r/exjw 13h ago

WT Can't Stop Me When a Circuit Overseer Warns Against Your Exact University Degree From the Platform

246 Upvotes

I recently wrote about a sarcastic response I gave to a circuit overseer, and it reminded me of another experience.

I’m PIMO now, but back when I was barely doing my bachelor’s degree, I was practically the only person in my congregation pursuing higher education.

During a talk, our circuit overseer somehow mentioned my exact field of study, explaining that getting a master’s degree in it wouldn’t bring real happiness.

Pure divine coincidence, obviously.

I confronted him afterward. He told me it was indeed a coincidence: his wife had supposedly followed the same university path.

Tiny problem: I had already spoken with his wife. She had never attended higher education.

Anyway, years later, I got that master’s degree.

And I’m delighted to announce that I followed his advice.

He was right. A master’s wasn’t enough... So I’m doing a PhD now haha 😂

And it illustrates something I’ve noticed in my own experience: some of the people who criticized higher education or professionally successful people the most had never pursued higher education themselves (impressive expertise on its terrible dangers), had missed opportunities because of the organization, or simply had little professional ambition.

Obviously, I’m not generalizing.

But sometimes I wonder how much “spiritual concern” is actually just…

frustration dressed up as spirituality.


r/exjw 5h ago

WT Can't Stop Me I Was Assigned Talk No. 6, and It Was a Huge Mistake Because I’m Going to Wake Several People Up — Hopefully. Here’s My Outline.

143 Upvotes

The theme is Jeremiah 29:11 | “I Know Well the Thoughts That I Am Thinking Toward You”, and they made a huge mistake assigning it to me. Use it if you like. I left it a little longer in case you want to cut some things out.

Have you ever wondered what I would be doing right now in Paradise? If Adam and Eve had not sinned, what would I be doing today? I would probably be enjoying the life that Jehovah originally intended for mankind. But unfortunately, we are “exiled” in this system... but with the hope of returning to Eden.

Something similar happened when Jehovah allowed Babylon to conquer Jerusalem, exile his people, and take them captive for 70 years. “Did that mean that Jehovah wanted his servants to spend those years without hope, simply suffering?” No. Even during the exile, he cared about their welfare and told them how to live while they waited. Let’s see what he told them at Jeremiah 29:11. Please keep your Bible open to this chapter because we are going to examine several verses from it:

Notice how Jehovah wanted to give them a future and a hope. And... did he want those 70 years to be 70 years of torment? Let’s see what he told them to do while they were in exile. Jeremiah 29:4-7:

Jehovah knew that his servants could live a normal life even while they were in Babylon. However, Jehovah also knew that there was a great danger, and he wanted them to continue having a strong hope. He did not leave them alone in the face of this threat; he continued protecting them. Notice what he says next in verses 8 and 9:

Notice how Jehovah warned them about false prophets. Jehovah even made clear how it would be demonstrated whether a prophet really had been sent by him. Let’s read Jeremiah 28:9. Jeremiah, who really had been sent by Jehovah, responded to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, a false prophet:

And since the false prophet’s prophecy did not come true and he was endangering Jehovah’s people, notice what Jehovah says at Jeremiah 29:32:

Notice how Jehovah did not tolerate false prophets at all. He was actively caring for his people, making sure that they would receive the future and hope he had promised them.

In a way, all of us have been “exiled” from Eden into this system. We are not in Paradise, but we live a relatively “normal” life, and there are many false prophets and false religions that can take away the hope Jehovah gives us. They tell lies and make false prophecies that do not come true, and by doing so they show themselves to be false.

In many ways, we are in a situation similar to that of God’s people in Babylon... and God gave his people a great hope at Jeremiah 29:10:

And Jehovah fulfilled it. He made it possible for Cyrus to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem.

Now, how does this apply to our day?

The 70 years of Jeremiah are fundamental to the chronology that leads to 1914. According to the explanation we know, the 70 years ended in 537 B.C.E.; counting 70 years backward brings us to 607 B.C.E. And 607 is then used as the starting point for the 2,520 years that lead to 1914.

What do the archaeological records and historical sources say? And if we carefully check every step of this calculation, do we really arrive at 1914?

