Posts by passwordprotected

42

We Don't Want to Know Why You're Leaving

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

our exit from the watch tower society was fairly speedy.

within about 3 months, we'd ceased attending meetings and lost all of our friends (apart from hobo ken and his wife).. what was shocking - and only confirmed that we were right to leave - was how our decision was met by our so-called friends.. we were leaving behind people whom we'd enjoyed friendship for over 20 years.

we were leaving behind friends who were closer to us than our own families were.

passwordprotected

@ Billy great post.

@ Buzzkid, I agree re. the JWs feeling they might be in danger of being grabbed and forced to jump too.

42

We Don't Want to Know Why You're Leaving

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

our exit from the watch tower society was fairly speedy.

within about 3 months, we'd ceased attending meetings and lost all of our friends (apart from hobo ken and his wife).. what was shocking - and only confirmed that we were right to leave - was how our decision was met by our so-called friends.. we were leaving behind people whom we'd enjoyed friendship for over 20 years.

we were leaving behind friends who were closer to us than our own families were.

passwordprotected

@ ninja; wow, I didn't know that! I bet he nicked the analogy from me, though

2

Jehovah's Witness Bikini Protest

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5016494/pregnant-jehovah-witness-in-bikini-protest-against-independent-school.html.

only in milton keynes..

passwordprotected

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5016494/Pregnant-Jehovah-Witness-in-bikini-protest-against-independent-school.html

Only in Milton Keynes.

2

Could Russia be the Key to the WTS Obsession With Legals?

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

many of us agree that the wts is motivated by their lawyers.

fear of losing millions to law suits surely shapes the way magazine articles and books are written, the way meetings are handled, the direction elders receive, the change to the title of the presiding overseer and the abolishment of the book study groups.. i found this blog post interesting as it documents the scrutiny the society is under in moscow and how the authorities and picking over everything they're doing.. .

when cults go looking to shove in all the wrong places: the watchtower & the closing of the russian nation.

passwordprotected

Many of us agree that the WTS is motivated by their lawyers. Fear of losing millions to law suits surely shapes the way magazine articles and books are written, the way meetings are handled, the direction elders receive, the change to the title of the Presiding Overseer and the abolishment of the book study groups.

I found this blog post interesting as it documents the scrutiny the society is under in Moscow and how the authorities and picking over everything they're doing.

When Cults Go Looking To Shove In All The Wrong Places: The Watchtower & The Closing Of The Russian Nation

42

We Don't Want to Know Why You're Leaving

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

our exit from the watch tower society was fairly speedy.

within about 3 months, we'd ceased attending meetings and lost all of our friends (apart from hobo ken and his wife).. what was shocking - and only confirmed that we were right to leave - was how our decision was met by our so-called friends.. we were leaving behind people whom we'd enjoyed friendship for over 20 years.

we were leaving behind friends who were closer to us than our own families were.

passwordprotected

@ lukewarm; we left so suddenly that we hadn't gotten into any conversations with them before hands. Plus we were aware of not wanting to raise any red flags and thus be fingered for apostasy.

However, it was the fact that they didn't ask that's so galling. If JWs were so sure of their faith they wouldn't be so scared of the reasons why people leave.

1

"We'll point kids to religion for moral education, but not to Jehovah's Witness"

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

http://www.wwrn.org/sparse.php?idd=30511.

"in february, the attorney general of the federation sent the administrative committee of the jehovah's witnesses a letter accusing the members of the russian community of "violations of the law," "abstention from military service," and "social isolation," behaviors that "evoke negative attitudes on the part of the populace and traditional russian confessions.

and how does the wts react?.

passwordprotected

http://www.wwrn.org/sparse.php?idd=30511

"In February, the attorney general of the Federation sent the administrative committee of the Jehovah's Witnesses a letter accusing the members of the Russian community of "violations of the law," "abstention from military service," and "social isolation," behaviors that "evoke negative attitudes on the part of the populace and traditional Russian confessions."

And how does the WTS react?

The representatives of the Jehovah's Witnesses reject the accusations

Of course they do..

42

We Don't Want to Know Why You're Leaving

by passwordprotected in

jw
friends

our exit from the watch tower society was fairly speedy.

within about 3 months, we'd ceased attending meetings and lost all of our friends (apart from hobo ken and his wife).. what was shocking - and only confirmed that we were right to leave - was how our decision was met by our so-called friends.. we were leaving behind people whom we'd enjoyed friendship for over 20 years.

we were leaving behind friends who were closer to us than our own families were.

passwordprotected

Our exit from the Watch Tower Society was fairly speedy. Within about 3 months, we'd ceased attending meetings and lost all of our friends (apart from Hobo Ken and his wife).

