by Shawn 39 Replies latest jw experiences
The Watchtower and the Bible.
Add what I experienced in the congregation/organization.
The three were not in agreement.
13 years later I took time to understand why. Thanks to Randy's site, Seven006's story and JWD.
Glad I'm done with that mess. Thanks, Guys!!
-Aude.
Can anyone get me a copy of "Jehovah's Witnesses; A Non-Prophet Organization". I wish I had the money for it right now but I have ordered so many books in the past week. I can't handle the strain of another thing right now. Anyone? I can return it when I am done with it.
Here is another good thread:
Please help me prove the wts wrong
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/89057/1.ashx
I think that the info about "WT Misquotes" may be of interest to you. But as always go slow when using them. Do not overwhelm the person with all of the quotes at a time.
Example:
Ask your friend for a cooy of the "Trinity Booklet" then using the misquotes on the web try to get your hands on the books mentioned through ILL from the library. Copy the pages. THEN present this material in a questioning manner.
Example:
Can you explain this to me? Why did the WT misquote this source material? Wait for an answer. If this method is followed slowly enough all of the misquotes will begin to have an impact on the 'brainwashing'. One or two misquotes can be dismissed as errors, but as the list gets longer and longer it will get harder to 'explain away'.
Also it may be a good idea for you to begin to look up for yourself any references that are quoted in WT books/mags by obtraining the originial material and comparing it. Yes, this a a lot of work, but the rewards will be well worth the time invested.
NewLigh2
Ask your friend for a cooy of the "Trinity Booklet" then using the misquotes on the web try to get your hands on the books mentioned through ILL from the library. Copy the pages. THEN present this material in a questioning manner.
This is a very good idea.
When I was pioneering in the early 90's, a young minister pointed out some of those things to me and another pioneer. I was dumbstruck, by the deception of the quotes in the brochure. I asked two elders to explain it to me, not realizing they were both questioning the WTS themselves. (one was my husband) The other elder suggested I write to the society and ask them to explain it to me. I didn't do that, because I thought it would put me under suspicion. So I dropped it.
The quotes are blantantly misleading. The minister had found the books quoted and read the full passages to us, that made it read very, very differently, and not supportive of the WTS views at all. With their placement of quotation marks and "................" for passages they didn't want to include, it totally changed the meaning of the quotes.
A few years later, when I was coming to my senses about the WTS, I remembered that situation, and it just cemented everything for me.
I will try that. I have been told though that the trinity is a topic that should not be brought up because of the deep training JWs have had in regards to it.
Here is yet another example of how you can 'place a seed of doubt' in your friend's mind. Get a copy of the Dictionary of the Bible by John L. McKenzie, Macmillan Publishing, c/r 1977, 1965 from your local library or use the Inter-Library-Loan (ILL) system to obtain a copy. On p. 58 you will find a picture of ARTEMIS OF EPHESUS that has a 'tower crown' on her head. It looks just like the one found on every copy of the current Watchtower issue. Ask her if she thinks that it resembles the 'watchtower' pictured on the WT Mags and ask her if she thinks that the 'tower' is a 'pagan sysmbol' since it is on that idol's head as a crown. You should NOT tell her your conclusion. If she dismisses it. Let it go. The picture will stick in her mind and grow as time goes by. It is the little 'seeds of doubt', planted over a long period of time that will begin to bare fruit. What you are doing is placing 'little straws' which will later become 'THE straw that broke the camels back' in getting her to find her way out of the mind-control.
The picture can be found on this page:
How the Watchtower Society Uses Pagan Symbols
Just click on the smaller picture for a full larger picture.
NewLight2
There were no "books" or guides for leaving the Borg when I chose to leave, circa 1959. I remained a "seaker" for over a decade with holdover ideas that came from JW indoctrination. It wasn't until I read "Thief In the Night" by William Sears that my ideas of a more inclusive God and a whole different paradigm came into focus. Definately a turning point in my life.
carmel
Can anyone get me a copy of "Jehovah's Witnesses; A Non-Prophet Organization".
I'll see if I can find my copy. Most of my videos are boxed up since I am moving, but I'll try to dig it out.
I'll send you a pm when I find it.
J
"I will try that. I have been told though that the trinity is a topic that should not be brought up because of the deep training JWs have had in regards to it." -- Shawn
As a SUBJECT that is true. But using the booklet for this purpose is a different mater.
The JW can 'argue' Bible verse upon Bible verse to prove that the trinity doctrine is not taught in the Bible. But, they will have a hard time 'explaining' why the Society has MISQUOTED the source material to back up their point of view in that booklet.
You, on the other hand, can work the system by being 'curious' about the JW beliefs and want to know exactly why they teach that the 'trinity doctrine' is wrong, since this is a major point in your own belief system. That is why you want to read their 'Trinity' booklet. You want to find out "THE REAL TRUTH" (ie that the JW's are right) about the trinity.
Now, with that booklet in hand, you start to read. Your 'unbelief' at what you have been reading has caused you to 'question' the sources that they used, so that you wanted to 'read the sources for yourself' and guess what you have found!! MISQUOTES!!
It is a game, Shawn, and you must always 'play dumb' in order to get through the mind-control. If a JW THINKS they are 'teaching' you, you can ask all kinds of damaging 'questions'.
This is the method that is taught in Ron Rhodes book that you said you had in your posession.
NewLight2
PS
John L. McKenzie is one of the authors that are misquoted by the Watchtower in the Trinity booklet. The Tower crown example should be used only AFTER you have done some 'research' from the WT Trinity booklet. Your 'excuse' is that while you had that book home from the library, you were just 'looking through it and guess what I found'.
I found about about it from reading:
Why You Should Believe in the Trinity: An Answer to Jehovah's Witnesses by Robert M Bowman, Jr
