by Chemical Emotions 61 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
The "Evil Apostates" held signs up at our convention. I saw one regarding 1975 and it referenced a 1968 WT. Many (possibly 20) years later I looked it up and saw the article regarding "Why I was looking forward to 1975"
The generation change was the ultimate. They NEVER admitted that they made a mistake.
Later blood became an issue as well. I knew that I would NOT let my family die and then the WT change the issue to one of conscience.
They NEVER admitted that they made a mistake.
Did you know that the WTS. once before used the supposed 6000 years calculation back in around 1914 ?
By the way its an incalculable of dating system either by using bible chronology or by archeology means.
1975 was a scam stirred up to proliferate the WTS literature.
When you've proclaimed yourself god's chosen earthly organization, you do not have to admit to anything or be responsible to what your preaching.
Firstly, two elders visited my house and lied to me about provable facts;
when they found out I was right, they then lied about me to the Branch office.
They are liars and everything they stand for is also a lie;
Many JW's are more like Satanist's.
Just one big lie!!
I started to question the "religion" when the elders wanted to have a JC with me over something that wasn't true...
Endless list ... and ditto to many reasons posted by some here, including it was the "family religion" I didn't know anything else but since very young I could not reconcile the Watchtower teachings with the bible. After a trip to the Watchtower building in NYC I was like so DONE with that corporation --- I saw projection charts going for years ahead ... I was like, what? they keep preaching that the end of the world ... their only focus there is the printing of books and magazines, not saving souls. The Watchtower CORPORATION is an established sect. One only need to study its founders. Thanks to the internet this is possible now.
The teaching that Jesus is not our mediator.
After this the house of cards fell down and all those other things that had bothered me (disfellowshipping/shunning, not celebrating birthdays and Christmas/discouraging further education, etc) suddenly fell into place. There was no way I was going to throw the rest of my life away or my beautiful, happy, curious, children's lives, to a cult.
Although I haven't actually "left" the WTS, I have already accepted it to be false. It's only a matter of time before I leave. I want to avoid falling into the "social abyss" between the JW world and the real world created by the Watchtower.
For me however, it was learning about science. Science contradicts the bible and this created a cognitive dissonance effect. So, in order for me to either confirm or reject either modern science or JW teachings, I bought a book about critical thinking, which would help me think clearly and reasonably. That pretty much put the final nail in the coffin for the Watchtower.
So to sum it al up: science and critical thinking.
As an Elder I got "see behind the curtain". Very disturbing.
It's like when you tour a sausage factory and see how they make it, you never want another hot dog again!
[Seriously, this is an excellent thread. It's fascinating to see how many of us reached the same conclusion despite the constant brainwashing we endured]
I had known it was not 'The Truth' for many many years and just kept going because of not wanting to hurt my parents and later, for the sake of my marriage.
It all started a few years after I was baptised when I found a load of books and Watchtowers going back to Russell and Rutherford on a book shelf in the house of a very elderly brother, including a Birthday Book! I couldn't believe what I was reading and how the Society had changed so many of its doctrines. The scales fell from my eyes that day but I was terrified of telling anyone how I felt for fear of being disfellowshipped and shunned by everyone.
I started to fade as best I could after the birth of my second child using every excuse I could think of to miss meetings and not go out knocking doors, but was just considered 'weak'. There was no internet support in those days and I wasn't even aware that there were other JWs who felt the same way I did.
It was a feeling of more and more being placed in a position of having to defend that which was indefensible:
- Failure of prophecy (as it turned out, not just once, but repeatedly)
- Closely linked to that, chronology that was conjectured.
- Flip Flop doctrinal changes, excused as being "New Light" (by misapplication of a certain Bible text).
- Then, the attempting to rewrite their own history to cover it all up!
- Also, the absence of what Christ said would identify his true followers, i.e. love.
Certainly, there are good people amongst the JWs, but no more than amongst the population in general - whereas they would have you believe that JWs alone have the monopoly on this. For me, the wake up call was working at the same place as another "brother." In many ways, he was worse than the so-called "worldly" people on the staff - a point picked up on by the "worldlies" themselves!
If not at any other time, you or your family will discover this lack of love if you ever get into trouble. For us, it all fell back on our "worldly" family to assist when my wife became chronically ill. (The congregation accused us of trying to "use" people.)
The hard pill to swallow at the time was that I actually knew better people before I got involved with the JWs.
Bill.
