A Kingdom Hall is no hospital for sinners.....It is a place of execution(Disfellowshipping) for all those who disobey the WBT$.....The Jehovah`s Witness Cult is one of the few religions that shoots it`s wounded..And..Keeps and protects it`s Pedophiles!......................LOL!!...OUTLAW
Did you come here on JWD/JWN because of congregation injustice?
by asilentone 14 Replies latest jw experiences
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mindmelda
I can get over what people do for the most part, they're just people.
I've had doctrinal and philosophical issues with WTS teachings after I learned past the "basics" one needs to get baptized, but being baptized at a young age with no prior religious experiences, I wasn't able to compare WTS teachings to anything, not really. Witnesses aren't encouraged to examine their beliefs objectively, it's all strained through their own literature. That's not objective comparative religious study, nor does the WTS claim to offer that, they're against it in principle, it seems.
That's a shame, if they allowed it, at least they would gain followers who joined out of genuine conviction that stems from knowing they'd thoroughly examining other beliefs.
As soon as I started reading Bible encyclopedias, history books and the like, many of them the same sources the WTS uses, on my own and in their entirety, I realized the doctrines are to a large extent some persons interpretations, as are some doctrines in many the religions I've examined so far, and I'm not interested in that. I don't agree on about 3/4s of WTS doctrine, in spite of being studied with by elders, elders wives, pioneers trying to convince me over the years.
I guess the moral of that story is that people who don't strictly read WTS literature on doctrine, history, science, psychology and various other subjects will often find valid arguments against at least some of it.
But I do sincerely wish I hadn't gotten baptized before I knew the entirety of WTS teaching, but I did it out of peer and family pressure at age 16 (barely), not genuine conviction. I could barely legally drive a car, but I was encouraged to make a life altering decision, even more binding than marriage? Seems ridiculous when you put it that way.
WTS doctrine that makes no sense to me:
How 1914 is derived...the dates they use don't match up to recognized history and it's torturous logic.
Nitpicking about the cross, what sort of shape was the "stauros" Christ was executed upon...I don't worship the cross, but it's also historically and biblically acceptable Christian symbolism, as first century Christians used it to represent Christianity. Pagans did use crosses as symbols also, but it meant something entirely different to them, fertility or the four elements.
Homophobia. I don't see how it figures into Christian belief, Christ never mentioned hating homosexuals as a primary doctrine of Christianity. It's based on 6-7 scriptures which are subject to various more valid interpretations. I agree that promiscuity isn't a good way to live one's life, it's incompatible with our basic human nature and biology.
Why Witnesses all of a sudden get literal about 144,000 going to heaven in Revelation that professes to be written in "signs" and which they interpret symbolically in many other aspects. Why and how they restrict being born from spirit, from what I read in the Gospels and in the Greek scriptures as a necessary Christian condition for salvation, to a few elite.
Why they place so much importance on "Armageddon" when it's only mentioned once in Revelation, and again, it's intepreted quite literally.
Well, I guess that's enough.
I do agree on certain aspects of observing Christmas, Halloween and Easter though, they're holidays with an obvious pagan origin transferred much later to Christianity. I don't mind observing them purely secularly, though. I'm also in agreement about pacifism and rejecting racism, although Witnesses did not always do those things in their history.
I observe birthdays, though and Thanksgiving and other secular holidays. Straining out a gnat on those ones...there is no direct prohibition in the scriptures I can detect.
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BluesBrother
Shalimar is right - to a point.
There are many many decent dubs who are caring people and I am sure that churches also have freeloaders. But in other churches, from what I see, there is a deliberate active policy of caring for the needy . In the dubs it is left up to the individual with varying results.
The WTS is happier if you are out in "service" than if you are doing Sister Elderly's shopping..
As for "injustice"? I saw enough of that while in the Borg, but it would not have "stumbled " me out..It is doctrines that matter and truth or falsehood. If the concept had been sound, I would have put up with unjust things done by the local congregation....
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wavvy
I agree with Shalimar too....to a point...
Yes, there are good and bad in every religion. But if the KH is just a 'hospital for sinners' then why would you want to be there? In that case, what makes the Witnesses so special? They are just like everybody else...some wonderful people and some very nasty people. But that is not what they would have you believe: instead there is this exclusionist belief that Witnesses and only Witnesses are on the right track. That is one major thing that has ultimately turned me off. I personally have not experienced any great injustice, but can believe that others have. I don't think that means all Witnesses are evil. But I cannot stand that they believe they are so much more spiritual and special than everyone else.
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independent_tre
There was no specific incident that I can think of, but I found the whole df'ing process to be unjust. Not just the shunning, but the process was so arbitrary and inconsistent. I would see people df'd, and then never miss a meeting. Others would somehow skate by for similar transgressions. It was all contingent on a group of imperfect men determining how repentant the person was. It didn't seem right to me that they could make a decision that could affect another person's life so deeply.
Keyser, you were reading my mind as I was just having a discussion about this with my husband as we just had a similar scenario happen in our family. While the person came out with minor injuries ( private reproof), yet another, less popular dub would have probably been DF'd for the same transgressions. It's like a 'who-you-know' type clout. And very inconsistent.
Shalimar - I'm sorry, but the 'we're all imperfect' argument goes right out the door, when you explicitly state that your religion is the only right and true one, that JW's are morally cleaner than people in other religions. JWs love to exult themselves and their religion above everyone else, with heaping boastfulness as they condemn everyone in "Christedom" . - you can't have your cake and eat it to. Dubs love to say "tsk, tsk, look at all the sins of wordly people' out one side of their face, and then when a JW commits some wrongdoing, say 'but we're all imperfect'. It's the rafter in the eye scenario ( Matt 7:3).