how long did it take?

mjs mouse, ben

Newbie here, a lil about me......Grew up around the JW religion, never was baptized but I did get to the level of "unbaptized publisher" once, as of now I dont attend any "meetings", but still get the watchtowers and awakes pushed to me by family members. It's actually been 3 years since I realized that it wasnt the "truth", even though I've probably have known it all along. My question to the groups is, how long did it take you to stop calling it "THE TRUTH"? I still find myself referring to this $$$ making Corporation as "the truth".... wierd huh?

Leolaia

Hi, nice to metcha!! And congratulations for discovering the truth about The Truth.

Joel Wideman

Welcome. It took me a very long time, and it was a gradual process. When I finally was receptive to the real facts, it was a relief.

blondie

They say that if you want to break a bad habit, you have to subsitute another one.

Some here call it "The Lie."

Others all it "Da Troof."

I prefer the first one myself.

Blondie

Kaylen

Hi,

I am new here too and have sat around for two weeks until getting up enough courage for my first post. I am raised a witness but never baptised same as you. I am 36 and left when I was 17 and sometimes I still catch myself referring to it as the truth. But it was my questioning of the truth about the truth that allowed me to escape so really the truth did set me free

steve2

hey there welcome aboard! Verbal habits can be so hard to break, so go easy on yourself. I silently questioned the teachings several months before I stopped attending meetings, and I had also read books on cult mind-control. In those books I learned that language is often used to keep people hooked into a belief system. I suddenly realised that, while not unique, the JWs have the "perfect" way of talking about their religion in a circular fashion: "The truth". So, if you ever question the religion, you must be questioning...the truth! Yikes!

I also realised that, since I now believed the religion was not all it claimed to be, it could not possibly be "the truth". From that moment onwards, I stopped referring to it as the truth. And to fellow witnesses I referred to it as "the organization" which stirred up less of a hornets nest.

I really love some of the creative ways people now refer to the JW religion. In my view, the best is "the Borg" - whoever coined that deserves special thanks!

mjs mouse, ben

"But it was my questioning of the truth about the truth that allowed me to escape so really the truth did set me free" welcome kaylen, those were the words I was looking for when I made the original post, thank you very much, and now that we both have some courage, lets yell it from the rooftops!

dedpoet

Mouse, Kaylen, welcome to both of you, good to see you here.

I left the lie about 6 years ago, but it's only in the last 3 years that I have stopped referring to it as the "truth", although I knew it was far from that. I never acknowledge it as the truth now, even when talking to the few remaining jws who don't totally ignore me. To their credit, they don't try to force the issue, and I respond to their tolerance by referring to it as "the organisation" around them (only 3 jws actually speak now anyway).

In time, you will probably stop even unconsciously refeering to it as the truth, I know I have.

Take care

dedpoet

Pubsinger

Hi Guys!

I stopped calling it "the truth" within weeks.

I correct any Witness who says ". . . when you're ' in the truth ' " by saying very pointedly " I think you mean't to say "when you're one of Jehovah's Witnesses"

It challenges their glib assumption and, after 4 or 5 corrections in a few minutes, really annoys them!

They don't realise how often they say it and the implications of saying it.

steve2

I will never react when JWs call it "the truth" because that's part and parcel of how they see themselves.

I have a harder time not reacting when (some) people who have left the religion years ago still refer to it as "the truth". I guess that they don't take the phrase literally and use it in an automatic and unthinking manner. Or perhaps there's a part of them that continues to believe that it is "the truth", despite the doubts and/or inactivity? The power of language to control people's view of reality!

how long did it take?

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