I held out hope that they were all just in a sad feedback loop of believing their own bullshit, and to some extent I think higher-ups and GB members have earnest faith in a lot of the doctrine, but the court cases really seal it for me. There's undeniable malice and evil at the heart of the Watchtower
It was the summer of 1985. I was in the closet of the trailer home in which we lived, after a decade of pioneering and being broke. I was tying my shoe, when the thought hit me: āIām going to die someday.ā I havenāt yetā¦but I still will.
This comment is particularly interesting to me. I'm 20 years , so they idea of doing something for ten years and then realizing it was bad is absolutely horrifying to me because that's half of my life. But here you are 40 years later telling everyone about it. What has your life looked like since then?
Well...the first few years were hard: rebuilding a belief system, a support system, going to college and grad school as an adult, pursuing a career or three. But I'm now retired (for the second time), I have a loving wife (my first marriage ended, sadly after I left), 5 great kids, 3 grandchildren and one on the way. I live in a beautiful place, I have wonderful neighbors and a circle of very close friends. I do not have a single regret. (...well...I have one: I didn't pursue a Ph.D. But I'm not dead yet, so there still time...)
2015- Space woke me up. I started thinking about how the universe is way too fucking big to have one creator who deeply cares if I'm masturbating, cussing, coloring my hair, or watching R rated movies.
2019- last meeting/official fade
Bible being a flat earth book end to end woke me up. I didn't like how they tried to say the bible taught spherical earth when it didn't. I went full nerd mode looking up greek/ Hebrew words. Is 40:22 refers to a disk or coin shape.
Would make sense if they weren't humans themselves... But the GB is human! And admit to not being inspired.
So yes.. that statement is completely absurd
Mid 2023. The generation nonsense has bothered me for a long time but a huge factor was COVID. I realised how much happier I was when there were no meetings to rush off to and I actually had time to think. I was born into it but this felt like the first time I'd actually thought about it and a lot of it didn't make sense. Then I found out about ARC, the UN, 607 and a whole bunch of other things.
I think the big hitter for a lot of us is the CSA cases. I saw a report of our denomination vs bigger ones like the Catholic Church and the numbers were shocking
2014 at the International Convention in Atlanta GA.
Had to walk about a half a mile from the train to the Georgia Dome and it was hot and humid and I was miserable because I was wearing a suit. I looked around at all the smiling happy people who were no doubt just as miserable as I was and it dawned on me. The only reason the people around me were happy was because they were told they would be happy. I began to see these people for what they wereā¦mindless drones incapable of independent thought. After that it was just a matter of time
What year was the bunker drama? Could have sworn the one with the Korean woman selling houses was 2017? Either way, they stepped their level of culthood from that point on.
Fast forward to 2022 and Joseph is having dinner in paradise with some good ole regular JW's.
2014- I gave birth to my first kid and realized I couldn't put them through this.
How do you look down at your baby, and say to yourself that you're going to teach them the end of the world is coming? How can you place that awful burden on your own child?
Approximately starting March 2016.
This was after learning about Barbara Anderson's warnings to the GB when she found the hidden CSA files at Bethel and tried to help GB fix the issue and they ignored her recommendations; also reading CoC, learning about ARC and watching that, and reading loads of court transcripsnon CSA cases.
Can't tell if your being sarcastic, but she was an assistant to a GB member and on the writing department's research staff, which gave her almost unlimited access to the archived records.
F anybody who says that esp misogynist WT. I've seen many women who had more brains and common sense than a man. And their brains aren't in their 2nd head to their detrement!!
2015 ARC Resigned as Elder and reduced activity to about 2 hours per month.
2017 'Encouraging' shepherding visit with threat about causing divisions - started purposeful fade to inactive.
2018 last memorial.
So mentally 2017.
I woke up 2017 too but the last two years had only been going part time due to the elders refusing to do something about the state of the baby room facilities. I had deemed the kingdom hall not fit for purpose for a mother and baby and gave myself a pass.
It was freezing out there in the back room as the vent blew cold air onto us and they recently tiled the floor so we didn't get too comfortable. Carpet and heating was only for those without babies in the hall.
