by jwfacts 38 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
“If [we] have been able to question Watchtower's claim to be the truth, possibly leaving at tremendous personal loss, there is no reason they [the members of the GB] have not as well, except for reasons of selfish denial.” —Paul Grundy
Excellent article, Paul. Thanks for sharing!
Pete Zahut: The unforgivable thing however, is the way [the GB members] never admit outright that they were wrong and that Jehovah isn't telling them what to say and do.
Agreed.
It is absolutely unforgivable in light of the fact that any rank & file JW who dares to disagree or even question the GB will be labeled an “apostate,” disfellowshipped and lose their family and friends!
It happened to me as it has happened to countless here among us.
Let’s review: It’s a cult!
It is absolutely unforgivable in light of the fact that any rank & file JW who dares to disagree or even question the GB will be labeled an “apostate,” disfellowshipped and lose their family and friends!
That's indicative to the inherent corruption of the WTS by its developing leaders (GB), the chosen self anointed ones and set out instructions to demonize anyone who questions their position and leadership.
Anyways what could possibly go wrong with someone using the ancient Hebrews via the thousands year old bible book for humanity's social moral standards today ? .
They are the chosen intermediary ones between Jehovah and all of mankind, according to them. , oh wait a second there are hundreds of men who proclaim the same thing all around the world
Geoff Jackson responded to questions with scorn, belittling the right to be questioned about doctrine by a secular body, and providing answers that ranged from evasive to outrightly disohonest, such as when discussing Corporal Punishment.
Can we expand on these please ? I would love someone more capable than I to do so .
smiddy3 - "...answers that ranged from evasive to outrightly dishonest..."
Once again, for the newbies, lurkers, and trolls...
...if you have to cheat to defend your beliefs, your beliefs don't deserve to be defended.
Very well written to go straight to the facts and disillusions of an organization from one who was there to see it all --.....I agree power and control--definitely - reminds me of a Jim Jones only this has been spouting since 1874 to 1914 to 1975 to generation....
And now --If your not on Zoom, your questioned, if you are on Zoom and dont have the camera on you at all times, other pubs want to know what is going on.. elders want you there for the "ride along" /active phone calling service now more days that ever (and if your not on doing phone calls- they know your service record is kaput)... its a captive audience now - no getting away from it.
Technological hell to bind worse than ever. No real private life anymore. Control at its best.
truthlover123 - "...now --If your not on Zoom, your questioned, if you are on Zoom and don't have the camera on you at all times, other pubs want to know what is going on.. elders want you there for the 'ride along'/active phone calling service now more days that ever (and if your not on doing phone calls- they know your service record is kaput)... its a captive audience now..."
Hmm... hadn't thought of that.
I gotta say, if it actually plays out that way, it's pretty Big-Brother-ish...
...maybe this won't make fading as easy as I thought, after all.
TRUTHLOVER123:
Yes..They think because people are supposedly home in the lockdown they should be available almost 24/7 on Zoom. I mean, after all, what else does anybody have to do? 🙄
An older poster on Reddit is fed up and watches his wife getting dressed up (to sit in her living room) for all the meetings while they can see into THEIR home..He says it’s about five hours a week(?).. When pressed by an elder why he isn’t participating on Zoom, he told the guy to back off otherwise he’d be jeopardizing their friendship.
So, the religion is using this crisis to ramp up their intrusiveness and corner everybody.
VIDIOT:
Yes, it won’t make fading easy. But, I think they are going to make people so angry this might be the last straw! Also, instead of one individual leaving - maybe a whole family might stop.
Thank you very much for posting Paul, we continue to speculate here on the motivation of the JW governing body because we have little concrete information. You though have supplied some hard evidence from the horses mouth so to speak, by correspondence from a GB member.
Ray discusses the conundrum of recognising the weaknesses of certain JW doctrines but strikingly all at HQ seem wedded to the concept of a divine rightness of The Organisation. In the minds of the GB and through their historical activity going back to Rutherford, it seems to me that they have sacralised the organisation (exactly as they do the Bible) to cultivate it as the product of God's hand. In a similar way the Catholic Church had bamboozled the poor by using extravagantly decorated cathedrals and churches to supply them with an apparent tangible token of the divine.
I remember so often Catholic priests and other religious men were mocked for holding on to their church's teachings even though not believing and yet were tied to the way of life within it. Cannot we see the same hypocrisy written larger in the leaders of the JW religion who appear to fulfil the obligations of office but probably remain internally in denial as to JW dogma, stymied because they would lose all that they value if they left; i.e. the prestige and executive lifestyle with all its earthly comforts and welfare.
Like others on this site, I lost a lot when I woke up and left. Apart from Ray Franz, there seem to be none of the present GB who put truth and personal honour ahead of their cushy life at the top.
Several years ago I had some work to do at a hospital which included being on two wards for the mentally ill. We were not to engage with the patients but get on with the job assignment.
I observed several people who genuinely believed that God or a higher authority was talking directly to them. Several of them were genuinely polite people, who except for their medical diagnosis of either psychosis or schizophrenia or both, looked and spoke like a 'normal' person.
It was later on the thought occurred to me that if you are part of a religion and believe you are God's channel and He speaks directly to you nobody bats an eyelid. Whereas if you are in the wider community and go around telling others the same thing you will likely end up being treated in a hospital ward for the insane for a very long time!
