I'm an ex Jehovah's Witness AMA

[StressyMessyJess]

Any questions Ill try to answer as honestly as possible 😊

Really only that I wish I had been given more opportunities for a career or education. JWs are very much of the mindset that this life is temporary and we don't need to make roots here.
I also wish I hadnt been made to feel guilty for wanting a boyfriend, explore sex, be an individual
.

The thing is if they have intelligence they aren’t allowed to have opinions on things that don’t toe the party line. I also have relatives, one of whom is an Elder. They have never worked. They lived in a Bethel ( like a home for missionaries) for years with the organisation paying all their bills. They now live in a flat paid for by the organisation and are pioneering ( full time preaching). They know no one not in the organisation. All their thinking and decision making is based on what the ‘organisation’ tells them to do . It’s just never questioned.

🙈 make your own thread love

what’s the JW view on mental health and counselling for young people who need emotional
support?

Ah that’s really interesting. I didn’t realise you could do a ‘slow fade’! Well done you.

I've read about the community shunning you or not sitting next to you during KH service. Is this true? How can you be forgiven or come back to the community if no one is talking to you.

Second, have you found that the sins people confess are brought up later on in an attempt to control or guilt trip that person?

I have an extended family member who has been taken under the wing of her local JW group. She has dropped me as a FB contact. I’m told her immediate family haven’t seen her in a while either.

whilst I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing she might be getting help and life instruction that her immediate family failed to provide, I’m concerned about the drop in communicating with bio family.

is this a JW thing?

im told she is joining in on the door knocking and wearing dresses (she never wore dresses before). Dreadlocks gone.. potentially a more conservative branch?

Is there a list of doors to avoid knocking on? Last time we had them knock, I asked that they didn't knock next door as my neighbour is elderly and has had falls. They politely agreed and just put a leaflet through the door instead. But I don't know what they would do next time.

Thanks for the thread.
Do people genuinely and wholeheartedly actually believe in God? Or, do they essentially just go along with it all so they can belong in the community and have that safety, family, friendships etc that it provides?

Do any of them consider that the past leaders may have been correct and the rapture has happened? Meaning the people that are still here are the unworthy and their damned descendants..?

There isnt any view on it. If young people need counselling/help they seek it, like any other person

The Elders in the congregation speak to those people and they can essentially ask to be reinstated.
Once reinstated your 'past sins' aren't talked about again

I'm sure there are some who do it for the community but I think the vast majority have a strong faith in God

I don't really know anything about this line of belief so I don't think its something that would be considered

That's a real shame she is dropping friends and family. I think that sounds more like a personal choice rather than something shes being asked to do.
Sorry to hear this

We had a young JW as a tenant in a flat a nice polite lad, we chucked him out for growing weed in the bathroom.

He begged us not to tell the church - we didn’t.

every time someone posts something negative about the organisation, you ask them to make their own thread, is there a reason for that?
you’re still very protective of an organisation that you have left, so do you still feel beholden to them in some way?

I have asked people to make their own threads when they are not asking questions but using my thread as an opportunity to vent.
Not beholden at all. I do not like the religion and would never go back to it. I just don't like misinformation

Thats hilarious 😅

Thing is, you have given false information. When asked how you felt about the 2 witness rule to child abuse, you said that was an urban myth.
That is incorrect information.
Its a fact and you can find it on their website jw.org

Uh huh. Thanks for your input again Horace

My pleasure

We must share the truth
You seem to be an apologist

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I agree with horrace. I have nothing to vent about and accept you’re probably saying what you think is true but it’s not.

Seeking help for mental health issues is also massively frowned on. A sign of spiritual weakness in gods happy people.

Entirely not true