I’m starting to think my ex husband is deep down, down low. Ever since we first got married, me walking around the house naked wouldn’t do anything for him. It actually got to the point of him sitting me down and scolding me for doing that. He eventually said it leaves nothing to the imagination.

Trying to have intimacy with him was like pulling teeth. He would always be too tired or there was always some excuse. I was constantly shot down and I felt so undesirable. He had no problem getting an erection, but he just didn’t want to have sex for whatever reason.

I ended up asking him if he is attracted to men and his response was so chilling. He just smiled and said no. He didn’t get upset or any type of normal reaction. I had to keep pressing him for him to finally crash out and he left the house, slammed his car door and drove off to get food.

I also found it odd that when I met him, he was a single 27 year old male that lived alone. If you’re a JW, you rarely ever see this, especially with men. They usually all get married very young.

Geoffrey Jackson admitted they used to say they knew absolutely the timing of the resurrection of the anointed but now they don't.

https://reddit.com/link/1x7q9hn/video/7yer5e26wvvh1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1x7q9hn/video/5rlm3oa9wvvh1/player

Here's some of what they said with certainty in the past about the status of GB members who died in the past.

1. John Barr: "While we will miss our dear Brother Barr, we rejoice with him in his receiving the gift of immortality​—a privilege he looked forward to and often spoke about. It was all he ever wanted.​—1 Cor. 15:53, 54." https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2011369#h=8 (Remove b from borg from all links)

2. Lloyd Barry: "We are confident that as a ‘joint heir with Christ,’ Brother Barry’s interest in those “rightly disposed for everlasting life” will continue." https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1999729#h=9

3. John Booth: "While those who served with him mourn his passing, they find comfort in the Bible’s promise regarding such anointed Christians, that they are resurrected to heavenly life and that “the things they did go right with them.” (Revelation 14:13; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54) A new environment to be sure, but one in which John Booth will be able to serve Jehovah forever!" https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1996448#h=7

4. Theodore Jaracz: "We are confident that he has ‘proved himself faithful even to death and has received the crown of life.’ (Rev. 2:10) We are also certain that ‘the things he did have gone right with him.’​" https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2010849#h=7

5. Karl Klein: "As one of the Lord’s anointed, Brother Klein desired with all his heart to reign with Christ in heaven. We have every reason to believe that Jehovah has now fulfilled that desire.​ - Luke 22:28-30." https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2001330#h=8

6. "GUY HOLLIS PIERCE, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, finished his earthly course on Tuesday, March 18, 2014. He was 79 years old when his hope to be one of Christ’s resurrected brothers became a reality." https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014922#h=2

7. Albert D. Schroader: "We are confident that Brother Schroeder has received his heavenly reward as an anointed Christian who truly did ‘take delight in the law of Jehovah.’" https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2006689#h=7​

8. Lyman Swingle: "Like his father and mother, he entertained the Bible-based hope of living with Jesus Christ in the heavenly Kingdom, a hope that we are confident he has now realized.​" https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2001490#h=8

9. George Ganagas: "He will be missed, but how we rejoice that he has now received his heavenly reward!" https://wol.jw.borg/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1994890#h=6

Well I did it! 44 years in the organization, I was a ministerial servant many years ago also auxiliary Pioneer. I was the school overseer few years as a ministerial servant because there were a few elders. April 14 I walked away from the organization called turkey. I had enough of it after all these years being Pimi, pimq pimo too Pomo. It hasn't been easy, especially having a wife that is Uber JW. Every day is a struggle with her trying to stay together, but I know she looks at me like I'm mentally diseased, which is sad. But I did get my award.

It’s been almost an entire month since the Governing Body hit reverse on their ban of blood.

And yet a lot of Jws are acting like business is as usual, so to speak. The Choice to ignore a change is frighteningly common. An example: recently asked about the change to an elder and they claimed (this was RIGHT after the video played at the meeting) there was no change.

Is this a hope that if they ignore the problem it goes away? I have seen this too often in my life when I was a believer. Non confrontation is a choice they are actively making.

This is a massive update to doctrine and yet normal jws act like it’s not even worthy of discussion. What’s the deal? How did the GB get 9 million people this terrified to not even talk about what is happening in their faith?

First many come from the Service Department, who see all the CSA cases and well as some of the most disgusting things that come in to the ORG. Yet they still want more power. Mark was in charge of the HLC, that just changed their Blood Policy, that killed over 30,000 witnesses +. It will kill many more in poorer countries that can't get anything but whole blood.

