by sleepy 21 Replies latest jw friends
I was raised a witness, and was fully convinced......after all my parents were educated, intelligent people. So from childhood through my 30's I would say I was #1.
30's - 40's I was #2. About 47, I became a #3. At age 50, I was #4.
Then I got out!!
Now my belief system is changing constantly, so honestly, I would have to say, I am open to everything.
Marilyn (a.k.a. Mulan)
I was a 1.... I think because it was all I knew (raised in it)
But I always asked these questions....
"what about before russel?"
And...
"exchanging wedding rings is just as pagan as christmas"
I was told to not question.....
So I went along with EVERYTHING!!!!!
I didnt see my mother (disfellowshipped)
No Oral Sex!!!! No rated R movies, I even remember throwing my husbands Enya tape out of the car window in the parking lot because a song sounded like demon chants.
I was such a FREAK!!!!!!!!
Thank GOD I am out of that. And Thank God for oral sex :-)
Jackie
I was a #1 for 30 years. Did the whole bit and was too scared to question anything. I also kind of figured since I wasn't being a bad person my butt was covered even if it was not quite right.
I went from that to a 6 or below in 2 days after reading COC straight through and looking up information on 607 BCE. That was a trip.
....started out as a #1 then a #2.......now i wish i was double jointed so i could kick myself in the ass!.......i have alot of apologies to make to the many people i "preached" to..........Jedd
>Now my belief system is changing constantly, so honestly, I would have to say, I am open to everything.
Except Jesus Christ, right Mulan?
Penn
I grew up a #2 (quite sure about the truth) because of my parents. As I got older, and moved on my own I became a #4 (went along, to please my parents but still had the doubts.) Now, I know for sure the many mistakes the Society has and still continues to make.
more2C
I grew up in the Borg, but many times was unhappy as a child and teenager at the suffocating restrictions on everyday life. Then at 25 I decided I was going to be a good JW or not at all. I became a True Blue Believer with spiritual flames coming out of my arse. I was dedicated, hardcore, and loved it. I had Watchtower stars in my eyes. Considered going to Bethel with my pioneer wife. I was a number 1 with a bullet. But that's what got me out was my fierce love of logic, which I ignorantly thought the JWs had. When I was shown the true history of the JWs and their doctrines, I was outta there.
"People handle their fear of change in different ways, but the fear is inescapable if we are in fact to change."
M. Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)
My mother began to study with the JWs when I was about seven years old, and I accepted her definition of reality absolutely while I was growing up. I suppose that would be a #1, baptised at 14, disappointed that I didin't hear any divine welcome to the club. Coming from a poor family without a father "in the truth" put me in a lower caste than the average "Mommy and Daddy are both Dubs" JW kid, but that was all I knew.
Once I dropped out of High School (Armageddon was so close you could touch it) and began working to support myself, I began to see that the world evident to my senses was not the same as the world my mother had told me about. I also began to see and resent the various meaningless limitations that she imposed upon me as a reprresentative of the only true god. Cracks appearred in my cosmic egg (cognitive dissonsance) but I continued to be a good dub for a few more years.
Eventually (early 20's) I began to serve as a Ministerial Servant and pioneer in the congregation, and the revelatory floodgates opened wide: I was able to see the hypocrasy and utter lack of love within god's organization. I also began to see that several of the persons considered "spiritually strong" in the congregation were, in fact neurotic and self-righteous.
After a year or so of inactivty I relocated myself FAR from "home." I went to a memorial in my new location, and when I came out I said to myself, "That's it; I'm never going back."
Now I enjoy complete, utter, total disbelief.
As someone raised from a very young age as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I didn't start questioning until probably around 13 or 14. From that time on I became a 3 and a 4. Right now my doubts go beyond just not believing that the JWs have the truth. I truly believe that the universe (God, The Great Spirit, Goddess, The entity or entities that started everything ) Is much greater than any one holy book. I think somewhere amidst all the confusion of the worlds religions there is bits and pieces of *truth* but there is no one that has a monopoly on it.
BW
How do I rate myself?
Easy, I am a pro-active opposer of Jehovahs witnesses.
Englishman.
Bring on the dancing girls!
