Posts by And He Ran

15

I sometimes wish I was still In.

by faundy in

jw
friends

i have read things on here that have made me think.

i know it's the general idea.

but the realisation of some of the issues and their legitimacy has made me wish that i was still a witness.

And He Ran

Hello Faundy. I think the people that have posted already are right - if you were still in, yes, you could ask questions, perhaps, but I think it would all come to a head at some point in that you would eventually be chucked out (df'd) for asking too many questions, however subtly you ask them or however innocently. When I was in I used to ask my parents questions and instead of answering the question directly they would ask: "where did you get that question?" "have you been on that internet again?" "are you looking at those apostate sites again?"

The motives of the questioner are always brought up. It is almost as if JWs think that no thinking person would ever have doubts of their own or come up with a valid question without having read it somewhere else...

31

Am I the only one that didnt realize about the GB?

by yourmomma in

jw
friends

here is a question for you.

i'll give a little back ground.

i was raised in the witness organization however in about 1993 i encountered much hypocrisy and left for about 3 years.

And He Ran

Well done for finally seeing the light Yourmomma and for sharing your experiences here on the forum.

I think it is so so subtle, how individual Witnesses are sure that they are following the bible and only the bible, or their own conscience, which I think they are to an extent. They would never ever admit to anyone that they are following the instructions of men and the dictates of a group of men in New York. It was only when I was on the way "out" that it was blindingly obvious to me. I was amazed that I had never seen it before. To an outsider it's clear that instruction is received from New York and individual members can't decide for themselves even relatively minor stuff in their personal lives.

34

Comical Memories While You Were A Witness

by minimus in

jw
friends

in all the years i was a witness, i must admit there were some pretty funny things that i can remember.

i can't forget the time after i had given a public talk and the sister who played the piano ran from the bathroom to the piano with half of her dress still tucked in her pantyhose.

brothers and sisters were trying in vain to run down the long aisle but to no avail.

And He Ran

For some reason I was convinced that King Solomon in the Bible was blessed for his faithfulness to God by being given 365 wives. I mentioned this in my talk from the platform. I was about 15 at the time. It seemed a fantastic reward from a loving God, but it was tactfully pointed out to me afterwards that I was, in fact, mistaken.

33

I NEED TO VENT

by Cindi_67 in

jw
friends

for the past weeks, i have gotten in touch with a lot of old high school classmates.

a lot of them i've found over the internet.

after reading their profiles and talking to them, to my surprise, a lot of them are professionals with degrees like doctors, engineers, business, etc.

And He Ran

It's very true, growing up as a JW drains the ambition out of you. The number of times I heard the phrase "Why polish the brash on a sinking ship?" from the platform was unbelievable. Over and over they discouraged people from furthering themselves, from entering higher education.

PS Skeeter1, that quote was Shakespeare, from Hamlet.

46

What J.W teaching did you find the hardest to accept??

by karter in

for me it was the fact that god is allowing all these innocent people to get killed to prove a point ,i mean it was a big bet he had with satan.. i explained it to my wife this way if i had our children killed in the most horriable way just to show they couldn't live without me how does that make me look?.

And He Ran

"Disfellowshipping is a loving act" was the title of a talk I am sure I heard in the late 1990s. It is a perversity and indeed travesty of the English language to believe that lie as being the truth.

15

IS YOUR KINGDOM HALL NEAR POINT OF COLLAPSE?

by badboy in

jw
friends

any takers?

And He Ran

I think in some parts of England at least the English-speaking congs are declining in number as more and more people decide to join the local Chinese or Punjabi or Albanian to "serve where the need is great". I think it's actually to relieve the boredom of sitting through the meetings in a language you can understand. Far better to join a foreign-language group where you can at least learn a foreign language, as opposed to just getting bored.

15

IS YOUR KINGDOM HALL NEAR POINT OF COLLAPSE?

by badboy in

jw
friends

any takers?

And He Ran

My old cong in the West Midlands went from about 120 regular publishers in the early 1990s to about 70 regular publishers in the early 2000s. I think people just get bored more than anything, hearing the same thing week in, week out - it just gets very tiresome.

15

Its my JWD Birthday!

by diamondblue1974 in

jw
friends

i have been on jwd for three whole years today!!!

gosh has it been so long?.

gary .

And He Ran

rock on Madchester!

happy anniversary diamondblue.

1974 was a good year. Well, I was born then so it must have been a good year.

43

This is my first post after many years of reading this site

by And He Ran in

this is my first post after many years of reading this site.

i am from the west midlands, england.

i was raised as a jw and got baptised aged 17, started "fading" whilst at university when i started to broaden my outlook and realised that all the so-called "worldly people" i had for so long been encouraged to avoid associating with were actually often open-minded, honest, generous and loyal people.

And He Ran

Hello again, good morning.

Thank you all for your posts and for your welcomes. I think what I gained most from reading this site over the years was the feeling that I was not alone in the way I thought and felt. I could relate so much to what people wrote, to other ex JW's stories, to other faders' stories, regardless of whether they lived in the UK, USA, Australia or wherever. Knowing that what I was feeling was quite common with people leaving a high-control religion like the JWs made me more sure about doing it, though naturally I do regret hurting my parents by leaving. But eventually I had to decide what was right for me and I just didn't believe so many of the JW doctrines. They are actually looking forward to the end of the world being imminent. My wife (not raised as a JW) just thinks it is some kind of parallel universe, life as a JW. Maybe it is...

Anyway, thanks again all.

43

This is my first post after many years of reading this site

by And He Ran in

this is my first post after many years of reading this site.

i am from the west midlands, england.

i was raised as a jw and got baptised aged 17, started "fading" whilst at university when i started to broaden my outlook and realised that all the so-called "worldly people" i had for so long been encouraged to avoid associating with were actually often open-minded, honest, generous and loyal people.

And He Ran

Hi all

This is my first post after many years of reading this site. I am from the West Midlands, England. I was raised as a JW and got baptised aged 17, started "fading" whilst at university when I started to broaden my outlook and realised that all the so-called "worldly people" I had for so long been encouraged to avoid associating with were actually often open-minded, honest, generous and loyal people. At age 30 I eventually stopped going to the meetings, met a lovely non-JW girl, moved away from my home town and got married. I haven't been for meetings since 2004, but haven't been df'd, as I felt that it was far better to "manage my own exit" by deciding on what terms I was going to leave. Fading away enabled my family not to have to chose whether to shun me or not, as all my family are JWs - my father is an elder, my brother is an elder, all my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents are all JWs - I am the "black sheep" of the family, but they haven't cut me off. They even all came to my wedding last year, which was great to see. They seem to have respected my freedom of choice and do not nag me, which I greatly appreciate.

I was not so lucky with my so-called JW friends, unfortunately - nearly all of them cut me off. The past few years have been hard as I have been left with virtually no friends as nearly all my friends were JWs. I have at times felt guilty, at times lonely, at times angry, at times sad, at times incredibly bitter. But the main reason for posting this is to say thank you to all on this website forum whose comments I have drawn strength and encouragement from over the past few years. I have been reading this site for years and years and have never actually joined. Today I have joined, though regrettably I feel obliged to do it anonymously in case anyone identifies me who's still in the faith.

So, once again, thank you all for your comments and postings which have made me feel less like a "leper" than I did before. My guilt of leaving, so deep-ingrained guilt, is easing slowly.