tumblr_static_bobposter1I had brothers when I was a Jehovah’s Witness.

They were not related to me. We shared no blood. Neither did I use this term in the arbitrary “spiritual” sense, granting brotherhood simply because someone shared my religious beliefs irrespective of the content of character or the quality of their friendship.

No, they were not physical brothers, nor brothers in faith. Yet they were my brothers in every way that truly mattered.

I grew up with them. From the explosion of discovery and imagination and growth that was childhood, to the energetic teenage and early twenties where life and energy seemed infinite and glittering with potential, to the growing maturity and stability of adulthood, we shared each others triumphs, felt each others pain. We adventured across the world together, built memories that will echo inside me forever. We had each other’s backs, and we’d take a bullet for each other if we had to.

Yet we postponed our lives.

Some of us put off getting married. Sure, there were lots of great girls in the congregations, but there would be time for that later. Right now, the faith needed our time and energy. So we lived single and alone, not knowing things like the fundamental joy of sleepily holding close the person you love in bed on a lazy Sunday morning.

Some of us put off doing what we loved, delayed becoming who we wanted to become. I knew musicians, artists, scientists, lawyers, activists and writers, none of whom were doing what they loved. Their talents lay slack, fallow, as they cleaned windows, and worked mundane low-pay jobs. In the New System, we thought, we can be what we truly are. For now, we can just put what we are on hold, and become something else, something lesser. Just for a little while. Just until the New World.

Some of us put off having children. Not in this system. Not in all this chaos. After Armageddon, when the children can grow up safe in a better world. One day we would be the parents they so desperately wanted to be, but not now. Not now.

I used to think this way.

Then I was set free.

Freedom to feel the ticking clock

Against a background of increasing cognitive dissonance and disquiet about what I was seeing and hearing from he organisation that ruled my life, I was finally given the information I need to make an informed choice about allegiance to the religion I had been born into.

This information came not from Watchtower publications, nor from “apostates” screaming abuse in my face. It came from JWfacts.com. JWsurvey.org. Google. Youtube. Raymond Franz. All of these online resources provided the counterpoints to the propaganda I’d been fed since birth.

For the first time in my life, I was able to weigh up the facts, and ask hard questions of my religion. For the first time in my life, I saw how dismally the Watchtower faith responded to the challenge.

And so, like so many others who finally see behind the curtain of the high control religion we were blindly born into, I chose to leave.

Shedding doctrine and belief was easier for me than many others have found. On some level, I think I’d always rejected most of the Watchtower’s more ludicrous teachings and harmful practices. The one exception to this was giving up my idea of eternal life on a paradise earth. This loss was bitterly painful, but the resulting energy that this loss brought to my life was spectacular.

Now that I know my life is finite, I have finally begun to live it with an energy and enthusiasm that my JW self never could have conceived. The seconds tick away, and I know that life has more to see and do than I can ever achieve.

No matter how hard I try, I know now that I will die with many items on my “to-do” list unfulfilled.

This knowledge has not crippled me: it has set me free to focus on what truly fulfils me. It has empowered me to cast away the dawdling, casual wastes of time I indulged in when I felt life was infinite. The things I was putting on hold are now the core of my life, and I have lived more since I left the cult than I ever did during my imprisonment.

Yet I left my brothers behind.

Brothers in chains

1226928328176I know the potential that is chained and suppressed in the brothers I left behind.

They are musicians and artists so talented and bursting with potential it would make you weep. They are scientists and philosophers who could contribute vastly to the human condition, saving lives and minds, who instead clean windows because they are waiting for a paradise that will never come. They are wonderful parents who will never have children because they are using their time to serve a lie for a phantom reward.

Time is bleeding them, and they do not even know it. Every year that goes by is another year of wasted opportunities, where choices narrow and options shrink. I cannot bare the thought that the brothers I love will look back one day, with fading eyes and struggling breath, on a life of wasted potential and disappointment, and wish that they could have gotten out of the cult whilst there was still time to live.

I yearn to give them the same chance I had: to obtain all of the information they have previously been denied, and make an informed choice.

Yet this is hard to do.

If I were to attempt to discuss this directly with them, I know they would simply refuse to engage, and that any lingering threads of friendship still existing between us would be severed. The cult that imprisons them has driven its hooks in deep, and any rising impulse to directly engage with me on this subject would be dragged back down on a razor-blade leash.

Yet I remember my own path. Growing evermore disquieted by increasingly extreme and illogical Watchtower teachings. Reaching out in secret to online activists. JWfacts.com. JWsurvey.org. Google. Youtube. Raymond Franz. Weighing the facts they presented against Watchtower’s claims.

