Just wondering if anyone here left the org without ever looking at anything on the net and if so how did it happen for you?
Miss C
Anyone leave the org without the help of the net?
by Miss Chievous 53 Replies latest jw experiences
-
-
John Doe
No, I didn't, but I just wanted to say welcome and I like your username.
-
Twitch
I did, back in '86 or so. I didn't seek out other "apostates" or info via books that may have been available then. I just "faded" and made new friends, interests and world views and though I had doubts about what I was doing, I never looked back. It was slow going and took a long time to resolve certain things but part of that was me not wanting anything to do with the org or it's memory. However, I found that you can run but you can't hide,....
I didn't talk to another xjw until about six years ago now, after which I signed on here. It was an eye opener to connect for the "first time" in a way, nearly twenty years or so after leaving. Final step in the recovery in a sense.
People have always left the org but having the net has made it easier and quicker, imo.
-
KingDavidwasframed
I did. Most of my story is here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/183922/1/What-Drove-Me-Here
As far as how I did it without the net, I just stopped giving a rat's patootie what anyone and everyone cared. I still had my friends from work (I own the company so there were customers and sales associates as well as other business owners), my friends that I grew up with that had been fading, I joined a few dating sites and the one thing that got me tonnes of friends - I started working as a bouncer at a popular local bar (something I had done against so many JW's wishes when I was 19). That brought me a whole new group of friends. Some younger, some my age and even one fellow fader who was a regular.
Welcome aboard!
KDWF
-
OUTLAW
There was no Internet when I left..
Or..
Wheels..
..................... ...OUTLAW
-
Heaven
Hi Miss C! Welcome to the board. There have been many people who have left without the help of the Internet. I think the most famous one would be Ray Franz.
As for myself, I was never really 'in'. I studied as a child and teen back in the '60s and '70s. There was no Internet for common folk back then. For me it was the whole 'headship'/subjugation of woman that was the icing on the cake for turning me off. Coupled with the constant disagreements I had with their interpretation of scripture and the fact that they went well beyond the Bible left me with a feeling that these people were 'just another religion'. The whole 'you'll die at Armageddon if you don't go out on service' thing put me off too. I was highly suspicious of any group trying to use fear to get me to do something they wanted me to do that wasn't in the Bible. The failure of Armageddon to arrive in 1975 made them a laughing stock in my school.
So, in short, I knew for myself that I couldn't be a JW based on their teachings and rules. They didn't align with my life plans. They were also false prophets.
Using a description from Stephen Covey, the JWs/WTS are NOT Win-Win.
-
Hecklerboy
Yep, left all by myself in the mid 90's. I was sitting in the middle of a CA looking around thinking "none of these people are my friends". Everyone looked so sad and lifeless. So I grabbed my stuff and walked out never to set foot in a KH again. Felt great, I remember having a big smile on my face as I walked through the parking lot. It was a beutiful sunny day. Spent the rest of the day visiting my mom.
-
BabaYaga
Oh, yes. As I like to say, mine was a "pre-Google exit".
I felt very alone. I knew I would never go back and I knew they did not have "the Truth", yet I remained an apologist for many, many years.
By the way, I left because I knew shunning and disfellowshipping was WRONG. The irony of course is that by taking a stand, I realized I was probably bringing that same treatment upon myself.
-
Alwayshere
I left by trying to get my son and his wife back in. I was going to prove to them the WTS was right, but the more research I done, the more I could see they had done the right thing so I got out.
-
villabolo
Yes. I was 14 and naive when I got myself into the JWs. Within a couple of years I started sensing something very wrong. It was the self glorifying attitude of the JWs. I started, fearfully, looking into apostate literature but the first couple of books didn't do much to expose the JWs (this was in the 1970s before the really good books came out).
I simply started to burn out on the religion, getting more and more disgusted with their pathological self worship. I then asked to speak to one elder to express myself to. He showed up with another elder who had the reputation of being the hatchet man for the congregation. My issue was that the organization should not be using the phrase "The Truth" to refer to itself, reason being that John 14:6 stated that only Jesus was "the truth".
When they both came we got involved in a meandering, useless conversation about the organization had done for me (it taught me God's name) etc. Brother hatchet man was so obnoxious that I was provoked-a mistake-into writing a letter to him. When he received the letter he showed it to the Circuit Overseer who decided, in my absence, to disfellowship me.
After that trial in Absentia was over three elders, the first two, and a third one who knew barely anything about the letter or the previous meetings, came over to offer me a chance to repent. I've been out ever since and have no regrets.
I should add that in these days there was no internet but there was something called a telephone tree. You called one person on the "tree" and s/he would give you phone numbers of other brothers and sisters that had been disfellowshipped.
villabolo