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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 พ.ย. 2024
- The Jehovah’s Witnesses are an end of days Christian organisation who are known for knocking on doors and rejecting blood transfusions. However, they have also been subject to increasing scrutiny over their handling of child sex abuse cases within their congregations, and their treatment of victims. In this episode of Informer, we speak to a former Jehovah’s Witness elder who was abused as a child but didn’t report what had happened. As an adult, he felt a painful déjà vu when his own daughter told him she had also been abused.
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Watch Next: What the Oil Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know -th-cam.com/video/uDuqIROhwZ0/w-d-xo.html
The weird music ruins this clip it's hard enough for me to understand the man speaking but then the music makes me forget what he's just said 😅
Who resurrected Jesus according to the apostles, who resurrected Jesus according to Jehovah witness and who resurrected Jesus according to this civilization that dont even know who resurrected Jesus?
Acts 5:30 The God OF OUR FOREFATHERS raised up Jesus,
Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of OUR FOREFATHERS, has glorified his Son and Servant, Jesus
Exodus 6:3
King James Bible
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
It's an insidious religion.
Intending to entrap or beguile: an insidious plan.
stealthily treacherous, deceitful: an insidious enemy.
operating and proceeding in an inconspicuous and seemingly harmless way. The use of false information for the purpose of indoctrination. Pretending to be enlightening but actually with grave effect: an insidious religion.
This is insidious =
Intending to entrap or beguile: an insidious plan.
stealthily treacherous, deceitful: an insidious enemy.
operating and proceeding in an inconspicuous and seemingly harmless way. The use of false information for the purpose of indoctrination. Pretending to be enlightening but actually with grave effect: an insidious religion.
@@laurahinojosa2973 The Bible also confirms that it was Jesus that raised Jesus from the dead, which means that Jesus is also JEHOVAH. I guess your errant theology wont allow you to incorporate this Biblical truth into your thinking about Who Jesus really is. The Psalmist, King David, even knew Who Jesus was. By the Holy Spirit He wrote "Jehovah is my shepherd", and Jesus says of Himself, "I am the good Shepherd". The Bible shows undeniably that Jesus and Jehovah are One and the same God and Shepherd. I think it's high time you realize that you are in a worthless cult, the existence of which began only a relatively short while ago, and which relies on "traditions of men" to provide interpretations of Scripture, and not on the firm foundation established by Jesus Christ through His own Apostles.
Any organization that demands the shunning of loved ones cannot be any good.
They're hardcore, they put god above EVERYTHING! I do respect them for that though. Even though I'm nothing like that
@@808Mark Shunning your own children over something provably false and nonsensical isn't something to respect a group for. They are a harmful group that deserves condemnation.
@@808Mark *The Watchtower Organisation above everything.
@Mischief716 My dad lost his position as Elder last year because of allowing his tweaker grandson to stay with them. He's trying to get it back due to the nephew stealing from them and now my parents are shunning him.
A load of false and slanderous accusations.
I was a Jehovah Witness.... And I can confirm. I've gotten out of my deep depression when I got out. AMA
How did you become a Jehovah's Witness?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Go back
How long were you a part of them, and how did you finally manage to break free?
🤣
My father joined the JW's when I was 8. He forced me to participate, going door-to-door, preaching garbage I didn't believe in. At 12, he made me get baptized.
At 17, it dawned on me that I could escape the cult by deliberately getting myself disfellowshipped, so I did, and I moved out of his house on the same day and never looked back.
I'm very familiar with that punching the air "I'm FREE!" feeling.
It was quite a moment.
So wait, you're trying to say he forced you to partake in the long study you need prior to baptism, and you did that? Why? Also, if he literaly forced you to do any of it, he's the problem in that case, not the whole organisation.
@@grempelstubbs2842 I absolutely believe the commenter was coercively controlled. My own family beat, screamed at, starved and scared all three of us girls into professing that we believed the horse hockey that was constantly bombarded at us. I have no doubt similar methods could be used to coerce someone into studying the book and sitting with the elders for their examination.
You can't get baptized at 12 tell the truth.. Children don't witness
@@teresazigmont134 I guess things have changed at the WTB&TS.
Do you guys celebrate your birthdays, now?
@@teresazigmont134 pfffffftttt you can tell you weren't in it in the 80's. I was placing magazines when I was 7. There was a family in my sister's congregation whose son was baptized at 8 and by 11 he was giving demonstrations at circuit assemblies. His sister was 12 when she got baptized. Those two were held up of such shining examples to the kids in our congregation. If you weren't baptized by 14 or 15, they all started to counsel you and you were whispered about. Maybe it's not like that now but it sure was back then.
I was raised JW, I have so many stories, I thought it was bad enough and left on my own after my mother went basically insane because of the mistreatment towards her. I hate my mother because of what happened but I attribute a lot of the way she acted directly from the church. On a ride home I had to give her after not speaking to her for almost a year she opened up while drunk about all the stuff she had learned from people. She was always incredibly good at getting people to open up and God it was bad, basically everything you can imagine. No one went forward, and when anyone brought it up or left and became hard into drugs or whatever they blamed it on “Satans evil world” rather than the abuse they themselves perpetuated and covered up.
I really wish this organization could be stopped, they destroyed my life and tore apart my family
😂
😂😂😂
🎉
Same with me and the right-wing evangelical cult.
My parents are still witnesses, this year in their scheduled convention, the Headquarters is going to push hard on the shunning. I left 30 years and I will not go back.
This is NOT EVEN A FRACTION of how psychotic those “nice people” are. The abuse and manipulation is so unreal. The craziest part is that all of the members are literally brainwashed so it’s pretty spectacular to ever wake up AND escape. Congrats to your family sir!!
Exactly the uncle explaining didn’t cover well but I like how calm and level headed he is since jws like to point people like him as crazy apostate etc
It’s an extremely common misconception but the word you mean is psychopathic (lack of empathy) or just psycho (perjorative) - psychotic is a medical term that just means having hallucinations or being paranoid.
Exactly! The Jehovah's Witnesses cult is a thousand times worse than what was depicted here.
@@quadling3521 lol both ngl
@@quadling3521so psychotic was the right word to use them. It describes the jdubs well. They are constantly going on about Armageddon. They believe demons are attached to second hand items, yard sales=evil, as well as the government is out to get them.
The best thing me and my wife ever did was to get out of the cult so our children would be free. We have happy children today. And we all are free. 🎉
@@Ladybhive71what are you even saying
LMFAO BRO WTF
Exactly they’re a cult not a religion…..they just using the religion name to get taxes benefits
Cult , that’s what weak people say when they know nothing about the subject. Dream on .
@archerheightsgangsta3876 yea get back at me quick if you have to find out how
I was training to be a JW at one point, but when the person who was intoducing me told me about the shunning practice, it didn't sound very Christian to me, so I stopped going.
I hear you. My family left before we got too deep in. That's why I read my Bible and pray at home.
Well done. What do you subscribe to now. What do you believe
I was about to join,but every meeting was JEHOVAH won't do that, JEHOVAH would not do this....They put JEHOVAH in a box and take his power away from him.
@@mil-ns3rc
Ok. Well I’m glad you didn’t join. So where are you at with God now …what’s your persuasion/thought/intention
@@TonyDC10.3 I am at Matt 25 31-41, and never get enough teachings from my Christian family
That trauma reaction was him dissociating, and yeah… you get a lot of trauma from this cult. I grew up in it. Left when I was 17. A few years later, as my younger brothers got old enough, they left too. After a few years of us all trying to talk some sense into our mom, we finally got her out, too. My stepdad stayed in as an active member. She divorced him. He is still in the religion, even though he abused me for years, and all of the elders know it too. I repeatedly begged them for help, but they refused and said I’d better not say anything to my teachers, doctors, police, etc… because if he went to jail, I would be responsible for the reproach on Jehovah. It’s such a load of horseshit.
Whoa that’s an interesting situation, sorry you had to go through that with no help
The only horseshit here is that fairytale of yours
It's not only the Jehovah's Witnesses that are culpable here. Your mother is, too. Your stepfather was the one who abused you, and this was the man your mother chose to marry and stayed married to for years, who also defended him and stayed silent in the face of this abuse. It's good you got your mother to leave the cult. But you're not only a victim of them and your stepfather's abuse, but of your mother's neglect, too.
@@mtganfilm You’re trying to tell me something I am already well aware of. It is extremely difficult to get out when you’re in an abusive, controlling marriage and you have 5 kids and you live 1,000 miles away from any family who can help you. I understood that, even at a very young age. I saw what he did to her and my brothers. Ultimately, the elders were WELL AWARE of all of the abuses happening in our home. For years and years. They are mandatory reporters, yet they never lifted a single finger to help any of us. She has apologized to me for her culpability in the abuse, and I have forgiven her. Neither my former stepfather nor the elders EVER have. That’s the difference.
I never bothered to tell the Elders about my abuse because I knew I'd be the one who got in trouble and told to forgive and shut up. After about 15 years out, I did tell my dad who is an Elder and that's exactly what he told me, forgive and move on.
I’m disfellowshipped for about a decade I’m practically alone I lost my family and have suffered but I’ve found people along the way that became my family
I am same and here next to you.....
Thank God for your life
It is interesting that you never said that for which you were disfellowshipped and whether you were in the right or if you were wrong. Without giving details like that, you have tended to make others believe that you disfellowshipped for doing something right, thus, creating more hatred for those who are doing their best to serve Jehovah correctly.
@timothykporsu2472 It doesn't matter what the op was df for. The issue is that you can't differentiate between God and the governing body. You all worship the governing body by treating what they say as coming directly from God, which it doesn't.
Accept Christ my brother
If someone sexually abused my daughter they would never be able to do that again.
That person would not be alive.
AGREE AND THAT'S WHY THE JACKSONS HID WHAT JOE WAS DOING UNTIL LATOYA TOLD.
EVER ...
What if your brother did it?
@@c_b8s4 that would be hard, he died in Vietnam.
If someone abused my daughter, or granddaughters, they wouldn't make it to court.
If any group or religion pushes you to be divided from your friends or family, it’s a trap. They do that so you don’t have a support system, you can only depend on them for your survival.
Can capitalism be considered a religion?, we're dependent on the state for our needs
Even Christ himself said he was brought to separate families. Even his own family was separated. Not all believed he was the son of God.
@@hawkeye1996Eesa (you call him Jesus) peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, never said that. It is attributed to him falsely. Read the Holy Qur'an.
What do they get out of that?
@@ParvezAlam-pt5zuYeah but You're Profit Mohammed said jesus is Muslim 600 years later after jesus died
I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. At about 15 I said ENOUGH! and that was it. My own mother was supposed to shun me but she didn't. I'm 68 years old now and have absolutely zero trust or faith in ANY church or religion.
Catholics, Jews,, Pentecostals and Quakers all turned out to be the same hypocritical way.
It's not about church or religion, it's about Jesus Christ and having a personal relationship with Him
Come to JESUS…Let Him guide you where you belong
I read The Bible and pray by myself. No church.
Please just seek relationship with God and Jesus and be led by the Holy Spirt and Gods word in the Bible ❤
My grandmother was a JW and when my grandfather died, 2 elders came over and tried to get her to sign papers. They were trying to get her to sign all finances over to them. My uncle removed them from the house. When she died a month later, not a one person she went to church with for 20 years showed up.
