Ex-Circuit Overseers Write Books about Jehovah's Witnesses

by cabasilas 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  cabasilas

  I just want to share a bit of Stevenson's perspective of life after the Witnesses:

  Since leaving the Witnesses, I have experienced a gradual changeover of ideas which is now, except in the few points which I have just explained, almost complete. After all this time, I find it's a delightfully refreshing experience to be able to formulate and hold opinions which are my own, expressions of my own personality. In some respects I feel like a butterfly, which has just emerged from an over-long stay in its chrysalis, and is now learning to fly. In my relationships with people, I no longer try to 'pigeon-hole' them as I had always done before. I try to listen to their views with respect and interest, where before I would have summarily dismissed them. It is as if life has suddenly acquired a new and exciting dimension. I find my present work as a sales representative helpful in this respect, because every day I am meeting all sorts and conditions of men, and now that my mind is open and receptive to the ideas of others after being closed for so many years, I am eager and happy to learn, and in my work I am learning rapidly every day. It is, I suppose, a development--an enjoyable phase of life--which would normally be experienced in the late teens. I am experiencing it now because of my arrested development, but I think that the experience is more enjoyable now than it would have been in my late teens because I have the maturity to evaluate and appreciate which I would have lacked then. My enjoyment of life has vastly increased since leaving the Witnesses, and I can honestly say that I am happier today than I have ever been in my life. (Page 204)
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  caliber

  Cabasilas,

  Thanks for sharing , each of us former JW's have so much common experience and feelings but at

  the same time each of us is unique and therefore every book gives an added feature or

  understanding to complete ones psychological advancement & understanding!!!!

  thanks again !
• 

  cabasilas

  Just doing some further searches for Stevenson, I found him quoted in a google news article search.The article is from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette from 1971. Looks like a very interesting article from that period. Hope this link works:

  http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jT8NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1mwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6468%2C2757809

  and this reply from a JW:

  http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kj8NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1mwDAAAAIBAJ&dq=jehovah's%20witnesses%20stevenson&pg=4576%2C3601617
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  blondie

  http://www.christianrespondent.com/about/about.htm

  Here's another ex-CO who has written a book and other articles.

  About Ron Frye

  Ronald E. Frye, a second generation Jehovah's Witness, devoted more than thirty years to this religious movement. During that time, he served as a Congregation Overseer in five different congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. He also served as a Pioneer, Special Pioneer and Circuit Overseer. From this informed and experienced perspective his memoirs are written.

  The painful discoveries that shattered his confidence in this dogmatic and authoritarian religion, and which led to his being disfellowshipped, are chronicled in his book, My Christian Quest. The opening chapter portrays the brutal consequences of family division which have affected tens of thousands of those who have separated themselves from this religion due to matters of conscience.

  His post Jehovah's Witness life and ministry should provide encouragement to you and others who long to escape the spiritually suffocating effect of religious tyranny and breather the life-giving air of freedom in Christ.
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  cabasilas

  Thank you, Blondie, for mentioning Ron Frye! I had forgotten about his background as a Circuit Overseer. He used to provide responses to Watchtower articles years ago and here's a link to several of his replies:

  http://www.christianrespondent.com/pubs/tcr.htm

  If I can share a story here.... Back in the 80s I used to correspond (more of a one-sided approach) with Watchtower apologists and one apologist that I would mail items to was Jay Hess. He had written a piece entitled "Jehovah's Witnesses are Not False Prophets." In those pre-Internet days I contacted Ron, sending him a donation and asked him to mail all his available Respondent articles to Jay. Jay told me later that they arrived right in the midst of a time when the Watchtower Society was coming down on him for presuming to be a JW apologist. He told me they could not have arrived at a better time!

