How many here have never been one of Jehovah's Witnesses?

by Spade 60 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  keyser soze

  Now comes the interesting part: have these so called “enlightened” individuals found something better?

  I can only speak for myself. The absence of WT dogma in my life has made it considerably better.

  Have they found the truth?

  Define 'truth'. I found an absence of it among JWs. Not finding an absolute truth elsewhere doesn't change that in the least. Other religions being wrong doesn't make the JWs right.

  What they crave is acknowledgment that their way is the best way.

  Again, I speak only for myself when I say that I need no such acknowledgement. I have zero doubt that the best way is not found among Jehovah's Witnesses.

  with a commitment to intellectual integrity, objectivity and honest debate would find the variety of conflicting doctrines disconcerting.

  Anyone with a commitment to intellectual integrity, objectivity and honest debate would be willing to acknowledge the conflicting doctrines, and ever-changing "truth" of the JW religion. It is the reason many people are here.
• 

  Ding

  In response to my previous post, Tia wrote:

  I am sure Jehovah knows what I am doing but I don't think He considers this a disfellowshipping offense. I don't think that God considers it is a sin for me to express my thoughts in writting.

  Some elders and some people at WT headquarters, though, might think that it is a sin to say what it is on your mind, but I don't agree. They are free to think what they want, I am free to do what I want as long as I don't commit a serious sin. And since when is writing down what you think a sin?

  I agree wholeheartedly.

  My question was addressed to WT apologists who come on this board to persuade us that we are doomed unless we believe that the WTS is God's organization, God's mouthpiece, God's faithful and discreet slave to whose authority we must submit...

  ... even though by posting here they are committing an act for which that very organization would disfellowship them.

  If Jehovah DOESN'T consider such action "a disfellowshipping offense," what does that say about the organization that DOES?
• 

  thetrueone

  The power of god into men's hands defines the inherent corruption of religious cults, such as the JWS/WTS.

  By the way in case anyone is wondering including the pontificating righteous SPADE , I was born into this faith like many here and I've seen both

  sides of the Kingdom Hall doors in and out and I found that there is equally bad inside as there is outside.
• 

  palmtree67

  Alice asked:

  have these so called “enlightened” individuals found something better? Have they found the truth? As opposed to the “lies” they used to believe?

  Now that I'm no longer a JW, I've come to know a Jesus that I can really love. And I am much, much happier!!

  You're still in ( only sort of, I guess, or you wouldn't be posting here. But that's another discussion.....) and you are the most BITTER, ANGRY OFFENSIVE, INSULTING person I've ever met.

  So......where is the happiness and truth that YOU'VE found? If you truly felt you were happy and had truth, you wouldn't be here!!

  Hugs,

  Palm
• 

  just n from bethel

  A better question would be:

  How many people "not" here, have never heard of Jehovah's Witnesses?

  Take a look at the bigger picture: Around the world there are very many different religions and belief systems. Billions of individuals have not heard of nor learned about your particular sect of Christian-Judeo beliefs.

  For that matter, what do you really know about Mormons? Seventh-Day Adventists? Scientolgists? Christian Science? Quakers? Amish?

  What do you know about Islam? Can you even explain the basics of Shiites and Sunnis? How many Hindu sects can you even name?

  The point is - when you start gathering facts that are not tainted by Watchtower's painted world view, you see how irrelevant your religion is to most of the world. And it's not because, people have ignored the WT message. It's because the so-called world-wide message has never gotten to them. Despite the accolades of growth and numbers the WT loves to brag about, the truth is - even few Westerners know much about JWs - unless they or their relatives were once a member.

  The fact is: you're part of religion that claims it has been commissioned to preach their beliefs to ALL the nations and in ALL the earth. At the same time, they can't even penetrate most of the Eastern hemisphere. And when they do, they still have to resort to using Bibles, translated by ... wait for it... Christendom's churches. (i.e. their competitors).

  Let that sink in. You'd probably claim that the WT doesn't think for you, that you're not brainwashed, etc. Prove it - provide a rational explanation on why God's only channel to preach his message in the few remaining days before the end, cannot complete the task of preaching in all the world.
• 

  thetrueone

  Its obvious that the WTS intensionally dumbs down their members by using controlled information, complacently bias to their agenda

  which always involves the support of the organization itself.

  The pointedly simple and logical fact is that the organization is not presenting the real truth, about itself among many other things.

  Thats why the high turn over of people once involved with the JWS to never return.