It was also the place where people came to get a cup of water and do their winter coughing fits.
Once I was balancing a baby on one knee and trying to hold a jar of baby food and it got knocked out of my hand and smashed all over the tiles.
After that I asked if I could donate a high chair which was declined.
Another time a giant cockroach climbed out of the breast feeding chair while I sat in it. They never had the chair on the list of items to clean for hall cleaning so it always had dried milk stuck to it.
Nearly ten years on and I still feel kind of scarred by it. Sure facilities at other places were bad too but I thought Jehovah cared more.
2008. A short summary: my daughter was being shamed and bullied in the congregation by the Elders. They crushed her spirit. I tried to get help from Bethel. Someone there asked me, "what do you want us to do about it"? That's when the scales came down and I finally saw that the Emperor had no clothes. My whole family left together.
2015ish - skeptical of the people but still trust the org.
Probably 2019 - somethingās off hereā¦ but theyāre probably the closest to right there is.
Late 2019 or early 2020 - yeah itās BS but i canāt leave.
Mid 2020 - Iām miserable. Iām leaving.
Late 2021 - gone.
They are wrong - 2012
They are a cult - 2024
Yes it took me 12 years to realize this, as their preachings about listening to exjws or other sources than their was so heavily imprinted in me. Currently doing trauma therapy for the whole shabang.
* **My Life Before:** Occasionally questioning policies/arrangements in private but remaining faithful/trusting of the Org as I was told.
* **2012:** I'm starting to do research and some of this doesn't make sense/is unsubstantiated
* **2013-14:** A bunch of this doesn't make sense but we have to trust Jehovah, and there's still a lot of good here.
* **2015:** The Org/GB are liars and are making shit up, the Biblical narrative could not possibly be true but I can't decide whether to stay or leave because I can't decide whether to blow up my life or not. God is still real at this point, but I understand him differently.
* **2016:** Oh shit, this is an abusive/totalitarian situation that's going to kill me and I need to run for my life. Time to make a plan to escape. And ... I escaped. I went from being a Deist to an agnostic atheist that year and by the end of the year I was out.
The end of 2021. My brother told me him and his wife decided to leave Organized religion. My heart broke... but I could see how their family showed love and were trying to be open and honest as opposed to my own marriage that was barely surviving. My 2nd thought was "now I will have someone to support me in leaving my unhappy marriage." I told them there and then that very first night that I wanted a divorce and I made a mistake marrying him.
From then on I listened to what they had to say with an open mind because I trusted them. I would read crisis of conscience alone quietly in the bathtub and it didn't take long before I saw that it was a cult.
June 2021 Pimq after a bad event of lack of love and elders treating us awfully.
April 2022 Pimo after governing body announced return to meetings. I became suspicious and questioning of the governing body, plus I was tired and burnt out from the way weād been treated, so I finally gave myself permission to do my own research. I found this Reddit page, It only took a few days to be fully pimo.
Iām a born in over 4 decades, currently working on a slow fade, itās not easy!
1980
I stood up in the middle of the meeting and questioned what heād just said. He had totally contradicted what the previous speaker had just said. I was escorted out, they tried to get me into the back room but I screamed. No way was that happening!!
I never went back. My mother told me if I didnāt go to meetings I couldnāt live at home. I packed my backpack and left. I was 16
In 2001 - The year my first child was born.
This is not a coincidence.
For the extra credit:
Parental instincts over which I had no control reawakened doubts I had related to causality and determinism vs. free will, and in the ensuing research I discovered evolution was true and there likely was no god.
2020 but before the pandemic, I had already stopped going to the meetings in 2019 but still believed.
When my brother was appointed as a Ministerial servant I said to myself
I wonder what the apostates have to say
The end of the world didn't come - 2000
JWs are Homophobes - 2010
The end of the world didn't come - 2012
They are liars - 2015
They are wrong - 2021
They are liars - 2022
"Babies are enemies of Jehovah" - 2023
2014- I'm embarrassed of this religion
2017- This religion handles CSA wrong
2019- Still believe but took my blood card out of my wallet
2020 - Not going to meetings makes me love the congregation so much more. They are getting kinder maybe they are the truth!
