by flipper 138 Replies latest jw friends
Entered 1977 left 1988. At the time I had no idea about the faults with the religion per se, I was more annoyed at the general attitude dubs had to everyone else. The most un-loving, hypocritical bunch of people I ever had the misfortune to know.
Regards
Paul UK
Stopped attending meetings completely in 1998, but had started fading before then, was a born-in JW for 20 years.
Thanks for all the new figures and years and stats ! I'll let this thing go until Monday night and then will include all your new statistics with my last update a page or two ago. Then we will have an even clearer picture of when people stopped and how long they were JW's. So thanks again- and ANYONE please feel free to post your stats
Stopped meetings in 2001...36 years in the nightmare.
Born a Catholic, started raising hell all through my twenties til I had two kids and a messed up life/conscience along with a husband. Decided to get right with God so I read Bible on my own for first time. I assumed I should go to church. The churches I found were unchristian and and didn't like my Bible questions. I was ripe for a free home Bible study.
Born 1952
Baptised 1988
Raised objection to a matter in our literature Feb.2009
Forbidden to discuss matter with other Witnesses!
Quit meetings after Memorial 2009 to understand what was going on with the Org and me.
Figured it out and sent final letter of Disassociation March 7, 2010.
Was a Witness for 21+ years
I was born into the JW faith in 1960 to 2nd generation parents of JW's...and after much soul searching and prayer my wife and I both left the JW's in 2007. Since that time our lives have been so much fuller and a huge weight has been lifted.
It was always so strange to me that the witnesses tout themselves as being such a happy people, and yet I see it even in my own parents, that they are not truely happy. So many in the congergations are suffering from depression...and I can only attribute it to the fact that the end of this system, which for me in my being brought up in the JW's has been just around the corner for almost 50 years that my parents drove that point home, has not come and the biblical proof of that "Time of the End" has not developed. I really think alot of them are in the same boat my wife and i found ourselves...lost and not being able to discuss our thoughts with anyone, for fear of it backlashing on us, not even our parents. If it were not for the scare tactics the JW's use, I think many, many more would walk away, and finally realize that this was not the truth they were seeking.
UCSDBOI2- Welcome to the board ! I noticed your post was only your 2nd- so a big warm welcome to you ! I agree with you that if our JW relatives weren't coerced through fear by the WT society- more of them would exit the JW cult. But the two legs cults walk on to control members are fear and guilt. The WT society uses those tools very well to scare people into staing controlled in the witnesses. Good to have you ! Thanks for your take !
Here are the updated stats on how long each of you were witnesses before you finally left.
50 or more years in the witnesses - 4 people left
40 or more years in the witnesses - 11 people left
30 or more years in the witnesses - 25 people left
20 or more years in the witnesses - 47 people left
10 or more years in the witnesses - 25 people left
5 or more years in the witnesses - 3 people left
0-4 years in the witnesses - 1 person left
Here are the years you each exited the Jehovah's Witnesses -
2010 - 3 people left
2009 - 12 people left
2008 - 12 people left
2007 - 10 people left
2006 - 10 people left
2005 - 7 people left
2004 - 3 people left
2003 - 3 people left
2002 - 4 people left
2001 - 5 people left
2000 - 4 people left
1999 - 2 people left
1998 - 4 people left
1997 - 4 people left
1996 - 2 people left
1995 - 3 people left
1994 - 2 people left
1993 - 6 people left
1992 - 1 person left
1991 1 person left
1990 - 1 person left
1989 - 1 person left
1988 - 4 people left
1987 - 1 person left
1986 - 1 person left
1985 - 1 person left
1984 - 3 people left
1983 - 2 people left
1982 - 1 person left
1980 - 2 people left
1978 - 2 people left
1976 - 2 people left
1973 - 1 person left.
So there are the current updated statistics of how many years you were a witness- and what years you exited ! Thanks for responding- I'll keep updating it the more people respond with their own dates. Do you notice any trends here ? It seems to me that it steadily increased people exiting at the turn of the century, and just before 1995 like between 1985 through 1992 only 1 exited each year perhaps people were hanging onto the hope of the generation ending - then the 1995 change in the " generation " policy hastned people exiting perhaps ? Look forward to your takes and comments
My take on the increase of numbers of newly exited posters the closer we get to 2010:
The fresher a person is from exiting the cult, the greater the need to talk about their experiences, seek reassurance, meet up and generally just get everything out of their system.
However, as time goes by, the need for association with fellow exjws decreases and you are less likely to have posters here who have been out for longer periods of time.
And this doesn’t include the number of exjws who don’t post online at all. I know about a dozen ex-jws who don’t post here and have non desire to join any ex-JW communities.
So the survey here is somewhat limited and can only be taken as a very generalization of posters here.
BROKEN PROMISES- Yeah, good points you make. I agree. Newly exiting ex-JW's are more apt to come on the board here as opposed to people from firther back in time. And of course there are lots of ex-JW's who exited that never posted on any internet board- that's a given. But I think it's been interesting just as a generalization to see what years people exited on the board and how many years they were in it before they exited. Lots of responses which is a good thing
