Period of time from crack to avalanche

by NeverKnew 21 Replies latest jw friends

  • NeverKnew
    NeverKnew

    I know, people are very different and have different levels of holds to the organization, but I'm insanely curious about how long an exposure to TTATT may marinate before culminating into an action to research further.

    From your earliest memory of a planted seed due to an event, challenge from another person, accidental website hit... whatever... (the crack) to the time the TTATT became a reality, (the avalanche), how much time expired?

    I guess we have to remember that everyone here is a success story and that for many, it may be never.

  • nicolaou
    nicolaou

    As I recall it was maybe 2 months, once the information 'avalanche' started it was irresistable. Of course, fully extricating myself and my family took much longer but I was mentally free after those 8 or 9 weeks, and that was after more than 30 years as a fully paid up cult member!

    Looking back, I think the speed of my exit proved that the cult's hold over me was illusory. It didn't take much to see past the smoke and mirrors - just a prompt to get me researching . . .

    Hmmm

  • arwen
    arwen

    Two months.

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    I have looked back over my life and realise that the "avalanche" was waiting to happen for decades. The cracks were many, the whole thing was unstable.

    The Internet was not there for me for most of this period, and I was not very computer literate in its early days, so I had no where to find answers easily, the WT/JW org kept me in ignorance.

    Eventually I realised 1914 was not in the Bible and the whole JW Theology fell apart, this was in about 10 minutes !

    Of course, there followed a number of months of research, but in those weeks I already knew that the JW religion was false, I was looking for "the truth" elsewhere.

    I think with most there is an eventual tipping point, rarely Doctrinal, usually the lack of love, where the JW "Scam Posing as a Religion" cannot be tolerated anymore, then the avalanche begins.

  • talesin
    talesin

    It was a spontaneous reaction. My friend suicided because he was gay, I got very sick and when I literally woke up from a long (several months) illness, I realized that I didn't believe it was the "Truth". The lies, the hypocrisy, just hit me in the face - BOOM!

    Was I lost without friends or family? yes

    Did I know what to do? no

    Was I ever going back to the KH? no

    And, many, many years later, I am happy to say that I have never set foot in a KH since 1976. It's been a rough road, but to any teen who is reading, and wondering if they can survive the shunning ---- YES YOU CAN. And life is so much better, when you are free from "Jehovah".

    xo

    tal

  • steve2
    steve2

    In the early 1980s, I was contemplating suicide because I could not reconcile my growing doubts about the organization. Elders had succeeded in making me conclude my doubts were due to an impure heart. In the midst of this most depressing time in my life, news broke about Ray Franz. I read the account in Time magazine and in a shocking instant realized I was not going mad: Others far worthier than me had also concluded the organization was corrupt from the top down. My heart's purity or impurity had nothing to do with the Watchtower's dreadful history of failed predictions, changed and re-changed teachings and human rights abuses.

    So, whilst I had struggled with doubt for years, once I realized others of stronger spirituality than mine had very similar doubts, I rapidly developed a plan of action to get out...and, more importantly, without the need to take my life in doing so. From realization to exodus? About 6 months.

  • The Searcher
    The Searcher

    Having received a totally "literature based" reply from Patterson in response to my letter regarding the Org's blatant false teaching about Romans 6:7, alarm bells started ringing and from then on, I applied Proverbs 2:2-6.

    From that point onwards, the trickle became a flood and the Org with its present day lies and all its historical skeletons became exposed!

    Sharing this 'good news' tactfully with those I care about, is now paramount.

  • Ajax
    Ajax

    About 5 years from seeing my first irrefutable public evidence that there were weasels at the top.

    This happened at a District Convention and never left a irritated little spot at the back of my mind.

    I had been raised Anglican by very ordinary hardworking parents who were quiet, humble and honest to a fault.

    WT Society directions had instructed some of us 'appointed' brothers at the assembly to do something my parents would never have done.

    It never left my mind.

  • disposable hero of hypocrisy
    disposable hero of hypocrisy

    Ooh that's intriguing AJAX, can you tell us what it was?

  • stillin
    stillin

    I'm still in the Avalanche

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