my first post here and unfortunately it is asking for help.. i was a born in jehovah's witness and from my earliest memories, i know i hated being one.
i hated the embarrassment of being the "outsider" at school and i hated not being allowed to have any friends.
of course i had the obligatory friends in the kingdom hall - none of whom were my age exactly and none of whom i would have personally chosen to be friends with if i had been left to pick them myself in a natural setting.
You need to find a therapist who is experienced in treating victims of cults. You are suffering from the effects of being raised in a cult, it is no small thing. I also suggest reading Combating Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan.
Most therapists have no experience with this, and most people don't think JWs are a cult anyway, but your experience proves that it has affected you very deeply and you need help.
hello everyone, i hope you are all ok. .
my name is conan, i am 25, and from the uk.
i have some brain damage, so i apologise in advance if my syntax is off or i go a long way around explaining things.
Hi Conan, welcome. I think it's a good thing you found your way here. Of course you must make up your own mind. I remember when I first studied I was told never to talk to former JWs, that they were bitter, evil apostates who only wanted to tear people away from God. I never stopped to think that if they were telling lies it would be easy to refute them and that truth, real truth, stands up to scrutiny. I was told this so much I feared apostates, as if they could somehow make me believe something against my will. It was silly, but it wasn't until years after leaving that I came and found this site, I was still afraid of apostates!
Of course I became a JW many years ago before the internet. I attempted to do my own independent research, but I only had the library and they didn't have much about Jehovah's Witnesses. So I believed what they told me and wasted many years of my life in the religion. The internet has made it much harder for them to convert people, there is just too much disturbing information out there.
Lisa🌹
i am 32 years and have recently left the organisation.
i got baptised in last feb. please excuse any typing errors i have dyslexia.
it has been so hard this year i have gone through so many ups and downs.
((Hugs)))
I am so sorry you had to go through this. It seems the religion attracts people with issues in their life like your mother, and it doesn't really help them as much as gives them different ways to be mal adjusted. If this was a good religion they would have helped your mom to be a better person, but it's not a good religion.
But you have escaped, so don't feel guilty about your family, you can't help them, they will not listen to you, so be strong and take care of yourself so you can help your own children. Be proud of yourself for seeing through the lies and deceptions, not all are able to do that.
Lisa 🌹
... to all who share this day as their birthday with me, particularly if you you still have to pretend to be a jw.. sf.
hi, i believe that a lady is put on earth to satisfy the needs of her partner and respect his views in all matters.. i realize some here may consider that old fashioned and not based on sexual equality.. yet a lady and man are not created equal because the lady gives birth and the man must sire many children.
if you are a lady under 30 and keen to meet me, willing to cook and breed, then please message me here.
please do not contact me if you disagree with my views, we can agree to differ.
I hope it's a joke, I would hate to think there is any man out there that actually thinks this way. Because every woman wants a man who expects her to have no needs or viewpoints of her own and who thinks he is better than her because he doesn't give birth, because fathering children is so hard and giving birth us so easy, lol.
only a few days ago i was walking around the house in a mindless wander thinking if i needed to seek professional help.
then i got the courage to seek the comfort of complete strangers on the internet and found a world of support here on this website.
thank you simon and whoever else has made this website possible.
Wow! I am so happy for you! What a relief it must be to be able to share this with your husband and have it turn out so well.
I am sure there will be many challenges ahead as you go through the difficult process of getting out of the religion and rebuilding your lives, but doing it together will make it so much easier. You will make new friends and build new memories as you encounter many wonderful new firsts: Your first Christmas, First time voting, first Halloween, etc.
Goodbye fear obligation and guilt, hello sleeping in on Saturday morning!
just now finding this web site and have enjoyed reading the comments.
i've never written down my story and it could be a jerry springer episode but here goes.
i was raised as a jehovah's witness from as early as i can remember.
my husband is still asleep but he will get up in about an hour for work so i'm going to quickly tell you my inconclusive conclusion.
i don't know if i can believe in god anymore.
i have come to the simple conclusion that he is either dead or evil but he is definitely not loving.
I think you are on the right track. People can come up with all kind of convoluted reasons why a loving God would create mankind then go off and leave us to torture and kill each other for centuries, but in the end it just doesn't make any sense.
And believing in a literal Adam and eve is ridiculous when science proves mankind has been on the earth far longer than any possible interpretation of the bible could account for. Most Europeans have Neanderthal DNA, how could that be if we were created? That is just one piece of the mountain of evidence that confirms we evolved, there is so much more.
It's hard at first when your whole world view changes so quickly, but I would never go back to believing in fairy tales, no matter how comforting. Just because God isn't going to step in and save mankind from themselves does not mean there is no hope, it just means we have to work harder at making the world a better place. I believe what Ghandi said, that we must be the change we wish to see in the world.
So take your time getting used to these new ideas, educate yourself on things, learn all you can about cults and how they warp your thinking. I recommend Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan, especially if you want to get your husband out. Don't make any big decisions, be very careful what you say to others. You are starting on an exciting journey of discovery.
long story, short story.
grew up on a farm, went to bethel, married a sister and left bethel.
found ttatt after my cousin died refusing a blood transfusion.
What? No juicy Bethel stories to tell??? Come on, you have to have at least one.
Well, welcome anyway!
Lisa🌹
first let me introduce my self, i am a 33yo male show spent much of his youth in the jw cult, i was not raised into the truth however thought i found it at the age of 11 when a well caring brother knocked my door, i had no father figure so this brother was everything to me, like a father, i quickly began attending meetings even when my mom used to oppose, i was taken like an example kid because i was an "orphan" in the spiritual sense, i got baptized when i was 12, and spent the rest of my teenage years being this good kid everyone thought i was, i hated that attention and pressure however it felt good to be doing good things, when i was about to finish high school i started to get into punk and ska music, i used to listen to it in secret, one time an elder found out and went to my house when i wasnt there, he went into my room and took all my cds, this was my first time i felt like i was being invaded of my privacy, i was made to feel guilty for liking this music and lost all my priviledges..theres a lot more i can say but i will stick to the main points, i became a reg pioneer, i became an ms, the whole thing, living in new york allowed me to visit bethel many times and had many many friends there, at the head quarters and walkill, in my cong we had bethelite elders etc, so yeah i was "in the club" , i always had a doubt in the back of my mind if what i was doing was the right thing, i used to rent the basement out of en elders house, he is what made me turn, he was the mos unloving person i ever met, for instance he would turn off the heat during snow storms, sometimes due to my pioneering i had no food and he knew this, well no food from him etc.
yet all this time i thought i was doing the right thing, eventually i feel in love and started dating this beautiful pioneer girl, daughter of pioneer parents as well, i never felt fully excepted because of my spiritual orphan status and no family in the truth, eventually got to a point where i could not communicate with her and her parents used to pick up the calls, they told me i could not continue to pursue a relationship with her, i was devastated!
long story short i wanted to see her etc, they put a restraining order and labeled me a stalker, made a mistake of sending her an e-mail and well, that got me arrested!!
Welcome. I am sorry you were treated so poorly. Sadly this is not that uncommon in "God's loving organization". Although I'm sure this was very painful, at least it allowed you to break free.
Lisa 🌹
