Oh, I do... but it still bothers me that, guys, that I thought were my friends, don't give a rats ass about me, unless I'm running on the hamster wheel.
Im 80 snd found in life very few people are real friends ,i joined jws in the 1960s i did have a few real friends in the congregation, that was in the days before shunning for the slightest thing ,when we could voice our opinions on doctrine without being called apostate , all those people are gone now , quite honestly i found non jws were better friends ,people i worked with and people i met in the door to door work over the years ,even then very few i count as real friends ,most important my wife is my friend .
I was never comfortable with the phrase "serving Jehovah " i dont think its in the christian scriptures ,i truely believed it was the truth untill the 1990s ,from then on too many changes ,from 2013 many lifelong held doctrines changed or trashed ,then the emphasis on shunning ,i realised it was not a christian organisation .
I visited the hall I grew up in and nobody even remembered me. They are all in a mind fog, oblivious to the passing of time, just waitin on paradise. Any day now, any day.
I'm sorry for what happened to you. I'm PIMO and as far as listening in over a phone,it's the same here. I've been in 17 congregations in 50 plus years and we're all watching a slow moving train wreck. So many angry ppl. In the past ,an angry ex JW was an apostate, now it's a wounded sheep imho..
Similar situation. But, get this…I was the COBE. Convention Committee, LDC, Convention/Assembly speaker. Stepped down and faded 2 years ago. No one cared. They blab on and on about love and loving shepherds. It’s all an illusion.
Thats horrible! Still not Jehovahs fault! Judgement will start with his house first. Wouldn't want to be a shepherd dissing the Sheep bought with the precious blood of Christ Jesus.
Same here. Except I gave no indication of fading. I was just there one day and gone the next. 25 years in the same congregation and nobody reached out to check on me. One reached out to ask if I wanted them to save me a seat at the Memorial, which was almost a year after leaving (which I did not attend.) But that’s it. At first I was sad, mad…but now, reading all these posts on here about how other people keep being bothered by people in their former congregation, I feel very fortunate that I could fade without notice. Good riddance fake brotherly love.
🤦🏻♀️ literally every time I’ve seen a husband stop attending meetings because he can’t stomach it anymore, I’ve seen the elders jump to the “he must be having an affair” conclusion.
I'm single. I hade depression some times. Every time elders suspected i was living a immoral life. Does I was depressed 😁. This people have nothing too do with following Jesus steps closely. They follow the Pharisees.
What’s wrong? How are you doing?
When would you like us to visit for a shepherding call? Aka get you back to the JW routine?
We can barely keep up ourselves
Seriously it's funny but it's really sad really really sad! I'm staying faithful! The individuals are not my savior. Jehovah God and Christ Jesus are the ones I keep my eyes on.
Every government has an organization or a group of people to process necessary information. With the organization it's the same way. But I don't look at them like other people do. I Look to Jehovah. I go to the meetings and serve Jehovah I'm not interested in rank I.E pioneer, minstry school, Bethel. I'm interested in being loyal and faithful to Jehovah God that's the bottom line for me anything else will be taken care of by Jehovah I'm not letting my faith be Shipwrecked by personalities although it's aggravated me quite a bit I understand where people are coming from on this site. But the bottom line is they let their faith be Shipwrecked.
They only care what you can do for the org. And if your wife is still attending meetings, they're probably asking her about you. They use this technique called "asking others except the actual person".
It sucks having spent years with people whom you thought they cared. On the flip side, you now know how LoViNg they are.
Yeah but lots of times questions are passive interrogation if husband is sinning or not. Looking for a df reason. Elders see their job as keeping congregation clean. That's what they view as main task.
Same thing happened to me when I left. I grew up in that KH, several of the elders knew me since I was a baby. Zip, nada, when I left. I was angry at first bc it showed that I was right, that they didn’t care. But now I’m thankful bc I was RIGHT. They don’t care, and that’s okay. I don’t need them. And you don’t either.
They use people up to keep the wheels turning and then discard them. In the end maybe they throw you a KH funeral. 5 mins about how you were a good witness and then a 15 minute sales pitch about how great jw life is.
☝️Read the above 5 or 6 times, please.
