by ashitaka 16 Replies latest jw friends
I knew it was crap for the last 15 years or so that I was in, but stayed with it to keep my family together. Finally, after my daughter was all growed up and married, my (now ex-) wife left me anyway, because I was such a poor spiritual head. That was the final break, both with her and with the Watchtower, for me.
Tom
"The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
Rummy - Yeah, I am soooo glad I am in college too. I really love it, and I am having an opportunity to actually become a free thinking person, not some robot who spits out nothing but indoctrinated information. Thanks for your encouragement
I concur with collegegirl on being happy with college (I'm also 19). If I had decided to be a "good JW", shun college to become a pioneer, and one day when I was 35 realized that my entire life was built upon a lie, I don't even want to know how pissed I'd be. College is a much better investment of my time than any JW related alternative.
If I lived in a perfect world, I would have left a good many months ago, as going to meeting is such a chore for me now. But with the majority of my family on both sides being JW's, including everyone in my house, I suspect staying in untill I can move out, hopefully shortly after college, is probably the best way for me to go. I'm worried some of my more "hardcore" JW relatives might look askance to me when I leave, but I doubt even them would totally shun me. I know my parents would always love me no matter what, but I also know how severely dissapointed they would be if I decided leave (the possible guilt trips that every mother executes so good ), so I think our relationship would be too strained if we lived under the same roof, but much better if we didn't have to see each other everyday.
Hey collegegirl, you already got a major?
Go therefore and baptize the people in the name of the father and of the son... what the hell, we just need to bring up the yearbook numbers!
Was baptized at 11, and a very active Witness (MS, pioneer, elder with mucho privileges) for 35 years. I was third generation and raised three kids, one of whom got baptized and is still a JW today.
Why did I stay so long? It was my culture, what I knew from childhood. I didn't necessarily avoid apostate literature, but I reconciled my misgivings with the feeling that the WTS was imperfect, and at least this was the best that was available. I was willing for a long time to "wait on Jehovah." I was a rather liberal Witness, and worked hard as an elder to teach and shephard in as genuinely Christian a way as I could.
Why did I leave? Not due to problems with other Witnesses. It was strictly because the flaws of the WTS and Witness teachings just overpowered me. Science especially proved to me that the literalist view of the Bible that Witnesses have was terribly flawed and impossible to support. That led to rejecting the Bible itself, and with it Christian theology and faith.
Didn't ever get to college, but in a strange turn of affairs I am currently working with a professor at Dartmouth, helping him write a book. Just got home from the campus. Good luck to you young folks in college. Enjoy!!
S4
Crownboy - Hey... same deal with me... all my family is basically in it (except for my one grandmother and one uncle.) I don't want to strain my relationship with my family either, so i am thinking i will move away after i finish my next year of school... you know, transfer as a junior. I have a major, yes. I want to be a vet some day, but that means about 8 years of school, so we'll see what really happens. what about you?
Collegegirl:
Transfer after your junior year? Pretty good plan. I seriously considered applying to a pretty good out of state school, where I was pretty sure I'd be accepted(based on my grades and SAT's) and would have gotten a pretty good financial aid package (mostly grants ) if I had applied. Hell, they sent me an application package with a letter personally[i/] signed by the admissions director [i]urging me to apply. However, my parents flatly refused to allow me to apply . They would only be ok with college if I went to one where I could commute. They thought "worldly influences" would be bad for me (guess they didn't think of the library or the internet ). However, I enjoy my current school so much (involved in several "untheocratic" extra carricular school clubs, and even gave blood last year after 9/11), I don't want to transfer now, so I'll just tough it out.
Careerwise, I want to follow in my hero's foot steps, JF Rutherford (kidding, of course), and become a lawyer. About the same amount of schooling as you, but I think a year less.
hey crown - how come your email is private? i was going to mail you. i am still a bit wary of putting too much personal stuff on the actual boards, so i was going to fill you in on school and stuff. email me if you can. [email protected]
