Hello all. I am not a former JW, but my mother has been one for years and as you all know, that affected me as well. I was raised catholic in a nice part of Queens NY, and for the most part I never had a problem with my faith. When I turned ten or so, my mother became entrenched in the Jehova witnesses, and has not looked back since. Even as a child I sensed there was something subtly wrong with them. My mother attempted to make the rest of my family convert as well, and I always got dragged along with my two brothers to their KH in corona queens. I sat for what felt like days through their meetings watching the clock and waiting for the damn thing to end. While I cant say that I was ever treated badly by them in the three years that I had to be involved with them. i will say that durring these tender years, I suffered a great deal in terms of confussion, and fear. I feared that my soul was eternally doomed, and that my mother and the witnesses were right all along, and I was indeed going to die. I had felt like this for years after I decided not to go to the meetings with my mother anymore. Even to this day, the images that I was shown in thier numerous publications send a chill up my spine. My mother had made me beleive that the sign of the cross was evil, and to this day the sight of a cross makes me feel a sublte feeling of fear. This must be carried over from when I was a child.
I love my mother very much, and I dont hate her for trying to convert me and my family. After all, SHE beleives that the only way to survive, "ARMEGGEDON" is thorugh them, so naturally she will do her best to try and save us, even though we all know the truth about this organization, (notice how I use the term "organization" instead of religion.
I just wanted to thank the good folks here on this site for helping people who have been touched by this group. My experience may not have been the worst, and I made it out without too many wounds, but It still affects me in a small way. Then info provided here has helped me further solidify the desicion I made years ago, and I am glad I have it at my disposal.
Jay Jones.