Your Top 5 - Most Harmful JW Teachings

by Scully 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Scully

  We all know that the doctrine and dogma of the WTS is completely false, so I'm not even going to include topics like "trinity" or "gehenna" or anything like that in my personal list.

  But I'd like to see what other people list as their top five most harmful JW teachings.

  #5. Females in the congregation are inferior to males.

  #4. You must override your personal conscience in favour of WTS rules, even when you know it's wrong.

  #3. Shunning Disfellowshipped™ and Disassociated™ individuals, without being allowed to form your own opinion or hear their side of the story, even when it is a family member or close friend, this teaching destroys families and results in far too many people taking their own lives from the agony of being rejected by the only people they have ever had relationships with.

  #2. Forsaking higher education, well-paid employment and planning for retirement.

  #1. The No-Blood rule has cost more lives since it was first introduced by Rutherford than Jonestown, 10 times over.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I don't think I can improve your list.
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  skeeter1

  #2. It's not just higher education. The Watchtower robs all facets of one's life. "Put the Kingdom first" means putting the rest of your life dead last. Education, career, hobbies, children, etc. are seen as wasteful pursuits because the world is going to end very soon. A True Christian has to devout his life to the Watchtower recruiting work. Of course, the Watchtower has taught for well over a century that the world is going to end (see 1914, 1915, . . . ), but that is "old light" and one has to accept that the world is really going to end very soon.
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  rip van winkle

  The application of the two witness rule on allegations of child sexual abuse.
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  BackseatDevil

  #5 The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is the most accurate bible on the planet and each world of the bible should be taken with precise literalism.

  #4 There are two classes of Jehovah's Witnesses... males who can do anything, and females who must know their proper place.

  #3 There are two classes of human beings, those that live outside of Jehovah's Organization that is not worthy of help either through charity or through humanitarian work, and those that live inside Jehovah's Organization that one must be willing to give their life for.

  #2 There are two classes of Christians, one class that goes to heaven and another class that lives here on earth.

  #1 Being humble before Jehovah. - As a religion who honestly believes that they have the one true answer, there is a background smug sense of superiority that develops. Pretty soon this sense of superiority means they are judging people as 'sheep' or 'goats' (even jokingly) or judging each other as to whether they are good enough to be in God's One True Organization... all under the guise of being "humble before Jehovah". I'm pretty sure that is one of my biggest issues with the religion as well as an issue that trickles down to many many hypocritical issues of the organization.
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  cult classic

  The teaching/belief that this life is not good enough to live now.
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  JakeM2012

  Scully,

  I think your list pretty well nails it. I would say one thing that disturbs my wife and I is that of not helping out in the present system to make it better, just be good "true christians" and preach (leave the WT and A at the doors) They preach staying separate from the world, don't lift a hand to help anyone that is in need, and bash anyone that would get an education that would possibly enable them to help thousands in difficulty. This I don't understand.
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  jookbeard

  I think the destruction of billiions of non JW's or those that dont have the right "heart condtion" or those who have continually rejected the message of "gods kingdumb" at Harmageddon is particularly damaging
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  tim hooper

  Being afraid of "bringing reproach on Jehovah's name".

  For me, as a naturally boisterous and mischievous child, it was the most damaging of all JW teachings. Incredibly suppressive for any youngster. For quite a while I felt responsible for the entire world.

  Now I'm just a boisterous and mischievous old git.
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  WTWizard

  I will add that they expect people to live poor. They go into territories that are nothing more than rubbish dumps, into houses that are rubbish dumps, and waste all their time doing that. Usually, their own homes and cars become dilapidated, since they neither have the time or money fixing or upgrading things. Yet, when they take time out to earn money to fix things or take the weekend off so they can get that jalopy fixed, they are bashed for materialism. How often I have heard of people that had ample (not lavish, ample) incomes discuss how they cut way back so they could pious-sneer at the a$$emblies.

  Also, I hate the difficulty in sex. There are so many rules against meeting the opposite sex. Also, they are so against people that are naturally gay or bisexual that they must suppress their sexuality. And, when people cannot meet the opposite sex, some become homosexual--or pedophiles. It is this kind of forcing people away from their native sexuality that creates problems. Then they are supposed to suppress it, wasting their time instead pious-sneering. Which adds to their material woes in addition to suppressing their sexuality.