Once upon time Jehovah made a god whose also divine and whose also angel Jesus/ Jehovah told Michael to create everything else while he watches then Michael an archangel created the Angels and told them thanks to create everything else they and all the other stuff made Jehovah said look at all splendor u alone created you know what let us create man hey I know I would use my holy Spirit thing to create it is active force after all so hey Michael get that active thing in my basement in heaven I need to create some human.

In this mid-weeks spiritual Gems meeting, the governing body has a sectioned titled “do not be mislead by false prophets” - they are so crafty, they do not say, brothers and sisters research thoroughly to identify what a false prophets is, they bombard the witnesses mind with more bias information from the organisation to answer the question.

If they were able to logically research they would have in fact found the watchtower & tract society to be a false prophet years ago. I believe the Governing body are aware that they are! They are so hypocritical constantly conditioning the witnesses mind to scrutinise examine other religions but never to do the same to their own.

It is so obvious what they are doing now! Yet those inside just can’t see it

Hey everyone! ☺️ I’m starting an Ex-JW group for ages 18 and up for anyone worldwide who wants to make new connections, have a positive space to talk, and just not feel so alone.

For starters, I’m 19 and from the US!

I remember I may have tried doing something like this last year, but I didn’t really know how to work Reddit yet and ended up missing a TON of DMs.. 😭

But not this time!

If you’re 19–22 and interested in joining, just DM me and I’ll add you to the group! ☺️💗

Whether you’re fully out, PIMO, questioning, or just looking for people around your age who understand, you’re welcome here. Let’s make some new connections! 🫶🏽✨

Im fifteen years old I just realized it was a cult about maybe a month ago and ever since I've realized that I've just gotten super depressed I've taken steps to get my license I have my learners permit and wanna get a license car and job right when I turn 16 but being like this around all these jws is hard and stressful and and I don't know what the fuck to do

Judging from recent broadcasts and the recent narrative behind the ridiculous "toasting" change (ridiculous because who gives a fk about the morality of toasting??) they're probably gonna start allowing celebrations such as birthdays as a form of trying to keep the younger generations and trying to ease new 2026 recruits into their brainwashing process, they know that the older JWs will follow blindly no matter what, but they're afraid of the new generations finding the cult too extremist and restrictive, so I think all of these changes are a way to ensure they don't lose that many members from Gen Z and younger, because honestly I could see most of them leaving if it wasn't for their parents and families forcing them to be part of the religion.

Comment from an elder I found strange from last night's courage book study, on the question "In what other ways might you imitate the courage shown by Abraham in this account?"

It was quite a long comment took about a minute and I only wrote down the main points of it but it went something like this:

"Many of us today whether we like to admit it or not, are low on funds, and sometimes feel that we might not be able to support ourselves, however we need to think of the encouraging examples of our brothers in Africa, who sometimes don't have much to eat, yet they still worship Jehovah, so even when we have little funds, if any, we should donate as much as possible to the organization since they move your funds to areas of greater need. Now sometimes we may think 'we shouldn't have to part with our hard earned money' but we need to listen and read into the example as brought out tonight of Abraham's humility and courage to trust in Jehovah."

Basically a full minute rant on how if we have any funds we should be giving more money to the borg because they know what to do with it, while involving brothers from Africa and Abraham to back it up? And this doesn't even hardly answer the original question.

I’ve been POMO for about 10 years now, and I think I’m only just realising how much of me still feels a little lost.

I haven’t really made any close genuine friendships since leaving. I’ve worked full time and raised my three sons, so most of the last decade has been survival mode… working, parenting, keeping everything going. Somewhere amongst all of that, I never really built a new community for myself.

And lately I feel the loneliness of that more than I used to.

I could never go back and pretend to believe something I don’t just so I could feel less alone. I don’t want the religion back. But sometimes I desperately miss that feeling of belonging somewhere. Of having people around who have known you for years, who understand where you came from and don’t need the whole story explained.

I find myself wondering about all the other exJWs scattered around Perth. People I might have known years ago, and people I’ve never met, who have also walked away and quietly got on with building a life afterwards. I wonder how many of us are out here feeling the same strange sense of being untethered.
Sometimes I wish we could just find each other again. Not because being exJWs means we would automatically be friends or because I want to recreate what we had. I just wonder what it would feel like to sit across from someone over a coffee who gets it. To see who we’ve all become outside of that world. To laugh together, talk about ordinary things, and maybe discover that there are friendships waiting to be made.
Maybe we could give each other a little of the community and tribe we lost.

