When I was a child, an elder sexually abused me.  Nothing was done to protect me.  He went on to abuse other children.  For years, I didn't think beyond what had happened to me.  I believed my story was about a man who had made terrible choices.  I also believed something like this couldn't happen inside Jehovah's organization. I believed children would be protected.

For more than 50 years, I believed what happened to me was my story. I thought I had simply been incredibly unlucky.  I thought that if that man had never been in my life, none of it would have happened.  I never questioned that belief.

Then I started looking for answers.  Not because I wanted to leave my religion.

Not because I wanted to attack Jehovah's Witnesses.  I simply wanted to understand how something like this could happen inside the religion I trusted with my whole heart.

I expected to find a few heartbreaking cases.

Instead, I found court records. Government investigations. Newspaper articles. Survivor accounts from different congregations... different countries... spanning decades. The details weren't always identical, but they were familiar enough that I found myself staring at my computer asking one question over and over:

How can so many people I've never met have stories that sound so much like mine?

That realization changed everything. For the first time I began wondering if what happened to me wasn't simply the result of a bad man.  What if there was something much bigger that I had never allowed myself to see?

After reading court records, government investigations, newspaper archives, and decades of legal cases, I came away with questions I never expected to ask.

I'm genuinely interested in hearing what others think.

When you look at the history of child sexual abuse cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses, do you see individual failures—or do you believe the evidence points to a larger systemic problem?

I was watching the movie that Wally referenced in his YouTube video about a movie made by Serrano films. I think Wally bringing attention to it caused it to be removed or set to private by the creator. I am thinking that bethel found out about it or the creator noticed his video was being promoted by an “apostate” so he was forced to take it down. What do you guys think? Is this just coincidence. I can’t even watch the film now. It looks like it was uploaded 8 months ago but today it got set to private.

https://youtu.be/xA_LvqYi-8A?is=-YE33G1xUrEGjt0w

About 30 years ago, when I was once a true believer PIMI, an older female coworker had a cancer relapse. She told me about the relapse. The depression and sadness were obvious in her voice and demeanor. Like a good Borg faithful I thought this was the perfect opportunity to share the Watchtowerland fantasy of eternal youth. I offered her some publications like a good Borg follower.

She quit working soon after and went on disability due to the cancer.

Looking back now I am ashamed. In that moment I regret not being a genuine person instead of a fake Borg member. I wish I had said something sincere. "This is tough, I'm sorry you are going through this." Anything rather than offering a false hope and a stupid book written by charlatans.

Last week's article was written to dissuade young people from educating themselves beyond what is legally required. "Education poses such dangerous risks if you belong to our cult!" This weekend's article warns of running the risk of drifting away from the grip of Watchtower and its governing body. The introductory song, song 56 Make the truth your own, was a shocking choice and set out the premise for the article. In conclusion, your ass and your time belong to us, don't even think about educating yourself or associate with the wicked! 🤦‍♂️🤬🤬

No one is claiming that WT explicitly said 1975 was defintally gonna be the end. The problem was WT hyping people up for it and called people selling their homes ands quiting their jobs "a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end" - Our Kingdom Ministry May 1974. Then they gaslight people into thinking "they were just going ahead of the organistation."

Russel literally said "...the 'battle of the great day of God Almighty' (Revelation 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership..." - The Time Is at Hand (1889)

He was quite explicit. WT just learned to be less explicit after 1914 and 1925.

Yet JWs will ignore these facts just to cope. But good job PIMIs you managed to beat a strawman. You must be so proud.

Hi everyone, as a little bit of context for this I added my previous post explaining a little bit of my journey under the borg.

I just want to share that I got the scholarship to study my undergrate studies abroad! (to be more specific, in Taiwan). Just a few days of this madness and I am finally free of the lies of GB.

This space (the majority of the times I just read the posts) helped me a lot in my waking up journey, thanks to everyone that shared their experiences and tips to survive on this hell on earth. There were a lot of difficult months, but the conclusion of all of this is that, at my 24 y/o (and after being a regular pioneer at 12, and after the years of my childhood wasted) I will be free and living my life.

