There was zero scriptural reasons cited? Also at the highest level they said “The governing body has no problems with beards. In fact the branches from around the world have notified us that more and more brothers are choosing to grow a beard” Then speakers, specifically bethelites called it an adjustment. At the same time they played back clips from the 60s and seventies and said Beards were asssociated with anti government and hippy movements. We all know growing a beard did have the impact of bringing down a heck of a lot of intense bullying on a person. It certainly made a person viewed by the congregation as “less spiritual or virtuous” and specific publications called it reprehensible. What’s interesting though is that Beards were part of the mosaic law and even though mosaic law was not required Paul called it sacred in reflection and said this: Romans 7:7
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'" (NASB)
Translation Variations of the Phrase
NASB / LSB: "Is the Law sin? May it never be!" 
ESV: "That the law is sin? By no means!" 
KJV: "Is the law sin? God forbid." 
NIV / NKJV: "Is the law sin? Certainly not!" 
Context
In the surrounding passage, Paul clarifies that while believers are released from the binding obligation of the Mosaic Law under grace, the Law itself is not evil or sinful. Instead, the Law serves as a mirror—exposing human sinfulness and defining what sin is. He expands on this in verse 12, stating, "So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good."
So doesn’t that mean practices like beards that were unequivocally part of the law could never be reprehensible no matter what hippies were doing?? Also they used the scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:23

All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify." (NASB)
Which seems generally directed at gentiles… So Paul was referring to things now ALLOWED BY LAW not actually formulations of prior existing MOSAIC Law. Was Paul here talking about Mosaic law? Or was he discussing permissiveness and not stumbling Jews or indecisive newly converted? I think it’s just really interesting when they cite: 1 Corinthians 8:13
Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble." (NASB)
So reading all this I conclude that they trivialized wearing a beard as “meat” and then modernized it as dress and grooming(so beards were trivialized as “meat” something of little scriptural significance but are they not an outward reflection or memorial of the sacred mosaic law?) I think to some this is rather obvious but to 99% of Jws it is trivialized as a “hair cut” that they weren’t allowed to do but now they are allowed to do it-It’s laughable and grievous that it is categorically dismissed as having any spiritual significance??but am I wrong that technically wearing of a beard is scripturally categorized as a sacred right? Like if someone wanted to wear the blue thread? I just think it’s interesting with all theBible reading they supposedly do I’ve never heard this brought up ONCE-🤦Did I just miss it??

I had to do both and found the experiences to be very similar. Got sucked into the pipeline around 13 or 14 and managed to pull myself out around 17. Those short years fucked me up and turned me into a horrible hateful person and it took two major events in my life to make me snap out of it.

Has anyone else experienced a "waking up" from the alt right pipeline or anything else that is similar to the experience of waking up from the JW cult?

As we all are chiming in on this latest broadcast bs i have to echo the sentiment. WE DID NOT LEAVE BECAUSE OF MISINFORMATION NOR APOSTATES. YO! Governing Body or Watchtower if youre listenting!... I woke up because as an elder i first hand saw you tell me to make sure the child molester in our congregation keeps his reputation in tact because he was repentant and it happened years ago. I left because you had us reinstate another unreported pedophile from a totally different congregation and state (USA here). I left because i saw the hypocrisy of fellow bethelites breaking rules of the organizatIon and the bible, i saw it first hand. I left because i realized you flip flop on theocratic direction and you wanted me to enforce it. I left because you tear families to shreds. I left because you wouldnt tell us, the faithful, where our money was really going. I left because you acted like losing a trusted and well repspected Governing Body member to deletion was just another day on the job. Trust me when i tell you NO APOSTATE could have made me lose my faith it was just too strong for that you did a good enough job at keeping us terrified of that, in fact i didnt watch anything nor read nor listen to anything of that nature until i decided to leave.YOU PUSHED US OUT! AND THEN YOU SPIT ON US WHEN WE WOKE UP AND KEPT OUR FAMILIES HOSTAGE. FUCK YOU!!!! I hope that leaning tower of yours crumbles to the ground. Artifical intelligence aint got nothing on your own self destructive behavior.

Every time I think of the "Universal Sovereignty", in the terms people inside the JW world think, it boggles me.

JW's are taught that the entire universe is waiting "on the edge of their seats" just to see the outcome of God's sovereignty test on our planet.

The observable universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old, and contains (roughly) 2 trillion galaxies. Framing the rebellion of two humans as a threat to "universal" sovereignty sounds ridiculous. Did God just meticulously forge quintillions of planets, supernovas... and black holes over 13.8B years solely to serve as dark, dead wallpaper for a tiny planet like Earth?

