For me, it was the UN affair. When I learned of it it hurt. But I kept on investigating. Some time later I informed the elders & went to the branch office in my country & it was true, all of it! They did not know nothing at the moment, but later they could not justify it. I had two meetings at the branch & two with the elders. One of the elders (who was not in my cong. & a very good friend) saw the light too. The elders of my hall took no action against me, that was a year ago I think. We left with our families, but my friend, Ginosko (the elder), was DA'ed.
Caballo Sentado
What was the "final straw" that made you leave the JW's ??????
by run dont walk 52 Replies latest jw friends
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caballoSentado
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oldcrowwoman
The last straw having to go before the JC dealing with domestic violence and marital rapes. They wanted me to start dating my husband!(OMG) The responses for the sexual abuse is " You know how men are ? "
Emotionally blown out of the chair by their respnses. I said if I stay in the marriage I will be pushing daisies up somewhere. Dealing with psychotic behaviors is deadly marriage!! And very toxic!
I was pushed out and shortly DA'ed self. The greatest gift to give to myself~~~~~~
OCW
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Francois
The end for me, the last straw but not the only one for sure was being kicked off the Watchtower reader's list when I grew a beard. Boy, did that piss me off. But, as noted, that was only the last straw, not the only one. Like so many others here, I detested the lack of love, the hypocrisy, the elitism. AND I had been, on my own, reading various philosophers.
Funny what insights you can get from an independant reading of philosophy. It occured to me that the JWs considered that truth was the proper arrangement of words, and if you re-arranged the words of your explanation, then you could be wrong. This came from the discussion about facial hair and what it meant. Their arrangement of words made facial hair a sign of rebellion. My arrangement of the same words made facial hair a personal preference.
Realizing that words were symbols was a great help. And I just couldn't believe that the proper arrangement of words resulted in the truth. So I left. Simple enough.
francois
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viktoria
I had so many doubts all the time,but I was afraid of armageddon,afaid my boy´s would die and I was responsible for them.The lack of love,the hypocrisy,the cliques,the lies...Last year when my son was having terrible headaches,they all thought he was a hypochondriac. On our holiday to Greece I had to take him to hospital,the flight back was a nightmare for him (and me)One day it got so bad that I drove him from school right to the doctor,where my son threw up and almost fainted.We were sent home and a doctor came to our house every 3 hours,they thought that it might be a brain tumor.I sat at his bed all night and prayed like mad for God to save my child. My boss is a jw.I called her and told her how ill my son was so I had to take a few days off to take care of him. This sis is the newspaper of the cong. so they all knew what was going on.Not one came to see him or called us to hear how he was doing.Ever. A few months after this my son broke his leg and had to lie home with his leg in a special frame to keep it elevated.Not one from the cong came to see to him.Ever.
Today the boy is healthy-it wasn´t a tumor.Thank God.
When we after the group study had a cup of coffee a sister asked what he was going to do after the holidays I told her that he was going to do high school and then, just like his big brother,university.He want´s to be a doctor. There fell a deep silence.Then the sis said "that´s a long study" After that he was NEVER again invited to social gatherings for the youngsters.
My son is over it and can say with a grinn that he´s going to enjoy their faces when the see him as a doctor.
These were the things that made me look for answers. I wanted to find out why I was so unhappy with being a jw,what could I do to be a better dub? I went on the net and typed Jehovah´s Witness ...and here you were allof you
Every thing I had been struggeling with,and thought I was me who was wrong,was told by somebody here. Halleluja! I was not alone.And it wasn´t just me.
Thank God for the internet.
And by the way,my son has a+ on all his exams.After missing so much school I find that so fantastic.
Viktoria
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acsot
I put up with so much guilt for so long, never being good enough, always feeling bad about wanting to read about other religions, philosophy, or just take a friggin' yoga class, that I was worn out emotionally. I started to think that if this was the way things were going to be like in the new system ™, then I didn't want to be there. As well, like Blondie, I caught elders lying about something they didn't realize I was aware of. (I was at Location A with a couple in the congregation and the elders had a personal vendetta against this couple, so they tried to implicate them in something that happened in Location B, not knowing that I was an eye-witness to the whereabouts of said couple.)
I also used to think that the "truth" should be able to stand on its own, and that reading other ideas (even from those horrid apostates ) could never destroy something that is "truth".
The lack of love, the back-stabbing, the incessant gossiping and doctrinal flip-flops also were a contributing factor. But the worst was the pedophile issue and seeing how the WTS sleazebag lawyers acted.
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asleif_dufansdottir
feeling bad about wanting to read about other religions, philosophy, or just take a friggin' yoga class, that I was worn out emotionally
Didn't that just suck?? I mean, when you didn't even do anything "wrong" but were made to feel like you had done something bad and spiritually dangerous by even wanting to do something that was
forbidden"discouraged"!! -
revdrjohnson
The voice of the Spirit saying to me, "Get up and get out of here! You are not being fed!"
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shamus
This is one of the more interesting threads that I've read....
Viktoria,,,,, how horrible. I know just how that feels. Your poor son, at the time. Good for him for becoming a doctor, and his excellent marks! You must be very proud! I am preparing to go back to school, and become a doctor too, hopefully.
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Sabine
My 21 year old daughter committed suicide after the elders threatened to remove her as a pioneer and publicly reprove her. I let the elders read her suicide letter that stated how much she loved us and what great parents we were, but that she couldn't face the shame of being disfellowshipped. I was very "angry" and questioned why the elders had to speak to her alone (my husband and I were out of town on a business trip), the elders knew where we were and had our phone number. To punish me for speaking against and questioning the elders and to cover their own asses, the elders told everyone that her suicide was my fault....pretty much did it for me.
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Mulan
Sabine...........your story is by far the worst I have EVER heard. Absolutely disgusting. But then, you knew I felt that way.
The saddest thing is she was not guilty of any wrongdoing, but had built it up in her own mind, and they made her feel guilty. They were so far out of line for talking to her without you there, it can't be defended in any way.