Oftentimes, when speaking to friends and acquaintances I am asked, “Why? Why do you care what the Witnesses do? Why do you bother writing articles or helping the ex-JW movement? Why not just move on and forget it all?”
I’m sure some of you reading this have similar questions.
To the casual observer, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are at best a group of nice people, and at worst a bunch of interrupting doorknockers with a doomsday message. The average person would not classify Watchtower as harmful. However, that’s simply not the case. And this is why I speak out.
I speak out because families are being torn apart by Watchtower’s cruel and unjust shunning policy
A person who decides to leave the organization must do so knowing they will lose friends and even blood relatives due to the Watchtower policy on avoiding those who reject their teachings. I personally have a sister I haven’t seen in thirteen years. We grew up inseparably, and now we are strangers. She has never met my daughter, and unless she too decides to leave, I will never meet her children.
My parents are lost to Watchtower’s demands, and I honestly have no hope of recovering that relationship. I am being shunned. It’s not fair and it hurts. So, I speak out.
I speak out because women and children are being held as victims by the misogynistic teachings at the Kingdom Hall
Pedophilia and domestic violence are swept under the rug at an alarming rate all across the world. The men in charge would rather keep the Watchtower brand name clean than admit a problem with abuse, and change policies that hurt vulnerable ones.
Unless there are two witnesses to the act, a child who is molested has no hope of recourse if the accused abuser denies his or her claim.
A woman who is beaten by her husband cannot leave him and remain in good standing within the organization. The only counsel given is for her to “be a better wife.”
I was that wife. I know how it feels. So, I speak out.
I speak out because countless innocent people have lost their lives because of a skewed interpretation of a biblical verse on eating blood
People are literally dying by refusing blood transfusions.
The lives of countless men, women, children, and even babies are seen as less important than following the edicts of the governing body. I hate seeing this senseless loss of life. It hurts me to see these victims of foolishness be lost. So, I speak out.
I speak out because children and young people, many of whom know no other way of life, are being denied access to a quality education
Homeschooling among Witnesses is encouraged—essentially cutting children off from the outside world. They are told that college and university learning is sinful, that reading anything outside of the information Watchtower provides is a path to destruction, that making an informed decision by looking at all sources on a topic could make you guilty of a crime known as apostasy.
I was the child who was too afraid to ask questions. As an adult, I can see how many opportunities I’ve missed in life by not pursuing education. I struggle now trying to complete a degree and raise a child at the same time. So, I speak out.
I speak out for those still inside who are suffering.
I speak out for those who have been lost or who have lost ones to these policies.
I speak out for those too weak to share their stories.
I speak out to show support to others who are trying to help.
I speak out to inform the public and hopefully keep more people from being hurt.
Keep speakig out!! :)
Keep speaking out!
I had an abusive jehovah’s witness husband. It was horrible. He tried to control me and didn’t like me speaking to the elders about what was going on. And then there were the elders. I hate to say it, but they weren’t of any help with what was going on with him. I was told to be submissive. I know how hard it can be.
Same thing with me and my mom.
She was told to be more submissive, I was told to be more obedient.
They said that even after seeing horrific looking black and blue marks on us.
THANK YOU for speaking out Jeni!
You know the pain–it never goes away. It’s hard to heal. I appreciate your conviction to shout from the roof tops–SHUNNING IS NOT FAIR!!!! STOP!
You rock!
Jeni – I am very sorry you were in an abusive marriage. But it is not true a woman will be shunned if they leave a marriage or even get divorce. The parties are not free to remarry unless the other party is guilty of adultery. I have seem women leave and even divorce their husband, and I am not referring to adultery in these cases either, in the org and continue to be very much a part of the congregation.
I’m not sure how each body of elders decides, but I speak from experience in my own case on this matter. I think if I would have shown up to my JC and acted repentant I might have been spared disfellowshipping, but I don’t believe for a second that I would have been considered in good standing.
I had an acquaintance leave her abusive JW husband and she was not able to remarry and remain in good standing. She was in her 20’s. How is that fair? That she has to remain single in order to stay in good standing in the religion because her husband was an abusive a-hole. She has to wait around and hope that he gets into another relationship so that she is free to move on with her life. That is disgusting.
You said remarry and remain in good standing we already know the org stance on that one. My Mother left my father when we were younger and she stayed in good standing. I in turn was left and the woman who left me cheated on me a couple of years prior and because I “forgave” I was not able to get remarried when she left just a couple of years later(She never even got DF or a Judicial hearing for cheating). After she left me she was still going to the meetings and in very good standing. Me being the “brother” elders had to see if I could be used, pray, hold mic, give school parts and etc even though she left me.
I hate is when people say things like “you can get a divorce in the org”. They also say “you can go to university” well how about you try getting a divorce or going to school and see how things go for you. If a non JW asks you if they have to shun your own family you will say no and justify saying it to yourself by thinking ‘maybe they won’t be disfelowshipped/disassociated so I could talk to them’. As a kid I was asked about not celebrating birthdays and I would say “it doesn’t matter because I get presents all year” which was a complete lie as I received a present about once very 5 years. I was just defending the organization. Reminds me of the governing body member when asked about when people want to leave he said “people can leave whenever they want and it is just a conscious matter if you will shun them”. No, everyone knows that if you want to leave you will be blackmailed into staying by treat of ripping you away from all your family and friends you have.