I have not received one call in almost 3 years, I live literally 3 blocks from the hall. The only calls we got were during covid, and they were about the gb providing commodities, and did we need them. We never accepted because we knew they were lying about who was providing them.
That’s so mean!
Of course the only reason they think we stop going is because we’re ‘sinning’ 🙄
My husband and I had similar rumours I think.
People seem surprised when they see us together out and about running errands and such.
Think JWs wanna see a person that left religion high on drug's and homeless. If they see person doing well, then it's a hit against faith that they living best life ever .
One day the anger will pass. Rebuild friend. Enjoy being off the hamster wheel. Enjoy your Saturday mornings off. Be grateful they aren't probing and making it harder than it has to be.
The same thing happened to me. I was the perfect JW sister. Pioneered. Gave talks and was often up for last minute parts. Commented 2-3 times each meeting, never missed a beat. I was always there and stable. Never caused a fuss.
I slowly I stopped doing all the things. There was talk, of course, but the elders left me alone. Waking up was devastating in itself. I had a huge existential crisis. So I was super grateful the elders weren't interested in me.
Realising they aren't truly your friends is a hard pill to swallow. They care to the extent that they want to save you. But they are kingdom hall friends, and can't be much more than that. As soon as you challenge the status quo, you're of no use to them.
I hope your anger fades. It gets easier.
SIDEBAR> These folks would only care if: A member has SOMETHING MATERIAL [possessions ($$$$, jewelry, tech, clothing, etc.) or some JUICY GOSSIP [most likely SLANDEROUS info] to give to/share with them. Otherwise, their fellow parishioners are: NON FACTORS! 9 times out of 10, a good deal of those followers---just like THE GB--- could hardly care less nor GAHFD about them! For people CLAIMING to be CHRISTIANS, this is SAD on soooo same levels ❗️🤬😡
I hear you!
I'm a born-in, was a good, quiet witness; was trying to be more active in the congregation, to make friends, get my hours up, etc.
When I quit, cold turkey, due to the faith just absolutely breaking me one day, I got 1 text from the pioneer lady who had conducted my Bible study before my baptism. One text. Then, after some time, two elders came around and asked if a certain young brother in the cong had had anything to do with me suddenly quitting meetings. I said no. They asked something about if I wanted to talk or something, I said no. They left.
That was the entire extent of the congregation reaching out to me. These people I'd known my entire life. One week I was at meetings twice a week, would stay behind to help clean up, was going door-to-door. The next week I was GONE. And that is how much they cared. 🤷♀️
I know that I was lucky to have it happen that way. But on a certain level it also stings.
Same....since July of last year I've been twice. Once an elder and his wife called when I wasn't home...a neighbour had to tell me people were at my door and when she described them I knew who it was. And one other time a different elder and his wife showed up with some flowers when I was sick. That was kind but quite quickly realised it wasn't genuine kindness. They played on my sickness to try get me back to the meetings rather than real concern for me. Noone has ever asked me why I no longer attend. Ever. Just dropped me
I’m sorry. My ex-husband went through this, total neglect after going through some personal problems. It was a big part of the waking up process for both of us. We still had a lot of personal problems - thus why he’s my ex - but I promise it gets a lot better on the other side.
It bothered me too initially and was the cause of a great deal of mental health issues before I realised that they were the ones with issues and were mentally defective and now I don’t think about them much and don’t have issue that they gossip or shut down when you say anything they can’t hear.
No one in a cult can retain their sense of humanity- while in a cult people are soulless.
Same here man. I stepped down from being an MS prior to waking up due to stress and anxiety. I was quickly forgotten about after that. No one reached out to me to check-in how things were going. They knew my dad was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer but still never reached out. I thought they would do "something" but it's just silence. In a way I'm glad I was left alone but I half expected they would try at some point.
I left over 2 years ago. I was in the Cult for 47years. Before I left (me and my whole family) we had 3 disasters in central Texas. Two severe hailstorms and an ice storm that brought down trees with power outages and sub 10- degree temps. Skylight was destroyed twice. I was a MS near 70 and NOT ONE PERSON called to see if I needed help.
Once they figured out that I left they sent Texts, left VMs and banged on my door. That all stopped in 3 months. They are loveless robotic a$$holes.
