I want to know how was your experience (if you don't mind sharing, of course). For me, I think the fact that my mother is a disfellowshipped, POMO person, helped me, because I can talk about anything with her, so I didn't had problem coming out. My father is a PIMI and he still doesn't know, of course, or just pretend he doesn't know. I don't talk with my JW friends, but I'm quite sure they wouldn't like it, although JW says they don't hate gay people (we know that's not very true).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix6nwofl8_w

If you or a friend have left the Jehovah’s Witnesses and are looking for support on managing all of the challenges that come with this transition, I highly recommend checking out Dr Ryan Lee’s podcast, “Welcome to the World” (available on all platforms) or visiting his website, DrRyanLee.com

It would be like if you went to your elderly moms house and she's been sick ever since she got this new nurse. And the nurse was dumping powder into your mom's coffee and the powder came from a container that said Warning Poison! in big bold letters on it. And you said Mom the nurse is poisoning you look what she's putting in your coffee it says Poison! Then your mom responds that's not true just go to the nurses website it says she's not poisoning me at all. Then you say Mom look at this different website. She's on the FBI most wanted list for poisoning moms! Then the mom says honey that's an apostate Website, they hate my nurse. And you hate my nurse too for no reason other than you side with Satan. My nurse is telling me to never speak to you again. Bye forever son!

Went to wally world with my bf. Saw my sister in the parking lot. She's pimi and I'm DFed. We smiled and waved at each other. That was all. Told my bf that was my sister and I hadn't spoken to her in a year and a half. The look he gave me reminded me how weird and bizarre things look like from the outside. We can smile and wave but no conversations. Wtf. Anyway, have a great day everyone, from your friendly neighborhood apostate. 👋👋

Hey folks. In addition to my radio show and podcasts at https://onionunlimited.com, my day job is as a web developer. My business website is https://imajique.com. A few years back, when I was heavily involved with exJW activism, I registered some domains (jwquotes.org, jwquotes.com, and jwquotes.co.uk) For a while, I had a website (http://jwquotes.org) which had quotes from Watch Tower on it... a bit like JWFacts, but not nearly as extensive. Anyways... I shut the website down ages ago, not because Watch Tower threatened me or anything... I just kinda moved on with my life and stopped doing so much of the activism. These days, my only real exJW involvement is with the Stop Mandated Shunning project at https://stopmandatedshunning.org. The reason for this post is... if there's anyone out there that would like the jwquotes domains (.org, .com, .co.uk) to do something exJW related with.... they are coming up for renewal in March and I don't plan on renewing them, which means they will just go back to the domain register. Chances are, they will become available again in the future, but possibly at a premium which is kinda how it works when you surrender a domain. So if anyone would like them before they expire, and would like me to transfer them out to your account (Namecheap, GoDaddy, whatever) please get in touch. What you do with them is up to you.

So last weekend, I was assigned to take over the audio and zoom for a discourse of a deceased sister in our congregation. I was not an MS or anything, but I usually handle the audio and video in meetings as "nobody" from the MSs "can do" such tasks. Anyway, since I was in front (coz the place was really small) Visitors from other congregations kept asking me about things. And what I hated the most is when they asked: Are you an MS? An Elder? an RP? Of course, I would say "No, I am not. Just a publisher." And again, (like what I mentioned in a post before or a comment here) the smiles on their faces just faded away and seemed not to be interested to talk to me anymore. It's like they just want to talk MS, Elders, and RP. What they don't know is that most of the MS and Elders are jerks! (sorry for the word) I know them very well as I used to be with them. I certainly lost interest in these kind of culture in this religion now.

By the way, I skipped another midweek meeting and stopped commenting anymore. I am not planning to comment again.

I found a copy of this on my grandmother's bookshelf and I wonder... How was this book ever useful? They printed 500000 copies of a text that the recipients would be completely unable to derive anything meaningful from without combining it with an advanced degree in Greek. Was it some sort of bible study flex?

Anyone during their PIMI phase found this religion to be extremely boring. I haven't been to a meeting in months, attended, only to find the same dribble was playing on repeat. I already knew this but holy hell.

Seriously what do they have to offer people besides community? Your not learning anything new or exciting. Some people start their comments and you already know the point they're going to make. The only excitement is when they roll back some stupid teaching or drop a movie production. Not to mention the quality of speakers/teachers has taking a nose dive at local level with them appointing anything that has a dick and balls.

How do people do this their whole lives or is it only this painful for those that have woke up?

