The internet is a wonderful tool…. if it had existed 25 years ago so many of my generation who were DFed would still be alive. I have seen so many times that the shunning of young vulnerable people leads to them being turned out on the street, which in turn leads to them embracing the worst sort of friends, hard drugs and short tragic lives.

I now think of it as ‘WTBS murder by indoctrination’.

Tim

It is only those people who do not try to live up to these ideals that would have to worry about it and constantly think about it.

Remember, it will come like a thief in the night when no-one is expecting it. Also, the bible says quite clearly to beware of false prophets. How many false prophecies have the JWs come up with?

Finally, in 2000 I realized that, as I put it at the time, “Jehovah [as explained by the JWs] was not a god who was worthy of my worship.” I have since gained what I feel is greater clarity and can make a set of rather more pointed and specific statements. In any case, I walked away from the org and never really looked back.

After a few months, I decided to make my break formal and unequivocal, and wrote to the local congregation telling them that I had no interest in further association with the JWs. And I threw my remaining “Kingdom literature” in the nearest dumpster.

Eventually, my two sons, with whom my relationship had become progressively less meaningful in any case, decided to quit speaking to me. (I supposed they entertained a glimmer of hope that their decision would motivate me to “seek Jehovah” and return to the org, but I would not be coerced into thus being untrue to myself and *breaking my spiritual integrity.*)

Not because I bear my sons any enmity, but simply because the universe revolves around the principle that every action has inherent, intrinsic consequences, from which no one is exempt, I subsequently disinherited them. Since all of my blood relatives were estranged via my becoming a JW and persisting in that milieu and its behavior and teachings, and all of the relatives with whom I once might have been considered “close” were older anyway, I have designated as my heir a person unrelated to me who has nevertheless consistently and significantly contributed to my success and happiness.

I have no contact with my former JW associates, family or friends. I have made another life in which my past as a JW has its place (of mixed honor and dishonor) but overshadows nothing in my present experience. Perhaps my relatively clean and complete break with my past has been possible as a result of simply realizing that throwing off the shackles of control - which are a disservice to all that is genuinely worthy of being called “good” in the universe - is not very useful and meaningful unless it is pursued to completion.

I have focused on integrating and putting into practice ideas that are empowering and freeing, in contrast to the disempowerment and false freedom promulgated and enforced by JWism.