What was your eye opening moment? (page 3)

disillusioned 2

1975, the generation, then discovering the history of the org, that they said millions now living will never die in the 20s; I was shocked.

There are so many aspects i could focus on, but I remember researching a certain issue that I was going through at the time, and came across 'Beth Sarim', I had never heard of it before. Boy did they work hard to bury that one, and for good reason! I was like, if they covered this thing up about their past, and it was even a LIFE magazine article!, what else have they covered up? Then I came across some of Russell's more bizarre teachings. Miracle wheat, proving the date 1914 by counting the steps inside the Great Pyramid etc. Crazy, crazy stuff. But it was later, when I really researched doctrine and how they changed scriptures to demote Jesus that I decided I had to leave, because i saw there was something truly sinister, not just crazy, about this cult.

StrongHaiku

Reading Joseph Campbell (e.g. "The Power of Myth") helped me to understand that there were a large number of gods, religions, rituals, stories, holy books, beliefs, etc. It was the first I realized that everyone thinks they are completely right about their religion, including me. It helped me to appreciate how people created these over time and that the JWs (including myself) did not have a privileged position in the continuum of beliefs and religions.

Ding

1. Seeing that many of the doctrines relied on selective quotations of passages and verses taken out of context.

2. Seeing the incredible string of false prophecies.

3. Seeing that the length of the Great Pyramid passageway somehow grew by 40 inches from one edition of a book to another in order to support a change from an 1874 "invisible presence" to a 1914 "invisible presence". No way this one was just "new light" or a better understanding.

4. Then I started wondering why it's relevant how many INCHES there are in a pyramid passageway. Even if the pyramid was somehow prophetic, neither the Egyptians nor the Hebrews measured distances in feet and inches.

iwasblind

For me there was a lot of red flags that started me thinking something is wrong here, but I never blamed the GB - it was the people not doing what we are supposed to. My wife had questioned stuff for years but we just put it in the "too hard" basket.

For me the July 15 2013 WT was what broke my trust in the GB. Then I started researching the scriptures and like Fayedunaway I saw how they changed the bible to suit themselves.

Tornintwo

G

I could never accept that only witnesses would survive at Armageddon, I internalized my own thoughts 'Jehovah is the judge and he is merciful etc'

Then seeing first hand how much pressure the teenagers are under. They have to avoid association with their school friends whilst often not finding good friends in the cong, then as soon as they stray ever so slightly (eg. They spend a little time with 'worldly' friends), the jw 'friends' push them out. It's a lose lose situation. Then if they leave their whole community drops them instantly, conditional love.

that led me to think about shunning and the effect on vulnerable young people..Around the same time I read the ridiculous WT not to even email your df'd children...

On the subject of jw children I found newspaper articles about child abuse... deeply shocking, thought how can Jehovah be with this organisation?

which finally allowed me to listen to my doubts, found silent lambs, then jw facts and this forum

which lead me full circle to realize the society DOES teach only JWS will survive and that is arrogant and sick. 1:1000. With population growing by 228000 every day... more children to die at Armageddon.

problemaddict 2

Blood. I simply felt that I had discovered that "we" were wrong, and that if i could speak to others about it, write the branch, talk tot he elders....that we would be able to change it and affect the brotherhood for good.

Nope.

The response was viserol, and it removed my cult personality. Pretty soon i was standing on the outside of it, ashamed of what i had been a part of, calculating how not to lose my life.

aintenoughwiskey

It wasn't so much a moment as several years of working my ass off on the hamster wheel called reaching out. While those with clergy connections did nothing and got the nod. Some of the appointed were psycho's who took glee in the misery of others. One was barely literate, and had his (prescription) opiate pill popping wife prepare his meeting parts. It still gets me wound up thinking about it.

Bonsai

Natural disasters. Especially the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. One nitwit elder tried to tell me that god was exempt from blood guilt in not warning people because he didn't know it was going to happen. He explained that at times, god chooses to block his ability to foresee things that will happen in the future. God getting plausible deniability did not sit well with me. We are supposed to witness to the nations that an impending calamity is going to destroy this world, yet god can't take the time to warn innocent children and grandmas to get ready for a destructive earthquake that only god could know about or prevent from happening. If god doesn't care about warning people, why should I?

joe134cd

That the president of the Wt society responsible for fulfilling bible prophecy was a raging alcoholic. Constant need of refurbishments. Down sizing. Why did Jesus carry the stake on his back when it would of been so much more practical to have dragged it under his body. Why was the sign on the stake placed above his head and not his hands. Why were the plural forms of nail(s) and hand(s) used. When one big one would of sufficed.

What was your eye opening moment?