gimme a break!

stillin

it's persecution, I tell ya! OK, so I went out in service yesterday, OK, so I went to a meeting today. I'm not ready to just chunk out everything I've believed even if there's a lot wrong with the picture. I feel like I wouldn't be being fair to my wife, for one thing, if I just quit altogether.

How many vows does a person make in a lifetime? Things HAVE changed a lot since I made the vow to my wife, and things HAVE changed with Jehovah's Witnesses since I dedicated my life to Jehovah's service, but most of you people here also saw real value in being one of Jehovah's Witnesses at one time. Have you totally forgotten the way your own faith, which I'll assume was healthy at one time, made you feel deep inside? Was it all self-deception?

Many of you concede that you had good friends and knew good people in the organization...sincere people...deluded, maybe, but honestly deluded. I know people like that, too. I have friends that know what I'm going through and they hope I will "snap out" of my fade and get back to wholeheartedness. Sure, partly because it validates their own faith, but also because they actually WANT me to be in paradise with them. Isn't that beautiful? In a quaint, innocent way, isn't it?

You all are validating each other here, too, like it or not. You certainly have that right in my book. Now give me the respect I deserve to make my fade on my own terms. I have unfinished business in this organization, dragons to slay, things to say. I'll have no voice at all if I lose my fizz in the congregation.

I'll thank you now for keeping your derogatory remarks to yourselves.

Will Power

Tis a very brave thing you are about to do - however long it takes you.

You'll need all the support you can get. Release the Bonds at the pace you are comfortable with.

You can rest here, or get a nudge when you need it. Take what you need at the time.

and most of all - educate, educate, educate

(like location is to real estate)

wp

AllTimeJeff

You owe no one here anything, and you are certainly on your own journey, and if you feel that you have things to do, that means you have things to do.

Go get em!

leavingwt

You MUST do what is right for YOU.

There is no One Size Fits All solution.

Don't worry about what others say.

bluecanary

I have no derogatory remarks to offer you. Has someone been picking on you? Would you like me to go and take and lay the smack down on somebody?

You do what you feel is right for you and your circumstances. I wish you all the best.

Satanus

I wish you luck on your fade.

S

Ps, i hope the use of the word luck doesn't detract from my wellwish.

keyser soze

There are a lot of people on this forum who are facing the same circumstances as you, and dealing with them in the same manner. What makes you think people are judging you?

AllTimeJeff

Stillin

You sir, have a lot of things to work out. When you say that your JW friends want you to live forever, well, I had elders chase me when I first left. No one could believe I did what I did in resigning. I hope they never took my leaving personally, because I love and miss them.

As far as Vows, they are a two way street. I did make a vow, but I was also told that 1914 was a fulfilled prophecy based on the date the Governing Body lies about most, 607 BCE as the fall of Jerusalem.

When I was lied to first, that also means that the vow I made was broken by others first, it only was incumbent on me to see it as it was, not as I wanted it to be.

But again, you are on your own path. Whatever you do, be honest, esp with yourself, and do what you feel you must. In the end, you are responsible for yourself and what you do.

kitten whiskers

I am sorry you were treated badly, somewhere on this board. I hope it doesn't happen anymore, but you never know who is really on here sitting behind their keyboard!

I hope you do take your time...all that you need. It took me a long time to leave, and my hubby a long time too. I'd say from the time his doubts started until we were both free, was about 7 years. The last year was highly excelerated for us and a major move across the country helped with that. We were able to distance ourselves enough to think on our own and not "answer" to family at each and every meeting or if we missed a meeting!

I wish you all the best and I understand your thought on your friends. It is heart wrenching to know they love you that much, but don't see what you see. I hope all goes as you have planned. Best wishes.

stillin

thanks, Jeff. I agree, it's a two way deal. I was naive about all of it. I was low-hanging fruit. It was survival in spades! But I do owe a debt to others, and that is one of the things I will have to sort out, without losing my own humanity.

gimme a break!

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