I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness AMA

[ElloElloElloWhatsAllThisThen]

Fire away! I’m not the most knowledgeable but will try and answer all questions to the best of my ability

How do you feel about all the years that people were told that Armageddon would have to come before the generation of 1914 had passed away, then the teaching was revised to extend that generation since the end clearly hadn't come? Even those who have accepted it, I imagine, may inwardly struggle with what seems to be a profound change like that.

This is a VERY good question. I have no clue but it’s making me want to call my grandma and find out the answer😂

It’s quite tricky with blood transfusions as it can sometimes be a grey area. I think if you were baptised, you wouldn’t want to take a job where you’d have to give people blood transfusions if that makes sense. But then again, where does the line get drawn? Does that mean JWs shouldn’t work in healthcare if they have to do something like a blood test (as they’ve removed blood from the body and it’s no longer pure). I really think a lot of it has to do with your personal choice

Ahh thanks - I can't remember why we were talking about it (I was very young) but it stuck in my head - why didn’t God just create the world as he wanted it rather than these extra steps with the giant lizards. I guess I was never going to get an answer that made much sense! 😂

Ooo good questions! This is all outing but oh well, it is AMA after all.

When I was 17 or 18, I dropped out of sixth form (for the second time). Didn’t complete my A Levels and became a supervisor within a large retail company. I was good at my job and progressed to assistant manager within a different company. When working 40-45 hour weeks, the last thing I wanted to do was prepare for meeting (meeting is basically church).

I didn’t want to do meeting prep. I didn’t want to go to meeting twice a week. I didn’t want to do my Bible Study and I certainly didn’t want to go on the ministry. Once I realised that, I thought ‘well why get baptised? I don’t want to be half in, half out.’ So I chose to be out. I was also scared that if I got baptised and did something like have sex outside of marriage (that was likely as I wasn’t a virgin), I didn’t want to get disfellowshipped and lose all my friends/family members. I thought it’s better to be out of the religion and still have all those people in my life. I didn’t want to risk it.

There was quite a few things that I didn’t agree with tbh. I don’t like the whole disfellowshipped thing (when someone does something wrong, leaves the organisation and no one speaks to them), I thought it was wrong. My mum was disfellowshipped for a bit and my grandma wouldn’t talk to her. I hated that and never wanted my grandma to not speak to me if that ever happened.

As you can see by some of my responses, the whole blood transfusion isn’t clear enough for me. Some take the Bible scriptures literally and will not have blood at all, even if it was their own blood. Some will have their own blood cleaned and put back inside them but wouldn’t take blood from someone else. There’s too many inconsistencies for me to 100% get on board with it.

A few little things like how you have to dress (women wearing skirts/dresses however it’s now changed and women can wear ‘smart’ trousers). I didn’t like the whole ‘a man is the head of the household’ stuff. I can probably go on and on really!

My family weren’t phased at all. In my family there’s a mix of some baptised, some not and some disfellowshipped so no one really expected anything from me. It’s not like that for everyone though as I know my friend’s parents were quite disappointed that she didn’t want to get baptised. They did pressure her but eventually gave up. I don’t agree with that as it should be our choice as individuals. Why get baptised for someone else? Makes no sense to me.

I only have one sibling and she’s currently in the ‘studying’ stage like I was. She’s been studying for years and wants to get baptised however she doesn’t want to rush it as she knows it’s a big decision. If you asked her what religion she was, she’d definitely say she’s a JW

Okay, OP may well be an ex JW so to speak. But she is still very much in a JW cult mindset.
She is giving pro JW answers. Nothing wrong with that.
I am an ex baptised JW. Apostate. It is a cult. I will give you quite different answers to the OP.
So it's swings and roundabouts with this.
Depends on who you ask and how the JW left the cult

Also depends when you grew up and left.
Their policies have changed and relaxed a lot since I left

I think it is generally regarded as a cult, because although it doesn't have one self-appointed leader, it does have authoritarian leaders who are to be obeyed without question. It also allows the practice of shunning those who leave the cult. This would be enough to make many people very uneasy about the JW organisation.

I’ve never actually heard of that before. JWs definitely don’t get instructed to disrupt businesses, that I know. Was it something you personally experienced or something you were told about? I’m quite interested now

I noticed that too and agree with you.

It was the shop of a friend of a friend I was visiting. Good to hear it's at least not a commonly known tactic, thanks.

It can take many years after leaving for the lightening bolt to hit you.
I think it was 10 years for me. I still kinda believed bits or wasn't really angry about it. But when it hit, I felt anger and bitterness for a few years.
I'm through it now thankfully

Most raised in 'the truth' would have been baptised by 15/16 at the latest

In your experience. Everyone has their own experiences and that was never mine. Most people around me were baptised in their late teens or early 20s. A lot of people seemed to be getting baptised later in life as they were figuring out whether they 100% wanted to go through with it. That was my outlook on things anyway.