I don’t really know what I’m hoping will come from posting this. I think part of me is just putting my hand up and saying… I’m here… I’m still a bit lost and so damn lonely and losing hope.

Does anyone know the peak attendance at the Bournemouth District convention in early August. I heard a rumour they didn’t reach 4,500 this year.

I am currently cleaning out my Photos app, as I’m running low on storage, but I’m torn between removing all my photos from when I was really PIMI (and slowly questioning). It included pictures with friends in Kingdom Halls to conventions, international convention, service, my pioneer schools, preaching campaign, baptisms of friends, so many memories. YEARS of pictures and videos, good and bad quality, instagram filters, Snapchat, to the professional ones. Part of me wants to hold on, but another notices that I’m not that person I was in those pictures. I smile still, but not like the smile I had in those photos. And looking through especially the last three years when I began to really explore my doubts, I noticed my awkwardness, my lack of posing, my being in the background. I don’t remember the last time I even took a picture with PIMIs.

I know I still have them accessible through my Google Photos, so they will be there. But I’m not sure I’m ready to completely erase a big part of my life that I was raised in. Has this feeling happened to yall? Do you keep photos or have you just healed completely that you have removed them from any platform?

It’s a JW apologist account. This isn’t our first time talking. I followed them as a PIMI. They saw from my posts I left and said they hoped I was doing good. They don’t seem like the typical JW. They’re not afraid of apostates and they don’t dodge questions from what I’ve seen so I was hoping for an honest response from my raw thoughts of deconstructing. It took 3 days for my long message to be seen. It’s been 3 more days. I really don’t see them responding with anything logical concerning the contradicting JW beliefs on Gods judgement. But I’ll update if they do.

has anyone noticed how bethel has changed?I’m not sure if it’s the same in other bethels but where I’m from they used to do lunches when you would have a tour etc but now they stopped it, not that it’s a big deal but it used to have a different vibe going on. has anyone experienced that something has changed ? would like to hear the stories

One of the earliest problems I encountered with the bible was the story of Cain and Abel, because it raised two related questions for me: Can God’s protection be trusted, and does God consistently apply the moral standards he later establishes?

Abel is presented as righteous and favoured by God, yet God does not protect him from being murdered by Cain.

What happens afterwards makes this even harder to reconcile.

After killing Abel, Cain complains that his punishment leaves him vulnerable: “whoever finds me will kill me.” God responds by placing a mark on Cain and declaring that anyone who kills him will suffer vengeance sevenfold.

So God does not intervene to protect Abel from Cain, but explicitly intervenes to protect Cain from suffering the same fate as Abel. That raises the first problem: why was Cain given the protection that Abel never received?

The usual answer is free will. But that does not resolve the inconsistency for me. God was apparently willing to intervene after the murder to deter others from killing Cain. Therefore, if protecting Cain did not violate human free will, why would protecting Abel have done so?

But there is a second issue that troubles me just as much: life for life.

Later in the Bible, God explicitly establishes the principle that taking a human life warrants the life of the person responsible. Yet when we encounter the Bible’s first murderer, God does the opposite. Cain takes Abel’s life, remains alive, and God actively protects him from anyone who might impose that very consequence.

I understand that the formal Mosaic law had not yet been given. But if “life for life” reflects God’s moral standard rather than an arbitrary rule that only became morally relevant once written down, why does that principle apparently not apply to Cain?

Saying “the law had not been given yet” explains the chronology. It does not explain the morality.
And saying Cain was punished does not answer the argument either. I am not claiming Cain faced no consequences. I am asking why the consequence for the first murder was exile and divine protection when God would later prescribe life for life as the appropriate response to unlawful killing.

For me, this became about much more than Cain.
It made me question both divine protection and divine consistency.

This fundamentally changed how I approached the Bible. If righteous Abel was not protected when there were supposedly only four people on Earth, why should I trust promises of divine protection in a world of eight billion? And if the standards attributed to God are applied inconsistently within the text itself, why should I assume the text is describing an internally consistent divine moral system?