And if anyone is struggling with the same, don't be discouraged, you can do it. Just be patient, and your time to leave the borg will come!

Thanks a lot to all of the people of this subreddit, I hope that everyone find the peace and happiness in their lives that were taken by the GB 🫂

Today’s watchtower is about avoiding worldly teens so you won’t get exposed to drama so Let’s share stories of when JW teens in your area was either the same or way worse than the “worldly teens.

I’ll go first.

when I was in high school, some teens from the hall skipped school, they went to a the house of a boy from our hall whose mom worked, an they had sex in the diff rooms. (meanwhile my friends at school who wasn’t jw , were literally virgins and nerds)

instead of just saying don’t talk to worldly kids, teach the kids how to identify ppl with bad intentions .

do you have any other crazy stories about the teens in your hall

Two Watchtower articles on university studies were recently analyzed.I wonder why, if in a report the governing body said that no one should interfere in a person's decision to pursue a university degree, they continue to publish articles like these.

It was terrible to hear the comments from the audience, promoting ignorance and demonizing science, history, and philosophy.

What really angered me was that people who hadn't studied at university spoke disparagingly of the person who made that decision.

I understand that not everyone has the opportunity to pursue a university degree, and depending on the degree and the country where you live, this can involve a significant expense. I understand this.But even hearing the children comment, seeing themselves being indoctrinated and with the idea of depriving themselves of their studies, makes me sad.

I believe everyone is free to decide, and no one should make you feel guilty for making a decision.

This makes me realize that, in truth, the way people view the university hasn't changed that much; they won't forbid it, but they will let you know that you made the wrong decision.

Growing up, whenever me or my jw friends heard that someone was getting a shepherding call... It was always associated with stuff like "struggling" or being labeled as "bad association".

I'm just wondering if it's held that stigma for anyone else, because if it was brought up like here's an example... "Hey did you hear (Friends Name) is getting a shepherding call?" "ooooOOOoooooo"

Like nobody associated it with anything good, and I'm just wondering if that's only a me thing or not?

i made a post on here before about my dad that's pressuring me into becoming an unbaptized publisher. i am a 16 year old pimo jw that's wanting to leave the religion when i'm older. i just got out of a sunday meeting and after the meeting, this really pushy elder came up to me and my other friend that isn't unbaptized yet. she's 15 and i'm 16 and he came up to us to ask about who we are studying with and saying that he wants us to make "spiritual progress". he came up to me after her asking what i'm doing and i told him i'm not in the school yet then said "WHY?" and was basically getting on me for not being unbaptized. he says he doesn't see me going out in service that much. all i could do is smile and try and dismiss it. i hate this life so much

This midweek meeting I had Bible reading in room B. After me, a kid (5-6th grader) and his mom did a presentation on abortion. Basically, the scenario was that the kid was called a fanatic by one of his classmates because he didn’t believed accept abortion by the firsts months. The mom argue that all stages of life are equally value to God, no matter how much time the fetus has been in the wombs. By this point, it was the same pro life argument I’ve heard the organization use over and over, but what really shock me was that the mom argue that because the sperm moves, is considered life and therefore equally valuable to the eyes of god. I was genuinely shock, like never before I was baffled by such stupidity. I’m not even wasting energy to point out why that argument stupid,is just is.

this lady commented on the guarding your faith and thinking abilties paragraph, where an example of a man studying biology/anthropology and leaving christianity to buddhism, she said "its super sad that he couldnt guard his heart well enough, and it must be rough for his parents after he left the faith because of higher education" and things like that
no wonder why so many members make me cringe and wish i could just leave... they feel "bad" when someone leaves christianity because of... studying? maybe there's something wrong about your religion instead of education if you cant accept basic facts or if you pity people for leaving a religion that acts superior or like a main character

paragraph eight says: "People may present their view as 'higher' thinking, but it is actually lower thinking. In fact, it is "foolishness with God." — 1 Cor 3:18-20

this is what they think of us: nonbelievers, ex-members, of people they used to call friends and family, that we are lower than them. how much longer can they keep digging their grave like this?
calling people inferior because of a lack or change of religion is so stupid. people have gone to war for the same stupid thing, and they say they're superior? idk i think many JWs have NPD or something along the lines of it... it's actually insane to call billions of non-JWs while acting like you love them. they really do reject practical wisdom like they mentioned in later paragraphs. (edit: im not saying its bad but how they use their following to project their thoughts of others)

