For me, it was 40
At what age do people 'wake up'?
by Splash 62 Replies latest jw experiences
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Found Sheep
I started to question around 30 didn't leave till 33 but even after I left it took a good 2 years to FEEL out! It took a divorce, shunning eventhough I was "reproved" and just lack of love all around to kick me out.
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Mickey mouse
30. Having children was a major influencing factor for me.
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d
I woke up at 17 but for many it just takes a little more time.
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Fernando
"When the student is ready the teacher appears".
I was ready for a spiritual awakening at age 40. It came knocking loudly...
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Splash
I'm awake, but in. It's a funny place to be as most of you will know.
I don't know how things will pan out. Maybe there will come a crunch when some of the ideas I've been floating to others gets back to someone who wants to take me to task about them.
I had an experience when I was small which convinced me that Jehovah exists, but I can't believe He would be happy with the Org as it stands today.
I still go through the same questions: Who does the ministry, who preaches God's name etc, and there's a lot in the WT that I agree with.
On the other hand there are doctrines and prophecies that are indefensibly wrong, GB worship, money loving, double standards etc.
I look at the publishers in my cong and want to weep - they are so completely under control.
For now I'm in limbo but using it as best I can to sow seeds of (proper) truth to those I discern will receive and benefit from them. At the risk of getting blasted here I do actually think that Jehovah will stop what's going on. But when, as we do not have a truthful framework to determine the time we live in?
If I could rub a lantern and have just one wish, it would be that the Bible was not confusing but plain - understandable without the need of interpretation, and not possible to apply multiple understandings to such life-important words.
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life is to short
I was 44. It took a child molester moving into the hall to have it finally hit me in the head that this could in no way be the "truth".
Looking back I can now see that I always had some doubts even in my teens but I shelved them, I was a lot like Blondie said that I just kept getting slapped down and kept going back for more slapping thinking it was my fault.
The pedophile moving in finally made me realized that it was not me but a horribly flawed and screwed up religion that was causing my problems.
LITS
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Cagefighter
I woke up at 14 during my first Judicial Committe. I stopped believing on the car ride home even though I was not DF'd. I think I secretly wished I was so it gave me a better reason to run away and go into foster care or something.
I plotted to leave the day I turned 18 and I actaully left home three days before my 18th birthday and never looked back.
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Broken Promises
I still go through the same questions: Who does the ministry, who preaches God's name etc, and there's a lot in the WT that I agree with.
There's heaps of threads covering those topics on this site.
Take your time in coming to your own conclusions. I could easily tell you the answers but it wouldn't be the same as researching the questions yourself.
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Splash
Thanks BP, but getting answers is just the start - there's a dependency to break, a way of life to reverse and family to think about.
It just has to be the right time for me, and right now it isn't. I can't say I'm happy with the situation, but the alternative is pretty hairy.
I also got the "huh?'s " when I was a teen, but filed them to the back of my mind. Maybe I've been awake longer than I first thought, but only relatively recently proved it to myself.