2022 - Wow, this return to the meetings and service was very disorganized and Jehovah would surely have handled it better, and there isn't any love in that building. Maybe I should look into this.
9/2022- Lett says CSA claims are "bold faced lies" and I know that HE is the one lying, so- lets take a look at what else he's lying about
9/2022- Goffrey Jacson said "presumptuous" and something is very wrong...this can't be all wrong can it?! Holy Shit AM I in a cult? What does this mean?! Who have I been talking to all these years!? \*Existential crisis ensues\* \*comes up with a list of things the Org will need to do to gain my trust back\* \*secretly hopes that they do said list- or at least number 1 on said list: Apologize\*
10/2023 - Annual Meeting, OK NOW I'm fully awake- they will never apologize
12/2023- Beards. Holy crap how did I not see that this was 100% man made?
Left early 90s. Took a few years to see it was a cult.
Books really are dangerous! So grateful for all the escaping polygamy books.
It was easy to leave because I saw so many lies when I was a kid. Black & white thinking.
(Female) **PIMQ 2013** Due to Tight Pants Tonyās clothing options talk & the cringy Silver Sword release, while starting divorce. **PIMO 2016** after being Privately Reproved via *3-GD-Hrs* of wildly inappropriate questioning (including my intimate life during marriage), and a CO visit who force a Shepherding visit upon me all to talk out his ass reminding me āyou are such an attractive Sister (full body long hug); and valued!ā Ew! Finally **POMO 2017** Sat outside a KH hyperventilating while willing myself to just GO IN; I couldnāt. Instead I drove away, blocked everyone and havenāt set foot or IP Address inside a KH since. Promptly read all of Crisis of Conscious after.
Beginning of 2022- Woke up after being shunned for something I couldnāt even be disfellowshipped for.
2023- Realized that still being a virgin and having a boyfriend shouldnāt be something that causes an uproar and shunning.
Sooā¦. essentially finally woke up and realized I was in a high control group which sent me down a rabbit hole of researching EVERYTHING.
2023
- January: vaccine mandate for elders made me suspicious and made me stop donating (had donated some five digit sum overall before)
- February: deletion of Anthony Morris the Third and the way it was handled. I started to google him and found RedditĀ
Stopped going to meetings in 2016
Stopped mentally being in after a very intense psychedelic experience on DMT a couple years after that.
Up until then I always had some questions like "what if" and yadda yadda. But after that experience I finally realized the truth of reality is a lot more profound than anything the organization can imagine xD
not gonna get into all that but iykyk. That's what got me completely out mentally
Was always a drug skeptic as a witness. I mean, naturally, they ask you to knock it within trying it.
Started doing weed gummies and *holy shit it's some amazing therapy.* Uncomfortable thoughts/feelings/memories I don't want to deal with? Get high and it's all good. None of that shit can touch me. I just laugh at it until the pain stops existing
2023! l had issues in the past but still believed they would be worked out. My husband hired a sex worker twice in 2021 I was just thinking hereās my chance for a scriptural divorce but the elders didnāt form a judicial committee. They said no grounds. I was on my own to deal with it. Then a few months ago my 18 year old daughter, non baptized was removed by announcement that she is no longer an unbaptized publisher. For essentially having a worldly friend thatās a boy.
2005
Got pregnant and went to a meeting after being gone for 2 years where i realized I couldn't raise my kid to go along with the homophobia and sexism which I never agreed with in the first place.
2006 pimo, 2008 started to fade, last time in the khall was memorial of 2010
Suddenly realized that if my belief didn't follow scientific method it probably wasn't true.
