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In Good Conscience, May 21, 2008
by Bring_the_Light 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Bring_the_Light
In Good Conscience, May 21, 2008
A conclusary declaration of disassociation of Bring_the_Light from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
When a man is born into this world, he knows neither the whys nor wherefores of life and his own existence and looks upon his parents, family, and community for guidance, assured, initially, that the reality with which he is presented, is genuine, true and bearing wise guidance for him. Every man is blessed by god with his own faculties of intelligence, conscience and free will. It is the convention among Jehovah’s Witnesses (adherents to the teachings of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and its Governing Body) to declare one’s disassociation from the organization should a member choose to leave. This constitutes such a declaration on my part and I have chosen to detail for you the causes which impel my final and permanent separation.
I have not regularly been involved with the Organization since the age of 18, I am now nearly 28, I have never been baptized in the organization, in the decade which has transpired, however, I have not until now and with this declaration concluded that there will never be a return to the religion in which I was born and raised.
We hold these truths to be
self-evident…Truth has self-evident qualities which the doctrine and practice of Jehovah’s Witnesses do not resemble. In fact, the self-evident qualities of truth and the logical means of its pursuit are actively and intentionally molested by the practices of this organization. I firmly believe that all men and women on Earth have inalienable rights to liberty; these include freedom to think, reason, express, dissent, argue, and synthesize and grow their own perspective without unreasonable external imposition of consequences upon them by the arbitrary and specious rulings of an authority. These are not only the means by which the rights of man are protected; these are the ways that the pursuit of real Truth is made. Infringement on a person’s freedom, in this case, both deprives that person of their rights, and also perverts the pursuit of Truth.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…
It is common for men and women to gather together in Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, Temples, study groups, conventions or similar forums to consider together the meaning of their own lives and the intent of God. On the whole these are among the most wholesome and good institutions devoted with sincerity to the elevation of the human condition. Indeed "Mankind’s Search for God" has been a long and intense piece of human history and a motivation for much of it. This need and tradition is held sacred by Billions of my fellow human beings around the world and I bear no malice against any religion, although I do not count myself a believer in any of them.
…But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design toreduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government….
I assert no claim of alternate truth to replace "the Truth" with which I was raised. Lacking replacement, however, does not hinder my conclusary statement here that "the Truth" I was taught and required to believe as a child, adolescent and young adult, is not truth at all. In addition to being incorrect, the teachings and practices of Jehovah’s Witnesses more closely resemble the form and structure necessary to protect and propagate a lie within a community. These forms and structures used to protect and propagate a lie within a community are not unknown to human history, these employed by this organization also are not unique or unfamiliar to any serious student of the history of man.
There is a long history of abuses by religion, usurping human liberty in favor of dogmatic adherents to the requirements of those who appoint themselves as overseers of the congregation for reasons both innocent and evil. I do not need to relate these facts to you, because Jehovah’s Witnesses are regularly schooled on the fallacies, abuses and wrongs in competing religions (Babylon the Great).
While it is prudent to bend oneself to the expectations and good order of his born or chosen community, and no reasonable man would expect any community of people to press no requirements at all upon him in exchange for membership, when the demands of a religion do not originate from the bone fide held up as the source of the leader’s authority, when sources are willfully quoted out of context so as to deceive a reader, when higher education is discouraged, when emotional blackmail is taught as a Christian duty and a spiritual weapon of control against others, when reason is derided and suppressed, when science is mocked, when facts and perspective on the origin, history and faults of the organization itself are willfully hidden from the membership, when sources of information critical of the organization are banned and those who seek it are punished, when the organization is described either infallible or fallable whichever is convenient in the venue, when questioning of doctrine against its own bone fide (the bible) is labeled "apostasy", when a biblical ritual of baptism is now considered an act of devotion to "the organization" rather than to Christ, when hypocrisy of membership at the United Nations (UN) is exposed, when children are molested by persons who have been protected from justice by the civil authorities and the children are protected from no one, when suppression of one’s own conscience is demanded in favor of uninspired old men of a Governing Body in one’s life choices from the marriage bed to employment to education, and when REPEATED false prophesies of the organization are exposed by time yet hidden from contemporary membership, I can only conclude that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the joyful servants of Christ, they are the suppressed captives of a despotic cult.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
I’ve narrowed the list of complaints of the colonies to ones that I might leave in italics, related to particular things I am saying to keep this obvious parallel to the declaration of independence throughout the whole document.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
Reference to conflicts with the Bible.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
Reference Pharisees
.For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
Reference to undo isolation from information and people in "the world".
