by kairos 100 Replies latest jw friends
Some JWs and exJWs seems to be THE most obsessive and retaliatory individuals I've come across. Have a disagreement with some and next minute they are crawling all over your LinkedIn account and sending you emails threatening to ruin your reputation and posting lies about you.
My advice would be to not give your name. What for? To make contact with a few other exJWs in the area? Concentrate on making friends outside of your JW past and not limiting yourself to one group of people.
My motive would be to comfort any current JWs that want to leave. When you are in and newly come to terms with TTATT, it can be lonely.
Why don't I just say I'm in the Northern Cal Bay Area. ( North Bay )
I'd be happy to PM, chat on the phone or meet up with ones trying to plan an escape.
kairos, when I first posted my JW experiences I had, within two days, a 'still in' doubter, lurker of JWD, and former neighbor recognize me and come to my door - he knew who I was right away. I live in a large apartment complex just full of JWs and I've been keeping a low profile up to now. I myself don't care too much although it could affect me in the future.
Be careful what you say and if you want to get in touch with anyone limit yourself to the city you lived in; the dates you were a JW; and other peoples names that might be lurking here. Still dangerous but if you've got nothing to lose go for it. Oh, use the PM for maximum discretion.
Any lurkers out there?
I'm at a new spot right now in my confidence apart from the cult.
For my wife's sake I will not reveal myself or become a visible activist.
I will, however, walk without concern for what active JWs think of me.
I do not recognize any JW authority anymore!!
I have VERY high self esteem and actually may enjoy punching an elder in the mouth if he repeatedly asks me too `
I am still in and fading (slowly but it is happening). I have met a handful of properly out exJWs from this site but I know they have zero interest in ever being malicious. People like cantleave and whizzstick have been great support.
Exposing your identity to ones in a similar position is a very risky thing. Not long after I saw the TTATT, I was thinking of opening up to a couple who simply left years ago who I occasionally bump into around the local area. Good job I didn't - in the past 6 months they have come back and are fully immersed again.
There is a one person here who I know is in the same circuit as me (St George) and I would love to say hi to but I suspect our identities will be unknown to each other for some time to come.
I would love to know how many people in my hall and area are on the cusp of or fully know TTATT but there is no way of finding out without exposing yourself to a very rapid, one way escalation of events.
If you attended the meeting with me, you'd of gone through his gate.
Here it is today with the lovely web advertising in place:
I have only seen one such sign, as I do not pass a single K.H in my usual travels. I took a detour to see if the sign was up on my old Hall, and it was.
It made the Hall look what it really is, simply a place of business. A passerby who did not know it was supposed to be a Church would think they had passed a boring office or storage space for some local business.
The actual sign that showed it was a JW place was in a dull green with dull letters that you could only read if you were on the pavement about six feet away from it.
So much for their publicising of themselves and their message, whatever that is. The re-branding seems to be making them less visible than they were before !
We who choose not to say who we really are, for various reasons, are hardly more secretive than the active, almost invisible, JW's themselves !
