From the Editor
After many months of collaborative effort across the online ex JW community, it is my privilege to be able to present the first ever online magazine for doubting, exiting and former Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Click cover image to download the full magazine in PDF
JWRECOVERY Magazine is a free collaborative journal designed to provide easily accessible information and support assistance to ex Jehovah’s Witnesses around the world. It is our hope that the information contained within, in a new alternative format, will be another convenient touch-point for those seeking information and recovery help.
The editing staff and article contributors have come together on a non-profit basis, with no agenda other than to provide recovery assistance for other former Jehovah’s Witnesses. We are not an organized group nor professional counselors or therapists. Rather we aim to provide support to our fellows in an informal way by sharing stories, experiences and research.
For those of us who have come together to produce this magazine, it is our pleasure to finally release it to the public and we look forward to many others joining us to contribute to this journal in future issues.
Personally, it’s been a delight working with such knowledgeable, skilled and passionate people. We all share the vision of helping others and we hope that vision will continue to be realized as the exJW community raises its voices together.
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Click on the cover image above to download the full magazine in PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view the file. You can get the Adobe Reader here.
Popularity: 15%
October 31st, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Cool magazine!Many ex Russians JW members read your magazine!Great job!
January 1st, 2010 at 7:55 pm
Really glad I found your site. I was disfellowshipped 7 years ago, and it was painful because I had been a witness for 27 years. But after being shunned for some time, I realised that I had belonged to the most judgemental organisation on earth. My daughter has not said a word to me for these last 7 years because I left the religion. It’s hard to accept but she has made her choice. Looking back at the ‘goldfish bowl’ that is the witnesses’ religion, it makes me cringe to think I was actively involved with an organisation that teaches its adherents to be so judgemental against anything that isn’t from their own governing body. My new life is so much more rich and colourful. No longer do I have to be told what I have to believe. Such a weight off my shoulders! Thank you for a great site. I shall continue to visit often…not because I want ammunition with which to attack the witnesses, but because I have found people who feel exactly as I do…freed from the shackles of misguidance.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
I just wanted to add to Mark’s comments (above). He said what I’ve been feeling so succinctly. I was disfellowsipped 10 years ago after being associated for 25 years (12 as a baptized Witness). The new-found Christian freedom I now have has literally been a God-send. I’m so grateful to be out of a judgemental, man-made organization, that gave me such a thwarted view of God and Christ. I am so grateful that my daughter will never have to go through the hardships I went through as a child. I am now free to be the Christian I choose to be. The magazine is wonderful…keep up the good work! Hopefully it will reach those who are contemplating leaving, and perhaps help them to make that difficult and life-altering move. I will be an avid reader and supporter of your magazine.
January 29th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Thank you so much for all the work that’s gone into this fantastic site. There was nothing like this available when I was disfellowshipped in 1992. I no longer feel alone, and that means the world xx
January 31st, 2010 at 1:36 pm
► http://indicetj.com ◄
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Thanks for a fantastic magazine and website! Looking forward to more.
February 20th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
This is to let you all know that whoever was dissfellowshiped in the past now holds no merit to the elders actions. Many of us have found out that the GB have been putting subliminial images in the pictures- even since C.T.Russell. These images are of the satanic and some sexual kind as the WT DO have links to the Freemasons- a society that holds many secrets, including its satanic ritules. In the WT Sept 15 2005 mag shows hidden at the bottom of page 25 the Freemasonary BAPHOMET, or the devil shown on Tarot cards. Find out for yourself with the WT copies you have at home. See “binsubimages” on YouTube for details of HUNDREDS of images found! I was a JW for 30yrs, then I found out about the satanic and sexual images.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
hello,
Very good site!
Marcos / Brasil
March 29th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Hello,
WOW! Iam amazed at the group of ex jehovah’s witnesses coming together. I was raised as one of JW’s and for the past 8 yrs have not attended any congregations. I have researched their religion and found nothing to prove they weren’t true nor false. But recently after serious digging have I begun to see through new eyes the real truth and not just circumstantial evidence that could be refuted by anyone. My parents are still Jw’s yet although they are devout, they still accept me and have not shunned me whatsoever. My life and decisions have nothing to do with not wanting to be one of JW’s but I must say without being a gay male, I doubt I would have ever seen the truth…I’d still be brainwashed.
