Hi Everyone. Answer to prayer countdown... (page 13)

Stumpy

Hi Freddo. Thanks for your concern, it means a lot to me. And please don't worry, I will be very careful.

Like I mentioned above, at the moment we're not in Australia, we're in a country that doesn't speak much English and most of the locals don't have internet yet. I wanted to be very careful and that's why when I originally wrote the draft for my OP I mentioned Australia because it was the furthest place away from us I could think of and I was paranoid. I thought I'd better play some "theocratic warfare" to be obscure. I actually meant to delete that sentence before posting because it was unnecessary and I didn't want to lie, but I forgot and then I couldn't edit it! Sorry to mislead everyone, I hope I haven't offended. Paranoia makes you do weird things! I've been using a VPN while here too which shows how paranoid I'm being.

I can't believe the lengths you have to go to to leave this religion!!! I'm a fully grown man for crying out loud and I'm acting like a little kid that's about to be caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Shouldn't you just be able to say "sorry, I don't believe this anymore" and just leave??? This alone has helped my wife immensely to see TTATT more fully. She now sees first hand the fear and control they try to have over everyone if you want to leave but still keep in contact with friends and family.

As I have Australian residency, we most likely will be moving back there in the future to completely fade. That will take a bit of time and effort to make happen though. For those that have PM'd me from there, thank you and I hope we can meet in person one day. We will move to a city far, far away from where I grew up so the chances of running into old 'friends' from years ago will be very slim. If we do run into them then we can easily fake being still in for them I guess.

It was foolish of me to post that picture of the program though because it could draw unwanted attention on someone else and I will feel terrible if that were to happen I'll definitely think things through better before posting in the future.

Thanks again everyone for your support. By the way, after lots of walks, lots of talks and plenty of research these last few days, Mrs Stumpy is completely on board with me now. She said she has known it wasn't the truth for a while now but was scared to admit it to herself and finally accept it. I know how that feels, as do all of you I'm sure. She even said to me at the meeting last night that it's hard to sit through this when you know it isn't true. She's a great wife and I'm so fortunate to have her!

Now it's just a matter of playing the frustrating game of figuring out how and when to leave.

FayeDunaway

It would be so 'normal' if we could just say 'sorry, I don't believe this anymore' and leave. Unfortunately this is not a normal religion, it's a cult.

Oubliette

Shouldn't you just be able to say "sorry, I don't believe this anymore" and just leave???

You can. But anyone and everyone that is still believing will shun you. They are stuck in the religion/cult. You don't have to be.

Giordano

To go back to the person who was poo pooing the WT UN connection.

Let me try to explain this to you. The WT was deceptive by omitting that it was in bed with the UN. And while they weren't bonking the UN while in bed with them they were in an association the kind of association that if they found you in would be cause for a prompt DFing.

Let me asplain this thustly. Back in the early 1960's I was pioneering where the need was great or greatest (I can't keep up with every little petty change the WT comes up with).

Now the need may have been great because this was a god forsaken North West Pennsylvania town called the icebox of Pennsylvania. One of a number od PA iceboxs. How cold was it? 28 below one winter day.

So me and my pioneer partner did everything we could to survive we got our time started then sat in a dinner drinking coffee while we wrote sincere witnessing letters to friends and unknown persons.

So one day we noticed (we were new to the area) that there was a YMCA. When we visited it we found that they had a heated swimming pool, basketball court (by the way it was someone who was associated with the Y who invented basketball), weight room etc. Membership was $6 a month. It was a eureka moment!

We signed up and proudly prepared for our heated pool. The first person we told was our presiding minister who stared at us as if we were the village idiots.

You can't belong to the the YMCA! The Society forbids getting involved with any other religion you can be DFed if you don't cancel your membership. I looked at my pioneer partner and we were both stunned......who knew? Honestly neither of us knew that it was inappropriate. But I stammered "It's a young man's christian association! That's what we are!"

Well of course there was no arguing about belonging to Satan's Chistian association or swimming in Satan's hot as hell pool.

And that my friend is what the Society did by joining Satan's UN! So If I couldn't get to swim in a heated pool during the coldest winter I've ever experienced freezing my you know what's off preaching the good news to people wise enough not to open their door to two wild eyed pioneers and let in the deep cold then the WTBTS doesn't get to engage in an inappropriate relationship with the UN Library fondling books they have no business reading if indeed they weren't doing a lot more!!!

Now here's some advice.......... take your tornado of BS and spin it over someone else's thread!

James Jack

Been keeping up with your unfolding life experience. Your experience mirrors mine and my wife is on board if and when I decide to fade.

There is a certain amount of freedom we have now. We do some things that JWs frown upon, but our conscience is not bothered by it!

Like watching certain movies, TV shows, buying lottery tickets, even a little playing at a Casino

sloppyjoe2

Related to the UN issue, if I had known at the time it would be taken down I would have saved the link, but it used to show how each NGO was fulfilling their obligation to the UN on their web site. You could click a link for the WTBS and it took you to a link of an article about eleanore roosevelt. It had been submitted by the watchtower as a way to "promote" some type of NGO requirement and keep their membership. The article was in the awake. In the time period of when the Watchtower was an NGO member there are multiple articles that can be found related to the United Nations and activities they have participated in. None of the articles were condemning them as the disgusting thing or even prophetic in nature but merely reporting on their activities. Something they had to do to continue being an NGO member. They got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and immediately terminated their involvement.

It really is very simple as they were now apostates for their involvment. In 1979 they printed an article about just being a member of the YMCA. Here is what they said. In the January 1, 1979 Question from Readers:

"In joining the YMCA as a member a person accepts or endorses the general objectives and principles of the organization. He is not simply paying for something he receives, such as when buying things being sold to the public at a store. (Compare 1 Corinthians 8:10; 10:25.) Nor is his membership merely an entry pass, as when a person buys a theater ticket. Membership means that one has become an integral part of this organization founded with definite religious objectives, including the promotion of interfaith. Hence, for one of Jehovah’s Witnesses to become a member of such a so-called “Christian” association would amount to apostasy."

Clearly just being a member was enough to be considered apostasy whether you participated in interfaith activities or just swam in their pool. Does anyone actually think if you joined the YMCA, got caught, and just quit when you were caught it would have been "OK"? Of course not, you would have been disfellowshipped for apostasy. Yet when it comes to the organization, there is always a double standard.

jhine

Tree ,I feel that you engaged in some " theocratic warfare " on another thread . I suspected from your posts that you were coming from a JW viewpoint .I asked if you were still a JW and you fudged the answer .It appears from your posts on this thread that you are still mentally a JW.

As a Trinitarian Christian I must refute your assertion that only JWs try to follow the Bible . Please read with an open mind the comments made about the Watchtower and do YOUR OWN RESEARCH .

Jan

James Jack

Waiting to hear your "rest of the story " and any juicy tidbits!

ToesUp

sloppyjoe2...Yup there is a double standard, it is HYPOCRISY. LOL The do as we say, not as we do standard. This is what got out whole immediate family out, then we learned TTATT. Someone said in an earlier post that once you learn TTATT you have opened a box that you can not shut again. So true!

So happy to be free!!!

Stumpy

Giordano and SloppyJoe2, thank you so much for posting that! I had read about the UN thing but never gave it much (actually any) weight in my decision to leave. But after your experience with the pool Giordano and that Question from Readers article... yes, I see why it is such a big deal!

James Jack, yes I'll eventually get that written. I've been focusing on helping my wife this week through all the emotions we've been dealing with. I should have some time soon to write my story of how I woke up.

Hi Everyone. Answer to prayer countdown...

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