Why I am now a faded ‘apostate’ after the ridiculous ‘Overlapping’ teaching!
I was raised in the ‘troooOOooOooth’ and both my parents were pioneers. Over the years I pioneered, was an MS and finally an Elder. I had always felt there was something unusual about how the leader or leaders (depending on who was the president), always boasted about themselves. However, I dismissed this as me being overly critical. After all the mind control and parental guidance had lead me to believe I was lucky enough to be born into the one true religion.
Cut a long and really boring story short. Fast forward to me in my 50’s. I have a family with teenage children and a wife with chronic fatigue syndrome. CFS was something I had repeatedly seen in JW women but never thought it to be unusual.
As an Elder I saw how unloving and machine like the micromanagement of the leaders were. I only ever saw ‘conditional’ love which often bordered on elitist hatred. Something stirred at the back of my mind. Why am I not allowed to show the love like Jesus showed to the ‘flock’ apart from ‘Watchtower policy’ as written in countless secret letters to the body of Elders?
One thing I thought was disturbing was how we as Elders were told that in ‘Judicial Committees’ the decision on how to treat the ‘wrongdoer’ was from Jehovah himself via his ‘Holy Spirit’. OK. Fair enough I thought. It troubled me how we gave the verdict of the ‘Holy Spirit’ from an infallible God but then the ‘wrongdoer’ was given 7 days to appeal. Was Jehovah about to say: ‘Ooops, sorry, I got it wrong!’ No! This didn’t figure. I heard the explanation that it was the ‘Holy Spirit’ in the sense that we read the Bible during the JC. Nonsensical!
One day I was taking a walk out and watched cars driving under a bridge. I wondered what was the use of ‘the field service’ as I could never reach all these people but Jehovah was about to slaughter them. It didn’t take long for me to figure out something was wrong with the elitist stand of the Watchtower organization.
I decided to read the Bible and study it outside of Watchtower stipulations and interpretations. I couldn’t figure out why we were told that most of the New Testament was written exclusively for the 144,000 anointed ones and yet some of the verses were adverts to place Watchtower publications. I started with a KJV and considered the works of such Bible scholars as William Barclay. The Bible started to make sense without the Watchtower’s confusing tangle of often conflicting interpretation.
You’ll probably laugh but the turning point for me was the ‘Overlapping Contemporaries’ as the new explanation for the ever changing ‘Generations’ explanation. It occurred to me that if Armageddon didn’t come for 100 years the leaders would simply say: ‘Armageddon isn’t here because the ‘overlapping’ is still happening. See? We were right!’
If Armageddon came or not the Governing Body has their backsides covered either way.
I decided to read ‘Combating Cult Mind Control’ by Steven Hassan. After all this was his journey from the Moonies so couldn’t be labelled ‘Apostate’. To date I haven’t got beyond chapter 4. It was all I needed. I have been deprogramming since then.
Sadly, although I announced my feelings to my family, my wife and daughter think that Satan has got to me and they look forward to my return to the cult they themselves are trapped in.
My wife will not allow me to comment on the Watchtower organization and shows me the hand if I say anything she feels is critical. She, however, still drops little ‘witnessy’ hints about the usual stuff. World conditions, ‘worldly’ people being bad yadda yadda yadda. I just smile and don’t comment much, it isn’t worth it. Her Borganization forcefield goes up and no matter what I present, however logical, however scriptural she refuses to see.
SO here I am and the journey has only been a year long so far.
I started secretly attending a Church and found the people there so much more loving than the JW’s I’d grown up with. I wasn’t attacked by Satan and Demons didn’t invade my head.
Where am I now?
Right now I no longer know what I believe. Is there a God? I don’t know! Is there an afterlife? I don’t know! Are Jehovah’s witnesses the one true religion? NO! Now that I do know for sure!!!!