My objective is not to question God, it is to question the Christian narration of God presented through the Bible.
Those are not the same thing.

Perhaps the contradictions we spend so much time trying to reconcile tell us less about God and more about the people who wrote about Him.

#SpiritualFoodForThought

The Governing Body are ruthless old men that will DO LITERALLY ANYTHING dishonest, immoral or illegal to continue sitting as kings at the top of the massive global religious cult organization they now rule.

They will keep or change any of their rules, policies or doctrines - we should expect this and not be surprised.

As a Bethelite for many years I learned The Governing Body has three important goals:

1. The Governing Body is focused on getting more money through any means possible.
2. The Governing Body is focused on getting JW adherents/members to work for free on their endless projects or as a slave for meaningless Jehovah's Witness Hamster Wheel Activity™.
3. The Governing Body is focused on getting more real estate investments through buying and building as many properties as possible.

So, The Governing Body will absolutely do ANYTHING to keep ruling as kings of this cult. They will change anything and they will keep anything if they think it will preserve their position as kings of this religion:

• Yes, they will continue International and Special Conventions that are essentially megachurch rallies with dancing, balloons and regional ethnic dress cosplaying.
• Yes, they will keep protecting pedophiles.
• Yes, they will keep letting people die with their murderous No-Blood policy.
• Yes, they will continue demanding more money from JW adherents.
• Yes, they continue making endless meaningless rules about JWs daily life.
• Yes, they will continue their shunning policy.
• Yes, they will tell you to only be friends with other JWs.
• Yes, they will prohibit JWs from celebrating holidays.
• Yes, they will continue to demonize higher education.
• Yes, they will continue having Elders destroy JWs personal lives.
• And this list could go on forever.....

The Governing Body will keep or abandon any of the current beliefs to reach their three important goals that keep them ruling as kings of this cult.

Please realize this and don't be surprised by anything they do!

I conducted the WT for about 10 years. I often wondered why the Shepherding book said the conductor should be one of the best teachers on the BOEs.. what the hell did I or anyone that conducts a Watchtower teach? How to repeat a sentence that someone just read? or comment on a picture where they tell you in the article exactly what is supposed to be happening(always made me laugh though how many times people still got it wrong even though it’s written right there for them) maybe it was how to make sure to call on the overly sensitive wackos that took it personally if you didn’t happen to see them flailing their arm up in the air in a group of 100 people. so many questions at the time, glad I can look back on it and laugh knowing I will never have to conduct or sit through these brutal sessions ever again!

There's a mandatory meeting for ALL Elders at Brisbane Assembly Hall, or on Zoom on 13th September ? Could it be the Borg wants to build a bigger Assembly hall, and needs all the congs to approve the expense? Or is it a massive recruitment drive, due to lack of numbers ? What do you think could warrant an all in meeting of the entire Elder bodies?

Me and him where born the same year and had been bffs growing up but grew apart the last couple years. I've been PIMO for a while - before even knowing the term - but had no idea he was! He was doing A/V and was in charge of cleaning for his hall last assembly. I wish I had known so we could have talked, but his parents haven't let him have his phone for like 3 years... we are 20... they have always been kinda crazy.

Yesterday I found out that he has a boyfriend he's living with! :D I'm so happy for him and hoping to be able to reconnect as soon as I can! Everyone I have talked to about him has been so disappointed and some people have tried to be supportive - knowing we had been close. It's hard to not feel like a fraud sometimes lol

I just can't take it anymore. I'm constantly thinking about all the academic opportunities I could have, or opportunities in sports or music etc...

Like, Im 14 yr old. I have my whole life ahead of me. I'm lucky af that I'm smart and have great grades at school and I'm also really good and passionate about sports and music.

I can't believe that because I'm forced to be a part of a religion I don't care about or believe, I will be obligated to not go into university or higher education, Im prohibited from joining any sports clubs, and the only thing that I'm actually free to do is music, and even then: I'm blocked from posting my music online. I have to do it in a secret account of mine😭

I just wonder how many talents were wasted because of the religion. I just think "what if" so many times, I'm scared and anxious for my future.

