If you're comfortable in your complacency regarding the WTBTS, then I would suggest that you do not read the book. It can really make, all the difference in how it is you view the organisation and the society as a whole. You'll never look at the society same way again.
Will reading CoC automatically make me want to leave WTS?
by ljwtiamb 92 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
Noumenon
COC is ok but it's a bit passe because nearly all of what it says can be found on heaps of anti-JW websites. If you are just looking to have your faith in the org blown out of the water so you have the perfect excuse to go off and do all those immoral anti-Christian things you've always wanted to do then it'll do that for you. For me, In Search of Christian Freedom is much better. Ray goes further for a person who still has faith in God and Christ but is lost and floundering in the big scary world they find themselves in after coming out for under the 'mother' org's skirts. He gently shows a Christian who has left the org how they can still be a Christian without the org.
Make sure you read In Search of Christian Freedom also.
-
ljwtiamb
Thanks Dude!
I am just wondering how many (if any) JWs have actually read the book and come out unscathed?
-
AlanF
Reading the book should make you want to quit, but if you already know a lot of "Bethel dirt" and it doesn't bother you, then reading the book might have little effect on you.
Frankly, I can't understand how anyone with a lick of sense or conscience or integrity can stay at Bethel more than a couple of years, or having been there, think that the JWs are anything but a nasty cult.
Take the late Arthur Worsley, for instance. Shortly before he died in the early 1990s, he admitted to a Bethel researcher that he told lies in court at the Olin Moyle trial around 1941 or so. He lied and said that Rutherford was a nice guy and never did any of the nasty things that Moyle accused him of. Why did he lie? Because he had nowhere else to go if Rutherford kicked him out of Bethel. There were a number of other prominent Bethelites who lied in the same way. What kind of mentality do these people have, who will tell blatant lies despite claiming to worship the God of Truth. What kind of religion produces such people? The answer: a nasty cult.
AlanF
-
FairMind
I've seen the failings, flaws and weaknesses of this org, personally and in detail. Still, I see lots of good within.
I am also an active member (somewhat). I read CoC well over a year ago and what it did is open my eyes to reality. The WTS is a man-made organization. Yes, there is good despite the flaws but to be fair you can say that about most charitable or religious organizations. You owe it to yourself to read CoC. I would also recommend you read a book entitled Captives of a Concept by Don Cameron. Don Camerons book does a great job of untying the false illusion the WTS has created regarding the identity of the Faithful and Discreet Slave.
-
Soledad
I'll be the first to tell you, no, it won't automatically make you want to leave BUT it will make a huge impact on your life
after 7 years I still haven't read the whole book. the decision to leave came only after I realized that I was so miserable I had to do something or I'd die. The small portions of the book that I read only confirmed what I intuitively knew about the WTS but couldn't prove or really "put a finger" on.
-
ljwtiamb
I appreciate your comments, but I feel that you are displaying the same kind of prejudices that you accuse WTS of.
You are assuming that I don't have 'a lick of sense or conscience or integrity'. I am at least willing to consider another's viewpoint.
The things you describe exist in every organization that I have associated with religious, educational and secular. Even the entire bible is full of examples of such behavior from God's own chosen people.
It's just interesting that history likes to constantly repeat itself. Any phoenix that arises from the ashes eventually becomes an evil destroyer, just like its predecessors.
-
ljwtiamb
Thanks FairMind:
You are living up to your name.
-
GetBusyLiving
Dude, don't get upset. Just read the book. When you read the book.. you'll understand why everyone has such a strong opinion of it.
GBL
-
Honesty
I am just wondering how many (if any) JWs have actually read the book and come out unscathed?
What do you mean by 'unscathed'?
I left the cult because I started reading the bible without using the 'meat in due season' they publish and realised what a lie the WTBTS is when compared to real truth in God's word. The harm is not caused by reading C of C or In search of Christian Freedom. It is caused by the False Prophets of the Watch Tower Society. C of C and In Search of Christian Freedom helped me assuage the emotional problems I encountered due to leaving behind family and friends because I couldn't conscientously continue preaching lies to my neighbors and 'worldly' relatives.