Hello again friends!
Well it was time again for me to take my weekly dose of apostate faeces and see what it tastes like. Decided to check out Randy Watters this time (we all love him here) and his little testimony on freeminds.org, titled "What Happened at Bethel in 1980? By Randall Watters". It's a realaudio clip, so I turned up the speakers, grabbed a beer and made myself comfortable.
What I heard astonished me. Oh, not in a way you would have wanted. I was expecting some great revelations about secret governing body stuff and a view of things what goes on behind the doors of Bethel, but instead he manages to make such a fool of himself during the first 10 minutes, I just went "blah blah blaaa bleh blah bleeh" and hit the little X on my browser.
If Randy hopes to de-convert Witnesses with his little voice, he better have a different approach. I mean.. wake up and smell the maple-nut crunch!!! Look at this stuff:
(Extracts from the realaudio clip in quotes)
"Randy severed as a pioneer - - worked at bethel for nearly six years"
Ok at this point I was thinking he knows his stuff, and I'm in for a big treat.
Randy speaks:
"I always managed to keep a pretty good record"
"I was a bethel elder in good standing"
Still, I had no reason to doubt this. Why would the guy be lying?
"I was not stumbled by the actions of men."
"I really left Bethel because I came to realize they were teaching false doctrines."
Ok, this is nothing new. What kind of false doctrines? Randy let's us know:
"I remember myself and three other elders ...in the car we got into a discussion about Romans chapter 3, especially verses 27 and 28, where it speaks about Christians as being saved by their faith in Jesus Christ, and not in any works that they can do on their own"
"And we got into a discussion how the society has a number of rules that you have to follow"
This was where I snorted the first time. The old "believe-in-Jesus-do-nothing". What is he, a Pentecostal now? Any Witness knows what Jesus said about OBEYING the son, in John 3:36. You cannot obey, if there are no works. It's unbelievable and very unlikely that three Bethel elders in good standing, after a lifetime of being in the Truth, would suddenly extract Romans chapter 3 out of the Bible and forget about everything else written. Didn't these guys ever read James??? They skipped the book entirely? The Bible is suddenly all Romans now?
(James 2:29-20)
"You believe there is one God, do you? You are doing quite well. And yet the demons believe and shudder. But do you care to know, O empty man, that faith apart from works is inactive?"
I can't believe they would have missed this. So at this point I was thinking Randy must be lying about his whole life, OR, by some miracle, three elders suddenly got tired of believing in the Bible and decided to make their own little comfortable religion. I know this occurs in the world a lot, all Jesus-only sects are based on it.
So I continue listening. How he goes on makes me laugh and shake my head.
"For instance a witness cannot take a blood transfusion"
Well duh. I wonder why? Acts 15:20 "Abstain - - from blood"
"they cannot smoke"
And that's Randy's big problem? Serious false doctrines we have here folks! I suppose Randy felt he needed to pollute his body (which he received as a gift from God). I can't believe he lists these things as great flaws in the religion. 2.Cor 7:1 "let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh". Did smoking cause cancer, anyone? What are the statistics?
"they cannot vote"
John 17:16: "They are no part of the world, just as I [Jesus] am no part of the world."
"they cannot get involved in the armed services"
So not only does Randy want to allow smoking, voting and believe in Jesus only, he now thinks war is cool too. Luke 6:27, 28: "I [Jesus Christ] say to you who are listening, Continue to love your enemies, to do good to those hating you, to bless those cursing you, to pray for those who are insulting you."
"they can't celebrate holidays or birthdays"
Correct me if I'm wrong Randy, but doesn't about 98% of all holidays and celebrations these days have pagan roots? Do you celebrate christmas now that you're free of the Watchtower's chains? Thousand-to-one says you do. Eph. 5:10, 11: "Keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord; and quit sharing with them in the unfruitful works that belong to the darkness, but, rather, even be reproving them." (which is what I'm doing now)
"they can't salute any flag"
What do you call standing up in front of a piece of cloth, lifting your hands up in front of it, paying respect to it? Respect that belongs to - not a rag - but a real Person? 1 Cor. 10:14: "Flee from idolatry." Luke 4:8: "In reply Jesus said to him: 'It is written, "It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service."'"
"and on the other hand there's quite a few things they have to do"
Oh my.. God expects me to do something for my salvation? Oh no.. sorry, it was the organization who require it, not God, of course. Silly me.
"they must go door to door"
I must be crazy, but I remember Jesus saying "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." I also remember him instructing: "Go . . . and make disciples of people of all the nations."-Matt. 24:14; 28:19. What did he say about going to people's homes with the good news? See Matt. 10:7, 11-13 for that one Randy.
See it's ridiculous.. I've been in the Truth for only a year or so, and I'm teaching a former "Bethel elder"!
"they must preach what they consider the gospel"
I refer to my last comment. And I consider the gospel the "good news of the Kingdom", which, I recall, Jesus did too!
"and they tell you that you have to go to meetings"
But in Randy's religion men get to sit at home and drink beer and smoke, and they go to heaven for that. Who could resist joining? I gotta hand it to him, he's got a tempting concept! Hebr. 10:24, 25 "And let us consider one another to incite to love and fine works, not forsaking the gathering of ourselves together, as *some* have the custom"
I got this far, felt my faith had been (again) strengthened enough, and turned off his pathetic whining. He should have taken the "stumbled by the actions of men" -route, when he could have come up with something like "all the governing body members were gay and molested me" or SOMETHING that might have disturbed the occasional listening "jdub" but no, he clearly showed in just over 5 minutes how he has no faith in God, no respect for His word the Bible, no hope, no reason, no logic.
The percentage of Witnesses that fall for that has got to be close to zero.. because as I see it, we're mostly Bible-literate.
Bad try Randall. Hope you don't mind me saying this, but you are quite sad. I would recommend "What Happened at Bethel in 1980" to any Witness suffering from depression or the occasional weakened faith.
(You are free to print this review in your publication "the Free Minds Journal". No rights reserved!)