Me: If I go astray and make a mistake, you'll just be happy in paradise on earth, next to my decaying body, and I won't even be aware of it 😬 Mom: Well, if you're decaying somewhere next to me, I don't know if I would be happy with life. Me: But it's paradise, there shouldn't be any tears or sadness. Mom: I guess everyone will have to have partial amnesia.

I have no doubt, she won't wake up.

I'm mad. You should be too. A cult that covers up child abuse. Killed thousands with false teachings has our families hostage.

Dear fuckhead governing body of Jehovah idiots: you hold our families hostage will false teachings. Unacceptable.

Dear Governing asshats of Jehovah's witnesses: we are done playing nice. The world will know all about Jehovah's witnesses child abuse and death . You fuckers will stop destroying Lives this century. I guarantee it.

I am on the verge of leaving Google reviews with my irl name in Google. My family is stuck in this cult and obviously don't know it a cult... My irl name is known well throughout my city. So it's a bit of a fuck nugget. The repercussions would be personally bad . But easily worse for the cult. Generations of people facing a deadly reality.

Pro: maybe someone snaps out of it Con: potential shame upon family maybe a stronger cutting off than I currently experience. Because of the cult.

Bonus: Any active je hobo or otherwise who wants to protect their cult from fallout. DM me. We will debate before I submit. I give you more than you give me. A chance to defend yourself.

There was a graph if liked religion ls floating around. JWs close to bottom. Anyone have that/ know what I'm talking about ... Need a bit o help.

Not sure what to add....I was dating a girl in the hall...actually...back earlier.

As a 16yo MS, I was fetishize but never liked. I was an object. That needs to be its own fucking post.

I dated a girl I was tutoring that was getting some sort of license. I just helped her with math. 22 and 24. Not kids, not creepy.

Eating disorders through her family, and she didn't want kids.

I did.

We'd had sex, but the no kids was a deal breaker. When I tried to break up, she threatened me with bringing my elder father down.

We have our disagreements, but I've gotten too much feedback that he was the only elder truly kind to people I knew.

So....I was in a different hall. I got my lab partner from college, that did every recreational drug I'd ever heard of (seriously....this guy was "I can't do homework because this is heroin weekend" dude) to call her up from a burn phone, tell her I'd self reported, ask her if she wanted him to call her elders, and invite her to my public reproof announcement.

It gets better....I was seeing a different woman from a different hall that was in on it.

I sure as hell paid for that sin. Both batshit crazy.

Who'd have figured that of the three I dated from 21-25 that the first one, that slashed her elbows over depression from elders blaming her for being raped, was the sane one?

i've been following this sub for a while, and i figured this is the best one to submit my query in, mods please delete if this doesn't fit!

i live in hong kong and there's a kingdom hall really close to me. every tuesday afternoon, without fail, there are these two jws who ring our doorbell and specifically look for me, and my other family members had to make excuses for me not being at home? they rang my doorbell just now but i didn't want to deal with them at that time, so i had a family member say i was out while i hid in my room lol

they've been finding me since december last year, and they specifically found me because i was the only one who can directly communicate with them in cantonese (and i made the mistake of answering the door in the first place). i was considering putting up a "no jws" sign to prevent my family from dealing with them in the future, or even straight up asking them to be in the do not call list, but i easily get anxious dealing with them

i have been doing a lot of research on groups like jw and the first time they knocked, i immediately knew not to fall for any one of their conversion methods, but they keep coming back, please help?

(i'm already happy with my current religious beliefs and i don't think i need to change any of that)

idk if anyone else feels this way, but I HATE analogies. taking two completely unrelated things and trying to compare them as if you have any basis to do so is so CRINGE.

obviously it's because JWs take analogies to the extreme, every talk can be summed up by "take one analogy and then stretch it out as far as possible and then end the talk by referencing the first thing you said". and WT loves to spam analogies in every article as well

I HATE ANALOGIES. THEYRE LIKE A GUY WHO SUCKS. BECAUSE THEY SUCK.

www jw borg/en/library/magazines/ws20150315/loyal-to-christs-brothers/

https://preview.redd.it/iljldhu6i2he1.png?width=937&format=png&auto=webp&s=a7aadffc5d8fc1f4f0b3e14c65d0a1645df2ffa8

apparently we can just reinterpret matt 25:40  -In reply the King will say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’- as being about not talking bad of the governing body not the clear mandate to be nice to people

religion be wilding again

So, this PIMI relative of mine is known in her congregation as a very loving and caring person, especially towards children. In fact, for many years she was and is still a trusted go-to babysitter and the JW kids love her. Honestly, she's great with kids.

