Which 5 Books Would You Recommend? (page 3)

garybuss

For me, my problem wasn't Witnessism, it was theism. Once theism is researched, Witnessism fades away as an issue because all the assumptions are flawed.

It's really hard for me to name 5 books. I've read over 200 on Witnessism, theism, philosophy, history, and psychology.

The order I read books on my recovery journey isn't the order I would suggest. The first was given to me by a friend in 1991. It was Kicked Out Of The Kingdom by Charles Trombley. Next I went to the library and researched cults. The Jehovah's Witness group was listed in virtually every book I found on cults.

I ordered and read Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom. Then I read Toxic Faith, When God Becomes A Drug, and The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse. Worked in there somewhere, I read The Messianic Legacy and Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

In January of 1995 I had my last head on collision with the Witness group. My Witness son left a suicide note and didn't return home. I found him with the Witnesses and had a 72 hour mental hold put on him. The Witness relatives fought that, they fought me, and they fought his treatment. The Witness people advised him to shun me and not go to psychiatrists or seek treatment for his illness.

He had several more breakdowns, smashed a car into stopped cars at an intersection, ran away, kidnapped a man, stole his car, and ran to Minnesota. He lived with Witnesses, deteriorated, had more breakdowns, and eventually was committed to a state mental hospital. He's been diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia and has done extensive damage to his brain by avoiding treatment for so long and from having so many untreated psychotic breaks. The Witnesses won. He still shuns me.

1995 was a very low point in my life. Now all Witness people and Witness relatives were shunning me or trying to isolate me from my family. That's when I sought out former Witnesses and my world was on the up ramp. I first called Joan Centnar, she gave me the Spangler's number in Cleveland, they gave me Jerry Bergman's number and Jerry gave me Randy Watters' number.

Randy helped me a LOT. He suggested I get a modern computer and join the Jesus Witness e-mail cc list. I did that and I bought lots of Randy's writings and tapes. Randy's work belongs right at the top of any list along with Jerry Bergman's.

There are so many good people and good writers like Duane Magnani, Ros, Ron Frye, the Norway delegation, Dennis White, Steve Hickey, and the kind exit counselors who unselfishly helped me sort out what little I had left after the Jehovah's Witnesses were done with me.

Crisis of Conscience is certainly a prerequisite reading for exiting Jehovah's Witnesses. Crisis of Conscience demystifies the Watch Tower organization and removes enough fear to allow the individual to continue with the re-education process.

I probably have as many questions after reading Crisis of Conscience as I did before I read it . . . but they're different questions.

Good topic, thanks!

awildflower

I like Tolle 'stuff' poppers! There's so many great suggestions on here, can't wait to add them to my library. I feel like for the first time in my life I'm actually learning! The same ol' WT propaganda just wasn't cutting it anymore! The thing is to, they told us "we are the best spiritually fed people on the planet!" Little did I know until I actually picked up another book! Now I can see more than ever how JW's are actually starving!

poppers

awildflower, you have a PM. Click on the envelope icon next to your screen name in the upper right corner. You may have to click on the backpage and then on the message again before it shows up.

freeman

I recommend only one book; a dictionary. All other books ever written can be found within; you just need to string the words together properly to read it. ;-)

Freeman

slimboyfat

I don't know if I would recommend all of them (and it depends for what purpose) but the early books that got me thinking the Witnesses might be wrong were:

1. Awake to the Watchtower by Doug Harris. It was the first exposure I had to apostate arguments, before the Internet. It was a shocking first read, but not all of the arguments are terribly robust and its weaknesses in some way prompted me to defend the Witnesses for some time.

2. The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins. This book dispelled many Witness myths surrounding evolution and persuaded me evolution is the best explanation for the variety of life on earth.

3. The Four Gospels: A Study of Origins by B H Streeter. This was my first real exposure to mainstream scholarship on the Bible. Its most significant impact was that it showed me how shallow Watchtower scholarship is by comparison. (Even though Streeter is a bit dated now he is still miles ahead) Streeter's book presents good reasons for believing the gospel of Mark was written first and the other synoptic gospels relied on it. Knowing that we teach Matthew was written first, I searched the Watchtower publications for counter-arguments but they were pretty non-existent or pathetic. This book also impressed upon me that the text of the New Testament is not as secure as Jehovah's Witnesses and other fundamentalists might hope because another main theme is distinguishing textual families from Bible manuscripts and using those to try to determine the original text.

4. Apocalypse Delayed: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses by James Penton. I had always taken an interest in Watchtower history, even reading the turgid Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose book when I was 14, but lots of what Penton presented was completely new to me, and much of it shocking. There is a lot I don't agree with Penton over having reflected on many of the issues he raises, but the book was a revelation nevertheless.

5. Trumpet of Prophecy: Sociological Study of Jehovah Witnesses by James Beckford. Even after more than 30 years it is simply the best book about Jehovah's Witnesses there is. It prompted me to stand back and look at the movement I had been intimately involved with as a phenomenon.

quietlyleaving

Karen Armstrong is one of my favourite authors so it was a pleasure for me to find her quoted in a text book about evolution. The quote was from her book Myths and the Modern World (now on my wish list) - here is a preview of her book

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4992705

ql

leavingwt

GaryBuss - Thank you for those recommendations and thank you for the context/story. I would agree that Randy Watters' writing should also be mentioned among the best available. As such, I will recommend the books of his that I have read that really helped me.

Thus Saith Jehovah's Witnesses (formerly, Thus Saith the Governing Body) - This 143-page book is a collection of photocopies/scans of actual literature from the Watchtower, as well as letters and other documents. Accompanying all of this, is Randy's commentary, pointing out the relevance of what is being shown. It's a summary of "connecting the dots" on many of the Watchtower's contradictions, lies and deceptions. This is a must-read. It will probably shock and anger you to realize that the most damning things ever said about Watchtower rolled off of their own printing presses.

Understanding Mind Control Among Jehovah's Witnesses - An explanation of how Thought Reform is used the Watchtower Society. It's 52 pages and it can be read in one sitting.

leavingwt

awildflower - It's funny, isn't it? We were all starving while we were JWs. All of this informationw as out there, but we didn't know about it. I would love to think that had my Dad had the Internet in 1985, he wouldn't have been deceived by the JWs.

leavingwt

Freeman - There is a dictionary in most Kingdom Halls, but wouldn't it be nicer to have a copy of Ray's books there. :-)

leavingwt

Slimboyfat - Thank you for those recommendations. I'm currently reading the Blind Watchmaker, and I have read Penton's book, Apocalypse Delayed. I really enjoyed Penton's book, too. There is so much historical data out there on the JWs that I was unaware of. (If you've posted about your disagreements with Penton somewhere, I would love to have a link.)

Trumpet of Prophecy: Sociological Study of Jehovah Witnesses by James Beckford -- I am not familiar with this book. From your recommendation, it sounds as if I would really enjoy it. I searched the net, and it would appear to be out of print and it is very expensive on Amazon, used. If you have any suggestions on how to obtain it, I would like to hear from you.

Which 5 Books Would You Recommend?

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