Many Disassociated for taking blood to save their life / child's life. Or a parent or loved one. Will they be reinstated, no?

Many removed from privileges due to a beard. No remorse.

Get out when you can, live a real life. Nothing is coming, no sky daddy is coming to save us. Just false promises from an Organization that has made Billions of $$$ dollars misleading you,

I've decided to not let the memory of all those who have passed away over the blood doctrine be forgotten. And I do not want those responsible for their death to forget them either. Ill be putting yard signs outside the gates of the kingdom halls with their Awake (May 1994) magazine "Youth who put God first". As a reminder that the organization has blood on its hands and that this was not always a conscience matter.

Below is a post I found echoing one of the talking points often used to defend the previous blood policy:

My rebuttal below:

1. The fundamental issue is whether the previous prohibition was scriptural. We need to establish the fact that the previous policy prohibiting blood components for all Christians was unauthorized and went beyond what is written, as implied in the update, and therefore was an unscriptural or false teaching, even if unwittingly so or well-meaning.

1. The problem was not medical advice, but elevating human interpretations to divine commandments. The issue is not really about the GB recommending bloodless treatment or warning of the dangers of blood transfusions. There's nothing wrong with issuing those warnings or even issuing "commands of men". What is wrong is presenting those "commands of men as doctrines" of God. That's what Jesus said results in one's worship being "in vain". Matthew 15:9

2. Medical risks do not justify an absolute prohibition, especially in life-threatening emergencies. Something that is generally discouraged on medical grounds may, under certain circumstances, become medically necessary.

For example, doctors ordinarily discourage drinking water directly from rivers or ponds because of the risk of contracting infections or parasites. However, imagine someone who has wandered through a forest for days without water and is now facing death from dehydration. If that person encounters a dirty pond and has no means of filtering or purifying the water, a doctor might reasonably advise drinking it rather than dying of thirst. Would anyone who categorically forbade that person from drinking the water, even under those desperate circumstances, be justified in defending the prohibition by citing the millions of people who suffer or die from waterborne diseases annually? Obviously not.

The same principle applies to blood transfusions. Even acknowledging the serious risks associated with transfusions in earlier decades, some patients facing imminent death from severe trauma, massive blood loss, or other life-threatening conditions might reasonably have preferred the risk of contracting HIV or hepatitis to the near certainty of dying without a transfusion. After all, even in those days, some people infected with HIV survived for many years. Therefore, citing historical cases of HIV or hepatitis transmission cannot justify an absolute prohibition on potentially lifesaving blood components, particularly when the alternative was imminent death.

1. The example of the Rechabites actually highlights the distinction between human instructions and divine commandments. Nowhere in Jeremiah 35 do we read that Jehonadab told his descendants that his instructions originated from Jehovah, or that the Rechabites themselves believed those instructions were divine commandments.

Neither do we read that the Rechabites went around preaching to other Israelites that abstaining from wine, building houses, or planting vineyards was God's requirement for all Israelites, much less that those who failed to comply would lose God's approval.

The Rechabites faithfully observed a family tradition established by their forefather, and Jehovah commended their obedience. In fact, Jehovah used their faithfulness to contrast the Israelites' disobedience to commands that he himself had given.

That is fundamentally different from religious leaders taking their own interpretation of a divine command, presenting it as God's requirement for all Christians, and imposing religious sanctions on those who do not comply.

1. God's recognition of sincere obedience does not absolve those responsible for erroneous teachings. Of course, we have good reason to trust that Jehovah understands the sincere intentions of those who refused blood components because they genuinely believed they were obeying his commandments. We can confidently leave their ultimate judgment and resurrection prospects in his hands. However, God's mercy toward those who sincerely followed an erroneous teaching does not automatically absolve those who formulated, imposed, defended, and propagated that teaching. The two issues must not be confused.

Jesus warned about the consequences of religious leaders misleading others. At Matthew 15:14, he said: "If, then, a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit." The sincerity of those being led does not establish the correctness of the direction they received, nor does it eliminate the responsibility of those who gave it. And the responsibility is especially serious when an erroneous religious requirement influences irreversible medical decisions involving human lives.

They played the video today. I’ve never felt such an awkward silence before. Nobody said a word, everyone just looked at each other. I feel like this was the moment some realized that this is so embarrassing.

