Am I the only one who thought the GB was 100% correct when they were a JW?

NiceDream

A few months ago I began researching my doubts on the Internet about the WTBTS and I came across a bunch of crazy facts. This helped me realize this isn't "the truth."

When I was growing up, I believed the Society was always right, and we needed to obey what was in the publications. So another change to what the "generation" means was huge in my awakening. Did anyone else believe that the "food at the proper time" was inspired???

My problem is my husband. When I told him about these changes, and how I thought the society was inspired to give out this food, he said I was wrong. The society is only "spirit-directed." They are "lead" in a direction, and Jehovah directs them to be an organized mega-corporation.

My husband understand that the GB aren't perfect, they are trying to do their best and come up with wrong information sometimes. He doesn't agree with their understanding of why oral sex is bad because it isn't backed up scripturally and he feels that it was a reflection of society at the time they dealt with it in the magazines.

So I asked him what is the point of being a JW if the GB aren't inspired, make mistakes, and you can choose what counsel you'd like to ignore if you feel it isn't backed up by the Bible. He couldn't answer. I asked if it was ok if I decided not to listen to some of the GB's points that weren't backed up in the Bible, and he couldn't answer...even though he can choose to ignore the oral sex counsel. I told him the reason why I was asking was because I'm finding a lot of points in the new study copies of the Watchwtower that are not backed up by the Scriptures.

This turned out into more of a vent, but I appreciate you reading it!

wannabefree

I was more in line with your husbands thinking. I figured they are imperfect men, just like the kings of Israel, so despite the mistakes they made, they were still the faithful slave. I figured just like David respected the office and Saul as God's anointed, we likewise should respect the office of the faithful slave and live through the mistakes.

What made the difference to me was learning how that slave has truly been behaving. PR spin, covering things up, the hurt that has been done to people, insistence that others can't understand the Bible without their help, their willingness to make rules where the Bible is vague, so often being taught how a loving person should act like it is something that can be put on when it must come from within ... and so on. To me, it finally became clear Jehovah's Witnesses just could not be the one and only true Christian religion.

flipper

NICEDREAM- Good thread. I think a lot of us, myself included thought the GB was 100 % correct for quite a few years. We were mind controlled through fear and guilt to feel that way. That we should NEVER doubt- or it would mean we are unfaithful to Jehovah. But after so many years ( I was in 44 years ) I started seeing the injustices against people by elders and the unfulfilled " generation " prophecies which really caused me to doubt. By the time I exited the witnesses in 2003 I had lost ANY faith in th GB's truthfulness or ability to tell the truth. So we all have to get our clarity in our own time and way

diamondiiz

Personally, I spoke my opinion and with me the big deal was I became a dub when young and naive at age of 17. So I didn't know the old teachings and whenever they came up throughout the years they always said the "brothers thought....." which naver occurred to me that they taught the crap that I now know of. I remember when I was still a new dub and there was an article about the brain being only 0.3% or 3% utilized while before they were saying 10% and I said to another dub that wts was writting what benefited them most in the article. Looking back, how right I was back then without realizing the scope of wts deception. So, I never really thought GB were 100% and never even really thought about them to the degree of whether they were 100% true or not. No wonder I'm here today :)

Quandry

Oh, yes, at one time I was happy in my delusion that the GB was totally inspired by God. I believed every word. I remember feeling that I was like one of the Israelites...a chosen people.

I didn't understand everything, however, but had been conditioned to thoink that the fault was mine. I thought I was not a "spiritual person" as I ought to be. I admired many who had the WT magazine underlined all over the place. Especially the ones who used different colors for different thoughts! Wow!

Of course, when they changed the generation in 1995, I thought, "Wait a minute. For years on the inside cover of the Awake it said they were building my confidence that the generation that was alive in 1914 would not end until the big A." I asked my husband for an explanation, which he couldn't completely give, even though he was the Watchtower Study conductor. When I realized I still couldn't understand it, and pressed him further, I actually became a bit afraid of questioning....not wanting to seem apostate.

I think at that time, a little bit of doubt set in.

Sapphy

Nicedream - Yes I thought they were always right. Then I read crisis of conscience and realised that the GB is just the senior body of elders of the society. That's all.

The new light of late has been self-serving for them. Need some younger members? All of a sudden 1935 isn't the cut off for the heavenly calling. Need 1914 to keep some relevence? Overlapping generation doctrine where 1+1=1, oh and we'll bounce that through while Ted is unwell...

I'd be very tempted to ask your husband what the difference between 'Inspired' and 'Spirit directed' is.

As someone here said, it's a distinction without a difference.

AllTimeJeff

I thought they walked on water until my brother passed away. It was then that slowly but surely, I started to think for myself.

moshe

Unfortunately, the direction the GB leads JWs towards, often leads to a JW's early death. I realized that in 1980 when the ban on organ transplants was lifted for JW's and I had to gall to ask, if the GB had bloodguilt over the needless deaths of JW's who died after refusing, say, a kidney transplant. That first step of independent thinking caused a rift with the elders that never closed.

If I had had the Internet back then, it would have been easy to figure out why parts of the WT religion bothered me so much- it took me another 7 1/2 years to figure out the spirit direction was actually, "mind control", that is all.

Heaven

As a child back in the '60s and a teen in the '70s I had no clue who the GB were. They really weren't important in my life. They were some nebulous group that I never paid any attention to. I had my awakening during my teen years when I was told I had to 'subject' myself to my husband. There was no way I could do that. Then, the WTS came out saying that there was some truth to Evolution. I'm like, "Hey, wait a minute here!" The whole field serve-us activity didn't sit well with me either as I could not find anywhere in the Bible that said salvation came by handing out Watchtower and Awake! magazines. I never went out in field serve-us. I was never comfortable trying to force religious beliefs on people.

Then, in my early 20s, with both my parents in the same room at the same time, I asked them both if the Watchtower was directed by God. My Dad said "No." and at exactly the same time, my Mom said "Yes." There was an immediate "Uh Oh!" look that passed between them. I stood there with this look on my face .... .

Now, with the Internet, there is so much more to the wackness of the Watchtower than I ever imagined. But even 30+ years ago, I knew something wasn't right at all with it.

EmptyInside

I went along with most of it. But, there were some points I couldn't really go along with, such as, no marriage for resurrected ones on earth. It didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Plus, I always thought they were a bit too strict on entertainment.

Am I the only one who thought the GB was 100% correct when they were a JW?

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