Every now and then when I visit this forum, I feel an obligation to tell what I can and be supportive. Of course, my JW experience, esp the last 3 years of it leading up to Gilead, going to Africa, coming back and resigning from the group, has absolutely drained me to the point that I contribute when I can, but it isn't very much. It is very tiring for me, but also cathartic at the same time to come here and share what I can.
It is in that spirit that I write this now, a desire to demystify JW's, those who leave, and the current doctrine that this group teaches, esp for those who are newly investigating this group for their own reasons.
I was in the 119th class of Gilead in 2005. From the time I graduated, it was another year or so before I resigned. In that time, all the pieces came together.
JW's are taught and conditioned to respect their visible leaders, even though they pay lip service to Jesus as their leader. I got to see the 'pecking' order, and after I graduated, briefly joined it. My status shot up to an all time high. I was respected, even loved, because I went to Gilead and went to Africa. I thought that would be nice, although when I actually went through it, it really offended me.
Sorry for the above rambling/prelude. The whole point of this is how JW's use and understand the bible. You see, on a very fundamental, foundational level, the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses (GB) don't use the bible the way JW's teach it at the door. I learned at Gilead that for the "mature" ones who "dine on solid spiritual food" (i.e. the highly indoctrinated zealots), the bible is all about "Christs brothers". Please note that when the Watchtower says "Christs brothers" they mean the GB. They mean the leadership. They mean, be obediant to us, or you will be diobediant to Jehovah... and his son, whats his name?? Jesus!
It is little wonder that this is the last thing one learns as they start studying with JW's. It starts with paradise, living forever, Jehovah, Jesus, living a moral life, loving the congregation, replacing your family with the congregation, THEN, after you have developed some level of infatuation with this group and have undergone a sufficient amount of love bombing, you are introduced to the highly doubtable concepts of congregation authority, how Jehovah mysteriously rules through Jesus and this group of men Jesus inspected in 1918 and found them superior to every other Christian group on the planet.
If you buy it, you want in, you get baptized. But remember, you are still new, still a babe, still "immature". All of this is code for: One who is not ready to really study and accept how the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses use the bible to their own self serving means.
It means you are still a babe to the fact that JW's really teach that practically ALL "faithful" OT charecters from Noah and Abraham through Elijah and Elishah and David to Hezekiah are prophetic of the Presidents of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The one I refer to the most is as an answer to one of the questions on a Gilead test, Elijah prophetically pointed to Judge Rutherford, Elisha pointed to N H Knorr. That is my favorite, that is when I realized I was mislead. But to be fair, JW's teach that most all of these characters refer to the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Governing Body. (GB)
"Mature" JW's is a misnomer. It has nothing to do with maturity. That is code for "willingness to believe whatever you are taught, and to follow whatever the GB says, even if they change back and forth on doctrine in a god-dishonering fasion." Mature ones are impatient with the immature for questioning what they are taught. Mature ones become elders, ministerial servants and pioneers more quickly because they blindly obey. To question, esp after any period of time elapsing after baptism, means you are "immature".
Of course, this is all so self serving within the group. Another layer of indoctrination and peer pressure to keep everyone in line. Gilead "taught" me this. I learned that within the GB world view, it is scriptural to be nutty about anything the WT says, but to leave your brother cold and miserable and naked if they disagree with a teaching or doctrine.
I know that there are some who don't and won't believe what I just said. That is their right. There will always be some people who are susceptible to high control groups and cults. But to those who were raised as JW's, to those who for some reason accepted and bought a bill of goods that they found wasn't real, they should know the truth about "the truth". They should know how cynically the bible is used by the leadership of this group to their own ends.
They should know that to the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, the bible isn't about you. It isn't about Jehovah. It isn't about Jesus. Its all about them, the Governing Body, "Christs brothers", the Faithful and Discreet Slave. It's all about them, for them, and it is a sham. They are as prophetic as dead skin. THAT is what I learned at Gilead. THAT is what the bible is all about to the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses.
I welcome all who come on this forum, those in pain, those trying to improve after leaving, whether that be voluntarily or involuntarily. I don't comment much when you first come on, but my thoughts and best wishes are with you all.
What Gilead Taught ME
by AllTimeJeff 81 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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AllTimeJeff
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R.F.
I agree with everything you're saying here. This paragraph especially caught my attention.......
"Mature" JW's is a misnomer. It has nothing to do with maturity. That is code for "willingness to believe whatever you are taught, and to follow whatever the GB says, even if they change back and forth on doctrine in a god-dishonering fasion." Mature ones are impatient with the immature for questioning what they are taught. Mature ones become elders, ministerial servants and pioneers more quickly because they blindly obey. To question, esp after any period of time elapsing after baptism, means you are "immature".