And finally becoming free.

That is a path my brothers can walk. It is a path I am increasingly sure many of them will. The only question is; will they do it whilst there is still time to live a real life?

So this is why I do what I do.

To help pile legal and media pressure on Watchtower, forcing it to make increasingly extreme and damaging mistakes in public that reveal its deceitful and harmful core.

To raise public awareness of those mistakes, to make them so unavoidable and exposed that my brothers cannot help but become aware of them, rusting the chains and straining the leash that the cult has placed around their minds.

To help grow the online resources available to my brothers so that when they do make their choice to reach out for the facts, in secret and trembling from fear, they have every possible chance of choosing to free themselves from their chains as soon as possible and spend whatever time they have left genuinely living, rather than being told how to live.

I seek not to drag my brothers away from their faith against their will. If they choose to remain, so be it, but let it be an informed choice.

I seek no followers. Follow no man. Question everything, then follow only your own conscience and the conclusions you draw through your own powers of reason and critical thinking. Understand that truth fears no enquiry, but that falsehood is terrified of questioning.

Choose your life. Never allow another to choose it for you. Carve out your own destiny from the time you have with your own two hands. My Brothers deserve this chance just as much as I.

Leave no man behind

Tmaxresdefaulthere is a moment in the war film Black Hawk Down that captures with simple elegance why I feel compelled to do what I do in trying to hold Watchtower to account.

In the scene I refer to, a soldier (played by actor Eric Bana) is given an opportunity to stand down from the harrowing battle and recover in the safety of his base of operations. He refuses, and instead goes back into the danger of the war-zone to try and rescue his trapped fellow soldiers. When challenged on the apparent insanity of this act, he replies.

When I go home, and people ask me, “Hey Hoot, why do you do it, man? Why? You some kind of war junkie?” I won’t say a goddamn word. Why? They won’t understand. They won’t understand why we do it.

They won’t understand it’s about the men next to you… and that’s it.

That’s all it is.

Leave no man behind.

 

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117 thoughts on “The Friday Column: Leave no man behind

  • May 9, 2016 at 1:40 am
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    hie all you guys.my family and I hav been jws until 2010 when we were awakened due to mistreatment by elders.we searched these blogs and realized we hav been tragically misled.i disassociated together with my husband,son and two daughters bt one was left in.it has been traumatic for us since that tym bcoz she could hear none of it.luckily she was also mistreated and started searching[I salute you guys of this blog] and it dint take long for her to see.now we are all out.i have a question here for all of you.ever since I discovered the truth,i wondered why people can stage manage to deceive people in such a manner.after doing intensive research,i concluded wt is a satanic cult,just like fritz springmeier says.its teachings are convoluted so that once you discover its a lie,you start asking,where do I go now?you get annoyed and having been taught tht everything else but it on planet earth is satanic,you enter into another trap,that all religion is a deception and all believe is false and hence disbelieve in God.people in this blog,dont you think you have fallen into another watchtower trap?is that what is happening here?

    • May 9, 2016 at 5:48 am
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      Rehab, my answer is no, not at all, what you are seeing here is many people with different beliefs. Some who come here are very religious. Others aren’t. We are learning to think for ourselves. That can come across as being very negative at times. Waking up is a process. We have gone from being mindless robots to thinking for ourselves. It’s a mindset. Satan has nothing to do with waking up. I understand your question. It comes from being misguided for so long by the organization. You will be glad at how well you will feel a year from now.

      • May 9, 2016 at 8:55 am
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        Hi Alice,
        I am still in, active, living the lie, trying to find a way to break free, that won’t devastate my family.
        Funny thing is I read your post, and it really made sense. ” waking up is a process”. It doesn’t have to be instant right? Thanks :)

        • May 9, 2016 at 9:54 am
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          Josh,

          You are absolutely correct; “waking up is a process” as well as when to start your fade. Some, that are unencumbered by J.W. family members, are more likely to leave immediately. Others find it more difficult as they ‘leave behind’ family and comrades.

          After 55 years of involvement, my immediate family and I, finally realized that this cult offered us nothing but continued work; not to Jehovah but a “Millerite Adventist” throw back. Period!

