In the 1960's, when I was most active as a Jehovah's Witness, it was a different, more relaxed religion. We were filled with confidence about our "Truth" because we were skilled in rebuttal, overcoming objections, and we encouraged tough questions to test our mettle in the door to door work.
An Anti-Dub book, "30 years a Watchtower Slave" was released in 1956, we Newbies were told about it and couldn't wait to read it and comment about it.
It was seen as a pathetic effort at spite--never as a serious threat to our confidence in what we had.
So--what was different about the JW religion and our skillset back then from the Watchtower World of paranoia and enforced loyalty today?
I think I know.
We were like boxer George Foreman before Ali knocked him out. We were Mike Tyson before Buster Douglas introduced his face to the canvas in that ring in Japan.
We were bullet proof.
Not until you have a bone-shaking reckoning do you lose confidence and wonder, "WTF just happened?"
I had it happen to me only one time. It shook me.
I got into a religious debate with a Mormon and he cleaned my clock.
I had not thought it possible. Well--it was!
Today and for the last 20 years, the Internet has provided the silver bullets and vampire stakes and holy water within reach of Weaponized whistleblowers.
The Ex-JDub community is no longer clueless.
Now, so-called Apostates can carpet bomb.
Stop and think about it--all the most intelligent JW's have awakened and moved out. This leaves the--what's the nice way of saying it?--the less intellectually capable to fight the fine fight against the A-team on the outside. (A for Apostate.)
The 1960's version of an Apostate was called Evil Slave Class.
You know what passed for zingers and hard-hitting offense for the Evil Slave? You'll laugh.
An Evil Slave tried to expose Pastor Russell for the Miracle Wheat scandal or his divorce trial gossip about "floating about like a jellyfish from woman to woman." Yes, it was silly stuff--unimportant.
Today, we can jab with the U.N. scandal, rabbit punch with a list of changed doctrinal teachings, and gut punch with the child molestation inquiry in Australia or uppercut with Candace Conti and the million dollars of lawsuit settlements.
These combinations are irrefutable. There is no body armor to keep the bullets from digging deep. The average JW is D.O.A. in these conversations.
Enough Elders have been handed their ass at the door to have revised the Watchtower strategy: saying they'll research and return but joining the "Witness protection program" instead. Retreat!
You know what it is like? It's like the Punic Wars fought by the Roman Empire against Hannibal of Carthage.
The mighty Roman legions were invincible and supremely confident until they met Hannibal on the field of battle. Suddenly, legion after legion was wiped out!
Rome threw everything they had against Hannibal and lost again and again until they were licking their collective wounds and wondering what had gone wrong.
Hannibal may have been the greatest general who ever lived. It was all because he knew something the Romans didn't understand. So, Rome simply stopped fighting! Imagine that! This mighty, streamlined, juggernaut curled up in the fetal position behind Rome's walled city and refused to fight!
They stonewalled.
Hannibal rallied all their old enemies who had been dominated for so long and who had put up with their arrogant demands for too long. Hannibal marched around the walled city and hurled insults and tried to bait the legions into battle with catcalls and mockery. The cowering citizens inside, so accustomed to being invincible, wanted the soldiers to go outside and fight--but no! They were told to shut up, lay low, and fear any contact with demons outside.
You see, what Hannibal understood, which Rome had never taken the trouble to learn was this. Hannibal chose the field of battle in advance.
He took the high ground. He took command of the terrain! He never fought a battle that wasn't on HIS terms in the right place at the right time for his troops.
He knew how to set traps, bait the Romans and lure then to their doom.
Today, Ex-Jdubs have command of the field of battle. They can pick and choose where and how to strike in advance. They know names, places, dates of falsified prophecies and which publications lied. Ex-Dubs can recite the WT failures like a baseball fan recites batting averages!
So, the GB has hidden inside their new city walls and hunker down licking their wounds.
Their only defense is creating FEAR of the barbarians at the gate. And they do that so well, don't they?
They've made their slaves terrified of our elephants.
