For me it was not the people that caused me to leave. It was the fact that I was no longer able to stifle my doubts and questions about the JW TEACHINGS and I finally decided to examine my lifelong religion of 40 years. I can forgive imperfection, but not deliberate deceit. I would say the majority of JWs that we knew were good and decent people, and we had a few funny, smart, kind individuals as close friends. I miss them. Of course, our little group was considered the radical unrighteous liberal wing by some in the congregation (we drink Martinis before dinner - oooooh), but we managed to mostly ignore those jerks.
whoknows
JoinedPosts by whoknows
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78
Why do we get stumbled out of JW's because of imperfect people?
by reniaa ini see this a lot on this forum, loads of people saying they left jw's because of "hypocritical ....... ( put elder, pioneer, couple, sister, brother, governing body) here.. but?.
why would you expect any man-run organisation if you believe the bible, to have to be perfect and not be full of imperfect people that will come across as hypocritical?.
the bible examples from israelites onwards name anyone :- moses, king david, pharasees, paul the one thing the bible doesn't do is white-wash them it shows that however much we follow the laws we are always fighting our own imperfection usually failing every time and needing to be corrected sometimes punished (moses had to give-up chance of seeing the foretold land), so why do we hold this against jw's as a reasons not to be a jw's anymore?.
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What will you do when the Great Tribulation Begins?
by Malkiel ini've always wanted to ask this question to those that have decided to leave the organization.. what will you do when the great tribulation begins?.
right now folks, a lot is happening in the political world.. gordon brown (prime miniter of england) last week gave a speech to the un stating that it is time for the un to step in and solve the world's problems, (specifically mentioning the economy and hunger crisis worldwide.).
barrack obama is shaping up to be the next president, a fellow who sure knows how to persuade and lead great crowds.
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whoknows
My Martini glasses are chilled and ready at a moments notice.
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OK, so I revised the letter mostly becasue of Scottsman... please read
by dawg indad, .
since our time on this planet is short, i wanted to take a moment and tell you that you were the person that i loved more than any other person in the world.
nothing has made me sadder than the events that have surrounded this last year; events that were years in the making yet in my mind were unavoidable.
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whoknows
Dawg, In my opinion, your letter is loving and heartfelt as well as being logical and persuasive. I truly hope for the sake of all involved that he reads its. Speaking as a parent who had a child leave the borg before I did, I can say I would certainly read it and it would affect me greatly. If he reads it, it can't help but make him think. When I consider the pain and suffering caused by this evil policy, I want to drag my teeth on the pavement. We will be thinking of you.
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106
So what caused you to have doubts in the first place?
by nicolaou ini had no doubts at all about the 'truth' untill a friend of mine in the cong' began falling away.
in trying to help him i had to ask questions and do research and that of course cracked the doors of my mind open for the first time in over thirty years.. years ago, when jwd allowed members to have signatures, i used the following quote from voltaire as mine.
i still love it.. doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous..
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whoknows
Bogus chronology and creature worship (FDS). After 40 years, I finally decided to read the bible as they asked me to. I took a few weeks to read the NT in different translations along with Greek Interlinear, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Vine's Dictionary and WT concordance. That did it for me.
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FUN TEST! I am 37% JW!! Post your percentage here plz
by Tired of the Hypocrisy ini found this online.
i have not seen it on here before so i thought i would post it.
it is a test to determine if you belong in the jw religion.
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whoknows
27% Witness. Oh well, its been less than a year. The mow the lawn one probably got me. Don't have a lawn, but I don't like to be seen with chipped nail polish.
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Further Education - WTS ups the pressure
by dozy inthe wts are upping their opposition to further education.. at our recent co visit , much of a talk on youth concerned the evils of college & university education.. the meeting of the elders & ms included a similar but harder line section , stating that the appointed men should set an example.
the question was raised does an elder continue to qualify for his privilege if he , his wife , or his child goes to further education.
what attitude is he showing regarding the fds stated view on this matter?.
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whoknows
I heard from a friend in New Zealand yesterday that their CO gave exactly the same message. Must be orders from "on high".
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Newbies & Lurkers - Let's Get to Know You - Please Tell Us Your Story
by flipper inat the suggestion of my sis named dinah ( thanks dinah ) we thought it would be good to invite newbies , lurkers , or any others junior members etc.
to tell their stories of how they got out of the jehovah's witnesses or what you dealt with before getting out of which you had to overcome !
life is hard- we all have our stories , but on this board are many caring people who will be here for you if you need a soft place to land after being controlled by the jehovah's witnesses mindset.
