Why did you "BORN IN's" leave? (page 2)

Berengaria

I was miserable, and left with a worldly boy (man). Then I met another boy, and got engaged. I tried to explain to him why we needed to be JW's, and the more I tried to explain, the more I realized what a load it all was. Took him to an assembly and tried very hard to make him see...............but instead, I saw.

SweetBabyCheezits

The start? Accidentally tripping over the 607BCE chronology issue when preparing to conduct a cong bookstudy from Daniel's Prophecy book.

I was devout before that. In fact, just a few months earlier I was gleefully righteous asshat playing the role of Timothy in the DC drama. But when I came across this proprietary chronology (which I never knew was proprietary), I pulled that string until I realized the whole 607-1914 Gentile Times concept was just a big pile of yarn.

After that I started systematically questioning one doctrine/policy after another and realized not a damn thing added up without blind faith.

That said, I think victims of misinformation beget victims of misinformation. I still consider most folks in my congregation to be good people, like my parents.

Iamallcool

SweetBabyCheezits, were you an elder or MS?

SweetBabyCheezits

Only a MS.

flipper

STILLSTUCKCRUZ- I left initially due to unjust treatment by elders who gave me personal opinions as counsel - not from the bible. After 44 years I quit cold turkey, stopped attending immediately. The elders wanted me to get back with a nonJW wife who was a meth drug addict who was emotionally abusive to my daughters. I refused. Yet I was condemned for it.

Then later I found out about the false expectations and researched the Internet on my own with the help of sites like this. The picture becomes crystal clear- believe me. Good luck to you ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

jwfacts

My story is http://jwfacts.com/watchtower/experiences/paul-grundy.php

The main eye opener was when I was in Bethel and I could see JWs were not really any different than anyone else, so the concept of Armageddon really offended me, as did disfellowshipping. I found out about elders being appointed even though they were practicing adultery, so that proved holy spirit does not direct the appointments. That made me question if holy spirit directs the doctrine. Then in 1995 the change of the generation teaching proved that Watchtower doctrine is not directed and that the GB could not be that confident that the end would come soon.

I hung in the religion for another 10 years after knowing it was not teaching truth, for family reasons, but eventually realised that I could not live a life that I did not enjoy just for family. As much as I felt an obligation to be loyal them, I knew they did not deserve such loyalty, as they would not be loyal to me if I got disfellowshipped. So I left.

satinka

At some point I out-grew the JWs antiquated beliefs and began dancing... I got disfellowshipped.

Here is my story:

http://hey-whichwayisup.blogspot.com/2010/11/tribunal-of-religious-elders_20.html

satinka

ozbrad

I was very young at school and we were talking about creation and the flood and I remember saying to some

kid if God didn't create it who did? And the kid said who created God?

That seed of doubt stayed with me till I left on my 21st birthday.

Band on the Run

My family was active since Russell's days. Indeed, my father and uncles served at Bethel or federal prison. My father was a bodyguard to Rutherford and Knorr. The stories I heard of the corruption within the Society and Jesus' sayings in the gospels were too large to be reconciled. Jesus said to love another as I have loved you. I saw no love. Rather, across several Kingdom Halls I saw incredible pettiness. It was personality game,not based on merit.

My instinct told me it was not true. The pit of my stomach was a good barometer. I tried very hard to be a good Jehovah's Witness. My father was a brutal sadist. We came close to death on several occasions. We would pick ourselves up and pretend we were Jesus clean. Everything was pretense. My local brothers were very poorly educated, even for Witnesses. They could not read.

My mom constantly complained of the low status of women as my father beat her. She supported us. He spend his nights writing rabid anti CAtholic arguments. He had no concern for doctrine. Rather, it was an aggressive assertion of power.

There was Bible reading in school in those days. A picture of Jesus emerged. Jesus would not countenance this religion. I was dragged against my will and publicly pinched and pinched hard. God delivered us when he died. We breathed for the first time. I announced I would never attend another WT service under any circumstances. I burned the New World Translation. My family attended one more time and never went back.

Broken Promises

The 607 doctrine was the final straw for me too. Once that doctrine falls, so do all the other WT doctrines.

The thing that started me to question the religion was the Greatest Man book. We were studying it for the 3rd time and I started to see how today's elders and WT rules were no different to the Pharisees in Jesus' day.

I was also feeling empty spiritually, and all the things the JWs teach that should build up our spirituality - reading the Bible, study for meetings, prayer and witnessing - did the complete opposite. I prayed to God to show me that it was The Truth - instead, I found more and more evidence that it wasn't the Truth.

Did God answer my prayers? Is there a God in the first place? I don't know.

But I am in a better place spiritually now than I ever was when I was a JW.

Why did you "BORN IN's" leave?

Share this