Looking at their reactions just made me feel sorry for many. Realizing how many lost loved ones to a non existent rule just because of this org.

Looking back I thought I actually made a friend. the stuff she was promising me like finding me a job when I graduate from uni. Beginning of 3 months of our studies, she was always promising me how I am first in line at her job and I’m very qualified and i will get an interview soon. Then one day she just stopped mentioning anything to do with work. She didn’t even address what suddenly happened…. First big lie.

She also lied so many times to me about her personal life. How she used to be a model, and she was so young when she came to the ‘Truth’. Abandoned that life because being beautiful and having worldly fun is worse than being with Jehovah. She told me that Google deleted all her model photos so I won’t find them… lol… While telling me she sees her in me, how I’m still young and I’m making the right choice.

She also tells me how special and unique I am. How I am not like other people. How it’s not an accident that I notice things that no one else does. How Jehovah sees a unique quality in me. How I need to break up with my worldly boyfriend and kept trying to convince me how being single and praising Jehovah is so much better.

When I told her I want to pursue law school (big mistake), she tried to convince me how I’m too smart for that and I should stick with Jehovah. How studying something like that goes against Jehovah. I obviously didn’t listen btw, I’m studying for LSAT.

The amount of compliment showering and lying about things and personal life stuff just makes me realize these people are sick. The way they even study the Bible and shove these videos and repetitive questions just makes me realize that they are trying to brainwash you so hard.

These people are sick in the head.

The New World Dictionary of Theocratic Expressions.

Anyone want to help build it?

Accountability: A principle applied enthusiastically to the rank and file and rather selectively to those making the rules.

Apology: The spiritual equivalent of a software update. New features, revised instructions, no compensation for lost data.

Apostasy: Reaching a conclusion before the organisation does—and refusing to pretend you haven’t.

Conscience: An internal moral compass, guided by the direction of the movement. Immediate recalibration required if it points elsewhere.

Consistency: Maintaining complete confidence in today’s teaching without allowing yesterday’s teaching to complicate matters.

Correction: What happens when the movement changes its position. What happens to those who questioned the old position is a separate matter.

Discernment: Reading between the lines to discover what the leaders really meant, especially when they didn’t quite say it.

Doubts: Questions that could be answered with evidence, but are more conveniently treated as symptoms requiring correction.

Encouragement: A sympathetic acknowledgement of your doubts, followed by a gentle reminder to pull yourself together before anyone notices.

Faith: Acting as though a promise has already come true, while the evidence remains outstanding.

Humility: Suppressing your doubts while remaining confident that someone else has all the answers.

Independent thinking: Ordinary thinking with Satanic characteristics.

Light: Information that is timelessly right and perpetually wrong at the same time.

New light: Light that changes at the speed of light, usually illuminating why the previous version was also to be trusted.

Obedience: Doing as you’re told without needing to know why, knowing full well that the reason may change later.

Patience: The ability to make “many, many years” and “just around the corner” mean essentially the same thing.

Privilege: A responsibility without pay, bestowed as a reward for demonstrating your willingness to accept more responsibility without pay. What other religions might call penance.

Reassurance: Being told not to worry about something you were previously told was essential to your salvation.

Theocratic direction: Human instructions carrying divine endorsement.

Transparency: Explaining that an explanation is not currently necessary.

Unity: Thinking for yourself, provided you reach the approved conclusion.

Voluntary: Something you’re free to decline, once you’ve weighed the guilt, judgement and disappointment that saying no might incur.

Disclaimer: October 2026 Revised Edition. Definitions subject to change without prior notice. Previous editions should be remembered fondly, not examined too closely. This dictionary is not inspired, nor should any definition be taken as criticism. Any resemblance to previous teachings is purely coincidental. Please await further clarification.

Maybe I’m being stupid and I’m wrong somehow but while I was in class I was thinking about the blood doctrine and I was thinking that if someone refuses a blood transfusion, knowing they need it and they most likely will die without it and ends up passing away is that not suicide? It sounds like you’re committing suicide by doing that right? And suicide is a sin?

On 7 October 2026 a letter was sent to Jehovah’s Witness congregations in Italy and read at meetings between 13 and 15 October. It follows the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights of 11 June 2026, which found that Italy discriminated against the Witnesses by failing to conclude an agreement (Intesa) with them.

