Question for FORMER Jehovah's Witnesses NOT Current ones!!!?????????

Question

Are you df'd? or just leave? Why?

NOT asking for haters!!!!!

I personally believe it is the truth but I'm just lonely. I'm just newly df'd.

Answer 1

I was brought up from birth into a JW family and firmly believed I had "the truth" - right up until 1975 when the promised "end to this wicked system of things" failed to happen. In order to leave the organisation, I literally had to leave the country. I was completely on my own. Everyone in my family (except for my sister) shunned me.

For years, I wandered in a spiritual wilderness, and I was always worried that they might be right, that Armageddon was just round the corner and that I would not survive it. And yes, I was lonely. But God answered my prayers and 11 years ago I became a Christian. I was led to fellowship with other Christians, Christians who did not claim that they, and only they were right. They studied the Bible - not someone else's literature - and they displayed true Christian love. When I finally got down on my knees and asked God to forgive me, and to help me, he did. The Holy Spirit does the work of conviction of sin, and it is the Holy Spirit that prompts us to seek forgiveness. Please believe me when I say that JW's are wrong to claim that they are the only true religion. God's love and grace extends to EVERYONE who truly seeks him and calls on the name of Jesus as Lord and Saviour. JW's will never do that. They cannot - because they do not know who Jesus was and who the risen Christ now is. Nor do they know who the Holy Spirit is. They have been mislead.

Now please understand that I do not hate JW's. Far from it. I love them and I pray that their eyes will be opened and their ears unstopped so they can finally understand that faith is a gift from God and salvation is also a gift from God. You cannot earn salvation by obeying the rules of a man-made organisation. I pray with all my heart that you will come to realise that too. May God lead you to saving grace.

Answer 2

I don't believe you comprehend how cruel this question is. People are imperfect, there's no getting around it. Jesus dined with prostitutes. He told Pharisees to not stone an adulteress - why? Not because stoning was cruel, but because they were imperfect themselves and had NO RIGHT to judge another imperfect human being. He who casts the first stone must be without sin. You are dutifully following doctrine presented to you, a teaching that the society themselves have done a 180 on interpreting. Doctrine that protects the congregation. Doctrine that silences anyone who thinks differently. Please consider what you are really supporting here. Your trust is in man. p.s. I don't blame Witnesses. Most people I know that have left don't either. But blame goes all around to all sides, because everyone is imperfect. The question is, who is the one doing the judging? Who is teaching to cast people out for not conforming? That answer will tell you who plays the Pharisee in this story.

Answer 3

loneliness causes people to do all sorts of absurd things such as returning to a group that obviously does not want them.

You have now the opportunity to break the shackles that have bound you.

You then will have free hands to take off the blindfold and see.

I will not explain why I post here - once you have a track record of open mindedness and ask questions about doctrine you will get responses from me and others that do not wish to share on certain levels. I say this because you have fessed up to having three accounts.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApX8R1wG.EuCCUthZZxC28bsy6IX?qid=20070801152740AAulfT7&show=7#profile-info-qRpn8XFyaa

There are a couple of sites for former JWs.

Keep this thing in mind: God is Love.

Pray from the heart, the deepest innermost desire, to really know God Almighty.

It is difficult to overcome what is taught by the JWs though it can be done. Pay close attention to what posters say when doctrinal question come up.

You will begin to see how the ORGANIZATION errors and why too!

Wading through various doctrinal viewpoints and fallacies is a lot of work but you can do it.

Although the JWs have several things correct, as do many denominations, there are certain misapplications that poison the truth.

How much poison will you add to a glass of water before you will not drink it. One drop? two? Ten untruths before you see it for what it is?

I do not hate JWs.
I feel very loving toward the sincere and caring, nonjudgmental and giving.

Answer 4

i can imagine how hard being df'd might be.
i chose to leave before i was df'd.... i was dangerously close all b/c i could not find it in my heart to disassociate myself from a dear friend who made some mistakes and was himself df'd. i knew that it was the 'proper' thing to do, according to the congregation..... i just didn't feel that it was fair or loving. my friend was hurting, was struggling to overcome his bad behavior, never influenced me to partake in what he was doing. he believed the witnesses had the truth, but once he was df'd he said, i'll never go back. it's just too hard to get re-instated.
this is when i began to question things, not only the df'ing process, but other things as well.
i still believe that the witnesses DO have a lot of correct or true knowledge.... but they are NOT infallible. when i asked some questions that i had, i was told..... you can't question god.... he is a mystery. what?!?!? the bible specifically tells us to question and seek out the truth.
i hope that you will find the path you are meant to take. if you truly want to be a part of the congregation again, it will take a LOT of hard work. spend this time away exploring yourself and others.... find out what makes 'worldy' people tick. they're not all as bad as we have been led to believe. explore other religions as well..... they're not all as bad as we've been taught either.
i wish you the best!