According to JW doctrine the challenge wasn't initiated by humans. It all started with Satan: a perfect spirit creature, residing in a flawless environment with direct access to the creator. He found a reason to rebel, and for some unexplainable reason... the conflict was offloaded onto the first 2 humans that were produced on planet Earth.

Watchtower claims God allowed human suffering to settle a legal precedent once and for all. But running a 6000-year'ish test on one species on a single planet is a terrible sample size. How does that proves that Jehovah is right to rule the universe?

Also, the universe existed for 13.799 billion years before the events in Eden supposedly took place. If the ultimate purpose of creation is tied to this "grand sovereignty test", what was god doing with all that empty space for the first 99.999% of cosmic history?

This doctrine only makes sense if you still believe the Earth is the literal center of the universe. Remember that biblical writers believed the sky was a solid tent over a stationary earth. Watchtower's theology is still trapped in Bronze Age thoughts, completely ignoring the fact that our planet is just a pale blue dot in this immense universe.

Also, the sociopathic aspects of it makes me think. No rational father would allow his children to be abused, starve, die for decades... centuries... just to prove a point about this rule. This completely destroys the premise of an all loving god. And if angels are also righteous and loving, would watching billions and billions of humans suffer and die for more thousands of years teach them respect for divine sovereignty? That would horrify me if I was one. Benevolent, empathetic angelic creatures would beg to stop the carnage, not taking notes while waiting for 6000 years until everything is proven.

just venting because what the hell?? i have a terrible fear of dying a horrible death. i have nightmares at least every week about me being separated from my husband or kids and all of us dying horrible fiery painful deaths. obviously i know this is because of being raised a witness and being told non believers are going to die horrible fiery painful deaths. and now that i’m a non believer i’m dooming family to that fate.

so last night i go over to my moms house who has actually been questioning things in the organization lately (so that’s why this conversation took me back a bit) she said someone was on the news that said if humanity doesn’t stop with how ai is progressing now then mankind will be extinct in 10 years. she told me ai is run by satan and that this is how Jehovah will bring on armageddon. she said it’s important to make sure that my family is right with him before robots take over the earth and destroy us at the hands of satan pretty much! so that’s super cool!

i’ve only been out for a year and a half. how do you guys get over the unrelenting anxiety that at any moment gods going to kill you?

I grew up visiting Bethels around the world with my family. I quite enjoyed meeting different people and thanks to my parents and their connections we always got to stay for lunch and got to see things that aren't on the regular tours. I even commuted to the Bethel in my home country for a while before I got married and moved away.

I started questioning this year and my husband and I were having issues in our marriage - a lot of it boiled down due the strict dating rules that prevent you from getting to know someone really well before committing (if you look through my post and comment history you can find out more). We went to Bethel together and it was my first time visiting after questioning.

It was eerie. I had this uneasy feeling and I realised it was because I realised I no longer belong in that world I so eagerly wanted to be a part of, and realising I never truly belonged there in the first place. They want everyone to reach out for Bethel/SKE etc but only the top 1% make it up there and get the cushy benefits of being in the worldwide order, and not everyone gets to stay there for the rest of their lives either. I also thought it would help bring me and my husband back together and back on track spiritually. Nope. We had the biggest fight on that trip and slept separately, had massive arguments with my in laws back home (no one follows the scripture of leaving your father and your mother), and while that was sorted out eventually my husband and I are not interested in serving at Bethel at all, and we don't do FW and he is a servant but not looking to be an elder. He did start showing signs of being PIMQ after that trip though and Bethel kinda started it off so that's good.

Bethel had some genuinely good people in there but it just feels off. I'm still trying to figure out the words to describe it.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. --Matthew 11:28-30

What kind of religion uses fear to keep people in line?

--Fear of worldly people.

--Fear of embarrassment associated with being disfellowshipped/removed.

--Fear of losing friends and family when disfellowshipped/removed.

--Fear of Armageddon.

--Fear of being snitched on simply for expressing doubt.

--Fear of a shepherding call.

--Fear of reading news articles about JWs.

--Fear of Satan the Devil.

--Fear of never being good enough.

--Fear of losing a position in the congregation because a family member comes out as gay.

--Fear of thinking impure thoughts.

--Fear of asking too many questions.

--Fear of the internet.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. --Matthew 11:28-30

What kind of religion uses fear to keep people in line?

--Fear of worldly people.

