As a loyal JW, what made you to start doubting the Watchtower ???

by run dont walk 57 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  LoverOfTruth

  The Gross Lack of Love toward both those inside and outside of the organization.
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  kilroy2

  Growing up in the org. I did not even think to question. till I read an artical that witnesses can not use any form of self defence. since I have a concealed weapons permit. and would use my fire arm to defend myself or some one else if needed,

  I was upset that the dubbers in brooklin were more concerned about good press than the rank and file. so I wrote the letter dept. a letter with questions. In the back of my mind I knew that they in their infanite wisdom would tear me to shreads and show me the error of my thinking. The big sruprise was they were so shallow in thair arguments it was pitifull.

  This made me more bold to question, around the same time came the internet. with this tool, the sky was the limit to what I could learn.

  This started a several letter campaign that ended in my finding out that taz used piromids to calculate dates, that every thing he tought was wrong in todays thinking, that the dates have been changed for 135 years, 607, ect.

  Then the anger, outrage at having belived in the silly man behind the curtian, not going to collage, the millitary, in essance living my life.

  And they still have the balls to come around now and again and give me the [we are so sorry to see the course your life has taken] look.

  I would like to smack them up side thair head and rub thiar nose in gential times reconsidered, like a dog that just went wee in the corner.

  But that is just me.
• 

  AlanF

  The very first thing that made me doubt was the ban on organ transplants shortly after I was baptized in 1967. I always had some doubts after that, in fits and starts, and they gradually accumulated.

  For Blondie and Oroborus: The Watchtower still teaches that the creative days were 7,000 years long. While it is certainly true that some publications since the 1985 Creation book mention them as being thousands of years, or millennia long, and all since the "Questions from Readers" in the January 1, 1987 Watchtower do, this latter article is the last definite statement on the matter, and it makes a very strong statement:

  Second, a study of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and of our location in the stream of time strongly indicate that each of the creative days (Genesis, chapter 1) is 7,000 years long. It is understood that Christ’s reign of a thousand years will bring to a close God’s 7,000-year ‘rest day,’ the last ‘day’ of the creative week. (Revelation 20:6; Genesis 2:2, 3) Based on this reasoning, the entire creative week would be 49,000 years long.

  Since statements about the creative days being "millennia" long don't contradict this, this is still the official teaching, and you'll find JWs online and elsewhere who still say that this is so. Of course, some more liberal JWs do realize that because the old teaching is no longer explicitly advanced, a change has probably been made, but I have yet to find any who can confirm or disconfirm it. And of course, none of them are willing to contact the Society.

  My suspicion is that the matter is controversial in Bethel, and no official change has been made so as to avoid alarming the large number of older JWs, inside and outside of Bethel, who grew up on the old teaching. But this is grossly hypocritical and cynical, since it's obvious that at least some Watchtower officials know the truth.

  AlanF
• 

  run dont walk

  kilroy2, alot of would pay to watch you do it.

  I'm sure alot of us feel the same way, they don't need a smack on the side of the head, they need a wrecking ball
• 

  blondie

  AlanF

  The Watchtower still teaches that the creative days were 7,000 years long.

  It may just be semantics, but I pointed out that recent statements by the WTS are ambiguous and leave room for the creative day to be 7,000 years long (doublespeak). But my experience is that if you ask any elder or CO or DO in this area they will not confirm that 7,000 figure. From the platform and at the CBS, the brothers have specifically stated that the 7,000 figure has been replaced with the more ambiguous figure. Now they may be doing this independently from Brooklyn but that is what is being taught by the overseers, traveling or otherwise, in this area.

  Creator Book (1998) p 93

  The fact is, the Bible reveals that the creative "days," or ages, encompass

  thousands of years.

  Creation Book (1985) p 27

  It would seem reasonable that the "days" of Genesis could likewise have embraced long periods of time— millenniums.

  Reasoning Book (1989) p 88

  However, the Hebrew word translated "day" has a variety of meanings, including ‘a long time; the time covering an extraordinary event.’ (Old Testament Word Studies, Grand Rapids, Mich.; 1978, W. Wilson, p. 109) The term used allows for the thought that each "day" could have been thousands of years in length .

  Reasoning Book (1989) p 126 Evolution

  
  Thus the ‘days’ of Genesis chapter 1 could reasonably be thousands of years long

  .

  Blondie

  PS I saw an elder publicly correct another brother on this point just last December.
• 

  Hamas

  I began to doubt in the begining mainly due to curiosity. Being hooked up to the internet made me more curious in fact. Thank god for the internet !

  Anyway, after I doubted the first time, I decided to forget about all this apostate crap, pray to Jehovah for forgiveness and redouble my kingdom efforts ! Roughly a year later, the thoughts about the UN just kept attacking the back of my mind, tearing my so called faith away. After some personal study, visits to this forum and other sites, I decided to buy Crises of Conscience.

  I live for the day when I can shake Ray Franz by the hand for saving my life ; and also helping me to rescue my own mother from the evil grasps of the Watchtower after 30 years a Watchtower slave.

  Now we are free. God bless Ray Franz !
• 

  heianderen

  I have doubts since I was very young. I felt that what they say about reality and "outside" world don't converge with what I can personally feel and see. This congnitive disonance made me suffer a lot. I felt that there are diferent Jehovahs in the bible, one mercifull and good and one filled with pride, vengative, killer. I felt that the bible cotradices itself. I couldn't understand how a good God can destroy 99.999% of people twice!! And by the way, in the flood, how an almighty god needs to destroy everything on earth, he is not a got surgeon, lacks precision. I ask these an another questions to elders (Im glad that the elders of my congregation are really decent people, but they are wrong, I feel sorry for them) they have no answers. I felt that the publications have serial reasoning flaws, i felt there are double standards: poor catholics that because of their leaders, thay are forbiden to read our publications, what a closed mind!.There was to many dubts.

  When I started to work and to have econimic potencial (to buy whatever book i want) the time to research came, y read and compare the WT publications about science and the bible with "worldy" books about science and bible (I bought th anchor bible enciclopedia) I also read about physics, history, archaelogy, science, logic, etc...No matter how hard i tried to make "the truth" truth, it was false. Then I read some "apostate" books and urls to get another perspective about the WT history and teachings. that was the end.

  Now I regard myself as an agnostic, near atheist. I'm still "in", preparing mysefl to lose all my friends (im very introverted, and is not easy to me to make friends, I m happy that I have two "wordly" friends since childhhood, they know my position, they were my friend when I was JW, and they are my friends know that i'm not a JW, but they live very far) I cant' go to mmetings, too depressing and boring. My family also know my situation (all JW except my father) and they say that they wouldn't shun me. :)

  This is my history

  By the way, I don't believe in the subliminal images, but i think that the way that the WT uses photographs affect the way of thinking of the JW. For example, they promote prejuice against those whose dressing and grooming is "wordly". I saw a photograph that ilustrates how to deal with religion diferences in a marriage with a non-JW (the man has a short beard) This promotes superficial thinking, and bad generalizations.

  (please excuse my poor english, i can read english without problem, but i don't use it, even worst, i more fluend in chinese, and sometimes a write english sentences with chinese grammar) HAHA ;)
• 

  amen

  i had doubts from the beginning, but accepted it because i did not ask for perfection from this organization. However, over the years i saw major misunderstandings from their parts. When the bible say something clearly, well they say, here how we should understand this and that.

  There are too many of those statement. Bible does not need an interpretation of every sentence.

  amen