Why do ex-JWs try so hard to uncover WTS dirt?

by Lady Lee 38 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Lady Lee

  Far too many times I have heard the accusation that all x-JWs want to do is tear down the WTS. We scrounge around digging up every piece of information that we can that will put the WTS in a bad light. Well so they tell us. "They" being those who seek to defend the WTS and forget the past because ... well it is the past and there is so much "new light"

  When I started learning about the real WTS, the one that JWs don't know about, I never would have dreamed of the corruption, misrepresentation, lies, cover-ups, rewriting of history and on and on.

  So what interests me about finding out the real truth.

  For the sake of any JWs reading this I will make a few quotes.

  Prov. 22: 6 Train up a boy according to the way for him; even when he grows old he will not turn aside from it.

  1 Tim. 4:7 But turn down the false stories which violate what is holy and which old women tell. On the other hand, be training yourself with Godly devotionas your aim.

  1 Thess. 2:21-22 Make sure of all things' hold fast to what is fine, Abstain from every form of wickedness.

  Num. 23: 19 God is not a man that he should tell lies, Neither a son of mankind that he should feel regret. Has he himself said it and will he not do it, And has he spoken and will he not carry it out?

  God does not lie and he does not love liars. Hiding the truth is in effect a lie. God wants people to be sure of all things. And that means not taking a person's word for it but actually doing the work of checking out whether their words are true, "make sure of all things".

  I am convinced that the truth does not need to be hidden. I am convinced that the truth needs no defense. It can stand on its own. I could sit here and quote dozens of scriptures that say 'let your yes mean yes and your no mean no. Witnesses in fact go door to door and tell other people they need to make sure of all things. Well just because one believes they have found the truth doesn't mean they should sit back and stop checking to see if they are still on the right path.

  There are so many great researchers on this board. I admire and look up to all of them as they continue to seek out truth. And if that truth exonerates the WTS, good and if it doesn't then we need to really examine what we were taught.

  There is a common saying that those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. If my parents lied to me every day then I would learn that their "lie" is "truth". it is only if I test this "truth" that I can see that it is indeed a lie.

  I hate being lied to. My father was a compulsive liar. I learned young to never trust him. I remember sitting and listening to him lie to people and watch them as they fell into his trap and believed what he said. I have learned to not trust liars or those who take a bit of truth and embellish it or obscure it with half-truths. Once I catch a person in a lie, the trust is gone and I want to know what else have they lied about or what other information has been kept from me.

  Dr Phil is well known for saying "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior." I believe that knowing the real past of the WTS can provide us with an indication of where this organization is going.

  When I started looking into the WTS' past I certainly was not prepared for what I found. I trusted the WTS leadership to be honest, to tell the truth and to not lie or coverup the past. It is not good enough to say "That was the past. Forget it." As an abuse survivor I tried that and it just does not work. It doesn't work for people and it doesn't work for organizations. It certainly doesn't work for a religion that claims to be God's mouthpiece. God's organization should be open to examination. It should invite investigation and be found above reproach.

  If the leadership has lied about or covered up so many things that we have found out about then I really do have to wonder about the things that still have questions attached to them.

  What else has been hidden?

  I really think we are at a point (and have been for a very long time) that those who have left the WTS know far more about the WTS than the average JWs.

  Somehow that just doesn't seem right.
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  seesthesky

  dr phil - lol
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  Scully

  Maybe part of the psychological unravelling of the cult mentality involves seeing the leadership for who and what they truly are, rather than allowing them (in our mind's eye) to remain an untouchable, infallible, larger than life entity that has been placed on a pedestal to be worshipped.

  As a JW, how many of us believed that the Governing Body meetings were these prayerful sessions that were deeply steeped in poring over the Bible and the sole motivation was to do what was in the best interests of Jehovah's People™? That these mortal men were the epitome of Christian behaviour and examples in loving kindness and righteousness that deserved to be emulated?

  When you find out that they are nothing of the sort, and are motivated solely by revenue and statistics, it's natural to want to find out just how bad things are. It helps us rationalize our decision to quit, and gives us a moral high ground to justify that decision.

  It's like finding out that your family is part of the Mafia....
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  seesthesky

  someone said: "When you find out that they are nothing of the sort, and are motivated solely by revenue and statistics"
  
  ME: please provide evidence for this conclusion - tia
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  Scully

  someone said: "When you find out that they are nothing of the sort, and are motivated solely by revenue and statistics"
  
  
  
  

  They provide the evidence themselves, at every single meeting, at every single convention.

