Hello to everyone. This is my first post after lurking for months. Hopefully I won't make any mistakes while typing and trying to post this so please bear with me!
I had a bible study with Jehovah's Witnesses and I stopped the studies with them a couple of years back. I began to develop severe reservations about them and I just could NOT get rid of a persistant uncomfortable feeling about how the whole thing operates. I realised within a very short space of time that everything was based heavily on appearances, eg, how things look, how nicely people dress, who owns their own home, who drives a flash car etc and that there was little encouragement or support for anyone who does not fit into the married with 2/3 kids bracket. Vulnerable people do not seem to count in this organisation.
On one occasion, I openly said to a Witness on the street that I felt that the people are materialistic. This woman got my name from the cab driver who took me to my destination and reported me to her elders and I was questioned by my bible study teacher. Later on at one of their conventions, I was introduced to the elders that I was reported to. This is when I first realised that you cannot expect to have any kind of voice within this org and that to openly express any doubts or even mildly critical observations would bring me under close scrutiny! Actually, it is only through me reading the experiences on this web-site that I have put two-and two together and realised that this is the practice that is known as 'marking'. It felt like everything about me was being watched.
In short, I felt that the people were patronising, materialistic and extremely judgemental and that the Kingdom Halls are breeding grounds for gossip and slander and I felt I needed to trust my gut instinct and put a stop to the studies which I eventually did.
The whole experience with them left me feeling disturbed and I began to wonder if I was the only person who felt as if the whole 'loving' image that they try to promote is actually not as 'loving' as it all seems which is why I began to read this forum amongst others and it has blown me away to see that others have ended up having to leave for EXACTLY the same reasons and often at great personal cost to them.
Anyway, I hope I didn't ramble on too much. I just wanted to vent my feelings about this so-called 'Christian' organization because I think they are really dangerous.
Thank you for listening to me!