You do realise the way any congregation would view you?

Any congregation would view me as someone who grew up surrounded by the religion but never got baptised. You doing an AMA as a teacher because you went to school isn’t the same thing. I’m not being funny but do people know what it means to be raised as something? My mum is baptised, she raised me so that being a JW was my faith, she raised me in hope that I’d probably get baptised. My life was surrounded by JWs. Just because I never got baptised doesn’t mean I can’t answer questions on MY own personal experience.

Many people have asked questions about the religion specifically. Do you think just anyone would be able to answer those questions?

I’ve never heard that before🤣 sorry I couldn’t answer this one!

Haha thanks for the support.

When I was in primary school, there was a parent who’d make sure her child would give me a ‘thank you’ card during Christmas time. As they got all the children and teachers Christmas cards, she didn’t want me to be left out.

The card would say something like, ‘thank you for playing with me at lunchtime’ or something silly like that. It was such a nice thing to do and I used to go home feeling happy that I also had a card in my bookbag😂

That little boy will remember you and your DDs kindness!

Your knowledge of your religion is really special. Thank you for sharing. I’m sorry people are being a bit mean about it.

I can 100% see why new mums would want to take blood and not have it known to family members. As for family members coming along to make sure no blood is taken, that’s just so wrong imo.

It should be up to the individual what they want to do seeing as it’s there life at all. If my grandma was at death’s door but a blood transfusion would save her, she’d want to die. However, if I wanted a blood transfusion, she wouldn’t hold that over my head. It’s my decision and my family members would respect it.

I definitely feel for those that want to take blood but won’t/don’t due to the pressure. It’s not good at all

OP can I ask roughly your age pls?
You sound a lot younger than I. I only mean a more recent JW
I come from the more hard liners with elders from the 60s and 70s putting the fear of Jehovah in us youngsters. Rules were very strict then.
I hear now men can wear beards and white socks and women can wear trousers

Nailed it! 🤣

My window cleaner's a JW, and although I've spoken to him very little, I know he's homophobic! Is that something that comes from his religion? He mentioned something in passing when he was telling me about his beliefs that made me think it was.

They've always until very recently had to count their time door knocking and submit this to head office.
If you don't do enough time you get a shepherding call from the elders.

Some are called pioneers where they commit to doing between 60 to 90 hrs a month. They walk very slowly between houses to get their time in. They call this 'the pioneer shuffle'

Homosexuality is seen as a sin due to what’s said in the Bible. My cousin and I actually had a really big falling out some years ago as she’s gay and wanted me to be a bridesmaid at her wedding. I said I wouldn’t go to her wedding because of my beliefs. Luckily, she didn’t end up getting married because her fiancée was awful as fuck.

I look back at that and just think wow, how awful of me. My cousin is now in a serious relationship and I’d 100% play any part in her wedding because I love her and I really don’t care about how some religion views gay people.

In terms of gender reassignment, that is a really good question. When I was maybe 11/12, there was a man in the congregation who was called John (not real name). He transitioned and started to say he was a woman. I’m not too sure about the scriptural evidence but I remember it wasn’t accepted and he was disfellowshipped. He actually came back to the religion but he had to go back to being a man to do so. I was so confused😅

I genuinely cannot see gender reassignment ever being accepted. However, you’ve made me think that if a transgender woman/man wanted a Bible study, they wouldn’t be denied one because they’re trans. However, I really don’t know what would happen if they wanted to get baptised. You can’t force someone to transition back to their original sex so I have no clue what would happen if I’m honest.

Yeah, you’re right. So no Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, NY celebration and whatever the heck else you can think of! The only thing that’s done each year is a memorial of Jesus Christ’s death. It isn’t like a party or even a celebration really. It’s just a yearly gathering where people go to their local congregation for a special talk which focuses on Jesus Christ

Yes it is.
Window Cleaning is also the official occupation for the men.
Education is frowned upon because they should be concentrating in spreading the good news of the kingdom

Sorry OP. I will shut up now

That makes sense as they do seem to walk slowly and leisurely up the street in groups, to pass the time evidently 😳

This is just another reason why my opinions on blood transfusions vary so much!

That most likely is the done thing with a lot of people. Who really wants their child to die? I mean come on? Even if you believe you’ll see your child again, who knows how many years that will be. I’ve not heard of it before but it makes sense.

You say, ‘no my child can’t have a blood transfusion,’ to make sure that you’re following the rules of the religion. The hospital goes to court and gets a court order in order to give your child a blood transfusion. Your child lives. All is well. No one’s died and in the eyes of the religion, they did all the could and didn’t break the rules. It’s crazy really😅

That's really interesting, I had no idea that window cleaning was a 'thing' for JWs.

Also interesting is that my mum taught him! She said he was a really bright lad, but didn't want to go to college or stay in education.