I was raised as a JW by my JW parents and being a JW never felt right to me. I always felt like I was wearing someone else's ill-fitting clothes or something. Anyway, when I was in 10th grade, I was in a class in which we were learning about cultural archetypes. Suddenly it hit me that religious beliefs were like that. I remember being shocked and thinking that every religion I knew anything at all about seemed to serve the same set of purposes for its believers: explaining the world around them; giving them a set of rules to live by; helping them feel less afraid of death; and giving them the sense of an conscious being greater than themselves. The rest of the stuff (e.g., discomfort with the subservient role of women, dislike of the restrictions and responsibilities, etc.) developed later.
AHA! Moments. When you were a JW; what struck you the hardest counter?
by Terry 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Sassy
I never had one.. not when I was a JW.. if someone brought something up I didn't have a good explaination for, I assumed someone else did.. so I just let it slide and forgot about it. I blindly believed without a shadow of doubt. So sad to realize it now..
I didn't even allow myself to realize there was room for doubts until after I had already quit for personal reasons.
-
Corvin
I gave myself my own "aha!" moment. It was more of a "duh!" moment, really. I was dealing with how the PO was deal with the domestic violence, alcoholism and abuse in the home of my JW ex-wife and her current JW husband. The PO and other elders were not dealing effectively with the situation and the kids were suffering terribly as a result.
I found my voice for the sake of my kids and stood my ground enough to point out to the elders what morons they were, and how they were not applying anything near the spirit of Bible-based priniciples to the chronic domestic and spiritual problems my ex-wife and husband were having. The PO told me that he was "handling things" and needed to do more research about "step-family situations". I blew a fuse and told him he was not dealing with a "step-family situation", that he was dealing with "lack of self-control, alcoholism, abusive speech, anger, domestic violence, CPS, the police, attempted suicide and reproach upon Jehovah's name . . .". I told him that I was df'd, had very little of what he would call "jehovah's holy spirit" and was living in a "step-family situation" where all of the afore mentioned problems DID NOT exist. I then told him that he was an ignorant moron and should step-down from his position because of being a complete failure. That's when it hit me. "Duh, they are all
like that and it is all bullshit, and they will literally watch my kids, one by one, slit their own wrists to escape their pain because they are not really "equipped for every good work", and would never admit it and seek real help for them.
I took a good long look at all the lies told by so many JW's I had known my entire life and compared that EXPERIENCE with the organization that claims to have "The Truth" . I first reasoned that it was merely a matter of some being in the truth but the truth not being in them . . . boy what a bad call that was. It finally occurred to me that it was all based on lies and false predictions, money and control.
-
XQsThaiPoes
We fight this bible study for like 3 months convincing him jesus was micheal the AA. He was just about to crack. Then the wt prints the article "who is Michael the arch angel?" which says Jesus may not be Michael it is not in the bible, but reasonable people will believe it anyway. That was all the leverage he needed not to believe. The study was over it begain to decay from that point on. I was pissed. We almost had the guy and they decide to inject some softer light.
-
seattleniceguy
I was a good debater. I knew my doctrine, and I knew the Bible. And I was pretty tactful, so I enjoyed a "good conversation" at the door because I could usually come out on top. This was especially the case if the householder accepted the Bible.
But I always dreaded the intelligent, informed people who did not believe the Bible and could illustrate why plainly. Talking to those people really did feel like getting the wind knocked out of you.
I remember calling on a guy named Patrick. He was a couple years older than me, and looked like the kind of person I imagined I'd be if I weren't a Witness. I can remember trying to explain the issue of universal sovereignty as it related to the issues raised in Eden to him. He just listened with a kind of smile that said, "Can this guy possibly believe this fairy tale?" And I started slipping up telling the story. I consistently called the fruit on the tree "an apple," and then corrected myself. It was like my subconscious was trying to emphasize the storybook nature of this account.
Patrick had solid arguments and books to back him up. I came back to visit Patrick one or two times, but I remember how I dreaded it. I knew that if I were to allow myself to consider what he had to say, I would be easily defeated.
I didn't leave the organization right away after that, but this experience helped me along the path.
SNG
-
eljefe
I began to ask questions about the WT and JW's in general. Everyone I talked to said that we had to "wait on Jehovah" or that was "a perfect organization run by imperfect men". Everyone I spoke to ended their converstation with this or it was the crux of their argument. Then I realized, you could use that logic for any religion and come to the same conclusion. Their logic was highly specious yet they based their entire life on it.
-
shamus
I just remember that the talks were the same old thing, same old thing, no, no, you musn't tire of them... keep paying attention... heaping guilt upon guilt... finally when I became sick physically and emotionally, I knew that something was wrong, wrong, wrong. I seeked out help for my depression, and common sense took over once I got that haze out of my head.
I would have to say the one thing that really clicked for me was this Sunday talk about personal hygene. It was literally a waste of 1 hour. It was the most stupidest, ignorant, dumbass talk I had ever heard.
When I left I was quite pissed off, and thought that something was seriously wrong with the way I was living my life.
-
DanTheMan
The study was over it begain to decay from that point on. I was pissed. We almost had the guy and they decide to inject some softer light.
XQ's, the cynicism of your post is mind-boggling.
-
frankiespeakin
There were lots of things that started me down the road off doubt. One was, I knew the WT lied about 1914 but somehow just figured they were embarassed and were covering up, so as not to stumble anyone, still didn't put it together. I had bible studies and would go over the Live Forever book and find that the arguments were very one sided but still beleived it was the troof, oftened wished that i could regain my zeal for the troof and put aside all these nagging doubts,, more and more meeting became a burden,,I stepped down as an elder because I no longer felt like going to those stupid elder meetings,,most of the elders I didn't like,,I had had a hard time with all the praise people would give the organization,,I stopped studing the WT with my wife because I alway had bad comments to the questions as I was starting to come out of the fog,,my wife would get upset at my remarks that made the writers look like a bunch of phonies,,still I beleived it was the troof.
Finally it all came together in my head and I was out of the org with a bang. So I guess I hadf alot of AHA! moments and finally one big gigantic one that i"m still reeling from.
-
FlyingHighNow
Things that made me go hmmmm:
Being told my baby would get a resurrection if it breathed the breath of life. I did research in the Aid book and found that according to WT teachings we all get the breath of life indirectly through our parents from Adam. It was a stupid thing for someone to say to try to "encourage" me when I had an RH negative problematic pregnancy.
As time wore on in my JW career, it got harder and harder to swallow that children would die at Armegeddon.
I got tired of the "probably you may be saved" teaching and all the fear it caused me.
The love true christians have among themselves. Where was it? In my last congo it was practically non existent.
I also didn't quite buy the "no matter how good and sincere a person is they won't make it if they don't accept the WTBTS teachings."
I think the biggest thing for me though was watching several mentally ill people get dfd. I also didn't like how the sick were treated. This was especially so when my only family was plagued with illness likely caused by the stress of being jws.
Of course I wondered how someone from the governing body could end up "apostate". That and all the other Bethelites who were kicked out at that time. When I accidently stumbled upon a website about Ray Franz and others like him in 1999, I couldn't help but read it. I had been inactive for 8 years at that time. I began to look more at the net in 2001. I think I even hit this site a few times. I ordered C or C and that convinced me all my doubts were true.
So here I am today. I'm shunned but not dfd or da'd officially. Oh well. That's the way the proverbial cookie crumbles I suppose.
Flyin'