Did you read the literature?

by WuzLovesDubs 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  sd-7

  In my heyday, I read it all--except the Yearbooks, I didn't read most of those. (Did read about the Malawi history in the Yearbook, though...)

  I believed my spirituality was directly linked to how much of the literature I read. Probably much of why I ended up getting ousted is BECAUSE I read the literature and noticed just how out of touch with reality the Society really was and is. And I always noticed little peculiarities. Eventually, it was like being raked over the coals or it was just boring. Once I woke up to reality, I found myself terrified of falling asleep during a convention and waking up reassimilated. I never dozed off at any of the events again.

  I think if you read the literature, you would eventually find the inconsistencies. But that in itself is not always enough to wake you up. But to the extent possible, I definitely read it.

  --Christopher
• 

  eyeslice

  Yes I read most of the literature, Watchtower, Awake and all of the publications, though I didn't care that much for the yearbook.

  I still skim read the Watchtower and Awake as my wife still attends. There's not a lot new though and they still use those aweful cheesy pictures in the Awake. I always though they were old fashioned even when I was a kid over forty years ago.
• 

  Terry

  In the first place, how can we call those writings LITERATURE??

  It is doggeral, tripe, rhetoric, polemic, soporific humbuggery--but, not literature.

  Now that I've got that out of me.....

  It took me years to learn to actually BE ABLE to read the densely packed writing style of the Society.

  You have to get the hang of it. The ravings of a twisted mind are always hard to follow at first.

  If you ever read the screed written by the Unabomber you'll see a parallel mindset.

  Once I got the knack of reading the "shiterature" and UNPACKING the prose I found it didn't ever connect with my thinking.

  I never felt a "mind" behind the writing. It felt like something designed by a voting committee.

  My first five years as a JW were spent reading ahead of the comment. After prison, however, I over-studied. I was Brother Hand-in-the-air-for-every-comment fanatic. In your face. More insights and extras than the hour could bear. I was taken aside once and told to stick to the book and cut back on the extraneous stuff.

  Well!!

  About once a year a Watchtower will come into my hand or one of the old books. (I work at a used book store and we get JW stuff now and then.)

  I've tried to read it a bit. But--it actually turns my stomach. I'm not exaggerating.

  It is such bullshit. Badly wrought.

  Into the dumpster. That's my reaction.
• 

  leavingwt

  How many professing Christians have read the entire Bible?
• 

  sd-7

  Well...I've read the Bible 4 times. I don't know if that helps.

  --Christopher
• 

  WTWizard

  I used to read the littera-trash. But, soon in I would find that a good number of the Washtowels were simply too dry--I never was interested much in religion. I was supposed to figure out how I fit into a deal that was way out of date (and between Jehovah and someone else), and then how I fit into another closely related deal (and why they weren't completely redundant). And those "classes"--they, too, were redundant and out of date.

  After a while, I realized that each book was nothing more than another angle on how we were at first perfect, how we lost perfection, Jesus dying to "save" us, how we are now supposed to be wasting our time in field circus, and how perfection will supposedly be gained back. I could not see how in hell I could fit in, with most of the material being way out of date (my life is not in the Bible). So I would stop reading the littera-trash. Sometimes I would find something entertaining, though not informative, in the Asleep! magazine.

  I would also read the Kingdumb Misery. I was interested in seeing what was coming up, and how much more damage in terms of higher publisher numbers were being recorded. Or, if there was a push to break a record--I can remember that time they wanted to break 1 million in the US, citing they had slightly more than that if they counted all the inactive and irregular publishers. Now all I do with them is find ways to throw it back in their faces.
• 

  Wasanelder Once

  The Awake was so childish I gave up on it. The Watchtower was so condescending I was irritated by it but had to read it to conduct the meeting. Ugh. W.Once
• 

  freewilly01

  nah never ever
• 

  garyneal

  I use to read the Watchtowers and Awakes a lot when my wife and I first moved in together. I guess I was doing it because I was really interested more in what the world's religions were teaching than for any 'spiritual benefit.' My wife use to comment that I was reading the material more than she was and I would say something along the lines of, "Yeah, I read something interesting in such and such WT or Awake article."

  I don't really read them now but when I look at them laying around, I think back to how I did not use to have such a dim view of the organization and actually find myself feeling sorry for how the events turned over the summer from my generally agreeing with them to my feeling like they are a threat. I am attempting to take a more balanced view of her religion and of religion in general, basically like I did back when she and I met.
• 

  Brocephus

  I used to "illustrate" the illustrations with my pen or highlighter. I wish I had saved those. I rememeber adding captions like a comic strip to a lot of the pictures in the Revelation book. I wish I had copies I could scan, it would be hilarious.