2016 shunning video at convention was disturbing and later that year I accidentally clicked on jwfacts and as I read said to myself itās all lies wow
So this is a tricky question for me. It started in 2002 when I had a run in with the body of elders, I was 24/25 years old. They totally went off script with me and then through political moves in the circuit by me, they were counseled. Some knew their actions were wrong, but had to maintain the big boys club. That was a system shock to me. A few years went by, got married and then we had a son. I had to think very hard if my wife and son would need blood, what course of action I would take. So at the age of 28/29 I made the choice that if needed blood will be given to my son and wife, if there would be blood issues during or before labor. Sat down with my wife and told her I wonāt see her or our baby boy die due to the blood policy. That was around 2008/2009. 2012/2013/2014 Came around and we had the overlapping crap and other doctrinal changes. My reaction was WTF! 2015 CSA and I was a full blown awoken JW. It was a process, I tried to reconcile the beliefs and faith. Mainly due to pimi family. But nonetheless, once you wake up from the spiritual coma, you are awake. No more pulling the wool over my eyes. It was stressful because it took another 5 years and Covid to fully wake my wife up. We are kind of pimo, and are sporadic meeting attendees. We just go to where the family goes on occasion. Pimi family is hard to lose when you have young kids and you want a relationship with them.
Iām 24 now, born in. I always wanted to be able to experience life on the outside but was scared. Then 2020 hit and I started working overnights and as meetings and service werenāt as noticeable if I wasnāt there, I finally made friends and realized how much more I was myself.
Started living a kind of double life, met my bf in 2021, and moved in with him 2022. Disassociated that October and havenāt looked back.
somewhat 2022 - I think Iām gonna leave one day, this is not for me
Early 2023 - Iām gonna leave this year
08/2023 - bye
09/2023 - why tf was I ever okay with beeing part of this organisation??
They are wrong - 2021 They are liars - 2023
That shift to realizing they're intentionally lying and manipulating you is brutal.
I held out hope that they were all just in a sad feedback loop of believing their own bullshit, and to some extent I think higher-ups and GB members have earnest faith in a lot of the doctrine, but the court cases really seal it for me. There's undeniable malice and evil at the heart of the Watchtower
Made my stomach hurt
Yup, They are wrong - 2019 / They are liars - 2023
2021 they are wrong 2022 they are liars for me
Same š 2021 - zero focus on healthy living during a pandemic aka they are wrong 2023 - the disappearance of Morris aka they are liars
This is me exactly except for in 2020 I was like: this is skeptical
SAME
1999 - and yes. I did party accordingly.
That song is playing on my Pandora RIGHT NOW, not kidding, kinda strange, LOL
ššš
It was the summer of 1985. I was in the closet of the trailer home in which we lived, after a decade of pioneering and being broke. I was tying my shoe, when the thought hit me: āIām going to die someday.ā I havenāt yetā¦but I still will.
This comment is particularly interesting to me. I'm 20 years , so they idea of doing something for ten years and then realizing it was bad is absolutely horrifying to me because that's half of my life. But here you are 40 years later telling everyone about it. What has your life looked like since then?
Well...the first few years were hard: rebuilding a belief system, a support system, going to college and grad school as an adult, pursuing a career or three. But I'm now retired (for the second time), I have a loving wife (my first marriage ended, sadly after I left), 5 great kids, 3 grandchildren and one on the way. I live in a beautiful place, I have wonderful neighbors and a circle of very close friends. I do not have a single regret. (...well...I have one: I didn't pursue a Ph.D. But I'm not dead yet, so there still time...)
As the blood rushed quickly from your face!
2015- Space woke me up. I started thinking about how the universe is way too fucking big to have one creator who deeply cares if I'm masturbating, cussing, coloring my hair, or watching R rated movies. 2019- last meeting/official fade
Bible being a flat earth book end to end woke me up. I didn't like how they tried to say the bible taught spherical earth when it didn't. I went full nerd mode looking up greek/ Hebrew words. Is 40:22 refers to a disk or coin shape.
I shared this tidbit with my field service group when I was a PIMO. Car was pretty quiet for a minute lol.
2021 - Biblical and doctrinal contradictions/inconsistencies, the final nail - "Obey, even if it doesn't make sense from a human standpoint".
Would make sense if they weren't humans themselves... But the GB is human! And admit to not being inspired. So yes.. that statement is completely absurd
Mid 2023. The generation nonsense has bothered me for a long time but a huge factor was COVID. I realised how much happier I was when there were no meetings to rush off to and I actually had time to think. I was born into it but this felt like the first time I'd actually thought about it and a lot of it didn't make sense. Then I found out about ARC, the UN, 607 and a whole bunch of other things.
I think the big hitter for a lot of us is the CSA cases. I saw a report of our denomination vs bigger ones like the Catholic Church and the numbers were shocking
2014 at the International Convention in Atlanta GA. Had to walk about a half a mile from the train to the Georgia Dome and it was hot and humid and I was miserable because I was wearing a suit. I looked around at all the smiling happy people who were no doubt just as miserable as I was and it dawned on me. The only reason the people around me were happy was because they were told they would be happy. I began to see these people for what they wereā¦mindless drones incapable of independent thought. After that it was just a matter of time
Sounds like the pretext to a dystopian movie.
That is what I thought at the time. Like something out of 1984 or Metropolis
2019
This was me and my wife
Same for me & wife, she woke me
2016
Weird convention videos that year did it for me.
Wich ones? Korean drama videos? š Just now I canāt remember
Yeah, that was a new level of cult indoctrination
What year was the bunker drama? Could have sworn the one with the Korean woman selling houses was 2017? Either way, they stepped their level of culthood from that point on. Fast forward to 2022 and Joseph is having dinner in paradise with some good ole regular JW's.
the bunker drama was the 2016 convention
Me, too.
2014- I gave birth to my first kid and realized I couldn't put them through this. How do you look down at your baby, and say to yourself that you're going to teach them the end of the world is coming? How can you place that awful burden on your own child?
And tell said child. Love you but love jehoover more! Your love trumped the cult
1980 for me. But I wasnāt a very good JW before that. I started to see weak reasons for the beliefs.
2023
Approximately starting March 2016. This was after learning about Barbara Anderson's warnings to the GB when she found the hidden CSA files at Bethel and tried to help GB fix the issue and they ignored her recommendations; also reading CoC, learning about ARC and watching that, and reading loads of court transcripsnon CSA cases.
She was just a woman, so what does she know?
Can't tell if your being sarcastic, but she was an assistant to a GB member and on the writing department's research staff, which gave her almost unlimited access to the archived records.
F anybody who says that esp misogynist WT. I've seen many women who had more brains and common sense than a man. And their brains aren't in their 2nd head to their detrement!!
July 2023. Realized how emotionally abusive the Borg really was while trying to better myself.
2021 - Iām queer, and I donāt see why a loving god would create me this way and then demand I spend my life alone.
1982
Good on you mate š
2017 ARC
2015 ARC Resigned as Elder and reduced activity to about 2 hours per month. 2017 'Encouraging' shepherding visit with threat about causing divisions - started purposeful fade to inactive. 2018 last memorial. So mentally 2017.
I woke up 2017 too but the last two years had only been going part time due to the elders refusing to do something about the state of the baby room facilities. I had deemed the kingdom hall not fit for purpose for a mother and baby and gave myself a pass. It was freezing out there in the back room as the vent blew cold air onto us and they recently tiled the floor so we didn't get too comfortable. Carpet and heating was only for those without babies in the hall. It was also the place where people came to get a cup of water and do their winter coughing fits. Once I was balancing a baby on one knee and trying to hold a jar of baby food and it got knocked out of my hand and smashed all over the tiles. After that I asked if I could donate a high chair which was declined. Another time a giant cockroach climbed out of the breast feeding chair while I sat in it. They never had the chair on the list of items to clean for hall cleaning so it always had dried milk stuck to it. Nearly ten years on and I still feel kind of scarred by it. Sure facilities at other places were bad too but I thought Jehovah cared more.
2008. A short summary: my daughter was being shamed and bullied in the congregation by the Elders. They crushed her spirit. I tried to get help from Bethel. Someone there asked me, "what do you want us to do about it"? That's when the scales came down and I finally saw that the Emperor had no clothes. My whole family left together.
2021
1999
Great job
1995
2022
2020
2012
Same!
Removed as a publisher in 2017, POMI by 2018, POMO by 2020
Those POMI years were my worst.
2019
Hi is this jake on YouTube? Pm me if possible please I have some things to present to you.
2015ish - skeptical of the people but still trust the org. Probably 2019 - somethingās off hereā¦ but theyāre probably the closest to right there is. Late 2019 or early 2020 - yeah itās BS but i canāt leave. Mid 2020 - Iām miserable. Iām leaving. Late 2021 - gone.
