I have no clue. Sometime within the last few months is when I realized that even though i'm still considered a JW by others, that I no longer considered myself one. I have no place in that organization anymore.
When did you STOP considering yourself a JW ? ? ? ?
by JH 33 Replies latest jw friends
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Quentin
After four years of non-meeting attendence told my wife one Christmas lets get a tree and decorate...made her happy and thrilled my daughter...same year we, as a family, begain going to church...still took couple more years to "shake the dust from my feet"...it was one of those woke up one morning and realized I'm not a jehovahs witness...only jw I kept up with was my cousin, that was here and there at best...
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LearningToFly
It was the day, I said.. Im leaving to a much loved elder friend. I said.. thats it.. I cannot believe in this anymore! I was no longer a JW after that. It doesnt take me long to leave something if it is the right thing. I knew that my family would shun me, or might shun me.. but I was done.. when one comes to that point knowing that loved ones will reject you.. you are truly done.
LTF
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happehanna
Nearly four years ago when I joined this site and attended a post cult workshop.
It has taken ages for it to leave my dreams/nightmares, but recently in them too now I am anti and fighting against it.
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LearningToFly
Smile.. well.. perhaps I wasnt totally honest.. in some ways.. although I left mentally long ago. I took me years to leave emotionally! All the ugly messages one is sent, or believes, did take me many years to purge! But mentally.. I left right away. But.. it is a cult.. and leaving a cult mentality does take time. I can now say.. ive left.. finally after many years of the reacurring thoughts that come up and consumes ones mind of what is right or wrong. Now.. I clearly say to all.. its a Cult! So.. I suppose when I was able to say that, was truly when I left.
LTF
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WTWizard
It was when, just before the Grand Boasting Session of 1996, the hounders told me to just meet other men when there. And they were going to be there to make sure I followed that directive (in fact, one of them made sure I got to it instead of just blowing it off). From that point on, it was all downhill.
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blondie
I never knew what to call myself; apostate didn't seem appropriate. Then I realized that being a Christian was sufficient and it is what Jesus followers were called by "divine providence." With the splits in the Christian community, the need seems to be there to have a name that separates the worshippers. Of course, I realize that not everyone has the same belief but I refuse to take a name from the WTS.
Blondie
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R.Crusoe
Even though I faded in about 88,it is only this last 6 months or so I am able to get a perspective on the world tha is not filtered by some JW seive in my mind. I now even think parts of the Bible are completely contradictory to the extent that it proves it cannot be Gods' word! And I see excellent things in other faiths as well as evolutionary theory. I can read Dawkins and agree 99% with him but still go with my gut feeling of thinking there is a loving force of mindblowing power but at the same time not being overly concerned if I am wrong. I am ok to be what I feel with whatever input comes along that may change me. I have already morphed via forced scenarios so much change is more likely than not.
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shopaholic
Hmmm...this is a rather interesting question. The first time I contemplated that I might not be a JW anymore was a few months ago on a thread that explained what it meant to be agnostic and I realized I was one. Then about a few weeks ago while driving to work, I had a conversation in my head (we all do it) and in that conversation someone asked if I was a JW, I told the person that I wasn't.
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sweetstuff
I knew I wanted out for a while, had been inactive, completely, almost a year, then I attended a convention at the pressuring of my then husband and family. I knew when I went and left early, that was it, I WAS DONE, and I told my family so, never again. The stuff I heard just cemented everything I had felt and believed to be so wrong with the org. I knew I would never in my life attend another convention, meeting, nothing, I was finished and very vocal about it.