Why don't YOU believe anymore?

by Crumpet 31 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  metatron

  First, as I discovered in regard to child sexual abuse, the organization has no right to claim that they are

  a "Faithful and Discreet" slave. They aren't faithful and their discretion seems to involve hiding scandal and

  wrongdoing. As a matter of function, if someone can't fix your car, there is no reason to go to them as a mechanic.

  The organization is a failure.

  Second, no matter how you rationalize it, they are false prophets in any practical sense. They take people's

  money - and lives - and make promises that are later proven to be false. You simply can't trust anything they say.

  There's much more but why go any further?

  metatron
• 

  FreeChick

  I had trouble believing most things, even when I was in grade school. But, I was threatened, ummm...lovingly pushed, to get baptized. Fortunately, I got to the point where I couldn't live the lie anymore...couldn't live a double life and left, no...lovingly DF'd. Then several months later I was at the library just browsing and came across a book about cults. Not sure why I took it off the shelf, but opened to the page that listed 10 characteristics of cults. hmmm....that's one of the many reasons.
• 

  esw1966

  I feel that the elders had a direct influence on my divorce.

  I asked the elder who had disfellowshipped me to bring my wife to the phone as we were going through a divorce. He said he would NOT get her, but would tell her I had called. I said she will not call me back and that he was making me question my faith. He said that he was sorry, but......

  To me, a religion should have as it's MAIN GOAL to KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER. Leave all other beliefs aside, LOVE should be it's biggest goal and keeping families TOGETHER a prime objective!

  My jw religion had NO interest in my family. During that conversation I asked him if my wife was doing well. I hadn't seen her for a few months, we were separated, and I wanted to know that she was okay. He said that he HAD NEVER ASKED HER about the matter, but that SHE WAS AT THE HALL and so she must be doing well.

  All he cared about was that she was keeping a seat warm at the hall! Here he was the watchtower conducter, the elder DIRECTLY involved with my case and he NEVER TALKED to her or ASKED her about it?!!! I thought to myself WHAT kind of a religion is THAT????

  So that started me out to my discovery of something I NEVER thought I would think...jw's are a cult and concerned only for the whole and not the parts of the congregation and are Biblically DEFUNCT!

  I now LOVE going to my two local community churches and I have NEVER felt HAPPIER in my life!!!

  Now I can't believe I ever believed that 'stuff' they taught me in the first place. How was I SO duped!!???
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  Believe what? That the WTS is not God's organization on earth?

  It began with the realization that they speak of love and Godliness, yet they are harmful to individuals' and families' emotional, physical and financial well-being. They speak and teach of love, when they actually mean hate.

  Who needs it? It's made me view all religion with a baleful eye.

  Frannie B
• 

  ButtLight

  I didnt wonder about the wts one bit....................till I came on here and started reading......darn apostates raked me in!
• 

  TheCoolerKing

  but the big thing that finally convinced me that I wasn't in the true religion was when I read Crisis of Conscience

  Yes, that definitely did it for me too. What started to drive me away was the lack of love that I saw. The elders started treating me like crap, just because I decided to go to college. I was blacklisted and scorned. Yet when I asked them to show me in the bible, “Where does it say that getting educated is a sin against God?” They couldn’t do it and at that point they pretty much showed me the door.

  All anyone has to do is to read the older Watchtower publications. Read about their TRUE origins and all their failed prophecies and dates of “The End”. They claim that God chose them in 1919 as his only true organization on the earth. Yet in 1919, they were publishing books about things that are no longer accepted by the Watchtower Society.
  For instance, Charles T. Russell, their founder, insisted that the “Great Pyramid” in Egypt was God’s stone witness on earth. Russell claimed that the “Great Pyramid” described God’s divine plan in detail. Russell also stated that the time of the end began in 1799 and that the world would end in 1914. Yet Judge Rutherford dismissed the “Great Pyramid” theory when he took over. And of course Rutherford had his own dates in mind when he predicated the end of the world, such as 1925.

  Now think about it. Why would God have chosen them to be his spokesman on earth in 1919 when much of what they believed then is no longer accepted teaching today?
• 

  LittleToe

  For me it was simply Christ. I came to realise that the Bible spoke more highly of him than the WTS. Regardless of how you view the Bible, given that the JWs claim to believe everything in the Bible and also claim to be Christian, you'd think they'd at least get that right. They hadn't!

  Once I came to that realisation I started some resaearch on the Internet and eventually found Freeminds and this place. THe rest of the veil was eventually torn from my eyes.
• 

  Junction-Guy

  Well I used to have the old "what if they're right?" mindset, but back in 1993 I weighed the consequences and found the JW's lacking. In order to be a JW, I would have to give up so many members of my family, not just due to baptism (bad association) but also in eternity. I figured why would I want to spend eternity in a paradise with most of my truly loved ones dying at Armageddon? I then thought "what if they're wrong?" What if Jesus really did die on a cross? What if there really is a Trinity? What if Hell is real? I didnt really believe in Hell back then, but I didnt discount it either.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When all of these things played back and forth through my head I finally decided that I would just allow myself to be destroyed at Armageddon along with my Mom, and many other family members who werent JW's, I figured that I would be destroyed at Armageddon within a few short years--based on the then current understanding of the generation time limit. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------So I went about quickly trying to have a "normal" life with the few remaining years I had left. I got married just as soon as I could (just in case I were to be destroyed and forever be denied the chance at marriage) The marriage was a disaster as Amanda will assure you. A few years down the road, and many heartaches later, I came online and discovered that the 1914 generation had been revised, and I knew right then and there that it was all a lie to begin with. I have been an OPPOSER and an EXPOSER of this cult ever since.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The good news is even though Amanda and I are separated, I guess I can credit her in a roundabout way for leaving this religion. We also still are on speaking terms and good friends.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Even more good news is I accepted Jesus into my life, and even though i may not attend church or even pray as much as I used to I still hold out hope that I will once again become a better living christian. I also have given credit to the many people who have worked hard to expose this devilish cult, since I quit going to the Kingdom Hall in 1993 I doubt very seriously my Dad would have ever told me about this insidious revision of the 1914 generation. All in all, the 1914 generation change was the catalyst for me to free myself from their snare. I would probably still be riding the fence to this day if I didnt know about the generation change.
• 

  gumb

  I hope you won't mind if I start here, as I'm trying to find my way around the forum! Hi there, I'm new to this forum in the sense that I am here under a new name. I was a member a while back (under two names - forgot both passwords!), but eventually stopped posting because I'd reached the point where I wanted to put behind me any memories of the WTS and was starting to hate having discussions about religious matters in general. I also had a lot of anger and bitterness. Since that time I have made a huge recovery from the years of indoctrination, and have become more of a spiritual person than a religious person, with the added benefit that I'm more tolerant and compassionate towards other people. As a result of this healing and maturing process, I feel much more comfortable discussing things relating to JWs. So, a big 'hello' to everyone!
• 

  read good books

  Being at Bethel in 75 and seeing the reactions of the GB, the callous coverup, followed by what was nothing less than a political coup to oust Knorr and bring in the 'new arrangement.' The many contradiction in logic in the Witness teaching if you just reason them out.

  But I am afraid getting out of the Witnesses is just the start. The world is full of traps for the working class like the J.W.s. People need to start asking themselves why.