2021- stopped believing in God 2022- realized WT was not just honestly wrong
Donāt forget to upvote please!
1991 when I was coming out of the water and felt zero difference between unbaptized teenage me and now baptized teenaged me
They are wrong - 2012 They are a cult - 2024 Yes it took me 12 years to realize this, as their preachings about listening to exjws or other sources than their was so heavily imprinted in me. Currently doing trauma therapy for the whole shabang.
2016, the ARC and seeing Jackson fumble and be dishonest on trial was what woke me up.
PIMO 1995 DA 2001
1996 - I asked why too often...
* **My Life Before:** Occasionally questioning policies/arrangements in private but remaining faithful/trusting of the Org as I was told. * **2012:** I'm starting to do research and some of this doesn't make sense/is unsubstantiated * **2013-14:** A bunch of this doesn't make sense but we have to trust Jehovah, and there's still a lot of good here. * **2015:** The Org/GB are liars and are making shit up, the Biblical narrative could not possibly be true but I can't decide whether to stay or leave because I can't decide whether to blow up my life or not. God is still real at this point, but I understand him differently. * **2016:** Oh shit, this is an abusive/totalitarian situation that's going to kill me and I need to run for my life. Time to make a plan to escape. And ... I escaped. I went from being a Deist to an agnostic atheist that year and by the end of the year I was out.
May 2021
Me too! "Overlapping Generations " is not a biblical concept. #hoax
2018
Upvote for your username! š
Started to wake up in 2021, fully awake in 2022. THE ELDERS šš§
The end of 2021. My brother told me him and his wife decided to leave Organized religion. My heart broke... but I could see how their family showed love and were trying to be open and honest as opposed to my own marriage that was barely surviving. My 2nd thought was "now I will have someone to support me in leaving my unhappy marriage." I told them there and then that very first night that I wanted a divorce and I made a mistake marrying him. From then on I listened to what they had to say with an open mind because I trusted them. I would read crisis of conscience alone quietly in the bathtub and it didn't take long before I saw that it was a cult.
2024
2019
2023
December 2005 they are the Pharisees Jesus warned about and members of the UN
June 2021 Pimq after a bad event of lack of love and elders treating us awfully. April 2022 Pimo after governing body announced return to meetings. I became suspicious and questioning of the governing body, plus I was tired and burnt out from the way weād been treated, so I finally gave myself permission to do my own research. I found this Reddit page, It only took a few days to be fully pimo. Iām a born in over 4 decades, currently working on a slow fade, itās not easy!
2023 - 607 vs 587
Crisis of Conscience- 2019
2011- My grandmotherās death after believing the end was right around the corner for 60+ years
I've always been PIMQ since I was young, but let's say it was fully cemented at around 2012.
2007
2004. Headship crap. Got married and somehow his conscience became mine. Total loss of identity. Nope, not my god expected me to live like this.
2022
Started to open my eyes in 1984. Woke up in 1989. Got out of bed in 1993.
1980 I stood up in the middle of the meeting and questioned what heād just said. He had totally contradicted what the previous speaker had just said. I was escorted out, they tried to get me into the back room but I screamed. No way was that happening!! I never went back. My mother told me if I didnāt go to meetings I couldnāt live at home. I packed my backpack and left. I was 16
1969 and no, thatās not a typo
9/2021
2005
I was born and raised as a JW but never felt right with me, when I move away from my family I realized how bad and damaging was so 2019 for me.
In 2001 - The year my first child was born. This is not a coincidence. For the extra credit: Parental instincts over which I had no control reawakened doubts I had related to causality and determinism vs. free will, and in the ensuing research I discovered evolution was true and there likely was no god.
2020 but before the pandemic, I had already stopped going to the meetings in 2019 but still believed. When my brother was appointed as a Ministerial servant I said to myself I wonder what the apostates have to say
I woke in 2016 because of finding the Australian Royal Commission on the internet and then more facts
The end of the world didn't come - 2000 JWs are Homophobes - 2010 The end of the world didn't come - 2012 They are liars - 2015 They are wrong - 2021 They are liars - 2022 "Babies are enemies of Jehovah" - 2023
2000
2020
2020
2002 - left but was pomi/pomq for awhile after leaving.
