I found this on the web at another site (www.watchtower.cc) and thought it deserved to be viewed by all.
Why Jehovah's Witnesses Leave
the Watchtower
by Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.
There are now more persons who have resigned or left the Watchtower Society than active Witnesses. Articles about their internal turmoil have appeared in hundreds of magazines and newspapers in the last decade. An article in US News and World Report (October, 8, 1984, p. 69) noted, "dissension in their ranks has never been more vocal." Week-long protests and hundreds of newspaper articles about their many problems, such as disfellowshipping for trivial "offenses," illustrates only a small part of the total problem. As Newsweek noted there are signs:
...that the movement itself is in serious trouble... the Society's own statistics indicate that a million sheep drifted out of the fold between 1973 and 1983. Many dissident and former members are becoming militant in their criticism of the Society; last week, in an unprecedented public protest, 40 of them showed up outside the Witnesses' Brooklyn home, waving placards, complaining of oppression and demanding the resignation of the Governing Body. More important, dissidents have formed networks of former Witnesses who have been shunned by families and friends. One result is a growing body of damning literature, much of it compiled from Watchtower files, depicting a closed, almost Orwellian society (October 14, 1984, p. 120).
Most active Witnesses and many outsiders hold a very inaccurate view of exactly why people leave this organization. Among the many reasons for this misconception is because representatives of the Watchtower Society who are usually contacted by the media in response to various public demonstrations against the Witnesses often infer that all those who leave do so because of their personal inability to desist from immoral behavior. They commonly make wholly inaccurate statements such as those who oppose them are "not objecting to the Watchtower Society, but the Bible," or "if one refuses to stop his immoral behavior, we have no choice but disfellowship him," implying that most of those who abscond do so because of insisting on living an immoral life. The same reasons are also often given to active witnesses who inquire of their Elders as to why some person left. As Frye notes:
Despite the constant reinforcement of their views, many lose faith and drift away. As no one can be viewed as walking away from the organization in good faith they are slandered as either immoral persons or apostates. Even if one remains with the organization and is silent about the real problem if his activity is considered below par of what is expected of him, he too, will be viewed as unworthy (1982 p. 1).
To support his view, he quotes the June 1, 1987 Watchtower which states that some individuals in the Watchtower Society are persisting in:
some secret practice that they know God's Word forbids. So they hang back or slowly drift away. The Bible says: "It was through spurning conscience that certain persons made shipwreck of their faith." I Timothy 1:19, The New English Bible (p. 5).
Actually, the majority of dissident Witnesses who become activists against them clearly did not take French leave over concerns about immoral behavior (at least not their own!). Interviews by the writer with the leading four dozen or so contemporary anti-Watchtower activists found that not a single one severed their relationship with the Society because of disagreements over their moral or behavioral teachings. To the contrary, most of them rigidly adhered to, and fully believed, both before and after they left, in the correctness of most of the Society's moral values. The reason most left is because of sincere questions about specific Watchtower doctrines which the Society cannot, or has not, been able to answer (Bergman, 1984). The Society also often claims that those who leave are weak in faith, knowledge, or both. As Frye notes:
The assertion that those among Jehovah's Witnesses who [as the Watchtower claims] express doubts "usually don't study much" is highly questionable... Many former Witnesses experience doubts because they were serious students of the Bible and accepted it as authoritative in matters of faith and practice (1984: 2).
Many persons who leave do lose their moral balance and involve themselves in immoral behavior. A major reason is because of disillusionment with the Watchtower and religion. Many become atheists and not uncommonly many throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The Author's Personal Experience
The writer, when he left the Watchtower, presented at an Elders' meeting what he concluded were clear, unanswerable Scriptural objections to several of the Society's central teachings. He had both firmly believed in and taught all of the Watchtower teachings from a very young age. Through his Bible study, he began to discern that much of what the Watchtower taught was not in harmony with what the Scriptures were saying.
One example is their use of Genesis 9:4 to prove blood transfusions are wrong. This scripture clearly states that God gave humans a prohibition only against eating meat with blood in it and nothing more. This passage says nothing about eating blood or accepting blood transfusions, as the Society infers. A reading of the context and a review of most all historical commentary scholars on this Scripture, and even the Society's own teachings for nearly a half a century, shows conclusively that the prohibition given here was only against eating living animals. Thus if blood is drained, the animal is no longer alive, and one is not profaning life by eating the meat because the body lacks life. The prohibition was designed to counteract a fad of the ancients to eat live squirming animals in the hope that the "fight" of the struggling creature would be transferred to the eater. This behavior obviously shows a gross disregard for God's gift of life.
