i ended my bible study today.
several months ago, i began to feel that the truth was not the truth.
as the months progressed, my feelings intensified.
Hard decision to make because two years is a long time to invest.
Try not to feel guilt about ending it. You studied this religion with an open mind and have discovered it is not the only true religion. Now you are free to continue your search if you want to and broaden your knowledge.
You can feel proud that you are not easily led and cannot be socially influenced to join a group purely because the people are love bombing you.
i have been in crisis regarding the international problem of the way child abuse has been handled in the wt organization.
i have been dealing with serious health issues that made it necessary for me to go on permanent disability since 2015. since then my health has gotten worse making it nearly impossible to attend meetings.
in this period i have received no spiritual or other help of any kind.
Welcome! Your story is familiar. Out of sight out of mind is the norm. Have you noticed how your true, unconditional friends for life are in your congregation and when you move house and congregations you get a whole new bunch of true, unconditional friends and never see the ones from the previous congregation? This is the case even if you only move to the neighboring congregation a few minutes away.
There are unfortunately no true, unconditional friends in this cult. "Friends" are ones that can be seen to be spiritual by their attendance at the meetings and out field service. When you are no longer seen, it is assumed you have fallen away and are no longer considered fit association.
At first this is hard to deal with and you experience depression and then anger. Eventually you will come to a place where you feel free and happy that they leave you alone and you can spend time pursuing friendships with people who like you just the way you are.
i’m not interested in becoming a jehovah’s witness but have nothing against people who are, or whatever religion someone chooses to follow for that matter.
i am here because i have some questions regarding my family and i. .
my fiancé stopped going to church prior to us meeting.
It is commendable that you are the sort of person who will respect his right to freedom of religion and not hold him back from attending and worshipping however be aware that the same respect will not be given to you or your child by him or anyone else in this cult.
Their collective mind set is "if you are not with us, you are against us and worthy of an imminent death at the hands of our loving creator at the great day of God the almighty.,"
He will be pressured to get you to convert and it will cause tension in your relationship.
i think a lot these days about people who train you to be obedient without telling you that's what they're doing.
the thought occurred to me that that could be part of the idea of regional conventions.
it's not like they present much of anything new to the audience, it's the same old talks year after year, the same old information, yeah, repackaged a little, different themes, different illustrations, but the same information, obey the faithful slave, armageddon is imminent, go door-to-door, the usual.
One year when my father was terminally ill, I was sent to the convention for the morning stampede to ensure he got a seat close to the exit. 8.00am. On your marks, get set, go!!
Nearly got bowled over by an elderly woman with a walking frame. Lol.
I got good seats for my parents and sat there awaiting their arrival so I could find some seats for me, the area they were in was only for the elderly and infirm. A few minutes later an "all important" attendant approached me and told me off for sitting there. When I said these seats were for my parents, I got the third degree about how old and infirm they were exactly.
Made sure to come by later and double check that I had moved. I could see them from my seat way up higher in the stadium.
Really loving bunch hey?
so i went to the memorial the other night, there's a kingdom hall on the bus route back from a local college where i was doing some research and admiring the architecture.
i'm in my street clothes, i look nice but i stood out like a sore thumb.
i went in as it started and got a seat in the back.
I think they share their bibles with those who don't have them as a way of trying to make people feel welcome and all warm and fuzzy. I do not think that lady had any sinister motives.
Too bad the "attendants' were having a "power" feeling and ended up making you feel unwelcome. I am sure others noticed too and they will have less attendees next year because of it.
probably not a popular opinion on here....and haven't been actively attending meetings since 1988....(i know i know a submarine attender) however thoroughly enjoyed attending this evening...was good to see lots of people i remember whilst growing up in this faith, they were genuine and the whole atmosphere was one of love.
sure if i suddenly wanted to become active again and didn't change my lifestyle they would drop me like a bomb.....however i haven't and won't and they didn't and don't.
this works for me.. i cannot demonize the witnesses on what i have seen tonight.
I went to the memorial tonight. Only person who said hello was the car park attendant. No love bombing here and not an atmosphere of love.
Just going through the motions.
I fell asleep too. Could not keep my eyes open.
Just on the love bombing though - I don't think those that are doing the love bombing have a sinister agenda. These are ones who have been socially influenced into believing that if you are not with them you will die very soon at the hand of God. Mostly they are sincere in trying to influence ones they know and were friends with, to return to the fold remember they too are victims of the cult mind control.
so i am still trying to help my husband realize ttatt.
i have asked him some questions .
.. “are you okay with jehovah killing your mom, sister, nephew (non-witnesses) at armageddon?”.
Ask him what evidence there is that the Governing Body are Jehovah's chosen ones?
...to drop by and say, 'ayup, mates', to you all, my old friends.. i am so totally over the jobo thing i have surprised myself.. if anyone asks, 'what do you think of the jobos?
' my reply would be, 'i don't think of them.'.
all my rage, anger and sadness have dissipated over time.
Hi! Glad to hear you are happy and free.
Canada is a beautiful place isn't it?
We are not quite so free yet. I have agreed to go to the memorial this year just to make the parents happy but it will be just my husband and I and we are leaving our kids home.
I recently went to a random church in our area to watch my new friend get baptised. So I figured if I can do that for her I can sit through a memorial for my mother. I am not looking forward to it.
Otherwise we are the happiest we have ever been.
i’ve always wondered about this one.
if the bible says there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous, does that mean all mankind that have died will come back to life?
if so, what’s the incentive for jws to have an urgency to preach and save people?
It is interesting. I was always told that those sinning against the holy spirit would not get resurrected. What constitutes a sin against the holy spirit?
I heard of an experience where the householder asked why the JWs came to their door? The standard response of life saving work telling of God's plans. The householder asked what happens to those in places where they have no chance to be preached to and the JW says god reads hearts. The householder gets cross and asks why come to their house then? Wouldn't it have given them a better chance not knowing?
as stated in the title, i have been raised an atheist, and while i have a relatively open mind, i do not currently believe in a god.
my best friend, who i met six years ago, is a jehovah's witness.
i believe the reason he has been allowed to be friends with me is because he didn't have many at the time we met, and his parents wanted him to be more social, but we've kept in contact ever since.. over the last year or so, i've done some research into the organisation he is part of, and i have been lead to believe that it is generally quite hypocritical and has many cultish (using hassan's definition) tendencies.
Perhaps ask him what evidence there is that he has the one true religion. The witnesses believe that they were chosen by Jesus in 1919 but what happened in 1919 to support this? What proof is there? How do they know that the 8 bozos in New York speak for God - what proof is there?
Fact is that they do not believe what they were teaching back in 1919 when they were chosen so either it wasn't truth then or it isn't truth now.
I asked my own family this question as they want me to return to the meetings. I said if they could prove to me that the Governing Body is who they say they are then I would return. Their response was "they do not owe you proof". There simply is no answer to this question because it is not the truth.
