How many found the REAL truth from the internet?

Leander

If it was'nt for the internet I would still be stuck in the endless cycle of drone like meeting attendance and field service. (technically I'm still in but not for long) I'm really glad that some ex-JWs took the time to speak about the real truth. For the longest time I always thought that what I was taught was correct, I never even felt the need to question it or validate it with actual facts.

Logging on to Yahoo and typing in Jehovah was the best decision I made within the last few years. I've learned about the countless prophecies that WTS has made but failed to come true, I've learned about how the society blames its members for simply being excited about what they were taught to beleive. My eyes have been opened to their practice of making up rules that go above and beyond bible practices. Even worse I've read hundreds of personal experiences of where lives were shattered due to child abuse, shunning and outright lies and slander. And the list goes on and on.

I thank everyone who has contributed to helping others realize what the WTS real fruitage is.

SYN

Leander: I'm curious, as someone who was still IN (and still is) at the time, how did you feel when the wool was pulled from your eyes? What were your exact feelings at the moment of awakening? Sorry if I'm being too probing, but I'm just a very curious person. I was pretty shocked, then excited, then ELATED, realizing that a dark period in my life had an explanation. A very large amount of of my life was gone, and up to the point where I discovered this and other sites, I didn't really understand what had happened during that time in my life. Now I do.

"Until they become conscious, they will never rebel. Until they rebel, they will never become conscious." - George Orwell

outnfree

Me, me!!!

I had my doubts before, yes.
Then, when I became computer literate there was still such a taboo on searching for info from what might possible be apostate sources, that I debated countless times in my mind doing a search on "jehovah's witnesses".
THEN, when I finally did a search and numerous sites came up, I STILL didn't have the courage to actually go there.
I was stuck at this step for several weeks, if I recall correctly.
FINALLY, I decided that the "Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses" site seemed most benign, so I went there. THANK YOU, TIM!!!

The Watchtower is rightly afraid of the information glut on the internet.

outnfree

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts -- John Wooden

Leander

Syn - To be honest I was very shook up, I actually felt sick to the point of being nauseous (sp?) for the first few days. Then I started subtly talking to some people about a few of the things that I read, this led me to start feeling confused because the individuals I talked with were very convincing in their arguments for the WTS. But eventually as I kept doing research I began to feel less and less intimidated.

In my opinion the facts speak for themselves, if a group, religion or even a person claims one thing but their track records says something else then the logical thing would be to be judge on the actions and not the words.

gumby

I always thought that what I was taught was correct, I never even felt the need to question it or validate it with actual facts.

Same here. I was raised as a witness and it is all I ever knew.
I fell to my knees in the kitchen and cried when I realized it wasn't "The Truth."

This feeling came as a result of reading COC, then other material, and the Net.

My feeling from then on....what IS truth?

I still am not POSITIVE on what it is.

Xander

LOL! I love that...

One of our local bros went to Bethel, became a CO (did missionary work in Africa)...

Anyway, he would give experiences from the 'Bethel family'. One of the BIG things they emphasized was NEVER DO A SEARCH ON THE INTERNET FOR 'JEHOVAHS WITNESSES'. You see, there are so many apostate sites, you might accidentally click on one, and then it would download viruses into your browser!

He actually explained (on the platform) that the surest way to get a virus on your computer was to visit an apostate site - because apostates were associated with 'hacking' (I'm REAL sure he knew what that meant, too), pornography, and software piracy.

(Hmmmm...on second thought, he's RIGHT...but [8>], I mean, c'mon, it's the 21st century!! )

Xander F
(Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Ohio order)
A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
--George Santayana

Xander

And for my 600th post...

My point above was that - and I'd heard this before from visiting bethellites and COs, it just meant more from this guy because he was a friend - was that the society's 'unofficial' position is that as little as DOING A SEARCH on the net for 'jehovah's witnesses' demonstrated 2 things:

1) A lack of faith in the warnings and spiritual guidance the GB provides

2) An independent spirit - looking for outside knowledge or trying to 'run ahead of the org'

That's why I laughed at outnfree's comment. I was EXACTLY in that same boat. I do searches for warez sites, download zip crackers, mp3s, search for...uhhh....other sites ....

But could never get myself to even do as little as SEARCH on 'Jehovah's Witnesses'.

Why?

Because it was WRONG. [8>]

I actually did, eventually, and found this site. Read a few forums, was shocked, left. I did end up drifting away on my own, but when the big members-only convention came up this fall, I remembered this site and came back to read up on what people's thoughts were (since, obviously, my family wouldn't talk about it).

Xander F
(Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Ohio order)
A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
--George Santayana

simwitness

For me, I have been "out" for years... I guess you could say I DA'd myself when I was 15 (long story for another time)...for 20 years I "knew" that stuff wasn't right with the WTBS, and when I started looking at the net sites I started getting "vindication" for my thoughts and feelings... and more importantly I had the proof required to back them up. (You see my dad is a _very_ active elder).

My recent journey actually began on Ebay, when I decided to start looking for the oldest books, the "Studies in Scriptures" don't know why I wanted them, just knew I had to have them eventually... what an eye opener they were! That led me to the Free-Minds site and a few others, and eventually here.

I have learned more in the past 3-4 months about the "bible", the WTBS, and many other things then I ever did earlier on.

Many thanks to all the friends here.

2SYN

It's much like the tactics often used by large software companies with a lot of market share to dissaude people from buying their competitors' products: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. (FUD). Fear - Fear the Unknown, our product is familiar! Uncertainty - Who knows what might happen to you? Doubt - Their software doesn't perform as well as our software, and crashes more!

"Until they become conscious, they will never rebel. Until they rebel, they will never become conscious." - George Orwell

Matty

Hmm... Is Bill Gates a JW? He is looking forward to an armageddon when Lotus, Adobe, Sun, Linux are all destroyed!

How many found the REAL truth from the internet?

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