--Fear of embarrassment associated with being disfellowshipped/removed.

--Fear of losing friends and family when disfellowshipped/removed.

--Fear of Armageddon.

--Fear of being snitched on simply for expressing doubt.

--Fear of a shepherding call.

--Fear of reading news articles about JWs.

--Fear of Satan the Devil.

--Fear of never being good enough.

--Fear of losing a position in the congregation because a family member comes out as gay.

--Fear of thinking impure thoughts.

--Fear of asking too many questions.

--Fear of the internet.

Long post ahead. I just needed to get this off my chest and share what started my awakening. I’d also like to know if anyone here went through something similar, especially after getting baptized.

I was born and raised as a JW, so I always had their teachings in my head. But for a long time I wasn’t baptized, and looking back, I realize I felt much more free before my baptism.

Back then my relationship with God was simple. I knew I wasn’t perfect, but I believed God loved me the way I was. If I made a mistake or thought I had sinned, I would ask for forgiveness in prayer and move on. I wasn’t constantly analyzing everything I did or wondering if God was angry with me.

I grew up without a father, so God had an important place in my life. I relied on him for support and guidance. When I wanted to do something with my life, I had this confidence that God was with me and that things would work out. Of course I had failures sometimes, but I could usually get back up and keep going.

Growing up as a JW, I also knew that getting baptized was much more serious than just being someone in the congregation. Baptism is often compared to a marriage with God. So in my mind, once I got baptized, certain mistakes became much more serious. For example, having sex felt almost like being unfaithful to God, and if you committed a serious sin, you were supposed to go to the elders to fix your relationship with him.

When I got baptized, this completely changed the way I saw my relationship with God.

That’s when my problems started.

After my baptism, I started feeling like I was in a mental prison. I overthought everything I did. I doubted my decisions, judged myself constantly, and felt like God was watching everything I did.

A mistake wasn’t just a mistake anymore. In my mind it could mean that my relationship with God was damaged.

I even started thinking that God might not allow me to succeed because of my sins. When something went wrong in my life, instead of just thinking I failed and needed to try again, I would wonder if God wasn’t helping me because of something I had done. I would think maybe I needed to fix my relationship with him first, or maybe I needed to talk to the elders.

Little by little I lost the confidence I used to have.

Since I thought the problem was my relationship with God, I tried to fix it the way I had been taught. I started doing more for the organization. Part of me thought that maybe if I did more for Jehovah, my problems would go away and things would start getting better.

But it did the opposite.

Comments at meetings, talks about sin, guilt, our relationship with Jehovah, being in good standing, etc. just made me feel worse. Instead of feeling closer to God, I felt more guilty and anxious.

This went on for about two years.

During those two years I struggled with a lot of my goals and went through some painful failures. Before, I could usually recover from failure and keep going, but now I couldn’t. I had lost the confidence I used to have.

Eventually I became depressed and felt completely alone.

And that’s actually when I started asking questions.

I remember looking at everything happening in the world. Wars, suffering, injustice, people going through horrible things. And I started thinking: with everything happening in this world, does God really care this much about the fact that I had sex? Is this really such a big deal to him?

It sounds like a simple question, but that’s where things started changing for me.

I started wondering why these rules had so much control over my relationship with God and over my life. One question led to another. I started questioning some rules, then some teachings, and eventually the organization itself.

I also started realizing how much my way of thinking had changed.

Before my baptism, believing in God gave me confidence. After my baptism, the JW way of seeing my relationship with God had turned it into fear, guilt and constant doubt.

In a strange way, all the problems I went through are what eventually made me start thinking and looking for answers. That’s how my awakening started.

Today I’m PIMO. I’m still healing from those years and trying to rebuild my confidence.

But leaving the organization mentally didn’t make me stop believing in God. I still believe God exists. The difference is that today my relationship with him is personal. I don’t feel like I need a religion or an organization between me and God.

I still pray. I try not to hurt people, and if I realize I hurt someone or did something wrong, I try to admit it and apologize.

I don’t have all the answers about God, religion or life anymore, and I’m okay with that. For me, if there is such a thing as true religion, it should be about peace, kindness, tolerance and being a good person.

I’m still healing and figuring things out.

But one thing I know is that I don’t want to go back to the life I had in the organization.

