By now I’ve written a number of articles about Watchtower, but it’s been a while since I’ve written anything addressing the organization directly.
A recent development, however, has moved me to write my former religious leaders a sincere open letter of gratitude, as follows…
Dear Watchtower,
As you may know, I am a passionate advocate against the damage you are inflicting on countless current and former Witnesses with your profoundly harmful policies on child abuse, shunning, higher education, domestic violence and blood transfusions.
I certainly don’t expect you to help me with my work of raising awareness of your dangerous, cult-like attributes – so whenever you do assist me in this respect I feel duty-bound to express my gratitude.
As you know, you recently lodged a copyright takedown request with YouTube for one of my “Getting To Know” videos featuring Tony Morris’ first rant about tight pants during his branch visit in Rome.
Oh, you know! The one where he scolded his audience saying “you chuckle, I don’t think it’s funny, I think it’s DISGUSTING!”
The video against which you so vehemently protested was a shortened version of the video below, minus the hilarious skit at the end with Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon…
It goes without saying that by issuing a copyright takedown request for this video, you are both (1) claiming ownership of its outrageous content (I assume on Tony’s behalf), and (2) showing the world that, like any good cult, you will move mountains to censor any information that makes you look bad – even if it originates from you.
I honestly couldn’t be more profoundly appreciative, and hence I will not be challenging your copyright claim – even though my video quite clearly falls under the “fair use” laws.
Besides, I set up the separate “JW Survey” channel precisely to shelter my John Cedars channel from this sort of petty, retaliatory action from you (which I have already experienced two years ago for uploading a song about Sparlock).
So, despite getting a strike against my back-up YouTube account, I can honestly say there is no real harm done.
On the contrary, you have done me a huge favor by showing the world how litigious, surreptitious, banal, cowardly, and ashamed of your own paranoid rantings you are despite being “God’s one true organization.” Readers of this website who would be otherwise ready to leap to your defense will have a hard time imagining Jesus filing a copyright complaint against someone for repeating his own words.
Far from it, Jesus (who you claim to be head of your organization), was apparently only too happy to take responsibility for his own words and own up to them because, as he put it, “I have not spoken of my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak.” (John 12:49, New World Translation)
If you were truly “God’s organization” issuing life-saving proclamations through the holy spirit’s guidance and direction, you would be delighted that I am assisting you by spreading the words of one of the few members of your revered “faithful slave,” no matter how controversial these words might be.
Instead, your clearly-demonstrated desperation to conceal your own words (because you know full well they expose how backwards and deluded one of your leaders is) speaks volumes.
You are doing my work for me, and I can’t thank you enough!
I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude that you have not sacked or disfellowshipped Tony Morris, as I once feared you might.
If the Governing Body had done this, it would have sent a clear message to all Witnesses globally that it takes its responsibility to be “faithful and discreet” very seriously, and will not tolerate one of its members laying down arbitrary rules without basing anything on the scriptures – behavior it is happy to denounce as “Pharisaical” when observed in other religions.
The fact that you have kept Tony Morris in his position despite his embarrassingly inappropriate rant against clothing (at such a prestigious event as a branch visit in front of more than 1 million Witnesses) again shows thinking Witnesses the true nature of your organization.
Your leaders are deluded and arrogant, drunk with their own power, and you are powerless to prevent them from “making an ass” of themselves (to quote Rutherford) – especially as their lust for prominence seems boundless. All you can do is mop up the damage afterwards and try to keep things hushed up.
And don’t think the fact Tony’s talk didn’t make the cut on JW Broadcasting’s “Programs and Events” page hasn’t gone unnoticed either.
So, thank you Watchtower. I really mean it!
Without your bumbling incompetence you would be a worthy adversary. Instead you’re proving something of a pushover. Every time you shoot yourself in the foot like this, you make my activism work far more easy and enjoyable.
Your grateful opponent,
I meant my caps remark as a suggestion; I’m not trying to “police” anyone. I agree, feel free to say what’s on your mind. Let me try to be more constructive then: *please* use asterisks for emphasis. See how the “please” got more attention there? ;-) (In most email readers the text will turn bold then, and in some web forums as well).
