Besides C of C, which book is best?

sacrebleu

I know Crisis of Conscience is a classic and has helped more people than will ever be known. But after that one or besides that one, which book has helped you reach the decision to leave OR helped you feel better about leaving..

Made you feel validated, justified, stupid for having believed or just glad to be out? Which book has more facts? Which book has more educational value? Which book made the best reading? Which one is written the most skillfully? I've got C of C, and several others and am wondering which one to invest in next.

Any suggestions?

sacrebleu

ninja

definitely "captives of a concept" for me

zeroday

"The Four Presidents of the Watchtower Society" by Edmond C. Gruss absolutely will blow your mind...

JK666

I also liked "In Search Of Christian Freedom", also by Raymond Franz. It goes into greater detail, but I would start with CoC.

JK

jgnat

Lady Lee recommends:

Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationshipsby Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias

Brother Apostate

The Bible.

If one carefully reads it with an open mind (without the WTBTS literature) their eyes will be opened and they'll see that what the JW's teach is not what the Bible teaches.

BA

nvrgnbk

Though I do not share the faith that Brother Apostate has, I must agree with him on his recommendation.

Though I currently have many reservations about the Bible, I saw that the Watchtower has twisted it as much as any other religious group has, if not more.

I found these two books helpful in realizing that JWism is just one in a long line of apocalyptic cults...

Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults, and Millenial Beliefs Through the Ages by Eugen Weber

and

I highly recommend both.

sacrebleu

Thank you all. I too like the Bible unadulterated by the JW junk. It is good for deprograming.

How about personal testimonies. I've read 30 years a Watchtower Slave, which in its early day was quite up to date and is still good. I've read Going Undercover which was a good story but did not include enough details and wasn't professionally written, I've read Visions of Glory which was good.

I am curious about The Awakening and Out of the Cocoon. Which one of those is best? Has anyone read either?

sacrebleu

a Christian

The Gentile Times Reconsidered and Sign of the Last Days - When? , both by Carl Olof Jonsson.

The first one absolutely demolishes the whole 1914 doctrine.

The second does the same to the teaching that our generation has experienced more war, earthquakes, crime, disease, famine, ect. than past generations.

Must reading for all JWs and ex-JWs.

nvrgnbk

I know many value personal testimonies.

They have their place.

But the "axe to grind" mentality can always creep in such a type of work.

CoC was excellent because Franz really kept that to a minimum.

What was helpful about the books from those less concerned with and attached to JWism was that it impressed upon me just how irrelevant the religion is in the vastness of human history. Much of what I had thought was unique to JWs was simply religious regurgitation.

Good luck on your deprogramming, sacrebleu.

Besides C of C, which book is best?

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