Interesting Interview
Amber Scorah On National Public Radio
by Lets Think 7 Replies latest jw experiences
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iwantoutnow
She is great - I recommend her book! All Ex JWs would like it.
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Nathan Natas
I am very often surprised by the inaccurate statements made by people who once were Jehovah's Witnesses.
Amber was a "missionary" in China, so I would expect her to be well-versed in Watchtower doctrine, yet she says that JWs believe that after Armageddon only faithful JWs will be resurrected. This is not correcy; JWs are taught that EVERYONE will be resurrected after Armageddon so they could be given a fair chance to come to an accurate knowledge of the truth.
I don't think I'm being unfair: Amber is articulate and seems to be comfortable being interviewed. So how could she miss a very basic doctrinal point?
I've got her book and look forward to reading it, but I yearn for the next Barbara Grizzuti Harrison ("Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses" - 1978).
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blondie
Nathan, perhaps she meant that not all people who call themselves jws and are not faithful (officially df'd, da'd, or should have been and hid their crime/sin from other jws successfully) might have been judged during the period between 1914 and Armageddon which the WTS has labeled "judgment periods" like the time before the flood or the time before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The WTS has said that these people will not be resurrected.. If these jws are unfaithful at the time that Armageddon starts, they could not expect a resurrection. Many jws still cling to that although the WTS has made a few "adjustments" to their bold statements about who will be resurrected as if god had given them special info by holy spirit.
WTS comments on what a judgment period is from most current to the oldest comment.
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/s/r1/lp-e?q=judgment+period&p=sen&r=newest
https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/resurrection.php
We know that the scriptures says (Romans 6:7) For the one who has died has been acquitted from his sin.
My question here was Paul talking about Christians who were outside the official congregation due to disfellowshipping and still in that status when Armageddon started?
I have seen so-called faithful jw elders use terms that non-jws would understand more than the picky terms the WTS uses. Remember how some jws are so quick to correct a non-jw when they refer to a congregation group as a church by saying that the non-jw word is incorrect. It always seemed like a "gnat" issues to ome when they are so many "camel" issues like the concealing of child sexual abuse among their members and organization.
So will some jws latch onto that and say everything else she says is wrong; probably, but not all jws.
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steve2
Yes, Nathan, it is puzzling. Yet to be frank, sometimes even still-in JWs get doctrine so very wrong such as those seemingly innocent JWs who insist loyal JWs will not be the sole survivors following Armageddon.
BTW, her book is highly readable but there are entire sections that are about her secular podcast work in China (do we really need to read entire pages of excerpts from the Chinese language podcast?!) and some of her verbatim sections of her texting/emailing Jonathan who gradually helped her question her faith are exasperatingly paint-by-numbers and boring.
In terms of whether Scorah's memoir favourably compares to Grizzutti's literate and knowing memoir of a JW upbringing: No it doesn't. Yet as an insight into how real life can erode a pie-in-the-sky faith, Scorah's book is unbeatable. It is also written with a contemporary readership in mind with appropriately gritty and, in places, sexually explicit disclosures. Hers will resonate with a younger readership and I can imagine will inspire those who have left who don't know what to do with their lives.
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Jehalapeno
Y’all complaining about her using the term “missionary” with a general public audience are just ridiculous complainers.
its obviously a dumbing down of cult language to make the concept clear to the general public who are not familiar with the specific vocabulary Jehovah’s Witnesses use.
Imagine having to explain at every single interview what a pioneer is and every time saying, “It’s like what you think of as a missionary.” It’s just easier to say “missionary” to someone of the general population.
When I tell people I served at Bethel, I don’t say “I was a Bethelite.” I say, “I did volunteer work at the organization’s headquarters in New York.”
And re: salvation, JWs talk out of both sides of their mouths on it...can you blame members for being confused?
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steve2
Jehalapeno, no one here complained about Amber using the term "missionary". You could go back and read what was actually said.
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iwantoutnow
Nathan DUDE! She was giving a short interview helping people understand what it was like being a JW.
She was NOT conducting a Bible Study.
There are MANY details she left out that Bible Studies would only know after weeks, months, or years of being in JW land.
Really, she should only be praised for not only leaving the cult, but being brave enough to expose her soul as well as embarrassing details about her life, all the while EXPOSING what JWs are all about.
Not many (including me) in this forum have or will be doing what she is.