ex-jw-stories

[ex-jw-stories]

Jws: One day god will rain massive fireballs down on our planet and the earth will crack open and swallow entire cities whole and many people you've known and loved for years will die horribly right before your eyes. Isn't that such a wonderful thought?

5-year-old me:

[ex-jw-stories]

Anyone else two seconds away from a panic attack because the End Time Fear™?

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We got a not at all insane hand-written letter alongside a certain religious group's flyer for recruitment today, and the flyer was too funny so I couldn't help myself

It's also worth noting it did, of course, come along with a pizza flyer because that's the only mail we get

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[ex-jw-stories]

no offense but every single thing i have gotten through has been without god, and every single thing i will do will be without god. if he does exist, he abandoned me and i got through it anyways.

[ex-jw-stories]

This really feels to me like two people facing their belief systems. You have the one, Mobius, who decides to tear down the system, deconstructing his belief, and the other who doubles down. They can't break free of the cognitive dissonance and the sunk cost. It can't all be for nothing.

Owen Wilson as Mobius M. Mobius and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer LOKI (2021 - ) | Episode 6: For All Time. Always.

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You arrive at the gates of Heaven and there’s a sign posted on it that says “BEING A FURRY IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED”

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god when slavery, starvation, natural disasters, worldwide pandemic and suffering:

god when I am gay and trans my gender:

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The list of reasons to hate God is endless

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Are you an atheist? Or God hater

Whatever you are (idc tbh)

But do not call God a "him"

God is NOT him

God is not a her

Or a they

Or xe or xer

Or any other pronoun

Isn't God NOT a Human?

So pronouns are human-exclusive now? Are we gatekeeping Jehovah?

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I have never had a thought in my life. My skull has a cloud in it that bounces around like a windows screensaver

[ex-jw-stories]

So this isn’t necessarily directed at the person who wrote that ‘I’m Smarter Than Other ExJWs’ post (though considering they @‘d everyone responding in tags to make sure we KNEW they WEREN’T responding to us, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were checking blogs) - this is very much an open letter to the little exJW community we have on here, especially the younger ones. I say that like I’m not young myself, but I have had more uh. ‘Real Life’ experience than, obviously, a lot of PIMOs, especially those stuck at home and only able to really access the outside world through a double life, often an internet one. I do not have any irl ex-cult friends, and the ex-Christians I do know I don’t talk to frequently - not out of choice, mind, just haven’t run into too many in irl friend circles. But i HAVE been surrounded by a very diverse group of people from very different upbringings, and have been reminded, myself, time and time again, and I’m here to remind everyone else:

We were so, so sheltered, and naive, and just. Cut off from the real world. I do not mean that to say we were gullible, or stupid, or whatever - many of us were just children, after all, and as a fellow exJW, I know the pain and shame of thinking myself stupid for having ‘fallen’ for indoctrination. But our cult did isolate us from humanity, from the world. And we have to acknowledge this. We have to. We cannot heal, truly, without doing so.

When you leave, especially born-ins like me, we have lived in a different reality, for years upon years. We have been fed lies and been told they were truth. This is exactly why waking up is so traumatic - we are finally realizing how disconnected we have been, and how little we have known, after believing we knew everything. It is horrifying and devastating and literally world-shaking.

But unlearning our indoctrination does not stop the last time we leave a Kingdom Hall. You will overturn something in your brain and find new untruths hidden underneath, like dust, collecting in places you hadn’t even considered possible. This will continue to happen, forever. It never stops. This sounds scary, and it is, but much like waking up, scary as it can be, you were not better off with those things in your head, reassuring you that you can rest and ignore and stagnate. It becomes a relief, I promise, to instead realize you had been stunted, not soothed, and now have room to grow. Beyond the bigotry, especially.

So please grow. You have questioned so much already, to be here, to read this far. I’m so sorry, and I know it’s heavy, but you cannot rest in your unlearning. The world is so much bigger and confusing and complicated and beautiful for its complications than the cult made you think. It painted reality in black and white for you, and not only are there greys, there is color. You have been kept ignorant of its beauty. Do not blind yourself to it, too.

Remember you know nothing, and please be kind. We are all trying to find our way in this new reality.

[ex-jw-stories]

Wow, you're just an asshole, then.

Most Ex-JWs Are Kind of Like JWs

The trauma and conditioning of being a JW leaves many in a frame of mind that simply emulates the previous mode of being, when they were still a witness.

Having nothing to replace the false spirituality of the Witnesses with, they turn to another set of beliefs, usually eclectically.

It'll be something to do with Satan usually, as it's hard to dump that forbidden theme that played all through the Witness life. Wicca is another popular go-to.

The temptation to entertain these notions is merely self-destructive and demonstrates how much in bondage to the Witnesses you still are.

It's sad that most people absolutely need a narrative handed to them from someone else to know their place in the universe.

Religion. Is. Not. The. Answer.

There is no answer. There is no question until you ask one.

And that's just setting yourself up for the fail.

You exist. Get over it. It's a mystery for the most part, one you will never solve. Stop inventing stories. Stop regurgitating others' invented stories.

There is no Jesus. There is no Buddha. There is no Lucifer. There is no Jehovah. These are names of story book characters.

Please help yourself.

[ex-jw-stories]

Me when I'm chilling in my room and my family starts belting out Kingdom Hall songs from the living room:

[ex-jw-stories]

A big thing ex-cult members need to learn is that everybody is allowed to live their life. So what if someone becomes a Satanist? If you did any research you'd know the satanic temple is an atheistic organization.

So what if someone becomes pagan? It is what it is and as long as they aren't hurting you mind your own damn bussiness.

Most Ex-JWs Are Kind of Like JWs

The trauma and conditioning of being a JW leaves many in a frame of mind that simply emulates the previous mode of being, when they were still a witness.

Having nothing to replace the false spirituality of the Witnesses with, they turn to another set of beliefs, usually eclectically.

It'll be something to do with Satan usually, as it's hard to dump that forbidden theme that played all through the Witness life. Wicca is another popular go-to.

The temptation to entertain these notions is merely self-destructive and demonstrates how much in bondage to the Witnesses you still are.

It's sad that most people absolutely need a narrative handed to them from someone else to know their place in the universe.

Religion. Is. Not. The. Answer.

There is no answer. There is no question until you ask one.

And that's just setting yourself up for the fail.

You exist. Get over it. It's a mystery for the most part, one you will never solve. Stop inventing stories. Stop regurgitating others' invented stories.

There is no Jesus. There is no Buddha. There is no Lucifer. There is no Jehovah. These are names of story book characters.

Please help yourself.

[ex-jw-stories]

You wouldn't make these excuses for a human (I fucking hope), why tf is it okay for god to murder people or send bears to maul children or send plagues to make large groups suffer or threaten people with hell or just generally be a tyrant???

[ex-jw-stories]

Rebellion means clipped wings grown out with new feathers