The Myth of Certainty.

by Blueblades 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  SPAZnik

  I'm not sure of anything anymore. That's about the only thing I'm certain of.
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  Borgia

  In 2001 when the UN scandal hit the news, I did not pay much attention. I thought it to be another apostate scam. However, the basis for my believes have always been the bible and common sense. And I can tell you, common sense is winning terrain, big time. During the years prior to 2001, I had difficulty reconciling the interlinear translations with the NWT on certain parts.
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  jwfacts

  Wow, I am amazed at the comments where people read an apostate site and with in hours or days knew it was wrong. No wonder the WTS is so worried about the Internet.

  It took me 10 years of uncertainty. But then again, I did not look at the internet until after I had figured it was wrong.
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  MegaDude

  How important is it for you to be certain about something before you act on it?

  It took a while, and I think it should.

  My study was showing me quotes from older WT publications and I was trying to process a number of thoughts, beliefs and emotions that began throwing me into a tailspin that lasted a year before I began making moves to sever my JW ties.

  I had to deal with the WT phobia of looking at anything anti-WT.

  I had to deal with the WT phobia that I was under demonic attack.

  I had to deal with if the WT wasn't the Truth, then what is?

  My relationship with families (my family and wife's family) and friends would be destroyed.

  How would I live if I found out there was no God, no truth?

  It was a lot of processing.
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  fullofdoubtnow

  I first started having doubts about 2 years ago, but I tried to put them behind me, I was still pretty sure it was the truth. That worked for a while, but they resurfaced, even stronger than before, and I was unhappy about certain things that were happening at the kh at the time, so I started missing some meetings. I got some counsel from the elders about this, and the fact that I still spoke to a da'd ex jw. I started looking at this and other sites on the Internet, and it wasn't very long before I came to the conclusion that the wts did not have the truth at all, so I acted quickly by da'ing myself last November.
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  Narkissos

  I felt quite ashamed because during the long time I had been deluded and deceived by the [Manichean] promises of certainties, I had, with childish petulance, prated of so many uncertainties as if they were certain. That they were falsehoods became apparent to me only afterward. However, I was certain that they were uncertain and since I had held them as certainly uncertain I had accused thy Catholic Church with a blind contentiousness.

  Those lines of Augustine (Confessions VI,4) really struck me when I was on my way out of the JWs. I too was certain that most of what I had "learnt" with the WT was at best uncertain, and that was a sufficient ground to move on. The certainty that it was false, otoh, came gradually.
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  parakeet

  Raised as a JW from about 12 years old, I was never quite convinced it was the "truth." I left as soon as I was old enough and could gather enough courage.
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  Nathan Natas

  I think Parakeet touches on an interesting facet of the "raised-a dub" crowd: many of us either strongly suspected or "knew" it wasn't the truth long before we reached the age of majority. Part of the trap we were in was that we were dependant on the approval of our parental units for food, clothing and shelter, and so we had to play pretend. I wasn't even 12 when I first began to see holes in the WTB&TS version of "trooth™," but I also knew that Mom thought the Emperor's new clothes were unimaginably excellent, so I just slipped my concerns to the holding bin. I was in my mid 20s when I realized I'd rather die at Armageddon than live the Watchtower way.

  It's been a long wait.
• 

  Satanus

  I always thought that it was me, and maybe a few others that were falling short (excuse the expression ;)). When i read ray's coc book, i instantly saw that the wt itself, the gb was purely human in all ways. I instantly left my belief in it. I lived so much from my mind, as they had taught me. So, it was fairly easy.

  S
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  parakeet

  ***It's been a long wait.***
  Amen, Brother Natas.