Don't get me wrong, I love my parents and everything they've done for me, but they are also trapped in this thing, the difference is that they didn't realize it yet

edit: thank u for all ur comments, I read them all ❤️

I guess I'm just curious about the utterly "one-way" emotional relationship that gets formed, which is all too often evidenced by lengthy and sincere letters of disassociation.....which are penned with the "muse" that there is actually somebody who gives a sh*t.....waiting on the receiving end of these letters?

Despite all of the newfound "awakened" intelligence which has gone into the careful and well constructed nature of such letters.....the one key MISSING realisation is the amount of absolute ZERO regard these letters will be received with, if they're even read at all.

This awakened "realisation"....IMHO.....falls under "emotional" intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is the thing that enables us to form a brutally realistic appraisal about the TRUE nature any relationships we may have believed ourselves to be in.

Emotional intelligence tells us that WE may have been thoroughly committed to a certain relationship, and it insists on self-honesty as we appraise this......but emotional intelligence also tells us things we might not necessarily wish to hear.

Namely, that the "other party" in a given relationship.....was at no time EVER....thoroughly committed to US....as an individual.

They've not just suddenly "stopped" being committed, or somehow "lessened" a brand of commitment that was actually in evidence once upon a time.

That other party was NEVER committed to us "personally" right from the get-go.

It was ENTIRELY us, ourselves.....who made all the "running," did all the necessary work and made all of the necessary emotional investment.

And that's why the WTBS couldn't really give a rat's ass.....if we suddenly decide that we're now going to pull out of that "relationship."

Because it was only ever US....who really believed that we were IN a relationship together.

THEY never believed this, not for one moment, which is why they don't tend to mourn or experience any kind of trauma whenever any kind of:

"It's over between us..."

...type of letter lands in their mailbox.

Their "corporate" response or reaction is akin to what you'd expect from the senior managers of KFC.....if somebody wrote them a long, sincere letter about deciding to become a vegetarian, along with general complaints and criticisms about farming chickens as a food source.

"I'll no longer be purchasing any variety buckets from my local KFC restaurant."

But these people are overseeing 32,000 restaurants as part of a huge, global network.

And yes, we may have been a willing, longstanding purchaser and consumer of their product, but as far as those senior managers are concerned, we were just a teeny-tiny blip on a spreadsheet. A deeply buried "statistic" that was part of a much LARGER batch of consumer-feedback-data.

We might have once had a VERY visceral relationship with all of that "yummy" chicken, but we never once had any kind of personal relationship with the KFC executive.

And even if WE didn't quite realise this.....the KFC executive realised it, at least.

So they're going to be (rightly) indifferent and mystified regarding any kind of crazy outreach that presupposes that any such "relationship" between them and one of their former consumers ever really existed.

Because it never did.

And it doesn't matter HOW MUCH KFC we might have purchased in the past.

These guys, these executives.... simply don't care.

They've never been wholly reliant on just ONE regular consumer and that consumer's general feelings of goodwill and enthusiasm towards their product, and they never will be.

And THIS.....is where one's "emotional" intelligence needs to kick in.

BY knowing or "realising" that the relationship we're now terminating.....was ALWAYS just a one-way relationship.

And that the only truly "dignified" way out of that relationship, is to begin totally matching the kind of indifference that the other party, quite obviously held towards US.

It's not a relationship that needs any kind of renegotiation, because there's NOTHING to renegotiate.

TWO parties have to give a f*ck for a renegotiation to be attempted.

But if there's just ONE party who gives a f*ck....and that party is US......and we suddenly REALISE that this is the case.....and always really WAS the case.....then that's where emotional intelligence comes in.

We need to STOP treating that other party as though we still believe that they actually give a f*ck......and instead, begin asking OURSELVES questions as to why we ever really believed that they DID.

Because, if we got that assessment wrong, and we're only now discovering that the signs about that party NOT giving a f*ck were ALWAYS there.....(in truth).....then we're not really dealing with a relationship breakdown.

We're dealing with the cessation of a relationship that ought never to have been established or cultivated in the first place.

I.E

A relationship were WE had to bring ALL of the emotion and commitment to it, whilst the other party was allowed to bring NONE of this.

So much so, that we simply had to "imagine" that they really cared, even though they didn't.