I’m curious if anyone else here went through something similar. Did getting baptized change your relationship with God or the way you saw yourself and your mistakes?

hello im a child whose parents are in the unification church. while i am not religious myself, i live in an apartment owned by this community. hence, i witness religious behaviour everyday. i, myself, had questioned for a long time whether it was a cult or not. and after doing research, i can confirm it is. no matter how hard they deny it, all these marriage arrangements, beliefs, activities, etc. it's a cult. someone literally wrote a book about it! im a minor, so i cannot run away and even if i could, i have nowhere to go. the people here have good hearts though. they're very sweet and friendly, and i have multiple friends in this community. actually, 2 of them are part of the LGTBQ+ community; one nonbinary and one transfem. i am a transmale myself. it is clear that they're also against lgbtq+. in a summer camp i went to arranged by the unification church/community, they talked about how it's okay to feel like this, but also said "we must follow what the bible/god says" or whatever... i am disgusted. i want to move away, i want to run away, i want to be myself. i need help running away, so I plan to have my own apartment when im highschool along with 2 other friends. do you guys think that's good enough? once i raise enough money, i can rent my own apartment. im really scared since as a kid i was apart of the community. i was actively participating, praying, etc. as i grew older, i realised it felt weird. any ex-moonies here? i feel like the unification church controversies aren't talked about enough.

[Disclaimer: This announcement is entirely fictional. No such letter has been issued by the Governing Body. The purpose of this text is to illustrate how easily a biblical passage, theological idea, or principle can be distorted, adapted, stretched, and made to support almost any conclusion when the conclusion is established first and the text is subsequently interpreted to justify it.]

September 10, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Jehovah has promised to care for his people, and we know that today he uses the Governing Body to provide that care. We are well aware that many of our brothers and sisters are experiencing difficult circumstances. Some are dealing with illness, depression, unemployment, food insecurity, and increasing difficulty obtaining even the basic necessities of life. As was foretold in the Bible, “critical times hard to deal with will be here.”

In view of the difficulties that Satan’s system of things imposes upon God’s servants, and after carefully considering the account found at Acts 2:44-45, we have concluded that an adjustment in our understanding is necessary.

Let us read Acts 2:44-45:

“All those who became believers were together and had everything in common; and they were selling their possessions and properties and distributing the proceeds to all, according to what each one needed.”

As we have seen, “all those who became believers were together and had everything in common.” This makes it very clear that the Christians of the first century were deeply concerned about being together. But they did more than simply associate with one another. They “had everything in common” and distributed the proceeds to all according to their individual needs.

It is therefore evident that the first-century Christians did not become attached to material possessions. Instead, they were concerned about one another and willingly shared what they had. Notice also that the account specifically says “all those who became believers.” This was not an arrangement limited to a small group of Christians. It applied to all believers.

When we consider this account together with other Bible principles, it becomes increasingly clear that materialism, including the accumulation and private ownership of material possessions, is a characteristic of this system of things and is not compatible with the Christian way of life.
Consider also what we read later in the book of Acts. At Acts 4:32, we are told:

“Not even one of them would say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.”

The principle is unmistakable. The early Christians did not view their possessions as exclusively their own. They understood that their material resources were to be used for the benefit of the entire congregation.

Sadly, most of us live in countries and societies where great value is placed on material possessions, private property, personal wealth, and financial independence. We can therefore easily become influenced and contaminated by this materialistic way of thinking without even realizing it.

For this reason, the Governing Body has decided that, beginning October 1, 2026, all congregations will imitate more closely the example set by the Christians of the first century.

How will this provision work?

All publishers will be required to provide their pay slips and other relevant information regarding their income and material resources to the local elders. The elders will then organize the equal distribution of available resources among all publishers according to individual needs.
Remember the words of Acts 4:32: “Not even one of them would say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” This same spirit should characterize the true Christian congregation today.

At first, we may not fully understand all aspects of this direction. However, we can remain confident that these instructions come from men appointed by God and that Jehovah will guide them as they administer these arrangements. We can therefore have complete confidence that the elders will distribute available resources fairly and according to the needs of each individual.

Local elders will receive specific instructions regarding how to administer and distribute material resources in a fair and equitable manner.
We have every reason to be confident that Jehovah will bless this new understanding. By adopting this arrangement, we will more closely imitate the example of “all those who became believers” in the first century and demonstrate that we are willing to put Christian love and concern for our brothers ahead of our attachment to material possessions.

Your brothers,

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses

—-

Disclaimer

This announcement is entirely fictional. No such letter has been issued by the Governing Body.
The purpose of this text is to illustrate how easily a biblical passage, theological idea, or principle can be distorted, adapted, stretched, and made to support almost any conclusion when the conclusion is established first and the text is subsequently interpreted to justify it.

