When you were a JW, did anyone ask you a question that caused you to doubt?

Victorian sky

No dotrinal question could shake me, but it was a personal one, out in service that started my initial doubts. A man asked me: 'Are you really happy?' I couldn't say, 'No, I'm miserable' but I thought it was a powerful question, anyone else asked something that really shook them?

merfi

One of my EMT buddies and I would go around and around about creation vs evolution. I, of course, HAD to be on the creation side lest I 'bring reproach' and falter in my expected beliefs. But I never truly, deeply believed the creationist view I was arguing. He always made some good points that I thought about a lot. During one conversation, we both agreed on Natural Selection (I always have, but thought that since it didn't come out and SAY "evolution", I was ok. ). He said "well that's evolution!" Verbalizing what was rattling around in my brain anyway. I carried this around for quite some time... one of the first doubts I had. The other doubts evolved from there. haha :)

~merfi

Dr Jekyll

I used to have a return visit that I managed to coax along to a PT. He was a Born Again Christian and on a RT after the PT he asked me "If Jesus was to return to earth where would he go to worship his father?" That got me thinking and I came to the conclusion he wouldn't go to a kingdom hall.

Finally-Free

I went to a door once and there was an older couple my wife and I were ~~speaking to~~ preaching at. At one point they suggested we read Crisis of Conscience, and I immediately became irritated and very unreasonable. I spent the rest of the day thinking about my conduct at the door, and wondering why something like that should provoke such a reaction in me. I wish I could remember the address - I'd like to go back and apologize to them.

W

KW13

It wasn't a question, more actions of others (especially stepdad) that made me realise...this can't be right. Why would Jehovah allow these things. Only later did i research stuff, such as 607.

lucifer

my brother used to, after he left the religion he would bring up scientific questions, about space and other things (can't remember exactly what they were it was a few years ago) but I would sit and think about them, but of course I would always fall back on him being an apostate blah blah blah trying to mislead me because thats what we were taught to do when someone questioned our belief system....stupid brainwashers grrr

mahju

I am still a JW - technically. Anyway, there is one thing that bothered me a couple of months ago. I was at the Watchtower study on a Sunday and, as usual, I hadn't prepared ahead of time. But I read along for the first paragraph and the first sentence began with the thought 'Joe is a servant of Jehovah that found that, in order to preserve his faith, he had to quit his job'. I am paraphrasing of course. That first paragraph bothered me. Why didn't he just study harder and strengthen his faith through prayer? As I followed along I saw something I had never seen before: The entire article was fear based. I couldn't believe it. I had never seen it before. But as long as people are poor and uneducated, they are easier to control. So of course, the article continued by discouraging college and lucrative jobs. WOW.

freedomlover

Mahju-

What-A-Coincidence

yep. my cousin asked me when I was studying!!! - "Do you really think the revelation prophecies really relate to the Org?"

Damm. I should have recognized it back then.

TheListener

Welcome Mahju.

I was watching a tv show that mentioned 587 BC for Jerusalem's fall. I laughed out loud and told my spouse how ridiculous that the tv show hadn't checked their facts. I couldn't believe how silly they were. To show my wife how easy it would be I checked the encylopedia and then on line. Oops.

haha. the joke was on me.

When you were a JW, did anyone ask you a question that caused you to doubt?

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