          We, although doing separate research, came to the same conclusions; namely,
          1.that the Bible does not give New Light or corrections in interpretations (imperfect men do),
          2.those who claim to have or be guided by the Holy Spirit don’t and aren’t,
          3.while professing to have the above, joined the U.N. as a N.G.O. for 10 years thus showing that they don’t practice nor believe what they preach http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/united-nations-association.php ,
          4.while claiming poverty Watchtower continues to purchase property for investment http://gotoby.com/news/article/2245/Watchtower-Buys-Former-FAA-Training-Facility-in-Palm-Coast-for-$7025000 ,
          5.child molestation payouts in the $10’s of millions worldwide giving them bad press http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/15/12225753-jehovahs-witnesses-ordered-to-pay-more-than-20-million-to-woman-who-said-she-was-sexually-abused?lite ,
          6.J.W’s, because of lack of college education, are forced to take menial jobs, while being told that getting a secular education “is being a tool of the Devil (2013 ‘God’s Word is Truth’ District Convention “Believe Inspired Truth not Inspired Error”).

          That’s sums up our case for my immediate family leaving ‘the Truth’. All are doing well and except for my occasional comments, and hopefully encouragement, have completely broken free of this nonsense calling itself ‘God’s Organization’.

          Anytime you want to learn or vent please feel free to come here. As they say on exjw Critical Thinker, “Better to have Questions you can’t Answer than Answers you can’t Question”, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpHhWSPtMDTSa8dzapmzo5A

          Besides I find that this site is both therapeutic and enlightening. Good Luck with your fade. :)

        • May 9, 2016 at 10:20 am
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          Josh,
          Just as it took a set amount of time for us to be indoctrinated into the JW cult, for many it was years, it will take a similar amount of time to awaken/recover. And likely the longer we were associated, the longer the recovery process.

          I have been fading since 2012 and I am now about as far out as I can be while still preserving my marriage to an active member. I still have to be careful who I talk to within the org (I don’t talk to anyone other than family, and only some of them will speak to me) because I have minor children who I don’t want to have to deal with their parent being DF’d as an apostate. Maybe someday my wife will wake up.

          WS

          • May 10, 2016 at 11:17 am
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            @Winston Smith I stopped attending in 2014 and my wife is in and only reason I haven’t officially withdrawn are my wife and kids. I think at this point, it will do more harm than good. The label “apostate” or “disassociated” will only strengthen the “Satan is attacking the family” mentality.

    • May 9, 2016 at 9:27 am
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      I’m sorry Rahab I called you Rehab I am sorry

    • May 9, 2016 at 4:03 pm
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      Fritz Artz Springmeier (also known as Viktor E. Schoff) is an American right wing conspiracy theorist author, formerly a resident of Corbett, Oregon, who has written a number of books claiming that satanic forces are behind a move toward world domination by various families and organizations.Wow, I never heard of him. And, probably don’t care to. Yet, to kindly respond to your question of another “trap” here. I am certain there is no deception here. There are free thinkers and activist interested in freeing others from the chains of fear. Uhmmmm I am doing fine. It would appear that Mr. Springmeier is selling a lot of fear. So, I am confused as to whether you “like” him and think he is helping people by selling his version of what ever.

      • May 9, 2016 at 4:05 pm
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        This was reply to Rahab,
        p.s. I am glad you all got away from Watchtower.

    • May 10, 2016 at 9:09 pm
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      Perhaps Rahab you need to dig deeper on where the theory of satan comes from. It would be nice for a change if people started taking responsibilities for their actions and stop blaming “satan” the man made boggie man. I do beleive that religions are all systems of controls but some are far more destructive than others. Others beleive christ liberates them frim everything. I dont personally beleive in the bible i have done too much digging and too much searching as to its origins to beleive but If i where to beleive in a god i would have to say god existed befor religion and therefore does not require human interpretation or rationalization. I am still convinced that some people do need religion. The concept of being forgiven is a huge motivator specially for those who cannot forgive themselves. Some have a great need that needs to be filled by something external, higher, above themselves. But to choose an enslaving frame of mind that is debilitating and crippling not only to ones own growth but to others as well? That is very tragic.

    • May 11, 2016 at 6:53 am
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      I think I am more spiritual now rather than religious. I won’t go back to organised religion but I still have a faith….. saying that, I feel confused as to my faith at times. I can no longer use the name Jehovah…. There are times I believe the Bible was written for and only for the people of that era. I say that because if God knows everything he would have made sure his word encompassed the probability that, for example, blood would be used in transfusions. He would have made it clear. I think people clutch at interpretations as the truth when we really have no way to know. We could take another similar book written thousands of years ago and say ‘this is the way’…. I’m not knocking the Bible… I just think it is a history of a people long gone.

