i did not know where to start, but figured the personal experience section was a good place to begin.
won't bore you with all the particulars today....but i was raised in "it" (wont call it the truth, cause it ain't) from about 1968. baptized in 1985, faded about 2001.....woke up from the insanity after reading ray franz forbidden book a few years ago(crisis).
only sorry i did not read it earlier....but there was that fear factor instilled in me.
Hi Shawn
Welcome fellow fader....
I too faded (and my husband) for as many years as you...Does take a while to offload the garbage doesn´t it?
I´ve just found this forum and it has really helped in cutting completely away and thinking clearly about things. I wasn´t even born a JW but still it takes a while to free yourself from the brainwashing.
as i have enjoyed reading everyone elses biogs here i thought it was about time that i put my own down.
i have thought about why i want to do this and whilst i can pretend it is for the better good and it will act as a warning for others thinking of joining the witnesses, actually i think it is because i think it is just because it makes an interesting story and as will become apparent a good part of my life i had to live a lie and i now find it really liberating just to be really open with everyone.. i also thought about how to write it.
was tempted to write it to the tune of the fresh prince but thought that might get a bit tough after about verse 38. then wondered whether i should do it in the style of one of those biography pieces in the awake but that would involve reading an awake to mimic the style and just couldnt be bothered.
Hi Jamesmahon
I love stories..the longer the better. It must of taken you hours.
I find it very sad for the children who are raised as JWs .. seldom do they grow in a loving, secure and positive environment.
Well done for keeping your head straight despite your hard childhood.
Keep posting.
i'm quite new to this site, & have realised some members have a union jack symbol under their avatar.
i don't.. could we have a "show of hands" from any uk members?
i've already found several by reading older posts..
I´m from the Wirral..then North London...now Spain...soon to return back to Kent.
if you follow the current nonsense being taught by the society, in its latest magazines and assembly parts, there seems to be a dominant theme about near worship of the "faithful slave" and tiresome nagging about 'obey, obey, obey'.. my unanswered question is: why?.
if they were the empire in star wars, i would expect to hear dark-robed members of the evil governing body muttering about " a disturbance in the force".. anyhow, what has changed to generate this sudden demand for obedience to their supposed authority?
some years ago, they panicked after contributions collapsed in the 'voluntary donation arrangement'.
I would imagine that the WTS are very very worried and afraid of the witnesses using the Internet.
It is the life blood of the younger generation and kids nowadays if they want to know something they wikiped-it. They will come across forums like this and find that apostates are not hate-filled against Jehovah, but have had their eyes opened and the minds free from the control.
The Internet allows you to know anything and anyone.
Thanks to the Internet..the WTS will lose any credibility and control over the younger ones (and us not so young too!).
i was reading some education-related threads on here and i'm curious about something.
i haven't been out too long, and while i was in, i was farsighted enough to get my college degree part-time at night.
i kind of knew i'd be out someday and would need it... anyway, since i've been out, i've been going to law school.
There is a young sister in the local congregation who told me she is at the local university studying Law.
I was surprised and I although I don´t know her well (because we seldom go). She seems a proper JWs and answers up.
Now bear in mind this is Spain. So I am thinking that in Spain the whole idea of not going for higher education is overridden by most JWs families seeing the sense of having a good education to provide for their families - the ones I know of seem to have professional jobs.
In the UK, I didn´t know many who went to University though and some witnesses were happy to claim benefits instead of working so they could pioneer.
just wanted to introduce myself.... .
i am a secret fader but since reading this forum i feel i am alot more confident about telling my family/friends that i don t go to the meetings and inactive.. my hubby is also a fader with me...we kind of drifted after my first baby was born.
she is now 11.. it all started with my mom who started studying with my cousin when i was about 15. while she was studying i also started studying (i was about 16).
Hi Cantleave - thanks for the welcome.
Now why do I still attend the memorial? Mmm good question. I think we just kind of still have a tiny bit of guilt for not going to the meetings. It really is recently that I am beginning to question it all. I mean I can´t go on being a fake witness to my witness family members and not tell the truth about me and my husband ( although I haven´t seen them for over 2 years ) ..I need to make up my mind. Although I have no real desire to go to the meetings or behave like a witness. I want to be a normal person making my own decisions and doing things without the guilt trip.
We all went this memorial this year only because we had an invite from the elder and his wife who come and see us now and then. They really are a lovely couple and they did help us out when we first came here so we felt obliged to go really.
just wanted to introduce myself.... .
i am a secret fader but since reading this forum i feel i am alot more confident about telling my family/friends that i don t go to the meetings and inactive.. my hubby is also a fader with me...we kind of drifted after my first baby was born.
she is now 11.. it all started with my mom who started studying with my cousin when i was about 15. while she was studying i also started studying (i was about 16).