This one family in her hall had been using her for years to watch their two daughters. I mean she would pick them up from school, or the bus would drop them off at her house, all that. Sadly, the mother of the two girls died in a auto accident. It was very tragic. The local news station reported on it. The father came to rely on my relative's help more than ever.

Eventually, the father remarried a sister from a different congregation and everything was cool with stepmom at first, but the situation quickly changed. Stepmom started limiting the time my relative could see the girls, then eventually placed strict orders on when, how, so on she could have the girls out. Finally, it turned into a protective order being filed against my relative for "grooming, harassment, and stalking" the family. The elders were aware of the situation and counseled my relative to not appear in court to defend herself because it wouldn't encourage peace and could bring reproach upon J'Hover. They even suspended some of her privileges.

Well, she went to court and defended herself successfully, giving credit to J'Hover the whole time. Turns out stepmom is a bipolar mouthy narcissist and had made several social media posts about her mental health. Bringing this to the attention of the court won her her innocence. Even so, her elders still didn't pursue any disciplinary action against the couple, who have moved to a nearby congregation where everyone thinks they're so great. Turns out they recently took the dead mother's parents to court to prevent them from seeing their own grandchildren.

I was born into a JW family , and I always knew I was trans. I was trying to repress my feelings for so long and had so much hate for myself. Luckily, I am in a position where I can transition now and even get some surgery, but it’s so painful thinking about all the lost time and how my body is literally ruined because of testosterone. Cis people probably won’t understand, but that’s very painful experience living like that all the time.

It’s so painful thinking about all the lost time and how I didn’t transition even when I knew all of this before. Leaving JW when I was 16 was one of the best decisions I made for myself, and transitioning could’ve been even better. Ahhh, I hope I’m just not the only one who has these thoughts of losing something because of being in JW.

https://www.youtube.com/live/eTar4gbaI-w?si=aNgTXsIoGIobWcaP

Yes you've read that right. Here's why;

The name "Jehovah" is a Latinized interpretation of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton YHWH (JHVH), which is the written name of God in the original Hebrew Bible. However, this interpretation is not universally accepted and has been subject to scholarly debate.

Historical records show that the pronunciation of YHWH was lost over time, and the vowel points added to the consonants were actually from the Hebrew word "Adonai" (Lord). This resulted in the pronunciation "Jehovah," which was first introduced in the 16th century.

Other scholars have proposed alternative pronunciations, including Yahweh, Yahuweh, Yehowah (Jehovah), Yihweh, Yiheywuh, and Yihewuh. However, none of these can be proven as the original or correct pronunciation.

Most accurate Bible translations retain the original Hebrew consonants YHWH, rather than substituting a specific pronunciation like "Jehovah" or "LORD." This approach acknowledges the complexity and uncertainty surrounding the original pronunciation.

Therefore, the claim that "Jehovah" is the actual name of God is not supported by historical or textual evidence. Instead, YHWH remains the most authentic representation of the divine name and it doesn't necessarily translate to "Jehovah".

Now tell me, how can the one and true church of God be so confidently inaccurate (lost) about his name such that they even name themselves after his assumed name rather than the most accurate representation YHWH?

I honestly hope that God remove the blind folds from the eyes of the R&F being misled by a bunch of clueless charlatans with no relationship or whatsoever with the actual holy spirit.

Born in the 60s escaped many years ago. I have witnessed sexual abuse and totally dysfunctional Family situations. more than anybody could imagine. I do not understand how anybody in this modern day having the freedom to look up this religion would be involved in it and not get the truth about this cult.This is such a disgusting organization anyone sitting on the fence on getting out really needs to Research and get out soon as possible. we did not have this availability years ago. Internet

I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, and for most of my childhood, that identity shaped everything, how I saw the world, the friendships I had, and the things I was allowed to participate in. At the time, I didn’t question it, it was all I knew.

Holidays and birthdays weren’t just things I didn’t celebrate, they were things I had to avoid entirely. In elementary school, if there were special activities relating to a holiday or birthday, I would be sent to the library, isolated so I wouldn’t take part. Most of the time, I accepted it, but there were moments that stuck with me, moments that made me feel just how different I was.

One Valentine’s Day in the 1st grade, we had a substitute teacher and I wasn’t excused from class like I usually was. Instead, I had to sit there and watch as the other kids exchanged cards and candies. I saw my classmates celebrating this so-called day that represented love. I recall questioning Does anyone love me?