About the “full-time women”, that was actually a serious question, but maybe phrased too short. I mean, suppose a woman believes her husband’s work is a “good cause”. (We don’t think about field service, but let’s assume the JW wife does). Then, why wouldn’t a woman be happy to do a full-time job to support her family? Assuming the “house chores” are distributed properly. (These days more and more common as most families have both parents working full-time). anonymous, seemed to me your remark had a presupposed view about women as well, but maybe I understood wrong. That’s why I asked. I hope I cleared that up, and didn’t offend anyone.
@BRAND NEW& ANONYMOUS . I Think I HAVE STARTED something off here .!!We are displaying a bit of an INDEPENDENT & REBELLIOUS spirit here!! Using CAPITAL Letters!! Do you think The Governing Body will decide this is deserving of CAPITAL PUNISHMENT !!! Is using CAPITAL LETTERS ‘ The Unforgivable SIN ??? Like Having a Beard or a brother giving a TALK WITHOUT a TIE!! Sooooo Awfulllll!!! I hope Gareth has a SENSE of HUMOUR!
LOVE YOU ALL THAT CONTRIBUTE on this website & you Gareth .Its the Variety & FREEDOM we have to SAY WHAT WE WANT without BEING DISFELLOWSHIPPED for asking or saying how we feel from the HEART about the WATCHTOWER! We have enough RULES at the Kingdom Hall!!
I dunno……but like i totally thought these groooooovy lookin things were asterisks ************** holy moly…….i might be wrong ….
AND I TOTALLY THINK THAT CAPITAL LETTERS MAKE MY COMMENTS LOOK SEXY.
while lower case are also ” far out”..
@Anonymous. Your comment from the 1956 (1st October)Watchtower is HORRIFYING.!! That a WOMAN cannot DIVORCE a man on the grounds he is a Homosexual or has committed Bestiality!!! What SICK MAN MADE ORGANISATION would come up with these CRACKPOT Regulations.!!!
There is a later watchtower which quotes :”While both homosexuality and bestiality are disgusting perversions, in the case of neither one is the marriage tie broken.” Watchtower 1972 Jan 1 p.32.
So the POOR WOMEN could not get divorced in 1972 if her husband having SEX with another MAN or EVEN WORSE a DOG or SHEEP or LLAMA!!! Can you BELIEVE any WOMAN would belong to such an Organisation that EVER SPOUTED THIS RUBBISH & OBSCENE DRIVEL!!!!! Or ANY INTELLIGENT MAN would realise what a WICKED CULT this is!!!
@ Anonymous Here’s a thought.Leo Greenlees & Ewart Chitty (both removed from Governing Body)in 1972 were on Governing Body.I wonder if they had anything to do with these controversial decisions about homosexuality & bestiality??? I always wondered why the Governing Body were obsessed with the SHEEP & GOATS Parable in Matthew.We are Separating them now ,No we’re Not,Another Flip Flop.
Pickled brain, Gareth, Shanti and Brandnew and Excelsior. I love all your comments. They bring a smile on my face and for a lot of people who come here too, I am sure.
Gareth, after my comment about some women supporting their husbands by working full time, I thought about and I think you are right. I think there are a lot of just really nice women out there who will do that for the “good news”. They may not want to pioneer themselves, but will feel good if there husband can.
We had a special pioneer in our circuit whose wife supported him and their 5 children all the time he was alive by working full time. But, who was it that always got to give talks at the Circuit Assemblies? You guessed it. That’s what bothers me. All the work the women do and it’s the men who get to get all the credit and make all the decisions.
In the organization, women are demeaned. It’s awful going through life and nobody ever notices anything women do, except get hours in service. They could be the smartest, most talented women in the world, and in the Organization, they will be looked at as “nothing”.
That was always very difficult for me to take and it bothers me a lot. But like Samuel Herd said in his woman’s place talk, the wife is supposed to let the husband think he is the smartest guy in the world, even if he’s an idiot. She has to pretend to her kids like her husband, their father, is brilliant. The kids know better and then they think she’s an idiot too and to me, that is no way to live your one and only life, letting everybody think you are stupid, just because you are married to a JW. It’s always playing games so you aren’t looked at as “pushing ahead” of either the Organization or your husband.
