How Much of the WT Teaching Did You Believe?

by Ding 52 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Half banana

  (wrong post)
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  Phizzy

  In answer to the O.P question, it is difficult for me to estimate the percentage I actually believed at any one time during my nearly six decades in the Cult.

  As a born-in, I suppose when I was very young, as it was coming mainly from my parents I accepted it all as true, what they were saying, and probably most of what was being spouted at the Meetings.

  By the time I was 9 or 10 I was asking my father awkward questions, one I remember distinctly was when we began to study the green Daniel book in the late 1950's ( the Title escapes me) I was very aware that the interpretations were considerably changed for what had been taught formerly, based on Rutherford's stuff I guess, and I asked how could this be ? and how would the old faithful JW's take these changes ? the old man told me that probably the old ones didn't have a good memory for what had gone before, so would not be upset, and that this book was " new understanding". I did not argue.

  By the time I was in my late teens I had decided the "fulfillment" of great Bible prophecies by a few of Rutherford and gang lurking in the trees at Cedar Point Ohio for a Convention was utter rubbish, and from that point on began to question all the W.T teaching to some degree.

  I not only questioned the Bible interpretations, but also much of the rigid Rule Making, and often openly flouted the Rules.

  With this attitude I got a bad reputation in my Congregation. When I got married, my wife and I decided we were going to make a go of being Witnesses, and that I would not be too much of a pain in our new Congregation, but I was till a questioner and a rebel. I did fit in well at my new Congregation, full of fellow questioners and rebels, this served, sadly, to make me feel comfortable with sticking to the religion despite my misgivings, I say sadly, because had I been in a different Congregation, Rule bound and run by Nazi Elders say, I would have left decades before I did, no doubt.

  By the end, I did not believe most of it, and when I learned for sure that the 1914 Doctrine was shite, I left.
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  Croc

  I believed it all. Born in, ms at young age, 16, elder at 28, served in that capacity for 30 yrs. Then I was asked to prove 1914 not using the societies literature. I couldn't do it. Found out the society is the only org. that uses that date. It all fell apart at once.Took another 15 yrs to recoup emotionaly. I am mostly free from it, but when you are a born in, it is more difficult than one would believe to leave it all. I lost everything when I left . Started completely over at age 58.
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  RubaDub

  I like all the "fluff" stuff ... but when it comes to doctrines and teachings that make no sense (holidays, cross, birthdays, blood, etc.) my mind goes into the Alt-Ctrl-Del mode.

  By the time it reboots, they are giving the closing prayer.

  Rub a Dub
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  slimboyfat

  Your Will Be Done
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  LongHairGal

  CROC:

  I commend you for your courage. It is not easy to walk away from the JW religion at an older age, especially if you were born-in.

  I hope you are doing better now!😊
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  punkofnice

  Actually, I know more about Jobo 'beleifs(tm)' now, than when I was a Jobo.

  What did I actually believe?

  Paradise. God good, Satan bad. Jobos good, non Jobos bad. Other religions were a joke.
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  iwantoutnow

  MOST OF IT!

  I got it as a kid, and progressed to becoming an uber elder, model family....
  
  I had issues with the Science stuff.
  Like the Flood never seemed right, I had always tried to figure out other explanations.

  But I was 100% in for most of my life.

  Then there were just a series of dominos that fell rapidly.
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  RubaDub

  I guess I would say, and still say around 60-70 percent. Most of that is mainly on subjective topics in which there is no definitive answer.

  I really think they lost a lot of credibility in my eyes when they always blame errors in timing and dates on the zero year. Or when they say, Russel, Rutherford or whoever didn't take the zero year into consideration so their dates were off.

  Come on, if it's your job to do all of this research and study the bible, how can you "miss" a year when calculating chronological events? Isn't that like a car mechanic saying that he didn't realize you need to put oil in an engine? He "missed" it?

  Rub a Dub
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  JoenB75

  Very interesting topic. We left when I was about 15. I was born in infamous 1975. I remember JW as boring. My parents had issues from bad childhoods that the religion did not help with. I was an understimulated isolated kid who was dragged along to boring meetings and even more boring conversions. I remember looking at the schedule for the lovely spiritual banquet lol and dreaming of time to reach 6 pm or so so we could go home. There were a few rewards such as getting to eat sausages with no blood, a drama that sometimes included people in ancient clothes or occassionaly going out with some other old JWs and eating in a nice restaurant. I was rarely dragged out to ministry. I hated it and showed no progress. I was a late child and my parents did not go from door to door in my life time. I did go to some study with an elder JW elder and his wife. Various elders did try to save me. I remember I offended them by saying I thought it was unfair all this Armageddon stuff. In reality I meant my isolated life getting dragged to the hall, no birthdays etc. I dont recall ever reading in the Bible except a few times when dad forced me to publically read loud a piece from the Bible in the theocratic school with a short comment he had written. It was a bit comical. I had to rehearse before him 2-3 times. In my twenties I began to believe and became the Bible nerd. My starting point was Russell's studies in scriptures my father held in high esteem. But I quickly rejected Russell. I was a Christadelphian for a short while and they taught me to read the Bible in context. But alas shortly after Christadelphian baptism I came to realize they had their errors so I left. Christadelphians disagree om many things unlike jw leadership. My misfortune was running into some old school hardliners. Had I met the more liberal or free spirited kind, it might have been different. I retained an interest in the history and doctrines of both groups and often think of the exchanges I had with my father when I started believe in the end of his life.