Untoward Rage towards The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society

by Band on the Run 25 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Band on the Run

  Whenever I feel sublime, I think of the Witnesses who forbid me such experiences. Witnesses don't have normal childhoods. My family's weird stance of believing but not conforming made it very hard. My mom was expelled from high school for not saluting the flag. It plagued her entire life. She dreamed of being a teacher or fashion designer. We were often allowed to do things if no Witness would know. She would always explain why whatever we were allowed to do was wrong. The double message was crippling. One year I was hospitalized for Christmas and given a stocking by the auxillary. How I loved it! I would dispute science with teachers. Perhaps if these incidents reflected enduring values, it would not be so painful. I paid a high price for my parent's lack of intellect. Everything that others found so admirable in me, my good grades, my volunteering as a candystriper, love of NYC were viewed by the Witnesses as heinous act. Despite decades passing, I am still jazzed up about my education. When I started a prestigious college, all my classmates were stroked. My extended family mocked and derided my decision.

  I am so grateful for stumbling upon this site. Because as much as I explain my situation to friends, I feel you must actually experience it to understand how all encompassing Witness life is. It is very different from being Anglican. I specialize in civil rights. Doing research, I found that a female lawyer for the Society published an article on Witness persecution in Japan preWWII. First, someone is allowed to be a lawyer! Second, a female person! Reading the article was sad. No individual stories of immense bravery by Witnesses were told. Her entire article was about the glory of the WTS. How does someone pass a bar admission test and yet be so enthralled with the crazy numbers. Unlike the majority of Witnesses, she possess hard skills to ferret out the truth.

  This experience in this moment is extraordinary. I am not alone and isolated, trying to balance my worldly knowledge and please the Witnesses. People here are not zombies. We are sharing our pilgrimages out of Witness land. This is more than I could ever hope from life.
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  bobld

  I am so sorry for what this Org done to you.Now if they would be truthful and print your story in the WT instead of the fake one like LITS posted here( wt dec 15.)It would never happen because they are from S.

  B
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  FloridaPerry

  I have a sister a bit like you. She was a hardcore JW, dropped out of HS to Pioneer. She always hated the strict way she was raised. Faded away, got her BS, then MBA. Very successful in business and went back to school to get her Law Degree. I think she's a bit disappointed not to find the kind of happiness she had hoped for through just education and money. Or maybe she's just realizing how very short life is. She's studying the Bible again. Same with my father, a PHD. I'm all for a University education, but it has its place.
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  Band on the Run

  Education does open doors. It is not a substitute for close, meaningful relationships. Education does not lead away from God. My experience is that education is derived from God. I always questioned the culture of the Witnesses. Education, particularly legal education, helped me examine my beliefs in a rigorous, disciplined fashion. It is not a choice between God and education. I no longer believe the Witness crap.

  Are active Witnesses posting here and counting it as time in the field work? It makes a mockery of my time as a child faithfully bothering innocent people. What adult is going to convert when an eleven year old rings the door bell, reads a verse from Revelation and asks "do you believe in eternal life"? I never got beyond that point.....The Witnesses smugly denounce other views. It is lunacy.

  God created humans with a brain. Within that brain, a conscience usually exists. She wants us to employ all our creative abilities and talents. Yes, all of them and more. Education threatens the Witnesses no end. If they were telling the Truth, they'd pay for their minions to attend higher education. What could they fear, especially with Jehovah behind them?

  People on this Board keep referring to one name of God as Jehovah. This is a fallacy that started in the Middle Ages in Europe, when Latin was transposed from Greek and into vernacular languages. God's name in a few scriptures is properly YHWH. Jewish people do not add vowels. God is so unique and different from humans that uttering the name is high heresy. YAHWEH is also incoorect. The name of God is a minor matter in the Bible. If it is used, YHWH is correct.

  Scholars agree on a whole host of Bible issues and doctrines from the plain reading of Scriptures. Many other items are disputed. My work has focused on a topic called the historical Jesus, which seeks to explain who this person actually was separate from later church teachings. Jesus' trial is studied extensively. An academic search will reveal thousands of explanations of the trial from the keenest minds in academia. There is a simple, powerful truth in recognizing that mysteries exist. Not everything can be summed up in a WT article. Within that free exchange of ideas, wondrous beauty exists.
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  cattails

  I'd be interested in the experiences of others. Clearly, being raised a JW during your developmental years must make it harder.

  You said it Janice, and please understand that with a new poster claiming to have gone to expensive name institutions of higher Ed. who can't spell simple words all sorts of flags went up in my mind.

  It's not what you said so much as what or who you claimed to be as opposed to the way you came across in your writing.

  But nobody's perfect. And yes, I agree with you that it's hard for a young witness going through early development, especially teens. It was for me and I know others who grew up with me in the same KHs that had a hard time with all the restrictions and the extra duties imposed on publishers to pioneer and to always be doing more for the "Organization".
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  Band on the Run

  Trolls should be ignored. Trolls should be ignored. Trolls should be ignored. You are making my point. Frankly, I don't need your help.