At my grandfather's wake they pretty much preached to those who gathered, most of which were family from out of town and not a part of the congregation, that anyone who was not baptized in the religion would not rise again in paradise. There were a LOT of kids, and they looked terrified. I hated it. My grandfather never excluded anyone based on their faith, I feel like it dishonored his memory.
Bastards😂
That doesn’t sound right right
Lol not true
@@bossbaexena1515how are you gonna say that their grandmothers story isn’t true.
I was born and raised in the JW and studied for years.
As a child, I knew something was going on with these meetings(church), like immoral involvement. My mom couldn't say anything. The same with others. It was a hush.
Also, one of the elders was rough with my mom about rules. They lied to her about getting a husband while telling another brother not to marry her or that she wasn't ready. It was like a game.
My mom hopes to find a suitable husband in that church and happiness. She served Jehovah at every meeting-never missed. She believed everything. She has faith in God. She is a single mother who has raised me and my sibling-a hard worker person to afford a roof over us. Me, I hope too for her. She deserves better.
It's been 20 years since my mother has been serving God. No news. Nothing. But the witness treated her wrong. My mother grew depressed and losing faith.
Meanwhile, there was sexual immorality going on in the meeting. One of the people I know and some witnesses became disfellowshipped for unknown reasons. Others and I have to be silenced about this. I was not too fond of it at all. I always thought this church was supposed to be clean and safe, even a vital congregation. Then, one day. The elder came to me and asked me if I wanted to become JW. I declined and told them I wasn't ready for the right moment. Same way I told my mother. I did what I wanted. I like to hang out with my friends from school and play football. Goes to winter dance and prom. Do what I wanted. My mother accepts that. But the elder doesn't.
In 2015, my mother and I left. Most of the time, I felt hurt for my mom because she never received the love and happiness that she deserved. Depress hit harder on my mother.
I could never stop thinking about that or forget that. I blamed the elders of Witness for their actions, not Jehovah and his son Jesus. I prayed and told God I would choose another way, not because of God. It is because they destroyed my beliefs and my trust. It makes me doesn't believe in Witness anymore. I will never forgive them.
AS A J/W WHAT DO WITNESS ??? I CHATTED TO A PAIR OF J/WS THEY TOLD ME TO STOP TALKING TO THEM BECAUSE I PROVE JESUS WAS GOD BY USING JOHN 1;1 AND JOHN 1;14, AND JOHN 3;16 IS A BONUS
From the use of euphemism and verbiage it sounds like your still half in, not blaming, just saying, it's probably all you know... But good to hear you both escaped, as you make new friends in the outside world your perspective will slowly adjust... no question, it's a cult
The beautiful thing about the social media era is seeing lies and degeneracy exposed on a large scale. As a (more conventional) Christian myself, seeing all the cover ups of abuse has been heartbreaking, but necessary. So many people in positions of power are preying on their congregants.
Still a death cult, sorry.
I am curious and have a question for you:
How do you deal with your religion being true (with all it's tenents and claims) while there are so many subverted congregations?
From my understanding, if the congregations were 'true', it would disprove the claims of the religion about their god at least partly. If the congregations are 'false', it would still diminish these claims (as in, either god tolerated these exploitive people and is thus not 'pure good' and rather uncaring, or god did not intervene to safeguard his faithful against impersonators, which would throw shade at the claim of it being almighty and omniscient)
Or does this not matter, and you are simply putting trust in god, and it's ways?
Sorry if this comes off as rude, but my approach to my worldview is always to look at logic. So, seeing this contradiction, I have no clue how I would deal with it myself...
@@nordos Haha don't worry about coming off as rude, I appreciate the question.
I don't see any logical contradiction between the existence of evil in the Church leadership and the Church itself. The Bible actually warns about false teachers who appear as sheep but are actually ravenous wolves. And these wolves, it is said, will deceive many. This doesn't detract from God's goodness, as God has always been known to tolerate evil for the purpose of producing even greater goods (look at Joseph's story; what his brothers used for evil, God used for good).
You'd have to show a logical contradiction between
1. either the existence of evil, or God's tolerance of evil in the Church, and
2. God's Goodness.
I am unaware of anyone who has been able to show this, as if evil by third parties using their own free will is used to produce great goods, this, far from detracting from God's goodness, actually helps demonstrate it.
@@nordos Your biggest error is assuming there are many "subverted congregations" which is an outrageous lie!
@@nordosyeah, TH-cam comments is the best place to have this discussion
Was raised as a jw and baptised at 14. I left at 17… I’m now 20. I lost everyone I ever knew or grew up with. Had severe depression leaving. Very hard.
I was raised one too-I walked away over ten years ago but haven't done the old 'heave ho' to it and disassociated myself because my father and brother are still in.If I do,then they'll never talk to me again.We aren't close for obvious reasons.I'm 45 and it's my biggest secret,my best friend doesn't even know my past
Good thing everyone you knew was in a weird cult, so you’re free to make new normal friends, stay away from all religion
@@garthland I totally understand. I hope u are happy tho.
@@darrell5363 for real. It was honestly having online friends that told me I was in a cult. I also use to think, “why is Jehovah gonna destroy such good people or people who just live normal lives not causing anyone harm?” So glad I left..
Don't stress it, I lost a large part of my family and they never joined the organization, they just read the Bible 😂
As a former JW, I can tell that there are many good people still trapped in this cult. Thank God I have never suffered or heard about any case of sexual abuse, but I can't say the same about psychological manipulation and emotional abuse. If you stay in for too long, the sure consequence is pain and regret. I'm a member of a broken, resentful family and when I got out, I ended up hating God and myself. But His plans are perfect and He reached me. Now I understand His true principles, which has allowed me to build for myself a happy and loving family.
This is my exact same story with the seventh day Adventist church. So many restrictions and unnecessary judgments. I was abused and a lot
Of things happened to me in the name of religion. God found his way to me through smoking weed and depression. He ordained me leave the church and I felt much happier.
It's simple:
Beliefs are the opposite of knowing.
Stop believing and start knowing.
This guy and all people who speak out against Jehovah’s Witnesses are idiots. They are like Carl Marx. Carl Marx was an idiot who couldn’t budget $5 and blamed his financial woes on the wealthy and rich of his day instead of accepting his own faults. These people are foolish in the same way . Are Jehovah’s people imperfect? Yes. And I that elder was removed from his position permanently.
So like Marx, you have to accept that you refuse to live up to God’s standards. You don’t love God or care about objective theocratic truth. Also what all you clowns have in common is that your understanding of the Bible is at a very low level despite being a part of the only organization that teaches the Bible accurately. It’s all a you problem
SURE jan....
My sister is a JW. She's completely engulfed in it and sees nothing wrong. I'm fervently praying her and her family be broken from this demonic agenda against their lives.
Honestly every ex witness out there has got some wild stories to tell ,they will definitely shock you. Glad this guy got his chance to speak out
Jesus Encounter Ministries TH-cam channel**
This guy is not giving you accurate information. Yes, he has had a bad one, but his story is not accurate. Anyone who has been a serious member of the organisation can tell you where he tells the truth, and where he allows his personal experience to colour his story a little too much.
For example, he mentioned sexual abuse. But he also spoke about the two-witness rule.
If you have never been a witness, then all you know is what this man said about there needing to be two people who witnessed the sexual abuse before a case can be established.
But if you have been a witness before, then you will know that the two-witness rule refers to ANYONE or ANYTHING that proves a case.
In the case of sexual abuse, the first witness is the accuser or the alleged victim. The second witness is the perpetrator, should he come clean about the act. If that does not happen, the second witness would be any third party who witnessed what happened.
Unfortunately, in about 99 percent of cases, there are no other witnesses other than the perpetrator and victim. Knowing this, the elders would accept anything in the form of evidence that corroborates the account of the alleged victim.
It could be a video from a CCTV or audio of what happened if there is any, DNA evidence or some other forensic evidence proving the case of the accused.
Quite often, the elders are not able to get such evidence. It is the reason why it would be wise for the victim or their parents to go to the authorities to report such cases. The police will usually be able to get such evidence, and once they get the evidence, if they are able to, the elders can proceed further with the case and take congregation action against the perpetrator. And at the same time, the authorities can do their job and apprehend the criminal.
Any elder who prevents you from going to the authorities is doing something wrong. I know this because I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. No elder is supposed to do that.
I always say that it is not the organisation that is to blame for things like these, for only those who do not follow the teachings of the organisation do such heinous things, be they elders or your average publisher within the congregation.
It is necessary to realize that the majority of the 8 million Jehovah's Witnesses are actually good people. You must see that.
@@timothykporsu2472I've heard similar stories that cult makes it easy for predators.
@@timothykporsu2472Have you watched The Australia Royal Commission video on how religious organizations handle CSA? You really should watch it.
This cult is teaming with some real nasty SOBs!
I grew up as a JW my entire childhood up until I was 25 years old, before I realized it was causing me too much stress to justify as a lifestyle. Still to this day, I have moments of fear that I made a mistake and need to repent.
I wish I had left sooner. Something people never talk about though is that the draw to this one organization is how well groomed and organized it's members are. They are very hospitable and welcoming to new members for many years. It's not until your life, friends, family, are tied into the organization that you have trouble leaving.
My mother is still involved, and I encourage her to be. She has severe mental instability, and it's a full blown existential crisis to leave. So, I encourage her -- and do whatever I can to reduce the stress it causes her that I have left.
Thank you for sharing I have the same fear at times. My life is better when I left with my family.
It all purely boils down to how they've stripped a person back and built them back up needing the cult that controls them. Credit to your strength and I hope your Mother finds hers.
Dearest one, your mum needs deliverance and to get out of the cult. She needs Jesus not the fake Christianity. Will pray for her.
That's hot
I have a question : is that organization really about a kind of nuclear h¤l¤¢@µ§t warning to all, that they have already planned out or something?
To shun your own flesh & blood is unbelievable. The fact that a person would even ask that of you is evil in itself
Many Christians who practice shunning would claim to do so in accordance with the biblical teaching of disfellowship. This teaching can be found in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5′ 11, 2 Thessalonians 3:6'14-15, Romans 16:17, Matthew 18:15-17, and 2 John 1:7-11
I don't think you understand what you are talking about at all. Please read 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It is just 13 verses. Could you tell me, when you are done, what that scripture tells Christians to do?
That may help you see that disfellowshipping is not an arrangement by Jehovah's Witnesses, but an arrangement by the Christian body of the first century from which Christianity derives its principles.
And yeah, when a person is disfellowshipped, their family ties are not affected by the disfellowshipping. Their spiritual ties are what gets cut off.
The only time a family shuns a relative who is disfellowshipped is if the relative continues pursuing a lifestyle that is morally wrong, even after being disfellowshipped.
You are right. Shun and draw a line are two different things. Most faiths will result in some type of change in boundary with family. But demanding flatout shunning is maniacal and signifies a departure from faith into the occult.
Do you agree with this? : 1 Cor 15:33 Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.
