Why did you choose Jehovahs Witnesses? (page 2)

ToesUp

Born in. Wish I had been one that could make a choice. I certainly would not have chosen the JW's!

truthseeker100

Born in. Sigh! Proverbs 22:6 "Bring up a boy according to the cult when he grows old he will hate the cult".So true. Note: Actual biblical quote not exactly as shown.

Born in. I don't think I ever "made the truth my own" (well I did, just not "the truth"). I waited until I was 19 to get baptized because I was waiting until I felt a need to do it. I knew all the doctrine backwards and forwards but it still didn't feel right to me. If god wanted to kill me because things didn't sit right with me and I acted accordingly, then he was no god that I wanted to serve.

One of my biggest reservations was the rules around dating (it seemed stupid to make kids wait until they're dating with a view to marriage since I'd seen that lead to hasty marriages a number of times. Also, how do you ever really get to know someone if you have to be chaperoned all the time?) and the apparent lack of girls that had any ambition in life beyond getting married and maybe pioneering. Then I met one that was going to college and wanted to do something with herself beyond be in the cult. She barely ever talked about cult stuff, which was great for me. I fell hard and then she broke up with me (in hindsight, I think this may have had something to do with my father). One day, while I was emotionally distraught from the break-up, my father walked into my bedroom and started talking about her but didn't take long to get to his point - he asked me "Did she know you weren't baptized?" I said "It never came up so I assume she didn't" His response was "What do you think she would've thought if she knew?" And that was it - I thought this must be a message from god - he showed me that I could find love in the cult but took it away because I wasn't baptized. I'd never be happy unless I was baptized. So I went for it at the next convention. At that point I was stuck and just trying to make it work.

OnTheWayOut

I was exposed to JW's as a child. My mother was told the end of the world was arriving in 1975. She was kicked out in 1976 when it didn't come but went back (without me) a few years later. So, while I was not a JW, it was the only religion I knew. When, as a young 20's adult, I had life issues and dealt with substance abuse, I attempted suicide, and felt that God stopped me, I was primed to join a cult.... and my mother sent Jehovah's Witnesses back into my life.

They verified that God did prevent my suicide in the manner I believed and they told me that God has a purpose for me, just as I suspected He did.

In short, I. needed psychological help, but got played by goofballs who seemed normal and used my need for help to take advantage and have me sell their magazines.

Londo111

Born in: third generation from both sides of my family. Both my grandfathers were elders. My father was an elder, a presiding overseer sometimes. For a brief span, my grandfather, grandmother, mother and myself were all regular pioneering at the same time.

What chance did I have to make an informed decision? I became an unbaptized publisher at 8…I don’t remember making that ‘decision’. When I was 15, I saw other kids getting baptized and felt it was something I should do too. When I was 17 and going through a period of doubts about the religion and entertaining the idea of joining another, my father threatened to throw me out the moment I turned 18 and called in a persuasive, charismatic elder that swayed me back.

All information I was ever given was one sided: 607, 1914, the 1260 days, 1919, ect… and I had no access to factual information that gave a more complete picture. Based on the ‘information’ I was given, it did seem like it was the “Truth”.

Muddy Waters

My experience was a bit like yours, Kate Wild. I was 20, but in a totally bad place in my life, everything was going to hell, and a young beautiful pioneer sister began calling on me.

I wanted to be like her. She was so put together, so happy (she really was! She was one of those super-pioneers whose whole life was the truth), and her life was all sparkly and wonderful... There finally seemed to be a beautiful purpose to life... a wonderful loving God to serve (I became totally indoctrinated very quickly!), a whole association of brothers and sisters worldwide... and a paradise earth!

I bought it, hook, line, and sinker, and wouldn't escape for close to 30 years as I slowly began to wake up again.

...

"May God, or the universe, or airborne spaghetti, or energies or wavelengths or frequencies, or quantum particles that somehow attract things to us, or telepathic manipulation by aliens -- bless you. And may you have peace and a good day. And if you are not having a good day, may you find at least a moment of something good in your day."

- Muddy

Heaven

I'm 3rd gen, born-in, never baptized. I have a very analytical, logical mind which cannot work in a world that accepts myth and fantasy as reality and fact.

TheFadingAlbatros

In reality I have chosen Jehovah, or God or the Allmighty God, or the God of Love or the Creator. Please make your choice ! After more than forty I have decided to put the WT witnesses in a rubbish bin (including some family members), the same way they have done with me when I have decided to officially dissociate myself for reasons of conscience and other personal reasons begin of 2015 after J.C.

Life is nice, especially when you still have some children not trapped in this American cult and that they respect you as a father.

My Name is of No Consequence

I'm a third generation witness, so I guess the decision was already made for me. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to have grown up "normal".

Dagney

I used to pray for years I was so thankful I was born in because I would never have believed it if I wasn't.

Edited to add: Sorry, forgot to answer the part about making it my own. I think because you life is just so immersed with the activities, you don't even consider there are any other options. All the meetings, service, conventions, activities...it's the greater part of your life...everything else is secondary. So I guess it was more "this is my life." I had niggles all along about things that didn't make sense to me, even as a teen a million years ago. Also, knew a lot of nice people. We spent a year as a need greater when I was 15, and knowing some of the finest, kindest people made a lasting impression.

It took me too long to leave though.

Why did you choose Jehovahs Witnesses?