Do you think JW’s are dangerous, if yes why? If not, why?

by suavojr 43 Replies latest jw friends

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  Giordano

  Suavojr........ my wife and I left in the mid 1960's because of the blood issue and wanting to start a family....... I didn't even know about the ban on transplants and vaccines at that time.

  A religion is about belief....... science is about knowledge. The JW's went be on knowledge and proclaimed that belief was more important. Belief being an interpretation of a silent god. You can't interrupt silence.

  I liked the JW's........ I grew up with them and had close contact with the 'friends'. I remembber those friends till this day. But I didn't really realize how devastating the blood doctrine was until Jonestown. You don't allow your children to die needlessly because Jim Jones or Freddy Franz, two total nut cases, decide to promote a false doctrine. While they and Jw's were with rare exception...... good people........... they failed to protect their children. When you refuse to protect your loved ones because a leader says so you diminish yourself and destroy your family and are no longer worthy of respect. In plain terms this is the only life we have..........no one should throw it away over a false teaching made up by ambitous people.
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  suavojr

  Wow Giordano, it so strange for me to think how you have been out for so long and yet nothing ever happened.

  Giordano Said:

  When you refuse to protect your loved ones because a leader says so you diminish yourself and destroy your family and are no longer worthy of respect. In plain terms this is the only life we have..........no one should throw it away over a false teaching made up by ambitous people.

  When a father tries to save the life of his young child by using blood, you are labeled as the monster They just don't look in a mirror.
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  Gypsy Sam

  Wow, madgiant, that quote is going on my Facebook. What a find!

  on the way out did a great job. I always think of it as it boils down to the exit strategy. Is there a dignified way to leave? If not, it's a cult.
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  Giordano

  Wow Giordano, it so strange for me to think how you have been out for so long and yet nothing ever happened.

  Things happened........in my mind. I had come in at age 12 so I remembered a different life. My father was a non believer in anything related to the WTBTS. After he passed away Mom became an uber witness and Of course I got dragged along. I pioneered after high school and in short order heard about a congregation 9 hours away that was desperate for help desperate enough to make me the Assistant Presiding Minister, the Bible Study Servant and the Ministry School Servant at the same time plus I was giving the 1 hour public talk a couple of times a month through out the circuit.

  I do believe my ego was driving the car and I was a happy passenger.

  However over the years I was a serious reader. The True Believer by Eric Hoffer outlined the methods that allowed radical social, religious and political groups control over their members....... the true believers. Out in service, my wife (we had married very young and recently celebrated our big 50th) would drive and I would be reading the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

  When we talked about starting a family I told my wife if their ever was a medical problem for her or our child I would not allow to die for want of a blood transfusion. She felt the same way. That was the string that got pulled.

  I pushed my ego to the rear seat and starting to see things for what they were.

  We relocated and made a clean break. No one had a clue. The saddest thing was when we were packed up and driving out of town Pop 7,000. I turned to my wife and said "in all of the good byes there wasn't a single worldly person to say good bye to." We hadn't made a single non JW friend.
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  Londo111

  JWs are the gun. The Watchtower pulls the trigger.

  I try not to blame JWs (as individuals). They are misled by the Watchtower, which is the source of danger.

  The Watchtower organization is likely one of the most dangerous cults in the 20th/21st century, precisely because of their whitewashed image.
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  nonjwspouse

  Gypsy Sam the underlined part is already on my facebook. I didn't know where the quote was from though until madgiant posted it was from a Jonestown survivor.
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  LongHairGal

  Londo111:

  Yes, this "whitewashed" image of the religion cannot be underestimated. They used to love quoting the scripture about "whitewashed graves". Well, that is how I would describe them.

  The world deserves to know the truth about what really goes on there and what the consequences are if somebody does join.
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  suavojr

  Giordano said: I pushed my ego to the rear seat and starting to see things for what they were.

  When we push our ego to the side, that is when we can start to learn and accept the truth no matter where it leads. From the surface the JW's look like an innocent group that just wants to serve God but underneath the surface, lies gruesome pain and anguish.

  Londo111 said:

  JWs are the gun. The Watchtower pulls the trigger.

  Thus the old JW leader saying, 'if the society says to jump, we must ask how high?'
• 

  scarredforlife

  When you refuse to protect your loved ones because a leader says so you diminish yourself and destroy your family and are no longer worthy of respect. In plain terms this is the only life we have..........no one should throw it away over a false teaching made up by ambitous people.

  This is so true.

  Yes, the Jehovah's Witnesses are a dangerous cult. They destroy families. They destroy sel-respect. They destroy your inner being.

  I've been out since 1973.
• 

  konceptual99

  If you are looking for a yes/no answer then it has to be yes however the reality is very much more grey.

  I am a Jehovah's Witness, at least nominally. Do I consider myself dangerous? Not at all. Having said that I am still extricating myself from the religion and therefore am still exposing my family, including children, to the teachings of the WTBTS. I guess I could be considered dangerous by some for doing that.

  Do I consider any of the people I know in the WTS as dangerous? No. They are generally pretty decent people, with decent lives and are far less likely to commit acts of violence or abuse against me or my family than some of strangers that live in my vacinity. Would they shun me if I was disfellowshipped? Would they support me in refusing a blood transfusion for my child (not that I would of course)? Would they watch me suffer if they thought I was an aposate? In the majority, yes. I guess that makes them dangerous.

  In most aspects of their day to day lives Witnesses are no more and, in many ways, significantly less dangerous than much of the population. It's when push comes to shove on matters such as blood, shunning, education, financial independance, charity and so on that their unwavering adherence to WTS dogma becomes dangerous. Their refusal to think for themselves pushes them into life changing decisions that often affect entire families, including those too young to make their own choice. They act without reason, in blind faith. That is dangerous and although the outcome may not be life threatening (although it can be) it can still be life changing for the worse.

  The worst of this however, when the decisions are life threatening or make large, negative and material differences to the lives of others that can last for years, destroying people in the process.