_And with this:_ 1 Cor 5:9 In my letter I wrote you to stop keeping company with sexually immoral people, 10 not meaning entirely with the sexually immoral people of this world or the greedy people or extortioners or idolaters. Otherwise, you would actually have to get out of the world. 11 But now I am writing you to stop keeping company with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man. 12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Do you not judge those inside, 13 while God judges those outside? “Remove the wicked person from among yourselves.”
_And with this:_ Matt 10:34 Do not think I came to bring peace to the earth; I came to bring, not peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to cause division, with a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 Indeed, a man’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever has greater affection for father or mother than for me is not worthy of me; and whoever has greater affection for son or daughter than for me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not accept his torture stake and follow after me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for my sake will find it.
Do you believe Jesus was evil?
Under the mosaic law, what was to happen to an adulterer? Lev 20:10 Was that evil?
@@RakelDaNell Let me give you a scenario.
You and your two siblings take turns taking care of your sick mum because that is all you've got - each other. Your mum is sick and near death and you are all trying to do your best so mum stays alive long enough to see you succeed just a little bit and also pay her back for all the love she has shown you since you were kids. The doctor says that your mum's heart is failing, she has DVT and lymphoedema in her feet and she is constantly in extreme pain. She is bedridden and you and your siblings have to do everything including bathe your mum.
So, to ensure that there is always someone around, you and your siblings take turns taking care of your mum.
Now imagine that at some point, you find out that your sister, when it was her turn to take care of your mum, would leave her to go see her boyfriend and have "fun" (fun here meaning sex), leaving your mum alone for hours with no one by her side.
You and your elder brother had to find a way to take care of her as best you could and in the end your mum made it.
What will be your relationship with your sister from that point forward?
The above does not even begin to cover my situation and I am the last born in my family.
When my sister was disfellowshipped, the organisation did not have to tell me not to talk to my sister. My sister's behaviour already gave me the reasons I needed. I decided never to talk to my sister again, ever.
Now this is what some friends of mine told me. They said not to give up on my sister. They told me to remember that even though my sister is disfellowshipped and is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses, she is still my sister and that counts. It matters.
Do you know who told me that?
The ELDERS of my congregation.
So, if I tell you that the default position of Jehovah's Witnesses is not shun disfellowshipped family members, would you believe me? Or do you prefer to take the word of those who would tell you that we simply shun family because they are no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The bible principles we are taught at out Kingdom Halls includes the principle at 1 Timothy 5:8, which encourages us to prioritise family.
Shunning a family member is not the result of a person being disfellowshipped. It is the result of a person who is disfellowshipped choosing to continue in an act that hurts their family.
For example, a husband who is an elder in a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is found to be indulged act of cheating on his wife. A lack of repentance on his part leads to him getting disfellowshipped from the organisation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are people out there who are willing to argue that disfellowshipping this man is what destroys his family, not the fact that he was cheating and is still cheating on his wife.
If this person’s family decides to shun him, it won’t be because he was disfellowshipped. Because disfellowshipping does not remove family ties. His family will start shunning or rather cutting him off if he keeps on pursuing the course of actions that got him disfellowshipped in the first place.
Unfortunately, a lot of people have been deceived into thinking that the first thing Jehovah’s Witnesses do is disfellowship people and then tell family members to shun their disfellowshipped family members. The reality is very different.
And remember that in my case, the organisation that so many people demonise is the reason why I still speak with my sister who is disfellowshipped, even after what she did. And believe me, you have not even heard half the story.
You can have your opinions about us, and we are not perfect. Yes, child abuse and sexual immorality occur and no one is happy about it. But that is no indication of a problem with the organisation itself. There isn’t one organisation on earth as big as ours or bigger that does not have a single paedophile or some immoral human hiding in it. That is why the disfellowshipping arrangement exists. To remove from the congregation those who engage in such heinous and other immoral grossly acts.
Here, you have a world that says that we are destroying families with our disfellowshipping arrangement which derives directly from the Bible (1 Corinthians chapter 5) and at the same time claims that we harbour within our congregations paedophiles, a subset of a group for whom disfellowshipping is reserved. Which narrative should one believe?
Jehovah Witnesses always annoyed me when I was a kid, especially during Summer Vacation where I mostly just stayed at home and they would always knock on my door and try to talk to me when my parents were not around.
So then don't open the door tf?
I was sexually assaulted by a ministerial servant, 20 years ago this year. The only witness was my mother, who walked in before it got too bad. She blamed me. Her reason: "When he did that to your little sister, she fought back harder." I wanted to go to the police, but my mother threatened to disown me if I did. She said the elders would handle it. They did nothing; there weren't two witnesses. They still prayed over him, because OBVIOUSLY I was the one at fault, and he was merely weak to my evil seductions. (I was a young woman; that's "evil" to them.)
That was the end for me. I refused to go back. I already strongly disagreed with their view on education (I rebelled and went to college), their anti-science opinions, some really gross levels of homophobia, antisemitism, and racism against some of my Black friends (many textured hairstyles were banned, one mother from Nairobi was told to not wear her traditional outfits because they were "too colorful" while a Japanese immigrant in a bright kimono was totally fine) but this was too much. As I looked around online, I realized that this was not unique. It wasn't that my elders were horrible. They were following standard operating procedures.
I began to think back, how many times I questioned things, how often I was scolded for DARING to question. They're fine with simple questions, but when one's love for history becomes a serious threat to their brainwashing, the reply is, "Don't ask that, don't speak of that again, or you'll get in trouble." They are TERRIFIED of facts that clash with their beliefs.
Thankfully, my mother refused to cut off communication with me. She kept getting in trouble for it. She finally moved to another state, so she could talk on the phone with me all she wanted, and no one cared. She never apologized for blaming me, we had a rocky relationship until the end, but at least she still loved me and enjoyed talking to me. That alone was rebellious.
The last time I stepped into a Kingdom Hall was when I flew out to visit her and my (non-JW) dad. I reluctantly agreed to go. Mom introduced me to their head elder, and someone teased that he and two other elders used to shoot kittens and set dogs on fire when they were teens, something he didn't deny but merely laughed about. I was horrified. That's the psychotic types of people running the show.
And your dad didn't know about the assault?
True story no doubt. I have seen the ugly up close!
they are definitely not anti-science they push the vaccine like every other pro science
When that happened to your SISTER?? She said that? 😲 😱 OMG. Your mom needs to go to prison too. Sorry, not sorry.
Antisemitism 😂
Nice word to defend children kllers
My grandmother is a Jehovah witness, any inconvenience she blames people and tries to ruin their life by causing them to argue with others by spreading false information and being cruel. I haven’t spoken to her in 15 years. My life has been amazing ever since.
That’s narcissistic behavior
Jesus Encounter Ministries TH-cam channel**
My grandmother is catholic and acts just like this but my whole family laughs at her and knows she’s crazy
Yeah anyone that’s talked back, challenged or even as far as split from their partners in the Kingdom Hall had the same treatment. A fair few jehovahs have been ‘exiled’ due to this behaviour. It’s more like a fucked up cult.
The impact of toxic people isn’t fully appreciated until you get away from them
Thank you for covering this. As someone who lost my family to this cult, this doesn't receive enough coverage.
The religion itself is a cult, I wonder why people are blind to see . They will say churches are evil but they defend the Bible. What is the foundation of Christianity? is the Bible.
with all due respect God is your Father in Heaven and we are your family. please join us and repent and ask lord Jesus to be with you
Jesus said I am with you always
@@thefaithfulchristian2035 lol
I haf a JW neighbor and when she was in need, she seek help from a Catholic to prepare all the documents needed (her husband died abroad) for the insurance. Then when the other JW members found out that they are done with the papers, they told her not to communicate with that Catholic woman ever again. Guess what, they borrowed the money and refused to pay and they said that money wont be needed in heaven.
The people that are in too deep or just unfortunate enough not to have a support system or network of friends outside of the organization are the ones that will struggle the most with leaving.
Playing team sports and eventually becoming good enough to earn a scholarship to school helped the most with my transition as it helped me develop social skills and a network outside of the organization that the other witnesses I grew up with didn’t have.
I have severe PTSD. There are so many things I have blocked out, but when certain phrases or JW terminology instantly hit me then a bunch of repressed memories start flooding my brain.
Same here. I'll pray for ya
its time we speak up !
i think you have religous trauma
@@daniellenewby3169 it's not down to just religion liketake boy scouts/ scouts for instance
@@oimpaa no of course i just thought that’s what this person might have because i’ve heard when you leave certain religious organizations that you’ve been in a long time you suffer from that
This cult has a lot of ignorance, lack of accountability, and manipulation. Hypocrisy thrives in this environment. I am so glad I left when I was a teenager.
Good for you!
I am happy you got out when you did!!♥️♥️
You were very fortunate to leave at a young age. Good for you ❤!!! I wish you happiness and success
1:04 seconds in I can tell you guys he’s not lying. I too was unfortunately indoctrinated into this cult as an infant from both father and mother. I too got out as a teenager. I’ve seen it a million times as teenagers a lot of us go. Few stay, and those that stay become elite and elders. Pioneers and ministerial servants (Jehovah witnesses lingo). I’m 43 now
I’m glad you managed to get out. However, I would say that they aren’t ignorant at all. I think they know exactly what is going on within and outside of JW and use that knowledge to manipulate the vulnerable. Just like the cult of Scientology, there is a reason why those at the top have money and power. It is very sad that 8 million people on this planet have to suffer at their hands.
i fucking knew it when i was a kid i felt something was off when Pokémon came out they sat me in a room five of them tried to convince me the show was devils' work
All of the hullabaloo from the elders and the governing body when the Harry Potter books came out!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@tiabeaniesemotionalsupportdmon dont forget the simpsons
All because Pokemon "evolve". Science and evolution is forbidden!!
They got so pissed when the movie Showgirls came out too
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I truly appreciate this video, i was in this cult since the age of 5-18, thanks to that at the age of 17 i was diagnosed with religion PTSD, the moment i turned 18 i removed myself from the religion writing a letter, my whole life feels like it was a fairytale & i also had to remove myself from my own family who are still JW, im 21 now and all i can say is if you have your doubts of the cult LEAVE & dont ever look back!!!
Theres so many of us with this same story.. its really comforting to know that we’re not alone. Im your age and exactly the same story except I was born into jw. I send you lots of love!!🧡 also so brave of you and all of us for leaving.
@moishahogbacka4851 Thank you & I'm proud of you as well & all of us that have decided to take a stance on our decision, ik some days might feel lonely so I'm sending an air hug 🫂 & love your way!💖! It's tough & specially for you since you were born into it but I'm glad you moved forward despite that, never forget that you're not alone there's many of us on the same boat💖
And SO many women out here who are PROUD PROUD PROUD of you! Incredible stories and really uplifting ❤. Kudos from Michigan!
This comment section is breaking my heart. Prayers to all of you who suffered.
Prayers fix nothing. Banning of religions will.
Thank you, it's truly needed 🙏
Thanks for your comment. I finally broke down and started crying and shaking 😢
@@LarryMorrow2 🫂🫂🫂
My family was once in debt to a JW member and they want me to join their cult. I attended their "mass" for two years and stopped. I made them feel that I wont leave my religion for them.
