What first gave you doubts ? (page 6)

Kenneson

For me, it was the so-called long line of Witnesses extending to Abel. All the O.T. characters were Witnesses. O.K., so far. All the N.T. characters were Witnesses. O.K. But who were the Witnesses after that? The Arians? The Albigenses? The Waldenses? The Mennonites? The Anabaptists? The Hutterites? The Reformers? The Calvinists? Some of these groups still exist today. None of them think they are Jehovah's Witnesses. Most don't even believe anything of what the Watchtower Society teaches today.. Since the Watchtower Society has no problem in claiming Charles Taze Russell as its own, why can't it tell us who the rest of these earlier Witnesses were? And even with Russell there are problems. He believed in the Cross and the Crown, birthdays, Christmas, etc. and if he held on to those beliefs today he would be disfellowshipped by the same Society he founded! Some Bible Students never went along with Judge Rutherford's hijacking of the Society and they maintain he is the real founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

patio34

Well, I always had doubts (does any JW ever go doubt-free? I wonder ). A lot of them were the same as others have mentioned. Lol about the things in Revelation applying the the assemblies!! That was a very hard sell and I'll bet you so many dubs don't really swallow that!

But what really made the house of cards tumble was watching the Disney film Dinosaur. Imo, no loving creator could have created such vicious creatures as dinosaurs! That did it for me and started me reading books written by evolutionary scientists themselves. Then I read and read and read.

Pat

rogue74

I am new to the forum and an active witness (well, I haven't preached in months)

I must say that I have always had doubts. Such as:

* If we don't baptize babies because they are too young to make a decision about whether they want to dedicate themselves to God (a reasonable doctrine), then how can we let those same babies die by refusing blood transfusions for them? If they are too young to dedicate themselves to God, aren't they too young to die for a decision they haven't been allowed to make for themselves?

* How can one reconcile the way JW's are taught to treat disfellowhipped people with the basic Christian teachings of: "God is Love.", "Love your enemies", "Do unto others as you would have done to you.", "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." There seems to be a contradiction there. A disfellowshipped person is, at worst, an enemy. Yet how is it loving to shun them?

* The whole 'career ladder' male witnesses are forced to follow. The pressure to 'progress in the organization' can be intense for males. I'm sort of a introverted guy. This was torture for me. And I would like to know where in the Bible it says that one's standing with God can be measured by monthly progress reports where one indicates how many hours they have preached. Where did Jehovah say '10 hours or you are in the doghouse'. I just don't get it.

* The Elder's constantly giving me opinions on what I should read, watch, whom I should associate with, etc.

* I had a hard time believing a God who is love would slaughter billions of people just because they weren't Jehovah's witnesses (including children).

* The new light about 1914 always seemed fishy to me.

* I missed out on following my dream of studying filmmaking because I was taught that higher education should only be used to obtain a job to cover the necessities and that filmmaking was an could be an immoral profession. Now I'm stuck with a career I hate. And its too late :(

* The idea that the Governing Body is fallible but MUST NOT be questioned is something that never sat well with me. It is a classic case of having your cake and eating it too.

That same site introduced me to Crisis of Conscience. I am halfway through the book now. But what I have already read is enough.

However, I am in a tough spot. My wife is of course a witness and we have a 3 yo daughter. She has had dobuts herself and stopped attending meetings for awhile. But I still don't know how to approach this. I love my family and don't want to see it fall apart (though, honestly, I don't think she'll leave me over this - but one can never tell). I'm going through a bit of a crisis. I'm 30. Finding out that everything you have been taught - that the organization that has been controlling every aspect of your life - is a sham is quite a shock. Even though I had my doubts, I could have never guessed it was this bad... all the failed prophecies, Beth Sarim, Russell and the pyramids, the Malawi/Mexico double standard, the fact that no outside source indicates Jerusalemm was destroyed in 607 BC, the UN scandal, and the real reason we stopped selling literature... . In a word...WOW.

rogue74

oops.. never mind

got my forty homey?

Formatting or not I enjoyed your post very much Roque, sounds like many of our stories, including mine, but I ran for my life at eighteen after being raised in the SS.

trumangirl

Rogue, I hope it works out and your family stays together. If you haven't stopped attending meetings yet, do so, and your wife will probably guess that you want to quit. Let her ask you the questions in her own time. Just give her bits of info, start with 1914, don't say too much at once or you might freak her out. And remember you don't have to give up belief in God, Jesus or the Bible, just let your faith train cruise for a while. You can now concentrate on teaching your child good qualities by example and feel relief that you won't have to drag her up in the JW "cultivation" process like we were. Best wishes,

trumangirl.

pamkw

My mother's favorite daughter, the stauch, holier than thou jw, is starting to have doubts. She suffers from depression and mood swings. the elders have told her that missing meetings is a sin. And later and elder told her that not being prepared for the meetings is a sin. So the other day an elder asked her why she wasn't at the meetings she said she really didn't feel good and she wasn't prepared, and since both missing and not being prepared were sins what difference did it make if she was there are not, she was sinning either way. I guess the elder didn't have much to say to that. So my sister is starting to wonder why she is trying since she can't seem to do anything right anyway. I was soo glad when I heard that, because it means she is finally starting to think just a little for herself. And she is getting tired of the guilt. this is a tiny crack, but who knows where it might lead in a few years. I hope for her daughter's sake it leads to something good. Pam

DaCheech

Rogue, I've been dedating a bunch of JW's on a discussion board about the same issues you have

read my posts on: http://www.profindpages.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard//forums.cgi?forum=13

JW's prevented me from going to college in the early 80's. These blind geeks (borg, kronies, rank & file, etc)

still do not remember how things used to be!!! It is just amazing how brainwashed they are.

Just because you can do something today, "we" were prevented from doing it then & we never got an apology!!!!

Good luck, & peace

Unfortunately I am still a MS, but am coasting it!!

Roddy

In 1995 when the WTS decided that the generation of 1914 was something fluid rather than something exact. They went from people who are aware of what's happening in 1914, to children who are aware, to infants born. Then all bets are off!

That's when I knew something was wrong. God's self proclaimed appointed channel DOESN'T KNOW!

glitter

I didn't believe being a JW meant you were good - so many JWs were Bad Associations (decided by myself - I wanted to be *good*, the "good JW" elder's kids who got up to all sorts my Worldly friends didn't etc), and my Worldy friends might have swore and celebrated Christmas, but they were good kids, and they didn't think that no matter what they did they were still better than other people. I thought this when I was very very small - I used to hope that Armageddon came while I was having a sleepover so my friends could come to the KH with us!

Some JWs who were *truly* wonderful people helped us out when we were homeless - many of them were since disfellowshipped or disassociated. The mother of a girl I used to play with was disfellowshipped for remarrying because her bastard of a husband wouldn't admit he'd cheated on her even though he was still with (officially by then) the Pioneer he'd been screwing behind her back. That showed me that *good* people left, and perhaps there were more reasons to be kicked out that just for being Evil.

Time away from meetings truly broke the spell and it all seemed more and more ridiculous, but Panorama still knocked me sideways... :(

What first gave you doubts ?

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