  I forgot to mention with the link above from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (from Google News) that it quotes Albert Schroeder (before he was on the Governing Body) as he was then teaching Kingdom Ministry School in Pittsburgh. It also references the 1975 date as something that JWs were looking forward to. Of course, that was 1971.... Here's how that news article opens:

  In a few years, something has to give: either the Jehovah's Witnesses--or the world. Witnesses fervently preach the imminent destruction of the present "system of the world" and the slaughter of most of humanity. The end, they say, could come in 1975. Man will turn against man, and nation against nation, in bloodbaths of the "Battle of Armageddon." The wicked who survive, they believe, will be slain by their God, Jehovah. If their Bible-inspired prophecy hits the jackpot, only the Witnesses themselves will survive to live in everlasting paradise on earth--while some 3.5 billion other humans perish.

  http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jT8NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1mwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6468%2C2757809

  This is the article that goes on to quote former Circuit Overseer W.C. Stevenson.

  Back on topic... For our newbies here, there's a wealth of info from former Circuit Overseers that would be beneficial for research.
• 

  behemot

  Cabasilas,

  none of their books has been translated into English. Here a few details on some of the books’ content:

  Sergio Pollina – Achille Aveta, Movimenti religiosi alternativi. Effetti dell’adesione e motivi dell’abbandono (Alternative Religious Movements. Effects of Joining and Reasons for Leaving)

  Deals with the dynamics of joining and leaving cults.

  Sergio Pollina, I nostri “amici” Testimoni di Geova (Our “friends” the Jehovah’s Witnesses)

  Deals with JWs lifestyle, beliefs and thinking modes.

  Sergio Pollina – Achille Aveta, Scontro tra totalitarismi: nazifascismo e geovismo (Clash between Totalitarianisms: Nazi-fascism and Jehovism)

  Analyzes the ambiguous relationship between JWs and nazi-fascism.

  Achille Aveta – Sergio Pollina, I Testimoni di Geova e il terzo reich. Inediti di una persecuzione

  It’s the translation of James Penton’s Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics Under Persecution

  Sergio Pollina, I testimoni di Geova fra mito e realtà: Vittime o artefici dell’intolleranza religiosa? (Jehovah’s Witnesses between Myth and Reality: Victims or Initiators of Religious Intolerance?)

  Deals with the roots and the role of the ideology of persecution in JWs thought

  Sergio Pollina, Il popolo dell’Apocalisse (The People of Apocalypse)

  Deals with the JWs doctrine of end times.

  Sergio Pollina, I testimoni di Geova e il problema del sangue (Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Problem of Blood)

  Deals with the history of the blood doctrine

  Sergio Pollina, L’altra faccia della medaglia dei Testimoni di Geova (Jehovah’s Witnesses: the other Side of the Coin)

  Deals with less known aspects of JWs universe.

  Achille Aveta, I Testimoni di Geova: un’ideologia che logora (Jehovah’s Witnesses: a Wearing Ideology)

  Achille Aveta, Storia e dottrina dei Testimoni di Geova (History and Doctrine of Jehovah’s Witnesses)

  Achille Aveta, I Testimoni di Geova e la politica: martiri o opportunisti? (Jehovah’s Witnesses and Politics: Martyrs or Opportunists?)

  Behemot
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  cabasilas

  Thanks for the annotated list! Would there be one or two that you think would be good enough to have someone translate into English? Something that would be good for either searching JWs or the average person to read? Which title would you suggest?
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  behemot

  Cabasilas,

  these books are quite good readings for the Italian public but they don't contain anything more than what can already be found in English books, English being the language in which JWs related literature is way more conspicuous than in any other language, Italian included.

  Behemot
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  cabasilas

  Behemot,

  I notice a couple of those titles are handled by the Vatican press. Are any of them specifically Catholic in orientation?
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  behemot

  Cabasilas,

  I don’t know about the current religious stance of the books’ authors.

  What I am aware of is that both of them co-operate with an organization named G.R.I.S. (Gruppo di Ricerca e Informazione Socioreligiosa = Socio-religious Research and Information Group, website http://www.gris.org/), a sort of anti-sects organization (whose main target is JWs) promoted and sponsored by the Catholic Church.

  As a matter of fact, most if not all of the anti JWs activities in Italy are inspired and boosted by the Catholic Church (as a side note, I don’t like this monopoly at all) and the activities of these two former c.o. gravitate around that same area.

  Not only a couple of their titles were handled directly by the Vatican Press, but also most of their other books were printed by Catholic publishers (San Paolo, Edizioni Dehoniane).

  Behemot