What was shocking - and only confirmed that we were right to leave - was how our decision was met by our so-called friends.

We were leaving behind people whom we'd enjoyed friendship for over 20 years. We were leaving behind friends who were closer to us than our own families were. In Gail's case, she had two friends who were like sisters to her. They were all very, very close and had helped and supported one another through their teenage years, we'd celebrated engagements with them, been to their weddings, gone on holiday with them, celebrated the birth of their children with them etc etc.

Yet, when we stopped attending meetings they didn't want anything to do with us. They didn't want to know our reasons for leaving, and we weren't going to give us the chance to tell them.

Here's how I likened it;

The scenario is you, as the JW family who are leaving 'the truth', are standing the safety rail of a very high bridge. You and your wife are clutching your children to you as you prepare to leap off. Behind you, standing on the safety of the bridge, are a crowd of onlookers. The onlookers are your friends. All of them are begging you not to jump. They know that if you jump, you'll meet a certain gruesome death, both you and your young children.

"Please don't do this!" they cry out. "But we have very good reasons!" you reply.

"Well....we don't want to know your reasons..."

One by one they withdraw further into the safety of the bridge, leaving you and your family teetering on the edge of oblivion. Rather than listening to you, trying to help you, trying to understand your reasons for jumping, your reason for taking your 'spiritual life', they simply don't want to know. Before you even get the chance to hint at the reasons that have driven you to this point, they cut you off. "We know you want to jump," they say, "but we don't want to know your reasons."

Imagine this happened in 'real life', that a man and woman were clutching their children and preparing to leap off a bridge. Imagine if gathered on the bridge were this family's loved ones and friends, all begging them to come back onto the safety on the bridge. And imagine the family exclaiming, "we have very good reasons for doing this!" and the loved ones not even being prepared to listen to them, knowing that their reasons would probably be painful to hear and difficult to deal with. So instead the loved ones prefer to stand back and watch the family - children and all - jump off the bridge.

79

How Long Have you Been Out of the Witnesses ? Have you Moved On ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i have been out over 5 years now.

i feel we all start healing at different speeds depending on how much hurt we went through in exiting ; and how much we've educated ourselves about how and why we were sucked in by a mind control cult.

at first i felt anger towards the organization , but after learning about mind control within 3 years of leaving the cult i felt sorry for those who are still trapped inside the witnesses being deceived.

passwordprotected

Started to properly wake up late April 2008. By June 2008 was feverishly researching Society doctrine using their publications and the Bible (it was the Bible that properly woke both my wife and me up) and by July 2008 - after sitting through the District Convention with my ears wide open to what was being taught - I resigned as an elder and ceased meeting attendance.

My wife and I wanted to avoid being cut off from family, so we kept our mouths shut as to our reasons for not attending meetings anymore. What was shocking was how our conditional-friends didn't even want to know our reasons for leaving 'the truth', but were happy to tell us they couldn't have anything to do with us anymore; we weren't DFd at the time.

We enjoyed a summer of meeting and service free weekends, but we soon started to yearn for some fellowship. We still held Christian values and viewed ourselves as being non-denominational Christians but kinda balked about church. Gail decided to attend an Alpha course and that led to us tentatively attending our first ever church services. We choose an evangelical church as we knew we wouldn't like the formalism of the Church of Scotland.

Our eyes became further open to the Watch Tower Society lies regarding "so-called Christians" and we began attending church every Sunday and soon found ourselves making new friends. As we knew one of our children would eventually mention to JW family that we go to church, I told my father. He was under the impression that we would, at some point, return to the KH, so I had to put him straight on that. Because I'd 'confessed' our church-going to him, I was put in a position of having to tell an elder so that my dad wouldn't have to turn us in to the congregation. I complied with this and eventually met with two elders - two elders whom I'd been serving with just a few months before - and gave them Gail's DA letter, while I verbally DAd myself by admitting I'd gone to church.

They cited the verses which apply to the anti-christ as being the reason why we were to be shunned by family and former friends. This was October 2008.

It's now March 2009, we're firmly plugged into a small, independent evangelical church, we've made new friends, we've got a new baby in the family whom we firmly believe is a gift and a blessing from God, life is good and we're in possession of a deep seated feeling of peace and joy.

Yes, at times the JW mentality still kicks in, yes at times I get angry at the shunning (we have family members who haven't even acknowledged the birth of our new son. They live locally to us, they could even just send an email...), but we strangely don't miss anyone we left behind in the Org.

15