lack of love from those in the congregation I thought loved me and an elder that thought he was god
Who Or What Influenced You The Most To Leave The Organization?
by minimus 51 Replies latest jw friends
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out4good3
- The elder I was studying with basically handing me off, like a raw piece of meat, to study the next book with a brother who'd just been reinstated just after being baptised.
- the incessant butting into every decision I was making after baptism. There was no shortage of opinion on what I should be doing to make the congregation and the WT organization look good.
- the almost fanatical defense of the organization even when it was clearly demonstrated that they were dead wrong
- two elders sitting in my living room with my wife egging them on telling me in 1994, that my decision to go back to school was a waste of time, that my time would be better spent out in the ministry, and that with the degree I was pursueing, I would never make any more than the minimum wage
- But the final straw was......one night my wife was ragging me big time about going back to meetings. She was not listening to any of my reasonings on why I did not want to and just kept up the pressure. Any reason I was giving her was not good enough.....the usualy WT drill. It got so intense, I got physically ill, had to run to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet. Coming out of the bathroom, wiping vomit from my mouth you would think she would show a little compassion???? Nope!!!!!! She just picked up right where she'd left off. At that point, I let her know, in so many word adn through the use of very colorful language, that at that point, I would never go back.
I've since, reaffirmed to her, I think last year when she attempted to broach the subject again, that I just didn't believe any of it anymore and that I would never be going back. she was not happy, but she got over it.
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jam
THE BIBLE, in fact reading the bible, just the bible without any
other aid to understand the bible, help me too leave all religions.
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Reopened Mind
For me the catalyst was an article in the Gainesville Sun in January 2007 regarding Jehovah's Witnesses and their refusal of blood tranfusions featuring Kerry-Louderback Wood. Up until this time I had been a staunch supporter of the WT's stand on blood. Back in 1982 on the day my second son was born the doctor who was the head of the pediatric intensive care unit came to me to get me to OK a transfusion for my baby. He told me my son would not live the day out unless I consented to let him have blood. Then I was threatened with a court order to force blood. Well, as it turned out, my baby did not receive a blood transfusion and he lived and thrived. But when I read the newspaper article and looked up the website ajwrb.org which was cited in the article, I slowly began to see a different side to the story. From there I followed all the links and researched more topics on the Watchtower. What I found brought into focus all of the little questions I had had over the years as well as opened my eyes to scandals within the organization to which I had been blissfully unaware (UN, Malawi/Mexico, pedophilia, Ray Franz). I'm glad I reopened my mind.
Reopened Mind
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daringhart13
Being an elder with a love and passion for people made me leave. I served for 11 years.
Listening to DOs and COs.....and how different they were behind closed doors.....
Elders calling people names and "nut jobs" behind closed doors.
The systematic stripping of a teenagers self esteem in a judicial meeting.
Slander. Tons of it. Daily.
Being an elder....a child of divorce...and now a divorced man myself.....destroyed my view of marriage. I think its a total pile of shit.
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Satanus
Actually, i am happy to see that noone mentioned ray franz as an influence. It took his book describing gb meetings to get me out. I had been suffering for yrs w terrible depression. Now, i can see that a big part of its cause was wt doctrine.
S
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baltar447
Sickening amount of glorification of the GB. Ridiculous authoritarian crap being printed in the koolaid WT.
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darthfader
What influenced me the most? one word.... Reason...
It was always clear to me that the Bible and specifically Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine about the bible were not grounded in reality.
My parents converted when I was young, and I left as a teenager to live with "unbeleiving relatives". I went back because I was foolish, thinking that "I was special" and there was a religion that made me feel that way (only our super secret club gets to live forever on a paradise earth)...
The "clincher" was reading Crisis Of Conscience. Im glad I got to thank Ray (and got a response from him) before he passes.
cheers.
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sister x
the first thing i noticed was the Great abundance of bible knowledge But the Huge Lack of Love in the congregation....
I remember telling myself that the identifying mark of true christians would be the "LOVE" shown.... After attending for 6 yrs, I knew I wasnt in the right place... alot of division in the congr. mostly caused by the WBTS creating distinctions/ranking in the congregation...... auxillary pioneer/pioneer/ms/elder/special pioneer/traveling.... all the way up to president.. everyone was always competing against one another to see who could do more for Jehovahs organization and comparing their works to one another... it was just sad to watch... No love just a spirit of competition and constant judging others.....
One day i decided to do research on the faith starting with the proclaimers book... i ordered russels study in the scriptures books and read with my own two eyes how he gave his own private interpretation of scripture and then backed it by using bible verses... he twisted it to fit his own reasonings. the same thing the society does today.....
Michele
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paul from cleveland
I couldn't live up to the expectations. I felt so guilty all the time that I finally gave up. I hated God. I thought he made a standard of thought and behavior that was so high that I could never reach it.