When I was baptized as a JW, I was firmly convinced it was the Truth.
I continued to believe it was the Truth during the 10 years I was absent.
How ManyYears Did You Waste Being A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus 79 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
hmmm
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cedars
Like you Minimus - I try to be philosophical about my JW past. It would be impossible to turn back the clock and extricate Jehovah's Witnesses from my life entirely, especially considering the fact that my parents met through the religion. It was somewhat inevitable that, as the product of a JW marriage, I would be raised as one of them. Even if I'd made a conscious decision to not get baptized and pursue a "worldly" lifestyle from my teens onwards, this would have caused nothing but pain and misery in my family relationship. Even in my early adulthood, it's difficult to imagine getting out of the belief system any sooner than I eventually did. I'm just grateful that, when the time was right, circumstances aligned themselves perfectly so that I could "awaken" with still a sizeable portion of my life yet to be lived. They may have robbed me of my youth, but I can't see it having turned out any other way. Also, I had some good friends (albeit "conditional") and pleasant memories along the road. There's no point being bitter about it - I'm just glad to be out of it and moving on with my life.
Cedars
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minimus
CEDARS, so well stated, as usual.
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d
I left in 2008 at age 17.
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Lady Lee
How ManyYears Did You Waste Being A Jehovah's Witness?
A lot. In for 22 and still believed for another 10
But I can't say they were all wasted. I learned a lot. There was a degree of safety even if it was controlled. I learned sign language.
And every day now I try to use that experience to help others. It has given me the assurance that in spite of everything I can take care of me. I lost everything that I believed encompassed my world.
And I picked myself up, brushed myself off and kept going.
My neighbor came over today and we were talking. He asked if I had experience with public speaking. So I started listing all the things I have learned and done since I left the JWs and went back to school. Its a little weird to do that because I can't even begin to count the times I have spoken in front of groups and crowds even. I have a pile of thank you letters but they don't even scratch the surface of what I have done. And almost all of that is in the last 25 years. Almost all of that is a direct result of sexual abuse but a lot was about cults too. If it wasn't for those two things I think my life would be quite different. But it certainly gave me a lot to talk about.
As with any experience, if we learn from it and try our best to help others whether they are family friends or strangers then it wasn't a total waste.
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Walk On
33 years. :(
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Balaamsass
"mmxiv......
I wasted upwards of 15,000 hours in attending meetings, going on field service and attending assemblies.
In my professional capacity that is worth over £500,000 or $800,000"
Yikes- never thought of it that way.... 50 years...... :( I should have left with Ray Franz and Randy back in the day......but I didn't listen to my little voice and was attached to family.
Wow - too late to cry over spilt milk.
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Joey Jo-Jo
27 years, born in , but I am glade to never be baptise despite my beliefs in their dogma, weird but my strong introversion was my salvation. Still I want to see the gb heads on a gold platter.
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wannaexit
40 years-almost my entire life. What a waste