Post;
I
remember the moment the first real crack in my faith happened as a
Jehovah's Witness.
I was sitting in the Kingdom Hall during the
Watchtower study where, as is common, the article was talking about how
the Israelites as a nation abandoned Jehovah.
"But
wait," I thought, "Having a nation represent him here on earth was part
of his plan. If they abandoned him, then his plan failed."
This thought spiraled into further epiphanies.
"Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. That plan failed too."
"Having a heavenly family where everyone worships him. That plan failed."
"Ridding the earth of wickedness during the flood. That failed."
"How
reliable is Jehovah? His plans never seem to go as intended. Will his
plan of Paradise even work? What about his 'earthy organization?'"
These
were some doubts purely from a theological perspective as I had already
had a few from a scientific one. Watchtower always said to research in
their publications when you had doubts, but as these doubts grew and
splintered into new ones, I was finding the publications just didn't
have the answers.
When someone is
truly honest with themselves, they don't continually try to prove to
themselves that something is true when they have already verified it is
false. Watchtower actually asks JWs to do this.
"Strengthening
one's faith" and "waiting on Jehovah" are both examples. The former is
asking JWs to only look at evidence or circumstances that point to
Jehovah actually existing along with his grand plan for humanity.
The
latter, waiting on Jehovah, is asking JWs to ignore their doubts and
wait when strengthening their faith doesn't work.
And
this is why apostates are so "dangerous."
When JWs find that Watchtower
doesn't have all the answers, we are here to say, "You are not crazy
for thinking this way. I had that doubt too."
Our only threat to
Watchtower is simply validating the thoughts that current Witnesses
already have.
When I first found this sub, I wasn't flooded with new
information to take away my faith.
I was simply told I was not crazy for
thinking the way I did, and that went a long way in helping me to be
mentally free.
Watchtower has it wrong.
Most doubts aren't created by apostates. They are created in a Kingdom Hall.
