It was back in 2011 when I was convinced that jws dont have the truth. I rejected so many teachings and was open about that to members of my family. It took me another year to pluck up the courage to attend other churches. But today I feel like I have achieved the highest level of apostasy - I was active in trying to stop the efforts of the preaching work in my area. That was always said to be sinning against the holy spirit as u are trying to stop Jehovah's most important work and could be likened to nimrod, a mighty man in opposition to Jehovah. Well I was busy window cleaning in an elderly residential area and who should pop around but a group of jws! They were leaving tracts with people and with those not at home. With one elderly customer they stopped for quite awhile. When they left I noticed them writing down her details in order to call back on her. She's a very elderly niave lady. But as it happens as I got round to clean her windows her son and daughter in law came. Before going inside I told them I was concerned because the jws had been around, spoken to their mum, left literature and told them that I had saw them right down her details in order to call again. They were naturally alarmed by this and so went inside and dealt with the matter. Later he came out and thanked me for keeping an eye on her mum and telling them about the situation . I advised him to put a no religious callers sign on the door to prevent it from happening again. As I continued cleaning windows I decided to gather up as many of the tracks that I could get my hands on and threw them in the bin. Funny thing is, I don't even feel guilty about it! I felt good that I had prevented the jws from doing too much damage in that area with their teachings. Part of me wants to be really proactive in trying to stop this religion. Ones such as Raymond Franz and Barbara Anderson, ceders should all be commended for their hard work over the years as they are or have been at the forefront of being active in trying to halt this religion and help prevent people from being decieved and helping ones like us to open our eyes and come out of this destructive religion. Whilst the majority of us haven't the ability to do what they are doing, sometimes opportunities come up for us to do a little something in order to help prevent the spread of jws and I hope we can all take up those opportunities in order to show our appreciation to those that helped us to open our eyes to TTATT. Keep up the good work everyone! And feel free to post ur own comments on how u too have personally helped prevent the jws from getting their claws in!
truthwillsetyoufree
JoinedPosts by truthwillsetyoufree
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feeling like a true apostate today
by truthwillsetyoufree init was back in 2011 when i was convinced that jws dont have the truth.
i rejected so many teachings and was open about that to members of my family.
it took me another year to pluck up the courage to attend other churches.
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What Happens if...
by bafh inwhat happens if someone returns to the congregation but stays inactive?
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what happens if someone returns to the congregation and does not meet with the elders to "confess" their sins while away?.
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truthwillsetyoufree
I also have a friend who recently got reinstated and immediately became inactive. And I know loads in my area who have done that over the years. Whether or not you want to confess to them any wrongdoing or just lie about it depends on how much you believe in the confession of elders to gain Jehovah's approval. If you don't believe, why confess to anything?
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What Happens if...
by bafh inwhat happens if someone returns to the congregation but stays inactive?
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what happens if someone returns to the congregation and does not meet with the elders to "confess" their sins while away?.
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truthwillsetyoufree
I had a friend who was inactive for a couple of years. She had a boyfriend during that time though noons in the congregation knew about it. When she came back, she didn't tell the elders about it for a few months. But it came out somehow and she confessed to it and a judicial was set up and she was disfellowshipped for a year over it.
I was inactive once and decided to go back (lasted about a month and couldn't stomach anymore of it) and before I could reengage in the ministry again, the elders had to check with me to make sure I hadn't fallen into serious sin while I was inactive.
Prior to this, a brother told me that it was customary now for elders to ask inactive ones who want to reactivate about whether they have committed sins whilst being inactive.
This is my knowledge of the matter based upon my experience in the Evesham Hampton congregation in the UK.
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Denmark Assembly Hall and 7 KH for sale
by Viva la Vida inthis is the real estate page: http://propertysale.dk/salg/helsinkivej.html.
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truthwillsetyoufree
Insidethekh - made a good point regarding selling off smaller assembly halls in order to build larger ones with more seats - but this assembly hall has seats for over 4000 persons. This would have been an ideal place for holding assemblies.
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Denmark Assembly Hall and 7 KH for sale
by Viva la Vida inthis is the real estate page: http://propertysale.dk/salg/helsinkivej.html.
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truthwillsetyoufree
What's happening in Denmark then? Are they planning on building a new assembly hall or is this a major downsizing in the country due to a decrease in publisher activity or what?
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Commenting At The Meetings---Did You Enjoy It?
by minimus inwas that important for you?
most people, i believe, forced themselves to give an answer.
i knew many elders and servants over the years being counseled because they rarely answered.. funny thing....my mom who is 88 cries if she doesn't give a comment.
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truthwillsetyoufree
I never liked answering but I did like the feeling afterwards that I had made the effort to answer as like us nan, it was considered as part of our worship to god. now, thinking about it, it seems rather silly putting our hand up to answer a question and equating that with worship! Seems a very childish way of worship if u ask me.
