How do Witnesses know if they are one of the 144,000? My husband, who was a Witness for 20 years, couldn't really answer this one beyond "They just know". How do those "lucky" 144,000 Witnesses know who they are? Does Jehovah call them up and tell them? And, do you know of any of those elite few who have LEFT the dubs?
Just curious questions for a Wednesday afternoon. 
SLM
How do the 144,000 know who they are? Have any ever left?
by somebodylovesme 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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somebodylovesme
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Gretchen956
I can't answer the first part of the question, but the second part is yes. I have two very good friends who partook for years and are no longer witnesses.
Gretchen
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Double Edge
I've never been a JW, but I think there is a poster here by the name of AMAZING who was once numbered among the 144,000. You might check out his post .... look to the top under "member directory".
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Buster
Your husband is correct, they just know. In the past, they were also referred to as 'those with a heavenly hope.' And it was just that, if you felt deep in your heart that you were looking forward to a heavenly afterlife, then heaven was where you were headed.
But that doesn't work any more, if it ever did. The 144k was/ia a major underpinning of the belief system. And the fact that so many still profess to be of the annointed poses quite a problem for them. The WTS has published some articles that seem aimed at discouraging some from believing they are heavenly-bound. The vast majority of those partaking today must be flaming delusionals to account for the lack of decline of the those professed annointed.
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ballistic
This is a good example of a where a limit will be reached which becomes inexplicable by the witnesses. Think long term. Think of when they actually have 144001 on record as professed anointed. Think of events 100 years ago which were supposed to be prophesied in Revelation now being swept under the carpet. Just like other long term figures and dates which will demolish what is current light. The only tool they have to counter this is the gradual change in light, and the only people announcing this is us.
OK so they will say some weren't real annointed, but are we to expected to believe Jehovah had no choosen ones from the beginning of history when he was reading hearts? It just gets ridiculous.
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Frannie Banannie
SLM, I left the borg as one of the anointed in 1992....of course, we were always discouraged from professing our anointing, because it's "understood" to be acceptable ONLY if one is MALE and has one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave.....
After having been df'd for so many years (almost 12 now)....I've mulled over the things that inspired me to realize my "anointing" as a dub and have come to a conclusion that all the "spiritual" experiences I had, including even the spiritual "coccoon" which surrounded me as I partook of the emblems for the first time....were a result of over-indulgence in scriptural content....to the point that what was written there became a "virtual-reality" to me....and I think that's what happens to people to cause them to believe in their anointing and that the scriptures "speak" to them personally....it's a result of becoming "drunk" with the power, the hope and the promises in the scriptures....
As proof of point, it took me a long time to be "weaned" from continuing to "imbibe" in the scriptures, but with a more realistic view of them and the fallacies they contain, the spiritual experiences I had been having began slowly to wane until I now no longer experience them anymore....and I hafta admit....in a way, it's a big relief....but in another way, like an addict reminiscing over a serious past drug addiction, the "high" is unforgettable....
Frannie B
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calamityjane
Wow Frannie, very interesting. Thanks for sharing your view.
cj
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shotgun
Anyone who reads the New Testament without a preconceived idea that they cannot be one of the annointed would conclude to be a follower of Jesus they must be part of this group. It is the WT which drills it into members and prospective members that this opportunity or door was all but closed in 1935.
If anyone does profess to be one of the annointed which btw never had a specific number tied to it, than he or she will be considered to be of that group, providing they tow the company line with meetings, service and acceptance of teachings and beliefs unique to the WT.
The 144000 definite number issue was promoted as doctrinal truth by Rutherford who's other truths have all been discarded by the WT as false teachings.
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Lady Lee
My ex who was an elder at the time thought for a while he might be anointed - (but let's not talk about his child beatings and unacceptable sexual demands or his emotional abuse towards his family). He used to talk to me a lot about it and even went so far as to talk to the other elders about it. Another one of his delusions - wonder if it is back now that he is trying to climb the corporate ladder again.
Most famous ex-JW - Ray Franz - member of the Governing Body
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Nathan Natas
I'll preface this by explaining that I am now an atheist after spending about 20 years as a JW - "raised in it - I was a pioneer, an MS, and gave Sunday public 1 hour talks.
The whole matter of being among the 144,000 is IMAGINARY, just like people who claim to have been abducted by aliens.
How does a person who has been abducted by aliens "know" he has "that calling"?
He says he does.
That's it. Although the general public is inclined to be skeptical about a person who claims to have been subject to alien abduction, Jehovah's Witnesses NEED to believe that some people among them are of the 144,000. If you claim to be one, -- VOILA! -- you are.
It adds to your credibility if you have been a JW for some years and have "endured trials," but there are a bunch of so-called "young anointed" in the WTS. It is important that you at least create the illusion that you are following the rules and deomonstrate some acceptable form of "godly devotion."
But the bottom line is that if you sau you are one of the 144,000 no one can say for certain that you aren't, because you have the (invisible) (and imaginary) spirit "bearing witness with your spirit."
Do any of them leave?
Yes. You really need to read AMAZING's writing on the subject - he honestly became covinced that he was one of the 144,000 and he left the WTS and that illusion behind. Some members of the WTS who claim to be of the 144,000 get disfellowshipped and it is assumed that when that happens, their "invitation" is cancelled. According to JW dogma, the holy spirit will then select someone else.
LOTS of "someone elses" have been chosen in the past couple of decades, because the number making this claim worldwide has remained pretty flat, and it SHOULD be going down each year.
Now, about my alien experience...