My brother basically told me the same thing, @Andrew. I believe his exact words were, “there’s no chains on the doors.” But that isn’t entirely true is it. To say that there is nothing keeping someone from leaving is a gross lack of understanding the psychological “chains” that prevent people from even seeing a way out, or more importantly, seeing the need to get out. These chains might as well be real metal barriers. But thanks to this website and many others, there is help to break out.
SCRUBMASTER
aun te queda mucho por recorrer
el respeto y dejar corra el tiempo te dara la salida para q un dia veas claro
Traveling through Morroco and Mauritania one sees many mine fields.
Most are marked. In other times when crossing the Sahara it is regarded as simple
Human carding that has an unwritten social law in place. Namely, if you come across a landline in any country you should pile up stones around it as a marker and warning to others so they don’t accidentally step or drive onto it.
To simply “move on with your life and forget about it” is the ultimate act of selfishness.
To simply leave the witnesses and not speak out and warn others that the religion is a “Dead End” would be the same.
Spell check kills me. I’ll have to remember to read my postings first.
If someone can correct it, please do.
That’s a really good way to put it. Among the Spanish American culture, church means a lot. Even though I tell my friends and coworkers about the dangers lurking inside the organization, they still want to join because they don’t believe there’s any other religious system that comes close to living right by the Bible. They would rather turn a blind eye to the pedophilia charges, and the shunning practices, as long as they are able to be part of an organization. It doesn’t makes sense whatsoever.
I have former Bible students who have become some very dear friends. I taught them well according to the watchtower, and with their affiliations with some members from the congregations, they find it ill-contrived to go against the organization because that is what I emphasized during our lessons. Because of this, they too fear in saying anything bad about the organization. They were profoundly disturbed with what I shared with them, yet the fear keeps them there.
Excellent article. It’s for these very reasons that avoidjw.org exists.
Thank you dear Jeni. I concur.
“Circus Overseer” that’s so funny but so true! LOL!
I absolutely loved the article and admire Jeni for writing it. I wasn’t allowed to go to college because Armageddon was coming in 1975. Here it is 2015, so it looks like my peers and I had plenty of time to get an education. I watched my classmates go off to college and was left behind, losing track of them. It broke my heart and I can never get those years back, nor can I get back my grandma, who died over the blood issue. Sure, we can wake up to the truth about the truth, but we can never be kids again, living a normal, precious childhood, as it should be. That was robbed from us. Thank you for trying to save other Witness kids from what so many of us went through! The lot of JW wives is substandard too, though I know of some who enjoy a lot of “leeway” to shop for nice meeting clothes or get nice hair styles, it’s all dependent on how indulgent their husband is, and what he permits his wife to do. Many have strict husbands and there’s little joy in their lives. It amazes me that a woman in 2015 would go along with this crap, but I guess they still hook in a few. It’s vital to get the word out about the plight of sisters too.
Thanks again for an excellent post.
My older sister and I also feel like we were robbed of a normal childhood. No college, Armageddon’s coming etc. And, when I went to elders for help with my alcoholic husband, they told me to be more submissive, too. I actually know an elder who was so in charge of his wife that he took her shopping and picked out all her clothes. Give me a break.
Women issues in this organization are bad.
This shunning is getting me madder each day. The bad part is not just the families that are hurting, but it makes me dam mad that those bastards in Brooklyn laugh about the problem. They think they are in charge and the flock should not leave. They bring it on their selves. I know them jerks laugh at that. They know they have us and there isn’t a dam thing we can do. The only thing that can be done is for the stupid flock to go along with this family breaking up bastards. If they didn’t go along with it then all is well.But like a bunch of cult followers they go along with the plan.
@hagblay:
You sure are right: “They certainly know they have us and there isn’t a damn thing we can do. The only thing that can be done is for the stupid flock to go along……” because these family-breaking up bastards have set things up so that the ones on the inside will also be punished since any JW who does not shun a member who is disfellowshipped or disassociated risks the same fate.
The ones who leave are punished and the ones who remain on the inside risk the same fate……… those family-breaking up bastards certainly have it locked.
Employers need to start shunning Jehovah’s Witnesses when they apply for a job. They need a taste of their own medicine. Maybe they will start thinking differently when people ignore them. If the JW’s cannot get a job, they cannot donate money to Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. It will not matter how many times Watchtower will ask for money in their resolutions. They will not get anything from their rank and file members. It is that simple. If you think about it, what is the difference between shunning and discrimination?
I am no legal mind but you may just be on to something. It is a person’s constitutional right to freedom of religion and freedom of conscience but apparently this only applies to JWs and not to persons who exercise these rights and decide to leave the religion.
These persons are punished by the harmful practice of shunning for exercising their constitutional right by leaving the religion. In my humble opinion that could perhaps be considered as a form of religious discrimination. I leave it to the legal minds to decide.