  • May 9, 2016 at 3:30 am
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    Gramma Velta,
    Thanks for your good wishes it’s greatly appreciated.

    What arrogance, disfellowshipping you , a true believer
    for apostasy. You didn’t abandon God but a man made
    organisation that has placed itself before God.

    As Ray Franz expressed it. “They say, alright you can have
    a relationship with Christ, but first you’ve got to go through us”.
    They ignore the teaching about “One Mediator”. I repeat
    “What overbearing Arrogance”.

    Gramma Velta, all my best wishes to you and your family,
    @ Also thanks to Holly Chu for kind comment.

  • May 9, 2016 at 6:14 am
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    If I ruled the world I’d make every religious person listen to “sheep” by Pink Floyd and get them before they go to war.

  • May 9, 2016 at 6:24 am
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    Interestingly in the picture on the album cover, between the mouths of the statues, there is a church. “The division Bell”.

  • May 9, 2016 at 6:34 am
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    One of the tracks is called “keep talking”, such is the deafness of religionists.

  • May 9, 2016 at 7:21 am
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    Had and very short but interesting text over the weekend. I am basically shunned now by the cong. because I am spiritually weak – don’t go to meeting, don’t report blaa blaa blaa. Anyway, out of the blue came a short text from a MS who has always had a softer spot for me than he should have – being married. He just told me how much he values my friendship and how special I am to him. Then he signs off with ‘you are in ‘our’ thoughts and prayers’… One tormented soul. I know this guy. He is a rebel at heart but torn between the rebel and the WT. For him to contact me, albeit short and sweet, he is obviously missing the association we once had. I told him before Christmas I would not be back. I know he panicked back then but I think he now knows I mean it. I also believe he will have a hard time shunning me.
    My point is, there are many who are sitting on the invisible fence. Many of our previous, brothers and sisters are having issues with the whole shunning thing and I believe it will only take a little push ie something happening in their lives for them to walk away from the WT. I hope we can all be there when the wall comes down for them. We know how difficult it is so I hope our compassion holds out. Who knows who will come out. Maybe that horrid elder and his equally horrid elderette. But a survivor is a survivor. Leave none behind.

    • May 9, 2016 at 7:51 am
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      Great comment, I agree totally, the WTBS turns some normal people into narcissistic morons especially when they get a few rungs up the corporate ladder – who knows what they would be like when not under the influence, many of us will certainly be there for any survivors of this cult.

  • May 9, 2016 at 8:07 am
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    @Rahab, I don’t consider I have fallen into a WT trap by
    questioning the existence of a God. It’s just that going through
    life accepting as a given without question all that religion teaches,
    that’s any religion not just W T. — Then–

    Once critical thinking kicks into life, it takes us beyond the surface
    even questioning the reality that we are all here by the will of an
    all wise loving creator. Many questions cross my mind that cause
    me to doubt.

    Because of recent comments, one puzzling thought occurred to me.
    In July I will have been married for 62 years, my wife and I are still
    deeply in love. It can’t be all that long before one of us has to leave.

    It makes not the slightest sense to me, say that my wife should be
    taken from me and to a place, be it a paradise earth or heaven, where
    there is no marriage. No special relationship , no laying together,
    no tender caresses , I cannot accept this as either wise or loving.

    One man made the imbecilic statement that “We could all be changed
    into men, ( J F Rutherford )

    I try not to regret my 24 years in the org, I made the decision it’s
    my responsibility. I just take the positives from it. Oh yes there are
    one or two, it got me out of the killer habit of smoking. With the
    asthma and bronchitis that I have I’m certain I wouldn’t have reached
    the age of 85. had I continued.

    If oblivion is the final outcome, I’m not morose or bitter, I’m grateful
    for a long life which sadly is not the experience of all.
    Thanks Rahab for your thought provoking comment.

    • May 9, 2016 at 11:13 am
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      For Twmack’s a jolly good fellow, for Twmack’s a jolly good fellow……………
      That’s an awesome batting average skipper – 85 not out! Any fours, any boundaries?
      Best wishes :-)

    • May 10, 2016 at 3:11 am
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      @Twmack – Critical thinking and questioning is not encouraged by the WTBS as can be seen by the modus operandi:

      1. Watchtower Study: We will push our thoughts down to you and you underline and answer a question from our thoughts in the paragraph.

      2. Questions from Readers in the Watchtower: Disappeared a while ago, the questions that were answered were heavily moderated and tuned to fit in to current understanding.

      3. Your Relationship with God: We will handle your life account with the Big Man, please don’t raise any questions or injustices at the hand of the Judicial Committee as errors and omissions are due to the imperfect nature of humans.