  Next time you go to a meeting or convention or circuit assembly, keep track of how many times they mention donating. Did you know that when the Accounts Report for the convention is announced, there always seems to be a huge deficit, and that is because they have not included money they have already received, thus falsely exaggerating the amount of the deficit? [I have a relative who worked in the Accounting Department who confirmed this "standard" practice at conventions.] Whenever there is a new publication, notice that the Contribution Boxes™ are placed within a few steps of the literature distribution points. Also, notice how important Field Service™ and Field Service Reports™ are in the scheme of things. Your "spirituality" and love of God is judged on the basis of your Field Service Report™: how much time you spend flogging WTS literature, how much WTS literature you Place™, how many Return Visits™ and Bible Studies™ you have. Does that sound like "spirituality" to you? Or is it more like a Sales Performance Review?
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  prophecor

  I really think we are at a point (and have been for a very long time) that those who have left the WTS know far more about the WTS than the average JWs.

  Hi Lady Lee. You know, I might not feel so bad, if it weren't for the fact that they will never admit that they were wrong. Wrong on so many things. Beth Sarim is a peice of WT history that stupifies me to this day. How they could use that property for the hoped for resurection of the prophets of old. I was astonished. My faith began to materialize massive cracks in it.

  The 3 / 5ths ruling for policy and proceedural changes. So many who were not entirely in agreement for some of the most intrusive pryings into the lives of the rank and file. It's tireing to think of the fear and terror that I lived with for so many years, waiting for a stray bullet or Jehovah to strike me down in his anger. And I wasn't even a witness. I lived with the fear of GOD coming to destroy me while I was in "the world".

  I still haven't totally gotten over the fear. I wonder, still, sometimes whether GOD'S got it out for me.
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  jillbedford

  Very interesting.

  There is a true relief in telling the truth, admitting you did wrong, asking for forgiveness and being free to move forward. Yes, there are still reprocussions, but it opens the door.
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  Confession

  It depends on what you mean by "dirt," Lady. Does dirt mean "factual evidence that the Watchtower Society is not what it claims to be?" Or is it "the opportunistic faultfinding and subjective opinions that always conclude that all Jehovah's Witnesses are always wrong, always stupid and always unloving?"

  I can only answer your question when "dirt" holds the first definition. My family has been involved with the JWs since the early 40s. I didn't figure out the real truth until I was 38 years old--just a little over a year ago. Coming to the conclusions I have was not easy, and just as my indoctrination took a long time, I imagine that my "decryption" will too.

  It has taken a good deal of study, and as I continue to learn more, I am emboldened that my decision to leave was the correct one--and I'm accumulating information that I may be able to use in the future when in the position to help other JWs come to learn the real truth.

  When "dirt" holds the second definition? Not positive, but I imagine those who do this need to feel that the organization (and those in it) are pretty much wholly wicked so that they may justify their own exit.
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  zugzwang

  I think we ex's are so efficient and effective at uncovering the flaws in the WTS because we were trained as Witnesses to uncover and point out the flaws in other religions. So it is only natural when we discover that the WTS is just a huge pile of lies that we would point that out. That is why the more "in" someone was (i.e. elder, Bethelite, CO, DO, GB member) the more "out" they become when the learn the truth about "the truth."
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  TallTexan

  As always, LadyLee, great post. Thoughtful question...

  I'm always willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt. However, the problem with the WTS is that they are not willing to give anyone a break. They constantly point out the wrongdoings of other religious organizations. They do not give their membership a fair break, and use their transgressions as a way to publicly humiliate and punish. They are the utmost in hypocrisy on any number of fronts.

  My biggest reason is that they usurp the position of Jesus Christ as the way to salvation. They teach that they are the channel to God. The salvation of the individual JW depends on blindly following rules set down by this organization. They expect their membership to be almost perfect, and while they pay lip service to their 'infallibility', they don't seriously give the impression that they are infallible. Because they are so hypocritical, so haughty and arrogant, they open themselves up to severe criticism.

  When you tell your followers and the world that if you don't do as they tell you then you will lose your salvation, you'd better be ready to back it up and be SQUEAKY CLEAN. If they were a little more humble, well, maybe they wouldn't be such a target then.