by roseybarb 31 Replies latest jw friends
Hi Rosey, welcome to the board,
I was 18 when I da'd myself, but long before that I decided that as soon as I was 18 I was out of there. Being raised a JW comes with a lot of abuse, physical and mental (some even sexual).
I new from an early age that this was not a place I wanted to be!
Don't jump into this cult, hang around here and read other posts and get a feel for what this org is about.
nj
Prejudice. Against everyone else except another JW. I could not stand the continual bashing at every single meeting of 'worldly' people and the blatant hypocrisy of going door to door telling people you are trying to save them and then sitting in a hall and nodding your head in agreement when told how disgusting the rest of the world is.
That 'world' if you are not a JW - and at this time you are not - includes your own mother and father, your sisters and brothers, aunts, uncles, grandparents, husband and wife or co-worker. Are you willing to give up your family? Control is gained by isolating JW's and keeping them isolated from everyone else. Friends are seldom friends in the organization because they can only be friendly if you are a JW. When your house is burning down and you are inside fighting to get out - and the house beside yours while not burning but threatened contains a JW family - a JW is trained to save his own and in many cases would therefore, run past you as you are on fire in order to take care of the JW family, even though they were in no danger. Stepping over bodies during the Tsunami to find one JW. Finding that one JW during Katrina while others swim around you. That's the sort of example I use. sammieswife.
prej·u·dice 
(pr
j
-d
s) KEY
NOUN:
TRANSITIVE VERB:
prej·u·diced, prej·u·dic·ing, prej·u·dic·es
Good point, sammielee!
How can you get more prejudiced than claiming God hates and will destroy anyone not like yourself (by whatever criteria you judge "like yourself")?
Respectfully,
AuldSoul
Growing up in it til I was 18 I know very well the negative effects it has on children. Abuse in many areas. No respecting parent should force that religion on a child.
You might ask "How is this possible?" but I left the WTS by forcing them to disfellowship me. At the last, after seeing all the hypocrisy and extreme lack of love in their dealings with their own alleged "brothers" and "sisters," which are in actuallity merely their minions to use as they wish and then cast off without a care, I wrote a letter to the Governing Body, calling them the "hypocrites and white-washed graves" they are. It took 6 weeks for the order to come down from "on high" to execute disfellowship me.
It wasn't until I got online 7 yrs later and began visiting the XJW websites like this one that I learned a GREAT deal more about their hypocrisy and the erroneousness of their teachings and practices.
Frannie
Using the word "anointed" and putting the GB and JW anointed on the same level as King David and the Apostles is slanderous and preposterous.
(Wouldn't King David and the Apostles be a cool name for a British Beatles cover band?)
The Bible states very clearly that every follower of Christ has been anointed, yet the JWs refuse to even read the scriptures that reference it.
Welcoem Roseybarb,
I personally was DF'd about 6 years ago, however they wanted to get rid of me long before the act and announcement, I had several run ins with elders, exposed their hypocisy, their lies, their wrong conduct,
I seen many things as a witness, from incest, child abuse, molestation, lying, cheating on taxes, drunkeness to an excess, gambling, going to strip clubs as elders and MS's, lying to govermental officials, cheating and lying on real estate deals, covering up oil and gas spills from EPA, hatred of their brothers with a smile on their face.
Oh, by the way, seen many changes of teachings and all in the good of "new light", seen way too much to stay in. To stay in, would be the biggest lie to myself. Eventually you must face the music, I made a bad choice for 22 years, however it did put a love of the Bible in me, for that I am glad.
abr
I was raised in it, believe in it for years until the hypocrisy of the individuals started to become clearer, dishonest business dealings, cheap cheap cheap brothers who wouldnt pay their JW workers an honest days wage. I remember babysitting after school for 3 children, for 3 hours, and getting paid $5. this was back when getting $5/hr was the going rate for babysitting services of a teenager.
That's just a MINOR example, sorry.
The scandal I saw within my own JW family (about an uncle who married into the family) who had abused 3 daughters (since they were 2 years old!!) and 3 of their cousins, was a former RCMP officer,and was an elder. The other elders did not believe his daughters, He did not get removed until the girls went to court and testified against him. They were disfellowshipped for having a bad attitude towards the elders who did not believe them in the first place.
There are countless reasons why I left, the above posters covered most of the reasons.
I left because I did not want to worship men. They write constantly about how we are supposed to be obedient to the faithful and discreet slave, or the watchtower and bible tract society, yet they will kick you down when you do believe in a prediction, and it doesnt come true and you call them on it. They will blame you for ''running ahead'' of the organization, and not being humble.
You are never ever allowed to question them, ever. That screams of cult.
Do not agree to a study. Do not go to their meetings, this is from a former member who wholeheartedly believed them...
I was raised in the organization. I had doubts growing up, but in my 20's, I decided that the WTS was probably right, and that the reasons for my doubts were that the local "brothers" didn't fully get what the WTS was trying to tell us. I thought that the closer I got to the center of the org, the more sense it would all make. So I made an all-out effort. Ironically, the closer I got to the center, the less sense it made. Once I couldn't believe in the leaders anymore, I couldn't follow them. So I left. I have learned a lot since then that has reinforced my descision. I didn't come to this site or any other like it for about 4 1/2 years after the last meeting I attended, if I recall correctly.
I am not disfellowshipped, I am a "fader" (just faded away). But I think it is pretty obvious that I don't believe in it anymore. I never go to meetings, not even the memorial. And worse, I have a beard! I STILL can't figure out what the big deal is about that, but it is a no-no with them.
At this point, I just don't see how they can view themselves as the only channel of communication with God. I can't see why God would choose an organization that has mislead its people for over 100 years, telling them "the end" is "right around the corner". I can't see why Jesus would smile with favor on an organization that has basically built the modern version of the religion he was trying to get rid of.
I left becasue after finaally going to the elders about my father molesting me (he was an elder an the time and was at the time i told the other elders) the elders supported him and not me.
I then found that he could be an elder again.