I remember sitting at my desk, watching as my friends gave out their cards, but not to me, feeling completely invisible, Even the girls I had little crushes on seemed to overlook me. I felt so alone, like I didn’t belong, not just in that classroom, but anywhere. I remember crying that day and the heaviness of that realization settling in my chest.

That feeling of being on the outside looking in has followed me still to this very moment. It shaped the way I saw myself, the way I understood love and acceptance. Even now, as an adult, I struggle with those same questions:Am I truly loved? Do I belong? The loneliness of that moment didn’t just fade with time, it's become something I carry with me, something that still lingers in ways I don’t know how to fix.

I’ve found that explaining these feelings to people who haven’t lived them often leads to confusion or dismissal, they don’t see how something as "small" as missing out on holidays could have such a deep impact. I basically stopped talking about it altogether, it got frustrating to try to get someone to understand. I share this as I don't have many avenues to express myself, I don't have many friends and much less, a partner to relate my thoughts to. Maybe someone reading this has felt the same way, has carried the same questions and may understand my struggles.

So, I just got this little notification telling me I've been on Reddit for a full year now, so I thought I might share a little about how I got here. I hadn't really thought about it until it showed up on my phone, but now I'm thinking back to when I first downloaded the app and just...wow.

I first downloaded Reddit specifically so I could join the exjw community here after learning about it online, shortly after finding out from my counsellor that there were actually resources online for people in my situation (having been pimo for over a year at the time).

At the time, I was still living with my parents, so I mostly just lurked here for a while without taking the risk of interacting. However, this past August, I moved out for school to live with some other family who I didn't have to worry about snooping in my phone, and I finally joined the community directly. I didn't have the guts to post yet, but that changed pretty soon after. I only lived where I was for about a month before things went sideways, and I ended up running away.

It was the first time in my life I've really felt free.

I celebrated Halloween for the first time with the friends I was staying with, and had an amazing time. And now I've managed to get my own place with two really close never-jw friends of mine, and while we're still figuring out how to scrape by, I feel the happiest and safest I've ever been. We even celebrated Yule and Christmas together along with some of their family, which resulted in a lot of happy tears from me.

I haven't had to go to a meeting or in service in months, and I feel like I have so much more time and energy now for the people and things that I love. Things are still complicated, especially with my family as I haven't yet told them I'm not going to meetings and don't believe in the Watchtower doctrine anymore yet, but it's slowly getting better.

Mostly, I really just wanted to extend a thank you to the community here. Without all of your advice and posts, and everything I've learned from being here (along with some urging from my pomo cousin) I never would have been able to make it to this place in my life yet. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Watch Tower is very good at hiding their dirt. They are taking advantage of this by challenging Norway with, ‘show us that dirt you are accusing us of…`

They accuse Norway of not having conducted a study/studies to verify the claims Norway is making.

First of all, would the Watchtower be willing to provide a list of all JWs who have either left or been kicked out, so that Norway can conduct a thorough study?

If Watchtower has nothing to hide, and nothing to be ashamed of, then there is no reason for Watchtower to not provide information to Norway, for such studies.

Would that list also include those who are deemed apostates? Of course, Watchtower has relegated the Apotates testimonies as “apostate lies.” How would Watchtower handle this?

Another issue that hasn’t even been addressed, is the harm done to those who are labeled “apostate.” Isn’t simply being labeled apostate, harmful? Defamation of character?

And how about the “harm” caused to those still in the organization who are punished for talking or maintaining a relationship with the Disfellowshipped and those who chose to leave the organization?

Let’s just hope that Norway has a good list of all those who have been harmed by WT, due to their disfellowshiping policy.

Because, ultimately it is the duty of the accuser to prove the accusations are true.

People that are no longer Jws, where do you align spirituality now? Do you practice a different religion, agnostic, atheist, somewhere in between? Any old beliefs you still hold on to or new beliefs you have? Personally I’m spiritual but don’t follow a specific religion

For context I'm 24 now, grew up going to meetings, service the whole 9 yards until like 17 my family stopped going as much. Although they don't go they still follow all the rules pretty much.

I have a 10 year old brother who's now having to abide by those rules, and I feel bad for him. Not celebrating birthdays, holidays etc. I try to be the cool brother and let him do some stuff he's not supposed to do. Like I showed him all the Harry Potter movies and we really bonded over them.

