What are some common misconceptions about JW's among ex-JW's?

by AlmostAtheist 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  AlmostAtheist

  We come out of the org. We caught them in lies. They stole our time, our money, our families from us. They crippled our future. They hid child abuse. In short, they p*ssed us off, and now we'd like to see them with a black eye!

  So it's only natural that we might have a tendency to believe every bad thing we hear about them. They bought stock in weapons companies. They joined the U.N. The Governing Body are actually lizard-people. Some of what we hear is true, some of it isn't. But if we heard something early in our exit, and it's never been questioned since, we might still believe it. And getting caught by a JW saying something against the 'tower that turns out not to be true would seriously enforce their "apostates are liars" view of us.

  The one that bit me most recently was the idea that the 144,000 MUST have been filled already, since there would certainly have been more than 144,000 Christians in the first century. But based on realistic population projections for that area of the world at that time, it's actually quite believable that there would NOT have been 144,000 Christians. (Thank you, Leolaia!) (Those same projections show that the multi-thousand-person baptisms recounted in Acts were exaggerations.)

  So, in your experience, what are some tantalizing-but-false ideas that ex-JW's entertain against the Watchtower?

  Dave
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  slimboyfat

  I don't know about misconceptions, but being a JW ruined my posture. And that is a fact.

  Slim
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  Junction-Guy

  there may or may not have been 144,000 christians in the first century, but that number was well exceeded as time went on, so yes they still are liars. Other than the lizard people, I cant thnk of any.
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  aoxo

  i think jw's do brainwash their followers but i don't think that they do it anymore than any other religion does (especialy catholics).
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  greendawn

  I didn't follow Leolaia's posts on the 144 000 but come what may 1900 years is a long time and it's simply not credible that the Christian church could not gather 144 000 elite in that time but only around 90 000 (48 per year) with the dubs providing the 54 000 balance in less than a century. That is some grandiose claim. Let's not forget that the Catholic realm was only part of Christianity there was the orthodox church and even further East the oriental churches in modern day Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Iran etc and some of these evangelised as far as China.

  A misconception about the dubs is that they are all unhappy and resentful against the FDS, which is not the case many dubs are content with being part of the WTS because they have status or a good social life or genuinely believe that this is the pure and true society of God. Of course many are unhappy there but many are happy.
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  garybuss

  I think the most common mistake Witnesses, non-Witnesses, and ex-Witnesses make is thinking of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Watch Tower Society as a religion.
  
  
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  AlmostAtheist

  >>I didn't follow Leolaia's posts on the 144 000 but come what may 1900 years is a long time and it's simply not credible that the Christian church could not gather 144 000 elite in that time

  In the minds of the JW's, only the first-century group count. After the death of the apostles, apostasy took over and corrupted everybody, leaving only that tiny little remnant to live on from year to year, unbroken, down thru the centuries. (Where they came up with that 'unbroken chain of annointed' stuff, I've never been able to even guess.)

  Gary: LOL, good point! They are a book-publishing house first. Then a real-estate empire. Then a law firm. Then....

  Dave
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  Junction-Guy

  Remember up until 1935 every JW supposedly had the heavenly hope right? Is this what was taught? So there had to be at least 144,000 bible students from 1879 to 1935, not even counting the first century.
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  Scully

  I know I was LMAO when I saw CT Russell's pic on David Icke's lizard people website.
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  greendawn

  The dub concept that the church went apostate from one day to another after the last apostle died is simply ridiculous no one organised such a conspiracy and no one could, back in those days. The church did not become substantailly corrupted until the days of Constantine and was in a much better spiritual shape than the JWs have ever been.

  They accepted Christ as their direct head and Lord, were very charitable to their own kind and even the rest of the world, partook of the bread and wine on a weekly basis and did not have a dictatorial leadership seeking to harrass and expel anyone wishing to criticise them, argue against their beliefs.

  In addition they admit that a wheat class had to exist through the ages up to the final harvest so through those long centuries many elite were added certainly a lot more than 48 per year throughout the world.