To say I hate the Watchtower is an understatement.
I love commenting here. All the terrible thoughts about the Organization, that I have have been carrying in my heart all these years, I am able to talk about it and it really helps me from wanting to dig a hole and bury myself in it.
Thanks all!!!
@anonymous, your cool…i like your comments, and your appreciated. Thank you for your wonderful comments.
And speaking for myself, women in general are the grroviest ! ! ! !
Ummmmm can i put that many exclamation points without soundin like im screamin? Cuz im not.really really.
I would please like to take one second for all to reflect, on something that i need to say….just real quick.
To all the youngsters, who have to sit through hours and hours of boring bwa bwa bwa lectures every week.
Youngsters who have to knock on strangers doors on a regular weekly basis.
Youngsters who have never blown out a single birthday candle…..”omigosh…im tearing up…sniffle..: ( .. . . .
Youngsters who shine up their old toys days before christmas, to fit in with the neiborhood kids on christmas morning.
I FEEL YA. AND THOUGHTS OF ALL OF YOU WEIGH HEAVILY ON MY HEART, AND MIND.
@Brandnew. Hopefully the cycle will be broken soon. That is my hope too.
@Pickled brain, that 1956 Watchtower where it said that women were inferior to men and that if a woman caught her husband having sex with an animal or another man, that she didn’t have grounds for a scriptural divorce was upheld all those years until the so-called “apostate” Ray Franz did a little research and the Society finally decided that it was grounds for a scriptural divorce in 1976.
If during all those years, if a woman would get a divorce from her husband on those grounds and got remarried, she would have been disfellowshipped for adultery!! The Society never reinstated those women who that happened to after they got the “new light” in 1976. They just called it “new light” and went on from there. All those years, sane people were “waiting on Jehovah” to correct it and if they spoke up and talked about how “insane” that false teaching (lie) was, they would have been disfellowshipped for speaking up.
Witnesses are always told to “wait on Jehovah” and in his good time, He will correct any “mistakes” (lies) because after all, it’s His Organization, isn’t it??? In the Insight book under lie, it says it is opposite of truth. If it wasn’t truth all those years, then they were teaching untruths (lies).
How many years is it going to take “Jehovah” to correct the teaching about 607???? If God is actually directing the Organization, he is really pathetic as far as conveying information to those men. Or is it that they are the ones going against the Holy Spirit???? If so, then that makes them anti-Christs……Makes you think, doesn’t it????
LOL!!!!!!
OK?!?!?!
BWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
ok *crazy mode off*
Oh, that was to Pickled Brain btw. Didn’t see there was already a new page of comments haha!
anonymous; I never realized the demeaning of women in the organization when I was in it. It’s not that I think it’s not true, I just never thought about it. But I can see what you’re saying, the men get compliments after the meeting when they give a nice talk; women hardly.
It’s true there are many intelligent women. From what I remember, I usually listened to particular sisters’ comments at the watchtower study or the bible reading more so than most men. They usually had more interesting stuff to say. I never told them that though. Sigh. *slaps his own face*
Ok ok ok……..who remembers the commercial …”grey pupon” ..member??? U member ! !
Ok …new light on the NWT….
It has come to my attention that from now on forward i shall call it the ” GREY POOP ON”… hee hee.. !!
Winston in his Watchtower Examination has some excellent thought provoking videos that really make a person think and what he says about the Watchtower is so true.
One of the things he talks about in one of his latest videos is he was saying is that the Watchtower likes to claim “new light” but what it really is, is that they are correcting false teachings.
If a teaching is false, then it’s not true and the Insight Book under lie says that a lie is the opposite of truth. So, if a thing isn’t true, then it’s a lie.
It’s like saying that something that is true is a fact. If it’s a fact, then it’s true. If it isn’t true, then it’s not a fact and it’s not true. So, the 2013 July Watchtower where it was making all those statements where they said over and over again “we thought” this and ” we thought that”, they were admitting to preaching and teaching untruths which are the opposite of truth, which makes them lies. So for more than 100 years, the Watchtower admitted in the 2013 July Watchtower that they were teaching LIES.