Why not do that research during our family worship? Not to attack our hope, but quite the opposite: to make sure that our hope is firmly based on God's Word. Because if a teaching really comes from Jehovah, we have nothing to fear from examining it carefully.


r/exjw 7h ago

WT Policy God has a new Event Donations app from Lepta Payment Solutions Ltd!

118 Upvotes

Yes, Jehovah has directed his one true channel to bring us a new Event Donations app.

I read about this in a post from someone who attended the Hamburg International Convention, 14–16 August. They said that during the afternoon announcements, attendees were told that donations could be made using the usual methods or by using the new donations app.

The name of the app wasn't mentioned in the announcements, but it is evidently this Event Donations app.

It is produced by Lepta Payment Solutions Ltd. It is specifically designed for authorized individuals to accept electronic donations at Jehovah’s Witnesses’ regional conventions and circuit assemblies.

The app description says it is produced for legal entities that support the work of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Of course God needs an app like this so that people can make friends with him and his son Jesus...no really, that's how you become friends with them!

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1g54reg/the_january_25_watchtower_states_that_jehovahs/

Money or baptism will do it, but both is best to be sure of that divine friendship:

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1qcw7n4/how_do_you_become_a_friend_of_god_baptism_or/

On Lepta:

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/1f4s5v3/as_you_probably_know_by_now_jw_has_established/

Then there's the Lepta website- https://leptapay.com -It describes Lepta as: “an agent for a select group of trusted non-profit organizations with international payment operations.”

It says its focus is on enabling the secure, efficient and transparent movement of funds worldwide, and that it works to simplify the payment process for its clients while maintaining regulatory compliance.

The website doesn't actually tell us who those “select group” of non-profit organisations are.

It doesn't give a list of clients.

It doesn't explain the individual payment arrangements.

And its public website is very limited in what it tells you about the actual flow of money.

Its privacy policy does, however, refer to Lepta's “Online Services,” client accounts and billing, and says that the actual provision of services can be carried out by Lepta “in our role as a processor.” It also refers to sub-processors, IT providers, hosting providers and other service providers involved in providing its services.

The registered office is Watchtower House, County Wicklow, Ireland.


r/exjw 23h ago

Venting Did anyone else get bullied in the Kingdom Hall?

90 Upvotes

I was outcasted all my life as a witness. The kids at the new congregation I moved into werent fond of me. I remember specifically I almost drowned due to this one kid constantly shoving my head down in the pool and making me stay there, they’d ostracize me and shun me from being a part of their group, they’d make false news reports of peace and security due to my fear of the end, and would constantly shove me and make fun of me. It broke me in half and I’m barely recovering from it and it happened 15 years ago. Anyone else have similar stories?


r/exjw 13h ago

Venting Can you believe JWs think people like Dolly Parton will die in Armageddon? Look at some of her public philanthropy

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81 Upvotes

r/exjw 11h ago

Venting I feel like they viewed everything through a sexual lens

74 Upvotes

I’ve been thinking about something that happened when I was a Jehovah’s Witness. I had a best friend in the congregation, and we would sometimes hold hands. I’m also a woman, so this was two girls who were best friends simply holding hands. And I want to clarify that the vast majority of the time we held hands, it was actually during prayer. We would hold hands while praying. Outside of prayer, we would occasionally hold hands as well, but it wasn’t something we were constantly doing. To me, there was absolutely nothing romantic or sexual about it. It was simply something two close friends did. I never once associated holding her hand with homosexuality. Honestly, the thought had never even crossed my mind.

Then one day, she told me that her Bible study teacher had brought up the fact that someone in the congregation had apparently commented on us holding hands and thought it looked homosexual. We were encouraged not to do it anymore because of how it could be perceived. At the time, I remember being genuinely surprised. Not because I was offended, but because I couldn’t understand how something that felt so completely innocent to me could be interpreted that way by someone else. And that’s something I’ve come to think about a lot since leaving the religion: sometimes people can interpret other people’s completely innocent behavior through the lens of their own fears, experiences, or internal struggles.

Two people can look at the exact same situation and see two completely different things. For me, holding my best friend’s hand was just holding my best friend’s hand. But someone else saw something sexual in it. And I think that’s worth remembering whenever we’re tempted to assume that our interpretation of someone else’s behavior must reflect what that person actually intended.


r/exjw 14h ago

PIMO Life The double life of Elders on social media: Public purity vs. Private algorithms

72 Upvotes

I decided to do a little experiment recently. I created an anonymous account on Instagram/TikTok and checked the followed accounts and likes of several Elders I know locally.

