Honest Research: Why?

by Adonai438 16 Replies latest jw friends

Adonai438

Hi All! I am trying to gather info. on why people leave the WT.
I have read many personal stories but thought it would be easier to just post the question:
If you can remember, what was the very first thing
(person,doctrine, fact,action etc)that got you to thinking you really weren't in the 'truth'?
orangefatcat

How about this, you ask the elders to help you and they ignore your pleas? Or how about when your in the hospital for a week and no one from the Kingdom Hall visits including no elders, but people you know who are not JW.s and they visit you everyday and bring you some nice gift or flowers. But narey a thing from the cong. Or how about your mother who is strong in the org and she tells you that your not doing your best spiritually. And if she feels shes not worthy of everlastinglife, where does it put you ? A Goner for sure..or how about your friends talking about you behind your back and you find out from someone else. Or how about a marriage mate who is a fanatic like your mother and at every gathering everyone looks at him as if he were a wierdo,and you wish you could hide, and then how about -when your depressed and people tell you to get a life" in the org. or how about sisters telling you that they want you to go in the ministry with them , but they don't show up. Then you find them shoping in the mall. Oh gee, let me count the ways...Or how about when you miss a meeting no one calls to see if you are okay. Or lets see, when you see families in the hall who are fighting with others in their own family over businesses. Or perhaps its all the lies you have been told about, most of your life.And let me see what about those two-faced sisters who have a Kingdom smile, but just as soon put a knife in your back, and what about those spying elders who follow you around to see if you make a terrible sin to see if you should disfellowshipped for. Do I sound miffed, your right I am. And to hell with them all.
PROCRASTINATION IS THE THIEF OF TIME!!
Francois

There were many little things that bothered me over time, and there was a "final straw" that did the final trick. However, the publication "Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose" started it all off for me. A JW apologia is what it is, but in addition, it applies all scripture and prophecy to itself and presents it using some of the most tenuous, specious logic I'd ever seen. That was 1959, so I was all of 14 years old. But I was a precocious 14 year old.
Then there was "Aid to Bible Understanding" under the heading about that guy that "didn't see death, because Jehovah took him." I forget his name. In the Aid book, the GB attempted to sidestep what the bible says because it apparently doesn't comport with other of their teachings. They say that he didn't feel the "pangs" of death - whatever they are. And since he lived and, um, died before the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, that he'll have to be resurrected -- or something like that. In short, they are saying that God must do whatever it is he's going to do so that it's inline with THEIR interpretation of scripture. What a set of balls.
Then I saw how the elders, one in particular at the Austell, GA congregation, treated the publishers. He was "skinning the sheep" and in a letter to the GB, I told them so. He was later removed as an elder due to my efforts, but the damage was by then done.
And finally, it was the beard issue that did it for me. I won't go into the details, but that's what did it. Of course the doctrinal flip-flops, theological u-turns, the absurdity of their blood arguments, etc. didn't help. You'd expect the "only channel of communication that god is using today" to get something right every once in a while. NEVER to do it just isn't acceptable. But the beard crystalized everything.
My two cents.
Francois
plmkrzy

