by SpannerintheWorks 60 Replies latest jw friends
As a faithful and zealous witness, nothing can question your faith. But one day, something does! You begin to have doubts. You fabricate any number of excuses. Eventually, the final straw breaks the camel's back!
What was that "final straw" in your case?
Spanner
I'm not really out yet, but I've been inactive for a while. A few things made me stop: 1) Child abuse cover-ups 2) UN issue (couldn't BELIEVE that one!!!) 3) all my "friends" in the truth becoming more and more intolerant and sometimes just mean and nasty. I believe they feel that just because they are JWs, what they say and do behind people's backs just doesn't count and they they are just so special. YUK. Also, the way a certain congregation (which shall remain nameless) has continually for years and years been "out to get" certain ones that they just don't like. This cannot be God's chosen organization. May have been in the past... but I don't know.
Hi JBean!
I'm not really out yet,
Would you like to be?
2) UN issue (couldn't BELIEVE that one!!!)
Could you explain EXACTLY why you felt that way? It is VERY important!
Spanner
Falling in Love
I was already pretty much inactive with the doubts (actually knowledge that things weren't right moreso than doubts) I had. But what was the clincher that made me take steps to never go tot eh Kingdom Hall again was the article in the Watchtower when they blamed the individual JW who was imprisoned over the conscientious objector/alternative work arrangments as if it was all their own doing thereby absolving the Society of any of the blame.
As much as I was already repulsed by a lot of what the Society had done and was doing, that article send me over the edge and made me realize I had enough.
I was "Uzzah" while I was still active and I guess I have continued that role ..still trying to 'steady the ark' The cool part is God hasn't struck me down yet ..what does that tell ya? smirking
Uzzah
a sis form the "in crowd" committed adultry and was not even reproved. She and her husband quietly divorced and each remarried, he in good standing and she privately. They gave her a shower. No explanation was ever given to the congregation, it just happended. i was so disgusted by this, i walked out the door and said, i'd never come back.
There were other things, and it took a long time for me to get to this level of disgust, but it finally happened.
Hi Spanner... : )
Ummm, yeah, I think I would really like to be but it's a case of needing to move vvveeeerrryyyy slowly. My entire family is in and I really don't relish the thought of being DF'd. They (as well as the congregation) are leaving me alone for now... not quite sure why... maybe it's because I travel a lot for work and am never home anyway... I don't know. But it's a lot easier than being harrassed all the time about things. Anyway...the UN issue.
Well.. all I can say about that is that there is a TON of proof that they were involved... to me, it isn't a question of a little or a lot... they were involved PERIOD. I grew up being taught and believing that the UN was evil, and that we shouldn't GO NEAR anything political, etc. Well! The knowledge that they did have even a tiny bit of involvement... and HID IT FROM THE MEMBERS OF THE ORGANIZATION... and CONTINUE to hide it... that was it. I still find some of their teachings to be ok... but as they say themselves: It has to be all or nothing... and so obviously, it's nothing. I may not have answered your question correctly... you stated it was very important. All I can do is refer you to very old posts... like from a year or so ago... on the UN issue and it should answer all your questions. Hope this helped! Jbean
I think the final straw was an October 8, 1982 Awake! article that tried to argue that some animals became predators because Adam and Eve sinned. The reasoning was so ridiculous that it became unarguable that the men who put forth this nonsense as being "spiritual food in due season" were totally clueless. Their claims irritated me for another year before I acted. At the end of 1983 I became permanently "inactive". I was sitting in a car group with three other men, doing return visits (hardly any were home) one rainy December Saturday. I sat there wondering what in hell I was doing, just going to a door every 15 minutes and verifying that indeed no one was home, and having meaningless conversations with the other JWs in the car. I made a definite decision: I would not attend another meeting or go in field service ever again.
What led up to this was my gradual realization that Watchtower writers were clueless about science, but wrote as if God himself were speaking. The Society's continual ranting against going to college also grated. I gradually realized that these men are not only clueless, but intellectually dishonest. Who would want to take direction from such people? Especially given their arrogance in claiming to speak for God?
AlanF
Life. I didn't have one and I needed to get one.
Tammy
When I was accused of something I never did.I found out who my true friends were.Sadly only one person stood by me and I have lost contact with him.Would do anything to be able to thank him. I find it ironic... that I'm going through the same thing here.