The primary method that the ancients used to kill animals was to drain their blood. This process insured that the animal was dead. This intent is clear from Genesis 9:5 which says that "for the 'life' is in the blood," and after the blood is drained, the 'life' is no longer in the animal. Obviously, blood itself is not life, but necessary for life, and for this reason is a fitting symbol of life.
When this objection was presented to the Elders, they offered no satisfactory rebuttal whatsoever. They only offered the explanation that the prohibition against eating blood is part of the old law covenant. I reminded them that we, as the Society correctly teaches, are no longer under this law. They also noted Acts, 15:20, 29 where it is commanded that we are to "abstain from blood." The meaning of this Scripture is more ambiguous, but it clearly is a response by the early Christians to the Mosaic law which was not given to all humankind but the Jews only. From the context, it likely referred the four major sins, one of which is murder. Thus the term "blood guilt" refers to murder, and the phrase "abstain from blood" or, as some manuscripts state, "abstain from bloodshed," likely refers to committing or contributing to homicide or death in some way.
The elders at my disfellowshipping hearing could not even begin to answer these objections. The writer reiterated that if they could show clear Scriptural support for their position on this and other matters, he would be glad to become reassociated. There are certain things one can deal with, or at least attempt to, but I could not rationalize the numerous Scriptural objections to the Watchtower's teachings that I had encountered. I stressed that I still firmly accepted the Scriptures as God's word, and it was for this reason that I could no longer accept the teachings. And it was now blatantly obvious to me that their belief system contradicted the Scriptures.
The Elders at this point could state only that they disagreed with me, and would not, or could not, refute my position. They stressed only that their only concern was: "are you loyal to the Society or do you wish to stand apart from it? If you do, then you are an apostate." They noted that the term apostate refers to "standing apart," but the Scriptural meaning refers to those standing apart from Scripture, not the Watchtower Society. The Watchtower Society has clearly replaced the Scriptures, thus all who follow the Watchtower would be apostates in the Biblical sense. The fact is, most of those who leave fully accept many of the Society's teachings (such as viewing the Scriptures as inspired, most of their moral values, etc.). They disagree only with their doctrines which are heresy from historical Christianity and the Scriptures.
Rather taken aback at their disinclination to at least attempt to defend their position, I protested, "If, indeed, you are correct, are you not concerned about my everlasting life? I am fully open and willing to listen to your defense. If I am wrong, I am anxious to correct my position. I thus encourage you to please help me understand in what way I am erroneous." To this they said nothing. I then stated, "Are you not concerned about my everlasting life? Are you not concerned with helping me to see what I'm sure you feel are the errors of my ways?" They had no response, but changed the subject!
It was now apparent that they could not even begin to respond to my concerns, although one Elder admitted that he had disagreed with the Society relative to their past interpretation of Romans 13. He stressed that in view of the fact that since they later changed to conform to what was, to him, obviously correct, one should be patient. The Society may well come around to my "position on blood," if it was correct. My problem with this stance was that by that time I had come to realize that the Society simply had far too many changes to make, and they were adamant in resisting almost all input from others, no matter how well researched or valuable it was. I have since this time learned most Witnesses are far past the point where they feel that the Society can be reformed.
At one time in their sojourn out many believe that it is possible, and therefore try, but they soon reject this possibility. They find that, instead of trying to deal with problems, the Watchtower often aggravates them, causing a situation in which they become their own worst enemy. Most Witnesses are able to accept one or two conflicts, even three or four, and still believe that the Society is "God's organization." My discovery was they are unwilling to reason, and cannot even begin to adequately respond to the many Scriptural questions that typically surface from intensive Bible study. This forces thinking Witnesses to conclude that they are set in their ways and determined to adhere to the "traditions of men" as opposed to the Word of God.
When an organization begins to develop, it is fairly flexible and amenable to Scriptural counsel. Time often results in rigidity and they then follow only their own traditions, rejecting the clear teachings of the Scriptures. This was forcefully stressed in Ray Franz's book Crisis of Conscience, in which he stated that the Governing Body, in response to his Scriptural concerns over and over, appealed to the "traditions of Jehovah's people." They demanded that their teachings be accepted because they were viewed as correct in the past, not because they were then, or are now, Scripturally supportable.
The writer discussed at length these issues with attorney Hayden Covington, a former vice president of the Watchtower. He made it clear that the teachings of "Jehovah's people" for its first fifty years were almost solely the teachings of Russell or the ideas of others that he approved of. Likewise, he stressed, this was also the case with their second leader, J.F. Rutherford. The teachings of "Jehovah's people, "were in other words the ideas of one fallible human who held almost absolute control (and in the case of Rutherford, absolute control) of doctrinal development. Others may be able to influence the Watchtower president to a limited extent, but he always had the final say in all doctrine and policy. As Knorr reportedly once said to the writing staff at headquarters "you can discuss doctrine all you want to, but when it comes out in the Watchtower, it's the truth". And he had the final say as to what came out in the journal that they consider "quasi-inspired". Following one man continued even for some years after the Governing Body was established, as Franz discussed in his book.