  Of course there are still a small amount of people who think they are better off covering themselves with

  this invested venture of distinguished righteousness no matter how pretentious it is.
• 

  sd-7

  Well, to use a bit of newspeak, I am not one of Jehovah's Witnesses at this moment. Therefore, I have never been one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Have I found something better? Yes. I have found that I have the right to test my beliefs to make sure that they are true. I have found that I can read the Bible and believe what I read on the page without having to consult any other religious publication. Or if I don't understand it, I can read from any number of different sources and reach a conclusion if I wish.

  Perhaps you should read the May 15, 1984 Watchtower. Did this prediction come to pass? Was it attributed to any human source, or to the Christ and to Jehovah God? Whose name do Jehovah's Witnesses claim to speak in when they teach others?

  Labeling each individual here as immoral and ungodly is simply unfair and an impossible conclusion to draw for people you've never even met. And let's face it, Jesus didn't come to save people who already feel they're righteous. He came to save the worst kind of people, the sinners, those cast off by the righteous. Can any man on earth claim to be righteous? Righteous by what? Your wages can only be death, your own works will only condemn you all the more, as mine condemn me.

  Belonging to an organization that claims the mantle of men like Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and John, I would think one would want to closely examine the history of that organization and the credentials of those who take the lead. Given Jesus' warning about false Christs and false prophets, it is reasonable to objectively examine as much of such a religion's history as possible. Many here have done so, and recognized that the Watchtower Society would have failed such an examination. Why? Based, not merely on the writings of so-called heretics, but on the writings of the Watchtower Society itself. It would be easy to provide examples, not merely from the early 1900s, but from 1950 until now.

  So...my recommendation to you, is to pick your gauntlet and consider dueling someone you will successfully defeat.

  --sd-7
• 

  dgp

  I have never been a Jehovah's witness and never will be. I am sure you can tell I am what you would call a worldly by the mere fact that I didn't claim to be "one of" Jehovah's witnesses.

  I'm here because I came to know someone who rejected me, to a great extent because I am not a witness. She failed to convince me to become one, by the way, and, despite all the things I learned on many sites over the internet, and the many books I read, the misery she had to go through is certainly more than enough for me not to want anything to do with the religion. I am not in contact with her anymore, and I avoid that contact because I have moved on, but it still makes me so very sad to think that she will probably waste her life serving a bunch of assholes. If I could get her out, I would. It is a very sad thing for me that I couldn't. I hope I will eventually help someone not to join.

  My opinion is that this site if full of former Jehovah's witnesses because they are the people interested in discussing the things that they were not free to discuss in that terribly homogenous and vertical atmosphere of the religion. Yes, they were not "diverse" in thinking because they were not allowed to. I wonder why the Watchtower does not insist on your wearing an uniform. One that would hide breasts and shape and haircuts that would make everyone look awful. Have you thought about suggesting that you use burkas yet? Maybe not, because you can't suggest anything.

  Your hypothetical statistics are called lies.
• 

  tia.dalma

  @ brotherdan

  Yes, I got your PM and I listened to the file. What can I say... I also feel that Jesus is kind of missing from this religion. I don't think we should worship Jesus, but I think he is present in the watchtower doctrine just in theory, he is not really taken as an example to be followed. His sacrifice is not considered enough for salvation, we need to add additional deeds in order to be saved... but this is another discution.

  About the experiences the speaker talked about- with elders and circuit overseer and district overseer - I saw these kind of things in the congregations too, and it makes me very sad, to see elders who use their positions to get revenge, to persecute others, to think highly of themselves because they have one title or another... it's sad.

  But I still have no intention to leave. The theoretical doctine of the organisation is in general true. I could never go to a religion who teaches trinity, or any kind of idolatry, and all the others reformed christian churches teach this. So at least the theological doctrine of this organisation gives me peace of mind. The faults and attitude of some people in this organisation drives me crazy...

  I'm sorry to say but lately I've learned that to remain in this organisation you have to become a little shrewd. I'm in the process of learning how to be like that.... at the stage of where I don't always say what I really think - this got me into trouble some times in the past.

  It's difficult and sometimes it's like a struggle to stay in the organisation, to not take into consideration and forget about all the issues that are not ok, maybe this is a trial the Bible speaks about as a burning among you that is happening to you for a trial in 1 Peter 4:12. So maybe that is what all this it, a trial. After all we don't have the trials that the first century christians had: to be tortured, given to lions, burned on crosses, maybe the trial to christians today is to stand and endure seeing the hypocrisy of some members of the congregation who might even have power and priviledges.
• 

  serenitynow!

  the Watchtower is a Factory of Atheists".

  porfiada- I agree with this wholeheartedly. I also envy those who were brought up in "normal" Christian households. All that so-called bible study as a JW, I know nothing about the scriptures, it's all been a waste of precious time.