Thank you all for your thoughtful and supportive comments! I really appreciate it. I am overwhelmed. Things like this are truly the best part of this forum.
I took Friday and yesterday to relax and reflect and so--although I saw and appreciated your posts--have not responded until just now.
And now for some specific replies:
millie210: Was that your last day because of the article or was it a building up of other things?
This was "the final straw" for me. I actually began to have doubts in 2002/3 when I learned about the UN/NGO controversy. I didn't actually leave the organization until 2009, but "kept a toe in" to try and maintain a relationship with my still-in children. That was futile. When I first read the now infamous WT article cited in my OP, I decided that the congregation "study" of it would be my last time ever in a KH. That was also the last time I ever spoke face-to-face with my oldest child. All attempts I've made at contact have been rebuffed since.
Fink: Congratulations jp1692 It is better living in the truth isn't it ?
Yes it is, yes it is!
Bigdummy: My wife and I were watching a documentary a few months ago on the Waco incident with David Koresh. They showed a clip of him teaching his followers and I promise he said that same line to them almost exactly word for word.
Apparently this kind of language is Cult 101. It's kind of embarrassing any of us ever fell for it. At least we have woken up. Sorry your wife hasn't, but there's still hope.
Smiddy: This is an organization that is heading down the road of David Koresh/Waco/The family and every other doomsday cult that has brought
misery to those who have had any connection with them.
Very true. It's painful to leave family and loved ones behind, but at some point we need to save ourselves. I tried for six or seven years to get my family members to wake-up. It was futile. At first I hoped to get my whole family out intact. Then I hoped and tried to at least get my kids out. Then I hoped that, even if I left, at least my kids' love for me would be greater than the cult control and we could still have a relationship. I was naive. I was wrong.
Cults destroy families. It's what they do.
LongHairGal: Congratulations on your anniversary of being out of the JW religion! I
have been out many years but confess if I were still there and heard
those words about ‘obeying instructions that may not appear sound....’ I
would be disturbed by it. I’m sure this did not sit well with many
JWs.
Thanks. I'm equally sure that many were disturbed by this WT. Some left as a result, but most have remained.
Xanthippe: Happy Anniversary jp1692. I'm glad you're no longer trapped in that dark dungeon of a cult. It will be twenty-nine years for me next month.
Thanks. Yes I have left that "dark dungeon," I have escaped my oubliette.
Congrats to you too on 29 years of freedom!
Flipper: Freedom is sweet!
Yes it is. Peace out to you too my aquatic friend.
DOC: One just has to wonder why that quote didn't cause more to awaken?
That is a very good question, one which I have spent considerable time pondering. I've learned a few things about myself and human nature as a result, but nothing definitive. Perhaps that topic can be a future thread at the right time for it.
kairos: I had exited just a few months prior to that article. After seeing it, I immediately got a sick feeling that many will die because of JWs.
Interesting response. It certainly made me uneasy too, particularly because I have two children and countless other relatives, loved ones and former friends still in the cult. Fortunately--at least for now--there hasn't been any Jonestown-type follow through, but I don't count that out if and when the GB ever become desperate.
kairos: That WT quote is the gift that keeps giving, in that it will continue to wake up doubting JWs that start doing WT research. There is no reasonable way to interpret those directions from the GB.
There is this. It is, as I said above, a Cult-101 control statement that is inarguable in its significance and meaning. That's why I think it's important to, whenever appropriate, bring it up again. Friday was appropriate for me. And--based on the affirmative responses I've gotten from you all--very appropriate for you too.
Half Banana: For a believer with a less than robust mind it creates the
unnerving idea that some dangerous instruction will come which they must
obey without question.
It is the very potency of this
announcement which will instill fear and loyalty. Thinkers on the other
hand like JP and bigdummy will leave.
Many happy returns of the day JP!
Thank you!
I think the key difference here is critical thinking ability. This is something that cults in general, and JWs in particular, discourage by constantly denigrating independent thought as sinful. It certainly isn't purely native intelligence that makes the difference in who leaves and who stays. I think it is a combination of traits and abilities.
Good discussion and points to ponder!
And finally to LV101,freddo, scratchme1010, truth_b_known, and stuckinarut2: Thank you so much for your kind words and supportive comments.
You're the best!
