JWs ARE SLAVES OF MEN: Perhaps no other verse so clearly epitomizes the fundamental problem with the religious teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses than what Paul said at Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (NIV) Of course, Paul had in mind the enslavement to the Law of Moses. But ... the next set of verses continue on with this interesting point: "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."(NIV) One only has to see the set of Watchtower Bound Volumes, or the Pay Attention Book, etc. to understand the body of Law, (and revised statutes) the JWs must live by. Ex-JWs, by and large understand this issue better than anyone ...
HOWEVER ... I see something far more disturbing in our social trends. Let me take you on a journey of freedom I lived in the late 1950s into the 1960s. On a summer day, when I was 11 or 12, I would get up early, grab my brother's rifle (12 gage) and get my best friend, and he would grab his dad's 22. We would tell our parents good by, and that we would be back at the end of the day or sometimes the next day. We would take our back-packs and some food and head for the hills. Sometimes we had other friends with us. We did not fear breaking any law, or fear that some bad guy would kidnap and molest us. Our parents did not hover over us with rules, nor did they spend time reading to us when we were little. They let us have tremendous freedom by comparison. We would mostly target shoot and sometimes shoot at coyotes. We had fun, sat around a camp fire telling all kinds of stories and jokes. On a lucky trip, one of us would bring some beer. Our fun was not confined to these trips ... we would take off for the day, and go out to the Air Force base and swim, go bowling, or play pool. Or we would go down into Riverside and see a movie or shop for stuff ... and then bike ride, or take the bus 10 miles back home. Prior generations of kids had similar freedom. I believe that much of today's stress and kids and older teens and young adults going goofy is due to way too much pressure. But, I don't know how we can solve the problem and give back the freedom lost. Nowadays, kids have to walk through metal detectors, and their lives are far too controlled for my liking ... I would not want to raise children today.
I see something even worse ... too many rules and laws: Every time we have a problem, some group gets on their soap box and wants more laws and rules. I think that what we need for a while are state legislators and the federal congress to review all of our laws, combine them or repeal many of them. If you visit a law library sometime, just take a look at the statutes of your particular states. Or take a look at just the US Code of Federal Regulations (not to be confused with the United States Code) but also look at the USC and start reading ... when you are donw in a few years, you will need to go back and spend more years reading the changes and additions to the laws. We say that ignorance of the law is no excuse ... we cannot be serious ... perhaps ignorance of certain common law like murder or robbing banks everyone must know ... but no person can possibly know all of the law that they must abide by ... yet anyone one of us in the US (and I suspect Canada and the UK) could be prosecuted for any number of crimes from infractions up to felonies. Just read the motor vehicle code in your state ... not the little crap booklet given to drivers ... but the real McCoy, the big book. In most states, an angry officer could cite any driver ofr numerous violations. There are so many laws that most officers don't bother to enforce them.
But even worse are militants who re-imprison themselves to new ideologies: Over the years I have seen a very disturbing trend among ex-JWs to get involved in all sorts of venues that capture their hearts to become militant. I see it in politics, environmentalism, nationalism, and anti-nationalism. I see it in business and anti-business, in religion, and militant types of athiesm. I see my fellow ex-JWs becoming slaves again in many cases to the point that at times they become impossible to have a simple discussion. Some of the problem centers on lack of formal education, especially beyond high school. Some have not learned how to spot false arguments, and can get enmeshed again in some new system of thought. Some have not learned to have intellectual debates without feeling threatened or being threatening. One would think that as ex-JWs we would have really learned our lesson and beomce more moderate, cautious, and demand more critical thinking and objective evidence.
I hope that as many more JWs leave the Watchtower organization ... they will be helped to guard their freedom by taking a long look at any new system of thought, be it political, religious, social, business, or other militant venues. I hope that they will not seek constant government rules and laws to solve problems ... and that they will value and treausre every morsel of freedom we have.
Jim Whitney