The Dark Secret at the Heart of the Jehovah’s Witnesses | Informer

Any organization that demands the shunning of loved ones cannot be any good.

I was a Jehovah Witness.... And I can confirm. I've gotten out of my deep depression when I got out. AMA

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 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.

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.

I really wish this organization could be stopped, they destroyed my life and tore apart my family

If someone sexually abused my daughter they would never be able to do that again.

To shun your own flesh & blood is unbelievable. The fact that a person would even ask that of you is evil in itself

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.

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.

I luckily got out of it early. It is an incredibly judgemental, hypocritical, restrictive, and abusive organization

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.

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!!

Wow. I spent 23 years in this faith and finally hearing other's experience in the organization is really refreshing and cathartic

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.

I'm so glad I left this organization 😊 I finally know thyself ❤This was my experience bring there the worse almost 30 years. Abuse, especially, lies, isolation, programming all way to much. I'm free and living life ! ❤🎉

I knew a family of Jehovah's Witnesses when I was a kid. I went to school with their twin boys, who both had problems of their own. It came out in the woodwork that one of them (let's call him M) would receive endless praise as he did well in his studies, was good at sports, and was well liked by teachers and students. The other boy, (let's call him D) however, was more into theatre, trains, and classical/40's/50's music. It came out that D would get beaten and berated almost every day by the parents whilst at the same time they'd be showering M with praise, cursing D that he wasn't more like M. Eventually social services got involved, but by that time they were reaching their late teens. D managed to break away from the family and get a job driving trains, his passion. M on the other hand lost all of his charm, charisma and potential, breaking down and getting addicted to hard drugs and gambling. These two kids were so smart and in their respective paths would have done so well had it not been for their fanatical, insane cult led parents.

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.

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! 🤔

Yup I grew up in that cult and I’m still dealing with my WHOLE family being in it.