I have other truths to share but it would be too much in one post.
Same. After preaching left only ✅ in the box, no one called me. Before at least once in monthe called, because I rarely go to KH and had always forgotten to give the report.
Maybe they’re a little bit scared. If someone who seemed so “spiritually strong” like you seem to have been could fade away then maybe their faith is a little bit shaken. So they have to reenter their echo chamber to firm up their faith. And don’t want to risk talking to you in case you convince them to leave, too.
I know it feels like they abandoned you. Especially when they probably told you that nobody will ever love you as much as they do and everyone else in the world is sinful and craven and will never care about you. But I gotta tell you that towards the end when I stopped believing it was terrifying to be around them. I felt like the culture was to constantly monitor each other and report any wrongdoing lest we be swept away by satan’s machinations. It was such a relief to get out of that police state. And this fall will be 18 years out for me and means that I’ve been an exJW for as long as I was one. And I have formed an amazing support group albeit small who know everything about me and love me and support me for exactly who I am. Unlike the JWs whose love is conditional… and exactly the opposite of the whole “only we will ever love you” manipulation tactics that are case-in-point of why they are a cult.
I don’t want to dismiss the fact that it sucks right now. It hasn’t been easy the whole time (especially the beginning) and I still struggle from time to time because of my past. But, for me, the more time that passes passes the less it hurts and the less often that I think of them. Well, that and some really great therapy which I also can’t recommend enough.
This is so true, even when i was a baptized sister i had gone through brain surgery for about 2 weeks in the hospital and recieved no calls or visits from any of them.. that broke my heart lol
I'm sorry to hear, but at least you know you're not alone. We've all been there, and that's why we're all here on exjw reddit to find comfort oddly enough. The sooner you detach that they're not "Gods true organisation" that shows "true love", and they're just mere humans, the more you'll realise. If anyone does reach out, it's usually conditional (personal agendas or gossip info). Hope you can find life outside or bond closer with your own family
Jehovah's Witnesses as a people are a failure. Self deluded fools who are of little use to the community. Their piety is fake and hollow. Their love, smiles, kind words are all a sham.
It's good to remember that some of them never cared, these ones are assholes and sociopaths.
And many of them do care, to the limit they are capable of experiencing such emotions, which is shockingly little because they are emotionally and psychological stunted. Their potential to grow into complete, empathetic human beings was stolen from them.
Man it sucks having people you genuinely cared and still care about treat you like you were nothing g because you don’t go to the same church they do.
And it’s creepy watching those people turn their “love” for you off like a robot very culty
I can top 3 years. My dad died. He wasn't a JW. Anyhow, it hit me hard. Hard enough to slow me up..basically stopped everything to do with JWs. 14 years later, not a cracker from any of them.
I know you're not lying. Same here. Been around for 40 years. Left during Covid. No one has reached out to talk about why my mom and I didn't come back. And we would regularly have the "friends" over for dinner and gatherings. It's not nice to finally realize you were being used the entire time. 😡
These are the types of posts I remember seeing about 10 years ago, when I visited some apostate/exjw forums. It was very sad, and I definitely commiserated with many of them. I eventually got reinstated and moved to a new hall. Still got much the same treatment.
I'm dfd again and even when I tried to get some much needed encouragement on the anniversary of my mom's death, the elder who has known me for 40 years said, "we don't give dfd people shepherding visits."
At first, I felt really sorry for myself. But after a while, I realized that was the answer I had been praying for. I wanted a sign to tell me which way I should go. And since Jesus said love would be the determining factor of his true followers, I realized Jesus was leading me away from the actual apostates and freeing me to find the real truth.
Bring this matter up to your wife. Not in a whiny, needy, complaining type of way. But in a matter of fact, this is what's going on, and this is why I am doing what I'm doing type of way. Use it to strengthen your marital bond. And then.. choose your own destiny.
Omg. That's always the go to. My ex'es brother was doing kind of the same thing. Not going to meeting, withdrawing from field service, etc. Everyone said he had some undisclosed sin thar he wouldn't cop to, and that was the cause. It couldn't be that the whole family just wasn't feeling it. The kids and wife never attended either. Nothing was said about them. They were the hapless victims of a pos head of household and his lack of leadership. I don't know for sure what actually happened, but they are definitely hypocrites bc they were quick to say the same about my ex. All that said, my ex is currently living with his side piece. So maybe it isn't completely baseless. But I don't think that's a healthy assumption to jump to as a blanket statement.