It's just sad to see him going through the same things I did as a kid. Feeling left out of everything. I've confronted my dad about it, about how he cares so much about politics love Star Wars and marvel etc but a book about some witches and wizards is too much? It's complete and utter bullshit

I brought the Harry Potter thing back up today because we were planning to take my lil bro to universal studios. But I was like "well one of the best things there is the Harry Potter world and I would love to really take it in, etc" He immediately replied in that sarcastic undertone and said "well yea maybe we shouldn't do that then". What a pussy lol. I proceeded to call him a hypocrite for literally watching fox as his main source of entertainment and he just stayed silent. He couldn't say anything back lol. He knows he's a hypocrite yet for some reason he's still holding onto these ideals of Jehovah. He will still pray to him when he's really stressed lol. Like dude you only go to conventions once a year to please your nearly 80 year old mom. You are not a true follower.

Shits annoying af ngl. I'm moved out but still it affects my brothers life and mine in certain ways.

Hi All,

I’m a non-JW, atheist scholar with a background in History. I was researching the organization and stumbled upon this awesome subreddit. Kudos to everyone for sharing your stories here. As a historian I love primary sources such as letters, diaries, but even publications from a certain period to analyze how people were thinking in a specific moment in history. So I was wondering how did you explain, when PIMI, that there are zero eyewitness accounts of Jesus inspecting the organization? Or were you not aware?

What I'm saying is: Up until around 1927 the bible students believed Russell was the Faithful Slave, but the whole concept that Jesus approved the organization didn't come until 1930. So from 1914 to 1930 there was no one who had the slightest idea about Jesus inspecting the organisation: no eyewitnesses, nothing, even in WT. And then when Rutherford started formalizing the doctrine in the 30s, Jesus apparently had been doing exactly that. I understand that this is a theological creation. However, I love history, facts and sources. So when something so major apparently happened in 1914-1919, I feel like I would have wanted to know how it was experienced by people. Would this be different than reading a soldier's diary who fought in the great war? Wouldn't a first person account of Jesus approving the organisation be immediately classified as scripture?

Thank you for taking the time to read and thinking with me. Excuse me if some of the dates are off.

Go Norway!

Angels from heaven ,mating with women (so all males) making Nephilim giants making a flood necessary killing millions??

I just thought about it… for the first time in my life, I’m physically out and mentally out of this cult. Not only that but I also got to maintain contact with my family! I no longer attend meetings, family worship, or any other form of worship.

A year ago I fully woke up after learning some of the bigger, more significant things about the WTS and the blatant flaws in a lot of their core doctrines. It was traumatizing to say the least but I’ve been talking about it with my psychiatrist and we’ve been working it out through therapy and medication but I ended up having a mental breakdown in my workplace parking lot.

I severed relationships, burnt bridges, and I took a leave of absence but I was a couple days late with the RTW paperwork and so nobody reached out to me ever and would pass me onto the next person/union rep/manager. They don’t want me back.

I can explain why I had a mental breakdown but basically it was the pressure of keeping the secret of me being agnostic and a homosexual from my family, while also maintaining a whole different persona at work, and then I had some lame work drama and relationship stuff all happening at once. My grandpa was diagnosed with heart failure dude… he’s probably about to get one-shot by a no blood card. I could not handle even the thought of that.

So anyways I was in the parking lot with my manager yelling cuss words about specific managers, the main boss, some employees… I seriously wish I didn’t take it out on them. They were the straw that broke my back but still… I told my manager that I don’t feel happy at home, at church, or at work and work was all I had at this point. It was my place to be myself and it didn’t feel like a place for that anymore and I crashed out.

I told him I don’t want to live anymore. He said “I’ll be back with a water” and then cops started spawning. They talked to me and then took me to a state funded mental clinic, but when they found out I don’t have the right insurance they kicked me out precisely like I’m Mr. Krabbs. The worst part is almost no one understands. People blocked me because somebody went around saying I tried to kill everyone, ig telephone game style? I don’t think he’d just lie but it sounds like he was eavesdropping from a distance and misheard. I mean I was in the parking lot and yelling.

I digress, I had my mom pick me up and although I didn’t tell her then, I told my step dad the next day because he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He told my mom, they immediately told the elders and some friends, which means they told everyone immediately like the next day or two. But the thing is since I had a mental breakdown, they’re more sympathetic towards me I guess. They’re not asking me to go or anything. It’s been great.

I hope things turn out for the best… I thought I’d come back here since I’ve never been POMO in my life. I just realized it out of nowhere. Idk what else to say but I was just excited to say this :)