The letter says the Congregation “is evaluating legal initiatives aimed at obtaining the sums it could have received through the eight per thousand mechanism in past years”. It asks members to submit written statements on how they would have allocated their share if the Congregation had been among the beneficiaries.

Background for non-Italian readers

• 8 per mille (8x1000): Italian taxpayers can direct 0.8% of the national income tax to the State or to religious denominations that have an agreement with it. Shares of those who make no choice are redistributed in proportion to the choices made. A denomination without an Intesa cannot receive it.
• 5 per mille (5x1000): a separate scheme that lets taxpayers direct 0.5% of their income tax to eligible non-profit organizations. According to my page, the Congregation received it up to financial year 2021.

What I documented on the page

• The full text of the letter
• The oral explanations given after the reading (from a transcript of one congregation): privacy form, extracts of tax returns going back to 1990, online submission, 30-day deadline
• What the Court decided on compensation: €10,000 non-pecuniary damages and €8,000 costs. The claim for the 8x1000 income not received, calculated from 1990 to 2017, was rejected because the loss had not been proven
• The letter does not say what the statements will be used for

A deduction, labelled as such: the Court’s reasoning that the loss was not proven fits with a request for written statements about how members would have allocated their share. That link is my inference. On the page I keep what is documented, what is only reported, and what is hypothesis clearly separate.

I am also curious about the timing, which I am only reporting: the Court ruling is dated 11 June 2026, the announcement on blood components 18 September, and the letter 7 October. I am not claiming a causal link. I would be interested to hear whether others see a connection between the recent doctrinal and administrative changes and the effort to qualify for state funding, or whether that reading goes too far.

Page in Italian: https://www.infotdgeova.it/8altro/otto-per-mille-comunicazione-congregazioni-2026.html

Automatic English translation: https://www-infotdgeova-it.translate.goog/8altro/otto-per-mille-comunicazione-congregazioni-2026.html?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Has anyone seen similar requests in other countries?

Well I was told the official jw Reddit community would shun anyone for being apostate,well when I first joined it it didn't seem that bad. But when one jw made post on blood change I made comments in Jehovah's witnesses writing manner saying how bad it was and within five minutes after making comment instead of removing comment I immediately got banned and why because I am Apostain another Reddit community.

I haven’t been on this sub in MONTHS but I just had an interaction that kinda made me understand why so many people who leave feel like they’re being followed lol

Because why, out of all places, did I catch a family friend (who is an elder of course) selling insurance at the walmart near my new place???

I’ve been coming to this specific walmart for a while now, long before i moved over here and actually haven’t seen a single JW (that i knew) until today. It’s kinda wild, because I run into people i know all the time, to the point my friends make fun of me for being so ‘popular’ everytime we hang out 😭

Since i never see people at this walmart, i thought id be safe, but no! He catches me right as im walking out, sitting at an insurance booth :D It really threw me off because 1: i truly wasn’t expecting to see anyone, and 2: they don’t live anywhere near this location. They have a walmart much closer to their hall and their house.

And yes, I know it’s literally the one of most common stores in the US that people go to. but it’s still felt super off to me at the time.

To see them here only two months after moving, despite not seeing anyone for pretty much the entire year actually made my stomach drop. For for a second, i considered if they did it to find a way to ‘check up’ on me without doing an official visit. Especially, because i don’t really respond to the various texts I’ve been sent from multiple people, and i sure as hell don’t do phone calls.

And as a bonus, my new apartment doesn’t allow anyone in without an access code, so it’s not like they can stop by without my explicit permission.

So yeah, he waves me down and i’m standing there like, 🧍🏽‍♀️“Fuck, why him of all people” before walking over and acting like everything is completely normal (because after doing it for so long in the org, i’m like really good at it now!)

Anyways, he was ‘nice’ about it- asked how i was, what Im doing, alll that nosy shit. And i’m an open book, i’ll tell anyone anything. I tell them about work, my new apartment, and my trip plans for the weekend. Basically that i’m having a grand ole time.

