>>>> Your expression “a serious kick in the gut” is an apt description of the type of feeling that spousal betrayal brings. The elder betrayal that followed had to be another unexpected kick in the gut. -- Sam Beli
It's funny that you should say that, Sam.
It was around the time that these things were happening that I understood for the first time why people committed suicide. No joke. I was never close to becoming suicidal myself, but I understood and came to empathize with why people did. So many unexpected and bad things happened all at once, things that were both painful and beyond my control.
It was heartrending when the two things that I had counted on the most -- my marriage and my faith -- both failed me at a critical time. But, like so many others have, I weathered the storm and now look back on that episode as one of the best things to ever happen in my life. It freed me, for the first time, to honestly question in my mind and in my heart the religion of my youth.
I was exposed to the religion when I was but a little boy. The impressions it made on me back then were made on a soft and willing heart, and unlike my peers, I took it all very seriously for many years. For that reason, I personally believe that remnants of that religion will go with me to my grave -- that I will never be completely free of it -- despite that I've been gone from it for ten years. For me, the movie A Beautiful Mind illustrated that reality almost perfectly.
Yet, for the most part I am free of the religion's influence in my life, and see myself never joining another group of that kind. I have come to enjoy the exhilaration and freedom of which you speak, and do what I can to help others do the same.
Thanks for your thoughts, Sam.
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>>>>>> My own story had to do with a wedding, not a divorce. But, the same kinds of double standards were used with other people in the congs. -- ashitaka
While we're spilling our guts, you might as well tell yours, Ashi.
why I left
by teejay 21 Replies latest jw experiences
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teejay
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ashitaka
Teej,
U asked for it!!! LOLOL
I wrote these a little too dramatically, but they are the basic tale...I left out A LOT. Too lazy to type all of it. Also, a lot has happened since I wrote these----my parents left the JWs..and..... well, a lot has happened.
Ashi's Apostacy
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/22225/1.ashx Part 1
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/22284/1.ashx Part 2
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/22295/1.ashx Part 3
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/22310/1.ashx Part 4
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/22348/1.ashx Part 5
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/22354/1.ashx Part 6
ash