2004 Memorial
I almost vomited as I walked out the door for the last time.
Yes, I knew I would never return to that den filled with rejecters.
For those of you who don't go to meetings anymore...
by exwitless 62 Replies latest jw experiences
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blondie
My last meeting was the Saturday of the 2-day circuit assembly. What I heard on Saturday convinced me that it was time to stay home. And I did.
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ex-nj-jw
For me I had said a long time before that when I turned 18 that was it. My last meeting came a little before I expected it because I gave birth to my son two weeks early. After his birth I never went back. I went to a Wednesday night meeting and gave birth on Sunday so that Wed. meeting was the last for me.
nj
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sooner7nc
I don't even remember when the last meeting was, were I considered myself a JW. I haven't thought of mtself as one in many years, but hadn't told the people that really mattered to me until recently. The only thing I know for sure is that the last few I did go to, couldn't have ended soon enough.
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new boy
Great thread by the way....
No, I had no Idea it was my last meeting...my wife left me July 30th 2001. I thought she was going camping with friends...it turned out she wanted a permenant vacation from me....She called 3 days later to tell me she wasn't coming back until I got my additude straighted out about "the church"...
I said "I can't do it any more....stay were your at"....
So for me, I was keeping the "Sham" up all the way to the very end....I just gave up, I just couldn't do the lie anymore.....
And my friends it is a lie.....50 years worth.
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Brother Apostate
Leading up to my last meeting, at every meeting, I'd been paying particular attention to (1) if scriptures were quoted (2) were the scriptures cited really supporting their conclusion, and (3) were the scriptures they cited taken out of reasonable context.
I found that with rare exception, scriptures were either in sparse supply, they were taken out of context, or they were not suppoting the points made.
Over the course of approximately six months, I stopped attending TMS/SM first, then book study, leaving only Public Talks/WT Study, finally dropping the WT study, attending only Public Talks.
My last meeting I attended was a Public Talk where the speaker did not use a single scripture during the entire talk.
That was the final straw, I'd had it. What a waste of time!
BA
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VoidEater
I had only been going because my parents expected it of me, I didn't know the last time was going to be the last time - the meetings had been utterly pointless for so long but I was habituated into attending. My attendance had been rather spotty, but it never occurred to me that maybe I didn't have to go at all. Then the next week - well, it just didn't seem relevant, and the next week after that, and then it became normal to not go at all...
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willyloman
We had been fading thanks to an unexpected illness, which we "used" as an excuse to miss most of the meetings for a long period of time. When we did go, we sat there feeling sorely out of place, thanks to all the research we had been doing (including reading C of C). Once the lightbulb came on and we realized we actually could make a choice -- to go or not to go -- it just didn't make sense to keep going.
I remember sitting in my sunroom one Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and the newspaper, looking outside at the blue sky and the trees and watching birds hop from limb to limb. It was so peaceful. Neither of us was sick, we did not have company, there was no place we wanted to go. We just stayed home. It was the first time I could ever remember not going to a meeting without a good excuse or schedule conflict. It felt good. It felt like freedom. We never went to another one, not even the Memorial. That was nearly four years ago. I can honestly say I don't miss the meetings at all.
Willy Loman, formerly of the "all-in" class
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changeling
Yes. It was the Sunday after the Memorial. My son in law was very rude to me (I had been missing a lot of meetings at this point) and I left half way throught he meeting in tears. I vowed never to go back and I intend to keep that promise to myself.
changeling
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Wordly Andre
well first I was never really a JW, that is I was never dipped in water, but last time I attended meetings before I told my parents I wasn't going back was back when I was 15, I honestly can't really remember the actual last one. I can tell you that I sat in the last row in the corner, that is where I was told to sit, as I was bad association for the youth.