my first post and some questions (page 4)

smiddy

When I was an active JW I beleived the clergy of christendom knew what they were teaching was wrong , that they were victims of being institutionalised , sticking to their beleifs right or wrong.

When I learned the TTATT , I gave the GB the benefit of the doubt and that they were just delusional. Not so anymore .They know without a doubt in their mind that what they are teaching is not from God /Holy Spirit and is strictly the teachings of men.

An organization that deliberately falsifys it`s own history as they have been shown to do is blatantly dishonest and exposed as deceitful liars.

By the way ,Welcome.

smiddy

sarahsmile

Hello and welcome!

God believer here!

You said, " I just don't think you can let any religion change how you view god or the bible"

That is what religions do!

What do you mean by misguided? Who misguided them? When and how long have they been misguided? What are they naive about?

If they were misguided they would not be there any more.

Good post.

GromitSK

I consider the fact that the leaving the WTS made me reconsider my beliefs, one of the few advantages of having been a JW.

HarryMac

Like many others my disentanglement was progressive.

JW's, GB, Jesus, Jehovah, Bible, any man-made 'holy books' <--- These are all written off as untrue as far as I'm concerned.

I'd still like to believe something got the whole thing spinning.... that would be nice.

DeWandelaar

Well... I want to hint at the process that is occuring to some (including me) after leaving the WT:

I was and still am a believer... however... There is coming more and more and more evidence that shows the flaws of books like the bible, the quran and other holy books. As they are written by men who made claims without wanting the burden of proof it simply can not be perfect. If something is NOT perfect it can NEVER contain 100% (or absolute) truth.

I am NOT saying there is no God and no hope for mankind... I am just saying that finding a loving God by reading the bible is actually very hard since a lot of actions that occur in the Bible are immoral according to normal human standards (raping women, killing children, genocide, punishing people severely for small and minor mistakes, the domination of women in general (saying that as a heterosexual male being), the contradictions in teaching etc etc. It is a whole bucketlist of flaws and immoral behaviour which we would not tolerate in our world today now would we?

Now... when first coming from the truth I was critical and knew that something was utterly wrong... but studying where it all started for Christians (the Bible) helped me to read the Bible without a voice of humans behind me saying how I should read it... without a voice saying it is perfect. I started to read this book critically and the history of different books. Therefore you start to see that some stories have a total different context... a whole different timeframe and in a lot of situations you might ask yourself who wrote the stories in the first place.

A good place to start such a study is by reading the Genesis account and to start studying the backgrounds... it may be an eyeopener that may lead to a better study of the scriptures in general.

never a jw

wallievase,

A year ago, I too thought that the members of the governing body were nice, well intended men, who had a screw missing in their brain. As I learn more about them through the Watchtower magazines and their books, more and more I move in the direction of believing that they are evil. I am not quite there yet, but steadily moving that way.

wizzstick

Second-I don't feel the GB are bad people, I think most witnesses including them are misguided by something that has been drilled into their heads since they were little and are actually sincere people.

I understand your point of view I really do. As others have said they are captives of a concept. I certainly can't say for sure whether the current GB know the truth about some of their teachings, but in the 60s and 70s the reality of 607BCE and the destruction of Jerusalem was making VERY clear to then GB. 607BCE is of course critical as it underpins so many of JW's beliefs. When the kingdom begins to rule, Satans expulsion from heaven, the last days beginning, the resurrection of the apostles, the appointment of the F&DS...

They had an opportunity to deal with a difficult problem. That they had been, for decades, preaching and teaching something as true but was actually false. Did they grasp the nettle? No.

That's why I can't believe this is Gods organization. They know what they teach is as fact is false. They may well justify in their hearts by saying evidence might come to light later on, but that's false reasoning as 539BCE comes from the same evidence as 586/7BCE. So as Deut 18:21 says...

And in case you should say in your heart: “How shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?” 22 when the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him.’

jhine

Hello Wallie , welcome , I am a never JW but a C of E Trinitarian Christian . Your comments about people losing faith make me wonder if you are scared of leaving JW land in case you lose your faith as part of the process , there do seem to be a lot on this site who have done that . Certainly it seems the case that having realised TTATT people do become very wary and sceptical and who can blame them ? Suddenly finding the freedom to research and question must be quite a heady experience . Please research and question , but do not forget to question God , I sure He won't mind you venting at Him and sharing your doubts and hurts . You , and all the other TTATT finders have been badly let down by the people who were supposed to be helping you spiritually , like the people of Jesus ' day who were let down by their religious leaders , who turned a living faith into a set of must follow rules and regs . Keep us posted about your journey

notsurewheretogo

Whether you think the GB are bad people or not is really irrelevant. They promote ideas that are damaging to life (blood) and families (shunning) so whether they mean it or not is not really the point.

The point is their doctrines can destroy families and take away lives thus they really are a dangerous religion...

I was a pioneer and an elder until October 2012. Once I realised that the WTBTS is not "the truth" then months of research into the bible (not from the WTBTS research!) lead me (and others) to the conclusion that there is no God and the bible is full of inaccuracies and thus no religion is right.

I can't help I lost my faith, I lost it due to my conscience telling me after much research that there cannot be a God...acknowledging this to myself has produced a state of peace and happiness I've never had even when I was in the "truth"...I still live a decent and moral life...that part of the bible will stay with me...

Fernando

Welcome wallievase!

Personally I have found the unabridged gospel a perfect and powerful map for losing religion and finding faith and spirituality.

(Why does the "true religion" secretly blind its followers to the "Good News" according to Paul, Moses, Isaiah and Psalms?)

my first post and some questions

Share this