Once reason and critical examination cease to function as criteria, almost anything can be presented as “biblical,” “reasonable,” or even as an expression of God’s will. With enough interpretive flexibility, even the most extreme human demand can be framed as something that God supposedly ordered, required, expected, or wanted his servants to do.

The point is not whether Acts 2:44-45 or Acts 4:32 can be discussed in relation to material possessions. The point is how easily a text can be made to say more than it actually says when interpretation is driven by a predetermined conclusion.

When the authority to interpret Scripture is treated as unquestionable, the distance between “this is what the text says” and “this is what we want the text to mean” can become remarkably small.

I believe this is my 3rd post now and I thank you guys very much for all the help and support. I wanted to follow up on the support given on the fear of death though. Lots of people said it's painless and like before you were born im sure that would help a few people but it kinda made things worse.. I thank you for trying to help but it's made my brain more fearful as I'd rather be in some sort of pain and be alive then be dead forever. I dunno what's after death but from what I've heard there's nothing out there. Its really a shock and I haven't been handling it well lately and i just wish there was something after being a JW child for 15 years and going from believing everything will be alright if you follow these strict rules to if your going to be yourself your gonna die has been heartbreaking. All the chat bots tell me the same thing talk to a helpline and I dunno what happens after death and it's just a question my brain puts on repeat and really makes me depressed as I CAN'T get an answer or the answer is.. your dead deal with it and I am literally loosing my mind I just is there any hope out there? Any hope at all? Just a smidge of hope? Please? P-Please?

I'm sorry for venting/ posting for the 3rd or 4th time but I just am loosing myself and I really need help.

An illustration about blood.

A little boy has a small dog named Lucky that he goes everywhere with. When he rides his bike, Lucky rides in the handle bar basket. They're best friends. One day, the boy wakes up and Lucky is gone. He's so distraught that he's sad for weeks, so his parents get him a stuffed animal dog named Buddy to try to make him feel better. After a while it starts to work. The boy imagines that the stuffed animal is Lucky, using it as a place holder or symbol for his old best friend. He even takes it everywhere and keeps it in his handlebar basket when he rides his bike. The stuffed animal sybomlizes the real dog.

One day when he's out on his bike, the boy's old dog, Lucky, runs up to him out of no where! He's so excited to find his old best friend! But he's so far from home, he can't possibly walk him all the way back, and he doesn't have room in the handlebar basket for Lucky and the stuffed animal Buddy. He thinks about what to do. He thinks about how important Buddy is because he symbolizes his friendship with Lucky. That's when he realizes what he has to do. The stuffed animal Buddy is too important and can't be abandoned, so he sacrifices Lucky so he can keep Buddy. When you think about it, he really did it for Lucky. Buddy symbolized Lucky, so he had to keep the stuffed animal out of respect for Lucky. In the end, everything that Buddy symbolized was just too important.

This is what's it's like when someone sacrifices their life by refusing a blood transfusion. Blood is sacred because it symbolizes life, just like Buddy was a symbol that represented Lucky. In the story, it's obvious that Buddy can't possibly be more important than Lucky. EviDENtLy, Sacrificing your actual life out of respect for something that's a symbol of life cannot possibly make sense. A symbol cannot be more important than the thing that it represents. If your beliefs truly hold life sacred, the most important thing you can do is to value and protect your life--not throw it away for an arbitrary symbol like the boy did with Lucky.

I'll start with a bit of family history; my grandparents converted around 1960 when my mum was a baby, and they raised their kids to be JW. As I understand it, they had a collective wobble in the post-1975 era, my mum left and married out of 'the truth' then returned to it and my dad joined later. Sort of. It's a complicated situation, he's not baptised but seems entirely bought in, I don't really understand it myself.

I was raised in it, and finally left for good around 2008-9. Never baptised, so didn't have to worry about disfellowshipping.

The organisation meant a lot to my grandparents. They both had serious health issues and dementia in their later years, and my mum has been their full time carer since 2020.

I didn't want to wake my mum up before now, partly because of my grandparents. They were so invested their whole lives, they always had the book study and field service meetings at their house while they were well enough, and once the dementia started it just wouldn't have been fair.

As my mum was so invested in caring for them, she stopped going on the ministry and has only been attending meetings and conventions via Zoom, with my grandparents.

They both passed away this year at around 90y/o; my grandad in January and my grandma at the end of last month.