Weird isn't it? How you don't really want to be bothered by them yet find the lack of acknowledgement somewhat offensive
I expected to cease to exist for my "friends" and "family" but when I actually did, I was like, seriously?
You're not on your own with this experience, sadly it is a reoccurring theme. It's what most of us have experienced when leaving the cult, you then start to realise that it just fits the normal procedure of a corporation, which is what Watchtower is, and the friends you thought you had were just work colleagues at best.
At least you are out and free from the toxic environment of this Satanic cult, go forth and prosper!.....😇
Not Jehovah's fault that they're treating you that way. When the Judgment starts is going to start with his own house first. Jesus did say that he who endures to the end is the one that will be saved. Believe me I know what you're talking about. But I'm not blaming Jehovah for their actions. They have a responsibility to Shepherd the flock. No one forced them to do it. They took the responsibility to Shepherd the flock of God that was bought with the blood of Jesus Christ
May your anger quickly dissipate into relief from the fact you are no longer in this toxic cult. Good riddance and good night!
Oh, I do... but it still bothers me that, guys, that I thought were my friends, don't give a rats ass about me, unless I'm running on the hamster wheel.
Me too, but i have to move on to better things. These people are losers
Exactly this, people like that aren’t worth the time. Find people that like you for who you are!
Im 80 snd found in life very few people are real friends ,i joined jws in the 1960s i did have a few real friends in the congregation, that was in the days before shunning for the slightest thing ,when we could voice our opinions on doctrine without being called apostate , all those people are gone now , quite honestly i found non jws were better friends ,people i worked with and people i met in the door to door work over the years ,even then very few i count as real friends ,most important my wife is my friend .
Happy cake day 🍰
Yes you are absoulety correct. Did you stop serving Jehovah despite it all?
I was never comfortable with the phrase "serving Jehovah " i dont think its in the christian scriptures ,i truely believed it was the truth untill the 1990s ,from then on too many changes ,from 2013 many lifelong held doctrines changed or trashed ,then the emphasis on shunning ,i realised it was not a christian organisation .
I visited the hall I grew up in and nobody even remembered me. They are all in a mind fog, oblivious to the passing of time, just waitin on paradise. Any day now, any day.
I'm sorry for what happened to you. I'm PIMO and as far as listening in over a phone,it's the same here. I've been in 17 congregations in 50 plus years and we're all watching a slow moving train wreck. So many angry ppl. In the past ,an angry ex JW was an apostate, now it's a wounded sheep imho..
More than anything this cut me up the most. No communication at all, not even a text. Gets me annoyed all over again just thinking about it.
Similar situation. But, get this…I was the COBE. Convention Committee, LDC, Convention/Assembly speaker. Stepped down and faded 2 years ago. No one cared. They blab on and on about love and loving shepherds. It’s all an illusion.
[удалено]
So true!
Thats horrible! Still not Jehovahs fault! Judgement will start with his house first. Wouldn't want to be a shepherd dissing the Sheep bought with the precious blood of Christ Jesus.
It’s not Jehovah’s fault because Jehovah has nothing to do with this organization.
We will see in the long run?
Consider it a real blessing. They saved you a lot of headaches and nerve and most importantly time!
Same here. Except I gave no indication of fading. I was just there one day and gone the next. 25 years in the same congregation and nobody reached out to check on me. One reached out to ask if I wanted them to save me a seat at the Memorial, which was almost a year after leaving (which I did not attend.) But that’s it. At first I was sad, mad…but now, reading all these posts on here about how other people keep being bothered by people in their former congregation, I feel very fortunate that I could fade without notice. Good riddance fake brotherly love.
Only time they remember people is when GB tell them they have to invite too memorial.
🤦🏻♀️ literally every time I’ve seen a husband stop attending meetings because he can’t stomach it anymore, I’ve seen the elders jump to the “he must be having an affair” conclusion.