Doc Obvious,
Although I completely sympathise with your comment, I would like to say that telling someone explicitly that you will not employ them because of their religious beliefs or affiliations would be a very foolhardy thing to do.
The WTBTS would send in the lawyer shock troops and they would proceed to sue you for religious hatred.
There would have to be a Non Religious reason that could be reasonably used to avoid litigation.
Luckily, due to the prohibition on higher education, many roles would simply be out of the JWs skill set or education level, and no explicit “discrimination” would have to be stated.
Peace be with you, Excelsior!
I would not tell the job candidate they were not being hired due to religious affiliation. If that was the case, I would agree men in suits would drag the company into serious litigation. What you don’t tell someone during the job interview won’t hurt you. I would do my major hiring during the Christmas season. Ask the JW job candidate how their Christmas shopping is going? JW’s love to chime their horn that they do not celebrate Christmas, or any other holiday. When that is stated the interviewer can discern to that the job candidate need not a second interview. The job process just stops then and there with the JW Job candidate. Throw the CV or resume away or shred it.
Doc Obvious,
Your scenario would work just fine!
Peace be with you, Excelsior!
Jeni,
You have said what so many of us here have thought. This is a destructive cult, no matter how the WTBTS, the GB, the elders, leaders, and hard-core followers try to rationalize. People within the cult need to know and have at least someone to put a shadow of doubt into them to wake them up from the watchtower coma. People, like yourself, that are brave enough to make the step to freedom need to have a supporter to let them know they are NOT alone. Remember, freedom isn’t free! It only takes one tyrant to take yours away. Finally, people that may be exposed or vulnerable to this cult’s poison need to have someone who has been there warn them of its dangers.
Keep speaking out!!!! We and many others need you.
My family all faded in July of 2013. After a few perfunctory shepherding calls, we are now left alone. It’s wonderful.
My husband and I were in since early childhood and our grown son was raised in it. We are happier now than we’ve ever been.
However, I personally don’t think it’s up to me or my family to try to convince others to leave. I think if we put pressure on people to leave the org, who don’t feel the same as us, then how are we better than they are – putting pressure on others to join?
Because they are in a doomsday cult that hides and denies its own history, uses thought control, protects pedophiles, yet shuns children seperating them from their families. Not saying anything is the equivalent of being a former guard at Aushwitz, who knows what is happening inside those camps yet keeps his mouth shut, because its none of his business.
Auschwitz? That analogy is not relevant… The people there did not choose to enter. The people in the cult made a choice to join just as we made a choice to leave. Watching it crumble is one thing, it will implode without our help. But pressuring people to leave is just as bad as pressuring people to join.
@M Saurus
You mention that you, your husband and grown son left and that your husband and yourself were in since early childhood.
Do you or your husband have family members remaining in the cult given that you were both in it from early childhood?
You didn’t mention what caused you and your husband to wake up and leave. Just wondering what was it that opened your eyes and made you both decide to leave?
How many more will needlessly suffer due to the apathetic attitude you push? You clearly have never been affected by this cults mind control or the consequences of resisting it. You obviously are indifferent to the thousands of child victims of pedophilia within the organization. You couldn’t care less about the depression and suicide rate amongst its victims, you sir/madam are speak of things you are clueless of, please troll elsewhere.
What is it with you pathetic damaged people? You got suckered by a cult and now you want to compare it to the absolute worst thing in human history. Then when people call you out for using the holocaust as an analogy for the goings on of a cult, you label them trolls… disgusting for disrespecting the holocaust and Pathetic. The only troll I see here is you sir.
la gente fue engañada con una herramienta utilizada en control mental para personas con trauma que se llama mordida investiga saurus no es contra esa gente el reclamo
el reclamo es hacia el CUERPO GOBERNANTE maestros del control mental
exigir que dejen de reprimir de manera tan violenta las emociones naturales humanas basandose en un regimen mosaiquista y talmudico
M Saurus..you say you left WITH your husband and son…you are fortunate (lucky ;), you may have a different view if they were still in and were shunning you!!!
P.S. I didn’t choose to join, I was in grade 7 and forced to attend.
How can you compare a death camp for mass genocide with an Evangelical Adventist cult? Last time I checked, a person can get up and walk out of a Kingdom Hall without getting gunned down by guards. You may lose friends and family through shunning, but a person has the freedom to escape if they want to…where those in the camps did not. Bad analogy all around.
@Big B
“Last time I checked a person can get up and walk out of a kingdom hall………a person has the freedom to escape if they want to……”.
You make it sound so easy. There are quite a few persons who wake up from the WT delusion who want to leave but they realize that they will lose a lot if they just walk out of the kingdom hall as you claim. Their financial and family relations, and in some cases their marriages, could be destroyed. They could end up in a social vacuum with no support system.
This is why these persons don’t just up and leave like that. They hang around hoping that the day will come when their other family members will wake up too and they can exit the cult together.
A passive form of Auschwitz if you ask me.