      4. New Light: If you don’t keep up with new light – it is your fault, please don’t blame us for your tardiness and lack of time to study current understandings.

      5. Higher Education – We need qualified lawyers at Head Office – any out there that disobeyed us and went and got a law degree?

      What a bunch of Jokers…

      • May 11, 2016 at 8:05 am
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        Number 5, what a laugh!

        Still can’t get over the unmitigated nerve. Good Luck finding qualified lawyers in the organization that will drop their own case loads to help the Watchtower. They probably want them to work pro bono as well. :)

        Their foolish policy’s concerning Higher Education have come home to roost.

    • May 10, 2016 at 4:04 am
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      @twmack. You have a good attitude. I also try to have the same attitude but it is difficult for sure. During my 23+ years as a JW and raised 3 JW kids
      I went thru some very tough times and things I always questioned etc and a LOT of negative experiences but I try to look at the good things I did experience also and there was some good things that I carry over. For example, I did learn about the bible ( even though they wrongly interpret it to their benefit ) There was a sense of community. I traveled to places I never would have been to in the past, My kids and myself did not get involved with drugs,I did meet some interesting people and a lot of people from all ove the world. That being said, the negatives far outweigh the positives. The mind control was overwhelming to me. The freedom of thought and expresion was taken away from all of us,The hypocrisy from the Elders and ORG was horrible,The future that they took away from so many young people who are now old and never went to higher education to serve the demands of the WT org. The forced marriages that went bad bc of WT forcing young ones into marriage so quicly bc of “POLICY”. The sexual scandals that have caused 1000’s to be damaged and no help from the WT not even anapology bc they know they are wrong. The forced acceptance of anything they say even though it changes from month-month sometimes. The daeaths of 1000;s due to No blood transfusions. WOw, TWmack, we should be glad we woke up, Even though you are 82 years old be glad you are awake and you have a great attitude. I am so glad you and your wife love each other deeply. That is a great and wonderful thing most people never experience. MAy you have many many more happy years together.

  • May 9, 2016 at 11:11 am
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    Rahab:

    Like Twmack, I don’t consider myself to have fallen into a WT trap. I consider myself to be more along the lines of what Alice stated in her comment above and what this article encourages: I have learnt to think for myself and to question everything.

    I don’t see why I can use my critical thinking skills and power of reasoning in every other aspect of my life but when it comes to the Bible, Christianity and religion this is taboo/off limits………the untold grief I would cause myself if I wasn’t able to use my critical thinking skills and power of reasoning in every other aspect of my life.

    This is why, after waking up from JW indoctrination, I started to investigate the origins of Christianity, the reasons for writing the Bible and what went into the writing of the Bible and came to my own conclusions.

    I do not hold back from questioning everything for fear that God will punish me in some way for doing so as some persons may be inclined to think.

    When we can’t question everything then that is when we open ourselves up to undue influence, phobia indoctrination and information control.

  • May 9, 2016 at 11:47 am
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    Dee 2, One or two fours Dee even the odd six
    but most of the time stumped. LOL.

    • May 9, 2016 at 1:42 pm
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      Naah…….85? you’ve guarded that wicket very well. I would definitely put you as a higher order batsman……..my opening batsman definitely. It would definitely be a bad strategy to use you as a night watchman. LOL.

  • May 9, 2016 at 3:21 pm
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    Reading all these experiences makes my heart bleed. Nothing gets my gander up more than injustice.
    Just as there are laws to try and keep us safe from drugs or anything deemed harmful, it is high time we enacted laws to strangle these cults off at the base.
    It will come, but sadly, when it does it will be touted as persecution and the deluded will retreat further into their prison.
    One of the things fundamentalism shows us is that when the bible gets taken literally, it leads to trouble. No question. It san only be palatable after all the nasty bits have been removed, but the problem is, doing that is not being true. A dilemma. Just a few more dots to join and a wee bit of critical thinking will fix that.

  • May 9, 2016 at 4:18 pm
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    I know exactly what you felt while writing this letter “Covert Fade”. I had brothers and sisters I would die for in this religion, some of whom now pass by me in the grocery store, some who say hi and are really glad to see me at the Memorials or Funerals or at the Assembly/Convention with my mom since she is the only one in my direct family who still attends the meetings even though she is not doing well healthwise. But it is sad to know that people you love so dearly are still prisioners of this religion and will choose the religion over our friendship. So you just don’t go to the meetings anymore and mind your business and decide to never tell them it’s all a lie and that there so much more to life and how happy I have been since I stopped going to the meetings and yet how sad I am and wish they could enjoy it with me but you just can’t because you know what will happen. But I have also had success in helping some people fade away as well, but they seek me first. Thanks for writing this article.

