My parents became Jehovah's Witnesses (JW's) when my mother was pregnant with me, so I was raised a JW. My 3 brothers got dragged into it.
I went to all of the meetings, book studies and assemblies. Went "door to door" every Saturday, sometimes on Sunday after the meeting. I was very well taught on the beliefs and could easily talk to any Christian and "prove" them wrong in their beliefs. When I was 6 years old, one of my brothers was very ill in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer (he was only 16), and was given 24 hours to live. The doctors said that he needed a blood transfusion or he would die. My parents along with my brother decided that he would take death instead of disobeying Jehovah. Miraculously, he lived. Then, later on, one of my brothers was wrongly disfellowshiped, and my parents faith in the organization was not as strong as before. Their faith grew in '89 when my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer, and in '90 she had brain surgery (no blood). After this, my parents had gotten more involved than before, and when my mother recovered she became a full time pioneer.
A few years later when I was 23, I was pregnant with my second child. I hadn't gone to the Kingdom Hall much since my brother had been kicked out. I started to think heavily on what I would tell my children when they asked about God. How would I explain to them that we didn't celebrate Christmas, but we didn't go to the Kingdom Hall either? I struggled with this for a while.
Then out of the blue, I got a call from an old friend. She had married a Baptist pastor, but when we spoke on the phone she never tried to preach to me. After a little while, I started to ask her questions. She would never tell me anything with her own words. She only quoted scripture. I was more and more curious, and she suggested that I read the Bible. I tried. I read the New Words Translation, but i began to realize something. I would start to read, and I would get to a word, and my mind would go off on another subject. I found it to be like "triggers". Certain words would trigger something in my brain and I would start thinking different things. I couldn't concentrate. I told my friend about it, and she sent me a King James Version of the New Testament. I was so happy when I received it. She suggested that I start reading in John. By the time I reached John 1:12, I prayed to Jesus for the first time in my life. I was addicted to the Word of God. Every bit of time that I could, I was reading the Bible. I no longer had the problems that I had with the NWT. My eyes were opened, and I came to believe by simply reading the Word (the real Word) and praying to Jesus, asking to be shown the truth. After my second daughter was born, I attended church and made my decision public. Shortly after, I was baptized. A few months later I was teaching classes in church on cults, mainly Jehovah's Witnesses. One of my brothers came out of the JW's, but my other 2 brothers, their families and my mother (my father died in 2001) are still in the JW religion.
If you or anyone else has questions, or wish to discuss anything, feel free...
In Christ,
