Where were you when you decided to quit being a JW?

by Steve Lowry 40 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  wednesday

  Once I realized they were just another religion, it all became so clear to me. They are not the only channel to God and now i know that. I feel much more at ease about that. Realizing that happened as a result of reading stuff on this board. Also, my hubby finally said that too.

  I am tryijng to read COC, but it is a hard read. I have trouble concentrating, and it is so detailed. Sometimes so much detail, that it annoys me. I did much better reading "The battle for God" by Karen Armstrong. She really helped me see that jws are just a product of the time period they started in (turn of century start up religions). There were many similar religions of the same time period, all looking for lthe big A. All with similar beliefs. CT Russel was no more inspired than anyone. also the legalistic trend the WTS has taken helped me decide. They are run by lawyers. There is nothing they cannot justify wikth the help of lawyers.

  coupled this with the lack of love and actual cold blooded heartless treatment our family has received, and it was not really a hard decision.
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  Carmel

  On a Sunday afternoon, on the way home after being dunked! I realised that all the promises of becoming "enlightened" once I'm baptized and able to "understand" was just a dodge. They didn't have any answers and would do anything to put a person off. I was a 12 year old, but knew that it was a crock and I wanted to get out to find reality for myself outside the constraints of the propaganda milue.

  carmel
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  CountryGuy

  I was in a gay bar in St. Louis when I decided never to go back to the KH.

  It was pretty easy. I had just moved to Missouri when I transferred colleges. So, the elders in my new cong weren't that familiar with me and it was easy to get lost in the shuffle. When I moved to Texas, I never told them, so I guess they still have my publisher's card. I really don't care, though.

  CountryGuy
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  patio34

  I was at home with my grandsons and watching the Disney movie Dinosaur.

  It hit me for the final time that there's no way a supposed loving creator could design such violence in nature. I decided to stop going to meetings (for a while) and read books by evolutionists instead.

  Praise Disney!!

  Pat
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  seeitallclearlynow

  I was sitting in front of my new computer, reading the cult checklist on the Cults 101 site, and I realized the Watchtower Society is nothing but a big cult leader, and JW's were just another religion.

  I couldn't believe it!

  But I did believe it. And what a relief! So much fell into place so fast. It was great.
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  sunshineToo

  I was at the District Assembly, and was listening to the chairman's speach about child abuse cases. He didn't deny it, but he said that we shouldn't talk to anyone about it. He said, "if that bothers your conscience, there is something wrong with your conscience."

  Then I knew that I could not be a jw anymore.

  By the way Steve, where are you from? I knew a jw family whose last name is Lowry.
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  darkuncle29

  It was a slow process for me, I was not even aware of it at first. I may have been at work. I also started spending lots of time at my best friend's fiance's parent's house. They were a fun busy family. I started gardening on their property and raised chickens there too. My hobby eventually got way out of hand. It was taking up most of my free time and a large chunk of my income. I had at one point over 300 chickens, 12 turkeys, 4 peafowls, and 12 or so Guineas.

  My hobby was the distraction that I needed to heal and get over JW. I had not even considered that there was an active online community of exJWs. I had not heard of CoC. When it finially occured to me that I was no longer living as a JW-no meetings, no service, ect., I realized that I didn't want to go back to it all. I was not mentally free, but I was good at supressing things, so I supressed the JW desires and control mechanisms.

  A few years later, I met up with my best friend in the JWs. I thought he was still active. We had a very long conversation, and that is when I was mentally free from JW. Having my world view changed that quickly was painful, but so nessesary.

  Looking back, I wish that I could have been more aware of what was happening as I think it was a fascinating experience (exiting the JWs).
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  Atilla

  It was November 2000 and I decided it would be more exciting to stay home from meeting and watch who would become our next president, basically I'm still waiting. I also think I had a talk that night, I liked giving talks but I hated the stupid research that went into them and the boring topics, plus nobody ever listened anyways.

  Of course, I had begun to stop being a witness when I decided I wanted to move in with this girl from work because I was tired of living at home and driving an hour to work. Of course, my parents and the elders freaked out and had this big meeting with me. That may have been the week before the general election in November. Oh, and did I mention that after my little meeting with the elders, my witness girlfiend's dad came up to me a told me that he no longer wanted my to see his daughter. He thought I was ok the week before but as soon as tried to do something crazy like get my own apartment and I was the devil not worthy of dating his daugher. Oh, and this time I'm all registered to vote and Bush is going down.
• 

  Euphemism

  Atilla... you had me a little confused there, until I realized you meant "move in with" as in 'room with', not as in 'sleep with'... right?
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  Atilla

  Right, I wanted to move in with this girl from work just as room mates and nothing more at the time. I needed a place to stay, and she had some extra room, I guess I was always liberal like that even as a dub. I had a witness girlfriend and she sorta of understood, just no one else. Everyone else thinks that if you move in with someone, you will start to have wild crazy sex. In the end though, that was one of the triggers that enabled me to see the hypocrisy and leave. Besides, I would rather have a "worldly girl" as my room mate than some nieve witness guy who can't even talk about masturbation let alone girls.