Quite a while ago I made a promise to myself not to allow the organization known as Jehovah's Witnesses to have an effect on my life any longer.
I had washed my hands of them and their disgusting propaganda machine disguised as a religion.
An old addage says the best revenge is to live life, and to live it well.
I had no idea the Jehovah's would come to me.
I had been visiting a friend in my old neighborhood, and while in the area I stopped to do some shopping.
As I went grocery shopping at the local Super Wal-Mart, the JDubs had a table placed out in front of the store with current Watchtower and Awake magazines and several of their tracts laid out in an orderly fashion for passerby to see.
Taking a quick glance at them, I was not going to give them any attention, when one of the men sitting at the table called me by name.
I turned to look obviously, and it was someone I had never expected to encounter again.
He was the elder and presiding overseer of the congregation I had grown up in.
This was profound for me, because as a child I had been intimidated by this man. He stands well over 6ft 4 in height, and weighs upwards of 250lbs. A rather physically imposing presence, especially towards a youth.
Well now those tables have turned. He is still a rather large man, but I am no longer the child he once intimidated with his burly voice and physical girth. I now stand over 6ft and 220lbs myself, and with age, experience, and most importantly, information/knowledge, for what reason should I fear man?
Yet, apparently he still viewed me as a child, because he attempted to speak condescending and instructively towards me, as though he is in a position to lord authority.
At first he was polite, asking how I had been, and then he attempted to make his move in tossing guilt over me for leaving "God's chosen organization" and "disgracing my grandfather's memory by turning my back on Jehovah."
This is interesting because if I had still believed the Jehovah's Witnesses were the true religion, his method would have been effective. However, being armed with information and knowledge exposing them as a false prophet and corrupt organization, I felt no remorse or sorrow for having left the company of crooks behind.
Sadly, I noticed that he had a whole new group of young men being indoctrinated and serving as his cronies who obviously were being groomed for MS or eldership roles. The reason I noticed this was seeing a car pull up with four young men in suits on a hot Indian summer day at a grocery store is all too odd. They did the convenient JW tactic of walking up close enough to be within earshot, but not actually speaking. I felt this may be an opportunity to give a reverse Witness myself.
After my former PO had finished his babbling telling me how I had "left God's chosen organization behind" and had "become one of the world".. I retorted.
I leaned over on the table and looked right in his eyes, and spoke loudly enough for all who walked past to hear.
Ya know __________ (his name), all I see now is a pathetic old man reduced to sitting in front of a supermarket to peddle magazines no one wants. While others your age have a nice nest egg saved up for retirement and can enjoy their golden years living well, you are sitting here trying to preach to me and others as though you are serving the only true God.
(I turned and pointed to the 4 young guys my age who were within earshot. They quickly looked down or away and would not look into my eyes)
You see them? Why don't you tell them how this organization predicted that "the generation that saw the events of 1914 would by no means pass away before the conclusion of this system of things?".. oh that's right. You can chalk it up to "New Light".. but let me tell you something. Nowhere in the Bible you are alleged to study did any of God's true prophets... i.e. Noah, Moses, Jesus, etc... misinterpret God's message and change their mind altogether over and over on so many topics. To list a few I can say the generation doctrine, the blood doctrine, rape, 1975, the list goes on and on. You yourself preached from the platform when I was a child that this system would end before I was an adult. Well look at you now (his name).. your still doing the same old tired thing, and crying wolf while the world passes you by.
(turning to look at those 4 guys again)
Why dont you do your research? Look into old WT and Awake magazines from the 70's and earlier which predicted the world's end, and which laid out organizational procedure that they vacillate on over and over. Is God so indecisive? Or could it be your blindly following man and a false organization?
Or if you want, I could go pass out silentlambs posters. Have you not seen the media with Dateline and Connie Chung discussing the pedophile problem in the Jehovah's Witness religion (his name)? My grandfather was an elder just like you. I still have his Flock book, would you care to discuss the 2-witness rule which shields child molestors?
(after I mentioned that, he got quiet as a mouse, passerby heard me say "child molestors" and they saw the WT magazines on the table and I saw some nod their head. Apparently the silentlambs cause has reached far more people than the WT had hoped.)
You are nothing to me. You do not scare me, and you cannot show me anything. In fact, I tire of talking to you. So go on living the rest of your life blindly following the WT into your grave. In all honesty, I feel sorry for you.
And I walked away. He said nothing else as I left that table.
When I had finished my shopping, as I walked out of the store, they had closed up shop and were gone.
I wonder if I frightened them off?
That was the most liberating experience I have had in quite some time.
Hopefully my discussing facts may plant a seed of doubt or open the minds of those 4 young guys I saw today. In any event, the JW's are dead to me.
I wish others who have suffered at the hands of their cult could share such an experience as I did.
Edited by - Reborn2002 on 2 October 2002 22:7:54