A few years ago, some old fart in the congregation started sending my mother all kinds of expensive gifts. It turns out he was a child predator who went to jail in the 1970s for molesting a 13-year-old girl. We later found all of his crimes on the sex offender registry in our state. The elders reinstated this predator anyway and then told my parents after we ate dinner at his house what he was, despite the fact that theee of my siblings were children still living at home. He's dead now, so he can't hurt anyone else, but the abuse problem in the JW church is something I've seen with my own two eyes. Ignore the JWs in the comments who are in denial about this issue. The elder in the video is telling the truth, and this man is very brave for speaking out. The community punishment JWs mete out to adherants for speaking to outsiders about how it really is in this group is fierce.
I hope he will be able to escape this terrible cult soon.
Fortunately, he already escaped, said it towards the end of the video. 😊
People deserve a second chance, quit the high and mighty stuff.
I wonder what punishment can i get, If i speak Out. And what Happens If I fight Back and do Not want to Be punished?
My brother was staying in a camper on my dad’s property. He was in between jobs. They came over to talk to my mom but she told them she wasn’t interested . But then they started talking to my brother. Then they would visit him every other day. Long story short that was 26-30 years ago, he hitch bucked to New York , then Tennessee and never really heard from him again. I need to go find him and just see how he is doing.
I hope you find him you’ll have to keep this updated . I hope he is ok and you have a chance to have a relationship
Wow. I spent 23 years in this faith and finally hearing other's experience in the organization is really refreshing and cathartic
Hey former brother, how long you been out? (sounds like prison) Ive been out out about 15 years. and here I am.
Thank you
Been about 11 years now. Most of my family are still in it but wow it’s something that you find you can never fully cut out. Even now my views of religion in general has been corrupted going forward
I really wanted to hear what this man had to share. Can’t understand him with the mask and garble. Bummer.
@@Nihilnovus Thanks for responding. I enjoy hearing personal stories. See on the other side. lol That always kills me.
I've been free for 17 years now, but badly traumatized. This man was telling the truth. The fact he feels the need to cover his face from the organization seeing him should speak volumes. It was the first 19 years of my life and it was full of abuse and evil, as well as judgment and invalidation.
The judgement was the worst aspect of it. For being an organization that purports to represent the Christian Spirit there's little love there or compassion. Granted some of the people are wonderful but the organization itself is questionable.
So how were you traumatized? What happened?
@stoiccrane4259 totally agree. It's one of those things that presents as pure and holy to outsiders, but for those of us on the inside, we saw it was everything but.
@koreanhog5735 it was a lot. I actually put up a 2 part vid on my channel last year. I'm also currently writing a book about my experience in it. I was being abused, and they basically kept it quiet and told me I was deserving of it. For example, I was molested as a child, and my JW mother years later told me I wanted it. I had elders pulling me aside in private to ask me highly inappropriate sexual questions and wanted details, when I was a minor. They constantly tried to control my thoughts and they tell you who you are allowed to talk to, what you can wear, lies to tell the public in order to recruit.
We were trained 3 days a week in our meetings how to do door to door, how to pick up on vulnerability in others in order to exploit them/convert them. So if let's say, your dad just died and you were my schoolmate, it was my job to use your grief to try and recruit you, telling you about the resurrection in order to entice you into joining us. If I didn't try to preach to you, I would be considered blood guilty because 'I could've saved you but didn't try to'. Imagine being a child and having the thought process in your mind that if you didn't preach to your teachers and peers, their deaths could be your fault for not trying.
Anytime there was a birthday in class, you were not allowed to even eat a cupcake (they don't celebrate any holidays other than one yearly ritual regarding Jesus death and rebirth). So as a kid, you had to go sit in the hallway and listen to your classmates enjoy a party while you were treated as if you did something wrong sitting in the hall, or in the library.
If you were bullied, you were expected to 'turn the other cheek' as Jesus would, so for years, I was beaten up and harassed by several peers, and was expected to just ignore them. Once, I defended myself and when an elder found out, he was upset and after a deep sigh, asked me if others knew I was a JW. He was more concerned with how me getting into a fight hurt Jehovah's reputation vs my safety.
When I came out as being gay, I was disowned by my parents via notarized letter and left homeless and unable to talk to them or my 2 siblings. Being gay made me "detestable" and vile in their eyes. I was 19. Lost my entire JW congregation overnight like it was nothing to them. It's been 17 years and I'm still estranged from my parents, siblings, and former JW friends. I'm talking never checked in on, never reached out to, not responded to, nothing. Had various suicide attempts when I was in, and denied my request for prayers. It was a lot.
I now live with CPTSD and have flashbacks every single day. This probably also has to do with the fact that we were constantly told about Armageddon/the end of the world coming any second, which caused severe anxiety that I still carry. The organization uses you like a battery to do their preaching and recruiting and then tosses you to the curb the moment you start asking questions about operations.
Pedophiles are sent to other congregations after abusing kids, not reported to the police because they handle everything internally. The new congregation is not told this person's history and has access to a new group of unsuspecting children. This happened in my congregation where one dude tried to come onto me a few times and I ended up piecing it together what he was after. They lie to outsiders regularly and demand you don't pursue higher education or association with outsiders. You can't hang out with non JWs and if you are caught, you are counseled and at risk of expulsion. It was hell, and I struggle with the memories daily. I deal with severe anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, loneliness, isolation, flashbacks, repressed memories, etc on a regular basis ever since. It was hell and I don't wish that experience on any child.
His daughter was abused and he can't name the abuser even if he is in prison c'mon, state names, dates to fact check,
People who didn't grow up in the organization are often fooled by the reasonable front they present to the public, but it's all true. If your child needs a blood transfusion to save her life, they expect you to let her die instead.
When you're in it, you're made to feel shame for questioning. You're "relying on your own understanding," and "puffed up with pride." They strongly discourage independent thought, just obedience on pain of shunning by all your friends and family.
Some ideas do not deserve respect. The hate and destructive methods of this organization are great examples of such.
Ya know I never really thought that through until now. They were tying together "independent thought" and "pride". As if making a decision for yourself is self-congratulatory. That truly is madness. What did they have us passively believing?!?
@@PastaMaster115 and if there's still any question, ask if what they're asking is self serving. When you build a kingdom hall or contribute your money or spend more hours making disciples, are you ever getting anything back on that effort besides the "happiness," they tell you that you feel? They get a broad real estate portfolio that they liquidate at will, cash, and new brand ambassadors who give more of the above.
Yup I know a brother and sister who refused a blood transfusion for their 4 month old daughter. She died, sadly. But he told their experience in a comment. They’re actually PROUD of that decision. Their baby girl could have been alive today… Makes me sick
Many cults have a benign looking front (as well as many front groups) and spend a lot of resources on PR and reputation damage limitation- it's the ex members who really see the vile activities beneath the veneer. Any high control group will be full of abuse, it's a psychopath's playground.
Dude you are not in medical field to say that malicious statement. Witnesses has doctors and liason committees worldwide that contact major hospitals to discuss different medical strategies to save a witness both child and adult. Blood transfusion is just one of the strategy use in operation. Refusal to that procedure and accepting other medical procedure that can allow operation to push through is not as equal as letting a person just to die. Investigate further, based your reasoning on a solid proof not just on a mere statement that can be malicious in nature.
Very happy for you guy. What kind of belief let's you hurts your own blood for no reason? Religion. What names are put forward to say that they are better than how we re doing Jehovah. Glad you listened to your soul.
I spent my entire life as a JW. I gave up so many experiences, prom, living at university, birthdays. I was disfellowshipped 3 years ago. I had a very similar experience to him, when I was in my judicial committee I took medical records and evidence to them to try to protect myself. But it wasn’t enough. I was seen as a role model in my circuit so whenever I was disfellowshipped it was a complete shock, to my friends, the congregation, even myself. I’m healing now, but i will never forget what that process felt like. Now with the recent announcements of being able to speak to disfellowshipped people feels like a slap in the face, the people who stopped talking to me now try to contact me? And I should see this as a sign of love? No, absolutely not. It’s a manipulative tactic to try to return people to the organization because they know people are no longer joining. To anyone who wants to join, don’t. And to anyone who has left, I’m proud of you. This organization has no love, no god. I strongly believe in karma, and they have debt to pay.
They truly have no love, and they allowed their members to speak to disfellowshipped ones in a limited setting because they are losing funding in Norway 🇳🇴 But it is not enough since every day people die refusing blood transfusions at the direction of that cult.
Sorry to hear you went through this. I was a JW until I was 17. You just gotta understand these are weak minded people. So much so that the mere conversing with disfellowshipped people could alter their thinking and behavior, thats just how weak they are. You're so much better off living your own life and thinking your own thoughts without them. Congratulations.
I don't know, being able have a beard now sounds pretty good.
Deal with the scriptures not all the extra stuff
@@HankFacepunch🤣🤣🤣🤣 if you're a REAL man, you don't need to be told you're "allowed" to have a beard before you grow one.
as someone who was born into this. i can say 100%, he is right. i got out when i was 24, and i had to rebuild my life from scratch. i to felt like i was at last free! they completely tore my family apart and made my mother leave my dad, even after he foresore what was happening and got baptised him self she was never aloud to re marry because they said she had no grounds for scriptural divorce after convincing her to leave. so now a single mother with 5 kids 100% reliant on them. they completely destroyed my life. im now 40, and it's taken me this long to rebuild.
When you get out you feel so behind in comparison to everyone else when your life has been the cult for so long and you’ve been taught to discard normal society and the people in it, me personally I feel so out of place and like no one understands just how damaging the cult really is. A lot of people say, we’ll if you don’t like it just don’t be in it. They don’t understand the psychological abuse and manipulation
1st of all no 1 can make your mother do something Did he threaten to kill her and throw her in the river ...no You can do whatever you want you're accountable to Jehovah not to men... All these comments are blaming their religion And not taking Accountability for their own actions nobody can make you do anything you mess up your life because you want to the Elvis Accountability for their own actions nobody can make you do anything you mess up your life because you want to the elders can't force you to do anything You And do what you feel you need to do I'm tired of you guys crying Take some initiatives And grow the hell up And grow the hell Grow the grow up
@@blackklash so you are a JW still or are you just studying? because you dont really have a dam clue what you are talking about!. JW is a cult and there is more then enough people on here that can tell you about cult trauma and once you are full in why you cant just leave. and i know more about Jw's then most my family are generational i was 3rd generation.
Jesus Encounter Ministries TH-cam channel**
@@blackklash yep, it’s always blaming and no personal responsibility. I am DFed and guess what it was own fault, it’s no one else’s.
My family are generational JWs. I am the only one in my immediate family that is not a JW. People don’t understand what this cult does to people.
Unfortunately, I do.
My in laws are witnesses and it’s definitely wild
Oh it’s wild because we don’t live in the same debauchery as you? Wild parties and living an immoral life? Because of this you are confused. Abuse may happen but does abuse not happen in every religion? 😂 wake up people Jehovahs witnesses are the true religion think about it why are they painted in such a bad light one answer Satan the devil. And he is blinding you
Not a cult
@@joraiders8o594 lies.. they are definitely a cult
I was married to an ex witness and very similar story they always remind the person they're "disfellowshipped" thus even if the person finds a new religion or ways of life they'll still always be "disfellowshipped" which makes it hard to move on specially when it's your parents and siblings..a lot of psychology involved with these ppl
Cult a cola classic.