Why do people constantly trot out the holocaust when comparing something bad that happened in their own pathetic lives? Maybe you folks don’t really know what happened in those camps…because if you did you would not belittle it by comparing that to ANYTHING. Especially a pathetic cult.
@Justin
Yeah, you’re right – there’s no comparison between the JW cult and Auschwitz…………the JW cult is actually worse than Auschwitz, the JW cult is in a class of it’s own.
Worse than Auschwitz? I guess they keep the gas chambers next to the “back-room” at the Kingdom Halls. please…
@Justin
Gas chambers = doctrine banning blood transfusions = dead JWs who refuse a blood transfusion that could have saved their lives.
Gas chambers = shunning doctrine = suicides by persons who have been isolated, estranged and alienated from their families.
At least the persons who went to Auschwitz knew up front that they were going to die.
When those smiling JWs go knocking on people’s doors to convert them to the JW religion they are not told up front of the consequences they are likely to face if they do not follow the Watchtower’s teachings because after all, that’s what cults do, they hide many of their more controversial practices from newcomers and prospective members.
Householders are sold the lie that they are going to live forever and a nice hunky dory picture is painted of the JW religion.
****Correction:
…consequences they are likely to face for following controversial Watchtower teachings.
Sorry, still not buying that a cult is equal to mass genocide of millions of people. Here is a documentary on the subject…and personally, I find it unbelievably disrespectful to the survivors of the holocaust to belittle their experience in such trivial matters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9_sDp1PGYg
Nobody is asking you to buy anything.
Have you ever been in a cult? What makes you so qualified to be telling persons how they should or should not feel about having been in a cult.
What authority do you have to be telling persons how they should or should not feel about their personal experience of having been in a cult.
If someone feels that their cult experience is akin to being in Auschwitz, that is their personal feeling and no one has the right to tell them how they should feel about the experience because they are the only ones who know what they went through.
A person is entitled to their feelings about whatever experiences they may have in this life and no one has the right to tell them that they shouldn’t feel a certain way about the experience especially when they themselves have not had a similar experience.
If a person feels that their being in a cult was akin to Auschwitz, that is their perception and no one has the right to tell them that it is wrong to feel that way as that is their perception based on their personal experience and they are entitled to their perceptions.
The perception of an experience is a personal matter and no one has the right to tell another person how they should perceive their personal experiences especially when they themselves have not had a similar experience.
Regards.
I am so happy for your family, Fading together. Freedom is so sweet. We can’t force people to change when they do not want to. But, the fine activists like those here are doing a great job of watching the Watchtower. We may watch it crumble.
@M Saurus. It is impossible to pressure anybody to leave the JW religion. It is impossible to say anything to help them see it’s even a cult. I don’t get where you think that it is even possible to put pressure on anybody to leave. That comment makes no sense to me.
I do see an analogy to being a prison guard for Hitler because those who know what is going on inside the organization and say nothing to anybody and just fade, don’t care about the lives being lost to the Organization. They only care about themselves. They are only taking themselves out of the picture but when you still have loved ones inside the Organization, it about kills us that we are not able to warn our loved ones that they wasting their one and only precious life serving an Organization that is lying to them. When we do try and talk to them, they turn a deaf ear and turn us in to the elders, thinking that we are apostates and are going to die at Armageddon or suddenly gone satanic and on the “dark side”.
They are dying every day from refusing blood transfusions. Do you have any idea how many have died due to the Society’s ban on transfusions? I say Society’s ban because if a person is a Bible reader and they want to please God, their taking of blood should be between that person and their God, not between them and the Society. Unless the Society can prove that God is speaking through them, they have no business deciding for anybody whether or not they should take blood. The Society not only destroys lives through shunning but are killing them by making them refuse blood transfusions.
The Witnesses are wasting precious time, going to meetings, service and assemblies when they could be having fun with their days on this earth. Days go into weeks and weeks go into years and years go into decades and before they know it, they are old and Armageddon still hasn’t come and they wasted the only life that they would have been blessed with.
I don’t want to see another person waste that precious life on the Watchtower lies and I’d do anything to tell everybody and anybody not to get involved but my hands are tied by the Society by scaring everybody I know not to talk to me now that I have stopped going to meetings.
Witnesses are living every day for the Watchtower Organization, thinking that they owe every waking moment serving that Organization or God is going to kill them at Armageddon. They live in constant fear and guilt and when we try and tell them anything about all the lies the Society is filling their heads with, we will be shunned and either disfellowshipped or marked.
What do you mean that we are trying to pressure them? If I could pressure anybody to leave, you had better believe that I would do that but it is not possible. You should know that by now because of the indoctrination that you were and they are all brainwashed by.
MSaurus, I don’t know if you and your family still feel faithful to the Bible, but your comment about not trying to talk somebody out of the truth being pointless got me thinking.
There is a scripture in Ezekiel 3:18 and 19 which says “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered his soul.”
In other words, God wants us to. He wants us to warn the wicked. They are ‘wicked’ because they belong to a wicked organisation and they need to leave it in order to be saved and the responsibility is laid upon us to do warn them.
