I can't recall the first time that I observed hypocrisy within the religion but I repeatedly observed hypocrisy.
I will say that in the congregation that I attended, higher education was discouraged. The reasoning was that higher education would result in an individual devoting less time to Jehovah. However, the congregation had individuals who were Licensed Teachers, Nurses, School Principals, School Assistant Principals, Accountants, Financers and the list goes on. These individuals were proud of their careers. You could tell because they often spoke of the work that they did with pride. There were also individuals in the congregation who were pursuing higher education.
I questioned myself as to who they were to discourage others from getting a higher education when they themselves had obtained a higher education or were actively working an advanced degree such as a graduate degree.
My Bible Study Conductor graduated from graduate school and now works in the field that she studied. She has been working within her current title for 15 years and earns over $90,000 annually. I once asked her as to how she was able to attend graduate school and she got offended by my question. However, I did not ask the question in order to offend her or anyone.
Her response was that if she had to do things over again, she would not have attended school at all. She stated that school was a complete waste of time. The way that I viewed it was, if she really felt that way, then she should have just quit her job. However, I did not tell her this. I quickly learned that I was supposed to listen, take in the information, not question the information and remain quiet.
It shocked me that those individuals who had a dream and got to live out their dreams were now discouraging others from pursuing their dreams. I felt that they had no right.
Another hypocrisy that I saw was two sisters talking about Catholic Priests being investigated for child sex abuse. I do believe that child sex abuse has occurred within the Catholic Church. However, I also believe that child sex abuse has also occurred within the Jehovah Witness religion.
Jehovah Witnesses are not allowed to read anything negative about their religion. If they want any information about their religion, they can only search for information on JW.Org. However, they are allowed to read negative things about other religions and they spend a considerable amount of time criticizing other religions.
One time, the congregation that I belonged to had a gathering at a park. One of the sisters was in charge of setting aside tables for when the members of the congregation arrived. I was with her. The sister approached a mother who was at the park. The mother was there setting up for her daughter's birthday. The sister asked the mother if she could take one of the tables and the mother said yes.
While the mother was celebrating her daughter's birthday, the sister kept approaching the mother and asking her for food and cake.
