Calling ALL EX-witnesses!

FiveShadows

Me again! yay! I know it's been a long time! But seriously, I need some help. Here's the deal. I'm writing a research paper in my college english class about the effects of Jehovah's witness beliefs and doctrinal beliefs. The thing is I need personal people who have experienced a great amount of pain and loss going through and coming out of the organization. Or maybe you're a Jehovah's Witness and you want to speak about your own personal experience! Whatever the case may be. I need to play the 'devils advocate' for this paper. Get both sides. The situation however is this: i need your name, but i need to use quotes ...So i can't say 'oh FiveShadows says, ....' i can't use your screenname, that's tacky. This is a college paper lol. i don't need your address or anything, just names (hahaha this is starting to sound like a hit list for exjws!) I need to be able to say 'A former exwitness member John doe speaks of his experience.' and blah blah blah. This is a college paper so it's expected for me to be able to provide 'proof' and personal statements. i'm an ex-witness myself and plan on of course using my own experience in the paper involved. I have nothing to offer you as far as money or gifts in exchange for your personal experience but only can say that I will post my final copy on the website as a result so people can see.

Any doctrinal experiences (contradictions) you've had/found as well, are VERY encouraged. Now please don't send me like 6 pages of information with watchtower stuff on it. It's better for me to get bits and peices from everyone so that i may be able to keep it orderly and structured, as opposed to reading a 6 page report on it. Message me if you are not comfortable sharing your personal experience but feel the need to share. I know this is a bit of a personal question, and I hope you guys arn't offended by this but if for any reason you are uncomfortable with this, I will by no means hold any grudges. Hopefully this will work...Thanks!

FiveShadows

deaconbluez

I would recommend getting a copy of "In Search of Christian Freedom", and quote liberally from the chapter, "Indoctrination and Subordination". Some really good college level stuff there.

mouthy

My name is Grace Gough

I was a Jehovahs Witness for 25 years. I made 10 people become JWs... I thought it was the real truth
I would have died for the Organization if I had to.
I lived in Montreal at the time. Where they were imprisoned if they preached, I came in after the Duplessis banning,,,, but was stopped by the Police if I was out knocking on doors.
But I was happy to be stopped because we were taught persecution is good for us.
I made my daughter Melanie, Ann-marie,Susan, also follow me into the Order.
But I was Disfellowshipped because I dont believe Jesus came Invisably in 1914. Their teaching!
What does that mean??? It means that My daughter Ann-marie must shun me! Why? because they believe if you get off the ARK> which they teach is their Organization you must be shunned.
She has not spoken to me in many,many years..

I am willing for ANYONE to ask me questions
Publish my answers ,Use me as a scaaapegoat whatever ,,,. I dont care if you broadcast my name. I am FREE .......

shell69

I'll happily give you any detail you want; and tel you the tle... not of a perfect down trodden ex-dub. I've made mistakes that I'm not proud of. But I'll tell you of my experience falling away.. what I lost, and the reaction of my own birth family to not only me.. but my innocent children in all of this!!!

I'll also tell you of themental breokdown I had and tha final conversation I ever had with my mother who continued to defend her faith and boe despite the extreme distress, and I mean extreme, of her own daughter.

These people sacrifice thier own humanity for the sake of theyre god,

Mail me.

Shell

greendawn

The story of Grace really shows that we are dealing here with a ruthless destructive cult, after so many years of service to them she gets banished just for disagreeing on what is really a minor issue, and she didn't know at the time that the daughter she was bringing into the WTS would later be instructed by them to shun her.

Hortensia

I hope you get someone to read and edit your paper ("personal people"?) Otherwise, nothing to add. It's been a long time, and I've moved on. Good luck with your paper.

llbh

Hi,

If you email me and I will help as much as poss although my perpective will be from the UK

I am new here and a former/ lapsed JW with some family still attending and some not(thankfully)

Regards llbh

Junction-Guy

Im gonna be busy this month helping my brother with his political campaign.

I would be willing to talk with you on the phone sometime and give you my personal experience. If you live anywhere near my area (East Tennessee), I would be willing to work with you in person. When will this paper be due?

I would love to tell you how this cult has affected my sexuality and my marriage.

SnakesInTheTower

welcome llbh.... glad to have you on the board...

Back to topic....

5 shadows... I wish I could help you..As a former elder, I have some pretty good stories. Others here have much more poignant stories that would do well for you (interview Danny Hazzard, he doesn't want anonymity ever...he even has a web site ... http://www.dannyhaszard.com/ he posts on this board with some frequency....

Although I have now walked away...a couple of weeks ago now was my last meeting, without the cloak of anonymity, there is no way I or many here can share with you our stories. I believe in journalism you can use anonymous sources. I believe even in a college paper you can use anonymous sources....there may be a way around it.

If the poster wishes to be anonymous, they can post their story on the forum and you can use the http link to their post/story as part of the bibliography. You can still interview them further offline or in an email....the good thing about this forum is that the link will stay active for a long time. If it is posted in the open forum (publicly accessible) then it can be easily checked by your professor or TA.....the posts will even be cached by the Google search bots. You may want to talk to your instructor about this. Let him/her know that this would be akin to interviewing a child abuse victim, pedophile victim, battered spouse, etc.... anonymity is of the utmost importance.

I am currently reading a 3 book biography about Princess "Sultana" in Saudi Arabia....she definitely has to remain anonymous under possibility of death... only her immediate family is aware of her identity...it doesn't make the story less true or less believable because the author changed names and a few details to protect her and her family.

For now, I remain ....

SnakesInTheTower (of the "still under the veil of anonymity" Sheep Class)

worldtraveller

In order for your paper to remain credible, you really should find people who are willing to tell their story in person. Otherwise your paper would lack credbility because it's easy to embellish anything you might say. Anything you present must be bullet proof.

Why not present your case to your local media, or even a national talk show circuit. The major media would love to expose corruption. Look at cnn's Christianne Amanpour's expose of the Nation of Islam.

A sincere good luck to you whichever way you go!

Calling ALL EX-witnesses!

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