The whole "generation" thing had me doubting. Looking back on one outstanding thing, I'd have to say it was that discussion and change in the Nov 1995 Watchtower.
What Was The 1st Thing That Made You Question?
by minimus 102 Replies latest jw friends
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caligirl
Read Angus03755 reply - same experience, same people. I was about 15 when the witch hunts happened, and when we learned first hand that the bortherhood my parents had taught us about was a crock of s***, and those experiences among others totally destroyed any faith that I had. Once I became an adult, I began to have panic attacks about going to meetings and this led to very sporadic attendance (which when it did happen, was totally guilt driven). The final straw came when I got pregnant with my son. I realized that once and for all I had to make the break. Up until that point, my questions had only caused me inner turmoil, but I lacked the courage to officially come out and say that I was never going back.
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jws
Let me see... I was born into it and left when I was about 23, but had many issues arise in my years:
- Why couldn't we get a copy of that "apostate" literature they were handing out at district conventions? That WT parody looked cool (i loved spoofs). If it's wrong and we have the "truth", why should we be concerned?
- The whole literal vs. figurative heart thing. At one time the JWs actually believed emotions came from your actual heart. I argued and got distressed looks from my parents and told not to question and keep quiet about it. Then when the first artificial heart went in, the WBTS changed their mind (big surprise - how could they not). I felt great. The WBTS was wrong and me and my brother were right all along. After that, we could never really take anything they said 100% and I think we were only around 10 at the time, give or take.
- The whole creative day of 1000 years thing. Unanimously, science has dated our earth and different periods for millions of years, not a mere 6000 or 7000.
- Always wondered why it was OK to celebrate anniversaries, but not birthdays - an anniversary of birth. So what *something* bad happened in connection with 2 birthday parties in the Bible. The Bible didn't advise people against them.
- Questioned the way a lot of people acted, which was quite different than what the society preached. Although I still think that is going to happen no matter what. In any religion, people are going to intpret that belief for themselves. There is the one belief - your religion's doctrine as preached. Then there is how people themselves believe. Sometimes taking things out of context or out of proportion. Like the WBTS may say "beware of such-and-such" and people take it to mean that under no circumstances should you have anything to do with "such-and-such".
- Always got sick every time they mentioned a "greater" blah-blah or a greater blah-blah class or a second fulfillment of some event. It seemed like they were making this stuff up off the top of their heads to suit their own needs to self-fulfill Biblical prophecy. Seemed like everything in the Bible was supposed to have a second fulfillment.
- Also the whole prophecy stuff in general was getting a bit deep. As we studied the Revelation book, I kept thinking that a lot of it was so symbolic, they do not have any right to nail it down and say "this is what it means".
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AwakenedAndFree
Dear Dizzy Cat:
Their lack of genuine Christian brotherly love made me question them.
MATTHEW: 22:36,37,38,39,40: (36):"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? (37):" He said to him:" You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind. (38) "This is the greatest and first commandment. (39):" The second, like it, is this," You must love your neighbor as yourself.(40):" On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets."
Christian Love,
AwakenedAndFree
Edited by - AwakenedAndFree on 6 November 2002 14:6:39
Edited by - AwakenedAndFree on 6 November 2002 14:21:34
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AwakenedAndFree
Can someone please help me :
I highlighted my test by mistake - I pressed some keys simultaneously and got some parts highlighted. How do you undo highlighted text on this program? I tried undoing it and it did'nt work.
Sincerely,
AwakenedAndFree
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FiveShadows
1 thess 4:14-18 (especially verse 17 and 18)
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lv4fer
I was doing research on the fall of Babylon 607BCE for a talk and I stumbled onto a website 587vs607BCE. I thought I was being studious looking up info on the fall of Babylon. I read the info on the site and then checked his resources/quotes etc. That was the beginning of the END for me. Then I started reading my bible w/o the WT literature and my eyes were truly opened.
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hurt
Something happened... and then someone said if loved my family I would exert myself to make them all witnesses. Now, mama, God bless her, is a good woman. She's going to heaven no matter whatever anyone said... And here they're saying she was toast for A'geddon unless she became a dub. Was I sleeping all these years or something. I woke up and started reading stuff again. Started questioning. And of course, I then got iNet access...
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sunflowers30
I was strolling through the library one afternoon about 2 years ago and saw a book laying out,
Chronicles of the Kings, I think it was. As I read through it I noticed it said the
fall of Babylon occured in 586. I went home and asked my Elder husband about that date.
He mumbled something about that's what most history books say. What? I never knew that.
REALLY? I asked. Why?? So I did tons of research, checked out history and archeology books,
etc. I was floored by the results. I cryed, I prayed, everything was falling apart before my eyes.
What does this mean? I WANTED the Watchtower to be right, I really did.
How can they teach this if it's wrong? And they know it's wrong!? So we quit. My husband and I are both out for good.
So to whoever left that book lying on the shelf, thank you.
Sunflowers
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Jourles
October of 1995 is when I became curious about Watchtower doctrine. I can recall vividly being at the service meeting and hearing the secretary's wife asking people if they read about the new light yet. Her enthusiasm to everyone was a bit overwhelming for such a change. I remember having a clueless look on my face as I had not yet read my latest magazines. I believe she even had the newest Awake magazine and was pointing out the change in the banner where it eliminated 1914. She said that the generation teaching was no longer the correct view and that we had a new understanding of the term. I remember thinking how in the world could such a doctrine change overnight? Did not the coming of Armageddon basically hinge on the generation teaching? For years I thought that I would see the end of the world. And then all of a sudden, I felt like I could die of old age.
I started researching the web immediately after that and tried to defend topics presented on H2O later on. Of course, I did not last very long in debates on that board. I had to run away. When I first visited H2O, I was still trying to be a good jdub. But after a while I began learning of other things. I really think the blood doctrine is what cracked me. The blood doctrine was current and could kill. The generation teaching was past and could not literally kill. To me, that was the important issue and it still is.