    C M

  • May 9, 2016 at 4:38 pm
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    Bravo!!!!!!!

  • May 9, 2016 at 10:05 pm
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    CM you wrote, you have helped some people fade away as well, but they seek you first. Have you seen this month’s May video with Tony Morris? Others may seek you out after watching this video. A quarter of the way through the video a family is interviewed who continues to pioneer even though they no longer have a bread winner in the family. The father lost his job and said the congregation has been suporting them for months. At the end of the interview Tony Morris said, “Thank you for your story.” And that’s what I think it was, a story. Many of the rank and file are beginning to smell a rat. At the last meeting I attended the brother giving the talk said many are falling away because of changes made through enlightenment. People are beginning to see it’s all smoke and mirrors.

  • May 10, 2016 at 1:51 am
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    The Poster Said Something I Dont Agree With, He Said ‘The Paradise Wont Come’ Its Just Like Saying Christ Will Never Come.

    • May 10, 2016 at 6:13 am
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      OZY,

      Will Paradise or Christ come?
      What reason(s) are there for believing that Paradise or Christ will come?

  • May 10, 2016 at 6:55 am
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    What a superb article, sensitively written straight from the heart, and yet with an intellectual persuasiveness that reminded me of Ray Franz ‘Crisis of Conscience’ and William Schnell’s ‘Thirty Years a Watchtower Slave’. I am challenged by your words “Choose your life. Never allow another to choose it for you. Carve out your own destiny from the time you have with your own two hands. My Brothers deserve this chance just as much as I.” Thank you.

  • May 10, 2016 at 9:29 am
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    Excellent article! Websites like JW survey and articles such as these were very instrumental in helping me to be set free. I was a slave of the watchtower for over 30 years. served as an elder and ministerial servant . One of the reasons I step down as an elder is I felt I could no longer be a part of the harsh treatment that the body of elders inflicted on the brothers and sisters in the congregation! So I step down and became a m/s. then I became the victim of the abuse Of a few “elders” that loved beating the sheep into submission rather than shepherding! The whole congregation knew that I was treated unfairly so it was a perfect time for me to take my leave. I still have family and friends that are very involved and wanted to maintain a relationship with them. So as a previous comment was made it is a process in leaving the watchtower. A lot of things had been bothering me up to that time , the United Nations, protection of pedophiles, watching Brother Jackson lie under oath before the Royal commission! I had been wanting to leave for quite some time. So I put together a exit strategy . I have kept my mouth shut and I’ve let the brothers know that I was just hurt ! and they claim they understand. I feel by knowing the truth about the truth I have been set free! My choice has been not to let those SOBs disfellowship me and take my family and friends away from me! So I go about my new life now ! I still believe in Jesus Christ and living a good clean life . I have not been to a meeting in two years and I refuse to knock on someone’s door and teach them lies!!! And I’ve come to the realization that there are a lot of good people in this world that have chosen different faiths and they wind up being good hearted people. Jesus said you will know my true followers by the Fruits they bear, and the more I reach out and gain new friends and new associates it is very obvious to me that the watch Tower does not have A monopoly on those kind of people !!!!! Sometimes I do feel like screaming out to the top of my lungs and trying to help the friends break away from this cult. But I realized that it’s a process each one of the friends eventually will have to choose for themselves there is plenty of information and plenty of places to go like this website to get it! So I do it slowly with a little comment here and a little comment there , I watch the reaction and then make a choice whether to become silent or pursue a conversation it seems to be the best approach for me. As dealing with it this way I feel I still get a chance to talk to the friends and that gives me an opportunity to give what information I can without going too far .

    • May 12, 2016 at 11:20 am
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      @Truth Sets Free;

      Brilliant exit strategy; and my hat’s off to you!

      Agree with all that you said and you’re right, I too “wish to scream at the top of my lungs to help the friends” however, I realize that they will deny it, or not appreciate what I’m telling them unless they do their OWN research. After all, what do you appreciate more, a free “something” you have no time/money invested in or a paid/worked for “something”.

