Don't Know How To Tell Your Parents? Here's a Video...

Tuesday

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't been on a whole lot lately, I've been extremely busy with a bunch of goings on in my life. I made a set of videos due to receiving a PM on youtube asking me specifically how I left the Jehovah's Witnesses. Since I feel my method of telling my parents I wanted to leave was pivotal in me not being kicked out of the house and avoiding a fight I figured this could prove somewhat helpful to youngsters trying to plan their escape from the Tower.

Part 1...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZirTW05ZF3E

Part 2...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_D1MO0xCN0

Thanks everyone, I hope this helps a few people. Sorry for the quality on this, something was off with my camera. I also did the editing during a very sleepless night at about 3 AM, so forgive me for the quick cuts and so forth.

startingover

Excellent!!! To say you are a patient guy is an understatement.

Perry

Re: Jepthath's Daughter

shopaholic

Tuesday,

Thanks for posting the vids. Your honesty is appreciated. You are spot on when you said being a Jehovah's Witness is about perception, as that is a HUGE part of it.

Glad you had the courage and strength to get out when you did. I realized back in 1995 that something was not right with the religion but I tried to make it right and keep up appearances so everyone would know that I was a "spiritual person". It took years before I applied "if it walks like duck, if it quacks like a duck and if it looks like a duck then it is a duck" to the JW religion. The more it quacked more "spiritual" or the more JW I tried to become and then years later realized I wasn't the problem.

So many of us don't listen to voice that tells us something is wrong with the religion because we have it drilled into us that its the imperfection sneaking in and trying to mislead us. When actually our intuition is telling us something isn't right and a change needs to happen but again the drilling kicks in and tell us the change is more service, more meetings, more, more, more until you're so busy and your mind and life is so filled with JW everything that you don't even have time to consider what you really want out of life. But thats the way they want it...so that we never wake up. But eventually some of us do and I think videos like yours help with the awakening process.

Thanks again for sharing and best wishes on your journey,

Shop

Tuesday

Hey there, I had to re-up the second part because of a music issue playing over the closing comments of the video, here's the re-up for anyone that was interested in the last couple of sentences...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfZy-Og4tXs

As for that Jepthah's daughter link, she bewailed her virginity for a few months. This doesn't sound to me like someone getting ready to go into temple service to me, but it sounds like a girl getting her last affairs in order and enjoying the last part of her life before it is snuffed out by a crazy man who worships a blood-thirsty God. There is only one mention in the bible where a burnt offering is not considered literal and let's look at that scripture. A town is offered up as a burnt offering, and how did they do that, they took all the spoils of war from the city and literally burned them.

There is no other mention of a burnt offering in the bible that could be considered figuratively. Even if this could be considered apologist (which means making a convincing argument) it is a VERY weak one.

God killed Jepthah's daughter because he wanted human sacra\ifice. The God in the bible gets off on that kind of stuff. He loves blood sacrifices.

the real life

Nice video! I didn't leave until long after I was out of my parent's house, so it was interesting to hear your experience. You must have been a pretty insightful kid to have researched your questions thoroughly at such a young age - and then to patiently and respectfully go through the motions to maintain your relationship with your parents is pretty impressive. Are you on your own now? And is your relationship still good with your parents?

Tuesday

Yes I'm on my own now, I'm 29 married with a small daughter. Honestly I don't talk to my mother a whole lot, but it's better than alot of ex-JW's relationships with their parents. I see my mother at least twice a month and speak with her once a week, usually surrounding my young daughter. The JW thing is still kind of the elephant in the room we don't talk about though.

slimboyfat

Wow I am seriously impressed by these videos. For lurkers in this position it seems like good advice and a lot more sensible than the RichieRich method of dealing with parents while leaving for sure.

slimboyfat

I am curious. Since you are 29 now, and you were having doubts about 607 BCE when you were 14 already, what was your source of information? I guess it wasn't from the Internet at that time?

Tuesday

My source of doubt for 607 BCE was a set of Encyclopedias. I wish I could've remembered when making the video I remember the line I used was "If we're interpreting the bible so that Jerusalem fell in 607 BCE then we're interpreting it wrong because it didn't fall then."

The JW teachings are kind of a house of cards in that if you take one away the whole thing falls.

Thanks for the compliment, I really hope it can help some people. It's not something that will make a lot of people happy. It's not a quick easy solution, if your parents are ones that care whether you believe things then as long as you have those two issues the worst that will happen is you'll have to study with them. If your parents really only care about the perception then you'll have to go through the whole ordeal that I did for years walking the line. The Richie Rich version of basically starting a huge argument and getting kicked out of the home is I feel a pretty stupid method. Especially those who want to stay in touch with their parents.

I wanted to say in the video but I needed to edit it for time that now it would be easier than ever because you have message boards you can discuss things with people, you have youtube, you can document your experience. There's alot more help out there now than there was when I was doing this. I wish I had the internet back then. I only had access at college when I was in the Phase III portion of the plan.

Don't Know How To Tell Your Parents? Here's a Video...

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