If you considered going back to the hall....

by JH 34 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Gadget

  I find it truly sickening that people who post frequently on this site would ever consider going back. Shame on you!! You know the whole religion is a lie, some of you have hundreds of posts, yet you consider going back. What is wrong with you? Obviously, this is not a decision based on reason, but on sentimentality and weakness. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and stand up for truth!

  I think its wrong when people have a go at other people without thinking of what other things might have been going on at the same time. When someone has been disowned by their parents, shunned and threatened with attack from every single person they have ever been close to in their lives, the person they were engaged to just turning round and walking away from them. The whole situation leading to them being off work for months on end with stress, just sitting crying in a corner most of the time and thinking of suicide. And while all this is going on being told again and again that all you have to do to put everyhting right again is start going back to meetings, and you think I'm wrong for considering this as a way out?
• 

  Maverick

  Sure! Evertime I have an old sofa, recliner or junk car I need to get rid of! Or I find more of their junk literature. Maverick
• 

  blondie

  I personally would not go back. I might go to a funeral if a non-JW person asked me to go with them for moral support. Everyone has different circumstances.

  I think of the non-JWs who became JWs to inflitrate the congregations in the Soviet Union and East Germany. They were very successful and some rose up the ranks without being converted or convinced personally.

  Blondie
• 

  undercover

  I'm gonna assume that the original question meant "going back" as in re-joining the religion. But....

  My first reaction was, "What's the big deal whether someone goes to the hall or not?"

  If you have gained independance from the WTS and know it to be false, if you're not afraid of them, going to the hall on a rare occasion should not be any big deal. Those who have faded away may have to, from time to time, go to a hall when visiting family or may go to the memorial just to keep the dogs at bay. Everyone's situation is different. If someone can walk away and never go back and not lose family, that's great. But many have so much family in, that from time to time an occasional trip to the hall is necessary. It doesn't mean they are returning to the religion. It's no different than visiting family that is Catholic or Presbyterian and attending church with them. It doesn't mean you're going to join their faith. It's just good manners.
• 

  IT Support

  Pudd,

  Actually joking aside for a minute, I still wake up in a cold sweat a night at times wondering if I am doing the right thing in leaving the truth.

  Many of us are in a similar boat. WT has been such an influential part of our lives--for many, for all of their lives--that leaving is an enormous issue, and not one to be undertaken lightly. If WT's message was true, then the consequences would be calamitous. Add to that the implications of leaving WT on our personal and family lives, you're right to be concerned you're doing the right thing.

  So I think one reason this board is so helpful is that it provides a form of affirmation that we really are doing the right thing. Talking to others who have felt the same doubts we have felt, who have been through the same traumas we are going through, reading their experiences and the lessons they learned from mistakes they made, is all wonderfully therapeutic. But most of all, it confirms to us that we're not alone, and this bolsters our confidence that we're doing the right thing.

  Even before I joined this board, I was convinced that WT did not have The Truth: I now doubt they even have any truth at all: perhaps the best that (imho) can be said of them is that they do encourage JWs to read the Bible--even if the average member is rarely able to actually do so, so swamped as they are with all the other reading and personal study and family study and meeting preparation and field service that they are expected to do.

  I hope you don't have too many disturbed nights...

  Regards,

  Ken
• 

  acsot

  I find it truly sickening that people who post frequently on this site would ever consider going back. Shame on you!! You know the whole religion is a lie, some of you have hundreds of posts, yet you consider going back. What is wrong with you? Obviously, this is not a decision based on reason, but on sentimentality and weakness. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and stand up for truth!

  You need to get over yourself.

  I will undoubtedly go back to the KH, probably the next time I go will be for the Memorial. I will bring mum, and if she decides she's up to going to other meetings once in awhile I will bring her.

  I may also return to another congregation for awhile because it's part of my long-term plan on fading. My eyes are wide open, I am quite intelligent, and it is a decision based on reason.

  Whether or not you like it or agree with it I could care less.
• 

  franklin J

  ah, er--um NO, NO and NO.

  I have offered to take my elderly mother; if she was interested since the passing of my father. She refers to the JW days fondly. She always declines.

  I would do it as a courtesy to her; would "chin up" and smile courteously to all and promptly leave.
• 

  Sassy

  I find it truly sickening that people who post frequently on this site would ever consider going back. Shame on you!! You know the whole religion is a lie, some of you have hundreds of posts, yet you consider going back. What is wrong with you? Obviously, this is not a decision based on reason, but on sentimentality and weakness. Stop feeling sorry for yourselves and stand up for truth!

  Not that I want to pick on your New Light, but because you are "shame on you'ing" others, I have to comment. Each of us left the WTS for different reasons. Some were forced out and have NO interested in seeking forgiveness for returning, some disassociated purposely and have no desire to return, some are fading and still attending some. We are at different places in our lives. Some of us are more affected by the abuse of the organization in our lives/past, and others less. Many of us have family still in there. Each of us has to weigh what it means to us to have them in or out of our lives.

  I have a friend who is dfd because she is bi. She has doubts about the org but she has been dying inside because of losing her mother and friends. She loved the women she was in a relationship with, but even that woman loved her so much she let her go, told her that her happiness was so important to her. My friend contacted me and told me she was going back. Now I could have reminded her of the lack of love shown on the part of the org/as well as family/friends, but she didn't need those reminders. I could have reminded her of the reasons for doubts in this org and why then follow it. But I knew that her priorities were to have her family back. Who am I to sit and judge her and tell her that she shouldn't go back because those org is a lie. She is making a choice that is right for her. Maybe she won't last long. Maybe she will still die in side because of giving up a part of who she is. I don't know. But no matter what I am not going to sit and judge her or call her weak. Actually for those who make the choice to go back because of those reasons, I respect. I don't think i could do it. It takes strength for all the ones out there attending who don't believe. That isn't a weakness.. But the have parents and children and grandchildren. We each make choices that are right for us. I personally am not going to judge anyone for the choices we make.
• 

  pudd

  thanks IT for your kind words.

  that is exactly what i get from this board. lots of support in knowing that i am not alone.
• 

  starfish422

  I've only ever been back to KH property once, to return some magazines that someone left in my mailbox, with a note asking the local cong. not to leave literature for me again. That, and some nightmares I keep having.