What was the EXACT exJW website you first visited and why EXACTLY did you visit it?

by ILoveTTATT2 52 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  skin

  It was http://quotes.watchtower.ca.

  That website was simply showing quotes of various watchtower teachings within their respective context. I remember I watched it as there were no "apostate" comments over them and they were in fact, clearly in their context.

  And then, the watchtower had the web site shot down using copyright laws: I was shocked, SHOCKED! How could they shut down a site that simply displayed information that I was giving away for free every Saturday morning?? Besides, I could not imagine that Jesus would have done something similar either.

  The same, exactly the same. Although I had already started to wake up (before I had internet access) from reading some pre 1930 WT publications and then being told in the WT study a rewritten version of their history. Why lie about their past? That's right, its not a good look. lets remove our embarrassing past.
  
• 

  LongHairGal

  ILOVETTATT2:

  Too many years have passed to remember names of websites I visited.

  It was about the year 2000 that I first started surfing the net because I knew something was radically wrong with the JW religion. I’m glad I found this site and it’s the only one I remember that stuck around.

  👍🏻
• 

  Gorbatchov

  It was called H20 hourglass.

  1997 was the year. And later xjw.com

  Long ago!

  G.
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  I first happened upon jwleaks.com. I wanted a kingdom ministry PDF to use during the meetings. I used their site for a good while (noticing out of the corner of my eye the doomsday ticker counting down to 2014 as well as headlines on child abuse, etc that I dismissed out of hand) before my doubts crystalized and their links to jwfacts came in very handy.
• 

  smiddy3

  It has to have been about 14 years ago now when i first came across an ex J.W. site and I `m not sure whether it was free minds or Shaun`s site which came first .

  However they were both excellent in the fact that they eventually led me here .

  And I was paranoid when I first looked up these sites not knowing what to expect ,a lightning bolt out of the blue ,or even an attack of Demonic nightmares .

  My stress levels really went up for God knows how long ,but their were small tidbits of information I just could not ignore.

  So i kept going back ,I thank Shaun `s ex JW site and Free minds for freeing me of being a" Captives Of A Concept."

  And Kudos to Ray Franz and Don Cameron for that phrase .

  Why did I visit it ?

  Curiosity !

  A number of doubts had crept in over the years and some personal problems had evolved over the years that I believed were not handled scriptually and when I challenged the Elders involved and threatened to name them to both the Australian Bethel as well as contacting Brooklyn Bethel ,they backed down completely and placated to my concerns.

  I then thought ,I had power over the Elders that involved two congregations , this can`t be a religion that is governed by Holy Spirit ,something is not right here.

  And it was a few years later that I contacted ex J.W.`s
• 

  jwfacts

  I forgot to add that a bit of the story behind http://quotes.watchtower.ca. That was a very influential site, as it just contained Watchtower quotes with almost no commentary. In such simple fashion, it showed some of the shocking teachings of the past, and the changes over time. Watchtower took the owner to court over copyright, that the quotes were intended to make them look stupid and hence defame the organization, and because he could not legally use the domain watchtower. They were unlikely to win on copyright or defamation, but probably could have made him hand over the domain. The owner was unable to pay to defend himself, and unwilling to take the risk of being sued, so shut down the site. Immediately a number of people created copies of the site and loaded them at new urls. It was a good lesson to Watchtower that they are unable to keep information about them off the internet, and chasing individuals made them look bad, similar to what happened to Scientology.

  Many users on this forum said how http://quotes.watchtower.ca. was the first site to help them, as they found it less intimidating to just read Watchtower quotes, instead of any additional apostate commentary. As a result, I used the site and the quotes contained there as the basis for a new section of jwfacts devoted just to Watchtower quotes at https://jwfacts.com/watchtower/quotes/quotes.php, and have built on that over the years. It has turned out to be useful for both JWs in the first stage of leaving and also people and groups researching the religion.
• 

  stan livedeath

  i'm in the UK--and had no connection to the cult since 1981.

  in about 2009 my jw dad mentioned my jw son had been d/fd. i was worried about him--because of shunning and loss of family / friends. i had had no contact with him since the mid 80's. no idea where he lived--anything.

  i had no idea about ex jw or apostate websites--didnt know they existed.

  then one day the UK Daily Mail newspaper published a big spread about the life of Rachel U******* and featured her website Ex JW Reunited. this is the site Amelia Ashton referred to in her reply earlier.

  . i took a look--paid the fee and joined. found a whole list of other members, so started a thread about my D/F son--and his whereabouts. as i live on a small island i was surprised to find 2 other members who used to live here--and i knew them from years before.

  very soon i was hooked on relating jw life stories--and getting to know some of the members. as Amelia mentioned--we organised get togethers and met lots of others who had totally changed their lives. Unfortunately the site got bombarded with spam--mostly porn sites---so the site owner Rachel closed it down.

  some used to write on here, but have moved on. only Amelia, Nugget and myself still write on here.
• 

  Ding

  In pre-Internet days, Randy Watters' "Thus Saith The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses" was very helpful.

  It contained photocopies of old WT literature showing false prophecies and doctrinal flip-flops.

  It couldn't be refuted because it was published by the WT itself.

  I once had an elder yell and me and tell me, "This stuff is garbage!"

  I asked, "When did it stop being the truth and turn into garbage?"

  He had no answer; he just stalked out of my house.
  

  As former JW / former elder Leonard Chretien once stated, "The Watchtower's worst enemy is its own literature."
  
• 

  ThomasCovenant

  It was http://quotes.watchtower.ca.

  That website was simply showing quotes of various watchtower teachings within their respective context. I remember I watched it as there were no "apostate" comments over them and they were in fact, clearly in their context.

  And then, the watchtower had the web site shot down using copyright laws: I was shocked, SHOCKED! How could they shut down a site that simply displayed information that I was giving away for free every Saturday morning?? Besides, I could not imagine that Jesus would have done something similar either.

  The same, exactly the same. Although I had already started to wake up (before I had internet access) from reading some pre 1930 WT publications and then being told in the WT study a rewritten version of their history. Why lie about their past? That's right, its not a good look. lets remove our embarrassing past.

  The same for me too, exactly the same
• 

  truth_b_known

  It was 2010 and I was in the worst scenario possible - Physically Out, Mentally In. I had been considered inactive for probably 5 years at that point. Since 2006 I had only attended the Memorial. However, I was still living by JW standards and beliefs.

  It was a week before the Memorial of 2010 when my father called me. He encouraged me to attend the Memorial which I would have done regardless. He made it sound like something special was going to happen at that year's Memorial. Something special did happen.

  The first thing I recall about the Memorial of 2010 was that it was my first exposure to the current songbook. I had no idea a new songbook had been released. The other issue is that, although the songs used for the Memorial were in the current and previous songbook, the song had been changed, shortened. I felt like a complete outsider at that moment.

  The next thing that was painfully obvious at the end of the Memorial talk was that it was the exact same outline I had heard every Memorial for my entire life. I could probably quote it verbatim. I was just another Memorial.

  As I left the rented hotel banquet room that was used for the Memorial I swore I would never attend another one. The next day I visited this website. The scales fell off my eyes and I learned about the truth about the Truth.