happyout

happyout

Joined

I was a Baptist when I was very young, and hated it because of all the preaching about hell. My parents were called on door to door by an old friend, who had really turned his life around. They were interested based on his personal experience. My mom,siblings and I all converted quickly and were in lockstep for a long time. I was baptized in my teens, mainly due to pressure from my family as to what I was waiting for. In my late teens, I started questioning, but was afraid to voice my thoughts. I had read an article in either Time or Newsweek where Ray Franz talked about being in meetings where the discussion centered around what they were going to do about the 1914 date, since they were aware they would eventually run out of time. This article pretty much solidified my thoughts, and I started planning to leave. First I moved out of my mom's house, but there was a minor snag, I had intended to go alone, but my sister went with me. Once we had changed congregations, I just slowly stopped going. It was really rough for a while, my mom wrote me a letter and disowned me, my siblings were calling and upset, their spouses were upset, one of my sister's in laws called me stupid. I was fortunate that I had some friends who left the org at the same time I did, so I had someone to lean on. Their entire family left, so they did not have that trauma to deal with, and they were very loving and helpful in my situation. I am VERY LUCKY that my family eventually came around, and now talk to me and associate with me. They are all still strict believers, so we don't really talk much about religion, and they don't invite me to their houses if other witnesses are there, but if it's just family, it's wonderful. I have a lot of bitterness about this religion, especially when I hear my otherwise intelligent family start to spout drivel that is so easily disputed if they would just open their minds. I hate the smug way they act, and the little digs they make at me since I left the "truth". I know it could be a lot worse, and I am grateful for the time I have with them now, as I know the society could change their teaching about inactive ones at any time, and my family would obey and shun me. That's the basic story, thanks for reading.