What was your deconstruction process from being a jw?

by Touchofgrey 2 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Touchofgrey

  I became aware of jws and the UN ,so I checked the internet and found it was true that they were a member, and that led me down the rabbits hole and started to look into the history of the bible students and the behaviour of Russell and Rutherford etc ,and how much the teaching changed and the internal politics and the failed end of the world teachings etc.

  I then found myself in a no man's land regarding god and the bible, I then began to use critical thinking regarding the bible and if there was a god , looking into the origins of the bible and it's stories eg Adam and eve story, flood legends, exodus from Egypt and if the jesus story was historical or not etc .

  Looking at the origin of our universe and the planet earth led me to the conclusion that no god exists.

  The purpose of this topic is just to understand your deconstruction purpose from the jws and not to get into arguments about our now held beliefs or lack of.
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  TonusOH

  I was trying to explain the concept of god and my beliefs in a way that would cover any and every objection, and eventually realized that my belief system relied entirely on presuppositions. Without the presumption that god was real --and the bevy of associated assumptions that formed the core of my belief system-- I had nothing. I kept testing this even after I realized I could not believe in god, and kept coming back to the same conclusion.

  Until the day I admitted to myself that I was an atheist, I adamantly avoided anything even remotely anti-JW. Once I felt free of the organization, I dove in. I'm glad I waited, because I did not have to struggle with doubts about whether or not this new information had shaped my point-of-view. There were times when I wondered about a topic or teaching or commentary from the WTS, including one or two things that really made me worry. But I remained loyal and would put those ideas aside. They look very different from the outside!

  I have adjusted my views a bit in light of the recognition that much of science (especially at the cutting edge) is well outside of my understanding. I am open to the possibility that a god (or gods) exists. But I have not found one yet that makes sense. The kind of god that explains our world and our universe would likely not really care about us one way or another, aside perhaps from our usefulness as data points, in which case we will never know of its existence. So I don't worry about it.
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  HereIam60

  I still believe in some basic doctrinal teachings, but the 2 things that have shaken me most were:

  The Governing Body announcing in 2013 that it Alone was "the faithful and discreet slave", after decades of it being believed to be the "annointed remnant". (I've always been in doubt about there being a special annointed class on earth at all today, so do not think either interperetation correct, but much Watchtower teaching was based on the former view, so this was a major change)

  ....the JW Broadcasting program of March 2015 on which Stephen Lett began by saying there was more money going out than coming in, and each part thereafter was about making contributions This, after years of claiming they would never beg or solicit funds. Clearly they had mismanaged " the Master's belongings"...