April 3rd, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I appreciate this magazine, will help many of us to recover and heal from all the pain we’ve suffered. I have started a Meetup group for hispanic readers… particularly from Mexico City. I count on all of you to spread the word, since there are (or at least I haven’t found) any group that could help us hispanics ex JW to heal and find counsel in Mexico, in Spanish. The link is http://www.meetup.com/Ex-Testigos-de-Jehova-en-Mexico/ Thanks for the support. We will be located in Mexico City. All comments and suggestions will be welcomed!
May 18th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
hey,this is Jackie Hardgrave,just observed your web-site on google and i must say this blog is great.may I quote some of the information found in this site to my local friends?i’m not sure and what you think?in either case,Many thanks!
May 18th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I’m a gay man,(came out after starting my current job)The company I work for is owned by JW’s. I’m not openly out at work and I’m the Executive Director of the company. Based on other business decisions they make according to their faith beliefs, I’m assuming my job would be in jeopardy if I came out at work, or someone outed me. Any thoughts on this issue from you or your readers would be helpful to me.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:19 am
So glad to see the support on this site. I’ve never been a JW but my husband is. He’s a good man and I love him. The teachings of this cult makes it very hard for my husband and I to be close and to share our hearts with each other. I used to be so hurt by his alienation. Reading the testimonies of those who have left or are trying to leave helps me understand what’s happening to him. I feel a compassion for him that I didn’t have before. Right now I’m just focused on loving him irregardless of how he treats me. It gets hard though and sometimes I feel like I’m dying. The sweetness and intimacy of marriage has been stolen from us. Is there anything that can turn his heart towards me? This is the hardest thing I’ve ever faced.
September 11th, 2010 at 2:37 am
pqêp que upload é esse bixo, jah to repassando o link pros meus amigos !! vlw por compartilhar
December 21st, 2010 at 10:25 am
After 39 years of prison life in the Tower, I made it a point to research Ray Franz’s “Crisis of Conscience”. My wife and I immediately disassociated from this dysfunctional boysclub, of course with “repercussions”. We knew Lance and Wendy Anderson in Mishawaka Ind, and they were so supportive of the poor treatment we received at the hands of cruel elders, but it stopped there…Loyalty to “the organisation” has always prevented any complete healing from the onslaughts of wrongteaching, but more often than not, our trying to exist without real Christian love in our lives. Barbara Anderson has experienced firsthand the extent to which the adherants of this group of people are not able to have true Christian love for one another. Yes, because of Watchtower scriptural mis-interpretations, we are not allowed to ever speak with our son again. The pain of realising the position we we are in, is amplified by the loyalty our son has to this organisation, loyalty that is blindly and narrowly channeled by their false teachings, and man-made rules designed specifically to control the members. Thank you all for your contributions to this movement, this release, this revealer. We have a day of joy on our horizons…a day that truly bespeaks of Jehova’s intervention as regards his true followers. Insight is what encourages us, so we will remain with all here in the spirit of this revealing work. Remain strong, all of you Barbara Andersons….remain ready to defend your love for Jesus.
June 16th, 2011 at 11:36 am
I just got to say, I never knew this website existed, and I am sooooo glad it does. I actually became an Atheist because of the info I have found about religion in general. But, that’s not why I am here. I am here as an Ex Member of the JWs because I found out how much of a sham their religion really is. Example, I was disfellowshiped for something I am to this day I am still sorry for. So that was a legitimate thing. But, I WAS also reinstated. However, when I was reinstated, people in the Kingdom Hall look at you different. One lady told me never to talk to her ever again. Another told me I should never have been allowed back. Two Elders would barely even talk to me. Now these were people that I hung out with all the time before I was disfellowshipped. Keep in mind too, I never really believed in their religion. Even as a child, I never understood why they say one thing, but practice something else.