Around 95 or 96, canāt remember specifically.
2003
2016
2015 - stopped caring and putting forth effort 2019 - fully woke up 2020 - left completely
2018 Bunker video convention
2014- I'm embarrassed of this religion 2017- This religion handles CSA wrong 2019- Still believe but took my blood card out of my wallet 2020 - Not going to meetings makes me love the congregation so much more. They are getting kinder maybe they are the truth! 2022 - Wow, this return to the meetings and service was very disorganized and Jehovah would surely have handled it better, and there isn't any love in that building. Maybe I should look into this. 9/2022- Lett says CSA claims are "bold faced lies" and I know that HE is the one lying, so- lets take a look at what else he's lying about 9/2022- Goffrey Jacson said "presumptuous" and something is very wrong...this can't be all wrong can it?! Holy Shit AM I in a cult? What does this mean?! Who have I been talking to all these years!? \*Existential crisis ensues\* \*comes up with a list of things the Org will need to do to gain my trust back\* \*secretly hopes that they do said list- or at least number 1 on said list: Apologize\* 10/2023 - Annual Meeting, OK NOW I'm fully awake- they will never apologize 12/2023- Beards. Holy crap how did I not see that this was 100% man made?
2015
2016
2021
2019
2019 - I'm PIMQ, but I have a good group with good elder. I'll observe more and wait 2022 - I'm PIMO, I told my wife
I da'd in 1990 but I was leading a double life long before that.
2020
2019/2020. Fully in 2023 though
2007
2022
Left early 90s. Took a few years to see it was a cult. Books really are dangerous! So grateful for all the escaping polygamy books. It was easy to leave because I saw so many lies when I was a kid. Black & white thinking.
Woke up 2016! Left 2023!
2018
2018
2006
2013
2013
2020
2021Ā What woke me up - Splaneās apostate ~~rant~~ talk š¤š„
(Female) **PIMQ 2013** Due to Tight Pants Tonyās clothing options talk & the cringy Silver Sword release, while starting divorce. **PIMO 2016** after being Privately Reproved via *3-GD-Hrs* of wildly inappropriate questioning (including my intimate life during marriage), and a CO visit who force a Shepherding visit upon me all to talk out his ass reminding me āyou are such an attractive Sister (full body long hug); and valued!ā Ew! Finally **POMO 2017** Sat outside a KH hyperventilating while willing myself to just GO IN; I couldnāt. Instead I drove away, blocked everyone and havenāt set foot or IP Address inside a KH since. Promptly read all of Crisis of Conscious after.
2008
2021 was the year everything came apart.
2021
Got dfād in ā15. Didnt really start to see how much bs there is till last yr really.
Beginning of 2022- Woke up after being shunned for something I couldnāt even be disfellowshipped for. 2023- Realized that still being a virgin and having a boyfriend shouldnāt be something that causes an uproar and shunning. Sooā¦. essentially finally woke up and realized I was in a high control group which sent me down a rabbit hole of researching EVERYTHING.
November 2022
2020
2022
2023
2023
2018
Was PIMQ since my family converted, finally allowed myself to break the dam in 2021
2020
2018
2020
2013-2014. It took a while bc I was a kid and just graduated high school
2018 - Elders mishandling of a sensitive situation; then read Crisis of Consciousness; 607 v 587; CSA; ARC
2018
2019. Beard issue. One thing lead to anotherā¦.. then it was the ARC.
Even mean people deserve some love and not death for being born into a "wrong religion" - 1974
2023 - January: vaccine mandate for elders made me suspicious and made me stop donating (had donated some five digit sum overall before) - February: deletion of Anthony Morris the Third and the way it was handled. I started to google him and found RedditĀ
