ToyFish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycIAW0M2-NQ

I'm a former member that has been out for the past few months and have been doing a lot of personal research. I've been having mixed feelings about the GB whether or not their intentions are good or not. The fact they have a protocol of moral lying through "theocratic warfare" very much turned me off from having anything to do with the ORG. After a while, I came across the principle "piccac nephesh", which gives the grounds to break mosaic law if life was in immediate danger, including lying to save someones life. I consider if everyone in my life who was JW ever really believed in the religion, or if everyone was in this group for the sake that they felt by feeding me a facade, they would preserve my will to go on living. Just as it was when God told the angels that adam and eve have become like them knowing good and bad, so is it the same for Watchtower and those who wake up and either be shunned and cut off or accept initiation?

Sea Breeze

Not sure if I completely understand your post, but welcome to the discussion board. The founder of the IHOP restaurants came up with a list to help a person know if they are in a cult or not. I thought it was pretty good.

1. Opposing critical thinking

2. Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving

3. Emphasizing special doctrines outside scripture

4. Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders

5. Dishonoring the family unit

6. Crossing Biblical boundaries of behavior (Lying - Theocratic warfare would fit there))

Remember, Judas had spent three years in the company of Jesus and his disciples without anyone suspecting the wickedness he was capable of.

Over and over the bible warns against putting trust in men. It keeps thing pretty simple to just follow that advice.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. - Ps. 146

Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm - Jer. 17:5

Clarkey

You could say the WTS exploits reality particularly all its perils and troubles to lure people to its literature and promote a reason why mankind has to suffer through these perils and troubles and to offer a sense of sheltered relief .

The reality about this organization is that in its efforts to accomplish this endeavor the organization has not told the truth from a biblical viewpoint or from basic secular knowledge as well..

ToyFish

I agree with the point about trusting in men, I apologize if my post came off as a bit scattered. The point I was trying to make in connection with the video I linked, was that I felt the people in my life, weren't transparent with me and the nature of life itself. Regardless, I probably deserved whatever suffering I put myself through for what I believed and acted on, and now I just have to grow from it all.

Overrated

Toyfish- like all of us here who where once in the Org, by it's empty promises and worthless solutions. You can see Watchtower for what it is and what it is not, your eyes are opened. You now can live the best possible life you can with no guilt or any judgment. Out of the Org you will conclude that it was a bad chapter in your life and why did it take so long to get out? It took me 20 years to get out. I'm happy and will never look back. Feel sorry for those who are stuck in it.

LongHairGal

TOY FISH:

Actually, more like an alternate reality in people’s minds, IMO..The problem arises when REAL reality breaks through the daydream.

And give yourself a break because you don’t ‘deserve’ any such suffering because you supposedly ‘put yourself through it’.

As someone not raised in the JW religion, I am familiar with reality even though it is hard sometimes. But, I will take the gritty reality over a fantasy that is cruel when the real world comes smashing through on a wrecking ball. Best of luck for anybody having to learn about the real world later in life. With perseverance they’ll be okay.

BluesBrother

It is meant to BE the reality. The beacon of truth in a rotton decaying world. The rest of it all ,the politics ,commerce , the "spirit of the world" that is, they believe offering a fantasy.

I can remember an article once,may have been a talk too, entitled " Reject Worldly fantasies- Accept Kingdom Realities "

So they say

JWTom

BlueBrother: Also, if you are an aging person or having aging parents (like I do) you very quickly hit a cement wall of reality when they have no money, no help and no resources to deal with old age. Many, many baby boom JWs are hitting this reality and the org. has got nothing for them at the end of a life giving everything to the WTBTS.

LongHairGal

JW TOM:

My favorite topic! I was familiar with this ‘cement wall of reality’ years ago when I was a young working woman in the congregation and was treated badly by older people there because I refused to quit my job to ‘pioneer’.. I can never forgive or forget this.

If I had caved in to this pressure, I wouldn’t have been able to Retire! The irony is these older affluent people collecting their pensions are not even around today to help anybody!..No, they are mostly all gone. The ‘needy’ Baby Boomers who bought the BS and pursued poverty are panicking now and working menial labor jobs or for brothers with a business.

Problem is: they are not the only needy. You have fired bethelites along with troubled types who were brought into the religion in the last two decades to fill the empty seats in halls. No doubt these people were led to believe they would be ‘taken care of’. Not true. The solution is to hit up responsible-looking people there for money. Now you have Covid!!

This is TOO MANY needy people with their hands out versus the few who are being targeted to contribute money.. I’m glad I’m OUT because I would never tolerate this..I explained this all recently to a JW married acquaintance who was clueless about what I went through back then!

RayoFlight2014

Is Watchtower meant to be an actual shelter from reality?

No.

It's meant to distort reality.

The Watchtower sets up the stage with real, but overrepresented, horrific, and positively depressing features of world conditions. The cult then offers a glossy, promising alternative to a gloomy outlook.

Watchtower is an insular organisation, it allows you to see only what it wants you to see...within and without.

Internal and external facades are protected by copyright , anti hate speech and religious freedom laws.

And those facades are also protected by the intenrnal judiciary process that has little thought for human rights or due process when dealing with rank and file or, ( as in the case of The Purge 1980 ) high ranking officials who went rogue.

While watchtower portrays an exaggerated negative worldview, it goes to great lengths to keep the curtain closed on its own dark secrets and to maintain a whitwashed appearance.

Keep reading and researching, free from undue influence.

If you haven't already, read Crisis of Conscience, and In Search of Christian Freedom, by Ray Franz.

Check out jwfacts.com

Have a look at, and scrutinize everything you feel you need to.

Follow the evidence trail.

Lose yourself. Find you.

Love is all we need.

Is Watchtower meant to be an actual shelter from reality

Is Watchtower meant to be an actual shelter from reality?

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