Fedup,
I can empathize with you about the teetering back and forth over doubts, I went through a lot of that when I was on the way out. I read some things, think about it, feel I was getting back to believing the WTS and then I’d go to a meeting and realize what a sham it all is.
The things I dwelt on were the WTS chronology, eschatology and the blood doctrine. I couldn’t get over the 607 BCE date for Jerusalem’s destruction. No one else suggests that date. (Look in a few reference books) The reason? They don’t have to make it fit with 2520 years and 1914 as being significant. Without an agenda there is no reason to fudge facts and make it fit. Besides, the date used to be 606 BCE until they discovered that the math was wrong, there was no year zero. They didn’t change the end date, they changed the start date!
!975 was a fiasco, I remember that time period. I got over that but when the “generation” was suddenly elasticated to get it stretch past 1995 I realized that the WTS had not a clue.
Blood; ask an elder to show in the Bible that red and white blood cells, platelets and plasma are banned but components of these are OK. The WTS has no clue. The blood component ban is neither medically nor Biblically valid.
The elder asked who else is preaching worldwide. That is bovine excrement. The WTS preaching is not worldwide, is an utter waste of time and hardly anyone in even the most JW-populous nations has a clue what JWs believe or teach. Do the math. Take the number of hours wasted knocking doors and divide it by the number of converts baptized each year. See how many hours it takes to make a convert. Divide that time by the average amount of time you soent in FS. How long will it take you in years to make a convert?
Add up the number of JWs in India and China (1/3 of the world’s population) and ask yourself if JWs will impact any of those people in their lifetime. The preaching work is a money making venture and a means of controlling JWs. It is not an effective means of making converts. Christianity is growing in South America, Africa and Asia at a far faster rate than JWs convert people. Who is doing that converting?
Are JWs doing any good? Why not find out about the good that others do. If you live in or near a large city find out where the homeless and poor go to be fed. Go volunteer at that place and work with people willing to make an impact in the real lives of people without being judgmental about how or why the needy are in need.
Don’t feel bad. Don’t feel that you didn’t convey your doubts properly or feel you were suckered. Take time to think and research. Read the stuff on this board about the lives of the people here. Research the places others have suggested. There is a long way to go but the journey is great.
Thirdson
'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
