by Pickled 75 Replies latest jw friends
here is something I had saved
Jehovah, the God of the true prophets, will put all false prophets to shame either by not fulfilling the false prediction of such self-assuming prophets or by having His own prophecies fulfilled in a way opposite to that predicted by the false prophets. False prophets will try to hide their reason for feeling shame by denying who they really are." (Paradise Restored To Mankind By Theocracy, 1972, p. 353, 354)
WOW, MOG....this may be the first accurate prophecy of theirs I have ever read! :-)
I feel like the GB is SO wrapped up in being 'the truth' that they must have answers for everything. Just look at the Daniel and Revelation books. They have an explanation for absolutely everything, even if there really is no biblical backing. I think dates just become part of it. They want to be wise and all-knowing, and want to be able to predict these dates, of course since they are god's channel and all...
for the record..it was INSPIRED prophecy also, 100% of the folks who have tried to PREDICT the dates have failed miserably..Maybe someone should figure out by now that we CANT figure it out..
for those who believe that Jesus took kingship in 1914ish..
read this:
"Given to Me was ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON THE EARTH." (Matt. 28:18), right after his resurrection some 1900 years ago..not 1914
You're lucky to have gotten out of it when you did, Pickled. I was not as fortunate. You see, I was raised in this religion, so I don't really know what a "normal" life is like. My parents were not very involved in the religion, but they demanded that we follow all the rules. When I began to take a serious look at the religion I was 15 years old. I saw a lot of the problems you saw, but I glossed over them. I had pressure from family and friends, lots of encouragement to become an active member. I was lured by the ability to transform myself from a boring, anonymous teenager to a theocratic star, and that's exactly what I became. I got all of the encouragement in the world when I decided to embrace JWism. My ego was constantly being stroked. The "friends" would tell me how wonderful my talks were and how inspirational I was. A few even told me they wanted their sons to grow up and be just like me. I was a regular pioneer at 17. I constantly gave experiences at assemblies. When I was 18 I was invited by the circuit overseer to move away to another state to serve where the need was great. By that point, however, the inconsistencies that you speak of became too obvious for me to ignore. I no longer had the unqualified faith in the religion that I once did, so I rejected the circuit overseer's offer.
For years I blamed myself. I felt that something was wrong with me. My lack of faith was bringing me down. I had failed Jehovah. My troubles in life were a direct result of my spiritual shortcomings. This led to depression with alternating bouts of weight loss and weight gain. I was emotionally unstable and I even hoped death would put me out of my misery. It wasn't until a few years later, more or less when I was 23 years old that it all finally came together for me. I saw that I wasn't the one to blame for my lack of faith. My lack of faith was due to the many glaring errors in the religion. The religion itself was flawed, not just the men that served in the congregations. A few years passed before I finally became inactive. A few more went by before I was able to bring myself to read material critical of Jehovah's Witnesses, and that’s when I finally achieved internal peace. I realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that the religion was flawed. This freed me up to continue living my life without the fear, that little voice inside my head, that perhaps the Witnesses were right and I was wrong. I wasted the best years of my life in that religion. I'm now in my late 20s trying to learn things "normal" people learn in their teenage years. It's been a challenge, but I'm much happier this way.
Congratulations, again, on seeing the light this early!
Robert7, I had a professor many years ago who must have thought in his mind that the words “I don’t know” were not an acceptable option.
A couple of the students caught on and started asking the most ridiculous questions they could think of in an effort to enjoy just how outlandish his answers could be. Not exactly nice, I know. But fortunately the same mind set that kept him thinking that he was the final authority in all things, was the same type of mindset that caused him to not notice at all just how ridiculous and off topic the questions were.
touche' Neverending..it took me 20 years to actually start my search for GOD..and along the way I started reading all that was available to me about my past..and it didnt take long to realize GOD had wanted me out of it...and many more have followed suite..I am free from man made dogma..I feel now more closer to GOD than before when I was a JW..I really do not have to make others happy or feel guilty for not putting enough hours in door to door, or feel guilt that I turned down being a ministerial servant in the face of my father who destroyed my confidence and ultimately led me out instead of helpiing me (dad is a Elder who has traveled to set up congregations here in Illinois). My dad no longer shuns me like he did for 20 years, he talks to me and we do not discuss religion much, but he tried once and I got him with the false prophecies and all he could say was "well I still love Jehovah no matter what"..and that killed him talking to me about it again..My brother left as well - an elder of the congregation..he completely lost it and has rebelled way worse than me..I hope he comes around..he is in very bad mental shape..being born in the JW and knows nothing else - the transition has been hard..so much that he wont talk to any of us..
NEJ, what jumps out at me in your writing style and your clarity I am sure are the same qualities that were noticed and praised while you were a JW. In case you were wondering, you still seem to have all the same talents and gifts you had before. The part that has made you struggle is the part where you tried so hard to use those qualities to perpetuate a lie that, at the time, you didn't know was a lie.
You are not the one who created the lie. As a matter of fact, you had no role or power at all beyond the way that you were encouraged and "allowed" to function as a mouthpiece. No one in the audience blames the puppet when the show is bad. It's the writers and the puppeteer who are responsible.
The WTBTS can't have it both ways. They can't insist that their followers only follow a script, and then blame the believer when the script is poorly written and filled with inconsistencies.
For a time you followed a script and I am sure when you made the decision to no longer do that, you were faced with some very costly losses that included family, friends, and self-esteem.
But others have done it and you can do it too, only in your case you have some really tremendous assets that are obvious and which you might be able to focus on as a way to build back up what others attempted to manipulate.
I have enjoyed your perspectives and insight very much.
Wow! Some really interesting comments on this thread. When I first started digging I made the mistake of assuming that religion was intelligently designed. For the most part it isn’t. But any good story teller knows that you can lead people along with hints of secret knowledge for a little bit but humans are ultimately disappointed when they don’t know the ending. Take for example Lost. Frankly I’ve given up, when I know the series is over I will rent the DVDs. Or the show “Friends” tied up in a neat little package the show ended with Ross and Rachel together. Everyone said “Ahh…” And that was it. Show some people a divinely inspired chart explaining the pyramids and some might say “that’s interesting”, add in a charismatic man who is convinced of his own delusions and some might believe, give them a date to shoot for and most will hold out at least that long. The ones who do after the date has passed will look around and feel foolish. Just like the two members of the “Heaven’s Gate” cult that didn’t kill themselves, they still felt bad, thought they missed the boat.. (err spaceship). It is easy for someone who is caught up in the furor of serving for a date to just move the date in their mind and rationalize away the unfulfilled prophecy.
I don’t think WBTS is done with dates. They can’t be, they will lose their most valuable members, people who are convinced that they have secret knowledge and if they only hold out a little longer will be laughing it up in paradise.