Answer 5

Without alot of details (because you can read those from my previous posts), I will just suffice it to say that I chose to escape the organization because, unlike you, I whole heartedly believe it is NOT the truth. The longer you are away from the organization the more you will come to realize this.
Although they may have a few things right, they miss the mark on some of the most important doctrines: ie salvation is not by works, but by grace alone, salvation is offered to more than just the JW, more than 144,000 will enter into heaven, their organization is not the ONLY source of holy spirit, etc etc.

Feel free to email me if you wish.

I am sorry you are feeling lonely. This is the main tactic that the organization uses to make you want to re-enter the organization. They WANT you to feel that there is no where else to go....there IS however. You just have to WANT to find others.

Answer 6

Disassociated because I learned that the WT religion is just another sect of Christianity built on the teachings of men.

It didn't happen overnight - it took me years to stop pushing aside my doubts and stop making excuses for all the false prophecies - the most convincing proof of all that an "organization" does NOT having God's backing.

After reading The Finished Mystery which was written back in 1917, I could no longer deny that the WT was merely a group of men who managed to create a following for themselves, then wrote down their own explanations of Scripture, and claimed that God was leading them. The utter nonsense I read in those publications - Russells, Rutherfords, and even on into Knorr's presidency - in hindsight - could only be believed by someone blinded by faith.

If you're disfellowshipped now, but still think it's the truth, you need to take this opportunity to look into the TRUE history of the Watchtower Society. Also read the Bible - obejctively - as though you had never read it before. You may begin to see - as I did - that the wheat is mixed in with the weeds - just do your best to be a "wheat" and don't worry about the man-made religious labels. Jehovah isn't bound by the opinions of the men who run the Watchtower, even though they would like to think so. (They would like for everyone else to think that, too. )

Answer 7

I left because I learned that too many things had gone on that directly involved the governing body that were just not right. I could not see the loving God Jehovah supporting abuse and corruption.
My biggest reasons:
(1) The MANY abuse cases were in the public record. NOT "isolated" anomalies. Evidence of coverups go all the way to the top.
(2) The blood issue: What started out as a clear delineation that no blood was acceptable has turned into an exception list of the PARTS OF BLOOD that are allowed or are "conscience matters." The list of exceptions comprises 100% of the parts. That's absurd. And people die for this. AND there are scriptures that support alternate views as well.
(3) Political stances that allow people to die in one country but compromise in another. While Mexican witnesses were allowed to bribe officials for documents that lyingly confirmed their state-required military service, witnesses in Malawi were told they could not buy the $1 state ID card that was required of every resident of the country. These people were mobbed, raped, murdered and deported. Needlessly.
(4) False prophecies. Until I saw the irrationality of the other issues, I was willing to go along with the "new light" excuse for the constantly changing teaching. "Correcting" prior wrong understandings and the light keeps getting brighter and all that. But when you really realize that the "faithful and discreet slave" isn't being faithful,, this is exposed as their making stuff up on the fly.
(5) Contradictions. The "men of Sodom" is a great example. I remember thinking it was odd when I first became a witness that I had to learn that the men of Sodom would NOT be resurrected. So it stuck in my mind a few years later when a "Questions from Readers" said that they WOULD be resurrected after all. But not much later, they were NOT going to be resurrected again. Each change was accompanied by scriptural "proof." Maybe it was something that couldn't really be explained. except by God. So if that were the case, their flip-flopping just amounted to making stuff up.
(6) I read about the early years of the witnesses from the perspective of people who were observers and researchers who were not putting the witness spin on the details. Looking at what happened after the death of C.T. Russell, I could now see that Jehovah's witnesses were a religion spawned by the hostile corporate takeover of a religious publishing house. I was especially incensed to realize that, although they technically receive the same "allowance" as everyone else at Bethel, that those members who "serve" there live lives of luxury and security, have all their needs taken care of and travel well. The last congregation I was in would host the same short list of people over and over again. For providing the service of a couple of talks to the congregation, they were flown across-country, housed in the home of well-to-do witnesses, given new, expensive clothes, given other gifts, including cash, honored by parties and taken to local tourist attractions. These are not lives of poverty and self-sacrifice.
(7) General corruption. I personally know of cases of favoritism and dishonesty.
(8) Mind control. As I was researching these other things, I started reading about the ways that cults use manipulation to keep their members from questioning their doctrines. The witnesses fit the profile to a T. I was astounded. The witnesses say everyone else is a cult but them. Even that is a technique of mind control. It was tough to admit to myself that I had been so fooled for so long -- my entire adult life. But with that realization came the realization that I couldn't let myself go on with them now that I knew that the core doctrines of their teaching had no basis. Being free to use my brain has a lot going for it.
Suzanne

Edit: Comment to Bear: If you think that the difference between being a JW or not is living for "now" or for the "future," the problem with that is that the witnesses have a consistent track record of being WRONG about the "future." The choice you are talking about becomnes one of REALITY VS. ILLUSION!