He also said that the majority of Witnesses would only be glad for “new light” and the implication that they had been duped into believing and teaching false teachings (lies) for 100 years would go right over their heads, which is absolutely true.
A truth doesn’t get truer. A truth is a fact. A fact doesn’t get to be a better fact. A lie is a lie. A lie doesn’t get brighter. It just gets found out to be a lie, not the “truth” getting brighter. Lies are likened to darkness, not truth getting truthier. A former untruth (lie), doesn’t turn into “truth”.
Winston said the Watchtower doesn’t even have to apologize for teaching lies for over 100 years because they know full well that the excuse of the “light getting brighter” is all it would take and the implications would go right over everybody’s heads and that’s exactly what happened.
Anonymous I have seen quite a few of the Watchtower a Examination videos and Winston does make some good points about truths & Lies. The July 2013 watchtower study was really quite ridiculous about we used to believe this about Faithful & Discreet Slave who they were & who they are now.The same about the Domestics,Belongings etc. The Watchtower said we believed the F&D Slave were 144,000.But from 2013 after 80 years ,YES EIGHTY Years of believing this ,Now the F&D Slave were just the Governing Body!(only 7 men at world HQ in Brooklyn)!’WHAT they didn’t say in that Article was that from 1900 to 1926 They believed RUSSELL was the F&D Slave as stated in The FINISHED MYSTERYBOOK.So only PARTIAL TRUTHS are Given!!! So if CHRIST inspected all religions in 1919 to see who was giving food at PROPER TIME ,then the F&D Slave didn’t know who they themselves were& hadn’t got it right. !!!& so from 1900 to 2013 the identity of the F&D Slave was completely wrong until NEW LIGHT came along in 2013. But the FOLLY & STUPIDITY of this Reasoning is if the other interpretations of F&D Slave was WRONG so who is to say the 2013 interpretation is right.If NEW Light can change 3 TIMES whose to say New Light could change 4,5,6 or 60 times because the GB keep Changing!’
@Pickled brain. I love knowing what I know now about that 2013 Watchtower that I sure didn’t “catch” last year when we went over it at the Watchtower study. We, here, studied it so we know it backwards and forwards and how stupid it was but the rest of the Witnesses went over it then and forgot about it.
Winston talks so fast that I have to listen to his videos over and over again to get it all but they are well worth the time to get the whole gist of what he is saying.
When those 2 brothers came to talk to me last week and they brought up about the Faithful and Discreet Slave, I right away said to them “You know the Faithful and Discreet Slave hasn’t even been appointed yet, don’t you????” They looked stunned so I told them to read the July 2013 Watchtower again.
Being out of the “truth” now, I have learned so much more than I ever did when I was “in” the “truth” and now I am feeling “smart” for once in my life or at least smarter than the brothers that try and “help” me. That is such a good feeling. Those brothers will never make me feel inferior to them ever again and I will never cower because of their position.
I love what Ray Franz said on the first page of “Crisis of Conscience” where he said:
“We have the option, of course, of surrounding our conscience with a sort of cocoon of complacency, passively “going along”, shielding our inner feelings from whatever might disturb them. When issues arise, rather than take a stand we can in effect say, “I’ll just sit this one out; others may be affected-even hurt-but I am not.” Some spend their whole life in a morally ‘sitting’ posture. But, when all is said and done, and when life finally draws near its close, it would seem that the one who can say, “At least I stood for something,” must feel greater satisfaction than the one who rarely stood for anything.”
That is me now. I am standing for something. I won’t be abused by the Watchtower anymore and when given the opportunity, I say why. I am not afraid of the Watchtower anymore because I know they have no power from God, and to me, knowing that they have no power from God over me, makes me not afraid of them anymore and I love that feeling!!!
Thanks for all the hard work you put in your investigations of this cult JW’s as they hide behind the veil of their claim of being Gods only true religion. Why would the Copywrite anything if it was all true……certainly they would want all their information to spread with any means …. this just shows they have something to hide. I am a baptized witness going to a Kingdom Hall and hope other witnesses can see thru their veil…….
@anonymous…what 2013 watchtower are you talking about?
