I went through a nasty divorce a few years ago as well. I was disfellowshipped and everyone in the congregation tried to turn both of my kids against me. They were told not to associate with me because I was bad association and I did not have Jehovah's approval. I just loved them and always tried to stay positive, and in the end after the divorce they both wanted to come live with me. The friends in the congregation soured my kids on "the truth" because they were so one-sided and obviously biased against me. My advice to anyone going through this would be to just love your kids as much as possible. They only have one mom and one dad and you're it. If you love them and provide stability and sanity in their life that is what they need-not mind control. Good luck to anyone going through this. In the end it is worth it.
Awesome video bro. Keep up the great work. Thank you for the beautiful message that there are those of us out here that care & want to help those leaving. We don't want to see Watchtower cult claim another victim! hugs & love
Things get better brother! I am not the same person as I was a decade ago when I came out. Anger has bern turned to gratitude! Depression to joy! Hate to love! The more I give of myself and honest with who I am , the more life blesses me! Its a process, but a beneficial one and social media is a game changer- thousands of Ex-JWs willing to share their experience, strength, lessons and hope! Read research and find your pasdion and purpose! Ask and you shall receive!
Erik, You have my sincere sympathy for what you went through, sir. The WTBTS have produced a document that coaches JW parents to train their children to look and sound "normal" when in court. It recommends not talking about pioneering etc. do you have a copy of this for your video? I think it would be useful to others to know that this legal advice is out there. Thanks for all your work, sir. You are a good and honourable man, and you have my respect. Peace be with you, and may the Lord bless you, Excelsior!
Excelsior Excelsior Thank you for the kind words! Yes I have seen this document and I am sure that my ex used it. Her testimony on the stand was, ahem, "not completely accurate" over a dozen times in the transcript that I have counted thus far
Eric, thanks for your kind words and encouragement. As far as mentioning names goes, well my 'apostasy' is very publicly known now. But I'm very much OK with that. I was tired of hiding what I really felt from my family. I do choose to continue to hope that my mother and siblings will wake up to how the Watchtower is controlling them. In the meantime, I'm getting remarried and I have 2 kids of my own to worry about. My life will move forward in a positive way, free from the Watchtower's influence. Keep the videos coming. I know I for one appreciate the positive vibes.
"...rabidly devoted Jehovah's Witness" ... sounds as scary as it is because it describes the intensity of the brainwashing and mind control so many of us are recovering from. It's that rabid devotion that traumatized so many of us as children and the REASON I'm hoping with all I've got that you win your custody battle so that your kids are spared. All the best to you JWStruggle.
I would be interested in hearing any experiences from former male or female JW’s, who were shredded by the members of the congregation for fading or being D’fed for any reason prompting a divorce, but later found out that their former spouse woke up also. I was made aware of such a situation where the male woke up, prompting the wife to seek divorce and complete custody of the children. Five years later the wife wakes up. It would seem like this is a great move in recreating some harmony and peace in how the former spouses deal with each other and their children. Unfortunately it made it worse, as the wife blames her former husband for wreaking their lives. That makes no sense, the husband didn’t want the divorce and he seemed to be civil, never bad mouthing his wife or er family. He wasn’t D’ed for morality problems, however the wife was. The effect on their kids hasn’t been good
By still watching videos like yours there is some interest in jws thought and actions. Since being gone I have talked to one witness . By now he would be a elder. It would be interesting to gauge his reaction to seeing me . Back when I was drinking the koolaide he would say things like I should go to Alaska . That they were loose with the rules up there . Stuff like brothers would open carry pistols to meetings,and had beards up there. Knowing I wasn't that submissive to most of the b.s.. Looking back it would be a sure bet they were glad to be rid of me. Anyway, remember in the theocratic warfare it is ok to lie or whatever as long as it is for Jehovah .
Hey man, just a quick tip: instead of wrestling with .pdf editors, there are various free applications (Doxilion is one, but there are websites that do it without downloading anything) allowing you to convert .pdf files into .odt format. That way you can just load the resulting file into your OpenOffice word processor, quickly redact the names and locations with a few find&replace commands and then convert it back into .pdf Hope this can save you some time and hassle.
JWStruggle That largely depends on the converter you end up using, so you might have to try out a couple. Once in OpenOffice you'll be fine: I convert manuscripts into .pdf all the time with it and I've never seen it mess up the formatting, so rest assured on that front.
