Posts by JW Walking Away

63

Thought I'd properly introduce myself

by JW Walking Away in

jw
friends

i have been lurking on this site for nearly a year now and finally feel comfortable enough to begin posting.

so i thought a little introduction would be appropriate.

my whole family, except for my two sisters, are jw's.

JW Walking Away

Wonderful story you've told about your leaving the slavery of the WTBS. to find your newly found happiness. Everyone thats thinking about leaving this high control cult should use your example as a template on how to leave the right way, thanks for sharing your experience and happy Holidays to you and your family............Homey Humanity won again

Thanks, but I think it was only easy as it was for me cause I did have some support. So many JW's have no one and nowhere to go after they leave so they become lost. This happened to my mom when she got DF. Her whole world was ripped out from under her. All her family and all her life long friends....gone. And since she grew up a JW she never had any real life experience, so didn't have any clue what to do. She became so lost and turned to drugs,alcohol and an abusive marriage. It all caught up with her and she died nearly 6 years ago at the age of 45. All because those who supposedly loved her thought it was better to shun her instead of help her.

63

Thought I'd properly introduce myself

by JW Walking Away in

jw
friends

i have been lurking on this site for nearly a year now and finally feel comfortable enough to begin posting.

so i thought a little introduction would be appropriate.

my whole family, except for my two sisters, are jw's.

JW Walking Away

At the end of last year I had some experiences that led me to question if I was really in the right place. I can go into detail if anyone asks but for now I'll just leave it at that. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose curiosity was peaked; do tell!

Well my youngest sister was expecting her first child, the baby was due at the end of December. My sister lived across town from me and didn't have a car. So I was her ride to the hospital and also was going to be with her during the birth. So naturally December rolls around and she starts experiencing contractions. I kept telling her they were only braxton hicks but she wouldn't listen. So everytime she'd get them she'd call me and I would take her to the hospital. Naturaly in the evening and even the middle of the night.

Needless to say I was missing tons of meetings and not going out in field service. The elders were calling to find out why I was missing so many meetings. I explained the situation and I was told this was just Satan's why of distracting me and I should think of it as being spiritually raped. That did not sit well with me at all. I couldn't understand why they would tell me to basically abandon my sister in her time of need and why on earth I should think of missing meetings as being raped.

So I just ignored then because there was no way I was going to not take my sister to the hospital just so I could go to meeting. On the 26th of December I took my sister to the hospital and this time it was for real and my nephew was born on the 27th. Unfortunately my sister and the baby had a rough time. My nephew, although full term ended up in the NICU. My sister had her husband were so upset. I stayed with my sister everyday to be with her and to go with her when she would visit the baby.

My sister was discharged from the hospital but the baby had to stay for another week. It was awful leaving that hospital without him. And I took my sister everyday back to the hospital so she could be with him. A few days after being released my sister spiked a temperature and I took her to the ER, she was hospitalized with a fever. She was only there a couple days and then she was released. The elders had called me during this time to see why I still wasn't at meetings and I explained the whole situation. It completely fell on deaf ears. I just couldn't understand why they were so uncaring. Even if they didn't care for my sister cause she was a non-JW why didn't they care anything for the baby who was ill?

One evening on the drive home from the NICU the car was silent, no one was happy about the situation and we all just wanted the baby to come home. I was thinking a lot to about what the elders had said and how I could make up the time at meetings I had lost when all of a sudden this wave of emotion hit me and I realized I don't want to do this anymore. I just didn't want to be a JW anymore and I really didn't know why except that it no longer felt right.

I kept this thought to myself though. 2 weeks after my nephew was born he was finally released from the hospital. But only 2 days after he went home my sister became very ill. She had gotten an infection from the birth and was re-hospitalized. Her husband had to work, so I kept the baby with me so he could work and be with my sister. So now I had a brand new baby, on top of my own three, to care for. And still my explanations and pleas with the elders fell on deaf ears. No one came to see if they could be of any assistance, no one cared at all. I had the baby for a week before my sister was released and ok to go home.

After that my mind was firmly made up to never go back, and I never did. So that is basically how I got out of the Org. Oh, and my sister and nephew are both perfectly healthy now and my nephew is the sweetest, happiest baby boy you ever did see.

63

Thought I'd properly introduce myself

by JW Walking Away in

jw
friends

i have been lurking on this site for nearly a year now and finally feel comfortable enough to begin posting.

so i thought a little introduction would be appropriate.

my whole family, except for my two sisters, are jw's.

JW Walking Away

Has the experience caused you to become an atheist? I'm sure you know that many ex-JWs are completely put off with the whole bible. Will you be celebrating Christmas this year? This is the first year since 1999 that I'm celebrating the holidays. It's wonderful! Tell us more about your situation.

No I'm not an atheist, not by a long shot. My belief and love for God is stronger and deeper now than ever before. It's very amazing. My one sister who was never a JW is an atheist simply because of the JWs. Our family's behavior totally turned her off. Fortunately my sister supports my spirituality and never puts me down or make me feel silly for believing in God, and visa-versa.

Oh yes we are celebrating Christmas. Just a few days ago we put up our very first Christmas tree and decorated the house. We've been celebrating all the holidays and the kids birthday's this year. The kids have been so happy and it has helped bring my husband any myself closer together.

63

Thought I'd properly introduce myself

by JW Walking Away in

jw
friends

i have been lurking on this site for nearly a year now and finally feel comfortable enough to begin posting.

so i thought a little introduction would be appropriate.

my whole family, except for my two sisters, are jw's.

JW Walking Away

If you don't mind my asking...where do you stand today theologically? Do you have any sort of religious affiliation?

