It is surprising how intellectually dishonest an otherwise wonderful person can be (a loved one) when it comes to holding on to
a horrible lie.
You see it everyday.
A wife who will defend her husband against child-molesting and even disbelieve her own molested daughter!
A father will believe his son who has injured a 3rd party because the Dad refuses to consider the evidence against!
Crazy loyalty? No. Intellectual dishonesty.
Unwillingness to let the facts determine belief is intellectually dishonest!
We all WANT to believe.
It is like falling in love; we WANT to fall in love. And once we do we don't want to fall back out again no matter what. Why? The empty hole it makes in our feelings is almost unbearable. Also-admitting we are dead wrong scares us too. How can we trust our own mind and heart again? And on and on it goes like a dog chasing its own tail.
I say all that to tell you this:
No Jehovah's Witness (no matter how full of doubt or how depressed) WANTS to see the real truth about "The Truth".
Don't underestimate the fact they can't bear it because IT IS EMBARASSING to admit they were fooled by the allure of a false reality. They became citizens of a myth. Surrounded by other citizens of the same myth they reinforce each other's delusions.
Once we have fallen in love with an IDEA that pleases us it is almost impossible not to defend it at all costs!
Unless a person is WILLING TO ADMIT THEY ARE WRONG (when presented with evidence) they are biased against reality.
The fact is this: TRUTH is only true when it is the WHOLE truth and NOTHING BUT the truth.
Conformity with reality is the only truth there is!
How did this alternate reality come to exist for so many otherwise sane and intelligent souls to lose their way on its streets?
1.What is now called Jehovah's Witnesses is the result of a long line of persons who were fascinated by the subject of THE END OF THE WORLD. The founder of what is now the Watchtower Society (C.T.Russell) was convinced by Adventists that the END WAS NEAR.
Okay--stop right there!
Question: Pastor Russell was strongly convinced Armageddon was very near and would occur shortly in his lifetime.
DID IT HAPPEN?
Answer: No!
Question: Did he recognize he was wrong and admit he made a mistake?
Answer: No! He just kept changing his "interpretation" of events and expectations by moving them forward a little at a time.
Question: IS THIS INTELLECTUAL HONESTY? OR, IS IT A STUBBORN INSISTANCE ON BEING RIGHT AT ALL COSTS?
Answer: You decide. But, the worst part of Pastor Russell's writing was his constant references to "god's dates; not ours" shifting the burden to Jehovah and away from human tampering.
2.What convinced Pastor Russell that Armageddon was near was a special way of looking at Bible prophecy that divided history into time periods (then called : DISPENSATIONS). The theory of dispensations looked convincing on a large wall chart.
Question: Did the wall chart of dispensation prove to be true or a crackpot idea?
Answer: If it were true--why has the Watchtower dumped it and all references to it's explanations?
Question: If it was wrong and a load of bull, then, in what way was Pastor Russell dealing with god's spirit by being convinced and mislead by this chart?
Answer: Because he WANTED to be convinced and to convince others Russell would never admit he was self-deceived. News flash: The food in due season printed in the Watchtower was a scam:CHRIST RETURNED in 1914. That is the scam.
3.Pastor Russell was fascinated by the Great Pyramid in Egypt as presented in a concocted distortion into Pyramidology. He used special (i.e.phony) measurements called "pyramid inches" (note: there are no such measurements!) to PROVE his chronology about when Christ returned and when Armageddon would happen. Then, he stood back and embraced it with eager astonishment at how it all fit together.
Question: Was the Great Pyramid idea factual or ridiculous? Do "pyramid inches" foretell the future events because God put a "witness in stone" in Egypt?
Answer: It was ridiculous! It is still humiliating. But, how long before "God's witness in stone" was changed to "Satan's lie"? Do you know?
Question: Was Pastor Russell able to see his error and admit he was duped?
Answer: Never! In fact, Judge Rutherford continued to use it until he completed his takeover of the Watchtower Corporation, then, he declared it the work of the Devil finally in 1928.
Question: If the Pyramid chart and the dispensation chart were a foolish magic-thinking nonsense, what does this say about the "anointing" of Pastor Russell and of the entire theology he put together which is today called Jehovah's Witnesses?
Answer: Any conclusions based on a false premise will themselves be false. (Basic logic) Russell was smart, but, he was self-deceived by cartoon proof. The worst thing he did was pass on the false proof to others and INSIST it came from Jehovah. He became caught up in the adulation and celebrity of being a "channel of communication" from god.
Question: Is there any historical, archeological or scholarly source or basis for the Watchtower's starting date of 607 B.C.E. for their end times calculations?
Answer: No. Not anywhere at all! They cannot dump this starting date or the whole basis for their anointing and governance vanishes. This counterfeit calculation and false starting date is the ACHILLES HEEL of Watchtower theology. They can squirm all they want but cannot justify it as fact. They can only double-down and bet the farm on it come what may!
5.The doctrine of the "faithful and discreet slave" anointed class was shaped by Pastor Russell's wife, Maria. She applied it to Russell himself. Rutherford was embarassed by it, but, grew accustomed to it and accepted the interpretation. Judge Rutherford applied it to Russell--at first--then, switched it to the corporation...and finally to HIS running of the corporation.
Counterfeit claim to inside knowledge is the stuff of fortune tellers, shaman, gurus and mystics throughout all human history.
Being Jehovah's "mind-readers" is only provable if you are always right! What does it mean if you are always WRONG, instead?
Note: You are wrong if you have to change, adjust, modify or discard what you claimed was TRUE!
Question: If the FDS gives "food at the proper time" how was it proper for the Watchtower to print so many false interpretations of history, prophecy, date-setting for the END and other behavior that is now viewed as ludicrous and wrong?
Answer: JW's are discouraged from reading anything but current magazines because the Watchtower Society cannot explain all previous crazy things printed in its pages. A distraction was needed and the witchhunt for Apostates diverts attention from any explanation for failure.
The famous door-to-door ministry looks good, but, the Truth is incriminated by it's ingredient content! People choke on it and get spiritually sick. It is not the door-to-door preaching that would automatically make JW's the true religion. It would have to be pure content in its teaching.
If you get through those five points and can't see the truth about THE TRUTH---there is no hope that anything can be said or done. Those are very easy steps, indeed.
They are easy to corroborate. But, even if you had a giant wall chart with all the facts on it---it probably won't convince anybody of anything WHEN THEY ARE DETERMINED NOT TO BE CONVINCED.
Only an honest person can admit they are wrong and change their mind. The Watchtower chokes on the chicken bone of humility.
The Watchtower is all about self-justification. It is about hubris. It is about power and control and never about pure content. The core of Watchtower philosophy is false dates, false prophecy and self-justification. It points to culprits, conspirators and cunning enemies rather than spend a second examining its own faults, foolishness and fancies.
This religion is not much different from a badly run business that cheats people.
The Watchtower Society is like an auto-repair shop that makes you pay for all repairs up front, and then-you never get your car back! All you get is excuses, a list of eventual repairs and promises of how much better it will run.
Yes, It is surprising how intellectually dishonest an otherwise wonderful person can be (a loved one) when it comes to holding on to
a horrible lie.
How do we know? BECAUSE ONCE WE WERE THAT PERSON!
Facts are meaningless if you ignore them.
Belief is blind obstinance without open-mindedness.
Endless toil in the service of a myth is a wasted life better spent on something real.
There is only way way out for the self-deceived: A willingness to be wrong if the evidence doesn't go your way.
