From member of destructive cult to atheism

[Faithless]

Hi Dan
Welcome to the forums & the lovely community that is AFA;
Your story resonates with me (you to thinkngal) I have some family members who are either ex or current jw. It always strikes me how similar yet different your experiences are. I am so glad to hear you are ok and have worked things out to the degree you have.
All the best
Faithless

[12from12]

I hope this is the right place to post this story

When I was 19 I met a girl as you do anyway she was a Mormon. Long story cut short I figured she could be deconverted and she figured I could be converted.
So off to Mormon church I went a scary place full of unatural happy faces. Anyway it didn't take long for them to figure out I was skeptical of the idea that Joseph Smith was god's prophet. After a few weeks I gave up on the idea that she could be deconverted and stopped attending. A few days later I got a visit from a couple of "Elders" both in their twenties. After a brief attempt to get me to accept the Joe Smith story they tried a different approach.
Noticing I was in a wheelchair and had no contact with family they approached it as in who cares if it is true or not. If you sign up we basically get you a wife, job and social network!
After all their appealling to the supernatural they then had taken a rather shocking turn to appeal to my pragmatic side.
So the question begged why were these "Elders" really Mormons?
After that failed they gave up after a few more phone calls.

[yrtemmyscirtemmysa]

Originally Posted by 12from12

I hope this is the right place to post this story

When I was 19 I met a girl as you do anyway she was a Mormon. Long story cut short I figured she could be deconverted and she figured I could be converted.
So off to Mormon church I went a scary place full of unatural happy faces. Anyway it didn't take long for them to figure out I was skeptical of the idea that Joseph Smith was god's prophet. After a few weeks I gave up on the idea that she could be deconverted and stopped attending. A few days later I got a visit from a couple of "Elders" both in their twenties. After a brief attempt to get me to accept the Joe Smith story they tried a different approach.
Noticing I was in a wheelchair and had no contact with family they approached it as in who cares if it is true or not. If you sign up we basically get you a wife, job and social network!
After all their appealling to the supernatural they then had taken a rather shocking turn to appeal to my pragmatic side.
So the question begged why were these "Elders" really Mormons?
After that failed they gave up after a few more phone calls.

Thats good to hear that you didn't buy into it, others are not so lucky.

JW's and mormons have things in common, they both have that friendly sales pitch attitude, shunning policy for ex-members and a lie as it's foundation, changing dogma during the many generations that have passed, there are also strong indications that Russell and Smith had a relationship with freemasonry.

[Iseeyouthere]

Originally Posted by 12from12

Noticing I was in a wheelchair and had no contact with family they approached it as in who cares if it is true or not. If you sign up we basically get you a wife, job and social network!

Ok.. that is just fucking disgusting and pitiful of them.
I have feeling, under the agreement that you join their cult, that they might of forced one of their single female members to marry you...
Basically:
"Welcome. Thank you for joining our fake-happy-time cult family. Heres your free woman for you to marry."

[12from12]

Originally Posted by Iseeyouthere

Ok.. that is just fucking disgusting and pitiful of them.
I have feeling, under the agreement that you join their cult, that they might of forced one of their single female members to marry you...
Basically:
"Welcome. Thank you for joining our fake-happy-time cult family. Heres your free woman for you to marry."

Yep I agree, as if I would want to marry someone who didn't choose it of their own free will anyway, I have way too much respect for personal liberty for that. By the time I left I was very upset because it was clear that being in a wheelchair had mattered and that truth mattered not. I have been forced to live most of my life on the outside looking in and when you know better it can be very frustrating. I think because of this I became less vulnerable to bullshit cults. I figured if life was going to be harder because of the chair I owed it to myself to value truth above all else. They prey on people's misfortune and fear like all the mainstream religions do but because they cut the recruits off from their previous lives it gives them the ability to mess people up for good.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by BlueDevil

I think this is one of the worst aspects of cult like religions. They try to hold onto members by making it clear that their entire relationship with family and friends will be destroyed should they leave the flock. It is incredibly cruel and so much against the concept of tolerance and love that religions purport to believe in.

The hypocrisy displayed by all organised religion, whether they are 'cults' or 'mainstream' has done my head in for years. They preach tolerance, love and forgiveness and then act the complete opposite. Kudos to yrtemmyscirtemmysa and thinkngal to have the courage to follow your convictions in the face of such despicable actions.

[thinkngal]

Hey Faithless, yes in my case it was quite a process to get out of the jdubs. I could have walked away but my heart would have stayed so I stayed until I fully accepted it was false. Tried to replace it with other religions/philosophies but finally came to the conclusion all religion was man-made and false so finally here I am an atheist :-) My parents have shunned me and I don't see them anymore which would have broken my heart had I walked away while still undecided. They make their choices and I make mine.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted by thinkngal

Hey Faithless, yes in my case it was quite a process to get out of the jdubs. I could have walked away but my heart would have stayed so I stayed until I fully accepted it was false. Tried to replace it with other religions/philosophies but finally came to the conclusion all religion was man-made and false so finally here I am an atheist :-) My parents have shunned me and I don't see them anymore which would have broken my heart had I walked away while still undecided. They make their choices and I make mine.

I'm sorry to hear that, thinkngal.. It's a crappy thing for them to do... And shows a big chunk of character on your part, I believe, in facing that and staying true to yourself.
While my family still keep me around to mock and belittle and they haven't shunned me entirely, I do mourn the acceptance and love that ought to come from that quarter. I'm a big fan of the notion that having a family is very important to our well being, but not at all attached to the idea that we must keep the one we get by default. Self-made families can be equally great.
I hope you've got a good base of loving and accepting people around you.

[Sten]

We seem to have a number of ex JWs posting here and I was wondering if the "born again" thing is big in the JW world.

I am really interested in the "born again" phenomena, and was trying to coach some comments out of ex Christians about it on the "Pretending" thread, but non were forthcoming - drat.

[Sten]

Originally Posted by The Irreverent Mr Black

You got the PM, Sten?

Don't know what the PM is - Premenstrual?

If you are asking where the thread is it is on the same forum as this "Coming Our stories" and the thread is called "Pretending".