The Bible says that they might listen and do something about it. It is the Christian thing to do. Sorry about the old fashioned language. I have only a King James bible.
Well put Jeni. I have JW grandchildren being ‘home-schooled’ and I am worried about the future for them. Its almost like the Branch Davidians holed up in some compound. Reading Wikipedia on that cult I was struck by how similar all these cults are in their history and endless pedantic claims over petty interpretations. The problem is that they are having a great time in their little bubble-world. Who cares about truth and reality when we can just live in hope? The GB have a lot to answer for.
Jeni, my grandmother always said that an open rebuke is better than a secret love..It took me years to understand the meaning of this..later I discovered that loving something or someone just for the sake of getting along in a manner of selfdenial was of no value.If someone is hurting you while saying they love you, you should speak up about it.Not cower in fear and suffer in silence…This is the modus operandi of watchtower..Its the secret love affair with all the hurt, pain and suffering, that must be kept hidden .”Don’t talk about it.just wait on Jehovah”.. But how can you keep quiet, when so many people are being held captive to a flawed concept.Robbing them of true happiness and peace of mind.Having them to live uneducated in poverty under mind numbing control..Just only hoping that Armageddon will come and kill off everyone else so they can live in a paradise of happiness and plenty.Yes!!! We must speak up and speak out against this captive concept of doom N gloom that’s destructive and manipulative.The warning must be sounded to set the captives free.
CULT CULT CULT. 3 times for emphasis! Check that off on my school slip please as a G. Oh wait no ministry school anymore.
To one and all please read “Combating cult mind control” By Steve Hassan
It will tremendously help you in part of your deprograming that is so needed by all who leave this damaging religion.
Jeni those feelings run way deep in many of us. Lost a marriage, family and friends just because I disagreed with their flawed doctrines. In my tribunal I skillfully showed those elders from the bible how wrong they were. They had their heads hanging by the time I got done with them. One elder even said perhaps I should pray for them. What a joke. Yes of course I was DF but many years later I hang my head high knowing the real TRUTH. A friend once said I only love those who love me back. And that’s how you have to leave it and move forward with your life.
I know why the caged bird sings. And, I know why the uncaged bird continues to sing.
Thank you for speaking out. I don’t have skills like a lot who have left but I can speak out too. I am glad for places like this that allow m an opportunity to do so.
the dude who said don’t employ them has a point, bankrupt the family destroying pathetic lot of morons… I know who I will be leaving out of my will… The son who shuns me, who never invited us for a meal at his place in twenty years, who never brought his kids over to see me, who left me out of his wedding and his sons weddings… Sorry to sound so hurt but I am and the will is my way of getting even as no good waiting on God to square the ledger…
Jeff….I did the same thing, I’m leaving my money to the ones that listened to me when I was down about this religion, true friends!
I also stated that if I was hurt and in hospital that none of my family shall be allowed within 500 kms of my bed! If I’m no good now how the hell am I good when I’m dying.
I am Jeni’s aunt. I am not or never have been a JW. But her parents choice has harmed both Jeni, her sister, my parents, jeni’s other grandparents, and an entire extended family. For years she was taught how evil we were. I have reconnected with Jeni in her adulthood and we have a close relationship now. I am thankful she is such a strong, smart, caring soul. This cult is a stain on society.
So happy to hear this. I am glad Jeni is getting love and support from you. I have also made connections with family who were ostracised by my JW family. It is so healing to be in contact, especially when they can see what the JW beliefs do to the family.
Thank you Aunt Ladonna! Your support and love for me has been amazing. I do consider myself lucky that I haven’t lost more relatives to Watchtower. I know I didn’t grow up knowing you, but getting to do that as an adult has been wonderful.
Ladonna that is so encouraging. So many say that they have burnt bridges with family members but to hear you speak gives us all hope that many will forgive the ones who have been brainwashed.
All the people I know who have left the Watchtower have been hurt. I know, I left and am now being shunned. My wife has also now left and is also being shunned. At least we are free. (Galatians 5:1
I feel like I was robbed of many things by this religion, such as family ties, celebrations, etc.
But the main thing that stands out to me is the fact that all is micromanaged to the tenth degree by this religion and that includes everything from education to entertainment to health issues to closeness between a husband and wife to family relationships.
I believe that God made the Earth so amazingly interesting and we are here to experience all of the magnificence of this creation. However the witness religion tells us that we cannot be happy in this system, and that me must put everything on hold for the new system and our only focus right now should be giving our time and money to the corporate religion.
I see the result of this and it translates into Kingdom Halls that are full of people with families who are fractured, and who try so hard to appear happy and say that they are happy, while on the inside there is sadness and regret for a life not lived.
@rob
“……the witness religion tells us that we cannot be happy in this system……..”.
I used to believe that so much that I thought that my life would be nothing but constant misery and disaster in this life. I would constantly focus on the bad things that happen as surely this was proof that Armageddon was coming.
I would feel so conflicted and guilty to focus on the good things that were happening because then I would be supporting Satan’s system too much. I wouldn’t praise the good things that governments do because then that would be supporting Satan’s system too much, and besides, according to the WT, man cannot solve man’s problems as “it doesn’t belong to man who is walking even to direct his steps (Jeremiah 10:23).