Edit2: Oh, and I'm neither "officially" disfellowshipped nor disassociated, although I wrote a letter saying I quit. There was never an "action" taken or an "announcement" made.

Answer 8

I just left in good standing. My lifestyle would get me disfellowshipped if I were still a JW because I'm monogamously sexually active with a girl to whom I'm not married.

I left because I grew tired of the hypocrisy and double standards that I experienced at every level of service in the organization. Aside from doctrinal teachings, I began to question the veracity of the Bible itself and the inconsistent portrayals of the Abrahamic god who is supposedly loving but can at the same time be supremely cruel.

I lack the foundation for a blind obedience and faith. And I can't ignore corruption in an organization that I've personally seen. In addition, I have no interest in recruiting to any religion. That's why I left.

Answer 9

I'm not religious, but I will always be a witness for Jehovah God.

Answer 10

The posters above me have put a beautiful, human face on the experience of disfellowshiping and shunning. God bless them for taking time to share their experiences.

My husband and I were both raised Jehovah's Witnesses. I was a 4th generation, my mother, her mother and her mother before her considered themselves Witnesses. My husband was a born-in, too. We married young, and afterward, we both just left. We wanted to fully experience our lives without the rigid rules of the Society. We wanted to go to college, we wanted to travel, we wanted to do all the things we didn't have time to do when living as a Witness.

Understand we are not sinners, we don't do drugs, we don't smoke, we drink occasionally, no crazy sexuality.. so our problem wasn't with those issues. We just wanted time to explore our life, something living by the schedule of the Watchtower would not allow us. For me, I think what made it so easy to drift away was that I could never reconcile God's love with the Witness promise my unbelieving dad would be destroyed at Armageddon. I don't think I ever really believed what I was taught. I also don't think my husband did, either.

Anyway, to my knowledge we weren't disfellowshipped, but my husband's family recently told him we're considered "apostate" because we have spoken out as to our beliefs that JWs don't hold the truth. End result is the same, no family contact for years.

My husband and I were fortunate to have one another (and my family, who is not shunning us) during these times, so we didn't experience the loneliness we could've. We do, however, experience pain each time one of our family milestones arrives and his family won't acknowledge it. Latest being our daughter's graduation from college, and her near death experience. I pray that that things will change for them, but I don't expect it will.

Our life is happy and fulfilling, otherwise. We had to be true to ourselves to be happy.

Be true to yourself.. and kind to yourself. God loves you..

Answer 11

I was disfellowshipped, for cause, in 1982 from the Corning, CA Congregation. I note that nobody above mentions what congregation they were attending and when. At the time, I was informed that I could have appealed the decision. I didn’t.

In stating why I have not returned, it would be best to consider the comments made by Jane Fonda, when she was appearing on Johnny Carson's show with Charlton Heston (Moses in "Ten Commandments").

She said that she only hired JWs as servants, such as maids, drivers, gardeners, etc., as they could not be bought for private info on their employer. The drawback on them is that they will also quit if their employer is doing something illegal, such as smoking pot, unless its made of porcelain, though that might be a little hard to light.

When Charlton Heston asked her why she didn't become one, if she liked them so much, she said that she couldn't see herself leading such a life as closely dedicated to the teachings of Christ as JWs do, and neither could he (Heston).

One of the major problems all witnesses face is the feeling that somehow they may be missing out on things people from other religions find easy, such as sexual activity outside marriage. With our very short lives, it is difficult to see the long term of the promise of God. The promise of everlasting life on earth. It’s like telling a small child that they have to wait until tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, before they can do something. With their limited experience in life, they don’t see the tomorrow and all the following tomorrows.

They merely see the here and now. To some extent, the same thing applies to adult witnesses. Our puny life expectancy is nothing compared to living for thousands of years. We just cannot conceive of such a thing, just as a child cannot conceive of what it means to wait a week. For us, waiting a week means little, because our perception of time is different from the child. The same will apply to the perception of time between an individual who has lived just 50 years, and one who has live 500 or more years.

Ones who leave the witnesses see the world like that of a child, only without an older adult telling them that things will be different when you reach their age, though with the growing number of centennial citizens is giving us the potential of understanding what it is like to have a long life. And before you think it, less than 13% of them have any significant health problems until two years before their deaths.

What it comes down to is if you want to live for the now or for the later? If you think you should be able to live for the now, and not what will happen is a hundred or a thousand years, do you also apply this thinking to your children? Do you tell them that they don’t have to wait until they are older to experience the life and benefits of being an adult? Are they less deserving than you to wait for the promised gifts?