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
Reference to the heavy burden of meetings and "service" demanded.
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
Reference to the excesses of the extra-biblical rules handed down by the governing body.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us…He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people…He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
Reference to labeling and attacking "apostates".
A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
…appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…
More work to do for the end. Help me out.
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Bring_the_Light
Help me draft my disassociation letter. I may or may not leave the quotes from the Declaration of Independance in the final draft, but I want my letter to follow the document in both form and content.
Go nuts, this is your disassociation letter too! Give me good "facts to be submitted to a candid world".
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Bring_the_Light
Some appropriate music while we work.....
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still_in74
when the demands of a religion do not originate from the bone fide held up as the source of the leader’s authority, when sources are willfully quoted out of context so as to deceive a reader, when higher education is discouraged, when emotional blackmail is taught as a Christian duty and a spiritual weapon of control against others, when reason is derided and suppressed, when science is mocked, when facts and perspective on the origin, history and faults of the organization itself are willfully hidden from the membership, when sources of information critical of the organization are banned and those who seek it are punished, when the organization is described either infallible or fallable whichever is convenient in the venue, when questioning of doctrine against its own bone fide (the bible) is labeled "apostasy", when a biblical ritual of baptism is now considered an act of devotion to "the organization" rather than to Christ, when hypocrisy of membership at the United Nations (UN) is exposed, when children are molested by persons who have been protected from justice by the civil authorities and the children are protected from no one, when suppression of one’s own conscience is demanded in favor of uninspired old men of a Governing Body in one’s life choices from the marriage bed to employment to education, and when REPEATED false prophesies of the organization are exposed by time yet hidden from contemporary membership, I can only conclude that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not the joyful servants of Christ, they are the suppressed captives of a despotic cult.
WOW
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momzcrazy
Wow. I just said please take me off your membership rolls.
momz
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Bring_the_Light
Wow. I just said please take me off your membership rolls.
momz
If you knew me, this would be no surprise at all. I "over-do" everything. Everything worth doing, is worth making a production out of, in my world. Ooh, and inaddition to saturating this document with the feel of the Declaration of Independance, I want to also saturate it with biblical references, just like a letter from the Governing Body etc. like "Hi hope everything is good with ya'll (Ps 13:121)", "Everything is nice with me and my family (1Col 3:45)", "Nice weather we're having (Gen 4:20)". etc etc etc. Help me out with that in particular. Help Bring_the_Light, bring the light.
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BreakingAway
Actually I quite liked it.Some of the terms I didn't understand but I thought that some of the metaphysical imagery was really particularly effective. Oh ... and er ... interesting rhythmic devices too, which seemed to counterpoint the humanity..er..um ..I mean the Vogonity which contrives through the medium of the verse structure to sublimate this, transcend that, and come to terms with the fundamental dichotomies of the other and one is left with a profound and vivid insight into ... into ... er ...
``Into whatever it was the poem was about!'I kid, I kid.That was for the Hitchhiker's fans ! Anywho, I didn't get to read the whole thing but I what I did read sounds quite good ! It certainly addresses the issues and leaves no doubt as to how one feels about things and that such a course is obviously well thought out.
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still_in74
The GB admits to being fallible, to have "no special insights", to "draw certain conclusions", but still claims to have Light. Is not Light from Holy Spirit? Did the HS lie to Gods "one channel"? Does the HS spirit make mistakes? Or is it that the fallable, uninspired, conclusion drawing FDS/GB applied "human, fleshly reasoning" to the scriptures to decipher its meaning? Mans thoughts trying to decipher Gods thoughts? After all, can complete doctrinal reversal be considered "progressive light"?
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WTWizard
To me, the big question is not how to write up a disassociation letter. There is plenty of good information online to help me with that, and all you have to say is "I no longer wish to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses for [reason]". The real question is who to address it to, so they have to honor and uphold it.