i thought it was fitting for me to share my freedom from the witnesses story on independence day weekend.. i dont have any secret info, just experiences that happened to me and started to open my eyes.. i was a third generation, raised in the truth kid who was never supposed to be born, and then never supposed to graduate high school.
ive now been out of high school longer than i was in school.. the beginning of the end started a little less than a decade ago.
i was late 20s at the time.
Free- thanks for sharing your story! i totally get the part about 'parents not supposed supposedto get sick and die,well be in the new system! wait im not even 30!?' yeah, i lost both ofmine by 24 and i remember thinking the exact same thing!
awesome story! congratzon your new freedom and welcome!
since some time i post here on this forum... i am always willing to help people or to express my opinion if it helps someone.... i have already posted something about myself but i haven't told much about my history.. i am married with a nice wife and i have three kids (two of my own and a stephdaughter).
since a year i do not go to meetings and i unofficially stopped with the "truth".
i had a meeting with some elders expressing my concerns with the teachings and with the slave.
Dewandelaar: So sorry for your losses! Youre not alone {{Hugs!}}
the scoop of humanity at one khall, the anointed ones" were a mixed group.. one bro, h. had been in for eons.
he was df for adultery, back in the day when they would announce your sin openly from the platform to everyone.
he just kept on coming and partaking until he was reinstated.
Two in my cong right now.
One is completely insane. She frightens me.
The other is a rather eccentric early 60's ish white-trashy, ex-biker chick, sister. She's also a bit hard to get along with. Her husband is super nice though.
i have had my own power of attorney drawn up and sent to my non jw family to void out my old card.
but now the society is pretty much forcing the issue on everyone with the emergency contact information (witchhunt) gathering drive every year and basically not taking a no for an answer fill it ot or get pulled in back.
well i am giving them the big fu this time i filling their card out but listng my non jw family on it as the contact and then filling yet another power of attornty to void out their stupid card again..
They are doing that where I am too, but they are not forcing it. I got asked for mine and my "updated emergency contact info" about two months ago. I was just like "oh, yeah, I'll get that to you" with no intention of doing so and never did. They never followed up on it again.
i'm just back from the meeting where it was a video presentation given by the circuit overseer.
apparently it's not on general release, only being viewed during co visits at the moment.
top secret.
I saw it too. It was just self congraduatory crap (one could argue though that that's every meeting really).
It sickened me to see the cult being brought to so many innocent lives.
i was wondering if there were any other ex-bethelites on here.
i personally regularly went for temporary work at brooklyn then was assigned to the farm for a year and a half.
it was... one of the most bizaare experiences of my life.. so i wrote it all down (finally, after some 15 years) so i won't bore anyone on here with the details of the story - because bethel doesn't show up until chapter 15... and for you straight folks, it gets a bit gay in two places... but nothing gross.
BSD, reading your story since yesterday, well done!
It's so well written and brutally honest. Thank you for putting it out there.
I never even visited Bethel, but holy crap...what a sick, culty, compound.
the death of a jw and the birth of me the apostate.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2lwgowdpj8.
a huge thanks to my friend ray publisher (jwstruggle) for posting my video for me.
now that i am no longer held prisoner from the fear of watchtower, i can now help others!.
Good job Shyla!! it takes serious guts to do that. even tho the WT cant hurt you anymore, it still brave.
I 100% identify with what you were saying about not using their language anymore. i was just thinking yesterday about all the little things that seem normal when youre in, but are really sooo bat s**t crazy in reality. the WT's own little language is one of those things.
i think too, using "WT" instead of the "witnesses" helps me to keep in mind who exactly my issues are with. a lot of innocent people are witnesses, theyre not bad, they are just blinded. The WT on the other hand bears the guilt.
anyhoo, good job and congratz!
when i first was appointed as an elder, i could not wait to be on a judicial committee.
it semed like most hearings invovled middle age men and women cheating on their mates because either they had married early or felt that were being neglected by their mate.
most times i felt i need to take a long hot shower after a hearing.. the toughest part was seeing these sweet young children grow up in "the truth", and now you are about to judge their future based on their repentance.
i second dings comment. that whole 1st paragraph in the op is really creepy and f'ed up... "(hot shower"....the r & fs personal anguish was your " inspiration"?! not cool.
this is the first of three "dramas" this dc, and i have to say, it was one of the weirdest dramas ever.
i won't go through all the details.
maybe someone else wants to throw in their 2c.. it starts out with two men standing on the "beach" talking, but it took me awhile to figure out what in the hell was going on.
oh holy s***! thats terrible! even by drama standards. when i was first reading this thread i thought " hes probably eggagerating lena. all the drama voices are irratating and waaay over done. nothing new." GOOD GAWD, you are all right. lena is the all time worst of the drama voices, and that says something.
uggghh ive promised to attend this this but i dont think ican stomach it.
i always seriously wonderedabout the jws who got so excited for the dramas. yeah they were a break from the tedium, but an extremely embarrasing and grating one at that.
a number of years back i heard a story of a young girl in a congregation ( i have some good friends in this hall ) who had an amazing field service experience.
it was so amazing that it was retold in the 2007 yearbook!.
it is retold in the highlight of the past year section.
when i was studying a " sister" was asked to give an experience about me. i was never consulted about it and sure enough, although not a full on lie, it waswildly exaggerated
