Introduction
Having been a Witness for many, many years, about 15 to be exact, I just thought I'd explain a few things for new-comers to this site about what it's like to be a "Dub". "Dub" is just a convenient shorthand for "Jehovah's Witness", and is not meant to be derogatory, but I think I will stick to calling them Witnesses here for the sake of people visiting during the furore upon whose brink we are sitting.
Much of those early years I don't really remember. Although I was never abused or molested *physically*, there was much mental abuse. Probably one of the worst forms of mental abuse is the form that is practised so well by the Watchtower - mind control. Mind control is a very subtle and insidious form of abuse, virtually undetectable unless you know the signs. Very few Witnesses realize that their minds are being stringently controlled by the Watchtower, primarily because the Watchtower controls what they read and see a lot of the time.
It takes a strong person to leave the Watchtower. Imagine being in a cult that integrates with normal society quite well, but nonetheless keeps it's members "separate from the world". Members aren't allowed to vote, attend many types of celebrations held by "worldly" (non-Witness) people, and so on. This is an excellent mind-control tactic by the Watchtower, because it reduces the amount of pleasure and fulfilment that Witnesses get from the outside world. If they do get any fulfilment from the outside world, there is almost certainly going to be someone in the Organization who will tell them that they should feel guilty that the time spent doing whatever game them that pleasure should have been spent in God's service.
Demons in the Machine
As a concrete example, consider this: One of my great passions is computer programming. It's something I enjoy tremendously. When told by others in the Congregation that I spent large amounts of time at my desk in front of my computer, the Elders informed me that computers could be demonized, and that I should definitely be looking at serving in Bethel or perhaps Pioneering, not playing games on my computer. They simply didn't understand that I was writing computer programs, not playing games and fooling around. This stuff was my hobby, and is now my career.
Worse, they told me that a machine constructed purely using the laws of logic could be possessed by "demons" that would subvert it. HOW? There are many people here and elsewhere who would agree with me that this is QUITE impossible. A computer is composed of a set of finite states. Granted, there are many, many finite states for this computer to be in, but nonetheless, they are all perfectly predictable (in theory). There is no way a computer could be "demonized".
Getting back to the topic, these Elders then proceeded to tell me that I should spend more time studying Watchtower literature and less time at my favourite hobby. Perhaps one of the reasons the Watchtower indoctrination never truly “took” in my mind was the fact that their literature was stupendously boring – at the speed I read, I could underline my Watchtower in 10 minutes, tops, and be sure that all the answers were right. Many esteemed researchers have shown that repetitive imprinting of ideas is a primary cult tactic, and I tend to agree with them. Even though I found it terribly hard to believe that God could be both genocidal and loving, as is clear in the Bible, I tried to understand. Perhaps God was greater than my ability to understand, which made sense to me, so I went with that initially.
The Witnesses never used to be the way they are now, you know. Once upon a time, you could actually ask questions at the meetings, in front of the entire Congregation, and not be reproved afterwards for it. Try it. Go into any Kingdom Hall, preferably with a Publisher to accompany you, and ask a non-related question during the Watchtower Study. See what response you get.
Why are Witnesses not allowed to ask questions during the Watchtower Study?
I’ve related my experience before of asking a question (a damn simple one, at that, which the Elder conducting the study should have been able to answer fairly easily) during a Book Study, and the admonishment I got afterwards from a strict Elder.
In an Organization where the study of God’s Book, the Bible, is so heavily promoted (the very first course new-comers to the religion are taken on is called a Bible Study, although in reality it should be called a Watchtower Literature study, since only tiny fragments of the Bible are used in Watchtower literature as a matter of course), why are you NOT allowed to ask questions during bigger events? One may ask as many questions as you like during your personal Book Study – but try piping up a few times during the Watchtower Study, and I guarantee you a “kindly” Elder (who probably believes he is doing the right thing), will come and sit next to you and very strongly discourage you from speaking up during the meetings.
Now people who are reading this may be beginning to understand why I am so opposed to this religion, and in fact most religions. It is the simple fact that thinking people must accept the doctrine presented to them without question. Let me elaborate further on the process by which “spiritual food” reaches the individual Publisher in the Organization.
It all starts at the top, of course. An article is written by the Writing Department. Depending on the article, older Watchtower literature (not too old!) is referred to, resulting in most articles basically becoming re-hashings of previous works, which is already an insult to any intelligent person and particularly to those who believe trees should not be cut down to repeat useless doctrine over and over, like me! A few articles will indeed be written with a little more influence from the Governing Body, especially if they deal with touchy subjects such as the infamous blood issue.
Once these thoughts and interpretations of the Bible are written down, they might as well be set in stone, because nobody would dare to change the Governing Body’s words in the Society. Talk outlines used at Conventions and for Public Talks are also produced in this way, and it’s uncommon for the Society not to monitor and check that Brothers are sticking to their outlines when giving these talks.
Having been printed, the literature is distributed to the Publishers through the Congregation’s Book Servant. I’m not entirely sure if such a name exists in the Society, would someone commenting on this post please clear this up? It’s been a while since I visited a Kingdom Hall, so the memory is fading…
Note that Elders are not allowed to deviate significantly from their outlines, and this rule is rather strictly enforced at Conventions. Why would such a practise be necessary in a religion that bases it’s teachings upon “The Truth”? Surely the “Truth” doesn’t need to be repeated verbatim? How does parroting a talk outline to people who’ve heard similar thoughts a million times before in previous meetings help those people towards a better form of spirituality?
