Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses (page 7)

yodastar

Nice Giordano. Unfortunately to BJ he will only feel more saved now through persecution but your post was brill. Cheers

LisaRose

In my case, I also know I am not alone, and that there are a great many others of my brothers and sisters -- a good number of them on here -- who also choose to remain and exist in the tension in spite of doubts, misgivings, struggles, and pains.

I get what you are saying, I felt like that at one time too. As someone who has been away from the organization for many years I would like to offer my viewpoint.

Are there things to love about Jehovah's Witnesses? Yes, if you are talking about the people. I have many family members still in this organization and I know they are good people. There are some bad elders to be sure, but not all.

I know it might seem a good thing to stay and ignore the bad things, but by doing that you are giving tacit approval to the wrongs of the organization. There is a saying that goes: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. I get that it is hard to leave the security of a group that you belong to, I was in for thirty years. I get that it's hard to condemn an organization that has many positive things for you. But is that enough to stay?

While there may be good people in the organization there are no good people at the top, a fact that you acknowledge. With all the secrecy of this religion you don't even know what evils are being perpetrated in your own congregation. You could have pedophiles who are known to the elders but not to the parents. By staying you are contributing to the mind set that all this is acceptable, that the good outweighs the bad. I would submit to you that if you left and stopped going to the meetings you would start to see this organization for what it is, a failed religion that is hurting the people that belong to it.

It's time to face the fact that if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.

whathehadas

Troll to the 20th power. Brother JERAMY? Why not Brother Joseph? Sounds Mormonish. C'mom

LAWHFol

Psalm 26:4 "I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites."

Brother Jeramy

Miss Behaving, your analogy about the Nazis would almost be apropos were it not for your error in making the Nazi government analogous to all Jehovah's Witnesses.

The more accurate analogy would be: the Nazi government is analogous to the "Watchtower Society" where the German people are analogous to "Jehovah's Witnesses."

The Nazi party steamrolled the German nation in its legal rise to power and then with its later authoritarian domination of the German people. Though the Nazi party intimidated citizens to join (since it had outlawed all other political parties), a great many Germans were not members of it, nor supported its fascist ideology or condoned its control of the German people. It's true, many Germans who opposed the Nazis (dissidents) were either sent to concentration camps or executed. Most other Germans submitted out of fear. Yet other Germans, swayed by the Nazi ideology, joined the party and embraced its agenda.

And there were then other German citizens who, remaining in Germany, engaged in secret activities to oppose and undermine the Nazi regime.

Yet while many Germans escaped Nazi control by leaving Germany, the vast majority of Germans remained. It was their home, and they loved their home and their people. Though Germany was poisoned by the Nazis, that didn't make Germany or the German people "all bad."

The Nazi party may have controlled Germany, but it did not define Germany. To be a German was not the same as being a Nazi, no matter whether the Nazi government did good (such as in the economic revitalization, which you mentioned) or bad (such as in its atrocities in war and the Holocaust).

And though the Nazis were finally defeated, the German people remained.

And so in this way, and to again realign your analogy, the Nazi government is analogous to the "Watchtower Society" where the German people are analogous to "Jehovah's Witnesses."

Brother Jeramy

dubstepped, you wrote . . .

The OP lost me as soon as I saw that he couldn't spell "Jeremy".

My name is, in fact, spelled Jeramy (with an "a" before the "m"). It's not an entirely uncommon spelling.

berrygerry

Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses

I could not afford the fees charged for the Scientology courses.

rip van winkle

Bother JerAmy,

You write familiar.

bellasmile

Thank you Brother J.. It is not easy to agree to disagree but that is part of being an evolved human being. I just got here (this forum) and am very happy to read your post. It would be very easy to just walk away or discard everything as false. Just as it is too easy to blindly accept everything as truth. But I know if someone truly "knew" in their own heart and are at peace with leaving they would not be here trying to hate on someone else s views. I was where you were at one time in my life but not now. However I feel it is important to keep my mind and heart open either way and in the end, I believe that takes more strength.

Brother Jeramy

bellasmile, thanks for your kind and wise words, which, as it turns out, are among the only kind and wise words that have been given in response here. With a couple exceptions, the vast majority of responses have been, shall we say, less than civil. Toxic, in fact.

You made a great point when you wrote the following:

I know if someone truly "knew" in their own heart and are at peace with leaving they would not be here trying to hate on someone else's views.

True indeed.

Why I remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses

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