What Was The Final Straw That Made You Leave The Organisation?

by SpannerintheWorks 60 Replies latest jw friends

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  Dansk

  It is quite incredible how evil this Society can be!

  SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  SpannerintheWorks

  Dansk,

  It is quite incredible how evil this Society can be!

  SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Well, Dansk, "we" seem to be doing quite a lot about it! Spanner
• 

  blackout

  For me it was the generation change, only I didn't even realise they had changed it until 1998 because I had been so 'slack' with meeting attendance, I was on the way out, the generation change was the last straw, especially how there was no explanation of why and it was obvious it was just because the time had run out, they were almost all dead.
• 

  anglise

  No final straw, just an accumulation of bales.

  The double standards for those of the 'in crowd'.

  The unkindness of most elders.

  The unhappiness of most r&f brothers and sisters.

  Weariness of trying to make it work. Other half was an elder trying to go against the WTBTS tide. He wasnt a society man, we can see that now with hindsight, but at the time we thought the problems were just local ones with busy body elders.

  The generation change had a big impact on how we then viewed all the societies literature. We came to see how often you could have 2 diametrically opposed items even on one service meeting. We would sit and pull them to bits at the hall during the talks to each other. We also started to show our children.

  I dont know how we lasted so long after that.

  Anglise
• 

  ashitaka

  SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Nothing, bro. IMO, we just have to start over, and get away from the people who abused us. I'm sure not going to fight the JWs for the rest of my life.

  ash
• 

  kilroy2

  For me
• 

  kilroy2

  Sorry,will start again,For me it was when an awake or tower, cant remember now,came out saying that it would be wrong and un christian to use a weapon to defend your self from an attaker. I keep several firearms including hand guns,and have taken a lot of flak from elders who are antigun. I decided to write a letter to the hq. and tell them [respectfully]that the scripture did not agree [imho] that christ said that he who has no sword should sell his outter garment and purchase one. that the apostales had 2 the night befor he was taken ect. I was so afraid because i knew that thay would wright a letter to me trashing me and my line of thought, making me look so stupid as thay in my mind were so supiror to me. the letter i got back was the most febile picece of pablem i have ever read. this emboldened me to write more and question harder. then in 95 the artical in the tower that the generation had been changed [and that it was not changed, just the rank and file were to stupid to understand and our glorious leaders would set us straight.] that was no straw it was a steel I beam. one that the camel could have never suported. and then along came the internet with people like randy waters and ray franz and many others who we can stand on thair shoulders and see farther than we ever could on our own. what i saw was the power that the dubs and the elders co's do's and what ever's have over me was the power I me gave them. I pulled back the curtian and saw the silly old man. was not afraid , I just felt foolish for letting him bull shi% me for so long. I became bitter and still am some. but the road to wellsvill is long and diffrent for each individual. but I will get there one way or another in spite of thair treating me as a leper, its all thay know. I feel sorry for them thay are so lost and do not even know it. kind of like hansel and greatel who think thay have just found a ginger bread house in the woods and dont know about the pot boiling in the back with thair names on it. part of me wants to see them boil and the other part wants to scream out like you do at a movie the help the hero who does not see the villian, but just like at the movie you can do nothing. it is not up to us. the old saying thair are none so blind as those who will not see.

  healing in vanderbiult michingan walter hook
• 

  og

  The 1995 change of the meaning of 'generation' got me thinking. It was such a core teaching for so long, and was being tossed aside so lightly. I distinctly remember trying to discuss this with others in the congo, and getting nowhere.

  I then spent more than 5 years assuming that I was weak and wicked and that was why I was having such doubts.

  Then... I started to realize what bloody bigots all us Witnesses were. I started to hit JW dissident sites on the - wait for it - Internet. I ran across the writings of our own Alan Fueurbacher (sp?) and two issues in particular got me thinking: clearly there had been no world flood 4,500 years ago, and equally clearly 607 and thus 1914 was totally bogus. Let me publicly thank AlanF for his clear, calm writings and for a phone call I made to him around that period of time. He is an absolutely sterling gentleman who has helped me and many others.

  So... I met with the elders. I can remember sobbing, wishing desperately that I could keep believing, vividly aware of all the pain in store for me and my family. Then I wrote the proverbial 'letter to the Society' - response, 'it's so because we say it's so' with much use fo the word 'evidently' which means, 'we have no evidence for what we're about to say'. Talked with an elder I respected at the time, and realized that he was eager to believe black was white if that's what the Society said.

  And after all this, I was still rather believing that I was the one who was being weak. The brain is weird. But one day, reading Watter's site, I suddenly realized that it wasn't true. That none of it was true. And with that, 17 years of mental structure fell away in an instant. I imagine that if I ever achieve 'enlightenment', it will be a very similar experience.

  Thanks to everyone sharing their stories - I'm enjoying reading them.
• 

  xjw_b12

  Wife and I had already faded. Lack of love in the congregation, blood issue over our son and his surgery, reading C of C ( Ray should have named it the " Real Truth " book ), etc, etc, etc.

  I was at home one day, a Saturday I believe, and the TV in the livingroom was on, and I overheard the CNN Headline News newscaster say " Jehovah's Witnesses" , but by the time I zeroed in it was over. So I watched for the repeat, and sure enough within the hour it was back on. Just a short story, about how JW,s had changed their reasoning, and the " end was now fluid " ....I think was the expression used.

  After talking with my dad, I compared how the WBTS had changed the wording of their " Mission Statement " on the inside of the cover of the AWAKE....November 8, issue I believe.

  Pre 1995
  

  Awake is for the enlightenment of the entire family. It shows how to cope with today's problems. It reports the news, tells about people in many lands, examines religion and science. But it does more. It probes beneath the surface and points to the real meaning behind current events, yet it stays politically neutral and does not exalt one race above another.
  Most importantly, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure New Order before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away.

  Post 1995:

  Awake is for the enlightenment of the entire family. It shows how to cope with today's problems. It reports the news, tells about people in many lands, examines religion and science. But it does more. It probes beneath the surface and points to the real meaning behind current events, yet it stays politically neutral and does not exalt one race above another.
  Most important, this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world that is about to replace the present wicked, lawless system of things.

  The 1914 generation teaching had been quietly dumped. I took this as basically the WBTS was calling god a liar !

  When 2 elders came by on a shepherding call some time later, I pointed this out to them. One elder was aware of it, but obviously they weren't talking much because the 2nd elder was flabbergasted.

  That change in policy was the last nail in the coffin.

  Thanks to Expatbrit for posting this info in a 2001 thread.

  " Millions Now Living Will Never Die Know " xjw_b12
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  jschwehm

  Hi Gang:

  For me the final straw was the 1914 generation change. I had left Bethel in 1988 and had done research on the whole 607/1914 teachings are realized the Watchtower was clueless on this. I had hoped that some day they would just be honest and admit that they were wrong. When the generation of 1914 article came out and I saw the mental masturbation that they went through to justify themselves, I realized just how intellectually dishonest they are. It was at that point that I realized it was time to leave.

  Jeff S.