The Study Itself
Most interesting of all is the Watchtower Study. Imagine sitting in a room full of close to a hundred people, often more, and an Elder and two Brothers are on stage. The Elder will start the study by giving a brief description of the article, not very much, and will then ask each Brother next to him to read a paragraph, each Brother reading a different paragraph and letting the other Brother read the next one in a round-robin fashion. (This is a “privilege” in the Congregation, and is much coveted by younger brothers, but seen as a chore by older ones for the most part). The chosen Brother will read the paragraph from the Watchtower, and then the Elder will ask a question about that paragraph. Guess what question he asks? Here’s a clue: It’s written at the bottom of the page the paragraph was on in the Watchtower. Now the Elder waits for a Publisher to stick up their hand, then another Brother (it’s always a Brother, Sisters may not have public “privileges” in the Congregation, it’s just wrong, you know?) will run up to him or her with a microphone (Sisters may allow themselves to be indoctrinated, but that’s about it), and they will answer by restating what was said in the paragraph.
This stupendously boring state of affairs carries on for one hour. People basically regurgitate things they read from the Watchtower. The only time anything interesting happens is if someone breaks wind, causing much discomfort because it is frowned upon to leave your seat during the study. Prior to this, there has been a one hour Public Talk too, which is similar to the Watchtower Study, except for the fact that it is non-interactive.
But really, how interactive is the Watchtower Study? Where is the freedom of thought that humans are so famous for? What is effectively happening here is that a very small group of people are deciding what a very large group of people will study and parrot all over the world, every Sunday. This alone already smacks to my mind of mind-control, for if you repeat something enough times, it eventually becomes a part of you. This is how people are taught to read and write. Unfortunately the Watchtower is teaching people how to think, too.
Many people just cannot understand how dangerous this is. It’s a subtle method – guilt is a powerful weapon that the Watchtower uses to keep the Sheep Class in line. By setting themselves up as a direct line to God, they essentially place themselves in an unquestionable place.
What does one get when a very large group of people are taught the same thing over and over, and their belief is solidified by fear and guilt, and they are not allowed to question what they are being taught? You get a cult. Simple.
You Will Not Argue With Us, God Says We’re Right
Of course, I can already hear the strident voices of pro-JW people arguing that of course, you can write to Bethel and discuss doctrinal issues. Well, I have news for you. Every Jehovah’s Witness here who as tried that (and some former JWs) have usually landed up, after a lengthy correspondence, with a short letter from Bethel stating that they must “wait on Jehovah”. Yes, we are told to let the Faithful and Discreet Slave handle the matter for us. We may not question, or teach our own interpretations of the Bible – only the officially sanctioned interpretations manufactured in Bethel are to be spoon-fed mentally to the Congregation. Do otherwise, and you will be swiftly reprimanded for causing “divisions”.
Have you started to get a sour taste in your mouth yet? Are you feeling angry and upset about this? Well, it gets even better!
All of the doctrine and ideas that you may not question in the Watchtower, and which are taught as absolute Truth, and there are many of them, are actually subject to change whenever the Governing Body feels like “clarifying” them.
Let’s take as an example the Governing Body’s stance on the Blood issue. There is ONE, yes, ONE Scripture that states that we should “abstain from blood”. Of course, it doesn’t mention people who’ve never heard of the Bible, or extra-terrestrials who cannot understand Hebrew, let alone English or Religion.
The Governing Body has taken this single Scripture and used it as a tool to kill hundreds, if not thousands of people. Of course, they probably think they’re the good guys here, but as we will shortly see, they have in fact been very bad boys indeed.
According to this secretive group of men, Jehovah’s Witnesses should NOT get blood transfusions. If your precious child is dying of leukaemia and needs a blood transfusion, she has to die in order to live in Paradise. She may even die anyway, depending on how badly she’s sinned or not. This is sort-of palatable to me, but the Governing Body felt that they needed to broaden this definition by saying that only certain blood fractions are permissible. The Apostle who wrote that verse did not even know what a blood fraction was. How can the Governing Body put words in the mouth of the Apostles like that? They do it because they think they have authority, when really, they are just in charge of 6 million highly indoctrinated people, and their actions are unquestionable.
The Governing Body’s flip-flopping on, amongst other things, the blood and organ transplant doctrines, have caused real, honest people to DIE. You can’t pussy-foot around this fact. To make it worse, they have NEVER EVER publicly atoned for their gross, murderous misconduct – they are in the perfect ivory tower. Their word is law in the Organization.
Now, here is some more juicy information for everyone reading this. Did you know that the Governing Body votes on these matters? Surely if the Governing Body were being led by God, they wouldn’t need to do something like that?
Let me put this as plainly as possible.
Say you’re a parent. You have a beautiful daughter, age 2, she can barely talk, and doesn’t even really know that she’s a Witness yet.
She contracts leukaemia and needs a blood transfusion, or she will surely die. You are holding her hand in hospital. She needs a special blood fraction that hasn’t been approved yet by the Governing Body.
Would you allow a group of 8 men to VOTE on whether she could live or die?
"Vaccination has never saved a human life. It does not prevent smallpox." The Golden Age, Feb 4 1931 p. 293-4 - The Sacredness of Human Blood (Reasons why vaccination is unscriptural)