I Escaped Jehovah's Witness Cult But Healed Slowly After
We were told to keep quiet about it, it is forbidden to speak to anyone 'outside' about 'problems' so this is most likely why you 'haven't heard about it'. Anyway the research into silentlambs will be an eye opener.
By the way my p*aedophile father came to visit me last year and in his congregation there was a recent case of an elder s*exually abusing his kids and was discovered internally.
My own fathers words, as he HEARD these orders from the stage, quote: "We were told not to discuss it with the 'outside'".
Also, when my mother called on the help of the 'elders' when he beat her to a pulp, she was told to 'stick with it' , her words, (before they 'updated their rules' years later... so that makes it okay?)
When she CAUGHT him raping my 9 year old sister the elders were called, and as usual, he got away with everything. And he is allowed to go round knocking on doors and is still a respected JW member. Funny how abuse isn't considered serious enough to 'disfellowship' over as long as you do everything else right . And anyway even if they did, they still let them back in, as long as they say 'sorry'.
'Sorry' buys everything!?' 'Sorry' doesn't give me my life back, or my brother's as he jumped 22 floors in 2007.
The Police are rarely allowed to get called coz of the secrecy policy, and the abusive family members won't want discovery anyway; example, my brother bust my ear open when I was 9 and my mother said:
'It's the school holidays anyway so your school won't find out'
Last year on my father's visit I tried getting him to admit the s*exual abuse, he bacame very evasive and denied it first before I cornered him into admitting it then he had to. A perfect cult for both my parents to be members of, since everything is shrouded in:
Paranoia, Secrecy, Guilt, Fear, Control, and petty punishments.
I lived my childhood defending myself from false accusations through absolute control, I lived on my wits dreading the next beating, and watched as they went to 'the meetings' (Church) as if nothing happened.
But don't forget, child abuse isn't as much an issue as the crime of 's*ex before marriage' or any one of their 1000 other rules. 'Brush under the carpet' - no, I won't do that anymore and be afraid to 'talk to the outside'. Guess what, you can abuse me all you want when I am a helpless child or a crushed teenager, but when that person gets older they have the FREEDOM to LEAVE both 'family' and 'cult'.
THE EFFECTS OF THE DAMAGE afterwards is the very reason I made these groups on E.P because it's 'easy to walk away, hard to heal'. Other ex -J.W's are no less damaged than me, esp when the 'SHUNNING' happens if you have the guts to walk away, because that's what they do to you ESP if you OFFICIALLY leave. They call you an 'apostate' which is a scary dirty word meant to make you feel worse than a leper.
They make out how you are 'under the influence of the Devil' for breaking free and punish you by never speaking to you again, if that cult has been your whole life you are now ALONE you have lost friends, family, etc and don't have a clue how to start 'life in the world' -
'The World' is another phrase meant to be a secret language term to 'strike fear in the heart', coz it means you're f*ucked, and gonna be killed by God at 'Armaggeddon' coz you 'turned away from him.'
I TRIED TO KILL MYSELF AT 19 because I was so afraid of the harsh rules staying in it, and the harsh punishments leaving, and the BIG punishment of being exterminated by God. I couldn't take it anymore
And all the 'elders' did was stand around my bedside at the hospital after having my stomach pumped from 100 paracetamols, waving their creepy magazines in my face, 2 months after threatening to 'disfellowship' me for losing my virginity.
Oh, and here's a quick insight on theor double standard, hypocritical rules that nake no sense:
If a husband is beating the cr*ap out of his wife, she's not allowed a divorce. (They only 'allow' divorce on 'death' or 'adultery') BUT, if her husband is giving her oral s*ex, (or any one of the long list of forbidden's apart from BASIC penetration) She can DIVORCE him! (some twisted reasoning! They call it 'fornication' and compare these to 'homos*exual acts')
SO LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT.
If he beats you, you're not allowed a divorce. If he gives you pleasure, you are! Ha ha, what a load of boll*ox. The last lecture I heard from them BEFORE I left in disgust, was this very subject.
How many women have left their violent husbands by separation instead, (coz they can't exactly stop THAT) and lived the rest of their lives WAITING for their partner to cheat on them (which might never happen coz of the harsh punishments for these 'sins') or die, before being 'allowed' to marry again?
Many people marry in great haste due to the premarital s*ex ban - therefore making it much harder to know if a partner is likely to be violent.
By the way, the JW's are very quick to change their rules a few years later if there's an uproar, just to confuse everyone. They're expected to forget all about 'how it used to be' as if it's okay to destroy ppl's lives and move on.
'Brush it under the carpet'.... oh but I tried to, and choked from all the dust under there.
