The Long Version

Meeting the Jehovah's Witnesses

Joining the Watchtower

Life as a Jehovah's Witness

Expelled! Shunned by God

A new life "in Christ"

Parting thoughts

More Information

FAQs

Informational Links

Meeting the Witnesses...

We were a relatively average close-knit happy little middle class family. In 1972, when I was around 15 years old, my mother became very ill. One day everything was normal and within a week we all thought she was going to die! It was during the early years of Mom's illness we first met Jehovah's Witnesses. I guess my dad, who wasn't particularly religious, was searching for answers when they came to the door. At any rate, Dad agreed to a study and within the year he was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

I listened some and argued some with these Witnesses. Two guys studied with Dad. One of the Witnesses, we were told, was of the "anointed" class. (Witnesses believe only 144,000 anointed born-again humans actually go on to heaven when they die while the rest will live eventually on earth in paradise) He was an eerie old dude; always talking about the destruction that Armageddon would soon bring upon earth (at that time, the Watchtower was predicting 1975 as the year). He had my attention, that's the year I was to graduate high school! The other guy was real bold and arrogant. I argued with him about the necessity of human government (Witnesses will not serve in government), war, blood transfusions, and so on. I lost each time because I always played into their well-rehearsed counter-arguments. Eventually, they won my mind.

Love Divided...

They didn't win my heart though. Dear old Mom was able, in time, to return home for short visits. If anyone was ever opposed to the Watchtower it was my mother! By 1973 our peaceful little home had become like a high-pressure steam cooker. Dad carted me and my little sister off to five hours of meetings each week (plus field service) and that made Mom boil. She couldn't understand what was happening to her family. Dad, well, he just wanted to save everyone from Armageddon. My sister and I were stuck. Stuck in the middle. We both loved our parents very much. We were both worried about Mom's health. And we both respected our father. But the pressure! If we went with Dad, Mom got mad at us. If we fussed about going with Dad...we'd get a lecture about how Jehovah would destroy us. Finally, after 1975 came and went without all the doom and gloom, I bailed out. I still believed the Watchtower was right, but I couldn't deal with my divided love. College was out because at the time the Watchtower strongly discouraged higher education so I took a job pumping gas.

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