      That is why I don’t feel obligated to help those who refuse to ask or question why I left. Too bad for them. A true pity. :(

  • May 10, 2016 at 3:00 pm
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    Truth sets free. You did good. My mom told me don’t try to reason with a closed mind. You’ll get nowhere after you’ve run around in circles and it only results in anger, hurt feelings and you’ll get nowhere. I’m not saying don’t be honest. I’m saying there’s nothing wrong with being mature about it as you’re realizing the person is being a sucker. A person isn’t being true to themselves by blowing people out of the water. They’re just being volatile and impatient . I say, don’t allow an organization to manipulate you into disassociating yourself. Don’t let them win that way. That way people who are still in the cult will be able to come to you.

    • May 11, 2016 at 10:15 am
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      That was a nice post,am currently active JW member and about to exit the society because i feel they have succeeded in ruining my life,wasted my time of going to the university but need a concrete prove to leave this cult. Clement

      • May 14, 2016 at 3:58 am
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        clement – Concrete proof – how about a little deception to research?
        The Battle of Carchemish, when was it fought? History (check it out) dates the Battle to circa 605 BC.
        Why then does the ‘Insight Volume 1’ page 418, last paragraph, date the Battle to 625 BCE?
        By DELIBERATELY re-dating this battle it fits in with their deception on 607.
        ALL the dates that corroborate their thinking on 607 have been manipulated and changed to suit. Check it out for yourself. Then ask yourself WHY? I hope you come to the same conclusion.

  • May 10, 2016 at 7:16 pm
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    @alice.apology accepted though really no harm done.thankyu all for the responses.my take on this is that,in order to get even with wt and what it did to me,i will shed everything it taught me and revert back to everything I was bfo they knocked on my door,including belief in God[its the only believe that makes sense to me] and my same old religion and church.i want to make a statement to wt that I have undone what they did to me and non of its false teachings has any influence on the decisions I make,and am my old same self again.i will reclaim my life they robbed away from me.

  • May 11, 2016 at 12:18 am
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    Just a heads up. . . Both my children and their friends and family have had friends requests from local elders using Facebook. One of my daughters friends was contacted by an elder from Africa telling her to read certain articles produced by the society regarding her tattoos. . Has anyone else had this experience?, . . Be careful what you put on Facebook and who can see it. . . Evidence.

  • May 11, 2016 at 12:22 am
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    Apologies. . .we’re in the UK

  • May 11, 2016 at 12:36 am
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    I have so enjoyed the responses to this very thought provoking article and how we are dealing with the fallout of this religion. It got me thinking about how UNREAL the paradise hope truly is because if any one who has given birth to or fathered a child in a happy normal union and raised that child through all the trials of human experience and then is told to discard the said offspring without a thought and care by men who are not even relatives of that child then they have not thought of eternity. There is not a crime against anyone that warrants an eternity of silence. Be honest Jehovahs Witnessess emphatically deny hell yet they willingly will submit a young baptised member to a cold silent hell forever because they don’t follow anymore. Can these shunners not SEE. When they get into their paradise and the dust settles and boredom sets in their beloved children will not be there because those loyal ones followed the rules. Who will be in a cold hell then with no chance of reconciliation with the child , their gift from God they so carelessly discarded. So you see in my mind if it is all true you will reap what you sow and paradise will be hell on earth with many many guilty conscience families who will be bereft forever. Now that is justice. Ruthlee

    • May 11, 2016 at 11:04 am
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      Think your wrong. Must JWs are very self righteous and will say that there children didn’t love Jehovah enough and that they did the best they could. So its not their fault their kids didn’t make it.
      One loving elders wife said in front of her grandchild that she better enjoy them now because they are soon to be bird food. He was young so I hope he didn’t understand.

  • May 11, 2016 at 1:43 am
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    @peggy;i will be very brief on whether I belief fritz springmeier.i will quote the fictional detective who said that,when investigating crime or murder,eliminate all impossibilities and what you will be left with is the truth no matter how much you see it as not being possible.he[fritz] mentions that he wondered why and how th wt controls its adherents the way it does as I had mentioned in my earlier comment.i realized that apart from money,power and control,there is something else.after eliminating thoz three and looking at the similarities btween wt,masons/secret societies,pedophilia in wt etc,i concluded there was more to it than meets the eye.call it whatever you imagine could but I call it satansm

  • May 11, 2016 at 1:47 am
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    I mean fictional detective sharlock holmes

  • May 11, 2016 at 4:16 am
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    Great article ‘ Covert Fade ‘ I was held a slave to this Organisation for many, many years. I gradually faded but in the process lost many close Brothers and Sisters most of whom do not speak or even acknowledge me in any shape or form…..However I’m free and living life and have got many close ‘ worldly friends ‘ who are like family to me. I appreciate every day and I’m so glad that I’m no longer under a yoke!

