A little about me.
So. I used to be a Jehovah’s Witness. I used to wake up early on Saturday mornings with my family and go to other people’s door to preach to them since I was a baby. I went to meetings 3 times a week, now its 2 times a week. I wasn’t allowed to have friends, date, or marry outside of the religion.
If someone did something ‘wrong’ they were excommunicated from the religion and we weren’t allowed to speak to them until they came back. I’ve had family go through this and I truly believed that they were bad people...now I try and keep in contact with them as much as I can to try to make up for lost time.
Around 2013 (4 years after I got baptized, I was 12), I had been questioning my beliefs and life in general. My sexuality changed, and that was absolutely forbidden because the Bible says its wrong. There’s so much contradictory statements about that too. Anyway, so this year in June of 2020 I decided I wasn’t going to be a witness anymore. Having to hide, lie, and cover up a part of myself that is so important to me, and having to repress that part of me was too hard.
Now that I’m out, I’ve lost friends, family, and people I care about deeply because of this choice. I have some friends and family who are supportive of my decisions, and for them I’m truly grateful. I’m so happy I have this support system, and I want to say thank you.
To the ones who are questioning your beliefs, as a JW or not, I want to let you know that it is OK to question things, its normal, its human nature, you are not a bad person, and don’t let anyone try to tell you what you feel. I suffered for years I do not want the same thing for you. I knew what I wanted from a young-ish age, I knew I wasn’t going to stay in the religion forever. Letting people(40+ year old men) decide for you how you’re supposed to live, and love, and personal choices is wrong, its harmful, and unethical. You’re responsible for your own actions, your choices are your own. They do not deserve to be judged based on archaic principles or others opinions.
