My husband and I always 'discussed/ debated' doctrines throughout our life. We thought that the 'truth' ought to be backed up by the bible, after all, isn't that what WE challenged people in service to do? IF the GB makes US tell people "we can support what we believe, let us show you from the Bible" then the GB ought to be able to do it also, correct?
We also thought that we had the truth, and the truth can be proven, isn't that why we go door to door? When I heard parts on the assembly about "don't talk to Apostates, they can fool you," I would ask myself "What if Catholics, Baptists, 7th Dayers, Mormons, Pentecostals asked me the same question when I am going door to door? Why am I able to face them, and not Apostates???"
Another thing both of us would not tolerate was hypocrisy. If you say you are a 'Christian' then act like one, don't make excuses.
Haven't we always learned that the annointed are just humans like the great crowd? Just with a different 'calling'? I never put the GB on a pedastal, nor the CO's or DO's or Pioneers or Bethelites. They were ALL 'fellow workers.' Christ died for ALL men, not just for people with a title.
So, when the overlapping generation teaching came, and along with that, the 2011 WTs (Oct & Nov) about 607, I was at first happy to see an explanation for why 'the Society' was now saying 'overlapping.' My husband and I studied those two magazines in DETAIL!! We MADE everything 'go together.' (As usual, when the writing department starts a subject, says 'we'll come back to that later' & then they'll continue it either 5 or 10 pgphs later or even IN THE NEXT MAGAZINE!!!) We looked up every reference, held the WT to the same standard it holds everyone else to, and found out that we had been deceived.
At first, I wasn't sure if the GB had done this on purpose. I kept researching the old WT publications, and found the subject of 'how we know the book "___" was truly inspired by God's holy spirit. How? by counting the steps from the printing press to the "The Finished Mystery" and read page 230 (They started explaining what the meaning of Rev 14:20, using the Hoboken Tunnel, measuring distances between buildings, and coming up with the craziest reasonings.. boiling down to numerology.. change numbers to make them work... especially with this 'overlapping generations." The books says:
The mileage from the Scranton to Hoboken Terminal is shown in time tables as 143.8 and this is the mileage charged to passengers, but in 1911, at an expense of $12,000,000 the Lackawanna Railroad completed it’s famous cut-off, saving 11 miles of the distance. From the day the cut-off was completed, the trainmen have been allowed 11 miles less than the time table shows, or a net distance of ….. 132.8
I cried when I saw the similarities of how the WT just changes things when necessary, they simply just..... change.... things..... Numerologists.
My husband and I both could not go back and support the lies. My children? They were older, and had seen many, many conflicting things within the religion, supported (or not ended) by the GB... However, for my one child, it was when they saw how the lawyers acted in the pedophile cases did it really impact them. That is what made it really sink in.
Fortunately for us, their morals, their sense of right and wrong, won over "this is the truth." Because, if it IS the truth, it IS the truth. If they are lying, they are not from God.
My immediate family (husband and children and spouse) made it out. My father wasn't a JW, & I have 1 other sibling that was not a JW, one of my sisters escaped with me, but my two sisters and mom are still in... Their brains are not open to logical thinking..... Loyalty (in hopes of rewards, social or otherwise) to the Borg, has been imbedded into their brains.
Because so much propaganda goes on at the meeting (they repeat the same things week after week after week for a reason) I think it helps if you can get your dearly beloved away from the meetings so that they CAN have a brain of their own. Showing love, helping them to see they CAN have a life outside of JWville, is a great first step!