  • May 12, 2016 at 1:08 am
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    Depressingly accurate !

  • May 12, 2016 at 6:51 am
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    In the 1930s the world suffered a terrible financial depression, no doubt in the aftermath of the 1914 conflict. Politicians rose to frame and religion capitalised on people’s hope for better days.
    Such is the brutality of mind control https://youtu.be/xE_dA479MCs
    Beware of “better days” manipulation

  • May 12, 2016 at 7:18 am
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    Just another Crime of the Century (Supertramp)

  • May 13, 2016 at 6:00 am
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    Dude Kingdom Halls rocked last night with Rock and Roll music in Jehovah’s House. Caleb and Sophia video on Respect Jehovah’s House. The video blew out a speaker in the Kingdom Hall.

  • May 17, 2016 at 2:51 am
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    My lovely mother was a JW from the 1950s until she unexpectedly died, last August. She was a few months short of her 95th birthday, and in complete control of her faculties. I had not been associated since the 1960s. She got disfellowshipped, once, because she would not give up associating with me, her only daughter. Eventually she was allowed back into the congregation but she and I maintained a deep and loving relationship all our lives.

    She and I would discuss things which, she would laughingly say, if they knew what we were talking about today they would disfellowship me again, for heresy.

    I approached the local congregation to give her a memorial service. The response was “she is old, no one here remembers her, no one would come.” A fine response for a woman who had devoted so many years of her life to their organisation.

    I wrote her Eulogymyself, chose two songs that she had told me she wanted from their website and played one of them at the service. Let me tell you:.two elders turned up, uninvited, with Bibles marked ready to give us a sermon.
    After I had finished speaking on behalf of my mother, I invited one of them to the podium. He said, “what can I say. You have said it all on behalf of your mother who was faithful to the end.”

    What I did not say is that towards the end, my mum said “I know you will not follow me no matter how much I love you, and I am sorry my daughter but I am too old now to change.” She knew she had been deceived.

    I love her and may she rest in peace.

  • May 19, 2016 at 4:21 pm
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    Thankyou Big b and alice!

  • October 17, 2016 at 6:20 pm
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    So when a Jehovahs witness comes to your door ask him/her why in 1975 armaggeddon didn’t come if they say we didn’t say that ask them why did 100 of thousands
    of witnesses sold their businesses and their homes to preach the good news (in the kingdom ministry) there is
    only months left so that is what thousands did. So they screwed up big time —why didn’t the JW org apolgize and send out all the JW bros to say sorry we are wrong and screwed up ( its called man up)
    Can you imagine Jesus comming to earth and sees the organization of Jehovahs Witnesses with their 50+ Billion dollar assets New York and World wide Headquarters + their 25,000 + congragation halls+assembly halls—–what would he do????? He would say sell everything and give to the poor ( am i right or wrong )?? The Leaders of the JWs would not fly first class. Did Jesus get packed around in a canopy covered hand held el carte?? NOT A CHANCE . these “older men ” that are running this buisness need their heads examined. I was a JW for 20 years and found it tough to get counseling from a grade 8 guy that was cleaning toilets for a living and living on popcorn trying to support a family —-give me a break

  • October 17, 2016 at 6:25 pm
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    So when a Jehovahs witness comes to your door ask him/her why in 1975 armaggeddon didn’t come if they say we didn’t say that ask them why did 100 of thousands
    of witnesses sold their businesses and their homes to preach the good news (in the kingdom ministry) there is
    only months left so that is what thousands did. So they screwed up big time —why didn’t the JW org apolgize and send out all the JW bros to say sorry we are wrong and screwed up ( its called man up)
    Can you imagine Jesus comming to earth and sees the organization of Jehovahs Witnesses with their 50+ Billion dollar assets New York and World wide Headquarters + their 25,000 + congragation halls+assembly halls—–what would he do????? He would say sell everything and give to the poor ( am i right or wrong )?? The Leaders of the JWs would not fly first class. Did Jesus get packed around in a canopy covered hand held el carte?? NOT A CHANCE . these “older men ” that are running this buisness need their heads examined. I was a JW for 20 years and found it tough to get counseling from a grade 8 guy that was cleaning toilets for a living and living on popcorn trying to support a family —-give me a break I might sound a little to the point but this is the TRUTH

  • October 17, 2016 at 6:49 pm
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    continued—so these jws are false prophets because they said that armaggedon was to occure and it did not so are they true prophets or not —–Now this is pretty simple eh?

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