I was an elder until March 2012 until I resigned. I then stopped going to meetings in October 2012 and have enjoyed 9 months of freedom that I have found to be jouful! I loved learning TTATT and sites like this and jwfacts.com have been excellent.
I told the elders that I needed a break and that they should not contact me unless it was a social visit and true to their word they have done that. It will be nearly a year soon that I faded and I expect a visit soon.
I don't want to disassociate or be disfellowshipped for one reason. I have 3 kids and their grandparents, who are still in the truth, play an important role in their lives. My wife, who is still in but does not have great health relies on her parents to help out a lot. To lose this would be a nightmare, that is the only reason why I have not officially packed in this wacko religion.
But I do want to explain the situation to the elders.
I have a folder full of notes made from my research, all binded in a logical manner in various topics on things I disagree with, like blood, the cross, 1914, 607 BCE etc but it would be pointless to show this to an elder and it would lead to me being an apostate.
I am thinking about presenting this situation and logic, see what you think. I want to say to the elders that if they can resolve this situation that I am about to mention then we can go from there.
My logical situation is this.
Prior to the 1960's the Governing Body said that anyone who had an organ transplant should be disfellowshipped due to the fact that it was consumption of human flesh (cannibalism) and that you absorbed the traits of the person who donated the organ.
The fact that you were to be disfellowshipped shows that the Governing Body deemed it that this doctrine or requirement was essential to please Jehovah and have a relationship with Him.
Sometime in the 1960's, 1962 I think it was the Govering Body changed this to say it was not a disfellowshipping matter, you did not absorb the traits of the person and it was not cannibalism. It was now a conscience matter.
So my question to the elders that I want a satisifactory answer to is the doctrine to disfellowship based on cannablism of an organ transplant, did that have Holy Spirit approval?
Did the Governing Body get blessed when they released that doctrine? If the elders say yes then how did the Holy Spirit get it wrong that would actually cost a Witness to lose their life if they needed an organ transplant?
If the Holy Spirit did not bless that doctrine but later corrected the Governing Body then that means the Governing Body can release doctrines that are not blessed by Holy Spirit and can have life damaging consequences.
If Holy Spirit got it wrong and actually taught a false doctrine then I want nothing to do with God, if Holy Spirit corrected the Govering Body then the Governing Body can release doctrines that are not blessed by Holy Spirit (avoiding use inspired) and thus I want nothing more to do with a religion that does this.
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My question to users on this forum are these:
- Are my facts correct? (I don't have the WT references on hand but will do)
- Can any JW or the elders refute my logic so as to continue the lie that the Governing Body are the Channel of God?
- What would they come back at me with?
I understand Proverbs 4:18 that they will use to say the light gets brighter but surely they can't use that in this case as the light that the Holy Spirit released initially is wrong and would have cost lives.
I see my logic that has no answer, either Holy Spirit teaches us wrong things or the men teach us wrong things...it's one or the other...is that right? Is there any answer that would negate my logic?
Because if they can't answer or resolve this situation then there is no point in going into anything else...
Some feedback would be welcome!
Prior to 1960's if you needed an organ tranplant to live and you wanted to be faithful to Jehovah you had to die.
After the 1960's if you needed an organ tranplant to live and you wanted to be faithful to Jehovah you could choose to have the transplant, live and be faithful.
The question is, the teaching prior to 1960's...who got it wrong? The men or the Holy Spirit...my logic dictates it doesn't matter as either answer shows you can't trust your life in this religion.