i've been looking on this site for some time but never posted.
i'll give a little about myself, but not too much.
i'm a ex-bethelite ( brooklyn )and currently serving as an elder (10 years) (thinking about stepping down) on the service committee.
I certainly think many have this mindset, if it's bullshit ...well it didn't take much time and it was a 'good' way to live....
But this ignorant and indoctrinated viewpoint is very weak and as more time passes and it becomes more embarassing to have JW beliefs.... I believe more people will be brave enough to walk away.
back in the early 70's, the wt stated that all persons who had lived and died would be resurrected after armageddon.
only non believers would be killed at armageddon, never to return.
in short, if you died before the big a, you were guaranteed to return.. this gave rise amongst several ex's to concerns that their well-meaning jw parents might just consider the possibilty of having their offspring "lovingly" bumped off so as to ensure their resurrection!.
I do wonder where the limits of loyalty are, what could the WT get away with demanding from their members....then I think of all the dead children and babies and the question no longer needs to be hypothetical.
its a dangerous cult.
i knew it could happen one day...yet i was so careful..... sitting at the sound cabinet, i had our awesome forum open on my tablet, and didn't see the microphone brother looking over at me...... he wandered over and asked me "whats that site?".
i quickly responded "oh, i googled to get to our jw.org site, and this must have popped up" while quickly closing it.... he didn't look too fussed, but my heart was beating..... he is pretty chilled out and certainly not an "uber-dub"...but this was a wake up call to be more careful...i am fading fast, but don't want anymore attention from the nazi-elders while doing so!.
be careful all!
I guarantee all JWs know this site and recognise it. Now you have written this post he may come see and work out who you are? I don't mean to worry you, but assume he knows x
I think it is the best thing in the world to leave the JW's btw, but obviously everyone's circumstances are different.
jwvictims has done an excellent but disturbing article on how jw's feel about the child abuse problem.. http://jwvictims.org/2013/11/23/jehovahs-witnesses-caught-laughing-at-child-rape-accusers/.
is good calling me back or am i just letting my emotions get the best of me?also i really want to be closer to my jw family.
btw i was never baptized and i consider myself a born again christian i go to a baptist church and wath televangelist and i have expirenced gods presence like never before but sometimes i get fearful and think "what if jws are right and i'm wrong" than i'm screwed!but if there wrong and i'm right it doesn't look to good for them.. i would prefer if nobody posted "god isn't real" type comments.
i truly believe he is real but i respect why some are atheists..
Go back...taste it and see with eyes wide open...
i went through the same thing..... One meeting was enough, the 'magic' was gone, the illusion worn off......the B.S. of it all was palpable.
It was like being sat in front of a 2hr advert for a crazy cult. Never went back. I spent months shaking my head, seriously befuddled at how I had not figured it all out earlier, going back without ignorance, it is all so transparent.
when i was young we were taught to refer to other adult jws as aunt or uncle.. was this also the case in other countries and does it still happen?.
was it just a custom or has the literature ever commented on it?.
thanks.
Always found this weird and now I think back it seems EVEN WIERDER.
The most embarassing part was trying to figure out when you were old enough to not say it anymore and likewise weird that some that were old or with status were still called it even by some adults...
The whole thing was bizzare and dangerous...... The reality is these people are strangers that happen to pray and worship WT in the same building.
i've been debating this, and my mother (the spiritual head of my family, she even controls my father spiritually, who is an elder) doesn't seem to be starkly against me going to a prestigious university.
in fact, i've been going over my chances, and i'd say i have a pretty decent chance of going to my dream university, oxford university, to study philosophy, politics, and economics.
naturally i wouldn't tell my mother about me wanting to take the three most hated subjects of jws at a university that would bring me into bad relations with "spiritually sound jws".. do you guys know any ex-jw or knowledgeable jw who knows ttatt that went to a randall group or ivy league school?
i've been debating this, and my mother (the spiritual head of my family, she even controls my father spiritually, who is an elder) doesn't seem to be starkly against me going to a prestigious university.
in fact, i've been going over my chances, and i'd say i have a pretty decent chance of going to my dream university, oxford university, to study philosophy, politics, and economics.
naturally i wouldn't tell my mother about me wanting to take the three most hated subjects of jws at a university that would bring me into bad relations with "spiritually sound jws".. do you guys know any ex-jw or knowledgeable jw who knows ttatt that went to a randall group or ivy league school?
important news:.
here in the united states, on wednesday morning, march 11th at 12:35 a.m., est, barring any breaking news the day before, the program, nightline, will air as their lead story a 9-minute segment about the watchtower (jehovah's witnesses).
the program is 30 minutes long and this segment is only one part of the show.
the wts promotes the idea of congregations being managed by a body or elders who all follow their rules and so are in full agreement with how things should be done.. was your hall like this?.
out hall was a constant battlefield for power between a couple of elders and their families - relatives that had been promoted to various positions.
it wasn't some hidden secret, it was blatant and obvious.
I read Robert Jordan's wheel of time books where there was "The Game of Houses" which refered to internal politics and seeking authority in the families of the story. It is exactly how I saw the elder and elder family arrangement.
Dirty politics with tactical appointments. One family could dominate with enough DNA on the body.
So sad...... Church Mafia