Hey there,
I'm guessing based on most of the posts I’ve read, I’m probably the only one who left for the reasons I did. I never really questioned the accuracy of the WTBTS. When I left I still believed it to be the closest to the “Truth” and I never even considered looking anywhere else as far as another faith goes.
Until I came to this forum I never really thought of researching much of anything in regards to the WTBTS. I still have no interest in trying to find another faith, but the more posts I read containing actual info about the WTs, history and current
Views and facts, the more I want to know.
Why I left? I just grew really tired of the pressure, the ora, of attending the meetings. I actually enjoyed them most of the time, and most or at least several of the bro’s and sis’s were very kind to me. At least at the latest KH I was attending.
The problem I had and the same one I’ve always had was the attitude of the other half or so. The different clicks in their corners all being cordial with one another and maintaining a socially acceptable polite fake attitude. Which by it self didn’t even really bother me. But when they would start in my direction I new before they got to me, I NEW as soon as they started leaning before they even took a step they were coming to ask all kinds of personal questions about where I think I stand in Jehovah’s eyes and if it’s at all accurate according to the society’s standards. I got really really really sick of biting the inside of my cheeks because I couldn’t say NON OF YOUR FKN’ BUSINESS!!!!!!!! I really do believe they have no idea how ignorant they paint themselves. WHAT COLLOSSAL GAUL for anyone on this planet to take it upon them selves to tell Jesus and God almighty who or whom or whatever they can have a personal relationship with. The basic ideas of the religion as far as creation, events, prophesy, ECT. I had no problem with. I wasn’t concerned with exactly how accurate they were because I don’t believe anyone to be THAT accurate
The problem was 100% liberties and attitudes concerning things that I feel are none of their damn business. I do not believe in disfellowshiping or disassociating a person at least not to the mega degree they take it. Filling out formal papers and going before a board of reps and placing this file at the official headquarters and for WHAT? Incase they might need to look up a file on someone in case of an emergency? And if that does happen do they use the RED phone that’s kept safely locked under glass? Oh but I guess difepp’d persons who leave the state would need to be kept track of incase they try to sneak into another cong. full of poor innocent unsuspecting CHRISTIANS that would be at risk of …….eek…associating with them. I suppose it is there to serve a better purpose though. God Forbid if those well-protected invaluable documents were not in order come Armageddon. If something happened to those how in the world would Jehovah be able to figure out who to save and who to destroy? What a mess! Jehovah and Jesus and his faithful and discrete slave, papers flying, filing cabinets flying through the air, desperately trying to find all those files containing lists of bad people. AND Satan! Oh ya! Satan yelling JESUS CHRIST! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE ARE WE GOING TO DO ARAMEGEDON OR NOT!
Sorry I got a bit carried away.
I’m trying to do better.
Lots OF Love plm
Adonai438

for Orangefatcat-- nothing like that christian love that only the watchtower is supposed to have, right? I am sorry for how you've been treated but for what its worth to you: God loves you.
Francios-- Yes 'God's only channel' sure doesn't do very well in the prophecy and teaching department-- And, Has it gotten around yet to JW's that at least 2 of the 3 people that wrote their precious Aid to Bible understanding book DAed themselves and are now born again Christians?
plmkrzy--they never could get armageddon right-- keep up your researching:)
Skeptic

I figured out that the Bible is just a book written by men and nothing special. Then I figured out that God probably did not exist and if He did, He is not worthy of my worship.
So it made no sense to stay as an active Witness. At that time, I did not have major problems with the WTBS, though there was a lot of little things I wondered about.
I lost all respect for the WTBS when the 1914 generation change was adopted, because I knew many lives were needlessly wasted by that doctrine. At that time, I was reading the Proclaimers book cover-to-cover and saw that the Witnesses were a bunch of loonies.
Richard
AlanF

