by John Aquila 38 Replies latest jw experiences
3rd gen
looks pretty unanimous above....
I didn't lose anything since I was never interested hypocritical friendships so I never made or had a friend, ("the friends")...were never friends of mine. Rarely saw family and I never pushed my kids into the mind set since I had 3 worldly husbands.
yeah....very worth it.
Was it worth it? I honestly don't know yet.
It's been hard to start over.
No god and no justice and no afterlife.
What did I replace them with?
Freedom? What freedom? We live for a short while. We build up our assets and when we die (often suddenly) we lose everything.
This earth, on it's present course, is in deep trouble.
Can mankind unite quickly enough before it's too late?
I have my doubts...
It's been really hard to replace one set of hopes for another.
I hope things get better...
Yes it was worth it. I lost family, friends, and financially. Yet, I have a sister that will still talk with me, and several of my brothers I do not want any contact with so that is no hurt. My mom will not talk with me, even though I am not DF'd or DA'd. That is somewhat a bummer. But I try, I send her cards, call her when I am in town and leave messages on the phone.
I'm just glad not to be going to the Kingdom Hall every other day and twice on the weekend. Add in the time lost in Elders meetings, working on the kingdom hall, doing the lawn maintenance etc, and building other peoples kingdom halls. The time that the religion consumes is just unbelievable.
It is beyond difficult to maintain the "witness" life once the REAL truth has been learned....
What are you defining as 'it'?
Leaving something that had total control over me, not allowing me to think for myself or be the real me and causing me to have a nervous breakdown, I'd say yes. I just wished I had left earlier and my kids had not been subjected to such evil.
Being shunned by 99% of my friends and family was a sacrifice I had to make for getting my own life back.
Funny I just was just discussing this with the wife.
raised as witnesses. Few friends. Sacrifices. Etc. Then left as adults gave up the friends we had. Didn't have to.
but in a way I did, have to. To be honest.
Like everyone has said,
Yes it was damm worth it.
I lost all my friends that I built up over a lifetime. I lost a great woman of almost 30 years and we had a great marriage. I lost a great life style, a big home, and about a million dollars in the bank went to legal fees for the divorce and unbeknown to me, hundreds of thousands went to the Watchtower. And now I am living in a small apartment about 500 square-ft. And it’s hard to build up another large group of friends at this late point in my life.
But once you get through the hell of knowing you were scammed and a victim of a cult, the feelings and emotions of the freedom you now have are indescribable.
I need to have a measure of truth in my life. I could never go back to the WT and live a lie. Even if I would get back everything I’ve lost, I just couldn’t go back.
And like JakeM2012 said:
just glad not to be going to the Kingdom Hall every other day and twice on the weekend. Add in the time lost in Elders meetings, working on the kingdom hall, doing the lawn maintenance etc, and building other peoples kingdom halls. The time that the religion consumes is just unbelievable.
Was it worth it? …... No god and no justice and no afterlife.
My advice to you is;
That’s an assumption that you can’t proof absolutely and never will in this lifetime. So it really doesn’t matter if you do believe or don’t believe or don’t give a hoot.
Once I realized that we will never know those things you mentioned, I stopped searching for A complete answer. Then my life started getting better mentally and emotionally. Now I can concentrate on my physical well being.
Things do get better with time and a little effort.