My Grandfather is an Elder and I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness from a young age. My mother was also introduced into it as a child when she was living in Jamaica and told me a story of how she was in the car with a trusted Brother from the congregation who was supposed to drop her off somewhere.
Apparently he went in another direction and put his hand on my ma's leg saying how beautiful she was and that another girl in the congregation was a "bad girl and shouldn't be believed". When she realized what was happening she opened the car door and jumped out into moving traffic nearly getting hit! She explained to a passerby what happened and he drove her home.
She then told my surrogate grandmother who's care she was under who was a Jehovah's Witness and instead of bringing the matter to police she decided to discuss it with other sisters in the congregation and "pray" on it. Within a few weeks the guy left the congregation and didn't return as far as my ma knew but who knows how many other girls he attempted and successfully sexually abused..
Call the police
They are sick. Totally sick. The Catholics hide their paedophiles. No doubt these do too. I'm glad you got out.
This is very common in the disgusting Jehovah's Witnesses cult.
I'm shocked in the video how the wife kept going to the church for another 10 years while her husband left and the fact her own blood was abused. Some women are just foolish
@@edobwoyyou'd be surprised how many still in that cult have been abused or seen others be abused. The mind control is real.
I luckily got out of it early. It is an incredibly judgemental, hypocritical, restrictive, and abusive organization
Same here. Sat my mom down at 13yo and told her I wasn't going to go with her to meetings anymore. Best decision I ever made
@@TrueStyle1000 That was very brave of you, wish I did that myself!
@@TrueStyle1000 I TELL THEM TO EFF OFF AND MAY LORD JESUS HAVE MERCY ON THEM ON JUDGEMENT DAY
@@KevinMcScrooge A J/W WILL AVOID YOU WHEN YOU QUESTION THEM, OR PROVE THEIR BIBLE IS A BOOK A 4 YR OLD WROTE
Its really not tho you're just misinformed
They Just say "Leave it in Jehovah's Hands" meaning "Shut Up"
Exactly!
@@EfrainRiveraJunior So I ask " how do you not know that Jehovah is not using this incident to handle this matter at this time?"
@@eyevanwillaims7368 - That's how I reasoned 30 years ago when Barbara Anderson exposed the CSA issues inside the cult. I eventually stopped lying to myself.
@@eyevanwillaims7368 Because things never get handled… because Armageddon keeps getting pushed back again and again… it’s all a bunch of lies. When you’re force fed lies all of your life, you eventually (hopefully) begin to pull the wool from your eyes. You stop believing the lies.
And to turn your head the other way
My mom came from a huge JW family and was brave enough to leave at 15. The first several of my grandparents' children who left were severely shunned. By the time they got to my mom, they pretty much gave up and just started pretending to shun their kids, out of fear of how the community would react if they found out they were still in contact with their kids. Not a single one of my aunts or uncles from that family doesn't have major mental health issues. One giant dysfunctional family with a bunch of people who all have their own unique ways they went crazy and a bunch who off'ed themselves or drank themselves to death. As much as I think freedom of religion is a quintessential, first-world right, I think that religions this toxic should absolutely be shamed and discouraged from being practiced
In the late 90's, my roommate's nephew escaped The Watchtower. He was clearly and obviously in a state of shock, and traumatized. I advised her to let him be, give him room and listen when he was ready to talk. I hope he eventually did. If youre reading this B, i hope youre doing better, love to C, and i hope you are handling your trauma better than i am mine.
What a load of garbage, people like you just lie constantly, you're all a bunch of babies.
I hope you are okay. You don't sound it by what you wrote. I hope you can finally be healed one day. 🤗
I am sorry for what happened to you, and I hope you are coping and are alright now. ♥️♥️♥️♥️
Sending you tons of love you’re not alone that was me in my early 20s and guess what I never looked back because clearly there is nothing for me there I am happy with how my life is tbh
Every single word this man said is true.
At least I woke up in my 20's and only lost the first 20yrs of my life, not 50 like this gent and many others.
I lost 32 years inside that cult.
I lost 50
@@tammyg8031 - 😲😢
Same, I finally left in my early 20's. I was indoctrinated since the age of 5, baptised at 12. So glad my family and I left!
It is not true.
3:47 Just a reminder: Watchtower Society sees no problem in a child making the life time decision of getting baptized and taking the future risks of getting shunned by his entire family.
A child can’t legally enter into a contract. How is a 10 year old allowed to be baptized and make a lifetime dedication or contract with God? They don’t have a fully developed brain to make that decision. They don’t understand the consequences of what happens when they default. I’ve always thought that children are manipulated into baptism. It’s so wrong.
not just his entire family but also his entire social circle
Dude spitting thoughts of wisdom throughout. Glad to hear he’s doing better with eating now… All the best my friend ❤
I am still a JW on paper. I walked away a decade ago while I was a ministerial servant and I promise you, though I am not up to date on their new beliefs if there are any or changes in their teachings but if I ever hear real true lies or etc. I will openly tell people they are lying or to stop talking bs. However if they are speaking truth I cannot deny it and to my knowledge and experience this man is sadly not lying he is telling the truth. He is not even bashing JWs
The funny thing they will say his lying he didn’t even explain all about them
@@jaebonjiya1275 he is simply talking about Disfellowshipping the shunning, the sad truth that the Watchtower org. Is not free of chold abuse and is just like most other religions, the fact that we are not part of the world and the things we can and cannot do as jws the fact that you cannot openly disagree with some of their teachings...literally in less than 7 mins said everything every former jw has experienced for the most part and he is not bitter he is not lying
Hi
I tell Jehovah's Witnesses to go through the narrow gate that is on the cramped road leading to life.
.
Matthew 7:13-14
“Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; 14 whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road ** LEADING OFF INTO LIFE ** and few are the ones finding it.
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I ask them to read what Jehovah said would happen at the time of the end that is in every Christians bible and yet, few are the ones finding it:
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Isaiah 66:5
Hear the word of Jehovah, YOU men who are trembling at his word: “YOUR brothers that are hating YOU, that are excluding YOU by reason of my name, said, ‘May Jehovah be glorified!’ He must also appear with rejoicing on YOUR part, and they are the ones that will be put to shame.”
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[Name of person] is no longer one of JEHOVAH's Witnesses ---->> "excluding YOU by reason of MY NAME"
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I ask them if they can see Jehovah's promise to disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witnesses:
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"He must also appear with rejoicing on YOUR part"!
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I then warn them that, if they go through this narrow gate they will lose their family as a consequence of the Watchtower Societies shunning policies.
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Then I ask them to read what Jesus Christ said about everlasting life:
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Mark 10:29-30
Jesus said: “Truly I say to YOU men, No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news 30 who will not get a hundredfold now in this period of time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, with persecutions, and in the coming system of things ** EVERLASTING LIFE **
.
I then ask them if they want to live forever.
.
I also tell them that they can leave the organization and their congregation with dignity by telling everybody that they believe Jehovah, Jesus Christ and everything else in the bible.
.
Walk out with your head held high and jump for joy when you do.
.
What Jehovah said would happen, is now really happening!
.
That's Good News ................... right!
.
Jesus said: “Truly I say to YOU men, No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOOD NEWS.
.
Hope you realize your mistake and return. The policies on these things has changed but witnesses have always changed for the better. The light gets brighter as time moves
Covering up abuse is common with all cults because the reputation of the cult is more important than the people in it- it's utterly psychopathic. Also common with all cults is extreme levels of control of members- who they can talk to, what they can read or watch and they are certainly not allowed to have doubts (or express those doubts). Escaping is a very brave decision and always the right one.
Look at every religion in the world, they all cover up abuse ,and most have way more dirt on their hands.
Jesus Encounter Ministries TH-cam channel**
The Catholics do this, too.
@@ronniebattle1310 Another cult.
Read Mark chapter 16:1-20. Ask yourself this question. Do you believe what it says? These signs will follow those who believe!
I had a weird co worker that was a JW. He talked so bad about them to me the whole time he worked there. He said he only stayed due to his wife. The amount of abuse he disclosed to me was so sad. He said he even went and file a report on an elder for sexually abusing a 12 year old that ended up pregnant. He said i could take that crap no more. Due to him working with kids he was a mandated reporter and he told it all. They opened a case thw family was investigated. They disfellowshiped him after that and 2 weeks later he no longer worked for our company.
Lol. But of course. Got baptized in 2008 and haven't been back since COVID. Will never go back.
Did you investigate his claims before you believed it? Because I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses and I can tell you that you don't get disfellowshipped unless you seriously violate scriptural principles.
Since, reporting an abuse is not a sin from a scriptural standpoint, there is no way he was disfellowshipped for reporting an abuse.
The only way he would be implicated in the story he told you that could get him disfellowshipped is if he is a perpetrator of the very crime he was telling you someone else committed.
That is why the disfellowshipping arrangement exists. It is for people who break the bible's commands.
Please read 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and tell me what that scripture tells Christian congregations to do with a baptised Christian, or brethren who engages in immoral behaviour. I would like to know your honest response after you have read it.
@@timothykporsu2472 Im a JW myself, I’ve seen people been disfellowed for much less than you’re describing here. The person describes sexual abuse that ended up in a pregnancy. Clearly one cannot hide that. They disfellowed him for not maintaining the silence.
@@Wehn. This is an obvious FALSE statement. Dude didn't get disfellowshipped for reporting something.
@@timothykporsu2472It’s actually a lot more complex than that. You can be DF’ed for going directly against elder’s instructions. In cases of sexual abuse, elders of the congregation write to the governing body who give instructions on how to proceed after contacting the bethel legal department. The reason reporting is strongly discouraged (not blatantly forbidden as that would be illegal) is because they put that sanctity of Jehovah’s name above all else, they believe reporting a JW doing something like this would bring reproach on Jehovah’s name (their actual words). If you vocalize that you disagree with the Governing Body and that you will not follow their directions, you will absolutely be DF’ed for apostasy to prevent you from “infecting others”. Elders have a manual on how to deal with such matters, albeit situations like that are very specific and mostly outline “contact the GB”. It’s called Shepherding The Flock. And women aren’t allowed to even touch it 🙄.
This is very sad to hear of this poor man and his family experience. I am a Christian and pray that God gives them comfort because this is not what God wants 🙏🏽. I've heard other awful stories of how other individuals have been treated by Jehovahs witnesses 🙏🏽. Definitely needs to be looked into more.
As someone raised in Mormonism who bought into it and took it super seriously until I saw how abusive it was and left... this is not surprising. It's not about everyone being taken care of. It's about people in control maintaining control.
I agree
For financial gain. Its their get rich stay rich scheme
I was raised JW and ive listened to a lot of ex-mormans talk. The religious teachings aren't the same, but the way members are controlled are almost identical
Yep. I just left this April after being in a family of it since the Willie and Martin Handcart companies. I am the black sheep of both sides of my VERY Mormon family. Divorced, openly queer, AND I took my kids with me out of the church.
The Mormon church is sitting on over $100 BILLION in cash. look it up
I was born in as well back in 1971. My Dad was a JW for over 60 years. He shunned me for 15 years. 4 years before he died he showed up at my door. He was old, alone and had no one to take care of him. He died in 2019. He made me POA and AIF of his Will. Because of this the W's could not control his funeral. I spoke at his funeral and I have the video on my You Tube Channel. I am so thankful that people are waking up from this Cult.