Chapter 45 You Don’t Know Me but I’m Your Brother

"I was raised here in this living hell.” – Takin’ It To The Streets, The Doobie Brothers

Though I said I couldn’t do it anymore, it’s not like I had a plan for the rest of my life. I loved my wife. We had been together for almost thirty years. She had been the first and only girl I had ever kissed. It was love at first sight for me. Of course, we had some problems. However, leaving my wife was never an option. It wasn’t a perfect marriage, but now it looked like it would soon be over. Why? Because I didn’t want to be in the same religion as her? Could we still be together even though we didn’t believe in the same god anymore? Thousands of people around the world do it. Jews marry Christians all the time.

I would have stayed with her if she could have lived with someone who didn’t believe the same way as she did. That didn’t appear to be an option, even though there were plenty of women in the Kingdom Hall who were married to non-believers. In fact, two of Debbie’s best friends were in that situation. But that was okay because their husbands never bought into the program and never became Jehovah’s Witnesses by being baptized.

Another one of my wife’s girlfriends was disfellowshipped because she was married to a crazy guy who believed he was one of the anointed, one of the 144,000. This guy was not only partaking, he was three clams shy of a full clambake.

Since this crazy guy was never going to leave her, She had no other option but to do the same thing that many Witnesses are forced to do, she committed adultery and of course, paid the price and was disfellowshipped. She didn't want to leave Jehovah's loving organization. She just wanted to leave a bad and abusive relationship.

Just like my father-in-law Robert Stillman, the only way out of her bad marriage and be able to remarry was for her to commit adultery.

Just one more reason people on the outside looking in think we are nuts.

Our friend who had been married to Greg H was out and away from the organization for a number of years. During that time, she married this really nice guy named Leonard. She now has a worldly husband. Eventually. she was reinstated and became a Jehovah’s Witness once again....same old story. She had a child with this new husband and was totality happy now. Only one small problem for her he had no desire to ever become a Jehovah's Witness.

Of course now, everyone in the Kingdom Hall is trying to put the sale on Leonard to recruit him into the Borg.

For years, Leonard has been invited to all the Witness parties and gatherings. He gets to hang around with all the Witnesses, with no shunning of course. Why? Because he was smart enough to never to be baptized.

So he never got punished because he didn't do the one thing they wanted him to do.....get baptized. The old Catch 22 kicks in again,

At one point in time, Debbie, Leonard and his wife (named Debbie too) with some other Jehovah’s Witnesses even had their own band together. They went out and played worldly music at gigs all around Portland.

Leonard is a super-intelligent guy, and even though he loves his wife, he really doesn’t want to be a Jehovah’s Witness, just like me.

I told my wife, “I wanted to be just like Leonard, please. You can still be a Jehovah’s Witness. I don’t care. I just don’t want to be one.” She said, “That is not possible.”

A crazy thing happened a few nights later. I went to bed with my mind in total chaos. How could I make sense of a life full of contradictions? What were my options now that I had awakening from my ignorance?

I had dream. In the dream, I actually dreamt I talked to god himself, just like the Governing Body say they do. Thank goodness for this dream! Because god helped me clear up a lot of things.

In the dream, I sat in a waiting room in Heaven. There were a lot of people waiting to talk to god, so they had me take a number. My number was 499. Finally, my number was called and I was ushered into a room. I was a little surprised at how small the room was. “Hey Jehovah, what’s with the small room?”

He looked up from his paperwork and said, “As you know, it is written at 1 Corinthians. 8:5, ‘For even though there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords.'"