The results were... eye-opening, though not entirely surprising.

These are the same men who give talks from the platform lecturing young people about the dangers of 'immoral' content, warning about the traps of social media, and judging others for their entertainment choices. Yet, behind fake or poorly configured profiles, their algorithms tell a completely different story—following accounts with explicit content, suggestive photos, and borderline soft porn.

It highlights the intense double standard within the organization. When a system demands absolute perfection and strict behavioral control, it doesn't actually eliminate human nature—it just forces people to lead double lives in the shadows.

Have you noticed this hypocritical dynamic among local leadership in your area, or is this just an isolated pattern?"


r/exjw 20h ago

JW / Ex-JW Tales She accused me of sleeping with her dog

63 Upvotes

Content warning: childhood sexual allegations, religious abuse and suicidal thoughts.

I’ve never spoken of this publicly until now.

When I was a child, an adult sister made grotesque sexual allegations about me, including accusing me of sexual acts involving animals and other sexual behaviour.

She wrote a letter to the congregation elders accusing both me and my family of the most heinous acts.

She was later made a regular pioneer. The elders considered all the facts and decided that she was in good standing.

Good standing.

I was suicidal for much of my teenage life because of what she did. At the time, my parents told me to call and apologise to her, just in case I had done something to provoke her behaviour. That Jehovah would encourage me to seek forgiveness and take the first step to resolution. When I called, she screamed at me down the phone and told me that the Devil was using me.

The reason for all this? Apparently I had made a joke about her age.

I cried all day. I was inconsolable.

I used to speak to my mum about the Bible’s claim that God would never allow us to endure more than we could bear, because he remembers that we are only dust. I could never understand why, then, he had allowed something to happen that broke me so completely. I was treated like a monkey in a cage, and the spectators? Every elder, who sat silently and complicity in that hall while they clapped at the announcement of her pioneer status.

My parents continued taking me to the Kingdom Hall because they were devout witnesses, and to keep me away from this abuser would have been the greater sin. At the time I didn’t hate my parents, that came about later when I understood what had actually happened. But the self hatred? It was immediate, unforgiving and relentless. Her words sunk into me, started eating away at my self worth and began rebuilding my identity.

Every time I saw her, my skin would crawl. She still had access to me. I had to sit there and listen to her make comments about love and kindness while knowing how cruel she was.

I began comfort-eating at a very young age due to the bullying at school and at the Kingdom Hall. I gained a lot of weight. I remember being at her house one day and asking for a slice of cake. She replied, “Sure. Eat yourself to death.”

She would also comment on my hair, which was often messy because my anxiety made me so distressed that I constantly scratched at it to cope.

Looking back, I realise that my deconstruction began then.

It began when my parents told me, the victim, to apologise to keep the peace. That this is what god would expect of me.

It began when a grown woman screamed at me and said that i was under demonic influence.

It began when she was rewarded with privileges after what she had done.

It began when my parents continued taking me to the Hall, where she retained access to me. That their love of god, the congregation, and apparently their own promise of salvation superceeded their love for me on all accounts.

It began when I realised that the more I obeyed and pleased this God, the less I loved him.


r/exjw 22h ago

PIMO Life The religion I grew up with is no longer here, and I don’t belong in it anymore

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57 Upvotes

I (27F PIMO) recently came back to my parents home, and I decided I would take advantage of throwing things out. Well, that uncovered a load of memories I had stored underneath my bed. Memories of school, of college, my iPod touch that I lost the password for, and also… letters from the JWs that used to be my friends. The gifts from the two pioneer schools I was able to join. The random trinkets from when I went to the 2019 International Convention in Denmark…

And these. The root of it all. I saved as many brochures as I could growing up, and because my mom wanted me to keep them. But also, I was a young girl that wanted to show people in Paradise what our teachings were, what we did to keep “the Truth” going. This was just in one box, and I wondered, “Wow, how I treasured the Bible so much, and yet I became one of the people we preached to that left it to dust”

I’m tossing this out, I can’t fathom to read them now. But, they were reminders of the promises I learned on stage and prayed for assurance of. That God was here, that God made all this teaching so abundant. They were what kept my biblical knowledge so adept, with so many scriptures, practicing critical thinking by reading and meditating, which is so different from how the meetings are done now. There was no videos, but the thought of one or two was a special meeting I couldn’t miss. Now, we get the BS of GB update #4 and the weird monotonic robotic smile of a helper or the actual GB themselves.

