I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, and no longer believe. AMA. (Spoiler: It’s a cult.)

r/

When I was 3 years old my mom got a knock on the door and began studying with the Witnesses. She was quickly indoctrinated.

I’m now 41 and I no longer believe, recently having “woken up” from the teachings of The Watchtower.

Ask me anything you’d like about being a Jehovah’s Witness.

Comments

  1. Liquid_Fire__ Avatar

    What did you dislike most?

  2. Muted-Still4612 Avatar

    What made you stop believing?

  3. blergAndMeh Avatar

    thanks for talking about this. it must be so disorienting to “wake up” after so long.

    being raised judgemental must be really toxic. how on earth do you either not take that on or break from from that yourself?

  4. AdaandFred Avatar

    Why do JWs spend so much time going door to door? Also, is there any thought put into the fact that it disturbs people?

  5. AcrobaticBanana5898 Avatar

    At what age did you stop believing?

  6. islero_47 Avatar

    How would you summarize your current beliefs?

  7. Arcturus_86 Avatar

    I recently had some JW’s move into my neighborhood and without knowing much about them, invited them over to get to know them. They responded with saying how busy they were, offered no alternatives, and I took that to mean they refused my invitation. Are JW’s not allowed to socialize with outsiders?

  8. Wiseard39 Avatar

    What did you think when you met and pagan witch or another religion and they tried to tell you about their religion

  9. montemason Avatar

    How do I keep the JW’s from coming to my house?

  10. Anhedonic_Nihilist Avatar

    My aunt has been a Jehovah’s Witness for as long as I can remember. Her adult daughter got into it around 15 years ago; their wedding ceremony in their “Kingdom Hall” looked like it was in an office 🤣 My aunt and her husband would come by every Thursday to study with my folks. My dad quickly lost interest. My mom has always been interested in religion (Id consider her a Christian now, no specific denomination). When my mom told them, years into their studying, that she wasnt going to convert and was just interested in learning…they were disappointed to say the least. They only come by like twice a year now.

    Anyways, here’s my question(s): I remember them telling me only like 144k people could go to heaven basically, when Jesus returns and takes the lucky chosen ones. Why that number?! I assumed it was related to the 12 tribes of Abraham, but…what?

    Were you very devout? Or were there things you never “believed?” Blood transfusions being a huge no no always turned me off. My aunt never gave me a convincing enough answer about why she’d let her husband die if he needed a transfusion to live. It was just “your heart/blood is super special.”

    Edited: Spelling

  11. PrimaryMethod7181 Avatar

    Tell us more about Charles Russell, one thing that JWs have achieved is for their founder to fly under the radar unlike say Mormons or Scientologists who’s founders are obviously quite nutty to regular folk.

  12. TheQuirkyReader Avatar

    How is your relationship with your family now that you have left the Cult?

  13. BananaRaptor1738 Avatar

    If they really believe only a small amount of people are getting into heaven then why are they trying to recruit everyone?

  14. financial_learner123 Avatar

    What are some surprising things for people to know about JW?

  15. bimjob92 Avatar

    What’s a good way to get rid of those door to door guys?

  16. lukkenimel1 Avatar

    What is it with blood transfusions? Why are Jehovah’s Witness “allowed” to accept an organ transplant but not blood from someone else?

  17. Alt_Control_Delete Avatar

    How was it growing up as a kid and not getting to celebrate events, like your birthday?

  18. thomsie8 Avatar

    Have you started celebrating birthdays and Christmas since you left?

  19. CoolGrape2888 Avatar

    I have two questions!!!!

    Why don’t they celebrate birthdays?

    Have you noticed within the JW that they join to justify their bad deeds? My grandma’s younger brother became a JW after he had an affair with his son’s wife and he repeatedly said that it wasn’t wrong because he’s now a JW.

  20. Personal-Listen-4941 Avatar

    Does the Jehovah Witness ‘Bible’ omit or include any different books than the typical Catholic/Protestant ‘bible’ as far as you are aware?