There is a Kingdom Song entitled: ."Make the Truth Your Own", I began to ask myself:, which one?
The impetus behind Watchtower admonition to give all your time and effort to the Kingdom, is that The End is near, "Why paint a sinking ship", was an illustration often spoken and re-iterated through the pages of the watchtower. This basis for claiming "The End is near" rested on a "Time calculation of 1914.
Hypocritically, in 1995 a watchtower was published declaring that people should avoid building their lives around Time calculations.
It reads as follows:*** w95 11/1 17 A Time to Keep Awake ***
Eager to see the end of this evil system, Jehovah’s people have at times speculated about the time when the "great tribulation" would break out, even tying this to calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation since 1914. However, we bring a heart of wisdom in, not by speculating about how many years or days make up a generation, but by thinking about how we "count our days" in bringing joyful praise to Jehovah. (Psalm 90:12) Rather than provide a rule for measuring time, the term "generation" as used by Jesus refers principally to contemporary people of a certain historical period, with their identifying characteristics.
Its interesting that until then, we as Jehovah’s Witnesses had been preaching "This Generation that saw the events of 1914", would live to see Armageddon. This is the message that we took to people's doors. Open any Awake up till 1995 and read the inside cover, its quite clear. Since then of course it's wording as changed.
When I first read the article I remember feeling annoyed because the Watchtower suggested that its readers were reading too much into Time calculations, it was somehow our fault if we were disappointed. I felt as if my trust had been betrayed, having spoken so assuredly to so many people about "This Generation".
I was reflecting on this during my stay off work, now if the Generation interpretation was in error, then what about 1914, after all this also was a time prophecy, how confident can we be on interpretations like this? I began to search. The watchtower admits that the 1914 date originally was arrived at in error (they forgot to allow for the zero year). The more I studied these things, the more I wanted to know. Things that I long held as truth were now in question, this was at first disturbing. Truth should not be something to hide from; it should win through any test. A person should not fear examination of truth.
The change in the "Generation" understanding was very significant for me. As time went on I needed to know more of the origins of this Organization and to look more deeply at its doctrines from a more objective viewpoint, not just the Watchtower’s view, yet it was not till January 1999 that I really began to search these questions over the Internet. This type of search is viewed as a kind of rebellion by Jehovah's Witnesses, it is to think the unthinkable, that maybe our present understanding of the Bible is wrong.
Expressions like "The Time is at Hand and The due time as approached" the Watchtower as published for the past 100yrs in their literature, for example: May 1st Watchtower 1999. On page 24, paragraph 20 it concludes by saying We can confidently say, The presence of the Lord is here, and its climax is at hand.
Yet. Luke 21:8. Matthew 24:23 reads:..: Then if anyone says to you, look! here is the Christ, or there, do not go after them. Clearly I needed to do some thinking.
The circumstances in which I found myself in with my family and the pressure for caring for all that was expected of me as an elder, my increasing unease with the structure of worship within the Congregations caused me to step down from my appointment as an elder.
There is a very strong emotional bonding to the mother organization that is conditioned into every Jehovah’s Witness. loyalty to it is reinforced over and over, if any deviate away, they are viewed as disloyal, weak in faith, not good to associate with. My wife had noticed that some had began avoiding her. It came to our ears that stories were going around that I was some sort of an Apostate. Unfortunately most see loyalty to the Organization as the same as loyalty to Christ, even though it is said "one is your leader Christ". Yet if you miss meetings and raise a few questions you are viewed as disloyal to the Organization and to most Jehovah's Witnesses, this is the same as loyalty to Christ.
My family had been associating with the congregation for 18yrs. Our home had been used for meetings and Field Service over much of that time. we had entertained and helped several into the Organization. Despite all of this, some could apparently switch of their affection like an electric light switch. Those years we spent side by side did not seem to matter. Occasionally one would say: "we miss you at the meetings" It seems though, that attendance at these meetings was the measuring rod by which to show affection.
If there is one doctrine that people identify with Jehovah's Witnesses, it is their teaching on blood and their refusal of blood transfusions. This doctrine is an intrinsic part of their faith. It was a doctrine I sincerely believed in, and was willing to die for.
This doctrine raises people's temperatures, like no other Bible subject when discussed on the ministry. It is a subject that I and many who I worked with, in the ministry, would try to avoid, because of the emotional and adverse reaction that often followed.
Never would I have dreamt, that one day I would be arguing the fact, that the Watchtower's blood policy is very wrong. This blood issue, is what finally led me, to being dissfellowshiped from Jehovah's Witnesses.
A judicial committee was set up, the charge? Apostasy. I agreed to attend the meeting in the hope of making them think about this doctrine differently, and perhaps strike a cord in their hearts. I never expected them to agree with me on the subject, it would have put them in the same position as myself. I had four meetings.
There were many points that I brought to their attention, the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses don't actually Abstain from blood anyway, they accept many blood components. The fact that serums (with blood components in) became acceptable to the Watchtower, on the basis that it was not feeding on blood, and they are now acknowledging that a blood transfusion is essentially an Organ tissue transplant, (is this feeding on blood?) I think not. So on what basis is there for now refusing blood? Is a little bit of blood ok? does this make a little bit of fornication ok also?
At the end of the final meeting, they informed me that I was dissfellowshiped.
The irony of it all is, the Watchtower could change its position regarding blood, as it's done in the past and these same brothers would then have to argue in favour of the New policy. Truth, then is not the issue in these cases or loyalty to Christ or ones own conscience, but loyalty to Organizational directives.
I close my story here,
Radar