Why shouldn't I be a JW?

by AirDuster 61 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  mdb

  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
  “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
  Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”
  Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
  ~Jn 14:6-9

  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
  ~1 Jn 2:23

  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
  ~1 Jn 5:9-13

  The Watchtower keeps you diligently studying their publications rather than the word of God because if you were to study the Scriptures without the WTBTS liturature, you would see the light instead of "falling from the light" as they warn their followers. You should leave the WTBTS because they do not know the Son, therfore neither do they know the Father (of whom they say they are witnesses). Look at Jesus' response to Philip when he ask Him to show them the Father... "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?" Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. The WTBTS strips Jesus of His deity and calls Him a lesser god. That's polytheism (the worship of or belief in more than one god). They also nullify the hope in a physical resurrection when they claim that Jesus was raised a spirit being and did not rise in the flesh. That teaching is unbiblical and the Scriptures say that the Holy One will not see corruption (Ps 16:10; Acts 2:31; 13:33-41) and that we will also be raised from the dead as He was (1 Pet 1:3-5).

  I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.
  ~Acts 24:15,16

  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
  ~1 Pet 1:3-5

  Without faith in Jesus Christ, by the grace of God who calls all men to Himself (2 Cor 5:18,19), you do not have life and you are dead in your sins.

  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
  ~2 Cor 5:18,19
• 

  Honesty

  Anyway, I was going to ask if you guys could list some compelling reasons backed by evidence as to why I should no longer be a JW.

  So Jesus said to them, “ I assure you : Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. John 6:53
• 

  Brigid

  Dear Airduster,

  By all means, if you wish to be a witness, be one. Dive head first (hope you don't have children, but I believe that is still discouraged, anyway).

  Look, we're all free to choose. Including you. This may be an integral part of your path. Don't expect all of us to swarm out in unison, DON'T DO IT!! If you've researched the matter (or maybe you really haven't, you just want some easy answers) Go for it. Be a witness with all your heart, soul and mind. Maybe via the education of this board, you can make JW land a slightly better, more evolved place (like, please tell people that it might not be such a bad idea to get health/life insurance--and 2 years of college to stave off welfare paid by the rest of society, never killed anyone)

  Good luck, hon, I mean it. There's no easy answers in life.

  ~Brigid
• 

  BlessedStar

  And, quite frankly, by the best definitions of the word, it is, in fact, a cult.

  Being an athiest is a cult.

  Blessedstar
• 

  BlessedStar

  Why shouldn't I be a JW?

  Because we are human beings God created. Religion is a divider.

  What we should be is thankful to God for giving us life and doing His commandment and following His words. We were created. We did not drop from the sky or came out from the sea.

  Blessedstar
• 

  Clam

  Airduster?

  Airduster??

  Airduster!!!!!!
• 

  Lady Lee

  I feels totally crazy being a member now.

  Well that should tell you something.

  Anyway, I was going to ask if you guys could list some compelling reasons backed by evidence as to why I should no longer be a JW.

  For me, the biggest reason not to be associated with the Watchtower Society is because:

  • they abuse the trust of members emotionally, physicaaly and spiritually.
  • they misrepresent themsevles politically, socially, legally, and medically.
  • they have a track record of setting up JWs so that the WTS can establish martyrdom for its followers (Mexico/Malawi, JWs in Quebec, Canada in the 1950's).
  • they have manipulated and lied to the media and to their own members about prophesies, what they have published, and that their books are edited to reflect "new light"
  • they have placed blame for the 1975 "end of the world" predictions on the membership instead of owning up to their mistake
  • they condemn JWs to the point of DFing them for belonging to certain organization and hidden the fact that they themselves belonged to what they consider the worst of the worst; the UN AND written about them in a favorable light to back up the requirement to be an NGO.
  • they have swept thousands of cases of child sexual and physical abuse under the carpet to protect a reputation instead of protecting children
  • they have also swept spousal abuse under the carpet for the exact same reason - their reputation
  • they have fouggt the fine fight in courts around the world for freedom of religion and then turned around and denied those exact same ritghts to their members
  • they destroy families in their desire that the rank and file never fins out what those who have left know - the lies, the misrepresentation, the manipulations, the corruption
  • they have hidden their own history from members providing an extremely white-washed version of what really happened.
  • Those at the top live pretty luxurious lives compared to the average JW who is stressed out trying to support family and fulfill all the WT requirements
  • they demand people give more time, more money, more effort to increase the coffers of the WTS

  It seems that there is just so much stuff out there either for or against certain issues, and it would be nice to have all of your views consolidated into one thread.

  There is so much that to put it all in one thread would require a whole web site. The Best of section of the board is my way of trying to organize the info on this board.

  I really need as much help as possible, and unless someone offeres me some compelling reasons, who knows how long I'll stay n limbo.

  If after reading all of what people have posted her and what you have read elsewhere on the net isn't enough I have no idea what to tell you.

  Leaving the WTS is like leaving an abusive parent. At some point you need to decide whether the pain is worth staying. I had to realize that it hurt more to stay in contact with my mother than it was to stop seeing her. Everyone has a different tipping point. When you find yours then your decision should be clear
• 

  AirDuster

  wow, i didnt realize so many people would comment. I know my first post was kind of vague. Ill read through these real quick and see if I can think of something more specific.
• 

  AirDuster

  Oh, I thought I should also mention, I AM currently a Jehovahs Witness. Im not babtized, but I've been with it ever since I was 6. Ever since then I've pretty much been taught that of course we are the only True Religion and that everyone else before Charles T Russel came along was utterly wrong in their interpretation of the Bible. Doing my own research, I have already totally refutted the whole blood issue with my guardians, and they of course just said "Well, people are just imperfect. If the way the Society views blood right now is wrong, Jehovah will fix it later". Which I mean, I can understand that people are imperfect and make mistakes, but would the supposed One True Religion, God's only mediator to people today, make such a mistake? Basically in the past few months I've been battling theocratic issues like these and watching my entire reasons for who I am and what I do and what I think and what I believe being shaken. It's pretty scary. But anyway, thanks everyone for your posts. I probably won't get to read all the information today, but I'll be reading it over the next few days.
• 

  Lo-ru-hamah

  Airduster,

  I understand where you are at. There are always the questions that come up that sort of conflict with your brain but then you say, well, I will just wait on Jehovah. And as time goes on you sort of let go or forget what it was that you were questioning. Then you end up wasting many many years waiting on Jehovah and well, maybe you have finally gotten your answer. There are alot of them here. And just because you let go of a religion, you don't have to let go of your spirituality. You need to analyze the core of what identifies who you are and live by those core values. There are some teachings that I have grown up with that are too deeply ingrained to let go of. They may be true or may be not but I want to believe it, so I do.

  There were three very big issues with me that finally made me take the door out. 1. The UN NGO/DPI affair. 2. The lack of love 3. Hypocrisy.

  It was very difficult to leave, it was life altering. Once I was gone it was wonderful, though you go through many different stages, anger, sadness, joy, anger, sadness, joy and a little bit of lost too. But now, the only way I would go back is if Jesus Christ came down from heaven and drug me back, and even then I would be thinking gee, everlasting death or forever with these mean JW's basically eternal sleep or hell. I think that I would chose eternal sleep. Oh well, I wish you much wisdom on your current course.

  Loruhamah