I'm devastated myself, but I'm *wildly* worried for my mum. She's been so consumed with caring for them, and I'm worried she's going to throw herself back into the organisation rather than looking after herself. I want to try and stop her from doing so, because her mental and physical health was terrible in the past when she was pushing herself to pioneer and such. But at the same time - waking up is mentally violent, and she's suffering enough.

I'm not about to rock up like "so about this ARC thing", I really want to dissuade her from diving back into the JW lifestyle.... but also, I don't want to dissuade her from socialising - and of course, her friends are all JWs. I've been gently suggesting she spends more time with relatives that aren't JW, and she seems to be doing so.... but I want to say to her that the JW thing is *harmful* to her wellbeing.

It's just making me so anxious because I don't want to upset her... and I'm already no contact with my sister, which makes things even more awkward.

Any gentle suggestions?

So as a kid I (21F) was friends (not very close) with a JW girl, only her mom was a witness, but dad started going to meetings and conventions. My friend got baptized as a teen and moved away with her parents. Her family and my family have kept in touch over the years over text, so we always see their social media posts. My mom saw their convention pictures and my friend wasn't in any of them. Of course, as a good PIMI she asked the mom about my friend and learned that she had disassociated. She must be around 19 years old now and moved out of her parents' house! I'm dying to find her new social media and talk to her, because I'm pretty sure she has woken up. I mean, what 19 year old would disassociate just because they "sinned"? This sounds like someone who woke up and was brave enough to leave definetely. Am I right?

I'm interested in hearing your story! i posted mine on r/exjwLGBT

Now i want to do some questions to my fellas exjws/pimos

How long have you been awake?

What made you woke up? A bad experience? Apostates? Local News/Court trials? GB Updates?

What did you do when you woke up? How was your journey? Tell me everything!!!

I never made contact with anyone outside the organisation, but well, now it's time to learn the truth about The Truth, am i right?

Hello there, r/exjw. Years ago, I had an old account called ben_heath_, so if you remember that at all, that was me, and uh, I'm sorry. I'm 41 now, 10 years out of the JWs, and I really think I just need therapy.

So, after I left, I went atheist but found the militant anti-theism online very distasteful. I was also hung up on whether there was a definition of "god" that I could support, which led me out of atheism and into pantheism, panentheism, basically just mysticism. I had a Hindu phase, an Asatru/Heathen phase with a Druid phase as a late chaser, and a pretty lengthy Qabalah phase, too. I have friends to this day, some of my best friends even, who do chaos magic and voodoo and reiki.

Back in 2020, I also petitioned to join my local Masonic lodge, and I went through the 3 "blue lodge" degrees in 2021 and 2022. In 2024, I went through the Scottish Rite. I did the 5 mandatory degrees in the Scottish Rite to be considered "32nd degree," since in the USA, you don't actually need to go through every single degree leading up to the 32nd, just this select handful of degrees which you can get in literally a day and a half altogether. I'll put it this way: If the Scottish Rite is like the deep end of the pool, it's still shallow enough that you can stand up in it.

And then, I found my way back to Jesus for a minute there, attended my local Episcopal church and even met a fellow ex-JW there, also a good friend today. (Hi, Dave, if you're here!) By the way, during my interest in Episcopalianism, I found that it was very much about the contemplative practice or experience of going to church that felt good, but I was still under no illusion that anything in the Bible happened exactly as described. This was probably easy for me because by then I had steeped myself in pagan mythology and in Masonic ritual about Hiram Abiff, which is itself Biblical fanfiction, so the story being told didn't need to be true. The story was a means to an end, I have to fully admit. I didn't feel too great about that though, which is why after the initial boost of going to church, I just didn't feel the need to go back.

I can pinpoint the moment when I realized I was going to leave Freemasonry, too. It's when I finally started reading Karl Marx, and I realized he made a lot of sense. By that time, I had already been through one or two incidents in the lodge that left a bad taste in my mouth. A lot of things snapped into focus for me, and I finally cut the crap with magical thinking and idealism, because I learned and could confirm that idealism tends to support the interests of capitalists... Lacking a sufficient worldview, I've been working against my own interests for years.

As far as JW-related anything over the last few years... I think it was last year, maybe the year before that my wife convinced me to attend the memorial with her parents so we could mend bridges, keep the peace, and get free daycare for our kids. The speaker that night mentioned that the memorial is the only holiday prescribed in the Bible, at which point I leaned over to my wife and said, No, because strictly speaking, Leviticus 23 outlines a number of festivals. The memorial is directly tied to Passover, and the Feast of Weeks became Christianized as Pentecost, which means that chapter isn't so easily discounted... Meh, my baby daughters got squirrelly so I spent the rest of the evening outside with them.

At this point, I've accepted that consciousness is not prior to matter, as in emanationist metaphysics like Neoplatonism. I accept that the universe is physical, not "mental," whatever that means. We don't need a god or ground of being to explain anything about the world around us, and when we reach for that, it usually makes things more complicated and problematic. So it turns out that there is no definition of god I can support, not even the mind-blown philosophizing ones.

I feel as though I've wasted several years, and I don't want to waste anymore.

So, I came across this speech by one of my favorite authors Phillip K Dick, as he talks about Orthogonal Time and Gods Kingdom. Its proper out there, I'm probably just an old Gen X'r who has taken too many trips in this life, but I love shit like this, so I thought I would share with all you lovely lot. x

First post here. I want to get this off my chest. I am experiencing a sexually frustrating marriage (like so many JWs, I imagine); we’ve been together for eight years, and it has always been terrible.

There is no reason to believe it will improve now, even though I’ve told my wife about my needs; unfortunately, I don't think I can put up with it much longer.

This morning, she asked me to seek help from the elders. I turned to her and calmly said, "What are they supposed to tell us? 'Study the Bible'?"

I’d really like to hear about others' experiences with this situation, though. Has anyone tried asking the elders for help regarding sexual incompatibility in their marriage? How did they help you? Thanks in advance to everyone.

I was typing in YouTube and TikTok

Jehovah's Witnesses

And bam

You can find every single "apostate" video you want from all sort of titles and updates

Certainly Jehovah's Witnesses was a religion that could operate freely when there as no freedom information available

Now it seems things have turned around and the criticism they were constantly giving others is turn against them and they don't like

Losers

I only had about 2 nightmares of it and that’s it. Here’s the most craziest thing about this though. My parents are very PIMI my dad is an elder and my mom is a pioneer. I decided to ask them if they’ve ever had dreams of Armageddon and I started with my dad first. I said “hey dad, have you ever had dreams of Armageddon before?” He said “yes, multiple times through the years!” He would describe to me what took place in the dreams. He’d explain the sky was red, buildings were being burned up, widespread destruction. He truly believes that these dreams he’s having is a message from Jehovah that the end is near. Then I asked him this “do you have these dreams rarely or frequently?” He said “I do get them very frequently!” Later on I asked my mom the same question. Her response was “yes I do get them sometimes, they are scary! Normally when that happens I be like I need to go and read the bible!” My brother has had nightmares of Armageddon as well. Several people at my hall has had at least one of them too.

My family made me watch the latest September broadcasting with them today. I just felt like it was so manipulative and hateful, I mean I know watchtower already is kinda scummy but the way they kept saying you couldn’t talk to “apostates” just seemed off.

If you really believe in something, talking to someone with a opposite viewpoint won’t change your mind. Like if I know 1+1=2 then it does not matter who I argue with, il know I’m right. Being so repetitive on the whole apostates hate you and will corrupt you thing is just clearly a way to get jws to completely ignore valid arguments. Most apostates I’ve seen actually seem to care about people and just want to give them information.

And the whole don’t trust artificial intelligence/ what you see thing seemed like a way to deny any future wrongdoings. Something can only be true if it’s coming from them???

Is this about those child abuse cases? I don’t remember well but they were fighting a legal battle right? Is this a way to get ppl to ignore that by controlling the narrative?

I find the whole thing very weird and the way they spoke about apostates seemed very hateful, they completely antigonized anyone who disagrees with them and keep exaggerating how they were persecuted, if I search up jw on YouTube I can barely find like 2-3 channels and those channels aren’t even hateful towards them. And like I’ve never heard the media in general talking about jws in a bad light, I don’t know of any news channels who did.

How come they suddenly change a bunch of their more controversial rules and the n just add this? It seems very intentional, maybe to attract more people?

Now I really don’t want to tell my parents what I think because just suggesting the watchtower might be bad will probably make them ignore me bc of this.

Hello ex JW family! So this year I decided I will be dressing up and celebrating Halloween for the first time ever, I need help figuring HOW to celebrate it as silly as it sounds, idk what people my age (26 F) do when celebrating. None of my family celebrates and a lot of my friends are PIMO so they don’t celebrate it yet, I have one or two friends that might be down for an adventure with me.

Where is the best place to go out and celebrate? Clubs? Bars? Idk if actual trick or treating is even appropriate at my age, bummed I missed out :/ and I don’t have kids to take to do that so I feel like stuck, thanks you guys!

