Posts by truthseeker

35

Not Being Invited To Gatherings.

by kennylazo1 in

jw
friends

have you ever found out that your "buddies" from the kingdom hall went out to have fun and did not invite you?

if so how did you feel?.

truthseeker

This happened to me all the time. It hurt and this is one of the things that led to my eventual exit from the Borg.

15

i left the wts in the early 1990's and i was baptised at the same assembly as this elder and his wife in the late 1980's they were probably in their early 50's back then, you know the kind; get called on, become a study and take to life as a jw like a duck takes to water, a dream call for all jw's and we went onto to be good friends with them over the years, the book study was held in their house also, he quietly progressed up the jw ladder became an ms then elder, a few months after i started my fade i saw him one day while i waited for a bus and he acknowledged me i said hi etc and he started a verbal tirade towards me about me knowing its the truth, how close we are living to the end, how stupid i was turning my back on it etc blah blah blah, i couldn't really get a word in edge ways, i bid him good day and that was that, he really was quite angry, i never saw him again until recently over 25 years later when him and his wife and their son were having a meal in my local pub, he was standing at the bar ordering, i saw him acknowledged him said hi and he looked straight through me, he said "do i know you ?

" i replied " hey eddie its jookbeard from the ********** congregation, surely you remember me?

" he said sorry i've never seen you before in my life, his wife came over to help him with his drinks and i said "hey pat, how are you?

truthseeker

That is a sad story Jookbeard.

6

Ten years ago - Our congregation held a leaving party for us

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

ten years ago, truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in new jersey.

i had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while.

i grew up in the south coast of england as a third generation jw and moved to america in july 2001. .

truthseeker

This is all I can share for the moment...

Baptism Talk, Saturday 22nd April 1995

Hays Bridge Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Surrey, UK

“Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with God's spirit-directed organization?”

“Yes,” I answered in a barely audible voice. I didn’t understand the ramifications of this question until years later. I was 18 years old and one of only two brothers out of a dozen or so baptismal candidates in an audience of 2,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was nerve racking to say the least. This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life but I felt the exact opposite. After I got dunked like a McVities Digestive I was just glad it was all over. An elder who had previously studied with me gave me a last minute invite to a baptism party he was hosting for some of the candidates in our congregation.

The year was 1995 – Britpop was in full swing and Blur and Oasis were battling it out in the charts. Nick Leeson had destroyed Barings Bank and John Major resigned as leader of the Conservative party only to be re-elected a few weeks later. It was also a record breaking year in terms of the number of baptisms for my congregation, located between Chichester and Brighton. Of the six who were baptized that day, including myself, four of us have left the organization. That’s a retention rate of 33%!

25

Another One Bites the Dust!

by freddo in

jw
friends

it's goodbye to bristol - hengrove congregation of jw's and the inmates ... err ... members, will be sent to two other bristol congregations either side of it.. i'm told by two elders from bristol, england it is being disbanded on may 1st 2018. this is the 2nd congregation in this circuit to be disbanded recently - the 1st being portishead in late 2014.. hooray!.

truthseeker

Thanks Freddo.

I have updated my JW charities spreadsheet to reflect this

6

Ten years ago - Our congregation held a leaving party for us

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

ten years ago, truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in new jersey.

i had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while.

i grew up in the south coast of england as a third generation jw and moved to america in july 2001. .

truthseeker

scratchme, yes, I will!

12

"Chicken Soup for the Apostate Soul."

by ChessaM in

my article detailing my experience as a witness and dealing with child sexual abuse as well as outing my abuser is soon to be released.

(i'm told in the next week or so.

) barbara anderson encouraged me to post here.

truthseeker

Hello ChessaM,

I look forward to reading your article when it becomes available and good luck with your book project. I would be happy to help.

I’m also writing a book (seems like a lot of us are).

Message me if you want.

Truthseeker

25

Ex-Jehovah's Witness Recovering Group 3 and This Site

by dubstepped in

jw
friends

i don't remember seeing it ever really talked about here but the facebook group with the namesake of this post shut down at the end of march.

it was archived and they weren't clear as to when or if they would come back.

it seemed to come out of nowhere, and i know a lot of people were disappointed.

truthseeker

Simon, thanks so much for this site!

Truthseeker

6

Ten years ago - Our congregation held a leaving party for us

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

ten years ago, truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in new jersey.

i had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while.

i grew up in the south coast of england as a third generation jw and moved to america in july 2001. .

truthseeker

Ten years ago, Truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in New Jersey.

I had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while. I grew up in the south coast of England as a third generation JW and moved to America in July 2001.

I had doubts as early as 2000 when I first stumbled on this forum. Before that I was a member of Witnesses.net and Hourglass2 outpost. I had doubts but hoped that reform and change would make the Society a better organization but as the years went by I realized I was in a cult.

I moved to a congregation in Northern New Jersey which was also the home of many Bethelites. The congregation liked me at first and I felt I had potential but deep down I could not bring myself to stay in this religion any longer.

I could not imagine my daughters leading the king of soul destroying life that I had lived growing up as a witness. So I formulated a plan to leave.

My congregation happened to have an elder and his family who were moving to a nearby hall and a young brother was moving to another congregation. I figured now was the time to also “move” and told the elders we’d be moving. The distraction of so many movers might take their eye of us as our attendance was weak. The elders decided to organize a congregation get together for those who were moving to new congregations.

I didn’t feel comfortable at this event for obvious reasons but what made it worse is the elders gave all the leavers a microphone and asked us to tell everyone where we were moving to. This was exactly the sort of aftention I didn’t want. When my turn came I just told them what they wanted to here. It would be the last time I saw these ppl until the Memorial of 2009.

In the ten years I have been out I have learned so much. I am currently writing a JW book which I have been meaning to write for years.

Truthseeker

76

Posters You Miss

by minimus in

jw
friends

anyone that you miss from this site, dead or alive??.

i miss farkel, blondie and a host of others!.

truthseeker

Farkel

Littletoe

80

Rumor: New light comes from outside marketing consultants

by Londo111 in

this is a rumor i heard back in november, it comes to me third or fourth-hand.

feel free to poke holes.

i have many doubts about this myself.

truthseeker

It's been four years since this was posted. Does the OP or anyone else have info on outside non JW (or JW) marketing consultants who instituted these changes?

I mean you don't go from the KM of 1999 warning against the internet to Caleb and Sophia videos and monthly Governing Body talks.

Truthseeker