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Colossians 1:15,16 all (other) things
by truthwillsetyoufree inthis thread isn't meant to go into discussing how deceptive the society has been over the translation of this passage of scripture as that has been done many times on here.
what i want to know is this - the society has inserted the word other in the collosions verses and the one in philippians (above every (other) name).
they've done this for doctrinal matters.
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truthwillsetyoufree
This thread isn't meant to go into discussing how deceptive the society has been over the translation of this passage of scripture as that has been done many times on here. What I want to know is this - the society has inserted the word other in the collosions verses and the one in Philippians (above every (other) name). They've done this for doctrinal matters. Has the society inserted the word "other" anywhere else in the bible - especially in places where it doesn't matter doctrinally?
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The hardship of being a gay Jehovahs witness.
by truthwillsetyoufree inplease spare a moment to consider the difiiculties faced by gay jehovahs witnesses.
i was raised and baptised as a very serious jw.
every waking moment of my day was lived for jehovahs and his organization and for nothing else.
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truthwillsetyoufree
just want to say also , that this topic hasnt been posted to get sympathy or to be a sob story account - as it helped me to see the "truth" for what it is and it helped me to leave! so its a positive thing! :) i just wanted others to know what its like for gay witnesses and what they have to go through - just food for thought. its also revealing to see how elders are willing to share private juducial informaiton as and when they see fit so a warning for you! becareful what you tell the elders as it really could be leaked out to other memebers of the congregation!
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The hardship of being a gay Jehovahs witness.
by truthwillsetyoufree inplease spare a moment to consider the difiiculties faced by gay jehovahs witnesses.
i was raised and baptised as a very serious jw.
every waking moment of my day was lived for jehovahs and his organization and for nothing else.
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truthwillsetyoufree
Please spare a moment to consider the difiiculties faced by gay Jehovahs witnesses.
i was raised and baptised as a very serious jw. every waking moment of my day was lived for jehovahs and his organization and for nothing else. i was also gay. whilst i understand that i could still have gods favour whilst not practising my homosexual feelings (like a a straight person could whilst not commiting fornication) i personally felt that it was different in my case and all other gay jws. we didnt just have feelings to engage in sexual activity. we were gay. we are not people with homosexual feelings, we are gay people. gay to the core. a mans feelings toward a woman is completly natural. well thats how it is for me and other gay jws - but for men. it feels completly natural to us and the thought to be with a woman is simply not there, for some of us it just isnt something thn could ever be considered. we know that if we had temptation to overcome, like the thought of stealing or to view pornography, that it can be done and we can feel proud that we overcome it and have jehovahs favour. but despite not actually engagaing in homosexual activity, just because we are actually gay, it is such a struggle because we know (as many have said to me) that we are something that apparently jehovah detests. we would not be considered as normal and we have to wait for jehovah to fix us in paradise. can you imagine what such sayings does to young men in the organization? saying that being gay is not normal and we have to be fixed??? especially when to us our feelings are completly normal and natural to us. it is not a learned habit or something you can overcome. being gay is not something you can overcome. many times i have sat through meetings and the topic of homosexuality or homosexuals have come up and i cringe at what im hearing and i have to get up to go to the toilet or something just to stop hearing it because i dont want to be reminded how being gay is wrong and how gay people willl be destroyed at armaggedon. yes i know it only refers to those who are practising homosexuals, but knowing how god hates homosexuals and knowing that i am one and cant fix that is mentally debilitating. one brother in the sister congreagtion is just about mentally screwed up over it.
i was baptised at 15. sometime afterwards i messed up and engaged in what could only be descrived as homosexual activity. i kept it concealed and was eventually appointed as a pioneer (so much for the holy spirit appointing people). when i was 17 me and the brother i just mentioned had formed a friendship and had inappropriatly touched each other. he confessed to the elders, we were both reproved priavtely and i felt my life was over. at this point i had not accepted i was gay and because of the judicial procedure that got thrown out into the open and elders had to be told and family had to be told etc. it was devestating to the say the least! from then, rumours leaked out about it into the congreagtion, though was kept hushed up from me. but this is something i want to bring out - as my friendship with that brother was beginning to form, an elder approached me. he said he was concerned because the brother in question was 9 years older than me and whilst he had been a jw all his life, he hadnt long been disfellowshipped and reinstated for being a practising homsexual. i was shocked - not at what i was told, but the fact that an elder had divulged confidential information to someone not entitiled to know! all judicial matters are supposed to be kept confidential and not talked about. 2 days later i had another concerned elder aproach me and told me the same thing! so another elder divulged private information! obviously there reason was that being an impressionable youth i might bein danger. however, i was very concerned at the elders teling me things i should not know! anyway, after we were both reproved, we lost contact with each other.