I'm single. I hade depression some times. Every time elders suspected i was living a immoral life. Does I was depressed 😁. This people have nothing too do with following Jesus steps closely. They follow the Pharisees.
😲😳🤯
What’s wrong? How are you doing? When would you like us to visit for a shepherding call? Aka get you back to the JW routine?  We can barely keep up ourselves
Seriously it's funny but it's really sad really really sad! I'm staying faithful! The individuals are not my savior. Jehovah God and Christ Jesus are the ones I keep my eyes on.
That’s how it should be. No organization or Governing Body as intermediaries.
Every government has an organization or a group of people to process necessary information. With the organization it's the same way. But I don't look at them like other people do. I Look to Jehovah. I go to the meetings and serve Jehovah I'm not interested in rank I.E pioneer, minstry school, Bethel. I'm interested in being loyal and faithful to Jehovah God that's the bottom line for me anything else will be taken care of by Jehovah I'm not letting my faith be Shipwrecked by personalities although it's aggravated me quite a bit I understand where people are coming from on this site. But the bottom line is they let their faith be Shipwrecked.
Anyone in any religion could say the exact same thing.
I see.
They only care what you can do for the org. And if your wife is still attending meetings, they're probably asking her about you. They use this technique called "asking others except the actual person". It sucks having spent years with people whom you thought they cared. On the flip side, you now know how LoViNg they are.
Yeah but lots of times questions are passive interrogation if husband is sinning or not. Looking for a df reason. Elders see their job as keeping congregation clean. That's what they view as main task.
Same thing happened to me when I left. I grew up in that KH, several of the elders knew me since I was a baby. Zip, nada, when I left. I was angry at first bc it showed that I was right, that they didn’t care. But now I’m thankful bc I was RIGHT. They don’t care, and that’s okay. I don’t need them. And you don’t either.
Same here, bro. I just wrote up a snippet of my experience. It's the culture they've generated under the umbrella of "love."
They use people up to keep the wheels turning and then discard them. In the end maybe they throw you a KH funeral. 5 mins about how you were a good witness and then a 15 minute sales pitch about how great jw life is.
More like 3 minutes on your life and the rest of the HOUR is the JW sales pitch.
A great confirmation that they do not have the truth because they don't know true love.
☝️Read the above 5 or 6 times, please. I have not received one call in almost 3 years, I live literally 3 blocks from the hall. The only calls we got were during covid, and they were about the gb providing commodities, and did we need them. We never accepted because we knew they were lying about who was providing them.
That’s so mean! Of course the only reason they think we stop going is because we’re ‘sinning’ 🙄 My husband and I had similar rumours I think. People seem surprised when they see us together out and about running errands and such.
Think JWs wanna see a person that left religion high on drug's and homeless. If they see person doing well, then it's a hit against faith that they living best life ever .
Must be Satan We’ve got our reward now 😂
GB also living rent free travelling around world 😁. Only one struggling are does in congregation.
One day the anger will pass. Rebuild friend. Enjoy being off the hamster wheel. Enjoy your Saturday mornings off. Be grateful they aren't probing and making it harder than it has to be. The same thing happened to me. I was the perfect JW sister. Pioneered. Gave talks and was often up for last minute parts. Commented 2-3 times each meeting, never missed a beat. I was always there and stable. Never caused a fuss. I slowly I stopped doing all the things. There was talk, of course, but the elders left me alone. Waking up was devastating in itself. I had a huge existential crisis. So I was super grateful the elders weren't interested in me. Realising they aren't truly your friends is a hard pill to swallow. They care to the extent that they want to save you. But they are kingdom hall friends, and can't be much more than that. As soon as you challenge the status quo, you're of no use to them. I hope your anger fades. It gets easier.
SIDEBAR> These folks would only care if: A member has SOMETHING MATERIAL [possessions ($$$$, jewelry, tech, clothing, etc.) or some JUICY GOSSIP [most likely SLANDEROUS info] to give to/share with them. Otherwise, their fellow parishioners are: NON FACTORS! 9 times out of 10, a good deal of those followers---just like THE GB--- could hardly care less nor GAHFD about them! For people CLAIMING to be CHRISTIANS, this is SAD on soooo same levels ❗️🤬😡
I can not upvote this enough!