I will watch it.
I would have turned him away. I have no time for forgiving and forgetting. That's for small children and the birds.
@@bobjames6622 Matthew 6:14-15
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
This small child, bird, will stick with Jesus.
@@XJW-fb8ww You've simply replaced one cult (JW) with another (christianity). ALL man made religions are mere prisons of the mind. You've been fooled.....AGAIN!
@@XJW-fb8ww That is the same tactic religious people use to cover abuse. Don't report it to autoririties, forgive your rapist and god will forgive you and welcome you into heaven. The person who wrote matthew was wrong.
Thanks so much for shedding light on this. I’m shunned by my entire family for leaving. They need to be exposed as a cult!
Your family has to realise that disfellowshipping does not cut off family ties. If they can't see that, the problem is not the organisation. It is your family.
I have a disfellowshipped sister, and while I tried my best not to talk to her because her actions were disgraceful to the family, the elders told me that just because she is disfellowshipped does not mean that she is no longer my sister. Family ties remain. Spiritual ties are cut off.
That difference has to be realised. Again, the problem is your family, not the organisation. Remember that.
@@timothykporsu2472boy are you brainwashed…you just said you try your best to not talk to her. Who is forcing you to not talk to her? It’s not you…because, you’re having trouble NOT talking to her. It’s the organization!!!!
@@alexandrasalazar2705 You said I am brainwashed because I tried my best not to talk to my sister? Did you read everything else I wrote?
Let me give you context that don’t have.
I am Ghanaian, and this culture frowns on promiscuity. Let me put you in my shoes for a second.
You have a mother who is extremely sick (and this was 2017/2018). Her situation seems hopeless but you (the last born) and your older brother and sister are trying to do your best to help. You take turns to make sure that your mum is fed, bathed (and we had to do the bathing ourselves because we are all our mum has), and comfortable. Doctor’s said that her heart was failing, she had edema in her feet, deep vain thrombosis, her pressure was up all the time, she was asmathic and couldn’t breathe… and the list goes on and on. Your mum was in excruciating pain all the time, and painkillers could not do anything to help.
Now imagine that you find out that when it was your sister’s turn to be at your mother’s side, she would leave her for hours to go visit some guy. And of course, you can imagine what she went there to do.
My anger and hatred for my sister had nothing to do with me being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
There is a lot of pain and anger here. Even if I was not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I would still have tried everything to not talk to my sister. My brother felt the same. And he is not even one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Her behaviour earned the disgust of our neighbours and anyone who heard about her and saw the lifestyle she was leading. What is more, she ended up with a violent drug addict who impregnated her.
Imagine that you go to a pharmacy to get your mum’s medication, only to learn that your sister’s violent boyfriend came there to cause trouble. What kind of reputation is that for our family?
Why does my mother after all the pain she is enduring have to deal the fear of losing her child at the hand of some violent drug addict who has no respect for anyone? The painful thing is that my sister keeps going back to him.
The organisation does not have to tell me to stop speaking with my sister. Oh, I would gladly cut all ties with her.
But like I said, which you gladly ignored, the ELDERS in my congregation, are the reason that I still speak with my sister. They reminded me over and over, and they still keep reminding me, that even though she is no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses (of course, she was disfellowshipped), she is still my sister.
The organisation you demonise is the reason I still recognise my sister as my relative. You don’t get it at all.
I grew up in the “truth” as they call it. I was sexually assaulted by a daughter of an elder and no one did anything about it including my mother. She pretended like nothing happened and to this day maintains a close relationship and friendship with the family. I have a lot of resentment towards her because I suffered so long because of her commitment to this cult. One day I hope to not be so mad but her taking care of my abusers in the church and in the family hurts so much. I pray for anyone to have strength that is stuck in this religion from satan himself.
Was raised as a JW and came to the realization that something was funky at about 12 or 13. Told my dad at 16 that i wasn't going to be one anymore. Was disfellowshipped, and my dad kicked me out that week.
Wow how incredibly BRAVE you were at such a young age. I'm so sorry that happened to you
Its crazy how extreme they become that they actually get to the point where neglecting the needs of their own children becomes recognized as a badge of honor and loyalty to God, when in reality it is complete obedience to 8-9 controlling cult leaders. I hope you had outside family to stay with during that time.
@@MyBizz-xb5hp totally untrue, this person got disfellowshiped for a wrongdoing, and didn't repent, I know bro and sis who left on thier own accord, and they still see family members and bro and sis bother with them, if some family members are different, that is down to them, and nothing to do with the organisation, iam really sick of false accusations against JW, no disrespect to anyone personally.
@@adrianthomas6244 Well I guess you want us to believe that all these people are lying and making up stories that all seem to agree and match even though they don’t know each other and have never met. You said this person did not repent. May I ask how do you know they did not repent? Are you there every single minute of the day, week and year with them to know when and if they repented? Or do you have some kind of a repent meter that gauges a person mind? Or is it just your personal opinion about the person’s repentance state or not? I’m curious to know.
@@ChristopherS-h1m every JW knows before a person is Disfellowshiped they get a chance to repent and change thier ways, before a person is DF they and they don't change they may be publicly reproved, if after they have been publicly reproved they still don't change from a wrongdoing, the last resort is a disfellowshiping, so it's not the way that apostates or opposers or the ill informed media say, in answer to your sarcastic remark, no I don't and don't need a repent meter, and the reason is I know how the organisation really works, I've seen bro and sis be publicly reproved, and then about 3 yrs later a mention that these ones were DF, and in 20yrs of being a JW how many DF have I seen answer, just 7, and 4 of these were from the same people, in a congregation of over 100 people, so certainly not the way you opposers apostates or the whole kit and caboodle of you including the media, that what they know they about JW they couldn't write on a postage stamp a mm across, bye
I was brought up as a Witness.
Took me 35yrs to get out of it.
Now i am much happier and living my own successful life.
People get deceived by this religion.
I feel truly sorry for them.
No. We are not deceived, my friend. You had a choice to make, and preferred rather to live your life outside of the organisation. That is your choice and you made it.
To say we are deceived, is to say that 8 million people are less wiser than you are. I don't believe that to be true.
Some of us are really happy as members of the organisation. Does that mean that you leaving makes us delusional? I don't think calling us "deceived" is accurate.
@timothykporsu2472 Many people need religion.
I'm not one of them.
And no it is not " The Truth".
But glad you are happy.
@@timothykporsu2472I grew up with it. I think my family has been in it since before my great grandparents. I’ve been in an out for a while. It really depends on which congregation you go to. Some make you feel like an outsider and judge you for everything others welcome you and help you out and make you feel welcome. Some things that they preach about make no sense though and I’ve called them out on it and when I do they get mad. Someone once told me “the Bible is there to guide you. Take what you believe will lead you to god and his holy essence from the Bible directly not what other believe the Bible says”. It’s solid advice.
@@timothykporsu2472 8 million is around only 0.1 percent of the world population, surely if it was the truth some of the other 99.9 percent of people worldwide would be JW
@@timothykporsu2472You’re a “witness”?! You’re a horrible one. Witnesses shouldn’t be online so off you trot back to the bible lol.
I stopped going to church at the age of 12 after the priest at the church started sending me love messages calling me to his home. He later started treating me harshly in the choir when I refused to go to his home. Later I came to learn about that he was using all the other boys of my age at the church. It's now 20 years without ever stepping a foot in church. Am happy where I am
God Loves You Wherever you are
i just wanna say first that i’m sorry that you experienced that.. i experienced abuse at the hands of a pastors daughter who is several years older than me. i was 7 or 8 at the time and didn’t realize until i was older what had happened to me. i want you to know i understand your plight but i want to encourage you to know that God loves you dearly. not all churches are the same. i know because i have been a member of 3 churches throughout my life and the reality is that no church is perfect. however, i do believe that if you ever have a desire to find a good church, you should. you dont need church to love God but i do believe that you do need a church to learn how to love people. and one the main ways you love God is by loving his people. being a part of a good church will strengthen you. the community is irreplaceable. i hope this message finds you well bro! love you
Did you report him? Dis you show anyone the letters?
Don’t conflate creepy catholicism with Christianity. You may come to realize what the bible says has nothing to do with catholics if you ever decide to read it for yourself
Not to sound harsh but it doesn't take genius level thinking to know there are good churches out there and we still have an obligation to the Creator. I doubt anyone is going to tell you to submit to that type of guy in leadership
I was raised 3rd generation in the cult. I'm so grateful I got out young (even though my parents and all my "friends" disowned me when I was "disfellowshipped" by the cult elders) and that my brother finally got out at age 35. Both parents died in the cult but with their belief in it greatly shaken. At least the cult membership has stopped with my brother and I and we will not condemn our children to being part of the cult as we were.
I'm so happy you broke the generational curse 🫶💕
I can confirm the policies and culture that this gentleman perfectly described. I was a third-generation JW who left after decades on the inside.
I believe him. I was raised in this cult myself. Working on physically leaving… It’s so hard. Knowing I’ll lose my family and friends sucks, but I deserve to be happy. If they come to your door, be nice to them but firm in telling them you’re NOT INTERESTED. This is a corrupt organization lead by delusional men. It gets more culty each year. Just say no!
Hang in there you got this! I left a few months age and best decision ever.
Leave. You won't regret it. Best decision of my life.
I tell Jehovah's Witnesses to go through the narrow gate that is on the cramped road leading to life.
.
Matthew 7:13-14
“Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; 14 whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road ** LEADING OFF INTO LIFE ** and few are the ones finding it.
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I ask them to read what Jehovah said would happen at the time of the end that is in every Christians bible and yet, few are the ones finding it:
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Isaiah 66:5
Hear the word of Jehovah, YOU men who are trembling at his word: “YOUR brothers that are hating YOU, that are excluding YOU by reason of my name, said, ‘May Jehovah be glorified!’ He must also appear with rejoicing on YOUR part, and they are the ones that will be put to shame.”
.
[Name of person] is no longer one of JEHOVAH's Witnesses ---->> "excluding YOU by reason of MY NAME"
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I ask them if they can see Jehovah's promise to disfellowshipped Jehovah's Witnesses:
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"He must also appear with rejoicing on YOUR part"!
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I then warn them that, if they go through this narrow gate they will lose their family as a consequence of the Watchtower Societies shunning policies.
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Then I ask them to read what Jesus Christ said about everlasting life:
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Mark 10:29-30
Jesus said: “Truly I say to YOU men, No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news 30 who will not get a hundredfold now in this period of time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, with persecutions, and in the coming system of things ** EVERLASTING LIFE **
.
I then ask them if they want to live forever.
.
I also tell them that they can leave the organization and their congregation with dignity by telling everybody that they believe Jehovah, Jesus Christ and everything else in the bible.
.
Walk out with your head held high and jump for joy when you do.
.
What Jehovah said would happen, is now really happening!
.
That's Good News ................... right!
.
Jesus said: “Truly I say to YOU men, No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOOD NEWS.
.
