Poll-----Did The Internet Help You Get Out Of The Organization??

by minimus 43 Replies latest jw friends

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  Bubbamar

  This is sad but true - I had been out for 18 years before finding any information on the internet. But what it did do for me was satisfy any remaining doubts or questions. Before the internet I didn't think there was any way to know for sure about the WTBTS - Boy do I know for sure now!!! I am also in a better position to help others who may be confused or questioning -- or interested in the JW's.

  So THANK YOU Simon, Randy, Quotes, Ray Franz, Steven Hassan and everyone on this board for finally freeing my mind the rest of the way!!
• 

  Mulan

  I wanted to say that Randys site as well as Magreggor Ministries site were extremely helpful in my recovering process. Randys site led me to H20 and then here........

  Ditto...............and thank you!!
• 

  Doubtfully Yours

  Somewhat, but not entirely.

  DY
• 

  iiz2cool

  I had doubts for years, but because of a necessary career change I was too busy to research my doubts. Once I got established in my new career I started to do some research, particularly after seeing the Fifth Estate program on child abuse in the organization. That's when I started doing research on the WTS on the Internet, and I found that much of what nails the watchtower comes from within their own literature.
  
  I think Elsewhere's right. A person who starts looking at "apostate" literature and ex-jw sites is probably already on the edge of leaving. The average JW is probably afraid of sites like this one because of the society's propaganda. The first time I went to an "apostate" site I didn't know what to expect. I wondered if demons might attack me through my monitor!!! Damn, I feel so stupid now for having been so mislead by them.
  
  Walter
• 

  josephus

  YUP

  i found the old h20 and posted thier in defence of jws because you people annoyed me so much !

  then farkel and others replied.

  it was all downhill from their

  josephus
• 

  recoveringjw

  The internet didn't help me get out ( I got out several years before I was online), but it did make me feel better to discover things that reinforced my reasons for leaving and helped me in the recovery process.

  Bethany
• 

  jgnat

  Don't forget, the internet is also handy for keeping people out. I never joined. Never would have. But living cheek to jowl with the society can be wearing. The internet gives me a necessary mental defence against the neverending drone of Watchtowerspeak.
• 

  BluesBrother

  I had already come to the conclusion that they were wrong, and just another man made religion... so I had the courage to search the net when that K M insert made it sound so exciting.. I put the words in the search engine , in the public library chose Freeminds and WOW ! (looking guiltily over my shoulder) but I was hooked. It linked me to here and the rest is history.. So I guess that I agree with Elsewhere that you have to be on the way out to even look at these sites. Which brings me to WT trolls. I suspect they are just trying to test their dying beliefs, (or apostates having fun)
• 

  jws

  I left a few years before the internet. I always had curiosity about what the big secret was that the apostates had. Finally, I watched a John Ankerberg show that was about the JWs. The guest's ministry sold the Crisis of Conscience book and I ordered it. I felt so guilty ordering it. The guy who ran the ministry was a "ringer" in the area. The JWs would be calling on somebody and the householder would set up their next visit. When they'd return, this guy would be there to ambush the JWs. I can remember at least 2 or 3 times being stuck in a car for an hour or two while my dad was stuck in a house. After comparing stories with other JWs, they found it was the same guy. My dad seemed obsessed about this guy and the fact that he was popping up as a ringer. Us kids called him Dad's arch-nemesis. Anyway, here I was ordering books from this guy.

  I think I got a catalog and ordered a Gentile Times Revisited and some small tracts and booklets, but that was all he had about JWs. A few years later, the internet came along and there was so much more information available to answer the JWs with. Not only were there websites providing information, but books I would never have found in a bookstore.

  Before the internet, I was already out. But I still have family in. Since the internet, it has provided me with so much more information and insight on the JWs and has provided me with great ammo for family when they do confront me or when JWs come calling. Even though I would never become a JW again, it doesn't hurt to have my reasons reinforced in so many different ways.
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  minimus

  Thank Al Gore for the internet. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here today!