Speaking of opposers of Jehovah, I toured the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York long after I left the Witnesses. The tour guide was explaining the figures in the stained glass. The Founding Fathers of the US, some likeable preAnglican saints, theologians, and then there was Nimrod! Nimrod! At the risk of sounding geekish, I asked how could they cedebrate Nimrod. He was very awful in Witness lore. The guide said he was a might hunter and hunting was a skill from God -in those times. My eyes were bulging out and my heart was beating fast. So I ran home and opened Genesis. I found a moderate account.
No aluminum. No vaccines. No bangs on women. Only whores wore bangs. No makeup. Only whores wear makeup.
Their education policy put me in a double bind. They encouraged primary education and certainly you need those skills to function as a Witness. Yet college was a joke and evil. Also, I had to get As in high school to show J's people were sharp but any pride in those grades was super bad. Authority was greatly respected. Yet authority was evil.
When I was in junior high, I volunteered as a candy striper. The draw was the adorable uniform and hat. My parents were very goal driven. They wanted me to be a secretary or nurse. Nurse became problematic b/c of blood. There were so many Florence Nightingale nursing books back then for teenage girls. Women could only be secretaries, teachers or nurses. I earned credit towards a nursing school scholarship. Every man in the neighborhood was so proud of what I was doing. My mom told me I could not mention it at all at KH. She explained it to me over and over in a nice, understanding manner. I was dense. I saw nothing shameful in helping sick people. My father saw that I loved it and made me quit b/c charity begins at home. I begged to be allowed to be more charitable at home. I caught on about control several years later. Battlelines were drawn.
The Beatles, Stones, WHO and Dylan were bad, very bad. And I adored the badness. I finally had working papers so I purchased every Beatle single and one album. All were confiscated along with all this British Beatles loot I had from a pen pal who wanted Monkees stuff from America. This was long, long before "Why Don't We Do in the Road" and "Helter Skelter." My parents drove me to JFK to see John and Paul at the airport. Yet they were evil. I'd love to get an old fashioned ghetto blaster and blare Beatles music during a KH meeting. Sympathy for the Devil would be my opening number.
After the Beatles and Stones, and Magic Busic, My Generation, I Can see for Miles, I'd play some vintage Dylan. Maggie's Farm would be the WTBTS. I turn it up extra loud for the iconic Dylan tune about someday even the President of the United States must stand naked. I literally fought for my life over ownership of an FM radio.
Women have to wear dresses. Long skirts.
There is a regular theme. My father would rather we have polio than receive the vaccine. I don't think the Witnesses were ever against it officially. He served at Bethel and had many Rutherford type notions. OMG, he needed oral surgery. There was a big debate whether he could swallow blood. My mother always used her vast JW experience of generations to say we must believe but a grain of salt could be used.
I did not leave as much as they made it utterly impossible for me to stay. The very people who could best serve are the ones they make certain they chase away.
Only JWs wil lsurvive the big A. The only people I would not miss and want dead are JWs.