A Common Way Out
In the writer's case, as well as those of many others, the path of leaving the Witnesses was to begin to doubt certain Watchtower teachings. This does not in itself usually create problems, but the Watchtower's response to one's sincere questions often does cause problems. Once questions are voiced, the questioner is all too often told that he or she is to accept whatever the Watchtower teaches, and is not to "reason" on the word but simply, blindly and dogmatically, fully accept whatever is taught. Your reasoning, they stress, is "human reason," but the Watchtower's is "God's reasoning." If one does not blindly accept all that is taught, however foolish, often their personality and spirituality is impugned, even for sincere, honest questions. One then learns that questions are not to be voiced. This is usually the first step out of the Society. Once the alienation begins, it tends to find its own fuel, often causing a raging fire, and eventually the abandonment of an organization which one formerly passionately defended, in many cases for decades (as was the case of the writer).
Thus, it seems that many persons do not leave the Society because they insist on following an "immoral path." They leave because of a "crisis of conscience." They can no longer consciously accept what the Society teaches (Botting and Botting, 1984). Those who leave are often spiritually in most every way the cream of those who have a Scripturally trained conscience. When it is violated by the Society, they must make a choice between the Scriptures and the Watchtower. They are not unlike those in Nazi Germany who concluded that Hitler was wrong, and must buck the tide whatever the cost. And leaving the Witnesses often has horrible costs, such as loss of friends, family, and one's business. The fact that Witnesses often at first attempt to reform, or at least help the Watchtower leaders become aware of the gross injustices committed almost daily in the congregations, shows where their heart is. As Frye notes, they do so because many of the Witness's problems are with the Society's teachings and practices, not the Bible:
But the Society tends to color all those who "hand back or slowly drift away" with the same brush stroke of immorality. The reality, oftentimes, is just the opposite. Instead of "spurning conscience" they have listened to their Bible-trained conscience and can no longer accept and proclaim certain dogmatic teachings of the Society that lack Bible support (1984: 2).
A good example of the fact that doctrinal deviation results in disfellowshipping far sooner than moral deviation is the case of Governing Body members Raymond Franz and Edward Chitty. Raymond Franz, through extensive research on Biblical questions, became increasingly convinced that the Society was clearly wrong relative to their interpretation of Scriptural prophecy and doctrine. As a result, he was removed from the Governing Body. The single incident of eating with his employer and landlord, who had previously resigned as a Witness, was the excuse that resulted in his disfellowshipping.
On the other hand, one governing member allegedly had a homosexual love affair with a 19-year-old Bethelite, a boy less than one-third his age, who reportedly jumped to his death off of one of the Bethel buildings over his guilt from the affair. Yet, he was merely asked to resign from the Governing Body, reportedly, for committing what most openly consider a grievous sexual offense, not only homosexuality, but pedophilia, which resulted in the tragic death of a guilt-ridden young man. And he was evidently asked to resign only because of the widespread awareness of the incident. Possibly if fewer persons knew about this incident, he would have even retained his Governing Body position. This is only one of many examples that illustrate that the Society is concerned primarily with loyalty. They are extremely reticent to disfellowship for grievous moral offenses, but are not at all shy about disfellowshipping those who they feel lack loyalty to the Society.
The First Step in Leaving
When the Watchtower leaders make it clear that they are not interested in responding to genuine concerns, the alienation often increases until finally the person takes French leave from the organization. Many depart quietly (actually the vast majority simply fade away) but some, partly because their disappointment is so immense, feel that they must respond in some way to what they conclude are the gross sins and injustices committed by the Watchtower.
Dissident Witnesses resemble the Blacks living in the American South who perceived that the system was wrong and defiantly state, "I will not move to the back of the bus." And so they refused to bow to injustice and the existing inhumane laws and traditions. Likewise, the dissident ex-Witnesses of today refuse to bow to the inhumanity being perpetuated by an organization they once fully trusted and were loyal to, giving it their all for years, even decades.
To betray someone's trust is a serious matter. The concern and goal of the ex-Witness movement is to let the world know the Watchtower's grievous wrongs. They are not content to be the "silent majority," but feel that it is their duty to humanity to speak out for what they believe is true. And this is what they are now doing in rapidly increasing numbers.
References
Bergman, Jerry. Jehovah's Witnesses and Kindred Groups. New York: Garland Pub. Co., 1984.
Botting, Heather and Gary. The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1984.
Franz, Raymond. Crisis of Conscience. Atlanta: Commentary Press, 1982.
Frye, Ronald E. The Christian Respondent. No. 2, 1984, p. 2.