I left because of the massive intellectual dishonesty and arrogant stupidity of the Watchtower organization.
The first thing I remember that made me really wonder about the Society was the 1967 organ transplant ban. The reasoning they presented was ridiculous. I figured that if a 16-year-old could see it, and "God's anointed" could not, something was awfully fishy about "God's anointed".
In early 1971 they came up with the similarly stupid notion that the physical heart in your chest is literally the seat of human emotion, and that it carried on "conversations" and even "arguments" with the mind, which was seated in the brain. They first presented these idiotic ideas in The Watchtower, then had a major demonstration of them at the 1971 district conventions. They put a giant green brain on one side of the stage and a giant red heart on the other side. They presented a recorded dialog between the brain and heart, and when the brain was "speaking" to the heart, the giant green brain would light up, and when the heart was "speaking" to the brain, the giant red heart would light up.
I remember going out in field service one day, presenting the Watchtower article at the door. I wouldn't do it, but my partner, who was a young pioneer, dumbly presented the article. He actually got through a complete presentation with one woman, saying something like, "medical research shows that the heart talks to the brain", and during it I could see the amused look on the woman's face. I wanted to sink down into the concrete sidewalk.
Around 1973 the Society started telling JWs about oral and anal sex. Until then I had no idea that people did such things. I thought that it was pretty stupid to tell someone not to do something they didn't even know about. I thought it was particularly stupid for them to invade the privacy of married people.
During the 1970s I gradually realized that the Society's views about geology and Noah's Flood were goofy. After the 1975 debacle I gradually got the feeling that their predictions weren't worth shit, and eventually I went to college. In my sophomore year I had to write a paper for an anthropology class, and I decided to write one that showed how Flood legends and the distribution of language proved that humans had spread out from Mesopotamia a few thousand years ago. I used the extensive college library material to look up most of the secular references in WTS publications like the 1967 book Did Man Get Here by Evolution or by Creation?, the 1967(?) book Is the Bible Really the Word of God?, and various Watchtower and Awake! articles. I found that about half of them either didn't prove the writer's point, or even disproved his point. I realized that the references were therefore unusable, and so I switched to another topic. I then tried to gather WTS references that supposedly helped disprove evolution, but I found the same scholastic dishonesty. I ended up finding a book written by a lawyer critical of evolution and used its references, but by then I felt a bit dishonest, because I realized that all of the writings of these armchair critics were not presenting the full story of the controversy about evolution/creation.
Shortly after I finished college, in late 1982 the Society published some Awake! articles that discussed creation/evolution. They considered the question of why predators exist. They pointed to the gorilla and said, "See his big pointy teeth, and yet he eats vegetation!" But they neglected the fact that cats cannot survive in the wild by eating vegetation -- they require meat to get certain nutrients that vegetation does not contain. The biggest problem they considered was how some animals became predators. Rather than giving a reasonable answer, they shluffed it off with something like, "As the human creation became chaotic after Adam sinned, it's no wonder that the animal creation did the same." A few months later they printed some critical responses from readers who took them to task for such ridiculous reasoning, and their responses were as stupid as the statements they were being taken to task for. I realized that the Society's views were simply infantile, and within a year I became inactive.
During 1991 I did a great deal of research looking at the source references given in the 1985 book Life: How Did It Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation? I found about 100 examples of misunderstanding, out-of-context quoting, telling of half-truths and outright misrepresentation in the book. I sent a few of these examples to the Society, and they failed to respond. I even used family connections to give a few examples directly to the author of the book. He failed to respond, telling my family that the questions I asked were the same ones that "apostates" ask. It became obvious to me that these people were incorrigible liars and would do anything to protect their favored positions.
This is probably more than you want to know, but it may be useful to you.
AlanF
spike

We were unhappy with our local congregation because of their lack of love, lack of understanding of addictions and depression issues and their favoritism to wealthy publishers.
Six of us transferred to a congregation 50 miles away. It was a city congregation with not much caring, never got your name right,never called when meetings were cancelled etc. My husband and I got tired of driving. I have severe health problems so we are fading away. No one calls either.
I started reading on the internet. I am disgusted in the WTBS's handling of pedophiles, women,denying us of Jesus'mediation, blood issue, false doctrines and favoritism of men. They allowed Rutherford to drink and the rest of the publishers are d'fed or sent to AA. The truth appealed to me because of the utopian idealism. This is not happening so I am leaving.
teenyuck