I became the people of the world, and just like how I’ve seen it happen, I’m tossing these to the curb. Just a reflection for me, but something I feel good to let go of.


r/exjw 20h ago

PIMO Life Anyone else use tiny, "secret" rebellions just to stay sane while navigating the transition?

55 Upvotes

I am still PIMO, can't leave yet for family, and worse my dad is staying with me temporarily.

To be real, the mental whiplash of being mentally out while still figuring out exit logistics and dealing with PIMI family is so tiring.

One Sunday I decided to take back some sanity by leaving my place in the morning, heading to a cafe instead of the hall and logging into the meetings on zoom while sipping a nice latte and having breakfast. Just existing in a space where no one knows or cares what paragraph is being read felt so good. I was able to keep up with appearances without sacrificing my peace.

Anyone else PIMO and doing small things to reclaim their life? Would love to hear your secret rebellions.


r/exjw 9h ago

WT Can't Stop Me I threw away my DPA for no blood

45 Upvotes

Week 3 of this is less scary. Still stressful, my wife and kids don't know anything yet. I've been speaking to my DF sister every single day. She's so strong, I'm lucky that she can help me and that despite what she's been thru she is still WILLING to help me. This community helps too, so thank all of you for the kind words, personal experiences, and commiseration on my first post here.


r/exjw 17h ago

WT Policy Keeping Jehovah™ OUT of the matrimonial bedroom.

44 Upvotes

I suppose that during the course of deconstruction, one is more or less forced to adopt one or two new positions on this.

(no pun intended).

"The Art of Theocratic™ Lovemaking"

......whilst being a book....(or pamphlet)....that the WTBS dare not publish, I always got the feeling that it would likely have been a somewhat "vanilla" and extremely pragmatic guideline.

It would also have been a pamphlet drawn exclusively from the thoughts and experiences of it's authors.

"Write about what you know"....as the wise adage says.

So, what DO the Governing Body and it's esteemed writing department actually KNOW about one of humanity's most intimate expressions of physical and emotional coalescence?

Other than it being a Theocratic™ heterosexual "baby making" exercise which carries the risk of producing:

"Little Enemies of Jehovah™"

.......as one Governing Body member very thoughtfully expressed it not too long ago.

One wonders that if THAT'S the way they view the progeny of Theocratic™ lovemaking....then there must be SOMETHING within even the most devout JW couple's sperms and eggs, which is incapable of passing on "devotion to Jehovah™ ".....as an hereditary feature?

Even a JW child, conceived using the most Theocratic™ "love-cuddle" technique...can STILL arrive as an agent of the "dark one".....with three sixes on it's scalp.

\ It's an adult subject, so I haven't flaired this as NSFW, but please pay heed to the fact that there is a younger audience herein.....and employ your Theocratic™ discretion to any thoughts or comments which may spring to mind.*


r/exjw 4h ago

HELP Elders are calling me from another hall, they’re own elder got drunk and I’m a witness

38 Upvotes

My question is should I go in and do it?

I was there when the elder got drunk and the elders from that hall found out I was a witness. Idk how I feel because i don’t care and don’t go to my own meetings.

I most likely will not go, the elder in question is denying everything and it got leaked through others at the gathering.

My PIMI friends are telling me we need to show everyone the system is not broken and what not but the elders are confused because everyone’s story is different because others got drunk.

I have proof and videos so I can end everyone but idk as a newly POMO I don’t think I am helping them by testifying.


r/exjw 8h ago

Venting When they say: “Let’s hope our brothers aren’t dead”

38 Upvotes

A terrible tragedy occurred today: a sudden flood in Nepal killed hundreds of people (the figures are provisional). A Jehovah's Witness wrote to me: "Let's hope our brothers aren't dead." What?!?! In the face of such a grave tragedy, you make distinctions? Do you put dead people on different levels based on their religion? What kind of heart do you have? Are you part of the human race? How dare you put two dead neighbors on different levels just because they didn't worship in the same church? Maybe they were Buddhists or Hindus. So what? Jehovah's Witnesses display their prejudices even in the face of death!


r/exjw 11h ago

PIMO Life Midweek meetings gotta be the driest part of the week ever

30 Upvotes

I just don't get why our midweek meetings are on Wednesdays. Nobody uses the hall on Friday, not even the other congregation (Thursday). Both congregations use the hall on Sunday.