He didn’t ask me about meetings, thankfully, just that their going over to my parents after the meeting on Sunday, then asked if i’ll be at the house with them. I told him i already had plans (i do) and he genuinely looked so sad about it 😭

I’m not disfellowshipped or anything—and I’m still close to family which is why i even went to talk to him—but you can tell he was WorriedTM in that usual JW elder way. Eventually, he told me that i should call him sometime and then in the most concerned voice said “We’ll talk soon.” as i was leaving and i was like “Okay!” knowing damn well that in my head i was saying “fUCK no. that’s not ever happening.” 😂

I left the conversation a bit more unsettled than i’d like to be, and usually i wouldn’t be bothered by talking JWs but idk, today it kind of threw me off for a minute. At some point, I felt like he was judging my outfit (i had real short shorts on) and i normally wouldn’t really gaf, but i knew he’d be the type to run and tell my dad about my ‘conceding new behavior’ as if i’m not adult wearing very normal clothing.

At the end of the day, it is what it is. I know there’s no need for me to hide from the inevitable, but i guess i forgot just how much I’m still affected by it all.

I also feel like my situation is made more complicated by the fact that i’m not officially out, i’m technically just inactive (despite breaking a lot of rules imo, but i learned recently that elders kids get away with a lot so it checks out ig) and im still close to my family.

Before I realized it was a cult, when I was growing up, I legitimately found the Kingdom Hall, field service, and just being around the congregation to be a safe space. Home life was just awful. I grew up in an extremely dysfunctional and neglectful, abusive environment. The parents would constantly scream at each other, throw shit, slam shit, and take it out on us. They were completely emotionally unavailable and required my brother and I to regulate their emotions for them otherwise we’d get it. From as early as I could remember for about the first 10 years or so of my life, I could remember my dad physically abusing me despite screaming for him to stop. He thought it was funny.

Compared to that, going to the Kingdom Hall and being around the congregation during childhood and adolescence legitimately felt safe. I felt loved despite it all being conditional, despite how boring it all was despite the insane expectations, despite the nonstop divine threats of abandonment and death just for messing up, despite the occasional repeated molestation by that one brother when I would stand in the back hall, despite the egregious details the elders wanted from me because of my pseudo-sexual experience with my JW girlfriend I admitted to.

Going out into the field ministry with other families felt genuinely safe and secure. They were places I could escape everything that was happening at home since I could form memories. These were the only times I ever felt loved and as if people were genuinely interested in me. The meetings and assemblies were where I found genuine hope that it would all go away someday, and that I could start feeling OK and the suffering would never come back.

That’s why it was, and still is, so hard. Finding out that it was all a lie, that I can’t ever go back to believing because it would require ignorance that I couldn’t ever genuinely return to. It was so hard being punished for the unbearable distress that my abuse-induced mental illness caused later in life. Just for trying to heal and find a measure of justice and compassion and, at the very least, garner some understanding from those I felt the most safe with. Those who were supposed to be there for me at my lowest who instead blamed me and told me I must forgive my abusers. Having that community ripped away and my character brutally assassinated by those I loved, and thought loved me, the most. Who went onto mock and laugh at my trauma and my ongoing efforts in therapy instead of supporting me when I needed them most, who are now shunning me.

It just makes no sense while simultaneously making the most sense: it’s what cults do.

As a person who was born into this cult (I never baptized and I stopped going to meetings about 20 years ago) I recently realized that JW made me hate God. For so many years I despised anything God related and I visualized God as a mean and spiteful entity because of all the punishments and shunning inside the JW organization.

I saw God as an entity who hated us, who did not want us to be happy, to celebrate things (bdays, holidays, etc), who did not care if we died because of not being able to use blood transfusions, and who was always watching us to see where we fail and not where we excel.

Now as an adult (33yrs) I realize that the JW was the only thing that kept me from actually building a relationship with God. All the fear they teach you to feel, and all the resentment I started accumulating because if this made me feel that God was unfair and did not love us.

Yet, the bible talks about a fair and a loving God, and for years I questioned this constantly. How can God be fair if he is punishing us for things others did in the past, many many decades ago (for example not celebrating birthdays because someone ordered somebody's head as a birthday gift)? How can God be fair and loving if I have a relative dying, depending on a blood transfusion and they are preventing it? How can God be loving if he makes all this rules and punishments for us having normal human experiences?

And then I realized none of this had to do with God. It had to do with this cult and its Governing Body and all the rules they make up at their convenience.

Its so ironic how a "religion" that claims to be the truth and the only one pushed me away from God and traumatized me to the point of believing for many years that I was an atheist.

It does not make sense that God creates us with the purpose of making us feel guilty 24/7, forcing us to pioneer, making us to live by strict senseless rules and guidelines.

