The retooling of the “generation”
teaching in 1995, 81 years after 1914 was a red flag. This was a benchmark
teaching that many Witnesses used to make crucial life-altering decisions. It
was simply torpedoed out of existence and replaced. My lingering doubts were
now crystalized that the leaders of this religion were clearly fabricating
their doctrines. As the years and decades marched on with no end in sight, they
were using a piecemeal approach to make modifications.
Regrettably, I remained active
until the nonsensical teaching in 2010 that two groups of anointed from 1914,
overlap to make up a continuous generation. I knew it was all a falsehood 15
years earlier, what was I thinking? Aside from the obvious fear of losing your
entire family and social network in a heartbeat, something else is at play in
the JW mindset.
It’s what is called herd
mentality. This is defined as, “The inability or refusal to listen to one's own
instinct or 'gut feeling' but to instead follow the majority for fear of being
wrong, ostracized or ridiculed.”
While we are nurturing doubts, we
feel guilty when we observe our fellow congregants and their apparent faithful
lifestyle. We are surrounded by pioneers, elders, servants, CO’s and Bethelites
etc. We go to large conventions and see literally thousands of people, many
that we respect and admire that tirelessly soldier on in their JW activities.
We wonder could all these families be duped and I’m right. On the other hand,
could I be the one that is seeing things incorrectly?
Therefore, the direct anxiety of
being shunned along with the “herd mentality” literally causes many years or
even decades to go by, before we can break free from the grip this religion has
on people.
The GB leadership whether today
or 80 years ago has a lot to answer for; they have indeed ruined a countless
number of lives of people who were mostly sincere and believed they were doing
God’s will.
