oops.. never mind
rogue74
JoinedPosts by rogue74
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63
What first gave you doubts ?
by rick1199 inwe all know the big problems with the wts, but what was the first thing that made you realise there were problems with the organisation ?
with me it was realitivly small stuff like an 8 year old getting baptised and a comment my best mates made about another of our friends asking if we should be hanging round with her as she might be bad assciation (she had just been reproved, but they had been mates 20 years).. .
how ever the first time i ever thought something was really wrong was when i was about 11 and my grand farther died, and mu mum wouldn't go to the funeral, i remeber thinking that surely it was better to say good bye properly than worry about if the service was in a church.. .
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63
What first gave you doubts ?
by rick1199 inwe all know the big problems with the wts, but what was the first thing that made you realise there were problems with the organisation ?
with me it was realitivly small stuff like an 8 year old getting baptised and a comment my best mates made about another of our friends asking if we should be hanging round with her as she might be bad assciation (she had just been reproved, but they had been mates 20 years).. .
how ever the first time i ever thought something was really wrong was when i was about 11 and my grand farther died, and mu mum wouldn't go to the funeral, i remeber thinking that surely it was better to say good bye properly than worry about if the service was in a church.. .
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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.