I left in 1997. I think it had the most to do with the change in the generations thinking. Although, that happened in 1995. I used the internet to learn more, and the doubts grew until I had the strength to leave.
What happened 5 or 6 years ago to get so many of us out of JW?
by jayhawk1 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Gordy
5-6 years ago would put it at 2000/2001
I DA'd in 2001 ..... though stopped going to meetings in 1999
Mine wasn't so much over doctrine etc, that came later. But over the way I was treated when I needed help and support.
I know a few in the congregation I was in, who where shaken by the change in the "generation" teaching in 1995. But no one left at the time over it.
I have learnt recently that there have been a few who have left, for whatever reason. Disruptions where caused by internal problems. One congregation, that shared the KH, is now about a quarter of the size it was when I knew it.
In recent years the WT has been hit by many revelations about it from its child molester policy to the UN scandal and more. Add the internet and they can no longer keep such things quiet and hidden from members like they used to.
This because I think the internet gives a voice not just to those of us who have left. But to those who are still in and for what ever reason cannot openly speak out. They are the worm nibbling away at the apple from the inside.
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vomit
I happened to leave about 6 years ago. I am probably one on the most internet savvy person around. But until this year I never even searched for anything related to the JWs. For me it was a dash of suicidal depression mixed with the hypocrisy which I saw in everybody at every hall. It was a case of either ending my life or getting out of that religion.
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willyloman
I agree with those who say 1995 was a watershed year in dub history, that being the year they discarded the "generation" teaching which had been the foundation of their primary doctrine for decades. The subtle way they did it raised suspicion among thinking dubs, with just a magazine article designed to be studied in the congos on a given date rather than with a major announcement backed by a lengthy explanation of where they had so wrong in the past. And then the next issue of the magazine produced a question "from readers" asking if this meant the end was a long way off and they lied and answered, "by no means," even though that was the clear message their newly revised doctrine suggested.
Because we were all so indoctrinated and/or had huge emotional and personal investments in the WT organization, it took several years to process all this and then find the courage to bolt. Along the way, there were two other critical events that transpired which hurried this process along, in my view.
One was the turn of the century, which we'd been taught would only occur after Armageddon; we were all supposed to be in the New System by then. That made the date significant and reminded us that we'd been wrong all these years.
The second, and I'm surprised no one mentioned it given the anniversary tomorrow, was 9-11, or Sept. 11, 2001. That had a huge impact on me and I am convinced it gave me the courage to start planning my exit from the dubs. I watched in horror, as did everyone else, but through my dub lense. This looked like Armageddon. Surely the wordly people would be turning on one another and eating their young very soon.
But it wasn't Armageddon. Life went on. People didn't turn on one another, they displayed the most selfless, loving acts imaginable -- whether it was risking their own lives to rescue others, or donating countless millions of dollars to help restore people's lives. It brought out the best in people, and showed so clearly that we are all God's children and that while there is evil in the world, most people are driven by goodness and have a natural inclination to support their fellow man during hard times. For a brief, shining moment, we were all One. I kept wanting to scream out loud at the KH: "Look at this! We were wrong!"
It also stirred patriotic feelings in me, in the purest sense of the word, as opposed to the Jinogoism that drives some people these days. It made me realize that patriotism, love of country, and real, unconditional love of fellow man not only was NOT the exclusive doman of JWs, but in fact the dubs were far removed from those principles. It occurred to me that Jehovah and Jesus disowned the dubs at that moment, if in fact he/they had ever "owned" them.
All of this made it easy to finally break the chains and find my way to freedom.
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TresHappy
The Internet and Dateline NBC.
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AlanF
I don't know that there was a big spike in JWs leaving 5-6 years ago, but there might have been a small one, given that the UN fiasco broke in late 2001, the child abuse fiasco broke in 2001, and there was the NBC Dateline show in 1992, along with many related TV programs around the world.
Since the early 1990s, more and more JWs and ex-JWs have inhabited many Internet forums, and have hashed out many topics, with the JWs consistently losing the debates. I think that this has contributed a lot more, in the long run, to JWs quitting the cult, than any one issue. I've kept hoping that a single issue would arise that would totally put the kabosh on the JW organization, but it has never materialized. But the steady influx of negative material is doing the job, I believe. A careful look at the statistics of JW growth in Western countries shows a steady decline in the growth rate since the late 1990s, and if it continues, it will result in zero growth in 2007-2008 -- not just in the countries where the zero or negative growth has been evident for some time, but in most of the world. Indeed, a careful study of JW growth worldwide yields the totally un-PC conclusion that growth in the JW cult largely occurs in populations or sub-populations that are the lowest segments of society, economically and socially speaking. While this statistic might give comfort to the lower class of doctrinaire JWs ("you have hidden these things from the wise and intellectual ones"; NWT) it does nothing for the self-appointed "intellectuals" of the Society's inner circles. The latter know perfectly well that a good deal of Watchtower teaching is nonsense, but because they've invested a lifetime in the cult, and have no backup system in terms of families who would take them in or individual survival skills, they simply go with the traditional flow and hope that the shit doesn't hit the fan while they're alive.
AlanF
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jayhawk1
Since the question was somewhat asked... I don't know for a fact there was a spike in those of us who have left around the year 2000. I just can't help to notice many of us on this board have said we left between 5 and 7 years ago. This just felt like something worth talking about.
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Witchettygrub
Bingo Lady Lee! Your first line here 'The information explosion on the internet became more accissible to people. JWs were searching at home and at work gathering whatever information they could. And they were beginning to see the holes.' The following 3 points you made are relevant for myself also. Witchettygrub
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frankiespeakin
I didn't like the org always praised itself and startd going on the net and reading what the apostates were saying about the org. Still felt it was the truth and it wasn't until I read a essay about mindcontrol while smoking a big fatty that it all hit me like a ton of bricks, it blew my mind, beecause i was so stoned and before i finished the essay i knew i had been misled. I was so pissed, and started to plot how I could get even with those lying bastards.
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itsallgoodnow
I don't know about 5 or 6 years, but I think I've noticed changes in people. It seems so much more clear the meetings are all about guilting people into obedience. It seems people say what they say and do what they do and what they say and what they do rarely matches up. It seems people don't really get to know each other in the congregation they way they used to. It seems the elders are much more fierce than they used to be. And it's obvious to me many elders are fully aware of what is being said on the internet and they are working hard to get people to ignore the facts. They look at people like they suspect everyone is looking at the internet. Some of it is so obvious to me, but has my computer illiterate family wondering why these things are being brought up. I regularly swallow my words. If they only knew how much I know... If only.