How Long has it Been since you Last Attended Meetings and What Caused... (page 2)

coffee_black

Over 20 years. Divorcing my husband made me reassess everything in my life. Researched and found the tatt over time and started fading. I DAed in 1993.

Coffee

moshe

The spring of 1988-

I wrote a letter in late April to Bethel and told them I annulled my baptism and membership- and I was then done with the meetings.

I have visited a few KHs over the years (one time last yr), just to see how much they have gone downhill.-

In my first year of high school we studied the reformation and I was impressed by how people fought for their beliefs, but jw were not mentioned and I knew from the meetings they only made an appearance in the late 1800's. I wondered how the only true religion survived such a religious revolution as I understood Jesus etc to be jw. the seeds of doubt were sown in the thirteen year old me. However, I couldn't talk about it or question it due to organisational culture, you just didn't do that. I went on to get baptised at 16 and began pioneering. I still didn't believe this was the true religion but the pull of family and friends kept me in. To cut a long story (very) short, in my mid twenties I da'd myself. Couldn't be happier, however my mum wouldn't have anything to do with me so I returned to the meeting and after what seemed a near eternity I was re-instated. However at the meeting when it was announced there was no love bombing, no support, no bible study, no one to buddy me up in field service. Nothing at all. So I stopped attending, guess what, nobody bothered. No-one called on me, invited me to the memorial, gave me a shepherding call. I was simply ignored. This was despite my next door neighbour being a ministerial servant, he knew where i was alright. I thought about the parable of the lost sheep and how far the shepherd would go to find that sheep and if this was the true religion, I would be found; well I wasn't and so therfore this isn't the true religion. The next contact I had was five years later when they knocked on my the door shortly after the birth of my first son, at last I thought, they have found me. Anyway they only came to tell me that if I didn't come back to meetings my son would have no mother after Armageddon. I was crying and really upset at this. Enough said.

I now have a lovely, peaceful life with a non jw husband who doesn't beat me black and blue and prevent me from talking to anyone who is male, including my dad I have two beautiful children who give me joy every day, dressing in their superhero fancy dress and embracing their imagination. And hey guess what, I have a career to!!

... I should have trusted my instinct thirty years ago.

problemaddict

Wow. Well I guess so far I win for the most recent removal? I am still fading, but I have not been to a meeting or turned in time for 5 months. I have been to a hall since then, but it wasn't for a meeting. Some of my friends know, some don't. There are alot of congregations in my area of southern California.

What sealed it? I honestly don't know. I think I have a problem with the blood doctrine about 7 years ago. Didn't really know what to do with that one. The evidence seems to continue to pile up there. I think I got wise when the in house version of the Watchtower started making all these comparrisons between Moses and the GB. It reminded me of a very specific scripture.......you know the one.

Not shortly after that I had a run in with a Pharisee that led to my removal and my family leaving a hall we had been in for years. The new one is great and very supportive, but I realized when I received my "termination letter" from the human resources dept at the servise desk, that there was much less unique about us that I previously thought.

Once I looked at us as I would any other group, my mind started to work on my faith the way it does on everything else. I lost all desire to "reach out" in the new hall. I gave acouple of parts and the elders could see I was a golden boy and they wanted to quickly make me a servant again. While that was nice of them not to let a very slanderous letter cloud their judgement, my integrity would not let me do that anymore. One day I just stopped going. That day turned into a week, which turned into a month, which turned into almost 6.

Moving halls recently has clouded my "status" from some of my friends, but I am sure it is just matter of time. The elders in my hall have completely left me alone. Not a peep. One guy, who even cussed a little bit to show me he was "ok", I had a kind of frank conversation with. I told him my biggest issue was that you could not disagree with stated teachings, even though they are prone to error and changing, without being disfellowshipped if you don't recant. He honestly didn't have much of a response. That right there kind of froze him up. So I heaven' heard from him.

So far so good. I have my whole life in here, nearly all of my friends and family being held hostage. My wife is ONLY a JW because of her family and she wants some "structure". Our friends have remained our friends, and I hope that continues.

cantleave

Last meeting I attended was April 2010.

I only attended a handful up to that poiint from my giving the memorial talk in 2009.

Amelia Ashton

Memorial 2009.

Was a few weeks after being attacked and changing areas feelig low and living in a refuge. I gave my phone number to some brothers and sisters at the new KH and told them what had happened and where I was staying. I never heard from any of them and never went to a meeting again.

finally awake

the last time I attended a meeting was sometime in November 2011. I tried to attend the special assembly day, but one of the kids vomited in the car on the way over. after that, we had a shepherding call the next Monday, and the elders were such assets about it that I never went to another meeting.

mercedes_29

I DA'd myself in 2006 to get away from my ex husband. I had planned on getting reinstated but after research and a few years to adjust to a normal life I never will go back.

Open mind

Memorial 2012.

We will just be "Easter" JWs from now on.

My trigger moment for really plunging in to researching JWs was giving a Service Meeting talk hammering home the importance of shunning DFed relatives. In the talk I told the entire congregation that my family had 100% shunned my DFed older brother for 20 years. If we can do it so can you!

After the talk, a sister whose 20-something daughter had just been DFed, came up to me with tears in her eyes telling me what a great job I had done and that she was REALLY going to try to apply the direction from The Slave from here on out. Lots of others also gave me strong commendation as well. I really poured my heart into that talk.

Getting ready for bed that night, I looked at myself in the mirror and REALLY didn't like what I saw. The shred of non-cult humanity that remained inside me won out.

om

frankiespeakin

05/2001 or somewhere there about was my last meeting I went to hear them announce my disfellowshipping. The PO was so mad at me he got up durring the CO's visit and yelled angrily that So and so has been disfellowshiped!!, they even announced my dfing 3000 miles away in other congregations.

Needless to say i went back after a couple of months and was told to leave, I didn't and was arrested for sitting quietly at a meeting, the charge was disturbing a religious meeting 50$ fine.

How Long has it Been since you Last Attended Meetings and What Caused...