by minimus 43 Replies latest jw friends
Ahh. Missed this part of the question: Would you say that the Information Highway is the vehicle that got you on the road to freedom of mind control?
Most definitely. Within days of my very first google search (I googled 'Jehovah') as I was a walk-away believer, I was in the fast lane of breaking free from the mind control.
-Aude.
My wife got on the internet about two years before I would look.
Both of us were having serious questions re: the UN scandal, but she found Robert King, the Watchman, and she told me, "There's someone on the net that believes the same way as we do".
(That was when we thought the WT was still God's mouthpiece, which we now know and believe that it never was.
I did not get on the internet until AFTER I quit going to the KH in June 05.
JWD has been a godsend for us.
Brant and Karen
The WTS tries to tell it's members that going on-line will cause you to think "un-clean thoughts" and it's best to avoid it altogether. I think it's funny since it wasn't the internet that caused me to doubt, it was my doubt that caused me to go on the internet. The internet confirmed that I wasn't a psycho satanic lunatic for thinking these thoughts. The internet made me feel like I was an intelligent, reasonable person. And you know what? I am-
I'd known for a long time that some of what the WTS taught was really questionable. It was science that proved to me that the WTS was full of nonsense.
In the mid-1990s, while listening to NPR, I heard a couple of stories that I knew would either restore my faith or completely destroy my belief in a literal understanding of the Bible.
The stories had to do with animal bones tens of thousands of years old with tooth marks on them, ancient animals found in tar pits with other animals in their stomachs, and ice core drillings in the four major ice fields that could be read like tree rings, and that went back 140,000 years.
If true, these findings combined would prove that the Bible creation account was just a myth and that there had never been a worldwide flood. With the 1914 Generation change in 1994-95, I went to the library and researched these questions on the Internet, then I went home and read Genesis 1-24. Reading the Bible simply verified what my research had proven to me - Genesis is myth.
No Genesis + no Adam and Eve + no Noah and the Flood = No need for Jesus + no need for the ransom + Bible is not infallible?+ no need for Christianity. The teachings of the WTS collapsed like a house of cards in a matter of hours.
The Internet, and specifically, at first, TalkOrigins, Doc Bob's ex-JW website, Alan Feuerbacher's writings and Randy Watter's site helped me see that I was not alone in questioning many of the things I'd been taught by the Witnesses. It wasn't pride in my own intelligence that was misleading me, it was reasoning and science that showed the WTS was not the true religion.
S4
I was online long before I left... I actually met my DH on aol back in 1998 in the days of searching the member directory :) But I never looked up anything JW related until early 2004 or maybe late 03. I had doubt long before, but I'm not sure I had articulated them or come to terms with them before that... I thought a doubt showed my weakness of faith, you know?
I remember the first time I came across apostate information (I sought it out) and being shocked that apostate information was just logical discussion of doctrine. Scriptures, watchtower info, etc. Nothing "big and bad" as I had anticipated. I don't preach to JW's but I do try to slip in a little plug for apostates when I am given the chance by just commenting on how surprised I was to find out that apostate information was nothing more than a rational discussion of bible and doctrine and that if it is the truth, it should be able to stand up to that without a problem.
In retrospect, what else could it have been that could really change and shake someone's faith? At t he time it was just really shocking though.
I remember the first time I came across apostate information (I sought it out) and being shocked that apostate information was just logical discussion of doctrine. Scriptures, watchtower info, etc. Nothing "big and bad" as I had anticipated. I don't preach to JW's but I do try to slip in a little plug for apostates when I am given the chance by just commenting on how surprised I was to find out that apostate information was nothing more than a rational discussion of bible and doctrine and that if it is the truth, it should be able to stand up to that without a problem.
That's such a good point and so true.
I remember as a JW thinking that looking at apostate stuff meant I was going to be haunted with bad dreams and pretty much be afflicted with leprosy because the "stuff" was so bad.
Now I get that way when I read an Awake magazine
My sister told me she was now partaking of the Bread and wine at Christ's memorial. I was still in WT indoctrination: I thought it was the same as eating FORBIDDEN FRUIT! It wasn't until I prayerfully studied the saying of Christ that I realized partaking is an act of OBEDIENCE and proof one listens to THE WORD of GOD, the words of Christ. - - - - - - John 6:54"He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day. "----------------------compare (John 6:53)-"Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have NO LIFE in yourselves." In other words, the ones not doing so is SPIRITUALLY DEAD.. . . . . . . . .So, the more I studied, the fear of not listening to Watchtower doctrine evaporated and because I chose to listen to Christ instead. NOW I WAS FREE from the WATCHTOWER DOCTRINE, NOW FREE IN CHRIST! There is NO FEAR IN LOVE. Jesus said, I AM THE TRUTH! ( John 14:6 ) IF one is in the TRUTH they are IN CHRIST. One cannot serve two masters. One is either IN THE JW ORG or WATCHTOWER TEACHINGS or IN CHRIST, THE TEACHINGS OF THE WORD OF GOD. After I knew the difference, I began searching on the internet for others like me. There are so many out there who, after making careful examination, have left their church and truly began to follow Christ. I found former JW's, Former MORMONS, former Catholics, Seventh DAY, ...the list goes on. WE will be judged by who we follow, that is, who's words we choose to LISTEN.
Hello again, I have a web site, a MEETUP, site for those who leave organized religion. In it I invite anyone to discuss Bible doctrine in my message page. It is open to the public. Few know about it. I prepared it for the time when Jehovah's Witnesses in my local area will finally get their eyes open and then search for others who also have left the Watchtower doctrines. I know that when my eyes were open, I felt like a rug was pulled out from under me and only God's hand held me up. Anyone know that feeling? I'm sure you do. Here is the web address of my meetup. . . . . . .. . . . . . . http://biblestudy.meetup.com/192/
I knew these guys were goons long before the internet.... I never felt crazy, just knew they were.
The internet, just gave me some folks to talk too about it....
Oh. I forgot... I don't thik the internet as invented yet when I had these guys pegged.
