The year was 1983. I was in 4th grade. I began to start freaking out a bit. Would they all make fun of me? Why was I being punished so harshly for no reason at all? Would they still be my friend after this day? Was I going to get bullied and called names after school? After all, if I were in their shoes I would at the very least be extremely curious. I was never one to tease or be mean at all to anyone as a child so I definitely wouldn’t have made fun or singled out the child in the spotlight. But everyone isn’t like that and I knew this too well.
At this point, you’re probably wondering what am I talking about. What could be so bad to induce such anxiety in a 10-year-old? We were approaching the holidays and the class was going to be having their Christmas party in about a half hour. My mother had already set the plan in motion with my teacher earlier in the day. As soon as the party began, I was to move my chair out into the hallway and sit in the quiet lifelessness…by myself. I could hear all of the kids inside of the room laughing and getting excited. I immediately got a pain in my stomach. My head was spinning with all of the previously mentioned questions, and even more. Why in the world was I supposed to be singled out? Did I do something wrong to deserve it? Why was I bad? What was so bad about Christmas that I had to be removed from the room? When you’re 10, there isn’t much that matters to you other than school, your friends and having fun. Now that I’m a parent I just can’t even begin to fathom making a decision in life that would put my child in that situation, asking them to take on such an intense commitment to an extreme religious belief that would place them in the minority for their entire life.
Considering that we live in the most information-driven and informative times in the history of the world, I’m sure that most of you reading this have by now figured out that I grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness.
I grew up from birth being indoctrinated into the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion. My parents made that decision for me; I did not have a say. The aforementioned experience certainly was not my first moment of complete terror as a Witness child. There were many others prior to that I’m sure. I just don’t remember too many of them. At the age of 10, I really started getting a mind of my own and questioning certain things that were not just part of my life but that defined who I was. These were not “dangerous” questioning feelings I was having that would lead me to stray from the religion. I was simply responding to the human nature that it is in all of us to control who we are and what our lives become. After all, they are OUR lives. However, in the Jehovah’s Witness religion you are simply not allowed to have a mind of your own.
So now I come to my intent for this blog, website, and business in general. Twenty years ago I managed to pull off what some may call the impossible. I successfully tore my mind, heart, reasoning, thinking, feeling and my entire life finally from being under the most unprecedented and unmatched system of mind control that came from what I call “The Most Dangerous Religious Cult in The World,” Jehovah’s Witnesses. I truly believe that it is the most ingenious system of complete and utter mind control ever devised and successfully executed by a religious organization in the history of our world. After I fully woke up I vowed that someday I was going to do whatever I could to help anyone that is or ever has been under a mind-controlling cult of any kind. That I was going to someday document not only my story to hopefully inspire others to take their life back, but also to start a global discussion on this paradox of a problem that takes and destroys so many lives. That day is now. That day is today.
Continued in Part Two…
I look forward to hearing your story. I too was raised a JW thrid generation and broke free or more accurately was cast free and found the truth about the truth.
Thank you so much for participating in the conversation Dave. So many of us have been hurt deeply by the Watchtower; I’m so happy to hear that you were also able to break away and find happiness and freedom…even it was induced by them. Part 2 is coming soon. If you create an account you will get a notification of new blog posts.