Example : Blood, they say don’t take it. But, they eat meat. Beef stake and other kinds of meat has blood in it. Also, when you get right down to it, science showing our atoms, Ponder on this, atoms that come together to form a blood molecule. Which is extremely small. Its simply not possible to wash out every molecule of blood from meat.
Example 2 : The idea of “not talking to those who leave” is totally opposite of what their so called Jesus taught. Jesus even talked to Harlots and wicked men. The only one he shoved away, was Judas who betrayed him.
Which brings me to this point, I get that we are human, and if my friend betrays me, I probably wouldn’t talk to him either. At least for a while until I got over it. But that’s ME doing it. Not someone else telling me to do it. JWs have a governing body that tells them to not talk to people who are no longer in their religion. When I left, I left clean. I was not disfellowshiped.
Then you can go back to the whole Jesus compared to the Egyptian god Horus. I mean there is a LOT more info on how Jesus life is a copycat of this fake god. There is a lot of info on all kinds of bible faults along the way as well. When you get right down to it, religion is a theory, there never has been any proof that an Alien from space ever spoke to man, accept in that one book they call the bible. Which we are finding out now days, has a lot to do with Paganism in the first place. Look up Zeitgeist the Movie ( 2007 ) and you’ll understand.
I could go on and on. But whats the point, you guys here at this website pretty much sums up how I been feeling. Thank you.
July 18th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
I would like to say that your website is excellent, and the facts you have presented demonstrates how clear it is that WT is a fraud.
I’m currently in the organization still, I’m attempting to gain more economic footing and some extra supplies for when I leave home, since my parents would no doubt have abandoned me had I revealed my apostasy. My apostasy is pure, it does not come from any sin I have, or any desire I cannot satisfy, nor is it even based on something I came across on a website like this.
My apostasy comes from the things I have read in the bible and the things I see in the organization. I have come to see that my ‘preaching’ and ‘teaching’ work was actually nothing more then a propaganda push. By trying to ‘make the truth my own’, I actually found out everything I believed in was a lie. It started when I read the scripture at 2 Sam 24:17. In that event, God killed 70,000 people on account of something David did. David asked why innocent sheep must suffer for his crime…and he never got his answer. Nor did I, after I searched the WT cd-rom the only place I found the scripture used was in a 1950’s WT about taking responsiblity for our actions.
That was only the start, I remembered other cruel acts recorded in the bible. The account of Achan and his family for example(Joshua Chapter 7), here God not only allowed some of his innocent soldiers to die because of one man’s greed, but then he stoned this man’s entire family and his animals. What kind of God with any sense of justice or even intelligence would commit such a satanic act? This is in direct conflict to what he states about his morals at Ezekiel 18, where he says sons will bear nothing on account of fathers.
‘Jehovah’ orders his nation to slaughter the Canaanites, but he orders them to slaughter even the “suckling child”, and he specifically states to “show no compassion”. This so called God can somehow read the hearts of babies and condemn them to death, but isn’t competent enough to choose a good first king for his nation? He chose a man who quickly turned into an evil king, and God later felt “regret”?
The WT and its followers will fall, and soon it will find itself as yet another false religion. I can sense it falling apart even as we speak, the way its literature is being written is even worse then before. It no longer bothers to explain why to think their way, it just tells them what to think and how to think it. Everyone around me says how “simple” it is, as if it is something to be proud of. But I can see the society crumbling, it is becoming desperate for members and cares little about how it represents itself. I await the day when all eight million of its followers realize the only true thing the society has ever spoken of will come true, religion will be destroyed, including theirs.
For now I prepare to leave, I’m going to make sure that I send a ripple throughout my area. I will ask my parents and the elders the questions they can never answer, I will make sure everyone knows that a young and highly devout member left the organization because he found out it was a lie. Hopefully, just maybe, my parents will discover the real truth as well.
July 21st, 2011 at 4:40 am
Good read. I observed your site from a google search, and was glad i did. The data has helped me immensely.
September 23rd, 2011 at 10:30 am
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