It was good of you you to share your exit story. Thank you and welcome. As Louis Armstrong said, it's a wonderful world!
How ballroom dancing helped our exit
by Finally Left 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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LV101
Lance - thanks for linking the video. Could watch Fred, Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor dance forever.
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Heartsafire
Wow! Marvelous story! Love that you bonded over dancing and it led to your freedom. If I wasn't such an Elaine from Seinfeld at dancing I might sign my hunny and I up for lessons. Congrats to you both.
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LV101
Welcome, Finally! You're so fortunate re/husband into ballroom dancing. It's incredible exercise. I enrolled my husband and I into a class and he reluctantly went along with it but begged that I not enroll for any additional classes.
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Cold Steel
I'm always interested in hearing why people, after years of loyal service, finally leave. And I'm amazed at how often it goes back to the 1914 thing. But isn't it really more of a 1918 thing? It doesn't really matter if someone's math is accurate, but in 1918, the seminal event was Jesus' acceptance of the Society as his. That's the most important issue in the history of the movement. Without this invisible, unverifiable event, the Society would be no more than another manmade organization in a sea of them. Just another grain of sand on the beach, another bird in the flock.
But that's not how they bill themselves. They bill themselves as "the" only true organization. Their members are resurrected to peace and joy, and those who don't accept them or their claims are doomed to destruction. So the inspection of other world religions and his choosing of the Bible Students is the ONE event that makes all the difference. Everything stems from that event. The only thing wrong with it is that it places God in a passive position. Anciently, when God wanted something done, He initiated it. Jesus called the apostles, ordained them, gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, that whatso he should bind on Earth would be bound in Heaven and vice versa.
With the Jehovah's Witnesses, the organization is formed first and the choosing comes second, the exact opposite to how it occurred anciently. So 1914 is not the key year. Before that, it was 1844. Both the adventists (William Miller and his followers) and the JWs then became fixated on 1914, but it wasn't until 1918 that it received its legitimacy as a religion by being accepted by the Almighty.
So now that you're leaving the religion, is this going to cause any family problems...any shunning...or are you going to keep it low key? It'll only be a matter of time before the elders track you down.
BTW, I want to hear the rest of the story ASAP with all the details.
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waton
finally left: great activity with which to shake off the wt . In a waltz, the whole world seems to revolve around you *, and not around the org. In the turning, your husband sees you as the center, watching you from all directions too. Do you change partners? or abide by the rule of only dancing with your mate? I hate to see you bedazzled by the likes of the likeable Fred Astaire, probably fleet footed in more than one sense. I always asked release from that constraint to be able to ask the heaviest lady in the room to waltz. why? It made me orbit around her stable bulk, and gave me the illusion of having the Astaire- like mobility, and, since I am partial to small waists (an asset to get a good dancing hold) from straying feelings, ah, memories of the time of youth*. hope you will have pleasant recollections of your journey, have a ball.
" famous waltz melodies of the past. but don't stop there!
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vivalavida
This reminds me of a friend I have in sweden who is also an xjw, in fact, he's the only person I've helped learn TTATT. The thing with him is that he comes from latin america and moved to sweden to improve his life. This was almos 20 years ago and it actually has worked out allright for him so far.
His biggest problem was that for years he tried to "integrate" with the swedish congregation there to no avail. Then he tried the spanish cong., same results. In fact, he used to say that in Sweden the brothers only knew about love from what they read in the mags.
After a while, looking for some type of emotional comfort, he started salsa dancing. To make a long story short, even though he's still alone in a strange country, what keeps him going is his salsa dancing community, he goes dancing at least 3 times a week. It's definitely much more fun to go dancing than to meetings...
I guess I should start doing something like that as well. Definitely not a bad idea.
Vivalavida
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stillin
Good story. My wife and I tried ballroom dancing, too. She wants to lead. I was born with two left feet. She is too stubborn to ever criticize the "truth." Dancing well with my partner is only something I do in my imagination.
I fall into the lonely category. But I love reading a good success story. Welcome to this forum!
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Phoebe
Finally Left
What a fabulous post. I needed to read this today. Thank you so much.
xx