Leaving was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. It was the most important first step to self care and self love I ever took. You have to concentrate on those aspects to start if you want to heal. I hope that, if you decide to leave, you consider reaching out. There are tons of us out there. You are NOT ALONE… even though I know it’s going to feel so isolating. ♥️♥️♥️♥️
@@j3in725 Thank you. I genuinely like and care about these people. There are some good people trapped in this cult… The only thing holding me back right now is funds. Going to pay off my debts and continue saving… I’m glad you got out!!
The fact that we get free videos from VICE on TH-cam is priceless, keeping the education and knowledge alive. 👍👍👍
🤷
Why’s this spammed every where in all the vice videos comments lolol
They just reinforce the idiotic fantasies of the ignorant haters of Jehovah.
Bot@@Mattieb_23
vice is a pretty garbage informative TH-cam channel
Im from Africa i know a lady at work that recently just got out she says she's never felt so free in her life, she views life differently now and says she can't believe she's believed all the BS she was taught for years, she says it's a life of constant anxiety and depression because you really cannot live your life freely without being judged or someone keeping an eye on you the cult must always come first before family, they don't even celebrate birthdays when her whole family is gathered celebrating birthdays or any family gathering she couldn't attend, she says she's seen parents disowning their children because they are "evil" by not being members of the church, it's insane I never believe her 😢
As someone who has half of their family in the Jehovah's Witnesses, none of this surprises me. Always something off about those people, always a feeling that they were being controlled.
They are. When after I left about 10 yrs later I went to a meeting to appease my grandfather featuring an Overseer.
I don't remember much about the meeting but one of the statements I recall is the Overseer literally saying to the congregation "Don't think for yourself. As humans were too dumb to think for ourselves without Jehovah."
The moment he said that I mentally noped the freak out and haven't returned to a meeting since.
It's a dangerous cult.
That governing body is the main culprit. They replaced themselves with god to the point a Jehovah's witnesses can literally read in the bible what it says, but yet follow the words of those men. Even if those words differ immensely from what the bible says. All Authority is in the hands of these men.
@@j3in725 Stephen Lett is the worst of them. He says things to the degree that "When he rises to heaven as an anointed he'll exercise judgement on the wicked" I paraphrase.
@@j3in725 - The words in a Watchtower magazine trump anything written in the Bible. That's how the J-Dubs think.
They will NEVER apologize to any of their victims EVER.
Because they believe that they are above everyone else.
Because there are no victims of theirs.
@@koreanhog5735 - Only a Jehovah's Witness would make an comment this arrogant.
@@koreanhog5735cowards…. Baseball bats work pretty god damn well for getting answers and the truth out
@koreanhog5735 Yes so the millions of testimonies are all false. It's all lies. No victims. Right. Too bad no one believes you. 😂
This religion broke up my family. I was abused by an elder, realized as adult the extent of this problem and when I stopped going everyone cancelled me immediately no questions asked.
Were you. What is his name? What is yours? Can you prove it? I mean, if you accuse someone of something publicly, you should be able to prove it, shouldn't you?
I'm so sorry you went through that. I'm hoping you heal from the trauma this cult has caused. I left 5 years ago after being abused for over 10 years. It's hard but I remember that I'm safer now and I actually have control over my life.
@@koreanhog5735 take a breath, I have no evidence, I was a child. The elder late went to prison for touching at least 9 others
@@BabyDoll-xx9rk thank you for the kind reply. I’m sorry you went thru your experience. Man we’ve really gone thru it. It takes real strength and courage to walk away. I know people in now, that are just too afraid so they choose to stay in and suffer. Hang in there survivor, I hope you are now thriving
@@koreanhog5735 Are you a lawyer? Why do you need a name?
I grew up as a JW myself, i was deep into it, i gave talks, went out to service every morning, that's when you go out door to door. I can definitely see the shunning of people that had left the congregation, simply saying "the situation with the person that had left has been handled". I left the kindom hall after both my parents had passed away.
I am in the same boat as you although my parents are alive.
I will just wait and fade out.
My family have some very valuable properties.
If I leave they will leave it to the cult.
With this property I can look at an early retirement in Asia.
both ur parents 😢 rip i couldnt imagine my mom dying
There's literally nothing wrong with that tho
I had a best friend named Sarahi in middle school. Such a beautiful and kind girl. Her mom got a boyfriend and soon after married him. He is a Jehovah Witness; converted their entire family. In high school, she was pulled out to be homeschooled and I lost contact with her. She even deleted all her socials. A few years ago I ran into her at a restaurant I used to work at and she asked to take a picture with me. It always made me so sad that she didn’t desire to switch numbers or anything of that sort. I’ve come to realize it was due to her restrictions within the Jehovah church. It’s really so sad. I hope she’s doing okay.
Trust me, she is doing great, too bad you don't want to investigate her beliefs.
"I hope she’s doing okay." in this cult NEVER BE "ok" if talk about LONG PERIOD of life.
Always begin cultish bullshit after a time and INCREASING crazyness
@@djparsons7363 too bad YOU don't want to investigate YOUR beliefs
@@djparsons7363 trust you why? How do YOU know how this random person on youtube is doing? How arrogant.
No, it wasn't. If you really want to learn about Jehovah's Witnesses, learn from them, please! There is no restrictions as to who you are friends with. But it's true that many follow the biblical advice not to be associated too much with people who do not follow the Bible's standards. If you want to know more ask Jehovah's Witnesses not people who are disgruntled because they failed to follow the God of the Bible.
Grew up in this Cult, i see many family torn apart, including my family, shunning policy ruin my family & friend relationship. Many of my family including myself suffer from mental health issues.
Former child witness here, I can’t tell you how alienated during my childhood. Birthdays, parties, media, books and so many more restrictions.
Yup, no Christmas, no Halloween..can’t celebrate our own bdays - was horrible
Such a sad way of living, gotta stay away from all the religious fanatics and cults because they are in essence diabolical and want to keep you indoctrinated, obedient and confused.
That's how I felt. Looking back, those things are traumatic to a child.
@@BeyondEboand the trauma still follows me to this day. I still feel guilty doing normal things in everyday life because of the mental hold they had on me.
@@jasonafrifa1418 same. I'm 48 now and I'm realizing the effects it had on me. My grandmother has passed and my mom has severe dementia, and although I'm of age, I feel like I can finally talk about how miserable it was. I'm also starting to see my stepdad's (an elder) true colors.
I never became a Jehovah's Witness, but I studied the Bible with them for a few years. The people I interacted with were very pleasant and very generous with their time. I never had a bad experience with any of them. I didn't feel pressured by them. I didn't become a Jehovah's Witness because I knew I couldn't live up to their expectations. I'm a Lutheran now, raised as a Catholic. I admire the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Lutherans because they really know the Bible, the word of God. My heart goes out to this man who was betrayed by evil doers and I agree with the lawsuit his family filed.
I grew up a JW. My parents still are. I will say this. It’s led to an outside looking in worldview that’s impossible to shake.
good! world is bad
@@harshitgarg419But the JW is worse.
Gave me a nihlist outlook. Nothing matters but Jah, not my family, not my friends, not education, not even my own life. From my first day of life until I left it was the main theme.
Armageddon is tomorrow, so no need to do anything other than preach the word so perhaps i can survive the ire of the Almighty.
My mother even used the threat of me dying at Armageddon and being totally forgotten about by her and Jehovah in the new system as a form of chastisement/punishment.
@@shadegreen5351look at it realistically. Who can save you but Jehovah. Who deserves worship. What have they given you, and is it the same as what Jehovah's given you.
@@lugi25screw jehovah
im glad you finally made it out and i hope you and your family have the best life possible now
I grew up a JW and spent 35 years in. I experienced what he's saying. I'm so glad I got out and I i can heal finally.
what are some things I can ask them to challenge their beliefs next time they show up at my house?? If you know of any
@@Kmac223 cults don't work that way. If you tried they would put you on a do not call list. These people are brainwashed and logic and facts don't mean anything. It takes a lot to snap people out of it and it usually comes from the person beginning to question and looking at things themselves.
@@Kmac223Ask them what proof they have that the governing body are what they claim to be -they won’t be able to answer you 7:4
Sending you love my friend you’re not alone 🖤
I grew up Jehovah's Witness and left when I was 20. I also took it very seriously. I was what's called an "auxiliary pioneer" and spent a bunch of time going door to door. I left because I decided to do some research on Charles Taze Russell and the history of the religion from a secular, historical perspective. Blew it up for me completely. I remember the last day I went door to door passing out memorial invitations just thinking "I can't do this anymore". Left, lost half my family and most of my friends. Still hurts, but I would never change that decision.
What did you find out about him?
@@ThePositiveTarot CTR's personal religion was really strange. For example, he believed in measuring the pyramids at Giza in feet and inches to calculate prophetic dates. Because apparently that's how God works. His ideas and doctrinal framework would be rejected by Witnesses today if they weren't told who it came from. In short, todays Watchtower religion barely resembles what he believed at all.
As a former Witness, I agree 💯 % with this guy. Although there are nice people within the different Kingdom Halls, I believe the organization to be largely flawed and misguided in their practices! I also find it odd that the founder Charles T Russell was a 33rd degree Mason and is buried under a Masonic Pyramid. The founder of the Mormon religion was also a 33rd degree mason! Two cults founded by members of a very secretive organization! 🤔
What is masonry?
Additionally if you investigate, you will find that the founding of the WT bible society was funded by Rothschilds, who are one of the families behind the Globalist, New World Order agenda. The JW Bible is called the New World Translation. Coincidence? I think not.
@@samsarabosquoz281Freemasons. They are controlled by Jesuits who are Satan's minions.
@@samsarabosquoz281 Google "Free Mason".
Free mason. @@samsarabosquoz281
I lost a good friend to this cult back in high school. Her father was an elder and she wasn’t allowed to get very close with kids who practiced other religions. She was a wonderful musician and great friend. I miss you Janet.
ive been there. hearing a loved ones name being read out and then poof everyone around you forgets they existed :(
Im not a JW, but i dont think the critism of the organization is fair. I 100% agree with the shunning, stand for something or fall for anything. I only dont think the blood transfusion makes sense and no once cant tell me to buy people a birthday gift.
I also dont agree with baptism early. What does a 12 year old child know? Very rediculous.
Wait you don't believe in the baptism of a 12 year old, but the whole world accepts the baptism of a baby! Committing to faith in God is not the hardest decision in the world. You don't have to KNOW everything in order to look at the world around you (speaking for all people that should be capable of doing this) and saying this world was created, and I want to honor the creator. So that's a very basic understanding that anyone can accept. From there if you accept other basics a child may say they don't need more info.
@mazar420 - tho, sadly humans may at times choose to ignore what they are being shown from the Bible about their own personality. Some individuals do not look at others with humility. Therefore they may "forget someone existed" sadly they forget that Jesus holds out hope for all people.
But JWs do not accept that. They allow anyone to return to a relationship with God, and that person's sins are forgiven by God despite what any human may think or feel. But I do pray for individuals who do behave judgementally. That should not reflect how all JWs think.