Well I am a christian, perhaps more now than ever before. A few months after leaving the JWs I asked my husband is he would mind if I looked for a church to perhaps attend some services. My husband in fact pointed me in the direction. Gave me the name of a church in town that I call his family church, a majority of his relatives grew up in this church, although they no longer attend due to death and moving out of the area.
So I checked it out and was very happy with what I was greeted with. It's a Community Congregational church. The pastor has been very helpful,being available whenever I need to talk and answering my never ending questions. We have made some really good friends. My husband has even been able to reconnect with his past in a way. There are many people who were dear, close friends of his grandparents before they died.
It has been a very enjoyable experience, and the love we feel is genuine. So unlike anything I ever encountered at a KH.

63

Thought I'd properly introduce myself

by JW Walking Away in

jw
friends

i have been lurking on this site for nearly a year now and finally feel comfortable enough to begin posting.

so i thought a little introduction would be appropriate.

my whole family, except for my two sisters, are jw's.

JW Walking Away

I have been lurking on this site for nearly a year now and finally feel comfortable enough to begin posting. So I thought a little introduction would be appropriate. My whole family, except for my two sisters, are JW's. I guess I would be what you consider third generation. My mother was disfellowshipped when I was 4 and my dad just became inactive. Even though my mom was DF the JW's were all I was ever exposed too. Long story short I honestly thought it was the true religion.

At the end of last year I had some experiences that led me to question if I was really in the right place. I can go into detail if anyone asks but for now I'll just leave it at that. Without even really knowing why, I decided I no longer wanted to be a JW. So at the beginning of this year I just left, never stepped foot in a kingdom hall again.

I knew my family would shun me, I had seen it done to my mother and others in the family who were disfellowshipped. All other except my mom caved in and went back. I sent in my DA letter, hand delivered,lol. The elders tried there best to try and get me to talk to them so they could "help" and kept asking for me to reconsider. I refused. They tried coming to my home unannounced and I would not answer for them. They called me on the phone and they would ask questions and I would flat out tell them I was not answering since it was none of their business. They even tried to set up a time for me to come to the hall to talk with them and I said no.

Fortunatly I have my husband who was never a JW and our three young children. I also have my two sisters and their husbands and children, also never JW's. The year was a tough one but I feel I am much stronger now than I ever was. We also found a wonderful church and have made some great friends who have been very supportive and helpful through this whole thing.

Lurking on this board and reading so many other experiences has been very helpful too. I didn't know why I had left at first except that something didn't feel right but by reading all the information on this board and through other research I quickly learned why. I look forward to getting to know all you a little better.

16

Field Service Spies

by cameo-d in

please excuse my ignorance.

enquiring minds just want to know.. when you visit someone in field service do you give a report with information about that person or household?.

is there a pattern of requirements that you must fill out, like number in household, spoke to male or female, something about their attitude?.

JW Walking Away

In my old hall most of us tried to be discreet and hide behind trees or bushes when writing our notes.

I remember when I was a young teen and was out in field service with my aunt. I was in charge of writing the not at homes down. She told me to wait until we were away from the house cause people could get upset if they thought we were writing down information about them.
From then on I felt weird doing it since I figured it couldn't be right if we had to be sneaky about it.

16

Field Service Spies

by cameo-d in

please excuse my ignorance.

enquiring minds just want to know.. when you visit someone in field service do you give a report with information about that person or household?.

is there a pattern of requirements that you must fill out, like number in household, spoke to male or female, something about their attitude?.

JW Walking Away

This is curious. Did you have to turn in "progress reports" of your studies? Questions they had or challenges? Did you have to make a final report to turn in as explanation to why a person might have discontinued the studies?

No, no progress reports but on the same slip you put the title of the book being studied and the date/time the studies are conducted.

16

Field Service Spies

by cameo-d in

please excuse my ignorance.

enquiring minds just want to know.. when you visit someone in field service do you give a report with information about that person or household?.

is there a pattern of requirements that you must fill out, like number in household, spoke to male or female, something about their attitude?.

JW Walking Away

I've only been out a year so I doubt a whole lot has changed. We never turned in information like that to the congregation although I would keep records of such in my personal return visit book. I think the one thing that people are not aware of is that if they agree to a "bible" study with a JW, their name and address is sent to Brooklyn. I never could figure out why the society needed that information.

16

Our Kingdon Ministry December 2008.pdf

by bronzefist in

loads of laughs for those living in apartments, those praying for a bible study and last but not least the 2009 district convention part #1 get ready to stampede to the information board soon insert.

enjoy.. http://www.sendspace.com/file/b954b0.

brzfst.

JW Walking Away

The article on apartment witnessing is annoying, it's basically about how to sneak into areas they are not welcome or know they are not allowed. And the part that mentions try not to look like witnesses by not carrying book bags, sheesh. And then it tells them to begin the presentation as soon as they think someone is looking at them through the peephole, that's funny. So know they don't even need to wait until someone answers, they can witness to the door!

42

I Saw My Mother's Time Slip

by StAnn in

i took my mother a plate of food today, thanksgiving dinner.

she won't cook it because it's, well, thanksgiving, but she was sitting there waiting for me to bring her a plate of turkey and dressing.

i came in and said, "mom, i brought you some food.

JW Walking Away

I've never posted before but have been out of the org. for nearly a year now. I DA'd myself. Any who this reminded me of what I saw yesterday as I was making a last minute dash to the grocery store at 7am. Two witness ladies standing in front of the store chit-chatting with each other while holding up a watchtower magazine. They weren't paying any attention to all the people walking by them or attempting to talk with anyone, too wrapped up in their own conversation with each other. I fumed to myself knowing full well they were going to count all this as time preaching. It's pathetic how JWs pride themselves on preaching when all they do is make it look like they preach.