Interview by Priest George Maximov with XJW Artem Grigoryan who was a volunteer at the Russian "Bethel" for 4.5 years. Here's what he said:

by AndersonsInfo 5 Replies latest jw experiences

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  AndersonsInfo

  Top of Formhttp://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/78966.htm

  “Jehovah’s Witnesses Do Not Need a Search for the Truth”

  Interview with Artem Grigoryan, a former long-standing member of Jehovah's Witnesses

  
  

  In association with the Russian SPAS (Savior) TV channel, Pravoslavie.Ru has begun publishing a series of remarkable stories about our contemporaries who embraced the true faith after following various false teachings.

  Priest George Maximov: Hello. You are watching My Path to God. This program is about people whose path to Orthodoxy was challenging and who, in order to become Orthodox, had to change their lives drastically, give up many things and re-consider their ways. We will talk to our guests about things that motivate such people and give them strength.

  Today our guest is Artem Valeryevich Grigoryan, a specialist on sectarianism from St. Petersburg. Prior to conversion to Orthodoxy, he was a long-standing member of the organization that is often considered one of the most dangerous among contemporary sects.

  Artem Valeryevich, could you please tell us how it all started? Were you raised in a family of believers?

  Artem Grigoryan

  Artem Grigoryan: The search for some kind of supreme truth started fairly early for me and you can say that I was raised in a family that was always interested in something spiritual. Surely, everybody remembers the breakup of the Soviet Union, the time when many ideas and values came crashing down. That time, early 1990-ies, is characterized by mass interest in various spiritual practices, as people tried to find answers to urgent questions about their lives and set things straight. Being inquisitive, my parents were also into various eastern practices, such as Krishnaism, Roerichism and some mystic meditative practices. These were very popular at the time. However, despite such interests, my parents, as people raised in our culture, still considered themselves to be Orthodox Christians and occasionally we would go to church, pray and light candles. Of course, this can't be called conscientious spiritual life, but my childhood memories were always associated with some kind of soul searching, which is probably fairly unusual for children. For example, I clearly remember that when I was 6 years old, there was an accident and I was run over by a KAMAZ truck, but miraculously survived. This tragedy intensified the spiritual quest for our family. I remember that when I was in a cast with weights attached, I thought about God, the meaning of life and the causes of suffering, and discussed these issues with my parents.

  This atmosphere of spiritual pursuit surrounded our family. My parents tried to find answers to their questions, but unfortunately in early 1990-ies the Church often could not give the people what they were looking for. As a result, the answers were found elsewhere. In 1996, after an attempt at following the church-based way of life, which failed as a result of a close acquaintance with one pseudo-elder who was practicing exorcisms, my parents met Jehovah’s Witnesses, smiling people who said that they were willing to spend their time and efforts to answer my parents’ questions. That is how we got closely involved with Jehovah’s Witnesses and stepped onto that path. I was 11 at the time. Read More: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/78966.htm

  This is a long and interesting interview. Further along in the interview, Artem said the following:

  It should be noted that in 2005 I was employed in the main Administrative Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, which is considered a very privileged position. In fact, for many Jehovah’s Witnesses working at the main Administrative Center is the ultimate dream. The center is located in the Solnechnoye village near St. Petersburg. I worked there for 4.5 years. Actually, if it weren’t for working in this center, I’d probably still be a Jehovah’s Witness.

  Read More at: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/78966.htm

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  OrphanCrow

  Thank you for posting this, Barbara. I found it very interesting. Artem had a succinct way of speaking and his description of how conversion into the Jehovah's Witnesses happens is good:

  Grigoryan:......... I thought about it a lot, trying to analyze my ways and the ways of my family and people I knew, both Jehovah’s Witnesses and those who quit. In most cases, it is the same scenario: people fall in love with the organization and its members. The belief system is indeed secondary. It is well absorbed by the mind of the person who is already in love with the organization. When a person falls in love, he or she is surrounded by enormous attention and care. Sometimes they can even provide financial support or help find employment. The person falls in love and then he or she is ready to embrace various ideas. That is when a very delicate process of indoctrination begins. It is a training course based on a special handbook. The course is a major topic-based breakdown of the Bible. Naturally, it contains very denominational interpretation that is at times quite strange, far-fetched and artificial, but it all is easy to absorb because the person is already in love with the organization.

  Father George: However, such attention cannot be shown for an extended period and cannot be as intense as when the person initially joined?

  A. Grigoryan: Of course. After a while this attention subsides. Once a person receives the “baptism” and becomes a full-fledged member of the organization, it is now this person’s turn to show the same attention to newcomers as was initially extended to him or her. This is how this person becomes a part of this huge mechanism.

  That is a really important point that he makes - that people "fall in love" with the organization first and adopt the doctrines later - because that explains why logical arguments usually fail to convince them to leave:

  ......when I was helping people to quit their organizations and follow the church-based way of life, I saw many times that none of the intellectual arguments worked.
  Often people who argue with sectarians wonder why their arguments fail. We provide convincing theological, exegetic, historical and simply logical arguments, but they don’t work. This doesn’t work because these people were not originally convinced by arguments, and that is why the arguments cannot convince them otherwise. They were convinced by something else. That is why I think that we first need to simply show such people Christian life first and discuss conceptual ideas later.

  The other thing that Artem spoke about that was pretty interesting was the books he had access to at the Russian Bethel:

  ....while working in the Administrative Center, I had access to a very interesting library that had a section dedicated to various religions. Nobody was interested in it, except for the translators who worked with various materials and needed to know the terminology. That section had many very interesting books by Orthodox authors of early 20th century. For example, there were books by N.N. Glubovsky and various professors of Kiev, Kazan and Moscow Ecclesiastical Academies. There were also three volumes of the Explanatory Bible by A.P. Lopukhin. I saw serious Orthodox literature for the first time in my life. I was amazed, because, as you can imagine, people in all such pseudo-Christian organizations have a very low opinion of Orthodox faith and theology.

  And...Raymond Franz's Crisis of Conscience:

  I broke what is probably the most important taboo of any authoritarian system—the taboo on reading information provided by former members of the organization. I read this book in fear—Can you imagine, being at the very heart of the organization and reading the book whose name Jehovah’s Witnesses are not even allowed to mention. I closed the door, lowered the blinds and read.

  That's pretty cool - to read Ray's book right inside Russia's Bethel!

  Good interview. Thanks again, Barbara, I enjoyed reading it.
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  WingCommander

  Wonder what made him start to question and research to begin with? Maybe a good beating, until his morale improved?
  
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  violias

  I enjoyed reading this very much however, the thought of going into a Orthodoxy system sends shivers down my spine.
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  Vidiot

  OrphanCrow - "Artem had a succinct way of speaking and his description of how conversion into the Jehovah's Witnesses happens is good..."

  "...In most cases, it is the same scenario: people fall in love with the organization and its members. The belief system is indeed secondary..."

  I'd never thought of it quite that way, but looking back, I do remember at one point realizing that I never had any particular "love" for the WTS and its ideology...

  ...which, of course, prompted me to ask myself "why?"
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  Esse quam videri

  Is he back to blessing Easter cakes?