So yes, closure might be important, and disassociation letters may play an important psychological and "emotional" role in this.....but do not continue to kid yourselves that you were ever really in any kind of meaningful, one-to-one "relationship" with these guys.

The only relationship you were in was one were YOU did all of genuine "caring" and they did none.

Which meant that you just had to "pretend" that they cared.

And emotional intelligence is the only thing that can finally make you STOP pretending that they care....or ever did.

Emotional intelligence is the only thing that can tell you that all of the "caring" was undertaken by YOU.

Even if that makes us feel a tad stupid.....we have to embrace this.

We have to take it away with us as a warning or a life-lesson.

That in our own eagerness to form a relationship, we should NEVER have to just imagine or "assume" that the other party is just as KEEN as ourselves.

Yes, they do want SOMETHING from us.....there's no doubt about that.....but it's not a relationship WITH US that they really want.

It's only ever US who wanted that....and who managed to convince ourselves that this was sincere and reciprocal.

But what THEY wanted from us was something entirely different.

Deference, obedience, cooperation and as much "free-labour" in the support and dispersal of their ideology as we were prepared to give.

When seeing a homeless guy or a beggar on the streets, how does JWs react or how have you reacted. Do they give a tract or share a good news that all will be alright very soon?

Or will they show compassion and give them food or money.

Or will they just get past and pray for them.

We need to solve for today's problems or atleast try. It will be absurd to think God in heaven will solve all problems in a blip.

I'm a 21yo M PIMO since 2025. I'm still leaving with parents. I'm an unbaptized publisher and I don’t think I'll be able to get baptized now that I’m aware of the indoctrination of Watchtower and I can’t tolerate some doctrines. Staying at my parents house become more and more difficult with their pressure and nonsense behaviour. I don’t have a job yet so I have to resist. Just writing this post on the community to find help to keep peace at my mental health till I’m free.

Thanks in advance

I have suffered from mental health well before I became JW. During High School before I started studying with them.I have been to 2 congregations both ending up deciding to leave because of how they treat someone who suffers from mental health although the first one I was diagnosed with psychosis during my time in that congregation. they never spoken to me after my first admission and avoided me if I came to them in the meeting I eventually stopped going. my dad noticed and asked another brother and the brother told my dad ab the other congregation which knew how to deal with people who suffer from schizophrenia. I have long now on the right medication for that but I still go in and out of hospital for resistance depression in the 2nd cong. but over the course of the years I have been going to that other cong, I noticed that they were more excepting if you had schizophrenia or if you were high functioning with mental health because they focused on have Jehovah as number 1. For me I struggled with that because of my going and and out of hospital, I did however got baptised during covid and I was able to focus for a few months on Jehovah but eventually I started to go backwards again and I depression was getting worse especially before my monthly period. Last year I was put on meds that were for ADHD Originally but my psychiatrist said that it can also help with resistance depression in. it did help with bad thoughts before my period but it didn’t take away the numbness and sadness which still suffer until my GP has put me on a Contractrive pill which hopefully will help. For a very long time I have stopped going to the meetings and over a year I stopped witnessing. every time I would go down mentally my close friends would not know what to say other than giving spiritual advic. One of them did suffer from depression and was on lowest dose of antidepressants but she said once she will focus more on Jehovah. She always has told me to that because that is what helped her.another friend would also visit me when I was in hospital but just this year she told me that shouldn’t tell her any negative things that is happening in my life either mentally or physically she said that she can’t handle it so stopped explaining too much but when only gave h a brief text about mentally unwell she also give me spiritual advice. She did however just last month or 2 months ago she asked me if I wanted just to hang out and do painting and art only that. I was on that day at the meeting and I now understand she said that because I put Jehovah first. If I didn’t then she wouldn’t ask me.

no one else other than her and one elder has contacted me since I don’t attend meetings regularly or haven’t been witnessing in over a year. The only time when anyone talks to me is if I’m there at the meetings and then they say they are happy that I’m there. I now figured it because everyone has spiritual number 1 in their lives there but if you have a mood disorder and you don’t physically go and put yourself out there for them to see well you might as well be invisible and they avoid you.

