Did you AWAKEN from the JWs by yourself? (page 4)

JeffT

Wife and I left on our own, the Watchtower's own words were enough to push us away. Some research at the library confirmed for us that we wanted no part of this religion. The internet did not exist then (1988). After we left we joined a once a month support group for a year or so.

JW GoneBad

WT kept warning, admonishing and urging the rank & file to be careful of apostate websites.

So one day I says to myself..."What the hell!" And the rest is history!

Thank you JWN!!!

Ajax

JWdaughter-

That was funny about the little girl in the parade - MORONS

And good on you for chirping out those questions as a quiet intelligent teen!

stuckinarut2

Wow....so many great responses!

ohnightdivine

I was not 100% convinced this was the "only true religion" when I got dunked in the pool, and I actually read about how the WT protects its sex offenders

even before I decided to become one of the "sisters."

I needed and wanted the love bombing at the time so I chose to ignore the small voice in my head.

A few years down the road, I came to realize that there really was no genuine love in the congregation, that we were being "educated" through use of fear and guilt-inducing words, that almost all members are materialistic, some even more than other non-JW people I know. Ultimately, it was the holier-than-thou attitude that awakened me fully.

stuckinarut2

Ohnightdivine....great comments!

Yes indeed...the fake and conditional friendships, and the use of fear and guilt is such a key point!

And yes, I agree...the 'holier than thou' judgemental attitude toward both witnesses and "worldly" people really sucks!

Ajax

Directions from the Watchtower Society started my awakening.

At a big District Assembly in the early 80s, all the brothers in charge of the literature counter were to meet during the lunch hour.

We were instructed to take a prepared¨News Release¨to any newspapers in our territory, in the hope that they would print the stupid propaganda shit.

The news release was about the assembly of course and started out - ¨At a convention of thousands of JWs, recently gathered at...blah, blah...

The release ended with a prewritten quote to which we were each expected to acknowledge as our own quote - (to give it that personal, local interest). The last sentence was ¨...blah, blah, blah.¨ Ajax said.¨ - we were all separately to falsely credit the same prefabricated quote to ourselves by inserting our own names!

I was not well educated, and don´t believe I had ever heard the phrase ¨intellectual dishonesty¨, ánd certainly didn´t understood the depths of journalistic integrityuntil a later time when i began to actually read widely, but I knew that this was just plain wrong.

That a publishing company would knowingly distribute a falsified quotation to be printed by other unsuspecting news publishers wrankles me still.

That sneaky bit of dishonesty helped me to read between the lines of Watchtower BS at CO visits and elders meetings until I Quit Quietly a few years later.

Ginx

Thank you for starting this thread cultBgone.

It's informative and hopeful.

Blackfalcon98

Somewhat. I started awakening before my baptism....as a child I HATED THE STANCE ON EDUCATION. I love school and the no higher-education stance was total bologna. Needless to say I went to college anyways! Fast forward a few yrs and I see the politics of appointment, the depression of family members, the unchristian characteristics of those in authority.....and I have serious doubts. SO yes....I had doubts on my own....when I came here as a lurker I awakened. Then I read CofC, Combating Cult Mind Control, done further research, got counciling, and now Im planning a fade after college.

Hortensia

I was all by myself, actually. Severely depressed, just quit going because I had lost all hope. Began to feel better, felt sick if I contemplated going to a meeting but otherwise started to enjoy life again. I had been out for several years before I met an ex-JW. She recommended Barbara Grizzuti Harrison's book, Visions of Glory. That book made a terrific impression on me, really helped me see what a load of BS the wtbts is.

Did you AWAKEN from the JWs by yourself?

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