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whoknows
I appreciate the kind invitation. My husband and I have been lurking here almost a year. It has been a help to me in ways I can't express, just knowing you are not alone. I've been intimidated to post. I feel a little older than some of you, not as clever and not as computer literate. Anyway, here goes, a little introduction. My husband and I have faded together over the past 9 months or so, after about 40 - 50 years of active involvement. My husband was appointed an elder at the age of 25 (what were they thinking?) and served for 26 years as presiding overseer in two congregations until he was removed for attending our DFd daughter's wedding. My husband was one of the "good ones" if I do say so myself. A good guy who stood up for the voiceless one in the congregation, and stood up to the bully pharisaical elders to challenge them on their small mindedness. It tended to create enemies for him. I think we were thought of as the far left liberal witnesses to some. The younger ones in teh congregation (friends of our children) always loved us, and we took them in. Took them into our family life with just a sit down dinner ( where that didn't often happen in their house), warm family banter, a night watching Tv together, and included many of these kids on our family vacations. I think these kids do have warm memories of those times, I know I do. They have spoken of us as their family, like a mom and dad. I don't regret any of those efforts with those kids, it was mutually fulfilling. Now I wonder, if my husband and I are dfed or da, will they simply disappear from ourlives? We have had a pretty clear message recently that one who I consider a son who has made it pretty clear he would not be coming around. He is now in his 30s, but we have known him since he was 5 or 6. Bottom line is we realize that we have lost all of our friends. evem the closest. We understand that to disagree with the teachings of the GB is worse than murder or adultrey. child molestation or stealing. It is the unforgiveable sin. The only way I was able to reply to this post is because I have had a couple of nice scotch on the rocks, and it has given me courage (but perhaps not clarity). In any case,I have been so impressed and encouraged by what I have heard on tnis board, I wanted to thank all of those with the courage to xpress yourselves honestly. We are in Los Angeles Caoifornia area, and would welcome any encouraging words from anyone.
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Thinking of becoming a Witness again and my reasons for doing so :(
by reniaa ini've been a faded jw for 10 years i left because of my failed first marriage, i'm no hypocrite and realised i had left completely so i embraced the world and dived in, only christmas and birthdays i could not get into, they were too foreign to me having never celebrated them, like if i suddenly tried to do ramadan or something like that.. 1/ all the criticisms of the people in the truth you say on here, i've found in the world, warts and all only in the world nothing holds them back from being utterly horrible to you.. 2/ i got stabbed by a worldly boyfriend, i got married 2 times of my own choosing to men outside the truth, the first smoked and was an alcoholic, the second gambled every penny we had and defrauded me out of money after we separated, 2 divorces later i am currently pregnant and a single mum since current boyfriend decided kids was to much of a responsibility and he needed his freedom and i was 'too selfish to expect him to give up his life'.. 3/ parents-in-law!
i have been shunned by them as equal to anything you accuse witness families of and for the silliest of reasons, i had a disabled son and his grandparents said they wanted nothing to do with him because they didn't want to become attached in case he died.. 4/ i miss the honest friendships of the truth, i had friends of all ages from 14 to 80 years old and they genuinely cared for me, many trying to keep me in the faith a long time after i left but i was determined to fade so moved away completely, but i find friendships in the world so shallow in comparison and very hard to sustain :( i've never been a drinker and sometimes thats what friendship means you being a companion for them to goto pub with.. 5/ my recent boyfriend was in a christian religion, i thought why not find out about it, harvest churches if you ever heard of them, unfortunately it still hasn't stop him leaving me pregnant and alone and when i said to him how does he clear that with god, he replies "as long as i repent it doesn't matter" it's like he has a "get out of jail free card" for any wrong-doing in the bible, this is so alien to me and my witness trained conscience.. 6/ i recently out of frustration tried looking into atheism and joined their forums, it wasn't fun, they are as bombastic and arrogant as their religious counterparts can be from any religion, they make a religion out of not believing in god, it's very weird they talk of saving people from believing in god and offer nothing to replace it.
they said to me "be happy you are in reality now and enjoy it" and i thought "well if this is reality i've had enough of it".
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whoknows
If preaching was a "command" as JWs teach it is, why is it never mentioned on the list of qualifications to be a ministerial servant or elder? How much time brothers spent evangelizing was NOT a consideration in qualifying one to be an elder or MS. In the Org I sometimes think it is the only thing that matters. Also, in the book of Titus Paul has direct counsel to women "to love their husbands, to love their children, to be workers at HOME", etc. Why no mention of door to door work or pioneering??
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Recent qutters, do you even have a social structure now?
by oompa inat least when i was in high school, i had lots of somewhat secret worldly friends.
i fit in well for guy with short hair.
my liberal elder/dad let me play on the tennis and soccer team....and go to the prom with my catholic girlfriend...talk about scandal.
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whoknows
We can totally relate. My husband and I were very involved "jw lifers", forty plus years. We began to fade about a year ago and haven't been to a meeting in months. We are not df or da, but we have been completely dropped by ALL of our former friends. We did have a wonderful social life, actually more than we could really handle. It's been a very tough year, but I understand it does get better. At the moment, I have no idea how to reconstruct my life, don't even know if I have the energy. We do have non-jw siblings who have always loved us and we are now giving more attention to those relationships, feeling guilty that it took us "losing my religion" to do so. You are certainly not alone. I know there must be thousands lurking here finding comfort in reading this thread. It is hard to come out of the shadows, but I just had to let you know my heart goes out to you.
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Ways to keep entertained when going to a meeting...
by cognac inlets see, this is what i got so far:.
played games on cell phone.
did my own personal research.
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whoknows
The last meeting I attended I put in ear plugs and read the bible. I have long hair, so no one noticed.