Guilt is in the eye of the beholder. Families will suggest that you are deserting the Truth and the heritage of our families. That is their way of trying to make you feel guilty but it never worked on me.
Did You Ever Feel Guilty Because You Deserted The JW Religion?
by minimus 27 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
Guilt is in the eye of the beholder. Families will suggest that you are deserting the Truth and the heritage of our families. That is their way of trying to make you feel guilty but it never worked on me.
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Ucantnome
when i first started to leave i felt some guilt as i thought i could be wrong. My decision affected my family and their future. I also felt bad about my dedication. It changed.
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nancy drew
During my last 6 months in the org i felt it all unraveling and i felt uneasy but at the same time i knew it was over and it was just another dead end that i could check off my quest for the meaning of life list. It accually helped me to understand some of the pitfalls and traps in my own critical thinking ability.
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snare&racket
They make you doubt your own mind and thinking, they even tell you YOUR heart is treacherous.....(never say that about themselves).....so when you are leaving and you haven't realised that this is all part of the indoctrination, it causes emitions such as concern, doubt and fewr, but the information is readily available to prove you are right in leaving and wrong in staying. Guilt seems the wrong word, I never felt I was doing anything wrong in leaving, quite the opposite... hence my slow decline in answering, doing talks and then preaching..... i felt guilty doing those activities once i knew it was all a lie.
THE RELIEF was immense the night the elders didnt answer ONE of my questions, they went from saying 'this is Jehovah using you to clean his organisation' to within an hour saying 'it is best you dont attend anymore'
I got on my motorbike knowing 25 years was done, ended, I think I always knew it would one day and here it was..... I was smiling as I rode home. The elders by their actions had just proved to me it was all a lie. A con man selling dodgy timeshares to a room full of people.....someone puts their hand up and asks seversl legitimate questions of concern and presents financial data contradicting what he had already said... hecang answers your questions and concerns with evidence because its a lie. so when he says 'shhhh you cant ask those questions!' you know its a lie! Some stay to hear the rest of the salespitch, but when you put your hand uo again and demand answers & he gets his mates to man handle you out the meeting and tells you its best you stay away..... you know they dont have the answers and you have been seperated out to stop others hearing your questions.
This says alot about elders and their own conpliance in the Watchtower game.
But Just as s man leaving such a time share or pyramid sale meeting would leave relieved he had not wasted any more time and got out.... thats how i felt, i find it odd that some feel guilt, that conveys a concern it may all be true. But I understsnd that some leave earlier than I did (fair dues to you) maybe with less proof od it being garbage so doubting themselves.
As for family still in it, I know it is a dangerous, harmfull, mind control group....so I don't feel guilt about showing them they CAN leave and why! By leaving I have seen 7 family members follow me out....it took about 6 years but its fantastic! Some remain in and I dread their stubborness may cost them a lifetime of regret.
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donny
The only thing I miss is a few individuals I was close to. Other than that, nada.
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Phizzy
Not at all. They lied to me for decades. The individual JW's I knew were in the main nice people, but they are deluded, so I feel no loss from no longer seeing them.
No guilt at all for leaving, ever, rather the opposite, a sense of pride that I have my integrity.
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love2Bworldly
Well I did feel extremely guilty for many years until I did the research on the internet and realized I had been duped and it was all BS. I didn't leave due to doctrine, I left because I couldn't take the isolating lifestyle of being cut off from other people-- since I am suffering from bipolar depression, it was SO overwhelming to be constantly told that everything was evil and bad and I could never enjoy anything.
When I turned 21, I had been missing more and more meetings and was just not caring anymore (after years of literally never missing a meeting and never missing turning in field service reports). I wanted to live a normal life, get married, have kids etc.
Thank god for the internet! I really had my eyes opened. I do miss having a relationship with my JW sister, but she is so mentally ill that it's better off that we don't speak.