How I Woke Up!

Comments · 347

• TA

  @TakeBackControlFreak · 2 weeks ago · pinned

  Hi everyone! Part 2 is live now. Link is in the description.  Thanks!

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• KR

  @krishereagain-v9h · 2 weeks ago

  Thank goodness former elders and Bethelites are speaking out and educating the rest of us about what really goes on at the leadership level. Thanks to people like you, I was finally able to admit I had been in a cult. Former JWs who make angry videos or smart-ass videos don't do much for me, but when a former JW posts a video that is rational and informative, it works!

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• AL

  @allib9742 · 2 weeks ago

  The way you both share your thoughts and developments in the org is very easy to listen to and follows a non emotional presentation, even keeled, logical. <br>I was born in and raised in the &quot;truth&quot;, always studied, answered at meetings, father was an elder, mother pioneered. I was miserable inside, all through school. But, I convinced my young mind that the reason I was so depressed and sad is because &quot;I wasn&apos;t doing enough&quot; and was not baptized. I got baptized at around 13, far too young, and decided I need to pioneer to be happy. I always put on the facade, went in service, always placed magazines etc etc (this is when people actually had to read the Reasoning Book and do presentations etc etc. I never told anyone how miserable I was because it&apos;s a display of weakness, and possible doubt, and just goes down the wrong road. So, I just stayed quiet in my sadness and pretended to play a game, a game of chess. I was baptized and knew now I could be disfellowshipped like some of my cousins, aunts, uncles had been. My father spoke in such a condescending way about these immediate relatives being disfellowshipped and thus, the writing was on the wall. Then, I decided to try and serve at Patterson, which I did end up getting accepted. Then I really saw what a good ol&apos;boys club it really was. <br>Anyway, I realized that I hated my life, hated everything in life, and had no will to try and please all these people. Honestly, I just wanted to sit and do nothing, true given up. <br>I finally got a regular job and found that people were simply nice. Then, I realized Armageddon did not come as everyone thought, since technically I was told I would not graduate high school. <br>Then, as some more time passed, I started to really disrespect my parents for lying to me and my brother blindly for so many years. The very first lie, as the serpent told Eve:&quot;You positively will not die.&quot; Now, years later, I am no longer suicidal, have a life I enjoy, and meaningful things in life. I have so little spiritual interest at all, really jaded. I pretty much hate my parents, the first command with a promise. Ironically, I was raised with no natural affection, as I was repeatedly told to have no emotion when cousins had been DF&apos;d. I developed a hard, calloused &quot;No natural affection&quot; towards people. <br>Now, years and years have passed, I have not spoken to my parents in over 20 years and have no inclination to ever speak to them again. <br>I just faded slowly, moved to a couple of congregations, became inactive, then just moved again<br> Even now, I don&apos;t miss anyone. I&apos;m so glad to be gone. I know many people stay in because they have so many friends and family and not want to be DF&apos;d. I keep all people at a distance and really have so little interest in people. I have no interest in spiritual things, and if Armageddon finally does come, I really don&apos;t care.

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• EA

  @eanderson216 · 2 weeks ago

  I was a JW for 20 years. Left and became agnostic. No non denominational Christian and wow what a difference! There is no judgement or kicking you while you are down. Just pure love. I hope with time you can find real faith in the future. It did take me 10 years to eliminate the JW programming about other faith.

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• MO

  @MoonLove-ct7 · 2 weeks ago (edited)

  Thank you so much for sharing and being here , we appreciate <br>My husband and I just left few months ago.<br>We just fade away, the elders were hunting us down we ended up block them because they don’t respect boundaries.<br><br>Story like this helps us heal.<br>Have a great day everyone.❤

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• PA

  @paulwilliams6436 · 2 weeks ago

  I&apos;m a Psychotherapist/Psychoanalyst and EXJW. &nbsp;What you&apos;re describing is a Defense Mechanism called &quot;Splitting&quot;. &nbsp;We see it in Narcissistic patients and Narcissistic organizations. <br>The Psyche of the individual (or organization) cannot tolerate Ambiguity and &quot;splits&quot; other people into All Good or All Bad. &nbsp;<br>When the &quot;All Good&quot; self-concept is threatened, the person cannot handle the &quot;gray area&quot; and so they see what&apos;s happening as &quot;contamination,&quot;. &nbsp;Consequently, they see YOU as &quot;All Bad&quot;. &nbsp;<br>An entire elder body is programmed to Split others. <br>Splitting is why going to the elders with doubts or struggles will result in the elder body quickly determining that you cannot be ambivalent, you cannot be mostly good with doubts or struggles, you must be All Bad. <br>An Elder would particularly be held to this standard of All Good. While other members of the congregation (without position) might be afforded more patience-- but that patience will be thin!!!!<br>But, rest assured, in a Narcissistic Organization like the JW&apos;s, the elders are <b>always</b> on the lookout for any contamination. Partial weakness by anyone will be instantly framed as suspected All Badness. &nbsp;<br>Often, elders are looking for a reason to classify you as All Bad. <br>What happened to you was, unfortunately, precisely how a Narcissistic organization will work. &nbsp;As you said, you suspected it might happen. Now you have a fancy word for it! 🙂<br>You had a good Spidey Sense-- always recognize that as a strength in yourself! That &quot;tingle&quot; saved you from this cult.

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• EF

  @EfrainRiveraJunior · 2 weeks ago

  I&apos;m happy to see people sharing these types of stories. <br><br>It shows how much man-made the Jehovah&apos;s Witnesses cult is. And also shows how people inside that organization see those silly little titles (they call them privileges), such as Elder, Coordinator, Ministerial Servant, Pioneer, Overseer.

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• ZE

  @Zeta1878-r4n · 2 weeks ago

  Your experience with the body of elders reminded me of what I had experienced. The deceitfulness by which they handle these situations can only be likened to something compared to Stalinist Soviet Union. The organisation is responsible for guiding and giving elders power over peoples lives and in many cases to destroy and crush them as if they are disposable commodities. Love listening to both your videos and cannot wait for the next one. Thank you.

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• TE

  @tedyb1 · 2 weeks ago

  Thank you for being so transparent with your personal story as it continues to help people see what goes on behind the congregation&apos;&apos;s eyes

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• AZ

  @AZrakoon · 2 weeks ago

  I had a Similar situation. My mom got disfellowshiped, and the elders wanted my to talk to her sparingly. I said, no way. I had no idea teen girls were being asked horrible questions when they confessed to the elders. Seeing Geoffrey Jackson chicken out, and said it would be presumptuous to say the JWs are God&apos;s only spokespeople. I said that&apos;s enough

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• PA

  @PamelaLinbu-fx9ior · 2 weeks ago

  Hello from Alberta❤<br>Glad you came out as a whole family❤

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• LA

  @laracu426 · 2 weeks ago

  I was a 2nd generation JW my wife woke up in 2019 and I in 2020. &nbsp;I was in this cult for 43 years, that’s how long it took me to wake up from their indoctrination. &nbsp;Had many red flags through the years but always left it in Jehovah hand as the org tells you to do. &nbsp;My oldest daughter is gay and when she came out she talked to me and then she talked to an elder which was a dear friend to me. &nbsp;Later I found out the first thing he did when he got home was tell his daughter to stay away from my daughter because she was gay. &nbsp;That’s just the tip of the iceberg. &nbsp;Thanks for doing these videos there are so many JW’s and ex JW’s that need these type of channels.

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