So brainwashed I was that when I used to be in the religion and learnt of a JW who was working in an administrative capacity in the Office of the Prime Minister in my country, I wondered to myself: how could she be working so closely to the Prime Minister when we have been told just how evil and Satanic governments are, isn’t that supporting Satan’s system?
1975,……
I thought in 1965 at Twickenham what a silly thing to suggest, too loudly it seems.
Interestingly Isaac Newton [THE I.N.] disliked these world ends tommorow types & calculated 2060.
If you take the ‘ships of kittim’ as the Royal Navy in WW1, you cannot take 1335/1290 as years though Daniel 9 [70wks] would strongly imply this. Use the Islamic fleets victory at the ‘Battle of the Masts’ and you can see where its possible.
There is a common mistake in the west to think Rome -King of the North ended around 400-600ce forgetting the Roman [senior] Eastern Empire lasted till after Columbus was born. So for ships of kittim think Byzantium.
I think the “THIS GENERATION” has maybe not started yet.
The war of 1914-18 should be ignored Matthew 24 v 6 declares all wars a NON-SIGN.
My Mother was angry at me at Twickenham but a few days later, told me what she overheard in the ladies, a sister had been outspoken about the new DATE and a circuit servant’s wife was heard to say something like “ignore it maybe it will go away!”. Mother never told me who the CS wife was, perhaps knowing two rebelious thinkers was more than enough for one assembly.
The reason why it’s important to speak out is because the JW religion is toxin. It takes very nice, normal, happy people and turns them into toxic, emotionally ill, unhappy people. A parent who turns their back on their offspring isn’t going to be emotionally happy. I warn people because I care. The JW religion makes it so people who are nice people become toxic themselves. That’s what happens when people aren’t allowed to respond to issues in a normal way. They become judgemental and unhappy and their family gets broken apart. We speak out to be emotionally well not to hurt or harm.
Bravo Jeni!
I want to speak out too, but I have yet to find my voice… how could one post their stories, speak out and share?
Maybe Lloyd can make a page on this website so we can do that. It would be interesting to see how many people share similar experiences.
http://www.jwstories.com
Andy,
Check out Katie Kitten on You Tube. She has set up a website, which I believe is called JW Stories, although I may be wrong.
The site is a place where you can share, anonymously if you choose, your story.
Perhaps this would be a good place to start?
Peace be with you, Excelsior!
Another reason for speaking out, for example, on websites like this one people who are unhappy and have doubts about the org do come here and find answers. One of them can end up being a family member. We help each other this way. I look at this as a self help group. I want to be emotionally well and coming here helps me.
Too right, Jeni, about the earnest, polite and well dressed public image of the JWs. Before the internet informed me that there is a worldwide community of ex JWs who detest the organisation, I had wondered whether the problem was me and not the Watchtower.
It is very important to get this message across to the wider world. Apart from the fact that JWs delegate execution of outsiders to their mythical Jehovah monster, the Watchtower outfit is about as wholesome as ISIS.
You cant reason with jws, fµ½€ knows ive tried for 30 odd years. Arrrrrgh if only i could wake up.
sorry, them up. mum and dad.
@1914
Some people, especially life long witnesses can only be reasoned with through a well prepared scriptural exposition on the WT. I would never have woken up otherwise, everything else comes off as worldly gossip.
Hebrews 4:12
‘For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword’
Use it to cut through the WT lies, don’t come off angry as it will only be reflected back at you. I was awoken by someone who placed Gods word above all else and being that he used scripture to point out the falseness of this org, it reached this former elder of 23 years straight to his heart. Sadly many will use the lazy method of just spitting out news articles and numbers which most witnesses have been conditioned to believe is worldly information. Those stats should be used as the finishing touch in your reasoning with loved ones, not your opening discussion.
Robert67, I am curious. What was the scruptural point that made you rethink everything?
I read the comments that are made here and seldom say anything, but I do have something that I want to say now.
This is to any active witnesses that may be reading these comments. WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? If you have the truth, It will hold it’s own against anything.
Anytime someone comes up with anything that the (Governing Body) doesn’t agree with, you immediately cut them off and start calling them names like apostate, mentally diseased, or some other negative names. You do not address the issue, you sidestep it and attack the person. I know the G.B. encourages you to do this, but why. Your own Bible tells you to make sure of all things. (1 Thessalonians 5:21) How are you going to do this if you do not examine all sides of the issue? In the Bible the people from Berea questioned what they were being told and were praised for doing it. (Acts 17:11) The G.B. shames you if you question, why? What are they afraid of?
Again. The truth will hold it’s own against anything if it really is the truth and if it is not wouldn’t you want to know.
I could go into a lot of things here, but I will keep it short. Again I ask, when talking to others who disagree, WHAT ARE YOU SO AFRAID OFF?
Also, if you have any doubts or questions, shouldn’t you address them honestly and make sure of what is true? Don’t paste your eyes shut and look the other way. Face them and “make sure of all things.”