Please….thank you.
@Brandnew. It would be the July 2013 Watchtower Study Edition.
@Anonymous you EXPRESS your FEELINGS very well & most Eloquently put.! I like your Quote from Ray Franz about ‘Cocoon of Complacency and just sitting this one out’. Which the majority of JWs do !!
Your right that most JWs will have forgotten the content of July 2013 Wt. For instance the domestics are no longer the 144000 feeding each other spiritually but NOW AFTER 80 YEARS ,change the DOMESTICS to suddenly include the Great Crowd .It is Now ONLY the 7 MEN of Governing Body feeding every JW Anointed & Great Crowd.There are many monumental changes in that wt. Yes, Winston does talk fast & I have to replay some over his videos.I will tell you later about a conversation I had with an Elder yesterday (Xmas day) when I worked with him on the ministry. Yes I still put at least 12 hours a month in the ministry.But I am working on the inside trying to save as many as possible by subtly by careful use of reasoning.I have family I want to save if I can ! Take care.!
@Pickled brain. I have family who are “in” too and I also want to save them.
The hardest thing I ever did in my life was to quit going to meetings and field service. I am not even going to the Memorial next year and that will be perceived as the “worst”. We have seen people who never attend one meeting in a year’s time, but they will at least show up for the Memorial. That is giving the impression to others that they still believe in the “truth” somehow. But behind those people’s backs who show up only for the Memorial, the Witnesses will talk badly about them and make fun of them. I have seen that happen all the years I was in the “truth”. So, somehow down deep, these people who only show up for the Memorial, still think that somehow God is approving of that religion.
So, I know that when I don’t go to the Memorial, it will be the absolute worst and all those people who I “thought” were my friends will be “afraid” of me. They will think the worst and I know it. That is the way the Society has planned it and executed the plan to make us all look crazy.
But my conscience won’t allow me to even give the impression to my “friends” at the Kingdom Hall that I am supporting the Watchtower, no matter how bad it makes me look in their eyes.
Some day, we will be vindicated and all our so-called “friends” will be shown to be the ones who were not following the real “truth”. I don’t care if it doesn’t even happen in my lifetime. I know eventually, the young ones today will see the “truth” for what it really is, which is a lie. They will think back and remember how we took a stand and they will admire us for the courage that we had to speak up and they will regret how they treated us.
So, my conscience won’t allow me to even give the impression that I am supporting the Watchtower. I will take what bad happens to me and be happy that I took a stand for the real “truth”. That is the only thing that my conscience will allow for me, once I knew that the Watchtower is nothing but a money-sucking fraud.
I know your intentions are well-meaning but I don’t understand how you can get people to reason that the Watchtower is a fraud if you are still going to meetings and reporting field service time.
I have been hearing from the grapevine that the Society is planning on clamping down on us “faders”. The talk is that they are going to send the elders to “help” us and encourage us to come back to meetings and if we refuse, they are planning on disassociating us, thus disfellowshipping us. I told my husband that, and he refuses to believe me. There was a time when he didn’t go to meetings for 10 years and he’d be in that category at that time, so I can see why he thinks that’s all lies but it would make sense to me.
The Society is “afraid” of “faders” because we are taking a stand against meetings and reporting time and so they know we have a beef with the Watchtower and as long as we haven’t disassociated ourselves, we are still free to “talk”.
Reports are that meeting attendance is getting lower and lower and that is the Society’s only recourse. So, for those of us who are “faders”, the future looks bleak but that to me, shows that the Society is really desperate and that to me is a good sign, not a bad sign.
@Pickled brain. I hope you can succeed in your way of opening the minds of those around you. I jumped the gun quickly when I first started having my eyes opened and blurted out to my family that the Society was an evil cult so I had no way of even pretending by going in service and meetings or I would have come off as a real hypocrite.
Of course I didn’t realize at the time that my family wouldn’t see it for what it was but think that I had gone off to serve Satan the Devil and of course, that’s exactly what happened.
That is because it took me quite a few months of intensive research into the real history of the Organization to fully convince myself that the Society was the evil, cruel cult that it is and by my just blurting out all that I had found out, they had no way of assimilating slowly like I had done which was a terrible mistake on my part.