@@fixityahnow1252you can't understand because you didn't grow up JW Someday the truth will be revealed and no one will deny how horrible and manipulative this cult is
@@fixityahnow1252 biggest mistake of my life ... No way my 12 yr old brain could comprehend what I was signing up for. But I wanted to be a part of something & all my friends were doing it. Wish I would of been 1 of that just hung around but never got baptized 😂
My grandmother was a JW. Growing up I would have to go with her to (The Hall.) I always got weird vibes there and a lot of the things that I was taught and their ways of living I could never get with even as a child. I remember being forced to sit for bible study with a bunch of people that came off as scary and uncomfortable. I told my grandma I didn’t want to do it and they basically told me I’d burn in hell. I was like 10. Scary that I’ve seen comments about cult mentality in this religion cause that’s exactly what it felt like looking back on it all.
I had been a Jehovah's Witness for 28 years in Brazil and I can surely tell this is all true. Being a Jehovah's Witness was the worst thing that ever happened to me but I moved on. My brothers are still manipulated by that cult.
I remember a friend of mine telling me he was abused by an elder and I was so mad at him because I used to say he was lying and couldn't accept the fact that he was saying bad things about an elder. I regret it so bad. Today he is still my friend, he is still a Jehovah's Witness because he doesn't have a place to go so he doesn't want to be shunned by his family. He is into a very bad depression for years.
I had an elder make a homosexual gesture towards me right in the kingdom hall. Should have floored him,.
It’s the same with any religion to be honest. Any organization made to control your thinking with out having you make a conscious choice is dangerous.
LAWSUITS! LAWSUITS! LAWSUITS! That's the solution.
I rebuke you Satan in the name of Jehovah God… find the truth
@@jeffreyjewell75no, not any religion. That's any cult. If it's any religion, then you would also have to say ideological group also.
the fact that he only refers to the person who both abused him and his daughter about "her" abuser really makes me realize that he hasnt really accepted the fact that hes also a victim. i hope him and his family are doing well
It can be really difficult to accept that reality. The mind has many ways of trying insulate itself from trauma.
So he is more concerned about her. Good for him.
I know a lot will not read this all the way through, but I don’t even know where to start with this. We were taught to be anxious and feel disappointing to god for having close friends outside of the organization. In kindergarten, I didn’t get too close to my friends in school because I was taught they were all going to be destroyed by god for not being witnesses. We were scolded for even eating cupcakes at a school bday party. Being a teenager and mid twenties, it made me anxious to do things with “worldly” people because when I openly had friends that weren’t witnesses, the elders would take me in the back room and tell me to stop “keeping company” with non Jehovah’s witnesses, because it was upsetting Jehovah. If you continued being friends with a non witness, you were soft shunned. I was a kindergartener going through school thinking all of their friends were going to be killed by god. I was r-ped by a witness at five years old. His name was Freddy. It came out to the congregation that, including me, this man had done this to five other children. He was disfellowshipped (excommunicated) for 6 months. This man had been assaulting (that’s me putting it very very lightly) his own sister from the age of three, to sixteen. It is still unknown as to who got her pregnant at sixteen. Because no one reported him to the authorities, when he was allowed back into the congregation again, he was able to assault at least a dozen other children. We did not come forward because the misogyny in the organization would blame girls for “enticing” the men. We saw how this would be because when that man’s sins came out, all anyone talked about was how gross the sister was and how she must have tempted him. They PITIED him. My parents were told when I was thirteen to make me wear baggy clothing because my body was distracting to the men in the congregation. I was able to escape from the cult four years ago. In doing so, I was branded an apostate. My family will never have anything to do with me again. The friends I grew up with have not spoken to me since. Even the sister that was abused stopped speaking to me. However, the man that ra-ed and molested over a dozen children has said he’s “sorry” and is still an active member of the organization. According to their teachings, someone who has abandoned the “faith” is worse than a pedophile. My father deleted me on all social media, and attacked me for being an “agent of Satan”, yet is friends with the child molester that destroyed me and multiple other children. I went to the authorities about him a couple years ago. I gave the FBI agent that came to my house all the names of the victims. He was confident this man could be put away. Every single one of them denied it, and told mutual friends that they didn’t want to “bring reproach” on god aka Watchtower. They teach that me speaking against the organization is worse than a predator. And I’d be willing to bet there will be witnesses on my comment that will call me a liar. Because that is what they’re taught to say when someone comes forward about abuse. Anyone is welcome to google the secret elders book that the rank and file are not allowed to see. In it there is a passage saying smoking cigarettes is an immediate shunning matter. However, it verbatim states that viewing child pron is not considered child abuse and only a matter of shunning if it happens multiple times. It states the child pron viewer should only be “strongly counseled”. Lastly, the man that destroyed my innocence has since married a woman with children, and no one in the organization has ever informed this woman that she’s brought her children into a marriage with a child molester.
You are so fortunate to be away from all these sick, evil people. I wish you all the best. 💜
I hear you, I see you, I believe you.
I was raised a JW too... left at 24 as a pioneer & even served where the need is great down in Mississippi. I did all this just to make my mother happy, and make the family "look good." I feel like I escaped Alcatraz... I'm now 52. I now live a beautiful big full happy life, however it took about 10 years to unbrainwash myself from that cult. I'll never get my childhood back, but I live my life by my rules.
I wish you to heal and move on, its not easy, but it's worth it. A book that's helped me tremendously by Dr Nicole LePera: How To Do The Work
I'm praying for all of you! This is just terrible, but God is a healer.
Idk what congration you belonged to ive never heard of no bull like that and elder got caught tryna talk to a minor on social media sending things he wasnt supposed to he went to jail and was exiled hes no longer allowed back
@@YyouscaredHomie except as soon as he’s proven he’s “sorry” he will be accepted back in like nothing happened. It happens everywhere, my guy.
Omg my grandmother is a Jw and thank God she is very involved with the entire family and has friends who are not Jw , I am not a Jw but I grew up with them and all I have was good experiences for all the 11 years I never got baptized but I still received a lot of love , I moved out and never went back to the congregation but I still talk to a lot of them , with the same love as before even tho I am not a Jw again . Weird stuff happens in every religion, I’m happy I didn’t go trough any weird stuff and till today my grandma still si around all of family members ( she is the only Jw in my family )
Thanks for exposing their doble-talk. The Watchtower historically speaks out of both sides of their mouths, using half-truths to cover up their abusive ways.
I still remember as one of the most important moments and one of the best feelings of my life, when I slipped my letter of resignation (disassociation as the JWs say) under the door of the Kingdom Hall. Listening to this man when he broke free from the chains and said "I'm free" reminded me of it. It also reminds me of the film The Shawshank Redemption, when the main character manages to escape from prison, out of the drainpipe into the night, in the middle of a storm, that feeling of liberation is ineffable. Sadly the rest of my family is still " kidnapped " in the cult.
Hoping the best and nothing but healing for ex-witnesses. I really can’t imagine what it would be like, nothing but respect for you all.
Imagine having a business that pays no taxes. Has it’s workers work for free to go recruit more workers. Those workers pay you for the privilege of belonging to your business and when you have recruited enough people they pay to build another recruitment center to recruit even more workers. I was never baptized so officially never was a JW but I grew up in it and I know what goes on with the organization.
I was raised in that cult and the day it folds for good, will be a blessed day!
Stop the 🧢
Continue wishing
I guess you will NEVER have a blessed day, only those who worship Jehovah will make it through the millennium.
@@djparsons7363 Ain't nobody making it thru the millennium bud. See you in the dirt.
@@djparsons7363why r u watching apostate material? i’m going to tell the elders on you
I can’t escape these guys. Even showing up in my feed lol
They are insane
I'm an exjw...this made me rotff
Demons are showing up in your feed Demon- icus.
This guy literally has demon in his name. If anyone is creeping, it's his evil ass. His simple-minded troll talk sounds very demon puppet to me
LOL.. stay loyal bro, I'm pretty sure that you will be the one of the 144000 to govern the new earth in the future as promised
I’m a survivor of this horrible religion. It destroyed my family and I am having a really hard time trying to integrate myself into the “real” world since all I’ve known is this religious life. My parents became JW’s when I was 5 years old. It’s horrible. They are still active and I have had to cut them out of my life. I’m miserable.
Please know that you have made the right decision! It isnt easy at first but you are not alone, there is an army of us that have left and we support each other ❤
JW is a false Christian church.
Pray to Jehovah. He will be there for you.
@@karen4411 thank you! Hardest thing I’ve done in my life.
@@DJParadoxNYC666 yes, it will be the hardest thing, but the hardest thing is done and now you can rebuild. I couldnt even be in the same room as a bible for about 5 years. However, I found it useful to start researching. I lost my home, my spouse and at the time one of my children but by learning about the things that interested me but were considered wordly by the witnesses. Its been 15 years now and im still learning. Favourite subject is how the witnesses have twisted and manipulated the bible. You WILL get there, just hang in there and please know that there is a God, what we were taught about him has been manipulated to lead us away from the true knowledge of Him. Seek Him out for yourself and dont let the bitterness of the what happened with the organisation have any influence on your relationship with Him now.
He will bless you as He blessed me, i have a good relationship with my children, live a beautiful part of the world with my new husband, daughter and 4 grandchildren. And when its really tough, remember, nothing stays the same, THIS TOO SHALL PASS. Praying for you
I was raised a JW by our Adopted people. He’s telling the Truth. There was a lot we went through. Everything from s.a.,c.a.,m.a.,Being locked up in a closet out side to being chained to the base of the toilet, one of my siblings was disfellow shipped and we were no longer to speak to her. and much,much more happened.I was Emancipated in Kansas not long after I turned 17. And I thankGod for keeping Me safe and walking beside me the whole time. 🙏
I was raised under that faith and reacted violently to being indoctrinated, my family found that there was no possible conversion on me, not even extreme physical punishment made me comply, these people are INSANE.
I was raised a devout Jehovah's Witness and the mind control is real, the fear and influence are all real. The programming is real and people are encouraged to watch each other. I was disfellowshipped and shunned.
What mind control? I've been a JW for 50 years and there is no mind control, everyone learns what the Bible says but truth is not for everyone. Most of the world doesn't want any restrictions but our creator has every right to tell us what he requires, he gave us life.
You either follow the instructions for everlasting life or choose death, your choice.
@@djparsons7363 I rest my case.
@@djparsons7363so basically you have to join or you will be killed by god ? How is that a choice ? Think about it
@@djparsons7363 You will also die if you need a blood transfusion. You're in a cult. Wake up.
What did you get df'd for? Yall always leave that part out. Please share with us...
Yep this 100% correct. I was brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness and left when I was 18. I was abused as a child but got told to get over it and there wasn’t enough witnesses. I was lost for so long but Jesus Christ saved me ❤❤❤
My parents spent 20+ years as Jehovah’s Witnesses because my grandmother pressured them and my aunt/uncles into it. My sister was shunned and while she still lived at home, I at 10 years old was forced to act as if she didn’t exist. In the same house. Once I decided I wanted nothing to do with it at 15, my parents were heart broken. They were made to feel like failures by their congregation. Once they saw my sister and I didn’t end up on drugs or as teen parents, they loosened up a bit. Once they saw my sister finish school and me go on to work in medicine, they realized that the “jehovah is keeping your life together” line was nonsense. For the last 7-8 years, my parents haven’t been a part of the organization and it has been such a beautiful bloom for them. They’re happy, free, and our family has never been closer.