I don't scream it from rooftops, but if someone asks I'll tell them. Most people don't find it a big deal.
Do You Hide The Fact That You Were/Are A Jehovah's Witness?
by minimus 44 Replies latest jw friends
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Honesty
What's the benefit of hiding what I once was but now am not?
It would be hard for me to conceal my past because I am honored to teach church and youth groups from the WTBTS literature and then compare it to what the Bible says. It may be all part of a plan to help people avoid endangering their lives in a destructive and unloving religious society that thrives on doom, gloom and hate.
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AK - Jeff
It would be hard for me to conceal my past because I am honored to teach church and youth groups from the WTBTS literature and then compare it to what the Bible says. It may be all part of a plan to help people avoid endangering their lives in a destructive and unloving religious society that thrives on doom, gloom and hate.
I would love to be part of something like that - how did you get involved in that?
Jeff
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9thWonder
What I haven't talked much about yet is that I've left. Everyone that I know here knows me as a JW and while I didn't try to convert anybody or even preach to them outside of saying why I didn't participate in certain things, the fact that I didn't do birthdays, baptisms, weddings, holiday parties and thought I had the really true truth makes me feel like a Grade A dope now.
I am in the same boat, but WORSE...I was already df'd when I started this job over 4 years ago and I was still claiming to be a JW (had hopes that someday I would again be a JW). Now that I have no intentions of going back, I am definitely not planning on telling anyone that I am no longer a JW.
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sonnyboy
No way. That gives me an excuse to put them down when the subject comes up. In fact, I did feel like hiding it when I WAS a Jehovah's Witness. I guess I always knew there was something wrong with the religion.
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chrissy
For me, it depends on the situation and the people involved...if they can handle it or how relevant it is. I find its easier to talk about with the natural progression of time. The first "stranger" I told, after much hesitation, introduced me to a friend of hers that was also once a witness. That was a great surprise and a rare outcome.
Mostly, I have just gotten strange looks and awkward silences.
Currently I am trying to decide if I should tell my neighbor girl that I have been hanging out with on occasion. Out of the three or four times I have been around her she has mentioned jw's twice! Once to inform me that they've been seen in the neighborhood... I guess a warning of sorts, and again totally randomly she mentioned something about not wanting them to come to her door. So now that she has spoken about it twice, its almost impossible for me to be all, "yeah you know those jw''s you've seen lurking about...I was one of those."
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PaulJ
I tell people I know. I havent told anyone at work I used to be a witness tho. If I tell someone I have to be able to explain, and/or answer any questions they might have.
I was at a BBQ recently and was surrounded by a few people Im getting to know, and for some reason we started talking about religion. I put my POV accross and then told them I used to be a JW, they seemed quite impressed actually and wanted to know more (about why I left and what they believe etc). All in all it just added to the conversation.
Im not ashamed of once being a witness, but Im proud to be free.
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dh
no, not at all. i find in some situations explaining my jw upbringing helps people understand parts of my personality that they would otherwise just not get.
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talesin
If often comes up at Xmastime. Or my birthday. Or when someone who is just getting to know me asks about my family.
I tell them I am exJW and shunned, so only have my parents. They usually nod, and ask "what is wrong with those people?" or say, "I went to school with a JW, I always felt sorry for them".
Often, I will field questions about blood, snobbish behaviour, door-to-door work, cruelty to family members, and other issues. It is a great, natural opportunity to anti-Witness.
t
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mtbatoon
I have unashamedly used it in the passed to get sympathy from young ladies. “I never had Christmas or birthdays as a child, no presents waiting for me at the end of the bed, no cake with candles just for me, hold me, I need a hug”