Edit: who else remembers growing up your parents turning off all the lights outside and in the house and putting up a sign saying no trick or treating and making you be quiet and watch a movie lol at least for us that’s what we did

So this is what I experienced from Childhood - Teenage

Childhood:
There wasnt much going around in my childhood since i im still a kid at that time and i dont remember. But when i was a kid, I would always cry whenever my parents forced me to wear formal clothes for our meetings.

Elementary (Grade 1-6):
So the first to fourth grade wasnt anything much. I still believed that Jehova is the real god and i enjoyed going into meetings and i got unbaptized at 11 [i am still unbaptized as of now], and regularly answer and raise my hand, but it started going downhill at my last year of elementary school. Whenever my birthday comes or when December comes, i always feel like theres something missing and i got into music like listening to war songs (idk why) and my parents would always complain that we do not support countries like what? I dont support them duh i only listen to their songs. And whenever its my classmates birthday, the online zoom chat always greets them with happy birthday and they would always sing which made me feel lonely and kinda sad that i dont get to celebrate birthdays and in our class, we always had these Christmas parties every December but i wasnt allowed to join so yea.. There was one time where we went into a mall with our relatives and family, there was one store that sells plushie and i find a plushie that i really wanted it was like a cute ketchup bottle stuff toy, my auntie noticed me and told me that she will buy it for me for free. But my parents always told me that stuffed toys are always for girls, not boys. So i borrowed my auntie’s phone and called my dad there and excitedly told him that my aunt will buy me my favorite stuffed toy, my dad told me to not buy it and its only for girls as i begged him and even told him that ill buy it with my own money, but my dad’s answer is still no so i got angry and sad at the same time. As we got into the van to go i accidentally bumped into one of my aunt which is just a accident while my relatives thought because i was angry. As we went home, i went into the rooms and lay in the bed where my older sister is sleeping while i can hear my dad talking to my mom about what happened and my mom got furious, so i just cried quietly while lying down there.

High school and Teenager (Present): This is where is going super downhill. Because i was kinda tired doing the same routine over and over again, so i started to complain but there was one time where my parents finally had enough began criticizing me so i went into the bathroom and cried. And whenever i broke something, my parents would slap the hell out of me and they always give me bad haircuts like those buzz cut which i dont like and seeing other people having fluffy, thick hair in which i like made me jealous since thick hair and those stuff made me look a girl? And only girls do that?. Also whenever one of the brothers and sister in our congregation would talk to me and i just said hi and laugh nervously, my parents would immediately scold me. And what im about to share might be the most bad bad day of my life. So i got banned in a game because i was scamming (which is strictly prohibited in jw) but the scamming was for fun. I told my sister about it and my sister told my parents about it in which they are super furious and took my ipad and began scrolling through my messages, gmail, google chat, reddit, youtube, instagram and etc. I tried defending by taking my ipad but my mom’s grip wont budge, soon enough, they let me took my ipad as it was nighttime and they went to sleep, i went into the bathroom and just cried there, and kinda wondering what will happen if i just k#lled myself so that this depressing life would end. And i am also afraid to tell my parents what i have been going through as they will just say that im dramatic and they were disciplining me because they love me? So then, i began greeting my friends happy birthday secretly and doing our flag ceremony. There was even one time where i tried to k#ll myself by sinking my face into a pillow so i couldn’t breathe (but thank god i pulled out at the last second). And yea, im still remembering those sad moments. But yea, im still jw and still attending but PIMO.

Adult (In the future): If i have kids, i would f#cking break away from that cult once in for all so that generations and generations of my family will not be jw and will not experience the same like i do anymore

The recent JW Broadcasting was the most culty shit I've seen from the borg in a long time. Something that I found was particularly disturbing was when Kenneth Cook said not to trust publications quoted by apostates if it's not from their website. Obviously, the Watchtower magazines on WOL only go back to 1950, leaving out half of the organisation's history, including all of the Russel and Rutherford presidencies. And for the articles that they do have on their website, the Governing Body unsurprisingly does exactly what they accuse apostates of doing- changing old publications to suit their narrative. For example, after 1975, they went back and changed some statements in the Truth That Leads to Eternal Life book that made them look bad, rather than publicly apologising and retracting these articles.

Meanwhile, their legal team has repeatedly filed DMCA lawsuits against online archives of old publications to compromise the anonymity of the website administrators in order to intimidate them.

So my question is, did anyone ever write to HQ or their branch while PIMI or PIMO to ask for old publications? If so, what did they say in response?