Well, lets see...where to begin...
I was 5 when my mother joined the dubs. Her grandfather (paternal) had been an annointed dub; so was his wife. She became an evil-slave. The son, my mothers father never became a dub.
My mothers mother became a dub after marrying into the kinda dub family. Her husband was not, however her father-in-law was. He was revered as being one of the 144,000. Bottom line, he was a hateful bum. He did not love his wife. He needed someone to clean and cook. Why would a future angel sleep with an "evil slave?" That question remains unanswered by my still maternal dub family.
Anyway, back to me. When my mother became a JW when I was 5, I immediately hated it. I knew something was not right. From the Paradise book we learned Jah was going to kill everyone, including all the bad children, etc. How can a child be expected to understand the theory of God at age 5? Anyway, I had no friends. No witnesses at my Chicago public school. No friends at recess or lunch. No playmates after school. There were plenty of children, however, they were BAD ASSOCIATIONS! Yeah right. My sister and I were vilified in our mostly catholic neighborhood. We did not pledge allegiance, attend birthday parties, etc.
Cut to teens. We moved to the suburbs. It was 1972. Armageddon was coming. I was 10. We were told we had better start preaching heart and soul so when it occured we would survive. Then, we would be perfect. We would play with the wild animals, live in pardise and be perfect. For a chubby kid with no friends, this sounded pretty good. I went out in service!
I got baptized at age 13. Just under the wire!
In the mean time, my parents broke up. My father was DF'd for smoking. He recently told me that he was really upset the way my mother changed when she became a JW. No more fun. No more oral sex. They invaded the bedroom. This is wrong. They could not get him for adultery, so they DF'd him for smoking. How stupid. We were told we should not speak to him. That's good, shun your father. Who pays the bills. Dad ended up leaving our home within 6 months of being DF'd.
My sister was DF'd for fornication. When she had a baby 6 months after her wedding, they DF'd her. No meeting, nothing. It was 1978. I do not know what the rules are now, however, back then, they said they had proof of fornication; she had a healthy baby 6 months after her marriage. Again, conjecture on their part. They announced it and BAM, she was gone.
My mother was DF'd for fornication. She, after being divorced in 1974, had numerous boyfriends, all worldly. She finally slept with one of them, in 1978. She came home and told me. I begged her not to 'confess' she did anyway. She was DF'd, in spite of being repentant. As an aside, they grilled her for the details and one of the elders got an erection listening to the details. She came home and told me. I was her 15 year old best-friend and psychologist.
During this time, 1975 came and went. No Armageddon. HUH? I would dream about waking up in Paradise. It never happened! I watched families sell businesses, go on lavish vacations (there won't be planes in Paradise, remember?) and spend like crazy. Who needs money? Jah will take care of us in the new system. Which never came!
Many people and families were ruined fiancially by this.
My issues boiled down to:
1. No education-all goes back to paradise and armageddon
2. Women in subjection-I don't agree with it. Period.
3. Armageddon-wrong
4. God-I stopped believing in God. If there is a God....
5. The bible-book of stories, passed down that got changed as it got told. Too unreliable to believe any of it.
6. Shunning family who have made a mistake per JW rules-WRONG.
7. Blood issue-The WTBTS has changed direction on this too many times. They are a farce.
8. UN issue-joining the Great Beast to use the library? Come on!
Basically, the JW's left me with a deep distrust of any religion. I firmly believe that religions feed on people's need to know...something. Religious leaders take advantage of this by imposing ridiculous rules and regulations. The leaders get power and prestige; perhaps wealth.
I firmly believe the WTBTS led to the break up of my parents marriage. Its rules turned my mother into a shrew. The shunning that has occured between my mother's family (all her sisters are JW) and mine is wrong. This mind control destroys people.
Brymichmom

The first thing that got me thinking that something was wrong with this picture was when they DF'd my JW husband for smoking instead of wife beating! I'd been complaining to the elders that this jerk was violent and unpredictable. When he would lose his temper, he would beat me up and physically torture me. The elders didn't care about that, though, but instead accused me of "nagging". When it was brought to the attention that this jerk was caught smoking, he was DF'd asap! I finally divorced this SOB, but the elders didn't take too kindly to this and forbade me to date others. I did date anyway, went back to school learned critical thinking skills, and left the WT in 1980. Became a Christian in 1982 and have been very happy ever since.

Honest Research: Why?

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