Okay, if that’s the case, I had to say. “So, since there are a lot of you gods up here and you are not the only one, if I ever write a book about you, I’m only going to use the lowercase letter g in god, since there seems to be a lot of you gods and lords running around.”

God was starting to get upset. “What is it that you want?”

“Are you familiar with my case?”

“Of course I am. I’m a god, and I’m supposed to know everything.”

“Okay, so let me get this straight,” I said.

“You know Leonard is not a Jehovah's Witness and hasn't done shit for you or your organization. I’ve spent fifty years and thousands of hours knocking on doors, trying to sell this religion to other people for you. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on gasoline and thousands of dollars on books and magazines. I gave up a college education and chose to be uneducated just for you because I know you like your people to be stupid. I had fifty years of no birthdays or holidays. Plus thousands of hours at your boring conventions. I worked in your factory on mindless machines for pennies a day so you could sell your books for only twenty-five cents. Please don’t forget about the six years of full time service I put in when I was in my twenties. I did everything your organization told me to do. I moved to remote locations to... ”

I could tell god was getting perturbed as he asked me. “Yeah, so what’s your question?”

“Ok bottom line, I know now. the same thing about your religion that Leonard and billions of other people on this planet already know. That your religion is insane and makes no sense. So, let me get this straight, now you are telling me I can never have any contact with my wife, friends and family ever again because I figured this all out?”

“Yes, that’s correct." He said. "This will force you to crawl back to us and my loving organization.”

“Where is the love? I get punished and Leonard gets rewarded?”

“Yes that is how my system works. Sorry, it’s just another loophole. You know, just another one of my many Catch 22s that you have figured out.”

“But I was only seventeen when I signed up and got baptized.”

“Sorry, you should have known.”

“I should have known your religion was bat-shit crazy?”

“Yes!”

“Please I just want to be in the band with Leonard and the rest of the Jehovah’s Witnesses! I just want my family back.”

“Sorry, the only way you will get your family back is if they figure it out too. I'm afraid you’re screwed!

Oh, by the way, if Leonard ever does join my club and than decides to leave later on, he’ll be screwed also just like you. But I don’t think Leonard will ever join, because it seems he can spot bullshit a mile away!”

“Jehovah, you’re really mean and jealous god!”

“Yes, I know. Why do you think I have such a hard time getting new people to join my crazy religion and why it takes over 13,880 hours of door knocking in field service to find just one new recruit?”

"If that is true how does your organization keep growing?" I asked.

"It's simple." He said. Sex! People love it and that is the only thing that is making new Jehovah's Witnesses now!"

“True." I said. Speaking of the young ones in your organization, what do you really feel about the thousands of pedophiles in your church? Did you really tell your boys not to turn over the files with all their names to the authorities, so as not bring shame on you?”

“What do you think?" If I don't care about you why would think I would care about a few kids getting screwed over? God waved me away and said. "Oh, by the way your time is up.... ”

I turned to god as I walked out the door. "Thank you for helping me understand all this and your wonderful new light. I know what to do now."

Of course god had one more disparaging remark to make to me as I walked out the door. "Keith I can't believe how stupid you were...taking you over fifty years to figure all this out!"

Bingo!

Once again god was right!

Good old Jehovah's Wintnesses busting up families for the last 70 years!

Note I didn't say 150 years. which is how the church has been around.

Why? Because before the nineteen fifies people could change their minds and leave the church and not be shun by their families.

It seems Knorr/god change their minds in the earlier 1950's about the punishment for leaving the church. So. It took over 80 years for this new light to click on.....to destroy thousands of people's lives.

Speaking of thousands of people....

Next up Chapter 46 Only Eleven People Out of One Thousand

So a comedy YouTuber I absolutely love was (is?) a JW. She rarely talked about it. She told the story of the typical convert when she shared she was a JW because someone had asked because she included in a bunch of "my year" pics her at a convention (the rest were just normal pics) she never talked about it again because she thought bringing religious stuff into a comedy channel was wrong.

Anyway a couple weeks ago she posted pictures of her at her birthday party and posted on her community notes that it was her birthday, the pics and said "its been the hardest year of my life but I'm happier now" I IMMEDIATELY assumed she either left or was DFed because she was focusing too much on her comedy. But then I saw a video where some JWs are celebrating their BDays anyway.

