Ozzie's Weekend Poll

by ozziepost 34 Replies latest jw friends

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  Pathofthorns

  For me, it was primarily the falseness of their 607 date and all of the ridiculous things they had taught and believed in the past. There was no doubt that God was not using this group in any way.

  For the most part, I was treated rather well in the organization but I was aware that many were not and that double standards existed for those who were of the 'in' crowd and for those who were not. Hypocrisy and lack of love and the constant complaining in private discussions always wore on me.

  That feeling that 'something is very wrong' was finally satisfied when I could be honest and say things were wrong because the religion and it's leadership was wrong. I was also disillusioned with the way their teachings had become watered down, particularly the generation change in 1995.

  The organization held out nothing that interested me and 'privilege and position' they offered had no motivating effect on me. Being a young person, I knew they had lost a complete generation and how well we could keep things hidden from them. In my conversations with them, I realized most just had no clue even though we'd frequently go to parties of 500 or more Witnesses in the area, they were just that dense.

  Field service was a pathetic ritual, and because the message had become weak and vague I found myself at loss for what I was really teaching. The amount of time spent on this imaginary ministry and the promoting of it seemed unwisely at the expense of a much needed internal ministry. It hardly made any sense that we'd spend endless hours searching for the odd new recruit when the young people were leaving in droves out the back door. The focus was all wrong and nothing seemed to be in the works to effectively address this.

  Many elders (and their wives) and COs and bethelites or otherwise people who had some 'inside scoup' would admit many concerns in private honest conversations. All of these things added up to paint a picture of an organization in crisis while publicly presenting itself to be at the top of its game.

  Everyone was wearing out and getting tired, and so was I. I had to leave and salvage my life. No regrets.

  Path
• 

  ozziepost

  Many elders (and their wives) and COs and bethelites or otherwise people who had some 'inside scoup' would admit many concerns in private honest conversations. All of these things added up to paint a picture of an organization in crisis while publicly presenting itself to be at the top of its game.

  I can confirm that is the situation here in Oz also.

  Just this weekend a Bethel elder said to me that he did not agree with everything that was published in The Watchtower.

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."

  
  - Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress
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  Pathofthorns

  Just this weekend a Bethel elder said to me that he did not agree with everything that was published in The Watchtower.

  A friend told me a bethel elder said the exact same thing to him. I told him if there was another person in the room at the time there would be no way in hell he would make such a statement. What things are said in private would in no way be admitted to in front of several witnesses, at least not without heavy 'clarification'.

  Path
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  larc

  Ozzie,

  In my first response I keyed in on why I left. Here is why I would never go back. I could not go door to door and tell people things I did not fully believe. I could not give a talk and follow the rigid content of the official outline and say things I did not believe. Even if I did not go in field service or give talks, I could not handle the sheer boredom of the meetings in order to be a part of a social group. I will find friends elsewhere.
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  Joyzabel

  Good Thread, Ozzie.

  I get the feeling from reading a lot of posters here that the treatment by elders may have been the thing that knocked the blinders off, but looking at the doctrines/chronology certainly opened their eyes to the tr00f!

  Isn’t it a shame that it takes harsh treatment by others to finally get us to look at what we have been fed all those years.

  I have to admit, after my hubby’s hints he dropped for several months, that it was the lying and slander by the CO that made me want to defend my family and look at what kind of organization the wtbts was with representatives like that. No more excuses for their sorry arses.

  After I read both of Ray’s books, and Jonnson’s and Penton’s, I knew that I had been duped and those people, wtbts and all its representatives, had no control over my life or me.

  Hugs,
  j2bf