went to the library and started researching 607 B.C. because the ex acted so strange when I had brought the subject up in the past. Two weeks later I found out the WTBTS had affiliated themselves with the UN until the Guardian ran a story on them. The next day, after talking with Bethel and two local elders I called them all a bunch of lying hypocrites and I was outta there.

  Became a born again Christian in January 2005 and now am loyal to Christ instead of a demon inspired cult.
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  CyrusThePersian

  Wow yes!

  I remember exactly where I was when the Thunderbolt struck! I was an elder studying the Nov. 1 1995 Watchtower when I read about the 1914 generation change. ( that the generation that saw 1914 would live to see Armageddon-now abandoned ) I remember sitting in my chair and thinking, "These people haven't a clue-they don't understand the Bible any better than a Tibetan monk" Thus began my slow fade, it was a painful journey. My wife left me and my kids don't understand why I don't go to meetings any more. I try to spoon-feed them a little about the things I learn here and on other sites, but it's a slow process. I don't want them to know that I'm a rabid apostate- at least not yet...

  CyrusThePersian