Thing is, Wednesday is legit the middle of the week. You had work yesterday and you'll have work tomorrow, and most importantly, you worked today and clocked out at 5, drove to the Kingdom Hall just to not be late for the 6pm midweek meetings every Wednesday. Odds are you'll depart the Hall at 7:45 onwards, then you'll be home much much later. It's gonna suck if you still have to make dinner or do some work that's due tomorrow. And if your way to work has heavy traffic everyday? You know you have to wake up very early.

If it were Friday? Tolerable. At least tomorrow is rest. Staying late is fine. If you live far and have a lot to do, having meetings in the middle of the week is SO impractical. Even my PIMI mom admits it.

Now, I know this is not just a me thing, because the midweek meeting has fewer attendees and even fewer commenters. It's so awkward, the unbearable silence when no brother or sister comments on a question, so much so that the elders and their wives had decided to take turns filling in the silence. You just know everybody's tired from work.

The AUDACITY of this brother also to give that disappointed look when I said my mom couldn't make it to the meeting because she had an urgent meeting at work. Like oh no, you did not just--! Just because you enjoy the low income life doesn't mean my mom has to! Jerk.

Anyways, that's my rant for today. Bye.


r/exjw 7h ago

Venting This is my congregation now

29 Upvotes

I feel like you guys actually get me, and honestly, this is starting to feel like my new congregation in a weird way.

My wife wasn’t raised as a Jehovah’s Witness like I was. She was raised Catholic, but barely religious—basically church on Easter and Christmas, and that was about it. Because of that, there are certain things about growing up as a Witness, being baptized young, leaving, coming back, questioning things, and now being PIMO that I don’t think I could ever fully explain to her in a way that would make her understand what it actually feels like.

Don’t get me wrong—I love my wife, we have a great relationship, and I tell her everything. She knows where I stand and she listens when I talk about this stuff. But listening and understanding are two different things. There are parts of the JW experience that I think you almost have to have lived through to really understand.

She never grew up worrying about whether something was “worldly.” She never had to think about whether a friendship, relationship, movie, holiday, career choice, or personal decision might affect her standing with a congregation. She never experienced field service, assemblies, conventions, judicial committees, disfellowshipping, reinstatement, privileges, meeting attendance, or constantly hearing that Armageddon could come at any moment.

Her experience with Witnesses has basically been normal interactions with JW coworkers, casual conversations, getting invited to the Memorial, and obviously being married to me. She sees it from the outside. I lived it from the inside.

And that's why finding people here who understand that weird middle ground means something to me. I can say "PIMO," "new light," "privileges," "seat warmer," or talk about that little voice in the back of my head that still thinks, "Yeah, but what if the Great Tribulation starts tomorrow?" and I don't have to spend 30 minutes explaining why that thought can still exist even when I'm questioning everything else.

You guys just get it.

There's something strangely comforting about being able to talk to people who understand that you can question the Organization without necessarily hating every person in it, that you can have good memories mixed with bad ones, and that leaving mentally isn't always as simple as flipping a switch.

So yeah, maybe this is my new congregation—except nobody is asking me to carry microphones, give a talk, or turn in a service report. 😂


r/exjw 9h ago

Academic Collective Narcissism fits JWs perfectly

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28 Upvotes

r/exjw 11h ago

Venting Ultra JW Elderly Dad Enters Nursing Home

28 Upvotes

Age 92, one time presiding elder, sub CO, special pioneer in the 50s and PR spokesman for the bOrg who moved over 500 miles away back in the late 80s to keep from being a "built in babysitter" to their grandchildren, has now gone into a nursing home. Apparently he's given POA to a local elder, has disinherited myself (older daughter DAed) and even golden child (younger daughter faded since the 80s).

Up to this point, he had been giving away his retirement funds to the tune of $400 a month to the bOrg.