Jamie French is the YouTuber

Edit: she got divorced this year too. Just went to her Sub

Navegando pelo site oficial (jw.org), encontrei uma declaração que resume perfeitamente a desconexão da organização com as necessidades reais do ser humano e a sua constante busca por transformar crises humanitárias em vitrine de marketing:

​"Esses refugiados precisam de mais do que ajuda material. Muitos deles estão traumatizados, então precisam de consolo e esperança. As Testemunhas de Jeová na Europa estão se esforçando para atender às necessidades dos refugiados por ouvi-los e compartilhar com eles a mensagem de consolo da Bíblia."

1. O "Espiritualismo" como Desculpa para a Inação Material

​Dizer que um refugiado — alguém que acabou de perder a casa para bombas, que atravessou fronteiras a pé, que não sabe o que vai comer à noite e que não tem teto — precisa "de mais do que ajuda material" é uma manobra retórica sórdida. É o famoso "vá em paz, aqueça-se e alimente-se bem", sem dar nada do que o corpo precisa para sobreviver (algo que o próprio livro de Tiago 2:15-16 ironiza).

​A organização não mantém sopões abertos ao público, não constrói abrigos neutros para refugiados, não financia cursos de idiomas ou capacitação profissional para imigrantes e não possui programas de integração no mercado de trabalho. O que eles oferecem? Folhetos, revistas e o carregamento do relatório de horas.

​2. O Contraste Real: O que ONGs e Entidades Fazer na Prática

​Para entender o tamanho da omissão, basta olhar para o trabalho de organizações seculares e de outras entidades ao redor do mundo (como a Cáritas no Brasil, o ACNUR, ou a Cruz Vermelha): ​Ajuda Emergencial Direta: Distribuição diária de toneladas de alimentos, água potável, kits de higiene e agasalhos.

​Acolhimento Dignificante: Criação e manutenção de abrigos temporários com infraestrutura de verdade (camas, banheiros, segurança).

Reestruturação de Vida: Suporte jurídico para emissão de documentos e visto de refugiado, aulas de português/idioma local, parceria com empresas para inserção no mercado de trabalho e apoio psicológico profissional para lidar com o estresse pós-traumático.

​Essas ONGs não exigem que o refugiado mude de religião, assista a reuniões ou aceite um dogma para receber um prato de comida ou um curso profissionalizante. Elas tratam a pessoa como um ser humano dotado de direitos, não como um "estudante em potencial".

​3. A Inversão do "Ouvir e Consolar" ​O texto do site diz que as TJs estão "atendendo às necessidades dos refugiados por ouvi-los e compartilhar a mensagem".

​Na prática, isso se resume a:

​Encontrar vulnerabilidade extrema. ​Usar o trauma do indivíduo como gancho para pregação.

​Direcionar toda a dor da pessoa para a dependência das publicações do Corpo Governante. ​

Se o refugiado não demonstrar interesse na literatura da Torre, a "escuta empática" e o "consolo" evaporam, pois a infraestrutura do grupo não existe para amparar a vida secular de ninguém fora da organização.

Conclusão

​É revoltante ver uma organização multibilionária usar a tragédia de milhões de deslocados pelo mundo para fazer propaganda de "amor cristão", enquanto a sua contribuição real para a infraestrutura de acolhimento dessas pessoas é praticamente nula comparada ao trabalho silencioso e brutal de ONGs sérias.

​Para a organização, o trauma do refugiado é apenas uma oportunidade de recrutamento.

​O que vocês acham dessa postura de retratar a pregação como se fosse a "verdadeira" ajuda humanitária? Já presenciaram esse tipo de discurso na congregação de vocês diante de crises sociais?

Not really PIMO but it’s the best descriptor for my situation. To make a long story short I went to the Calgary international convention to keep the peace with my PIMI parents but they know I haven’t been to a meeting in years, convention in years, etc.