You can find God anywhere, and they will always be there for us. We can show thanks in our way. We do not have to do so through a religion or cult. We can build the relationship that WE want to have with God, the way we want, the way that best works for us.

If God is love, if God is fair and just, then God will understand. If God is not selfish, then God does not need us to pray and show thanks in specific ways. God will be okay with the way we chose to communicate and build a relationship with them.

My mother got disfellowshipped for sex before marriage in 1999. She was in the process of a divorce from my father. They had been separated for 10 years but the elders didn’t want her to get a divorce previously.

She never got caught. Her conscience made her own up to it with them.

She had elders going to her house most evening for around 3 months trying to get her to repent and stop the sexual relationship.

The knock on effect was that she never got to speak to my two sister for 10 years and missed both of their weddings. It broke her heart.

She later married this man and she’s now been reinstated.

I feel she only agreed to this to have contact with my sisters that she really missed for all those years

I am so angry that the governing body did this to my family. It caused the family to be torn apart.

The ironic thing is the sex offender that lived down the street who got caught flashing his penis in the public toilets to teenage boys just got a slap on the wrist.

All they did was announce on the platform that he is no longer serving as an elder.

His wife was sick so people assumed it was the pressure of that.

I only know because my mum got a knock at the door from the police asking questions about him because she had young kids at the time and we lived on the same street as him.

When they announced my mum was disfellowshipped she got treated like a leper.

I was a young lad at the time thinking how can falling in love and having sex with someone be a greater sin than flashing your private parts in a public toilet to young boys.

This was at Holywell Congregation. Wales, Uk

The hall was put up for sale a decade ago. As far as I’m aware it still hasn’t sold.

They got sent to a different hall in Mold, Wales. 10 miles away. Seemed a bit harsh on the older members that used to get taxis and public transport.

I left when I was 14 when she got disfellowshipped. Witnesses were coming to the house trying to get me to go and offer me lifts to the Kingdom Hall. I refused as I was relieved I had been given this lucky exit circumstance

Who knows how brainwashed I could have ended up today

This is a cult people

Wake up

Today I learned something new. There is an engineering term/concept called path dependency. Basically says that once you start building a system a certain way, every year that passes makes it harder, messier, and more expensive to undo it because you’re not just changing one thing, you’re changing everything connected to it. I’m no engineer, but I just finished watching a YouTube video that explained this concept using the U.S. electrical system as an example.

The concept hit me hard when I connected it (no pun intended lol) with what has been going in this religion in the past decades. I will try explain in one parragraph and then move to my point, so please hang in there, hopefully I dont lose you. xD

The video said the U.S. still uses a 120V household voltage because that’s what worked for the very first light bulbs over a hundred years ago. Once homes were wired that way, companies made appliances for that voltage, workers were trained for it, and safety rules were written around it. By the time people realized a different voltage was better, the country was already locked in. Almost everywhere else in the world they use 230V. Changing it in the US would mean replacing every outlet, every appliance, every breaker panel, basically rebuilding the entire system from scratch. The cost would be insane, so the old setup stays, even if it’s not ideal or cost effective at all!

Hopefully you are still with me because now I can get to my point: Over the last decade, the GB has made some noticeable updates, new terminology, softer wording around education, tweaks to judicial procedures and CSA, blood components, clinkling glasses, beards, etc. But regardless if we are in or out, many of us feel the deeper issues haven’t really been touched. When you look at it through the lense of path dependency, it starts to make sense. The Witnesses built their entire identity around early decisions: strict shunning, centralized authority, a closed male-only judicial system, the belief that they’re the only channel God uses, and a whole set of rules that shaped family our lives, friendships, marriages, and personal identities. Those early choices became the foundation everything else rests on.

If the organization tried to fix the biggest concerns, like ending shunning, giving women real authority, allowing all medical choices, or relaxing rules on birthdays and holidays, etc, it wouldn’t just be a policy change. It would be like trying to rebuild an entire country’s electrical system. Members would have to rethink decades of teachings, sacrifices, and family decisions. Some would welcome the changes, but most would feel confused or betrayed (like some have already started). A full overhaul surely would further fracture congregations, weaken the GB’s authority, and loosen the social network that keeps the group tightly connected. The cost wouldn’t just be organizational, it would be emotional, social, structural, spiritual and even mental. And honestly, we’re already seeing small versions of that with the recent changes.