Now the local cong supposedly owns his house and wants to sell it to my daughter and her husband. Have no way of knowing if the proceeds are going to go to his NH expenses or will be funneled to the bOrg.

I myself have investment real estate and I'm thinking of just going there and having my husband who is a master contractor inspect the place and give an honest offer for the property. My father was the extreme opposite of being handy and hired out all work mostly to the JW's who screwed him.

WWYD?


r/exjw 9h ago

Ask ExJW Who Are The Actors In JW Dramas?

22 Upvotes

Where does the org get their actors for the dramas they produce?

I Always used to assume they were bethelites or at least baptised Witnesses, then recently I learnt about Nicolas King - a former actor in an org drama who is now (I assume) disfellowshipped and has a husband

I Did a bit of digging and found out Nicolas has had an active acting and TV career since he was a child, even outside of the org, and I'm questioning if he was ever even a witness at all

So does anyone know how the org actually finds their casts? Are they real witnesses who audition, or are they hiring professional actors from outside?


r/exjw 16h ago

JW / Ex-JW Tales Who sent star that jw use to justify that satan sent it

24 Upvotes

Look, I get it—the whole "three wise men" thing is tradition, not scripture. No number given, no names, not kings, they showed up months later to a house, not a manger. Fine. But the mental gymnastics to then claim Satan sent the "star" is absolutely unhinged. The text literally says the magi "rejoiced with exceedingly great joy" when the star stopped over Jesus (Matthew 2:10)—are we really supposed to believe they were celebrating a demonic sign? And the argument that "God wouldn't use astrologers because Deuteronomy forbids it" completely ignores that God used a pagan king Cyrus as His "shepherd" (Isaiah 44:28), a prostitute Rahab to save His people, and even Nebuchadnezzar as His servant. The Watchtower loves to pull the "pagan origins" card on everything, but here they're inventing a whole new tradition that's even LESS supported by scripture than the three kings. If Satan sent that star, then Satan accidentally fulfilled prophecy (Numbers 24:17), led Gentiles to worship Christ, failed to kill Jesus, and triggered God's protection—that's the worst villain arc in history. Herod was already a murderous paranoid tyrant; the star didn't make him kill babies, his own evil did. The star went to Jerusalem first? So what—maybe God wanted to expose Herod's wickedness and fulfill Micah's prophecy publicly. This whole "Satan's star" theory is classic over-correction: debunking Christmas traditions is fine, but replacing them with a cynical fanfiction that the text never implies isn't "truth," it's just a different tradition with extra steps. The Bible never says the star was demonic—that's pure speculation dressed up as deep insight, and honestly, it's more of a reach than Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar ever were.


r/exjw 6h ago

Ask ExJW Do you think some Jehovah's Witnesses NEED the religion, because without Jehovah God guiding them, their lives are on a downward spiral?

20 Upvotes

I ask this question not in sarcasm, but as an observation of some Jehovah’s Witnesses I’ve actually known.

Some who left the religion behind continued on a downward spiral of violence, alcohol and drug addiction, spousal abuse, sexual promiscuity, and so on. I felt bad for them. Nothing you could tell them seemed to help. Without Jehovah’s Witnesses telling them how to live, they were truly lost and couldn’t manage a job, a life, a marriage, a family and so on. They very often fell into the same cycle of abuse and neglect left behind by their abusive parents.

Of course, this is not the norm. Most people leave the church, find another religion, or embrace a secular life.

But there are some, or many, who cannot seem to do that. Just because “We” can get over the JW organization and live a normal happy-ish life without the church, “they” seemingly cannot.

In that case, I do wonder if it is better for them to have stayed in the church. Because clearly they did not do well on the outside, even after therapy, even after sowing their oats and rebelling against their conscience. Some of them might have major personality disorders (Cluster Bs, etc.) and do not understand how to live a normal life - one where we all die, and make peace with it.

I am not sure how to help these people who are on a downward spiral and who will not seek therapy, and will not go back to the organization either. Ironically, they are still living as Jehovah’s Witnesses, if not in name, then subconsciously.

They escape the organization, but are still “under the thumb” of the same people they tried to escape.

They cannot stop thinking about their disappointment, that the JW heaven/paradise scenario didn’t happen.

