I'm in and have to be for now. I figure I can do more to wake friends and family up on the inside than the outside and i didn't come to that decision without a great deal of pain. I know it's not "the truth" but it isn't a bad life for me,and I still very much believe in God. The witnesses aren't right but neither are the Mormons, the catholics, etc and i have other family devoted to both those faiths. I wrote a thread about panic attacks but they've stopped since i made a decision to stay rather than go or constantly dwell on going. My question is: for anyone still in, and loves God and the Bible, do you try to have conversations about those things at the door, rather than WT doctrine? This is really a question for christians who are still jehovahs witnesses. Has anyone/ does anyone do this to get around it? I enjoy talking about God and the Bible.
Is there any way around this? (Preaching when you don't believe)
by venusinfauxfurs 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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lilbluekitty
I wouldn't know how anyone (who doesn't believe that crap they teach) could do it if they have a partner at the door with them without them freaking out and "telling" on you. I'm inactive and never spoke up while I was active, I just basically stopped going and quietly faded away. If you're okay with the fact that some of the JWs with you in service might get offended or rat on you, go ahead. Though if you're a guy maybe you can go to the doors by yourself, then it's cool. I can't tell which gender you are, I'm female so I always had another "sister" with me.
I applaud you for still believing in God and the Bible! A lot of people who don't want to be JWs anymore are so angry they stop believing in God, or they never did in the first place. I'm learning how to convert to Christianity (the real kind), so if you have any interest in that, my suggestion would be to read another translation of the Bible, for me it's the NIV translation which makes it soooo much easier to understand! Anyway, that might be too soon for you since you say you have to be in for now. But just a suggestion anyway. :)
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Aussie Oz
As i faded like a dying star, i would elect to go solo if there was odd numbers
then i would just take my bible and look for those that wanted to talk about IT.
as i faded more, i would just stand at not homes front porch for as long as i could.
then i just threw it in completely.
oz
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AvocadoJake
Why should we blame God, when he warned us people would behave this way!
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diamondiiz
A lot of people who do don't want to be JWs anymore are so angry they stop believing in God
Problem is that there is no proof of God especially since bible is full of fables and distorted facts which eliminated being holy which means that if there is a God he's not what bible describes. As for anger, I don't think it has much to do with god as much as it has to do with having our lives screwed over, youth lost, opportunities taken away and so forth.
Preaching when you don't believe
When I learned the truth about wts, I still believed in a lot of nonsense and the bible itself. As you explore more, you will either free yourself of all unprovable beliefs or you will base your beliefs on something that is dear to you without it necessarily being the reality. This will take time as you continue to explore the history, religion and evolution of god. While preaching with JW in service, it won't do you any good discussing bible or god since if you end up studying with them you WILL HAVE TO study wts publications so you end up getting nowhere that way. I'm sure you talked about the bible with householders on several occasion and I'm sure you will remember that the conversation always ended up pointing to wts as God's channel........
If you want to preach your own version of beliefs and on your own, most people also don't care about religion or bible so your success will be similar to that of when you were peddling wts BS. If you want to talk bible with other believers, then you can look for bible groups, or church groups but you must be careful you don't get discovered by other JWs or you'll be DF. While, I'm sure you see a lot of good people trapped in wts, you have to realize that if you ever hit a wrong nerve with any of them, you will hear from the elders. As you also know, JW "friend" are generally not real friends but are conditional associates as long as you agree with all their believes - the day you stop, or make your views known, many of these so called friends will no longer acknowledge your existence - this also includes family members. As I said, generally doesn't mean all but 99% fall in that category of not real friends.
Think about your strategy how you will exit because sooner or later you won't be able to cope with the BS you keep hearing. If you're young, as it appears, think about going back to school and take some useful courses that will help you in the future. If you have a trade, then that's a big plus. Look after yourself first and plan your future as wts will not do so for you.
take care.
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wobble
In my later years of being in, I never pushed JW doctrine at the doors, I usually elected to go by myself, only on rare occasions did someone ask to work along with me, even then I simply got a conversation going and talked about the Bible and listened to the H'Holderand left a couple of mags or a brochure as a way of ending the conversation.
If I was with a companion, I would studiously write down all the info about the "call", but I never went back.
In early 2007 I stopped going in the DtoD work because I had come to the conclusion that the 1914 teaching was simply not in scripture at all,I did not get hung up onthe date 607 BC or anything like that, I just read Daniel and could see that the whole doctrine was pulled out of someone's arse.
Less than a year later, despite all my family being in, I walked away for good.
I don't see that you will have a problem with DtoD if you use my method, I will be surprised if you stick to the whole pointless waste of time for long though.
