divamom
JoinedGreetings - I was born a JW, left the Organization at age 17, and have struggled with spirituality and faith ever since. The JW dysfunction in my family of origin was exacerbated by alcoholism (both parents), intense physical and verbal abuse (both parents on my bro and I), spousal abuse, depression (mom), adultery (dad), divorce, disfellowshipping (dad, of course), fornication (mom), and another disfellowshipping (mom, nach!). And through it all, I was the poster-child for JWs. Heck, forget the crap I went through at school - I was so devout, even the other Witness kids hated me. I was driven out of God's True Religion, not by doctrinal questions, a lack of faith, or my Toto finding the man behind the curtain - my heart was broken by the hypocrisy of all the families who (quote) should have embraced me, a lost (quote) lamb with disfellowshipped parents who REALLY wanted to be the best Witness she could, but didn't. I managed to get sober in AA 17 years ago without a higher power (atheist that I'd become), but having kids sent me church-shopping and now we're raising them Methodist. With the encouragement of my Sunday School class, I've developed a seminar on JW doctrine. I've also done a little coaching to individuals trying to deal with a JW in their life, and am writing a book about spiritual/faith recovery for adults raised in cults/oppressive religions. If you have a story (and don't we all!) and would like to be in my book, please email me ([email protected]). I invite everyone to consider the MeetUp system for ex-JWs (http://exjw.meetup.com). Monthly meetings, by geography, are organized online, and there's no charge to sign up. Thanks for reading - DivaMom