by jamiebowers 48 Replies latest jw friends
How long has this website been here.
AZ, the website started early in 2000. You may see a poster named Simon, he started this website while an active JW. He had questions that were not being answered satisfactorily by his local elders, so he came online to discuss questions about JW's with fellow JW's.
After a while, as the conversations went on, it became clear to most posters here that the WTS teaches falsehood. By the time I joined here in 2001, it was a full-fledged critical website.
I thought it was only me and a few others
That's the primary goal of shunning--to isolate you and make you feel you are alone. Normal people outside of the religion don't understand, and people inside the organization who do understand cut you off. The internet has been a powerful tool in alleviating the effects of isolation and shunning.
As others have said, I will echo the recommendation to read Crisis of Conscience. Franz speaks in a caring and non judgmental tone, giving his experiences from being a missionary to a member of the governing body and his subsequent disfellowshipping. The book will turn the notion of apostates that the WTB&TS portrays squarely on its head.
I thought it was only me and a few others
And besides, the WTS makes "apostates" sound like an evil bunch... but we are quite harmless actually.... (except when we share truth about truth with JWs)
A@G
I'm going to go back and read some posts to see just how this place evolved over a year.
White Dove,
Coincidentally at the time I joined, many former posters from the old "H2O" ex-JW website started flocking here, including longtime critics of the WT Society including Farkel, Jan H, Kent, Alan Feuerbacher, Carl Thornton (Larc), and others. Their early posts here are very well worth reading. You can see some of these in the "Best of" section in this forum. H2O started to get overly moderated, and this site was gaining traction when the influx occurred.
We hadn't even had the "UN/NGO" scandal posted here yet or the news about the 2002 NBC Dateline which was about to blow the lid off the pedophile coverup scandal inside the JW organization. It was a very exciting time on this board.
az20081575 - welcome!
Please carry on posting your thoughts and feelings if you feel it will help. Hope things change for you with regards to your Mum.
Wish I could give you a hug, sis. Carry on being you - the rest will follow.
I hear a lot about ex jws that had to write a letter to the 'elders' what letter are they talking about? I left in the early 90's, so is this new? AZ20081575
Welcome to the truth about the truth, AZ20081575.
Your video is awesome and details how the Watchtower Society really screws up families.
No need to write a letter or have anything to do with them.
I left in 2004 by calling Brooklyn Bethel's Serve Us Department and telling them that I quit.
Then I called the PO of my congregation and told him the Boyz in Brooklyn have a message they want to share.
Then I told him that he should really check out the Watchtower Society's affiliation with the United Nations that they never told the congregations about:
AZ,
It took three tries for me to watch your video. I kept tearing up and had to close it. Please stick around, and get to know us. This place let's you know beyond a doubt that you are NOT alone. They (WT) try to use love and acceptance as weapons to control your behavior. Once you learn that people will love you anyway, you are free.
Is your husband supporting you?
Growing up JW is hard. You have to grow up TWICE. Sucks for us, but we make it with each others support.
