"How Could I Have Believed the Garbage for so Long?"

by scout575 20 Replies latest jw friends

  • scout575
    scout575

    "I went through the same thing when I started my deconversion process. When I began to think rationally about life I was in shock. I would ask myself, "How could I have believed the garbage for so long?" I took things slowly at first. Start with thinking about what you like to do. What are your interests? I thought about this for a while. It took a while because of the damage that the brainwashing did to me...When I told my parents I don't go to church anymore I think they were relieved. I think my mom is an atheist, and my dad thinks that Christians have a distorted view on the world... Now I enjoy sleeping in on Sundays. I now see that the brainwashing sessions were a big waste of time. I have so many more productive things to do. Give yourself time to adjust, and remember to take just one small step at a time. You'll soon realise what a great decision you have made." ( A quotation from: Ex-Christian.net / Ex-Christian life / Leaving Christianity is harder than I thought / Post# 3 / Poster's username: ThinkForMyself )

  • james_woods
    james_woods

    That makes a good point!

    In my case, I was stuck in it "with a few doubts" for about 15 years. What is amazing to me was how long it took me to fade out, even after I knew full well that I actually believed practically nothing of it around 1977 or 1978. Still took until 1981 to walk the walk.

    Incidentally, I had never heard the terms "fade" or "fader" until last year here on this forum, but it is a great way to describe the process. I was a "fader" without knowing the term!

    So, I agree - in my case, "How Could I Have even Halfway-Believed the Garbage for those Last Three Years?"

  • sspo
    sspo

    James, 15 years is not bad,h ow about 31 years and still going at it and trying to find a way to fade and not be df due to family.

  • Seeker4
    Seeker4

    sspo,

    Over 30 years in here as well. Out for about a decade, and so glad of it.

    S4

  • Alwayshere
    Alwayshere

    Was in it 33 years. Pity so many of us wasted the best years of our life.

  • willyloman
    willyloman

    I sat alone on a pier on a lake on morning in 1990 and swore I was done with this dub life. I got the circumstances, and the courage, to leave in 2003, which was 28 years after my baptism. I try not to think about how long that was.

  • InquiryMan
    InquiryMan

    Was baptized at 15 in 1979, stepped down as an elder in 2002, last meeting exactly 4 yrs ago. DA two weeks ago. Now, shunning has started by all members of my family, So from age 10 till 38, also 28 years, the years one make of all the important decisions in life, was spent within the JW framework. And i was loyal. But it took 12 yrs of doubt until I did the walk so to speak.

  • zack
    zack

    You believed because they coat it with sugar. They wrap it in silk and bind it with tinsel. You do not know its garbage until you're

    spewing your guts out, dizzy and weak from the poison, insane from the screaming in your head that keeps telling you

    to GET THE F*** out, but you're not sure what it is or why it is or if its just you---- they keep you so busy that its almost impossible

    NOT TO BELIEVE the garbage! I believd it. Every bit. Did I doubt? Sure. I mean, what 7 year old doesn't think that NOT HAVING ANY FRIENDS is ok?

    Or not being able to give your Mom a little card you made in school out of construction paper and glitter, all the while your conscience telling you you're

    going to be destroyed at the Big "A" for participating in a worldy activity? At least I know now. So do you.

  • jeanV
    jeanV
    James, 15 years is not bad,h ow about 31 years and still going at it and trying to find a way to fade and not be df due to family.

    may I join the club?

    the other big question is, how can I help others to open the eyes?

  • lfcviking
    lfcviking

    I count myself quite lucky when i see you guys on here some of which were in it for decades. I was baptised for about 6 years before i finally left. But thats still 6 years i could have spent doing much more productive, construcive & meaningful things.

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