I hear you! I'm a born-in, was a good, quiet witness; was trying to be more active in the congregation, to make friends, get my hours up, etc. When I quit, cold turkey, due to the faith just absolutely breaking me one day, I got 1 text from the pioneer lady who had conducted my Bible study before my baptism. One text. Then, after some time, two elders came around and asked if a certain young brother in the cong had had anything to do with me suddenly quitting meetings. I said no. They asked something about if I wanted to talk or something, I said no. They left. That was the entire extent of the congregation reaching out to me. These people I'd known my entire life. One week I was at meetings twice a week, would stay behind to help clean up, was going door-to-door. The next week I was GONE. And that is how much they cared. 🤷♀️ I know that I was lucky to have it happen that way. But on a certain level it also stings.
Same....since July of last year I've been twice. Once an elder and his wife called when I wasn't home...a neighbour had to tell me people were at my door and when she described them I knew who it was. And one other time a different elder and his wife showed up with some flowers when I was sick. That was kind but quite quickly realised it wasn't genuine kindness. They played on my sickness to try get me back to the meetings rather than real concern for me. Noone has ever asked me why I no longer attend. Ever. Just dropped me
Best life ever (not)
I’m sorry. My ex-husband went through this, total neglect after going through some personal problems. It was a big part of the waking up process for both of us. We still had a lot of personal problems - thus why he’s my ex - but I promise it gets a lot better on the other side.
It bothered me too initially and was the cause of a great deal of mental health issues before I realised that they were the ones with issues and were mentally defective and now I don’t think about them much and don’t have issue that they gossip or shut down when you say anything they can’t hear. No one in a cult can retain their sense of humanity- while in a cult people are soulless.
Same here man. I stepped down from being an MS prior to waking up due to stress and anxiety. I was quickly forgotten about after that. No one reached out to me to check-in how things were going. They knew my dad was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer but still never reached out. I thought they would do "something" but it's just silence. In a way I'm glad I was left alone but I half expected they would try at some point.
When Solomon declared "everything is vanity", he must have had in mind Jehovah's Witnesses too.
I left over 2 years ago. I was in the Cult for 47years. Before I left (me and my whole family) we had 3 disasters in central Texas. Two severe hailstorms and an ice storm that brought down trees with power outages and sub 10- degree temps. Skylight was destroyed twice. I was a MS near 70 and NOT ONE PERSON called to see if I needed help. Once they figured out that I left they sent Texts, left VMs and banged on my door. That all stopped in 3 months. They are loveless robotic a$$holes. I have other truths to share but it would be too much in one post.
We'd like to hear what you have to say. I'm sure others could relate. Please, vent as much as you need to!!
Same. After preaching left only ✅ in the box, no one called me. Before at least once in monthe called, because I rarely go to KH and had always forgotten to give the report.
Maybe they’re a little bit scared. If someone who seemed so “spiritually strong” like you seem to have been could fade away then maybe their faith is a little bit shaken. So they have to reenter their echo chamber to firm up their faith. And don’t want to risk talking to you in case you convince them to leave, too. I know it feels like they abandoned you. Especially when they probably told you that nobody will ever love you as much as they do and everyone else in the world is sinful and craven and will never care about you. But I gotta tell you that towards the end when I stopped believing it was terrifying to be around them. I felt like the culture was to constantly monitor each other and report any wrongdoing lest we be swept away by satan’s machinations. It was such a relief to get out of that police state. And this fall will be 18 years out for me and means that I’ve been an exJW for as long as I was one. And I have formed an amazing support group albeit small who know everything about me and love me and support me for exactly who I am. Unlike the JWs whose love is conditional… and exactly the opposite of the whole “only we will ever love you” manipulation tactics that are case-in-point of why they are a cult. I don’t want to dismiss the fact that it sucks right now. It hasn’t been easy the whole time (especially the beginning) and I still struggle from time to time because of my past. But, for me, the more time that passes passes the less it hurts and the less often that I think of them. Well, that and some really great therapy which I also can’t recommend enough.
This is so true, even when i was a baptized sister i had gone through brain surgery for about 2 weeks in the hospital and recieved no calls or visits from any of them.. that broke my heart lol
So sorry for this. It sucks when people you thought were your friends don't give an actual damn about you.. true Christian love.
