Hendrixgrip, for a guy who feels he doesn't have a lot to contribute, I'd say YOU HAVE A LOT TO CONTRIBUTE!
Everyone who successfully leaves the WTB&TS can help others, don't discredit your accomplishment, the WTB&TS FEARS you!
Hello
by Hendrixgrip 25 Replies latest jw experiences
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Hendrixgrip
Thank you all for the warm welcome. Tenacious, you are correct. Ive had a pretty good run but I will say successfully leaving with my family is my proudest accomplishment. In fact, toward the end, I went a little faster than I should have because my children were being indoctrinated and I had to put a stop to it. I knew I was putting my deliriously happy marriage at risk by pushing my wife, but I couldn’t tell my kids “I was so happy and I didn’t want to jeopardize that, so I let you get trapped in this lie.” How could I ever look at them again?
Steve2, you’re dead on. I was truly motivated to get baptized for 2 reasons. The first was “this generation won’t pass away...”. Then it did. The second was I believed Knorr prophisized that the League of Nations would turn into the un. Then I bought the phonograph copy of “peace can it last” and actually found an old awake footnote that the un had a number of members prior to that talk being formulated. I used to work in NY some and I noticed the proximity of the UN to WT. that wasn’t a prophesy, it was an observation.
DOC and John Prestor, that has been one of the most amazing things about this journey. I’m not an old guy, but it would be optimistic to call me middle aged. It has been wonderful getting to know and understand who I am, not who I’m supposed to be. Turns out I like me! I’m a pretty cool guy! And my wife is an amazing hottie! I try not to think of living a happy life as revenge because seeking revenge doesn’t seem healthy, but I do believe it contributes to the cognitive dissonance of those who observe me.
Ive been very fortunate along the way. My mother and my wife’s parents blew off the education stuff (much to the chagrin of my extended family). That has put us in a position where we don’t feel like we are playing catch up quite as bad. On that subject, an observation I have is that we all feel scarred, because we are. I’ve found that on different levels, everyone is scarred. That’s not to minimize our scars, just to say that for me there has been more therapy in listening than in talking.
Quick shout out out to thank Simon for this site and Paul at JWFacts. One of the largest values of this site to me has been understanding that everyone’s reasons for leaving are not the same as mine. I didn’t care at all that sister big mouth was ugly to me or the elders disagreed or whatever. I was even willing to give the head knockers in Brooklyn the latitude to be wrong. What got me was that they lied. The truncated quotes and quotes out of context. I remember conducting a book study and there was a quote from a Will and Ariel Durant publication that I owned validating 607. When I actually looked it up, I thought I was going to pass out. On a shepherding visit once I was shown the “growing tunnels” in volume 3 of studies in the scriptures when they had to adjust their timeline. I just couldn’t obscure this from my children.
Thank you all again for the warm welcome.
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unsure
Welcome!
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nowwhat?
Very good post. The overlapping generation was the last straw for me as well.
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smiddy3
Welcome aboard Hendrixgrip whatever contributions you make will be appreciated by many here .
Glad to here you got out as a family
That`s a bonus
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The Fall Guy
A very big welcome to you and yours, Hendrix.
As a former elder I'm sure you'll have a lot of knowledge and experiences to share which will help lurkers and faders alike. I was fortunate - I woke up when I was an unimportant Ministerial Servant. So glad I never "progressed."
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Xanthippe
I knew I was putting my deliriously happy marriage at risk by pushing my wife, but I couldn’t tell my kids “I was so happy and I didn’t want to jeopardize that, so I let you get trapped in this lie.” How could I ever look at them again?
Welcome and much admiration for your courage. It's so easy to ruin a vulnerable child's life but you stood up to this cult to save your kids' future.
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john.prestor
Hendrixguy, you got it down: don't live your life to piss them off (I mean, if it does you should chuckle a little and then move on, hahaha), live it because you like it, because it's you. It took me a long time to figure that out.
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FatFreek 2005
Hendrixguy, we are so proud of you. By the way what is this “growing tunnels” that you read about?
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Ding
Welcome!
It's very encouraging hearing success stories.
Most of the elders I knew seemed like total company men who would swallow anything the GB says.
That's how they got to be elders in the first place.
I wonder how many of them have serious doubts like you did.
I wonder how many of them will walk away and how many will just stuff it down and soldier on to the end (which is just around the corner).