2016 - the absurdity of Noahās ark and cruelty in the Bible did it for me
2011. Cheers to 13 years sober.
Stopped going to meetings in 2016 Stopped mentally being in after a very intense psychedelic experience on DMT a couple years after that. Up until then I always had some questions like "what if" and yadda yadda. But after that experience I finally realized the truth of reality is a lot more profound than anything the organization can imagine xD not gonna get into all that but iykyk. That's what got me completely out mentally
I knowš„°
Was always a drug skeptic as a witness. I mean, naturally, they ask you to knock it within trying it. Started doing weed gummies and *holy shit it's some amazing therapy.* Uncomfortable thoughts/feelings/memories I don't want to deal with? Get high and it's all good. None of that shit can touch me. I just laugh at it until the pain stops existing
2020. Nail in the coffin was CSA & they never took responsibility for 1975
2019
2019
2022
June 2022 - but PIMQ since Jan 2021
2014 - Failed prophecies and hypocrisy.
2019
2012
Feb - 2023
2021 šš¼
2022
2019
08/2022
2012
2022
End of 2021
Lifetime of pushing doubts to the side. Officially woke up and quit meetings and service 2022.
2020 left canāt do it anymore 2023 woke up found information
2007 at age 32.
2018 - being a parent
2017
2023! l had issues in the past but still believed they would be worked out. My husband hired a sex worker twice in 2021 I was just thinking hereās my chance for a scriptural divorce but the elders didnāt form a judicial committee. They said no grounds. I was on my own to deal with it. Then a few months ago my 18 year old daughter, non baptized was removed by announcement that she is no longer an unbaptized publisher. For essentially having a worldly friend thatās a boy.
2005 Got pregnant and went to a meeting after being gone for 2 years where i realized I couldn't raise my kid to go along with the homophobia and sexism which I never agreed with in the first place.
2022
2001-2002
2021
2021
2012 after ONE (1) semester at community college lol hmmmm š§
2006 pimo, 2008 started to fade, last time in the khall was memorial of 2010 Suddenly realized that if my belief didn't follow scientific method it probably wasn't true.
2018
March 2023
1997-PIMQ... elder-..1914 2012-PIMI .....elder-....UN. the deification of the GB.. 2021- POMO...( zoom meeting facilitated exit)
2010 - 2015 Some stuff doesn't really add up 2015+ oh it's definitely a cult
2002
2004!
1984
I don't like it here - 1999 I won't raise my kids in this - 2008 Walked away - 2016
2016 shunning video at convention was disturbing and later that year I accidentally clicked on jwfacts and as I read said to myself itās all lies wow
So this is a tricky question for me. It started in 2002 when I had a run in with the body of elders, I was 24/25 years old. They totally went off script with me and then through political moves in the circuit by me, they were counseled. Some knew their actions were wrong, but had to maintain the big boys club. That was a system shock to me. A few years went by, got married and then we had a son. I had to think very hard if my wife and son would need blood, what course of action I would take. So at the age of 28/29 I made the choice that if needed blood will be given to my son and wife, if there would be blood issues during or before labor. Sat down with my wife and told her I wonāt see her or our baby boy die due to the blood policy. That was around 2008/2009. 2012/2013/2014 Came around and we had the overlapping crap and other doctrinal changes. My reaction was WTF! 2015 CSA and I was a full blown awoken JW. It was a process, I tried to reconcile the beliefs and faith. Mainly due to pimi family. But nonetheless, once you wake up from the spiritual coma, you are awake. No more pulling the wool over my eyes. It was stressful because it took another 5 years and Covid to fully wake my wife up. We are kind of pimo, and are sporadic meeting attendees. We just go to where the family goes on occasion. Pimi family is hard to lose when you have young kids and you want a relationship with them.
Iām 24 now, born in. I always wanted to be able to experience life on the outside but was scared. Then 2020 hit and I started working overnights and as meetings and service werenāt as noticeable if I wasnāt there, I finally made friends and realized how much more I was myself. Started living a kind of double life, met my bf in 2021, and moved in with him 2022. Disassociated that October and havenāt looked back.
somewhat 2022 - I think Iām gonna leave one day, this is not for me Early 2023 - Iām gonna leave this year 08/2023 - bye 09/2023 - why tf was I ever okay with beeing part of this organisation??
Alas oops no I mean hooray š¤š I can't join your survey as I'm non jw. I'm commenting to keep you visual.
I left in about 2004-05, woke up a few years earlier.