Reading is good, though, Drew.
How Many Here Have Done Extensive Research While a JW or When Exiting?
by minimus 32 Replies latest jw friends
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JWdaughter
I was quite a reader of old WT literature. I thought it was crazy and it made me more open to hearing 'the truth' about the truth years later. I did not leave because of any of the research into their literature though. I left because of reading the Bible. Just goes to show, the SITS were right-if you leave off reading WT literature and just read the Bible, you will soon leave the org.:)
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minimus
Yeah, the Bible might get you outta the Organization.
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Leolaia
Me, me, me!!! I dug especially into biblical studies and classics, but also into Watchtower history -- and especially their (mis)use of sources in various publications of theirs.
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undercover
Extensive research? I dunno if what I did would be considered "extensive" compared to the research of AlanF or Maximus...
...but my research was extensive in that I no longer took the Society's explanation at face value. I put their teachings to the test. And they didn't hold up. After I was convinced that there was something bad wrong, my focus became, "how to get out" more than "are they right or wrong".
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minimus
Not you, Leo.
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Finally-Free
I read the ex jw web sites and took it all with a grain of salt. Then one day I took a day off work and spent the entire time researching. It might not have been as deep as some here have done, but that one day was enough. I only needed to see a certain amount of bullshit to make the whole damn thing look brown. I made my decision to leave that day.
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jws
I don't know if you'd call it research, but I read a lot of books about the JW religion by ex-JWs. It wasn't like true research in that I wasn't discovering new information and connecting the dots by myself. I was only learning what others had written.
I did do some research on the net to back up some of the info.
I felt that, with family still in, I had to be well educated to be able to give an answer. The more I knew, the more I would be able to have an intellegent discussion with my JW family members. Those dicussions, however, rarely got past a few sentences before they got cut off.
I've also researched the Bible a bit, looking into the meanings of Greek words. Mostly to try to prove a friend in another religion wrong. I've been criticized that I mostly do research to disprove, not to enlighten. Disproving something seems a lot more fun.
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jaguarbass
As I was researching "The Truth", I came to the redundant realization that the Witness religion is all poppycock and provably wrong.
Were you/ are you a researcher?
Yes I was an am a researcher and I find that all religions and beliefs are all poppycock
and wrong.
This world we live in is the forum of many truths. None of them true.
Except that we all die and pay taxes.
And I gotta think that there are a few out there that dont even pay taxes.
So the only truth is that we all die.
Or at least we all dissapear from this dimension.
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AllTimeJeff
I have several bible commentaries and concordances, and used them frequently. Which as I was leaving was starting to be outlawed.....
After I got back from Cameroon, I was able to research the history of JW's. Part of CoC was online. (BIG help) The UN was the emotional trigger, but after all the bullshit I assimilated at Gilead, to actually learn that the date for Jerusalems fall in 587/586 was rejected simply to prop up 1914, well, I used several obscenities in a row... Fortunately, no one was home.
I used to research every Organizational nuance, because as a brother wanting to (and eventually becoming) an elder, I didn't want to get caught with my pants down. Which only helped me to learn how "flexy" the rules could be applied with certain people. Whether you got your ass kissed, or you pissed off an elder, the rules didn't help you if you had been pegged, one way or the other.