Sand dollar, bravo! That was a great line of reasoning using a simple scripture and straight to the point.A scripture I’ve used many times to get some to open up their critical thinking skills..Its quite true, the truth should have nothing to hide. Infact, before the reasoning book.There was a green back book watchtower published named “make sure of all things.”…But now they don’t want the members to make sure of its teachings such as the Beroeans did. So as to come to a convincing conclusion as to whether they found the real truth…Now it’s just trust and blindly obey, whether it sounds logical or not from a human standpoint… If the members just stop and think for a moment, they will clearly see that something is wrong with watchtower’s suppression of thought. Yet it should be note worthy to current Jws of Questions
Posed by watchtower publication entitled” Mankind’s search for God. First printed in1990 and reprinted in 2006. .on page 5 There is a question…Why be interested in other religions?..On pages 8 is the question…why is it not wrong to examine other faith?..Yet if you go to any other religious service other than the KM, you’ll be brought up on a judicial, branded an apostate, and kicked out and shunned. Jws ! Just think on that for a moment…Next question: What factors usually determine a person’s religion? ..And here comes the caviate question that should give pause to all born in jws…On page 9
They pose the question…Why is it not reasonable to assume that the religion of one’s birth is automatically approved by God?…So from they own admission, being brought up a jw does not necessarily mean you have the truth…Yet they want you to blindly accept their dogma as fact without making sure it’s really what they say it is.!!…And why is it they want you to scrutinize other faith, but not their own.?? Don’t you smell a rat here.? Jws ..Think!!…Think about the double speak and deceit that is watchtower…If you can check others. Certainly, you ought to be able to check For yourself as what you are taught to believe..Acts 17:11.
@Caltaneeze, Thank you for bringing up the book “Mankind’s Search for God”. I don’t have the reprinted version but I have the older hard cover version and you bring up some really good points. I would like to add that on page 10 of the older book it reads:
“True, people may strongly disagree about their religious beliefs, but there is no basis for hating a person just because he or she holds a different viewpoint. – 1 Peter 3:15; 1 John 4:20,21; Revelation 2:6.”
Also on page 7 it reads:
“On the other hand, there are millions of people who profess no religion nor any belief in a god. They are atheists. Others, agnostics, believe that God is unknown and probably unknowable. However, that obviously does not mean that they are people without principles or ethics, any more than professing a religion means that one does have them.”
Anybody who reads the comments here and is not a Witness but is looking into the religion has to take it from us who have been Witnesses for many years, that what the Watchtower puts in print in books and magazines, is not what they practice in real life. If any one of us says that we don’t believe in a god, we will be shunned and if we look into our own religion and question it’s teachings, we will be shunned and hated.
The Watchtower likes to trick people into believing that the Watchtower doesn’t lie to it’s people but that is exactly what it does. It says one thing in the publications but once a person gets baptized, you are not allowed to question any of it’s teachings from then on or you will be shunned and hated. Whey they print about looking at your religion is only applied to other religions and not the JW religion. JW’s are not allowed to examine their own religion. They are to accept it as “truth” on blind faith.
The Society can come up with “new light” any time they want to and you have to make a complete turnaround from one day to the next day, depending on which way the wind is blowing for the Governing Body and how they “now understand” the Bible.
What that means is that you could be having a Bible study with a person and teach them a “truth” one week and the next week, the “truth” is entirely different than the week before and you will come off looking like a fool and that is because we were all fools for believing that God was speaking through the Watchtower organization.
If it was “truth from God” one week, then it should be the “truth from God” the next week too”. Why would God lie to us through the Watchtower and just call it “new” truth.
If you are studying with a Witness at this time, don’t be afraid to question them. They are taught about one hundred scriptures and they think they know it all but they only know those scriptures and that’s it.
Don’t question them about hell fire or immortal soul the cross or Christmas or holidays. Question them about their history and how they can prove that God chose them as his only spokesman in 1919. They will have no answers for that but that is what the whole premise of that religion is built upon. They are blind followers of Joseph Rutherford and don’t even know it.
Ask them how could it be that anybody who had become a Witness before 1935 automatically became one of the “anointed” from Revelation who was going to rule over mankind from heaven and were of the 144,000? Ask them how old those people were when they were “anointed”? Shouldn’t they have proved faithful to death just as those who supposedly are chosen today have to do?
Just simple questions like that will show them up for what they are and that is blind followers of blind followers.
Thank you for speaking out so eloquently, Jeni x
Keep shouting! Has anyone looked into renting billboards listing the real concerns the public should have regarding those who come knocking on their doors with “good news?” Think of the number of people in a town/city who would see a billboard each day for even one month!
The perfect location for these would be next to Kingdom Halls or any Road leading to an assembly hall. I’m working on stickers to hand out to people in my town to be placed on their front doors directing them to jwfacts and this site. Every little bit helps. Maybe place signs on front lawns of houses around these halls the way piticians do.
bravo excellent article my sentiments for sure, thank you brave lady!!
Jeni,
You are their worsed nightmare. You are not going away quietly letting them get away with it.
