Users
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steve2
I was raised a JW, being baptised at age 17, and disfellowshipped for apostasy in 1982 age 29 after trying to disassociate. This was initially the very worst - yet ultimately the absolute best experience of my life: I was forced to sink or swim and so I learned to take responsibility for my life rather than looking to authoritarian belief sysyems for answers. I subsequently went to university, eventually earning a PhD in Psychology and Diploma in clinical psychology. I am now a registered clinical psychologist working in an adult mental-health seting in a local hospital. I live with my partner. In early September 2005, we legalised our same-sex relationship by means of New Zealand's then new Civil Union bill which had been past into government legislation in April 2005. Thus, from a legal perspective, my partner is my next of kin. I have steered away from organised religion, although I am partial to the principles of Zen Buddhism. I find the absolutism of religious fundamentalists AND evolutionists equally off-putting. My view is, we humans just don't know what the truth is - especially in the realm of religious truths - and if we claim to know the Truth, our minds subsequently close and we invariably end up further away from the evidence in front of our eyes.
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Sweetp0985
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stillajwexelder
I still attend meetings and comment, on the TMS etc. I still really wish some changes were made. Have some family in da troof - love this site - some great people on it
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Smiles
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scotsman
I’m out of here, the racism that’s tolerated on JWD is nauseating.
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startingover
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Scully
The Watchtower Society infested my life when I was 6 years old and my parents began Studying™ with the JWs. I wanted to quit going to Meetings™ in my teens and had to deal with the ugliness of JW bullying without the support that exists now. Baptized™ at 17, mostly to gain the approval of my parents, I parroted the answers that were expected when was being prepared for Baptism™. By the time I was 30, a health crisis in my life showed me the JWs' true colours, and my doubts reached critical mass. I became interested in Social Psychology and began watching a university course presented on the subject - the lectures about group dynamics and mind control techniques opened my eyes and I decided that I wanted to leave the JWs once and for all. I had to be sure that my family would leave too - it took almost a year for me to convince my spouse that the JWs did not have The Truth™. January 1, 1995 marks when our "fade" began.