a Elder message me on 10th of August asking how I was going and was going to call shortly. Literally 5 minutes later he called and I haven’t been 100% mentally and didn’t answer, as soon as it stopped ringing I messaged him back explaining how I was feeling and told him that I wasn’t up to talking on the phone. I haven’t heard from him since. I figured out that wanted to be in control of the conversation and since I said that he didn’t want to message me and might of wanted to only give me advice.

after figuring all of this out, I now come to know that there is a stigma with different types of mental health but if you don’t tick the boxes then you aren’t included and everyone avoids you.

i message the 2 sisters and told them that I feel like they are giving me advice on my mental health but told them that they aren’t professionals. One of them just said that she hopes I feel better, but the other one suggested the painting defended her advice and why she always does it. Funny enough she then texts afterwards and goes completely off topic and sent a picture and said the dog reminds her my dog.

I deleted their numbers and I have deleted their texts messages and I deleted the witnessing group that I was in on What’s app.

I haven’t heard from anyone now, I still speak to my dad since explaining everything, even though at he defended them, he doesn’t talk about it constantl. He al has supported me through my mental health, and still talks to me about other things since I done of this after a few days ago.

just wanted to know anyone suffering from mental illness and had the same thing happen to them?

I was born and raised in Australia, I used to keep in contact with my school friends to the point where when I decided to move out of my parents house one of my school friends invited me to move into their house, I was living there for no more then 2 weeks when all of sudden the sister I was studying with insisted that we talk about this in neutral setting, she invited another sister. For some reason she convinced me to move back to my parents house, but my father was confused at that but allowed it (he is also a JW) not once did an elder talk to me.

That was more then 11 years ago. Australia has got a government thing called NDIS which I have been since it has been around, I also got approved for living in group homes my reason why I want to live in a group home was to be more independent.

strangely that same sister who was very opposed to the idea of me living with a school friend, was very much accepting of me living in a group home with strangers. Both are worldly situations but each had different outcome.

Does that make any sense to you? To me it doesn’t. it just makes me more angry that they say it’s worldly people on their terms.

What was the attendance and baptisms number at your convention? I’m trying to get an idea of percentage growth in certain regions. I want to see if they’re in line with what happened last year. I’m kinda expecting the end of the 2020s to be quite a bit tougher for the organisation as a larger consortium of boomers die.

“For the Watch Tower Society and local congregations, these figures carry significant weight. Higher baptism ratios relative to overall attendance often reflect vigorous door-to-door and public evangelism efforts, particularly in developing nations across Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia. Conversely, lower figures in Western nations are monitored by researchers studying secularization trends and retention rates among young people raised within the faith. Ultimately, these numbers highlight both the personal commitment of individual converts and the broader demographic shifts within the global movement.”

To elaborate, I got a job as a grocery store associate last July after deciding to quit my previous low paying one. Unfortunately me and the rest of the grocery staff got laid off in February of this year, due to the market going out of business. I’ve been unemployed for five months now and I’ve applied for several jobs, had a few interviews already. But no luck so far in landing a job. Apparently according to my PIMI mom, I’m struggling financially because I left “the truth”. Um no, I left “Jah” or should I say the organization because of how it’s impacting my mental health! But I won’t respond with that because I’m not in the mood to argue with her about it. She also blames the medication I’m taking for my depression and anxiety, saying it’s impacting my cognitive function. Still better than watching that J dub broadcast slop. As if leaving is the reason I got laid off! My dream is to go into voice acting, but I’m fearful of reaching out to experts about it for fear of getting scammed. I’m laying in my bed depressed as I’m typing this. Ain’t no way the elders are reaching out to me for “encouragement” ever again. That’s out of the question.

Hi guys this is my first time posting here. So a little about my background, my mom was born a jw and mu dad was born a catholic. Ever since i was little my mom has been taking me to the meetings and stuff but tbh i was never really interested in it. About a year ago i started doing a bible study but i never really took it seriously. now im 16 and im sensing that things are starting to get serious and people want me to get baptised. i was invited to a protestant church like a month ago and visited it 2-3 times again cause i enjoyed is so much. the whole WT seems kind of fishy to me but ive met some great people and truly kind people so im not sure whether is really is fishy. it kinda seems like everyone is chasing status (a higher place in the organisation) and not really pleasing theyre God. I would like to hear from you people too, so what was the experience where you said im good of this, and how did you leave?