That talk at the assembly where...

?evrything

...Someone who was disfellowshipped ended up goin to a bar getting into a fight/getting preggo or somethin of the nature and then realized how pitiful their life had become. They then 'prayed' to Jah and wala the light clicked and they came back and feel better then ever!!

sigh. Makes me think the reason they left in the 1st place is because their parents sheltered them so much. Those talks always made me feel like disfellowshipped peoples lives must really be bad. Then one day as I was older an newly appointed elder gave that experience and that time it had the opposite effect on me since I knew he still partook of his "wordly habits.

But back to the talk. Now it also makes me wonder how many abortions and cover up lies that go on to cover up the protected ones. No way Elder Joe Blows kid got preggo as long as he had anything to say about it.

humbled

You are brave to start this "operation". How you do it--well, every method has its own effects, good and bad. No way to do it without consequences though. So don't fret needlessly about strategy. You are cutting the WT off and out of your life after it has grown into you. It is bound to hurt some ways.

It is going to be better. Just remember. IT WILL BE BETTER.

Take care, ?evrything.

Edit: How did I post here? I meant this to go on your thread about sending your message to your parents about leaving the Org.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

I think it's a tactic that every religion uses, and probably even political parties use it. Someone leaves their special group and their life goes to ruin. Repentantly, they come crawling back to the group and are "saved".

There are plenty of experiences where kids leave the JWs and go on to leave happy and productive lives. Those stories aren't repeated at the JW Discrap Crapventions.

ILoveTTATT

?everything:

Just like Billy said, CULTS do exactly that: they instill fear into people. Part of the BITE control model:

If you leave, they say, horrible things will happen to you.

Reality: YOU ARE FREE NOW! GO AND ENJOY A HAPPY AND FREE LIFE!!

;)

Mandette

And I'm one of them. I left over 15 yrs ago. I didn't go get pregnant, get addicted to drugs/alcohol or land in jail. Life wasn't perfect but it was a hell of lot better than being in that cult! I've gone to college. I've got a career. I'm 7 years from retirement. I have a pension that I worked hard for. There's been bumps in the road. But it's nothing like what would've happened if I followed some chauvanistic elders advice.

WTWizard

I quit the jokehovians by not going in field circus after the middle of 2005. So far, I have smoked a total of zero cancer sticks, sold zero drugs, taken zero street drugs, shot zero people, and did zero robberies. Zero. That means I managed to not get involved in that crap, despite not being among the jokehovians. Despite listening to music that speaks about these things. Despite visiting apostate web sites--on purpose.

Now, how many jokehovians do zero of these things? I would be willing to bet that many a jokehovian takes street drugs, smokes, or regularly gets drunk behind everyone's back. Enough of the witlesses get involved in crimes--including robberies and even murders--that it makes the news from time to time, with who knows how much more going on that the hounders are suppressing. Pedophiles are a dime (a regular one, not a silver one) a dozen within the jokehovian witless congregations. Extortion is common. Yet, nothing is done about it.

Now, if I quit that religion and not gotten myself involved with drugs or robberies as the washtowel suggests that those who leave get involved with, can they really say they are more virtuous? Pedophiles within the ranks, and the occasional kidnapping or murder within the congregation inculding beating children to death, and the hiding it from the public, being more virtuous? Yet, they complain because I now "worship the sun" and no longer waste my time in field circus.

As for those who do get involved with homosexuality after leaving the cancer, or that become promiscuous, what is wrong with that? The jokehovians have a rafter in their eyes that could extend to the orbit of Saturn, yet they are trying to extract a harmless straw that is less than a nanometer? Whine about those who practice homosexuality or promiscuity, or both, while they go around molesting children and then silencing them under threat of damnation, and then claim to be righteous? Or those who kidnap children behind the backs of the congregation, or who steal and cheat, while claiming those who leave get involved with robberies? Then why did I not do any of the above?

man in black

Interesting comments. I would like to use the example of my son, who really got the ball rolling regarding leaving the jws for me.

He went to college, got his degree.

Two years ago he started an animation business, ( using several ex-jws as characters for his cartoons, and musical scores).

And now he is buying his first house, my wife and I are just in awe regarding what he did after leaving the religion.

He is not a drug-user, and he has a very well respected reputation regarding people in the industry.

If you are interested in some of his work, go to you tube and type in Noob Adventures.

This example will never be used in an assembly Im sure.

man in black

And I would like to comment on the fact that when I was in HS, the three sons of the presiding overseer showed me the real meaning of being a "worldly person". We would smoke, drink, date girls, use various drugs, and then go to the hall and be commended as to how wonderful and example we all were for the congregation ! If my parents never had gotten involved with the witnesses, my life wojuld have been much more cleaner, and honest I have absolutley no doubt regarding that.

sd-7

I remember hearing those stories in talks--and there were innumerable iterations of them--and I'm not sure when it was that I started to question it, but it was certainly long before I started doubting things as a whole. One of the big things that educated me on the outside world was, ironically, the recruitment work. I'd go out and see the ordinary people going about their lives. I'd think, none of them look particularly unhappy. If anything, the people inside the KH look stressed and distraught. They look like the ones who are 'sighing and groaning', and not because of the outside world, either.

I used to think, well, maybe this person shouldn't have gone to that bar, you know? Maybe that wasn't the best environment for someone who knows next to nothing about the outside world. Maybe it's possible to have a gradual, peaceful transition to not being a JW. If only you just play your cards right, do it carefully.

Well, I didn't really get to see the best of what the outside world has to offer, myself. But I've made the best of the life I've ended up with. I'm still living with no more or less good or bad than would have happened anyway. If a person decides to get really drunk around total strangers or use drugs or engage in other risky behaviors, he or she assumes the risks associated and will likely find themselves in a bad situation. That is entirely unrelated to leaving a religion. That is related to making decisions that are in that person's best self-interest, or failing to do so.

--sd-7

Island Man

There is some truth to the idea (in some cases) that those who leave the organization experience hardship from poor, morally wreckless lifestyle choices. However, this has more to do with ex-JW's previous cult indoctrination rather than losing Jehovah's favor or being overcome by the world.

JWs - especially born-ins - have been subjected all their lives to an extremely negative, stereotypic view of people of the world and the morals of the world. The Watchtower organization has, through the use of the most extreme examples, given deluded JW the impression that the typical situation of the world is as bad as the most extreme cases they cite in their literature. In short, the Watchtower has inflated and exaggerated the true extent of the world's badness.

With this extreme impression of worldly living implanted in them, what do some born-in JWs who leave the organization do when they mentally resign to living a normal worldly life? They try to live the distorted, extreme, stereotypical versions that the organization's propaganda has misled them to think is typical of worldly living and they face disasterous consequences.

It's somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy: Watchtower claims those who leave the org. will face hardships in satan's world. The Watchtower paints worldly living as extremely reckless. Sheltered, born-in, indoctrinated ex-JW tries to live the Watchtower's fictional, reckless version of worldly living and faces hardships as a result.

Born-ins are especially vulnerable to this. Being sheltered from the world all their lives they have no idea of how to live in the world apart from Watchtower rules. Those who converted to JWs after previously living a normal, relatively balanced worldly life tend to be less vulnerable to post-exit destructive behavior as they know from previous experience how to live 'safely' in the world.

That talk at the assembly where...

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