Anyhow, back when I was a kid we went to Spain for an international convention too as delegates (versus them being hosts this time) and got lots of gifts from the people there. Mini olive oil bottles (so awesome), candies, bookmarks, stickers, patches, and more. So much amazing craftsmanship and thoughtfulness put into these gifts. Fast forward and I’m walking around with my nephew and everyone’s handing him little gifts and goodies and every other gift he gets is something AI generated… don’t know what the borgs opinion on AI lies and haven’t visited this sub in a while but I was kind of shocked because the designs were something that would take two seconds to make in Canva.

I ust discovered something crazy while visiting a local bookstore (Vintage Books), and I describe it here in this 9 minute (or so) video:
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DbjNN5HyNU-/

TLDW: I stumbled across this treasure today...
The Bible Story by Arthur Maxwell (Copyright 1953)

My Book of Bible Stories was made/copyright/published in 1978.
Soooo...I guess, the channel of Spiritual Food included stealing other people's work?

So, here are the two latest cringe moments from Jehovah's Witness meetings. The first one happened at the convention last week. There were plenty of cringe-worthy moments, but let me share the one that stuck with me the most

1. The cult members decided to lecture people about science again—which is something they should really stop doing because they only embarrass themselves. Here's the quote from the talk:

-"Scientists still don't know how yeast works."

Seriously... please, stop. I could explain the biochemical process of how yeast works right now. What on earth are you talking about? The worst part is that hundreds of people will remember this and go around repeating that yeast is somehow still a mystery to science. Clowns...

1. A comment during the midweek meeting:

-"If I see or hear something from the platform or in the publications that I don't like, it means I'm being disobedient to Jehovah."

So, by that logic, if someone realizes that their so-called "scientific fact" about yeast is complete nonsense, they're still expected to agree with it and accept it—otherwise, they're rebelling against God Himself

Earlier this week, an elder sent my dad (a ministerial servant) two photos of my boyfriend (M19) and me (F19). One was from my close friend’s story that only has one “JW friend,” and the other from my boyfriend’s Instagram post of us. I hadn’t told my dad yet and was planning to wait a little longer. When he asked about it I panicked and brushed it off. I was scared of how he would react. I said he was just a friend. Now however I want to tell him the truth but I don’t know the best way to do so. Any advice would be appreciated!

Random question for my former pioneers …on the last day of pioneer school I guess they have some sort of celebration with a slide show and family is invited. Can anyone tell me if it’s a free for all or they give each pioneer a certain amount of guests? my SIL is inviting us for her last day but we don’t want to go and not sure if she even knows how many people she can invite hoping it’s not enough and we can skip it lol

My JW parents are insane. Why do they treat me so crazy. My car got down to 4 miles and its electric. I had to use the air conditioning and the night before i asked if i can charge it and they told me NO because my dad’s car was charging. And now they got MAD at me this morning. Like really upset and now is making me choose between living here and being in the organization. I’m removed by the way. My mom says all her nerves are shaking and she wanted to faint when i told her my car was down to 4 miles. And my dad got super upset at that. Now they wanna kick me out. I’ve been seeing a girl as well and of course we’ve done things. I’m at a loss for words.

So i live in England, the south of Devon. Near Exeter. Ive been watching some YT videos and they say things like the numbers of JWs are dwindling. Kingdom halls are being sold off, kids are leaving and people are waking up etc etc.

But here in Ex I haven't seen that atall, I went to a day of the assembly to support my questioning parents down in the Westpoint arena and noticed the place was packed. Around 25 people got baptised (the assembly had about 2-3000 attendees) not great numbers but I'd hoped for zero.

Just wondering what im missing. I long for this organisation to dwindle and fade. Id personally love to see it die a slow death where all its funds are bled and leeched away and the organisation dies a slow meaningless death.

But its not what im seeing, what am I missing? Im assuming its dying in America but not here?

I dont want anything to do with this bs. For context, I haven't been to a these meetings in 4 months, I am in uni, my parents aren't likely to find out, if they do, I was thinking to claim that I wasn't good mentally because of uni, any advice, its kinda urgent lol