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Ausstieg ins Leben: Wie ich aufhörte, ein Zeuge Jehovas zu sein
Konja Simon Rohde wächst in der Überzeugung auf, dass die Welt bald untergeht, in einem finalen Krieg Gottes - dem Harmagedon. Nur die Zeugen Jehovas haben die einzig wahre Religion, die ihren Mitgliedern Rettung verheißt und sie gleichzeitig dazu verpflichtet, andere zu bekehren. Konja Simon erfüllt die Erwartungen seiner Eltern und der Gemeinde, doch sein Bruder zerbricht an dem Druck. Erst viele Jahre später, im Alter von 32 Jahren, schafft Konja Simon Rohde den Ausstieg aus der Organisation und erkämpft sich den Weg in ein neues, selbstbestimmtes und glückliches Leben.
222 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 4, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 19, 2020
Es ist schwer eine richtige Bewertung für das Buch zu finden.
Einerseits hat es mir geholfen einige Dinge besser zu reflektieren und zu verstehen andererseits gab es super viele Stellen die mir persönlich zu langatmig waren.
Einige Passagen im Buch habe ich nur grob überlesen.
Dennoch hat es sich für mich gelohnt das Buch zu lesen, gerade im Zusammenhang meiner Vergangenheit.
Einerseits hat es mir geholfen einige Dinge besser zu reflektieren und zu verstehen andererseits gab es super viele Stellen die mir persönlich zu langatmig waren.
Einige Passagen im Buch habe ich nur grob überlesen.
Dennoch hat es sich für mich gelohnt das Buch zu lesen, gerade im Zusammenhang meiner Vergangenheit.
June 28, 2018
I've been reading personal accounts of ex-Jehovah's Witnesses lately. After reading Misha Anouk's book, this time, I picked up this book by Konja Simon Rohde, who I must say, had a very different experience exiting this cult, which is also different from my own.
See, Rohde had different life circumstances. He lost his elder brother to suicide, and this event perhaps made the resurrection "hope" quite attractive: the cult teaches that you have to follow whatever they say in order to be able to see your lost loved-ones again when they are resurrected. I often wonder how many people the cult have captured by giving this false hope. I definitely think that getting involved in this cult becomes easier when one finds oneself in a vulnerable phase in life. After all, if everything is working, then you won't want to find answers to life's big problems, but if life is giving you one trial after another, then you would start looking for hope. And boy the Witnesses offer you a lot of bullshit that is rather easy to swallow.
In any case, Rohde was an "exemplary" cult member. Unlike me, he was deeply involved in the cult for a long time, and sincerely believed its teachings way into adulthood. I suppose I could consider myself lucky in the sense that I became PIMO (physically in, mentally out) at quite a young age, so I was able to craft my exit rather relatively smoothly. For Rohde, his experiences amount to being born again (not in the religious sense) when he was in his mid-thirties, by that I mean finding oneself in a situation where one relearns everything about how human society works. After all, the Witnesses think they are not part of this world, which makes for very bizarre social perspectives sometimes.
Rohde's experiences illustrate how mentally taxing this cult is. Even I had to go through counseling and therapy for two years when I decided I had to exit. It was just very mentally challenging, after all, when members decide to exit, they are shunned, and their entire social network pretty much cuts them off. The cult discourages them from making any kind of social relationships outside the cult, so faithful members only know people who are inside. They only marry members, they try as much as possible to work and earn a living only with members, and so forth. So when they decide to exit, and they are shunned, their whole lives collapse. You can imagine how mentally taxing that is.
In any case, I am glad to read of Rohde's experiences as he gets out of this cult and into the real world. It is a hard transition, but it can be done. This is a serious and at times very sad book, but it also displays how bizarre the world of the Witnesses can be. I can only recommend it. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
See, Rohde had different life circumstances. He lost his elder brother to suicide, and this event perhaps made the resurrection "hope" quite attractive: the cult teaches that you have to follow whatever they say in order to be able to see your lost loved-ones again when they are resurrected. I often wonder how many people the cult have captured by giving this false hope. I definitely think that getting involved in this cult becomes easier when one finds oneself in a vulnerable phase in life. After all, if everything is working, then you won't want to find answers to life's big problems, but if life is giving you one trial after another, then you would start looking for hope. And boy the Witnesses offer you a lot of bullshit that is rather easy to swallow.
In any case, Rohde was an "exemplary" cult member. Unlike me, he was deeply involved in the cult for a long time, and sincerely believed its teachings way into adulthood. I suppose I could consider myself lucky in the sense that I became PIMO (physically in, mentally out) at quite a young age, so I was able to craft my exit rather relatively smoothly. For Rohde, his experiences amount to being born again (not in the religious sense) when he was in his mid-thirties, by that I mean finding oneself in a situation where one relearns everything about how human society works. After all, the Witnesses think they are not part of this world, which makes for very bizarre social perspectives sometimes.
Rohde's experiences illustrate how mentally taxing this cult is. Even I had to go through counseling and therapy for two years when I decided I had to exit. It was just very mentally challenging, after all, when members decide to exit, they are shunned, and their entire social network pretty much cuts them off. The cult discourages them from making any kind of social relationships outside the cult, so faithful members only know people who are inside. They only marry members, they try as much as possible to work and earn a living only with members, and so forth. So when they decide to exit, and they are shunned, their whole lives collapse. You can imagine how mentally taxing that is.
In any case, I am glad to read of Rohde's experiences as he gets out of this cult and into the real world. It is a hard transition, but it can be done. This is a serious and at times very sad book, but it also displays how bizarre the world of the Witnesses can be. I can only recommend it. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews