Is the information on JWfacts.com accurate?

by Nobleheart 34 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Nobleheart

  Hi everyone!

  I'm researching and going through so much material to try and find out whether JW doctrines and beliefs are based on the Bible, as well as if they're consistent. I'm a JW currently and I have many doubts at the moment. Fortunately this site is helping me so much, as there's always someone who's posted the same question I had in mind.

  I don't want to sound lazy for not doing my own research (because I'm truly spending a great deal of time reading countless webpages and books). I'm already convinced the blood issue and the generation "new light" aren't "food at the proper time". My interest is mainly in the doctrine of 607/587(6).

  I would like to help others too (mainly family members) by explaining them in clear and simple terms, whether what we've believed until now is true or false. So far the JWfacts website has proved to be of much help to me personally. I've checked some points and they are based on correct information. But I'd like to ask your opinion, if you've been on this site too and examined the information for yourselves. Have you found it to be trustworthy and reliable?

  I'd really appreciate feedback on this.

  and Thank You
• 

  Doubting Bro

  Nobelheart - 1st, welcome to the board!!

  The JW Facts author actually posts here on a regular basis (JWFacts is his user name). I would say this his website is probably the best most objective discussion of JW beliefs that I've seen. He's also open to any corrections and will sometimes post articles here for feedback.

  His page on blood helped me see how offbase the WTS policy is and I was still a very active JW at the time. For what it's worth, I'd highly recommend it. But, do yourself a favor and look up the references he provides to "make sure".
• 

  leavingwt

  Yes. It is perhaps the best source on the Internet for well-organized information by topic. It's maintained by an ex-Bethelite in Australia. Highly recommended.

  If you do come across ANYTHING that is not accurate, please email the webmaster there. He only wants accurate information on his site.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  As far as 607/587, the complicated and scholarly research is done in THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED. (http://www.amazon.com/Gentile-Times-Reconsidered-Carl-Jonsson/dp/0914675079/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291068061&sr=8-1).

  Although it is not difficult to understand, it takes time. I find the stuff at jwfacts easier and shorter and just skipping a bunch of detailed explanation to get right to the point. While I don't recall their 607 information, I know that I liked it when I did read it.

  Edited to add: ....and I did read the complicated and scholarly one, too.
• 

  undercover

  I personally trust JWfacts.com It is well done and factual.

  But...in the end, it's not what the owner of that site (who posts here BTW) says, and it's not what I say or anyone else says. It's what you discover is real and factual and truthful. You have to accept it for yourself before you can champion a cause. Just because we say, 'yea sure, it's a good site' isn't good enough.

  Now, about this bit about helping others by using the site...

  Bad move. If you don't want to out yourself as "apostate" to your JW family/friends, you should NOT direct them to any website critical of the JW doctrine/faith. In fact, even if you could get them to look at it, if they're not ready to question on their own, they're not going to believe anything critical of the religion. People choose to believe what they want...until they themselves doubt or question. And JWs are indoctrinated to stay clear of anything and anyone critical of the organization.

  To help a JW see the error of the WTS, you have to take baby steps. You can't beat em over the head. You have to drop hints, ask questions, any number of subtle ways to get them to think for themselves. Even then, they may never do so. If they're content in their JW lifestyle you may never free them from that mindset.

  There are some good books on how to help people think for themselves and how we can help family members trapped in cult thinking. One author is Steve Hassan. He has a couple of books you might want to look into before you tackle trying to free your family on your own.
• 

  bohm

  I applaud you for being critical of your sources. jwfacts is in my oppinion THE resource for a more scholary study of jehovahs witnesses. Like leavingwt said, jwfacts is a regular poster here and i am certain that if you found anything that seemed the least inconsistent or overstated he would be very happy to discuss it with you to see if that was indeed the case.

  btw, If i may recommend a book it would be "apocalypse delayed". As far as 607, i would recommend the book of jeremiah .

  UPDATED: On second thought, if you want to be do really group-up research, i would recommend you to just pick any random book published by the watchtower from around 1918 and read it. it was a whole other religion back then.
• 

  Leolaia

  I've met jwfacts and I know he's sincere and endeavors to get the facts right and be as helpful as he can. He also puts a lot of thought in how he presents the information. But as everyone else says, don't let anyone do your thinking for you and if you are interested in fact-checking what is on the website for yourself, there are many resources on the internet that will help you in verifying these matters to yourself. That's a very important part of figuring things out; I myself didn't want to take some one's word on a matter but to see with my own eyes what the facts are.
• 

  Nobleheart

  Thanks so much for all your answers. I truly do value it as I know some of you have a significant history with the WT.

  @ OTWO - I know about the book "Gentile Times", but it's not available here where I live and it would probably take my forever to read and digest all that material. English is my third language btw. Which is why I gratefully appreciate it if someone has done their research and posted their findings in a clear and brief format. JWfacts really presents information in a clear manner imo.

  @ undercover - Thanks for your advice, as well as for encouraging me to prove things for myself. I wasn't actually going to direct my family members to this site, I would glean info from there, as well as this site and talk to them about it. As far as I know them, they're not the blind JWs who take everything at face value. So I really hope they will react in a reasonable way to facts which I will plan to present.

  I just need to convince myself first of all things and then open up with others. It's taking some time. But considering I 'studied' with JW for 3 years, it's not that bad.
• 

  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  "I don't want to sound lazy for not doing my own research"

  You don't sound lazy to me! And "welcome", if I haven't welcomed you already! I've found JWfacts to be very accurate.

  And no discussion of 607 would be complete without a reference to pyramidology. Allow me to quote myself on this important subject...

  Here is a comprehensive list of all "non-JW scholars", as provided by 'scholar JW' who agree with JW chronology pointing to 607BCE:

  Jerry Leslie - http://www.biblestudents.net/library/datingthedeolation.pdf

  Julian T Gray - http://www.hunkler.com/pyramids/pyramid_books_review.html#book4

  Paul S Johnson - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_S._L._Johnson & *** jv chap. 28 pp. 627-628 Testing and Sifting From Within ***

  Morton Edgar - http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/contents/treatises/edgar%20parsons%20letters.htm

  Charles f Redeker - http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/Contents/doctrine/70yrs.htm

  Rather than being actual scholars, they were Russellites... and...

  

  ...pyramidologists http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramidology#History

  After all, who really needs the Bible when you have "The Corroborative Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet The Great Pyramid in Egypt"! -- see Studies in the Scriptures Vol. 3 Thy Kingdom Come. beginning p. 309.

  After reading parts of Russell's original Studies in the Scriptures volumes, it became quite clear to me that the entire collection of "biblical" and "pyramidological" 607-1914 stuff was built on nonsense. What Watchtower Corporation is still trying to feed to the sheeples is as worthless as their shifting interpretation of "this generation".

  Sadly, it is impossible to convince a 607 believer otherwise until they are ready to accept the real truth. They are much like those who still argue that the earth is flat. They simply spout the same thing over and over hoping that constant repetition will somehow make it true.

  Of course, the book of Daniel is not what it claims to be either. It's pure mythology that Watchtower uses to "prove" their 1914 mythology.
• 

  Nobleheart

  Thanks Bohm and Leolaia.

  I'd love to read books like "Gentile Times" or "Apocalypse Delayed", but they're not available in my small country in Europe. Maybe a Protestant Church carries them, but I wouldn't venture to go there just yet. I wish I could read Crisis of Conscience, and will probably order it online. Also I don't have access to information older than the WT CD-Rom, there just isn't anything in my language older than that (at the KH or anywhere). So thank God for Internet and forums such as this!