Dear Humble,
Thank-you for your thoughts.I have no doubt that many people become
Jehovahs Witnesses due to good motives.I know many. Likewise,many
people leave the WT with good motives. You fall into a trap when you
feel forced to believe that there can only be bad motivation for a
person making a decision to leave an organization.
I believe the Bible is the Word of God.I`ve been reading it
daily for nearly 30 years.However, there is no need to be connected
to a `visible` organization in order to study the Bible or have a
relationship with God. No doubt you studied the red `Paradise`book
which was used before the Knowledge book.You probably remember the
reference to the Ethiopian eunich.The book makes of point of the
fact that he said `If no one teaches me, how can I know`.It goes on
to make that a platform for the reasoning that we need to be connected
to an organization in order to have accurate knowledge.Have you ever
thought through that parallel? Have you ever asked the question,`what
happened to the eunich after that meeting?`.Have you ever wondered
why he went `on his way back to Ethiopia?` Have you ever stopped to
think that back in Ethiopia there was no Christian congregation at
that time.He was on his own.
Or, have you ever wondered why the Apostle Paul made such a point of
saying that No man taught him, in the book of Galatians? Have you ever
wondered why Paul didn`t report to the supposed `Governing Body` in
Jerusalem after his conversion,but rather went into the desert for 3
years? Or why he operated out of Antioch and the only time he went to Jerusalem was to CORRECT THEIR THEOLOGY.
The overwhelming emphasis in the Bible is a personal realtionship with God through Christ.Salavation is an individual experience as is
judgement. No where in the scriptures dealing of those two subjects
is an issue made of involvement with some group. If you had studied
the Bible BEFORE becoming a JW, you likely would never have even
thought of the concept of `God`s Organization`.Simply because it
isn`t in the Bible.
One thing I`ve noticed about the idea of being the `One True Organi-
zation is that it is nearly impossible to maintain that position of
ultimate authority.It is in the attempt to maintain that unique position that the WT is the most off base.Let me introduce 4 ideas
regarding `being right`.
1) All religious groups believe they are RIGHT.
2) Most religious groups believe they are MORE RIGHT than other groups
3) Some religious groups believe that they are THE MOST RIGHT group.
These first three ideas are common in many religious groups.It`s the
fourth step which creates problems and pain.
4) A few religious groups believe that that they are the ONLY RIGHT
group.
In order to maintain the position of ONLY RIGHT a group has to get
rid of all competition.It also has to present an unrealistic picture
of the nature of themselves. That pretty much summerizes the contents
of the WT publications. Articles constantly criticize other religious
groups and are forever trumpeting how glorious the WT organization is. The problem is anyone who has been inside for a while knows it`s
not as wonderful as it`s presented to be.Likewise,anyone who has some
association with people from other religious groups realizes that there are very nice, very sincere people in most religious groups.
Really nasty people generally don`t go in for religion in the first
place.
As far as Japanese JWs, overall they don`t have a very good grasp of
the Bible.The average member of most local Christian churches has as
good or better a knowledge of the Bible. The `herd instinct` plays in
heavily in many people`s motivation for joining the WT. Lonely people
want friends. The WT offers instant friendship. The content of the
teaching with a heavy emphasis on guilt,obligation and fear plays
quite well in the culture here as well.
I`m a bit curious about your name `Humble` as well. Isn`t it better
to be called humble by others rather than naming yourself that way?
Just a thought.
JWD
