I was never going to get old. My parents of the 1914 generation (version 3 or so) would not die. All lies ( slight misunderstanding of " light"). Why should I believe the next lie?
Seven Reasons Why Jehovah's Witnesses Are Leaving Their Religion.
by Hairyhegoat 36 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Vanderhoven7
Here is why Graeme Hammond left the fold.
"For some years I’d had a growing irritation and disillusionment with the religion: I was getting tired of the pompousness, the arrogance and the control, I felt increasingly choked by their restrictions and I was drained by their demands on my time. I was frustrated by their blinkered vision and sick of everyone being treated as a child. The meetings and conventions were tedious and repetitive and the level of judgmentalism and gossip was sickening. We were all being watched.
I was already missing meetings and making a pretence of field service. Even when I met people at their doors, I had no desire to try to persuade them to join because I felt it was unfair to entice them into such a constricted life that I hated.
In the end it was “Crisis of Conscience”, the tell-all book by former Governing Body member Ray Franz about his life in — and exit from — the Witnesses, that made me realise I could just walk away. After just two or three chapters I became starkly aware that the religion was in so many ways fraudulent, with no more claim to being “God’s organisation” than any other religion.
As each chapter unfolded, it became painfully obvious that I had been defrauded and manipulated for the entire time I had spent in the religion. Franz’s book showed plainly that it was a totally man-made, man-run organisation seized with an oversized sense of self-importance and a mean streak of vindictiveness.
Once I read that book — and followed it up with books by Jim Penton, Robert Crompton, Tony Wills and others — the more I learned about the religion I’d given so much of my life to. There was no Armageddon, no “faithful slave”, no mathematical formulation of the “last days”, no hotline to God. And no reason for me to ever set foot again inside a Kingdom Hall.
I never regretted leaving: walking away from it made me realise that I was reclaiming my life. Yet in a sense I did “look back”. The sense of anger and humiliation about the deception and control is not something you can easily dismiss. It burned me up for a long time, but today those emotions are a distant past.
I was a cult member, but I escaped. And I survived.
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LongHairGal
Thanks for resurrecting this 13 year old thread.
It’s nice to see the comments of old posters including my own. I still stand by what I wrote about not tolerating intrusiveness and people making divine claims, etc.
But now, thirteen years later things are worse in the JW religion since much has happened. The religion has changed so that it is almost unrecognizable. Witnesses have grown older and many have reached retirement age unprepared. They were told ‘Armageddon’ would be here and they wouldn’t need to bother. Too many have spent several decades in the ministry instead of holding down a decent job and putting away for retirement like I did. Needless to say, the religion has no charitable social programs.
Back when I was active in the Witness religion I was surrounded by suburban middle class people. There was no mentality of desperation in the air.. NOW, there’s a disappointed attitude because the JWs expected the recent coronavirus pandemic would be ‘the End’.. They are upset they have to continue on - having reached an old age they never expected to see.. They had hoped to be in the ‘new system’ by now growing younger.. Adding insult to injury, they are financially unprepared!!!.. This is disastrous. It is for these reasons I am GLAD I left the religion years ago. I have no desire to be around this.
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Vanderhoven7
Why many don't leave..
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Fisherman
1 They want to get involved in forbidden conduct.
2 They get angry, or stumbled, or fed up with how they are being dealt with unfairly.
3 They get tired and just want to stay home.
And that’s about it.
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truthlover123
fed up, tired, angry, disillusioned, mad I was so stupid and gullible thinking just because they knew some of the bible they were right and then, after baptism, they did a bait and switch to the org as my "saviour" before I could see it coming, tying me to all kinds of restrictions (including my worldly family ) and made laws to keep congregation and org "clean" yet hiding their money and child abuse scheming behind closed NDA's.
Not to mention the selling off of halls that were donated and upkept by publishers who had NO SAY in the profits derived from the sales which are still ongoing.
wash, rinse and repeat
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Vanderhoven7
1 They want to get involved in forbidden conduct. 2 They get angry, or stumbled, or fed up with how they are being dealt with unfairly.3 They get tired and just want to stay home. And that’s about it.
Add to that
4 They realize that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is not biblical and the Governing Body claim to be the Faithful and Wise Servant of Matthew 24 is hogwash.