Thanks for speaking out Jeni!
Many including myself have found this a difficult thing to do after all the many years of brain washing, guilt trips, “pseudo love” and psychological blackmail.
We do need to speak out to get our family and friends to start living their lives and not not the lives as dictated by a few old men.
I can personally attest to your observations of how people have been hurt and wasted their lives chasing after a lie.
This makes a person very angry and develops a need to express that frustration, websites like this have a very crucial role for this.
If it were not for people like you, Lloyd and team this would not be possible.
I can see a time when this corporation is exposed for what it is thanks to the valiant efforts of people like yourself.
I am ever more motivated by articles like this to speak out and also help others voice there experiences with this unloving corporation.
Kaput
que bueno es saber que siguen habiendo seres valientes que apuestan a la proliferacion de los SECRETOS desenmascarados
vivi todo tipo de abusos y vivi 35 años que puedo enfrentarlos dia a dia haciendome a la idea de que estuve secuestrada y tuve que cavar un tunel dentro de mi corazon a escondidas para hoy conocer la libertad y disfrutar la lectura de un libro cualquiera y la belleza de una simple flor sin temor hoy solo tengo un mandato que rige mi vida y es decirlo por todos lados de manera respetuosa para que si algun ser humano capta mis palabras puede animarse a luchar para escapar
felicidades jeny y nada es en vano nunca siempre si es el amor y la libertad la base de cualquier accionar se transforma en eso al final TRANQUILA Y PACIENCIA
ABRAZOS
Visita http://www.extj.com o http://www.vigilandoazion.blogspot.com para herramientas en español. Todos necesitamos ser activistas para ayudar a los pobres secuestrados en este culto.
It is good to know that there are still brave beings that
are committed to the proliferation of unmasked SECRETS
lived all kinds of abuse and lived 35 years that I can face them every day getting used to the idea that I was kidnapped and I had to dig a tunnel inside my heart secretly for today know freedom and enjoy reading any book and beauty of a simple flower without fear today only have a mandate that governs my life and everywhere speak respectfully so that if any human being captures my words can be encouraged to fight to escape
jeny congratulations and nothing is in vain if never ever love and freedom the basis of any action that becomes the end CALM AND PATIENCE
(The above is what I cut and pasted to google
translate from Agatha’s very nice comment above. )
Exactly. The tyranny will only end if enough of us speak out. We are the voice and our voices raised in unison may free future generations.
Can you imagine what a force for good we could be if we mobilized, if we held marches, if we passed out tracts, if we went on television, if we petitioned lawmakers? Laws can and do change, but it takes effort to raise awareness and expose evil.
Instead of allowing continued victimization by way of the gag order of shunning, we should be NOT be silent. No, we should be sounding the alarm that much harder.
The policy on shunning is cruel. God is not the author of shunning. Laws should be in place to protect human rights. I though we lived in America. “Do we the people” have rights to leave the Jehovah’s Witness Organization without dictators holding our family and friends hostage. Should Watchtower Continue to be allowed to destroy families? STRONG and LOVING families are the very foundation that the World is based on. What will it take to change watchtower mind set? When and how can we as a group help change Watchtower deadly policies in a legal way.
Unfortunately, the society does keep things controlled. When I told someone who I thought was my best friend about the situation in australia she didn’t want to believe it and said I was “fault finding” the organization. Not reporting 1006 pediphiles is not me fault finding, it is fault exposing. When I tried to tell the elders about the public hearing, they didn’t want to believe it. I was told that I had basically bought into a false story that was inspired by demons! And then one of the elders went on to deliberately insult me. I should have thrown them out of my house. One sister even told me that the reason my two and a half and three and a half year old daughters were molested and violently abused and the courts didn’t help is that my children “weren’t sheep!”
The audacity! One of the elders said that they couldn’t have me telling people that the society lied- which in my opinion they did by going on jw broadcasting and telling people that it had been their position to go to the police and report child sex abuse when in fact in July they were being investigated for not going to the police and covering up 1006 pedophiles! Sorry, I have a brain and do not agree with them, but you have got to be carefull. I have faded away and am still able to communicate with certain friends that I had as a jehovah’s witness. The elders told me that I needed to make a decision about whether or not I was going back to the truth or not. I am not going to let them pressure me because I know if I say I don’t want to come back they will shun me. If you say you don’t want to be a jw anymore, they consider you disassociated. Nope, not going to let them do that to me. I just want to be left alone by the elders and have the peace I haven’t had in years.
Sorry for small people. I do feel Geoffrey Jackson compromised himself when he said it was a bit presumptuous to say that we were the only mouth piece of God. If I said that I would be labeled an apostate. It’s not god saying those things to you but silly judgemental halfwits. If they themselves really knew and believed they bible the would be afraid to be so judgmental.
How shocking! Not sheep? Looks like that person never got to be a child. The brick wall they put up to condone such stuff is mind boggling. So sorry you have had to deal with this terrible scourge firsthand in your own kids. This stuff is rampant in the cult and is a plague that they will never be able to do anything about. I wish you well with your taste of freedom which you so deserve.