The scripture "Beware of persons in sheeps clothing but are in fact ravenous wolves" really stuck in my mind. The people in the congregation are just likie those ravenous wolves to a tee.
I never could get over it...
As a loyal JW, what made you to start doubting the Watchtower ???
by run dont walk 57 Replies latest jw friends
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lulu
The WT/UN debacle, which led on to the Child Abuse issues. We could not possibly hold up our heads after those two things.Romans 1:32 says that you personally do not have to do these things but if you consent to these things, you are the same. The law does not differentiate between the robber and those who buy off the robber.
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Kingpawn
Unlike many who were "stumbled" as the JW's would say by doctrinal issues, the thing that first gave me a galling shock was hearing a racial slur from one of the elders.
Then, expressing private misgivings about how another elder's daughter dressed, hearing a story about her that wasn't exactly flattering, AND being told others had mentioned the same concern I had, with no changes in her dress.
The gradual change in the blood issue set off warning bells--the "there's something about this that bothers me but I just can't put my finger on what it is" type of discomfort.
Even after all that I still (as did others) thought that they had it mostly right. Then I came here, having been told about Freeminds in chat, and my faith was like a crippled ship taking repeated torpedo hits.
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greven
I was very young (age 12) when I started having doubts. It was a feeling of dislike for the religion and everything you 'had' to do. This eventually grew into a feeling of "maybe I am evil for not believing, or actually not wanting to believe this". Even so, I got baptised at age 18, hoping that offering myself to God would make a difference. It did not. Around this time I started university (biology), introducing me to logic and science and the burned at the stake Evolution Theory. This opened my eyes, I saw the blatent misquotes, the flaws in reasoning and the absense of even the most rudimentary notions of science. Also, I started reading the older books in the library, mostly Rutherford's, finding out what really was taught and how this is now represented filled me with disgust. Reading the Finished Mystery made it final: this could not possibly be The Truth.
Having lost faith in this religion, I decided to start from scratch: what reason do I have to believe there is a God? What about the bible: is it trustworthy? Does it carry the qualities of divine inspiration? Etc etc...
I went from JW to simple Christian to Deism to Agnosticism and finally to Atheism.
Greven
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blondie
The lack of Christian love.
Covering up child abuse.
Lying elders about other issues.
Blondie
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Francois
I started doubting long before some of you were in Da Troof it looks like, but what started me on the out trail was actually one of their books, the famous JW apologia, Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose. I'm sorry, but applying some vast, sweeping prophecy to some dinky little 3.5 X 5 tract they handed out door-to-door as "bowls of fire poured out on the heads of false religion" was just too much puffery for me. And they did it over and over and over in that book.
Additionally, they were willing to debate any of the clergy or anyone else at any time. In fact they challenged the clergy in virtually all assembly cities to come out and debate. And when the clergy refused to do so, the JWs said that was prima facie evidence that the clergy knew they were preaching false religion. Well, look who won't debate now.
And on and on in that vein. Get yourself a copy of JWs in the Divine Purpose and see for yourself. Anyway, this was in 1959 and I wish I had walked out then. I would have saved myself so much trouble. I was only 14.
francois
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be wise
The hypocrisy was always clear to me; it’s so blatant when you’re in it.
Initially, I just doubted it on a personal level. Everyone on the platform etc was telling us how good we should feel but it was obvious that no-body did. I was always depressed and felt ‘strange’ in society. I knew people weren’t as bad and extreme as they always taught, for Christ’s sake, from being very young, I used to meet them in service and a lot of people were really nice. I used to think a lot were much nicer than JW’s when I was very young because they had nothing on there backs telling them how to behave, they were just naturally nice people. I felt embarrassed the amount of times we used to have to knock on there doors – I always used to think if the shoe was on the other foot I would be soooo pissed but most weren’t!
Then I would go back to the meetings and again they would just bash the world, how bad and evil it is (blah, blah, blah). How all these just normal people who I met every week are doomed without the knowledge we had and how they were considered compared to us before God.
Then one day I literally had enough of all this crap because it was making me into a very depressed and stunted person. So I came to the conclusion that the only way forward was to start afresh in my mind – everything from beliefs to morals – everything, I thought I’d just learn from lives experiences. I figured I couldn’t do any worse than I already felt so I gave it a bash and never looked back.
Then years later I found Free Minds on the web, this was just icing on the cake, I didn’t need it to make up my mind but it helped me heal and this is when I started to really move on with my life free from a lot of the hidden JW programming that I didn’t realise was still in me.
for letting me blab!
be wise
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iiz2cool
The lack of christian love in the organization that was supposed to ne an identifying mark of Jesus' followers.
Failed predictions.
UN involvement
Protection of child molesters.
Altering of text in bound volumes when compared to original text.
Obvious clergy class even though they claim there is none.
Society's position on education.
Practice of shunning.
Man made rules emphasized more than scriptural principles.
...and many more.
Walter
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yxl1
For me it was a quote in the "Yoof" book. "Masterbation leads to homosexualality" They lied. I spent many a bored
Sunday morning locked in the mens toilets at my KH, and I never "turned" gay
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Englishman
It was the disfellowshipping that did it.
My best friend was disfellowshipped, so I did the WT thing and duly ignored him. However we still saw each other at football matches, and we both knew the same people, none of whom were witnesses themselves. These other people rounded on me for not speaking to him and I had no answer that would satisfy myself, let alone them. I just knew it was wrong - very very wrong - to treat another human person like that.
I left about a year later.
Ironically, when I left myself, I walked around that very same football ground during a convention whilst accompanied by my DF'd friend so that all could see. I was duly DF'd. There were thousands of witnesses to my crime!
It still feels good even now.
Englishman.