Hi Sam
Sorry the elders didn´t allow you to fade.....we have been quite lucky to just be left as inactive and the elder and wife team who come now and then are quite nice and understanding. We didn´t speak against the organization or the elders but kept our true feelings to ourselves and went to the occasional meeting, then moved abroad.
It´s only recently that I googled the witnesses and found this forum....I am shocked at some of the real life experiences of some. Deeply shocked....I have the experience of my mom and think that was unfair how the elders treated her, but I thought it was a one-off.
I really want to read this book...never heard of it until I came here. I think it will be very enlightening and clarify some of the doubts I have.
Hey I am sure you know some of witnesses or they could be ex witnesses by now, in London. I had a really good friend who moved to California Orange County working for a family who was originally from North London.
okay here's the deal.
i just started a new job.
although i've been working at this place for half a year now, they just now within the last month made me a full-time employee.
Hi
I had something similar to you a while back.
It was actually when we moved abroad and I had stomach problems. I wasn´t sure why and laid off bread for a while-didn´t help but I did lose a few pounds. After a while it got me so worried that I decided to pay for some tests. I was thinking it was something quite serious.
It turned out that I was fine..nothing was wrong. It was all in my mind and once I knew I wasn´t going to drop down dead.. I relaxed and then my stomach was normal again.
Looking back, I think it was because I was under alot of stress. At the time, I didn´t think I was- but you can be stressed without realising- of course it makes sense now that I was actually under alot of stress - I just moved abroad, not long had a baby and my mom died.
You have been temping and don´t have healthcare...that is a worry in it´self- the stomach is a complex organ and very easily affected by our emotions.
Hope you feel better..
for years the wt has claimed that only 20 billion people have ever lived on the earth- in 1988 they claimed that there would be 1/3 hectare of every person who ever lived, which they said was enough to grow all the food that was needed.
a more realistic number by the population reference bureau is over 100 billion.
life in the wt utopia would resemble living in third world slums with just one bowl of food a day.
When I was active, the idea of paradise on earth didn´t really appeal to me.
Lots of the witnesses dream of it but for me the idea of having a house in the country, planting my own veg etc didn´t excite me. I love cities with lots going on, shopping and theatre etc.
Also would this perfect earth be just how the congregations are with their hierarchy? I wonder...then no way would I fancy being bossed around by elder X Y or Z and told how to live my life so that all woman became clones of each other. Yikkes no way!
just wanted to introduce myself.... .
i am a secret fader but since reading this forum i feel i am alot more confident about telling my family/friends that i don t go to the meetings and inactive.. my hubby is also a fader with me...we kind of drifted after my first baby was born.
she is now 11.. it all started with my mom who started studying with my cousin when i was about 15. while she was studying i also started studying (i was about 16).
JUST WANT TO SAY THANKS AGAIN FOR THE WELCOMES...
I must say, I have been doing alot of thinking about Jehovah and the JW organization and analysing alot of things which I haven´t really done before until now. Well actually it has always been at the back of my mind and I used to think about my life when I was a witness and how I miss my friends etc.
Now I see it differently...I think that before I considered it to be the closest religion to the truth. Now definitely not !
The more I read and think about, the further away from truth it is.
In turn, I have been able to stand up for what I truly feel...I told in my previous post that I hid the fact I was inactive from my family (who live a fair distance away which helps) who are witnesses and also my non-witness family still think I am, (I think).
It is just a first step for me to be truthful...the other day, I received a text from my witness cousin who asked if I had been to the DC? I texted back and said that I didn´t go and by the way, I don´t go to the meetings here because of the pressure and was making me anxious and unhappy. I told her that the kids are happy because mom and dad are happier and more relaxed.
I should of told her that I haven´t been going for 10 years or so...but I think I will elaborate more when I see her face to face so that I can explain better. Maybe I can help to free her shackles too.
I haven´t completely left it ... we tend to go to the memorial every year. The local congregation here know we are inactive witnesses from England and they are friendly. An elder and his wife occasionally come to see us. They don´t put any pressure on us. Although they came all the way from their house to ours just to tell us that CO was visiting and invited us to his talk. We didn´t go..the fact it´s in another language doesn´t help to enjoy it.
I´m not up to date on alot of what goes on in the organization now. I just remember when I was in it. I didn´t have children when I was active. I cannot see that I would ever become active again and teach it to my children but I also don´t think I can hate it. I think that there are alot of well meaning witnesses in the organization who are just cloned and closed minded. Some live and breathe it but it´s not a healthy lifestyle.
Anyway, I am just writing the jumbled words in my head and hope it all makes some sense.
