Which came first for you? Watchtower illegitimacy, or a compelling alternative?

by Fernando 33 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  blond-moment

  Illegitimacy. I too had the 1975 issue, having lived thru that myself.

  Altho for years I thought there was something wrong with me, and that's why I couldn't get it. It was "the truth" therefore it I was the broken one. I finally sat down with a local sister to "get it" once and for all, get off the fence. What did it for me, was nothing could be clarified with the bible alone. The fact that she too could not answer my questions with the bible alone, started my wake up. By the time the CO came to town, I was pretty much awake, and he just was more ice water, waking me up even further. He too, couldn't use just the bible, he used the power play of machine gun firing scriptures that had nothing to do with our discussion, then pulling the "well then, you don't know everything" routine to gain control. Too bad for him, I saw right thru it. At least I am off the fence haha.

  I really would like another crack at that CO haha, now that I am fully awake and more informed.
• 

  Giordano

  Eventually I realized that all religions were a lie because all were based on a delusion. As a child I was raised catholic then became a JW when my mother switched. As I got a bit older I came to understand that there was no 'truth', no god, no religion that mattered. I left with my wife when I was 23 but I had already 'left' before that. I think it was the banality of the whole witness thing. Those lolly pop colored books......gastly. The circular thinking, the witness new speak. Anyway that was decades ago. And no I didn't look for another religion. What I did look for and found was a great life for me and my family
• 

  Heaven

  For me it was both. My compelling alternative was the freedom to define and live my own life.
• 

  Jeffro

  Illegitimacy (of course!)

  Put simply, it just isn't true. The JW mindgame of Where would you go away to? is very easy to deconstruct when you realise that you aren't really anywhere special to start with.

  The 'compelling alternative' to believing a bunch of lies is not believing them. Anything beyond that is just icing on the cake.
• 

  00DAD

  When you see how easily the WT confuses the words "WHERE" and "WHOM" and how easily the majority of JWs miss this conflation, you realize we're all just one small step away from "Overlapping Generations"
• 

  Jeffro

  When you see how easily the WT confuses the words "WHERE" and "WHOM" and how easily the majority of JWs miss this conflation, you realize we're all just one small step away from "Overlapping Generations"

  In fairness, I don't think JW literature ever actually says where instead of to whom, but informally the distinction is much less clear to JW members.
• 

  Witness My Fury

  But I'll remember to emphasise the point of "WHOM" over "where", next time I hear it quoted at me that is for sure.
• 

  Wishididntknow

  working on figuring it all out still
• 

  glenster

  Faith understood as such or not to the side, the Watchtower never had a com-
  pelling hold on me. When I first learned of it in my 30's, I already had a
  habit of going to the library and researching things. I immediately suspected
  the JWs leaders' dozen or so distinctive claims about a book poured
  over by thousands of liberals or conservatives or non-believers for centuries,
  and found the JWs leaders' claims were cooked up, not sincere faith, as suspected.
• 

  Chariklo

  Illegitimacy. And I'm not quite sure now of a compelling alternative...and do I really need one anyway?

  "The 'compelling alternative' to believing a bunch of lies is not believing them. Anything beyond that is just icing on the cake."

  Jeffro has it right.