How Did I Ever Trust Something Called the 'Watchtower Society'?

by breakfast of champions 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  3rdgen

  Fernando, I can relate! In my case, I had parents who were introduced to to the WT$ as children from THEIR parents. However, when my parents were young children the "Society" was still celebrating hollidays and made little or no mention of being No part of the "world". Basically it became the family religion for them without any hardships or trauma. My parents were not babtized until they were adults. Sizemik mentioned the frog in the hot water illistration. This was true for my parents who had the water turned up for them by Rutherford.

  By the time I was born, they were card carring cult members. Watchtower doctrine and rules were presented to me as facts. The same way children are taught the sky is blue, the grass is green, they added, Gods name is Jehovah, the Watchtower Society is the ONLY way to survive Armageddon. (which is comming any time now.) They were oblivious to the pain I experienced being a JW kid. I hated that our way of life was the "Truth" but they effectively convinced me it was. Even though I hated being different, I thought it was necessary and inescapable - like death and taxes. Most young children trust their parents. Why would't I?
• 

  deep-blue-sea
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  punkofnice

  I was raised in the filth. So I had my 'mind cleansed' from being in the womb!! My parents and family were in the filthy cult so I grew up thinking it was normal. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

  I think part of me has always known it was just a cult but that inner voice was drowned out by the mind controlled voice.
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  tornapart

  Basically, I believed 1914! I was a born-in, all the reasons it gave for being the 'true religion'. I fell for it hook line and sinker. I was willing to go along with it because I believed it had Jehovah's backing. Even though there were many things that didn't feel right and I always had a rebellious streak against the control. My private life was just that, and if my conscience allowed me to do something then it was between me and God and no one else. I've also been a deep thinker.

  Now I'm mentally free and I see it exactly for what it really is! That is liberating, they can't control my thoughts anymore!!!
• 

  nugget

  We only have the benefit of our life experience to draw on coupled with the input of our parents, the watchtower organisation has had decades to hone their techniques and they are good at it. They are smart, slick, controlling and clever. I would hate to have been taken in by idiots I pride myself on seeing the lie and getting out while there was still breath in my body.
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  WTWizard

  And, I wonder if to this day the Washtowel is connected to the One World Totalitarian Government. As recently as 1991-2003, they were members of the UN (which they bashed as Satanic). And they continue with practices that are at best time wasters.

  But, what gives it away is how they get away with so much rubbish to this very day. I can understand the Fed not getting a tax audit--they are part of the reason we have the damn tax in the first place. But, when the Washtowel is allowed to go without a tax audit despite blatant abuse of its religious status, you know something is not in place. I strongly suspect that they have ties with the Rothschilds, or are even among those seeking to enslave the whole world, right to this very day. Otherwise, they would be getting audited by the IRS.
• 

  DilemmaGF

  Reminds me of the Tower of Saruman
• 

  jwfacts

  Where did they get the term Society from, it is reminiscient of "Secret Society". mmm, very cultlike. Maybe you were longing to be part of a special boys club.
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  finally awake

  WTWizard, I think you overestimate the IRS's cojones. In my experience, most US tax authorities are reluctant to hassle large, well funded religious organizations. For instance, the state of Illinois has just begun to review the tax exempt status of several hospitals with the intent of revoking their property tax and sales tax exemptions. Under Illinois law, to qualify for those exemptions, the organization has to be *primarily* charitable. No hospital I've ever heard of has met that test in the last 30 years, but they are just now really looking to enforce the rule. I don't think the IRS will ever single out the WTBTS for tax enforcement - they don't really even like to mess with smaller, single location churches who are clearly violating the political activity rules.
• 

  WontLeave

  I never trusted them any more than any other biased source. I had enough preexisting information (Scriptural, scientific, historic, etc.) to see through their BS. Like most here, I just believed they had more right than any other denomination. But you're not allowed to think like that as a JW. No, you're required to worship the GB and view the Watchtower as Scripture - Hell, higher than Scripture, since it often trumps the Bible. That's why I was always in trouble.

  Here are some of my thoughts that never allowed me to be drawn into the man-worship required by JWs:

  • The Pharisees had more accurate doctrine than the rest of the Romans, but Jesus wasn't at odds with the local pagans, but the men claiming to be the true representatives of the Almighty.
  • If Moses is the recurring example of why it's okay for Christians to have human leaders, why did Jesus denounce the Pharisees for seating themselves in the seat of Moses? Moses was the source of God's message, but now we have the Bible and can each see it for ourselves. Why exactly do we need some old men to tell us the Bible doesn't mean what it says and we're neither qualified nor permitted to understand it?
  • If I'm not allowed to read the Bible with the goal of understanding it and only (currently) 7 old men have divine revelation, why bother having the book at all? Just tell the geezers what to print and don't muddy the waters with the Bible, in the first place.
  • The God of the Bible initiated Judaism with a prophet and high priest whom he divinely instructed and directed. It became corrupted beyond salvaging.
  • Jesus started Christianity with the aid of 12 men who had the Scriptures opened to them by Holy Spirit, beyond human understanding. It became corrupted beyond salvaging.
  • Russell started a kooky religion steeped in pyramidology, false prophecies, and a whole lot of really nutty stuff that has been abandoned. It was hijacked by a sociopath named Rutherford, who centralized all authority, power, doctrine, and assets to himself. He lived in a mansion that was supposed to be for David and Abraham and drove Cadillacs (which were vastly more disproportionately-priced then), during the Depression, while coleporteurs were hawking Watchtowers in the snow for nickels. However, this religion is a "spiritual paradise", totally immune to Satan's influence and the imperfections of man, and only can get better over time.
  • If we're supposed to put our faith in the men in charge of the Watchtower, why does God tell us over and over again not to put faith in men?