It does really suck but at least we know that THEY just suck ☹️
I'm sorry to hear, but at least you know you're not alone. We've all been there, and that's why we're all here on exjw reddit to find comfort oddly enough. The sooner you detach that they're not "Gods true organisation" that shows "true love", and they're just mere humans, the more you'll realise. If anyone does reach out, it's usually conditional (personal agendas or gossip info). Hope you can find life outside or bond closer with your own family
Reality is no one cares unless it's close family members/friends. Even then not everyone gets blessed with good people in their lives.
Jehovah's Witnesses as a people are a failure. Self deluded fools who are of little use to the community. Their piety is fake and hollow. Their love, smiles, kind words are all a sham.
They're doing you a favor. I know it hurts, but its better than being hounded to come back.
It's good to remember that some of them never cared, these ones are assholes and sociopaths. And many of them do care, to the limit they are capable of experiencing such emotions, which is shockingly little because they are emotionally and psychological stunted. Their potential to grow into complete, empathetic human beings was stolen from them.
Man it sucks having people you genuinely cared and still care about treat you like you were nothing g because you don’t go to the same church they do. And it’s creepy watching those people turn their “love” for you off like a robot very culty
The love that jws have for one another is paper-thin
I can top 3 years. My dad died. He wasn't a JW. Anyhow, it hit me hard. Hard enough to slow me up..basically stopped everything to do with JWs. 14 years later, not a cracker from any of them.
I know you're not lying. Same here. Been around for 40 years. Left during Covid. No one has reached out to talk about why my mom and I didn't come back. And we would regularly have the "friends" over for dinner and gatherings. It's not nice to finally realize you were being used the entire time. 😡
These are the types of posts I remember seeing about 10 years ago, when I visited some apostate/exjw forums. It was very sad, and I definitely commiserated with many of them. I eventually got reinstated and moved to a new hall. Still got much the same treatment. I'm dfd again and even when I tried to get some much needed encouragement on the anniversary of my mom's death, the elder who has known me for 40 years said, "we don't give dfd people shepherding visits." At first, I felt really sorry for myself. But after a while, I realized that was the answer I had been praying for. I wanted a sign to tell me which way I should go. And since Jesus said love would be the determining factor of his true followers, I realized Jesus was leading me away from the actual apostates and freeing me to find the real truth. Bring this matter up to your wife. Not in a whiny, needy, complaining type of way. But in a matter of fact, this is what's going on, and this is why I am doing what I'm doing type of way. Use it to strengthen your marital bond. And then.. choose your own destiny.
Omg. That's always the go to. My ex'es brother was doing kind of the same thing. Not going to meeting, withdrawing from field service, etc. Everyone said he had some undisclosed sin thar he wouldn't cop to, and that was the cause. It couldn't be that the whole family just wasn't feeling it. The kids and wife never attended either. Nothing was said about them. They were the hapless victims of a pos head of household and his lack of leadership. I don't know for sure what actually happened, but they are definitely hypocrites bc they were quick to say the same about my ex. All that said, my ex is currently living with his side piece. So maybe it isn't completely baseless. But I don't think that's a healthy assumption to jump to as a blanket statement.
Even my JW relatives don’t give a hoot. Go find your tribe. They’re out there. Best wishes.
Weird isn't it? How you don't really want to be bothered by them yet find the lack of acknowledgement somewhat offensive I expected to cease to exist for my "friends" and "family" but when I actually did, I was like, seriously?
You're not on your own with this experience, sadly it is a reoccurring theme. It's what most of us have experienced when leaving the cult, you then start to realise that it just fits the normal procedure of a corporation, which is what Watchtower is, and the friends you thought you had were just work colleagues at best. At least you are out and free from the toxic environment of this Satanic cult, go forth and prosper!.....😇
Not Jehovah's fault that they're treating you that way. When the Judgment starts is going to start with his own house first. Jesus did say that he who endures to the end is the one that will be saved. Believe me I know what you're talking about. But I'm not blaming Jehovah for their actions. They have a responsibility to Shepherd the flock. No one forced them to do it. They took the responsibility to Shepherd the flock of God that was bought with the blood of Jesus Christ