i was then told of a gay wordly couple who had started studying with the jws up in birmingham. they accepted it as being true and decided to seperate in order to get baptised. they decided to be in different congregations to make it easier not to fall into temptation. im impressed with their level of faith in order to do this, but sad as gay people are denied very basic human rights, the right to love someone and build a home with that person. these 2 men now have to spend a life forever alone, watching all other brothers date and get married and grow old together etc. whilst he stands arpound gathering dust. all gay people are in this situation. i was. its very ppainful to watch all your friends grow up and marry and then you see yourself left alone as you cant, naturally, hang out with them as u once did as thats what happens when u marry. it becomes a llonely life with no prospects in that regard.( someone once said well look at sister so and so - she never married, shes in your position - im sorry but she isnt - she still has the hope and possibility to find a marriage mate - i dont even have that!) and im sorry but having friends in the truth does not make up for it! not only that, but if i wanted to go on holiday, it would have to be by myself as its hard to get other people to come with you when they have a fmaily to look after, or even getting a house, just to rent and pay bills, doing it alone without someone else to help financially is alomst cripling. this leads back to my experience as many of you might be asking well, im sure you could share a holiday or rent a place with another brother? wrong! me and this brother i told you about became friends again, got reproved again and dictated to the elders that we werent going to tstop being friends like last time and you just have to accept it. (bold move i know the elders really were dumbfounded over the situation and as we were the first case of this kind shared by two congregations, we pushed all sorts of boundaries and i did feel sorry for the elders as they didnt really know what to do for the best) anyway, this brother, had a group of zelous friends (all brothers) who all went to scotland once a year. he tried to organize it with me going as well. all the brothers declined going saying they would not be comfotable knowing that 2 gay people would be going with them. (by this point everyone in both congreagtions knew we were both gay) so already we were feeling the affects of being known gay people. we started becoming stigmatised. not only together but individually. (remember, we are in different congs). several events were organised, and i was always asked to pick up this one young brother from a villlage near me so he could come laong too. everytime, he would cancel coming. i soon learned that his dad, who is an elder, didnt want me and his son alone int he car or anywhere. (you should have saw his face when i was assigned as his sons ministry partner one saturday morning) first of all, i am no peado! i am gay! plus i was still a virgin and i didnt not want to engage in sexual activity with any perosn in the cong! that this elder father thought i might sexual attack his son hurt deeply! but he wasnt the only one. soon, i was learning that all young brothers in the congreagtion had been warned not to be alone with me. this came from "concerned elders". i will say again - im not after sex! i had no plans to sexually attack these people! but my confidential information was leake out due to concerned elders wanting to warn other young brothers which in turn gossiped to everyone hence the cong knew i was gay!!!! thankyou very much. so becuase i was outed as being gay, thee is no chance that any brother is going to want to house share with me or go on randomn holidays etc. not only that but the elders are now quick to warn any young brothers about me hence meaning its difficult to make friends! because of silly watchtower rules saying that a brother and sister, even though the friendship is platonic cant be alone together, now nor can i i with either sex! so now left completly alone. and this has happened to another brother in the congreagtion who is assumed to be gay even though hes done nothing wrong and has never said he is gay but has himself become victimised in this way too!
so to sum up the disadvantages of being a gay jw
1 - feelings of competly inadequecy becaue youre very person is something detestable to jehovah
2 - you have to be fixed in paradise because youre obviously very abnormal
3 - living a life alone watching all your friends set up family and you being left, knowing you will never experience love and loving someone and holding someone and building a life with someine
4 - having the elders share your confidential information with members of the cong, especially among your peer group resulting in your friends becoming distant, and new brothers keep their distant too resulting in lack of friends.
5 - having parents keep their children away from you, making you feel like a sexual predator
i would like to know if any other gay people on here have had similar experiences whilst being a jw, or know of any gay jws and what they went through. i couldnt stand it any longer and i left and was disfellowshipped in 2012.
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My three days of hell summary - Part I
by cookiemaster inwell guys, i finally got back from the dc or whatever it's called nowadays.
it wasn't really as bad as i expected but still, it was pretty bad.
the first interesting thing happened on the road.
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truthwillsetyoufree
I heard the same as oneeyedjoe. I think I read it through Raymond Franz. Obeying the superior authorities was Jehovah and Jesus over secular authorities. Communism happened and communication was almost nonexistent. When communism collapsed and contact was reestablished they found out that the superior authorities had changed to mean secular authorities. It might not seem very important but considering these witnesses had suffered so much for their faith by obeying Jehovah and Jesus as the superior authorities and then they find out that its been change to mean to obey secular authorities is a bit of a slap in the face! They also thought the secular authorities were trying to deceive them by using this change of teaching to get the faithful jws to obey them hence putting them in line with what they had been resisting.