Crisis of Conscience
- Captive of a concept
What is the best book about JWs (written by non JWs, of course), in your opinion?
by Chemical Emotions 18 Replies latest jw experiences
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Ding
In addition to what's already been mentioned, there are:
-- Witnesses of Jehovah by Leonard and Marjorie Chretien
-- Jehovah's Witnesses Answered Verse-by-Verse by David Reed (doctrinal)
-- Jehovah of the Watchtower by Walter Martin (doctrinal)
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erbie
Ron Rhodes did a very interesting and informative book entitled 'Reasoning from The Scriptures with the Jehovahs Witnesses'. If indeed it is possible to reason with them.
I do not have it now but I found it very helpful at the time.
Franz's books are the obvious starting point I suppose.
'Gentile Times Reconsidered' is interesting but I no longer feel that it is relevant because Jesus didn't show up in 1914 so to me the issue of when the Jewish temple was destroyed is of historical interest but little more.
Happy reading!
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Meeting Junkie No More
These are a few of the ones I've read by ex members; unfortunately I haven't come across any written by non ever members. Just putting these out there for those that haven't heard of them.
http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-among-Sheep-Jehovahs-Community/dp/0002000601
http://books.google.com/books/about/The_truth_book.html?id=YfrgI0e7AgQC
http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Orwellian_world_of_Jehovah_s_Witness.html?id=MRj4hmqPRxEC
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erbie
Oh yes, and James Penton's book is very good as has already been mentioned.
Sorry if I have left any out. I think things have moved on a bit since I left the WBT$
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MrMonroe
"Counting the Days To Armageddon" by Robert Crompton is an excellent piece of scholarship that trawls over HOW they came to the dates and chronoogical systems they did .... and why they were later changed. It taught me (like most of these books did!) much more abut the religion and its teachings thn any WTS publication. Crompton's book is a real eye-opener. It's very thorough and dissects the origin of the teachiungs all JWs just take for granted.
Also check out "Crisis of Allegiance" by James A. Beverley. He is a non-JW and the subject of the book is the ructions that took place in Canada surrounding the expulsion from the religion of James Penton. He highlights what a nasty, conniving bunch of a-holes the WTS leadership and middle management is and the lengths they went to in order to achieve their goal of getting rid of someone who dared to question their teachings.
For anyone interested in the early organisational and doctrinal development, "A People For His Name" by Tony Wills is also excellent. It again is very well researched and very thorough.
"The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses" by Heather & Gary Botting is a fun read that hammers the point of the similarities between the WT organisation and Big Brother in its information control and dictatorial methods.
Beckford's book is very good though a little dry in parts, Holden's is excellent as well -- both of them analyse the thinking and behavior of Witensses as a group and why they act that way, and they provide many lightbulb moments as you realise they're describing your own behavior of the past.
Those books should all be required reading for JWs so they can gain a better view of the life they have chosen to lead. Unfortunately because many of them contain information that's critical of the religion, JWs will never read them, because they've been trained not to read critical material. I'd love to ask a JW how many people they meet at the doors where people won't change their religion because they never fully analayse it. (JWs would always say, "Yeah, people are born into their religion and never examine it. They're so close-minded.") And then ask them if they've ever read books by outside sources that examine their religion. Ask them if they're allowed to read such a book. And what they have to fear. And what it says about their religious leaders who forbid them from reading books that criticise their religion.
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ziddina
Marking...
And adding: "Armageddon Around the Corner" by William J. Whalen, copyright 1962, to the list.
William J. Whalen was a Catholic layperson who wrote a fairly balanced viewpoint of the Jehovah's Witnesses, in spite of the fact that ol' Rutherford had demanded that his diatribes against the Catholic Church be aired via phonographs from every street corner and door, up until a decade or so before this book came out.
William J. Whalen ALSO wrote a book about the Mormons called, "The Latter-Day Saints in the Modern Day World", which was FAScinating!!! I found his book on the Mormons to be quite a shock - but since his book on the Jehovah's Witnesses was very accurate [I read it when I was around 10 years old], I must say that the Mormon expose' - if as accurate - well, the Mormons are weirder than the Jehovah's Witnesses, in that case...
Zid
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Chemical Emotions
Thanks everybody!
Btw- I meant Non-JWs OR Ex-JWs, I'm sorry for the confusion. I should have said "Not WT supported".
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bennyk
Not the "best", but still highly recommended:
Jehovah's Witnesses: Their Claims, Doctrinal Changes, and Prophetic Speculation. What Does the Record Show? by Edmond Gruss.