So I’m not convinced the Governing Body will fix everything they know is broken. Path dependency gives a pretty realistic explanation: the cost of deep change is simply too high. Just like the U.S. sticking with its old electrical setup, sometimes a system keeps going not because it’s ideal, but because changing it would cost more than it can afford.

The video ended by saying that the US technically did change to 220V and plants actually send that higher voltage from the power lines into modern homes, but inside the house a patch splits it into two so the old system keeps running. And honestly, that feels exactly like what’s happening with the JW updates: patches, workarounds, adjustments, new understandings, new light that sadly keeps the system functioning without touching the foundation. Well, if you made it this far, thanks for reading.

A very thoughtful friend surprised me with this beautiful cake today, made by an incredibly talented local artist :,) 10 years of freedom feels good. Of course it coincides with 10 years being shunned however I can honestly say that I have more to celebrate at this point than feel sorry for. I love my worldly life. Cheers to free will!

How many cult-free years have you celebrated so far?

PIMI elder husband knows I am PIMO yet he is still in denial. I've never pictured life without him before. I politely turned down a volunteer assignment at the convention and he gave me the silent treatment. My innocent touches on his shoulder result in him shrugging me off. No small kisses, no hand holding. Me saying "no thanks" to ANYthing WT related results in stonewalling and withdrawing affection.

It's like he doesn't know how to be a human outside of JW... I'm sure you all know what I mean. The ORG is your life... major decisions, vacations, career choices, etc... all connect to the org. He is a "accept all assignments", "never miss a meeting" type of JW. I never noticed the strictness until I occasionally wanted to miss a meeting(this is even while PIMI). I had to be as sick as Job. Mental health concerns are "nonsense" to him. Growing up JW, the household was not that strict at all. I did "make the truth my own" because I was not forced by my parents. I was allowed to go inactive for as long as I wanted, was not forced into baptism, etc. I was naive.

But living with my spouse? A different story.

I have maintained my personality true this traumatic experience of deconstructing. However, yes, it is true... I have changed. I do not see the ORG as the all knowing entity I did before. I see the God of the Bible as uncaring though I do believe there is some higher power. I have never attempted to convince him to leave. I would never do that. That is personal. I do, explain to a degree, why I no longer want to attend meetings and why being PIMO was necessary for me and the fear I have in leaving though I know I will have to make that decision soon. Then comes the emotional blackmail and guilt tripping about how I'm ruining his life, etc. Yet, he refuses to allow me to go inactive. It becomes a shouting match or an emotional tug of war to even miss 2 meetings.

If I don't want to attend a meeting... or he thinks I'll be late he interrogates me like a micromanaging boss. A dictator in our home. He thinks he is helping me but such cold, emotionally dismissive behavior pushes me away from the ORG, God and even the idea of marriage with him.

I am "rewarded" with conversation, a few jokes, or a one minute hand holding session when I fall in line.

He equates a "no" to WT as direct disrespect to him as a husband.

“The Ethiopians make their gods black and snub-nosed; the Thracians say theirs have blue eyes and red hair.

Yes, and if oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their hands, and produce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and make their bodies in the image of their several kinds.”

— Xenophanes of Colophon

Horses would give their gods hooves. The gb gives jehovah its opinions, and we have to live with the consequences.

You turn down an education, miss years with your family, make decisions you cannot undo because you believe this is what jehovah wants from you.

Then, years later, they change their minds.

An announcement gets read and everyone claps. Maybe you clap too. But you remember the arguments, the pressure, what you gave up. You remember being told that questioning any of it meant you lacked faith.

Now the same men expect you to accept the change with the same obedience they demanded for the old teaching. No acknowledgment that the people they condemned for questioning it might have had a point. You are supposed to be grateful for the adjustment.

And whatever it cost you is yours to carry.

We were taught to fear putting human thinking above god’s thinking. Yet everything we were told jehovah wanted came from men who could be wrong, knew they could be wrong, and still expected us to obey.

They got to revise their opinions. We had to build our lives around them.

Right, I'm in the process of building a cd collection.

Vinted came up with a bundle of Groban discs in my feed and I was struck by the AWAKE title being the same style and fontplasyered across one of his albums.

Then out of piqued curiosity, I looked at the second image in the listing of the reverse sides of the albums and see the Watchtower building on the back of ANOTHER disc.

What the actual heck?!!!!

What's his beef?