A lot of people hang on in the Borg thinking they will help family to get out, How exactly? If you haven't made it out yourself you cannot lead someone else, you are not free to speak what you know, carefully phrased little thoughts are brushed off by JW's, they don't think about what you say, so how can you make a difference to family by "hiding your light under a bushel"???
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AK - Jeff
I'm in and have to be for now.
Being in or out is a choice. No one HAS TO BE IN. Some might elect to, because it causes less pain than leaving right now. You are creating a false dilemma with your first statement. It simply is not true.
I figure I can do more to wake friends and family up on the inside than the outside and i didn't come to that decision without a great deal of pain.
Probably not. You are inside an insular group who tolerate very little free thought, and even less objection to anything that is dispensed from the 'Society'. The eventuality of your decision will likely be an inability to maintain the charade, being disfellowshipped, or disassociated. Those you attempted to influence will shun you, and pray for days that Jehovah will wash any of your negative comments out of their mind. In the end, you would have wasted precious years inside a lie.
I know it's not "the truth" but it isn't a bad life for me,and I still very much believe in God. The witnesses aren't right but neither are the Mormons, the catholics, etc and i have other family devoted to both those faiths.
Ok. But again, how can you live a lie and feel at peace with 'God' if you believe in him? SO you have identified THREE wrong religions - where is the right one? How does other peoples' devotion have anything to do with your life, your worship? Do three wrongs [or 10,000 wrongs] make a right?
I wrote a thread about panic attacks but they've stopped since i made a decision to stay rather than go or constantly dwell on going.
You have solved a short term problem by attaching yourself longterm to a lying religion? Don't get that.
My question is: for anyone still in, and loves God and the Bible, do you try to have conversations about those things at the door, rather than WT doctrine? This is really a question for christians who are still jehovahs witnesses. Has anyone/ does anyone do this to get around it? I enjoy talking about God and the Bible.
Sorry, I don't fit your category. Once I found the Jehovah's Witnesses to be a lie - I left. Once I found Christianity to be false - I left. Once I found religion in general to be false - I left. Once I found the god-concept to be superstition based on lies and culture rather than truth - I left. I enjoy talking about god and the Bible, just not from the same perspective you enjoy I suppose.
Peace in your journey. Mine took 8 years from finding out that JW's were wrong to now. I have never been happier, and it has exactly nothing to do with religion and everything to do with truth - only that truth is very painful along the way - but worth every spasm in the end.
Just remember this: If your current truth is not, and other truths you know of are not, it is very likely that the truth you adopt will not be truth also.
Just think of this: If you had been born into a muslim nation, you would perhaps now be struggling with leaving one particular muslim faction to believe the truth of another. It's all about culture. Truth really doesn't enter in to it if you allow yourself to think clearly. Thinking clearly takes time though - and you will not ever think clearly inside a cult. There were a few clear thinkers inside Jonestown too - but to a man they all drank the kool-aid.
Jeff
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finallysomepride
don't, you are under no obligation too, as they say the NT was writen for the anointed, fade slowly
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Black Sheep
The bOrg teaches a lot of crazy stuff. Make sure you have literature to back it up in your book bag at all times.
When you knock on the door with a partner, spout WT doctrine that is normally reserved for fully indoctrinated JWs. Make sure that the partner is extremely uncomfortable with what you are saying, but that you have the relevent book, dog eared, at the page, in your bag. If you have ever heard the partner deny a WT doctrine, that is the one to go for.
Remember at all times, that you are a staunch JW and stand up for WT doctrines and don't hide them from anyone no matter how crazy they make you look. Be an 'out there' cult member. Watch the likes of the Westboro Baptist Church on youtube to get some hints on how to use a Watchtower to justify being a complete are sole.
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moshe
The witnesses aren't right but neither are the Mormons, the catholics, etc
If the Jehovah's witnesses stopped killing it's members over a false no-blood dogma and stopped destroying families with their shunning policy, they would have eliminated 90% of my opposition to that religion. They still won't be a charitable religion and they will still waste people's lives with useless WT publication distribution work and lack of civic responsibilty.
I hear all the time how JWs say they can better help family by staying inside the KH.
How So? Can you talk about the Crisis of Conscience book? Hardly. Can you point out the gross errors of logic and fallcies of argument in the WT study? Well, no, not if you don't want to be marked as being an opposer of the "meat in due season" from the GB.
Suppose a family member says something against the WT that alerts you to them thinking the WT religion could be wrong. What do you do. Out yourself and try to help them? Very risky- they could have just been feeling you out, or maybe they will later get pangs of loyalty and rat you out to the elders. Basically, a closet non-believer JW has only one bullet in his gun.
Suppose a friend of yours suddenly sees the light and leaves the KH- everyone in the KH shuns them. Now what do you do? Shun them, too, so as not to blow your cover?- or tell them the truth and take their side and in so doing expose the lie you have been hiding from everyone.