This truly is the religion's concept of what being spiritually "mature" really is, and it shows that the religion in itself is a sham, having nothing to do with real spirtual maturity. It's all about blind obedience to a group of men, nothing else. Also, when I saw more and more how the GB was teaching the the Bible is for them, the "anointed", then that's when I started to slowly drift away from their belief system.
Great thread! Thanks for taking the time to post this. I always thought you had an interesting experience with the religion that allows you to offer some good insights to others wanting to leave it.
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abbagail
That was excellent, ATJ! I hope everyone reads it all the way through (and that any lurkers or newbies will be able to truly ABSORB it). You did a great job of breaking down the major points of how the GB **REALLY** uses the Bible, and the "backward-indoctrination process" that takes place.
A few crystal clear truths you brought out (not necessarily in the order you wrote them)...
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...the "mature" ones who "dine on solid spiritual food" (i.e. the highly indoctrinated zealots)...
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LOL on that description.
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Mature" JW's is a misnomer. It has nothing to do with maturity. That is code for "willingness to believe whatever you are taught, and to follow whatever the GB says, even if they change back and forth on doctrine in a god-dishonering fasion."
[...]
...the bible is all about "Christs brothers". Please note that when the Watchtower says "Christs brothers" they mean the GB. They mean the leadership. They mean, be obediant to us, or you will be diobediant to Jehovah... and his son, whats his name?? Jesus!
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... you are introduced to the highly doubtable concepts of congregation authority, how Jehovah mysteriously rules through Jesus and this group of men...
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...really study and accept how the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses use the bible to their own self serving means.
...the fact that JW's really teach that practically ALL "faithful" OT charecters from Noah and Abraham through Elijah and Elishah and David to Hezekiah are prophetic of the Presidents of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The one I refer to the most is as an answer to one of the questions on a Gilead test, Elijah prophetically pointed to Judge Rutherford, Elisha pointed to N H Knorr.
[...]
OH BROTHER!!! It's actually HORRIFYING to realize we believed any of it, isn't it? because it's so clear AFTER you are out of their web. Talk about a bad warped case of "Replacement Theology"!! (Some mainstream denominations teach Replacement Theology, but they replace Israel with the church-body AS A WHOLE [which is not correct either.) But WT takes it several perverted steps further by replacing OT prophets/characters with their INDIVIDUAL WT leaders. How sick is that? It's enough to make a person cringe all over with the heebie-geebies.
And you hit the nail on the head about the word "maturity" in Watchtower-speak! And the business about "Christ's brothers"... they surely did ram that down our throats... it didn't begin to regurgitate for me until the first round in the Revelation/Grand Climax book in the late 1980s... it was like all the sudden I was seeing the word "organization" in every single line of type in that book, and the "forced" interpretations were churning my stomach. The effects of Cognitive Dissonance were finally breaking through to the surface, slowing but surely.
This is also very true...
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Mature ones are impatient with the immature for questioning what they are taught. Mature ones become elders, ministerial servants and pioneers more quickly because they blindly obey. To question, esp after any period of time elapsing after baptism, means you are "immature".
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Yes, anyone who continued to ask too many questions after "enough time" had elapsed, it would be irksome and would cause a wave of disbelief, as if they were committing some type of "sin" for "daring to question"!
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You see, on a very fundamental, foundational level, the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses (GB) don't use the bible the way JW's teach it at the door.
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Well said! Any JWs still stuck in the quicksand should read that over and over and over until it starts to sink in. It is also a very good opening comment a "householder" could make to any JWs who show up at their door. It would surely spark a conversation, I would think!
As a matter of fact, much of your story/descriptions would make a perfect "outline" of "talking points" for any "householder" to use with the next JWs who come a knocking... -
Dagney
I enoyed your post. Thank you for posting.
Doesn't the phrase "mature Christians" drive you crazy? As you said...it has nothing to do with maturity, Christian maturity, or spiritual maturity.
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BabaYaga
Beautifully said, AllTimeJeff, and thank you so much for posting it.
Amen.
Love,
Baba. -
SPAZnik
Hmmm, interesting. Sounds like (spiritual) rape. Or at the least, quite seductive. Disillusionment can be scary. Sweet liberation!!
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stillajwexelder
exceptional post - thanks
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Mickey mouse
Thanks for your insights ATJ. I think this is one to print off and show my husband.
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halcyon
You said at the bottom that you thought there would be some who wouldn't believe you. But I think this is the absolutely most truthful thing I have ever read. I experienced everything. All the things you point out so clearly were niggling thoughts that I couldn't put a name to.
What especially jumped out at me was how uncomfortable I used to get at bookstudy, studying about how the bible prophesied this organization. It always hit me as ridiculous and wrong; I never bought into that, but just brushed it aside as just another one of those things that would eventually change. But it always gave me a really icky feeling inside, how presumptuous it felt. -
halcyon
I really really want to read about how your time in Africa offended you.