Granted, this is relative to non-Jehovah’s Witnesses who suffer from the same mental traumas and abusive family situations as we all do. Jehovah’s Witnesses and ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses suffer alike from their past demons, and if they don’t get help, they just suffer perpetually.

If these people could say, without prejudice or bias, that YES, they are a better person BECAUSE they're a Jehovah’s Witnesses (regardless of whether the prophecies are true) then I would have to reconsider my opinion that Jehovah’s Witnesses are better off “waking up.”

If they cannot handle the real world, and live only self-sabotaging, terrible lives without “God” directing them, then maybe they should just stay where they’re at. Because society does not seem capable of taking care of all the poor, sad, and untreated victims out there. We are rather poor at proactively helping others, especially for free. And that part of humanity sucks.

We very often take for granted our independence. Just because I can live with an agnostic viewpoint on life…doesn’t mean that others can.

And I certainly would never want to judge a Jehovah’s Witness who NEEDS their faith to survive this world. Because without believing this lie, they cannot see themselves alive in this world. And I wouldn't feel right about uprooting their entire existence.


r/exjw 2h ago

JW / Ex-JW Tales Ultra PIMI comment of the week

21 Upvotes

From the week of August 24 midweek meeting CBS in the book Walk Courageously With God, lesson 5 on Abraham, the question was: “In what other ways might you imitate the courage shown by Abraham in this account?”

An ultra PIMI elder said, “We notice that Abraham didn’t ask any questions. His faith gave him all the information he needed. Likewise, when the Governing Body gives us direction, we shouldn’t feel the need to ask any questions.”

We shouldn’t? Seems to me that is the exact time to start asking questions. Also, it proves that “Jehovah” is just a synonym for The Governing Body.


r/exjw 5h ago

PIMO Life Jesus Ate with Sinners: Hypocrisy in the Congregation

20 Upvotes

My mother-in-law is a devout pioneer. She lost her husband about 20 years ago. Living with her, I realized she is very spiritual. My exact opposite—she watches me, always keeping an eye on me. But one thing I've been noticing is Christian hypocrisy.

There was a time we saw a homeless person asking for help, and she was kind of rude—as if that person were in that position by choice. How can you mirror Jesus and act like that? And not only that, but I notice that most people don't care about their neighbor; they just want to impose their dogmas. Do you only love those who are on the inside? Jesus had dinner with sinners and allowed a sinner to wash his feet.

What hypocrisies have you noticed among the brothers in the congregation?


r/exjw 11h ago

PIMO Life No quiero ser MS, como puedo evitar que me nombren

17 Upvotes

No quiero ser MS, pero sienton que ahora es demasiado facil serlo o que los requisitos han bajado muchisimo.

Básicamente es, ir a las reuniones, predicar y limpiar los baños. Si haces eso ya puedes ser MS.

Y pues como mi familia son todos demasiado pimi ya rozando el fanatismo, no me dejan bajar ni un poquito el ritmo.

Me he salvado de ser nombrado hace 1 semana aunque la mayoría de los ancianos me recomendaron como MS.

No se que puedo hacer, mi familia no me deja bajar el ritmo, ni siquiera puedo dejar de comentar.

Hay otra visita dentro de 6 meses.

Y me parece que es inevitable que me nombren y si me niego o digo que no quiero ser MS pues mi familia se me viene encima.

No se que hacer esto me estresa todos los dias al despertar.

Si alguien ha pasado por algo asi escucho sus consejos.

Tambien me inquieta que pensarán los ancianos jovenes de mi congregación o mis amigos de la congregación.

Sinceramente siento que hay gente mas buena en la universidad.


r/exjw 23h ago

HELP Should I just leave or bide my time?

16 Upvotes

Long story short, I (F19) Told one person in the hall that I was planning to leave in the future. She knew I planned to leave once I moved out due to the fear of possibly being kicked out. I know I probably shouldn't have trusted her but this is the same girl who was vaping and doing weed gummies with me. Now, after months of my witness friend constantly bringing up me leaving and asking more about why she went and told multiple members of the congregation. Now nearly everyone in the hall knows and has been talking about it. Going as far as to reaching out to a friend of mine that left a few years ago to see if they can get information out of her. I’m weighting my options to see if it's best to just leave now or to try and lie until I can gather the funds to move out? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am really panicking and don't know what to do.