Mormon Stories

Concluding our interview with Lloyd Evans, we focus on his journey from devout Witness youth to outspoken ex-Witness activist and atheist. Lloyd shares the circumstances leading to his "awakening" with startling honesty and reveals how the heartbreaking loss of his mother played a profound role in keeping long-held doubts suppressed.

Lloyd is the founder and senior editor of JWsurvey.org—a website that promotes freeness of thought among Jehovah’s Witnesses. He is also author of “The Reluctant Apostate,” a book that chronicles his experiences growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness and his journey to freedom from Watchtower indoctrination. His wildly popular Youtube channel “John Cedars” hosts a range of videos aimed at dissecting the various teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as new developments in the religion.

---------------
***We are 100% donor funded! Please click here to donate to keep this content coming!: https://donorbox.org/mormon-stories?d...
---------------

Timecodes:
00:00 Introduction
02:10 Lloyd starts his story
09:50 Book by Ray Franz. Instrumental in waking up a lot of JWs, including Lloyd himself years later
11:27 Lloyd continues. Mom gets baptized in 1975 which says a lot giving the turmoil the JWs were in.
12:32 What is a JW wedding or marriage like?
14:52 Earliest memories being a JW. Teaching JW teachings as a child. Being bullied
19:16 Martyrdom-idea in fundamentalist religions
23:05 Parallel with other cults
24:35 Further experiences in teenage years. Going to college. Spending more time with Pionier friends
28:40 Relations and sex in JW. Judicial committees.
32:18 Sexual repression in JW. Explanation about dealing with a marriage on the rocks. Parallel with confession in LDS
35:09 Never doubting the belief system in teenage years. First act of rebellion at a conference.
39:30 Mother dies, Lloyd doubles down to be sure to see her again after Armageddon
40:40 Character of the doubts: internally inconsistency in prophesation, but trying to make the square fit
43:58 Assignment to neighboring congregation to have a better chance to become an elder. Ministerial Training School
46:53 1 year later reunion MTS in Croatia. Becomes an elder. Ambitions. Meets future wife. Courtship.
55:32 Fundamentalist movements needing to control members. BITE-model
57:15 Being an elder. Realizes how things behind the screens can be.
1:01:38 Lloyd's marriage is on the rocks. Reproof. Move back to Croatia. Friend warns him against this.
1:03:35 Beginning of 2010: within a few months Lloyd decides he's not a JW. Friend is proven right.
1:05:19 Crisis of conscience by Ray Franz. Parallel with No man knows my history and other LDS critics. CES-letter.
1:09:25 List of doubts. How do you proceed? Doubts about future and marriage. Psychological trouble.
1:11:15 Writing a letter for his wife. Main reasons for leaving.