Cedars has a good video on how “not” to do it and I, unfortunately had already done it wrong so I couldn’t go back and “undo” what I had already done. So, that’s the situation I am right now. My two children who are still indoctrinated talk to me but I can’t say anything bad about the “truth” to them.
I hope your system works for you. Who knows unless you give it a try? When you made that comment at the Watchtower, maybe it made people at least “think” about it.
@Anonymous thank you for your balanced reply.You are fair in your assessment of my situation.I know how you initially reacted is understandable & it is not easy the way I am approaching it .I REALLY WANT to SHOUT at Everyone Why can’t you all see the HYPROCISY & LIES of this Evil Cult!! I hope you can help your 2 children. Keep up the fine fight of the faith as Paul told Timothy!
@Pickled brain. I feel you are being “balanced” in your approach and hopefully it will work for you. I am so turned off by the Watchtower that I would have an anxiety attack by walking into the Kingdom Hall. I am hoping the gossip is wrong about the Society disfellowshipping faders but I am preparing myself for it if it does happen. It is good to know ahead of time so we can prepare ourselves mentally if that is what actually happens.
Anonymous I’m in the same mind set as you. I won’t be attending the memorial too. After learning that Jesus was not my mediator according to jw doctrine I felt angry & hurt. I realised what a waste of time it would be for me to ever set foot in a kh again.
@Grace. You know what I mean then. Even when I start looking at a Watchtower online on jw.org, I start getting those old feelings of dread and doom, especially when they are talking about how evil and poisonous us apostates are. I know I am not evil, but when I see those articles, it makes me anxious all over again.
I just had to respond to Anonymous comments on lie is a lie and truth is truth,it doesn’t get truer,so well said!
The implication of this once the realisation comes to an individual jw, is that he or she has actually been trained to accept lies.
This has to be the most cleverly sugar coated death pill ever devised,a monumental deception of the hearts of humble people.
There are quite a number of scriptures that deal with the consequences of deception,pull out your concordance and have a look,and instead of thinking of other religions,think of all the things that the GB has called truth that no longer is and ask yourself how much have I been deceived?
I do feel I have to point out that lying involves deception. Therefore, every lie is an untruth, but not every untruth is a lie. The opposite of truth is not necessarily a lie, it depends on whether the person speaking the untruth knows the real truth. As regards to the “watchtower examination” I think e.g. the man being interviewed about 1975 really believes that Armageddon was going to come then; so strictly speaking he was not lying, he was deluded. There is a subtle, but important, difference there.
That being said, I agree the expression “old light” is just ridiculous. Seems like an excuse not wanting to admit that previous “light” was false; that means *darkness*.
Interpretation of prophecy is one thing, and open for debate (or delusion). So we could give them the benefit of the doubt there. Although they seem to change interpretation at exactly those moment where the previous explanation runs “out of steam”; that suggests willingly deceiving people instead of genuine “new inspiration” (the generation teaching). Also, there are many cases where we know for sure the society is lying in their literature. For example, the quotation to support the cross is a well known example, or quoting evolution scholars, or quoting statistics to show how the world is going “backwards”, etc..
Wild Olive, “Trained to accept lies” , A superlative expression
to describe the mind control J,Ws, are under..
It got me thinking of, “The light getting brighter”, which is
equivalent to saying,,,, Tell enough lies and you’ll eventually
reach the truth.
Anonymous, I can relate to your feelings very well as you articulate pretty much the same feelings as I do towards these impostors. I had invested so much of my emotion in the prospect of reuniting with my little girl again only to feel duped & disappointed when I found out the truth of it all. I used to wonder why I never felt happy to be there or spiritually fulfilled. I always felt that there must be something wrong with me & I had to just keep pushing harder because my critics must have been right, I must have lacked faith. Yet the harder I tried the worse I would feel. When I finally realised that enough was enough & looked at the religion with a critical eye, all of the realities of it came flooding in & I felt a terrible sense of loss all over again that’s why my last 10months have been a sort of grieving process all over again although not as intense.
I haven’t looked at the jw.org, I progressively threw out all of our books & mags in our cleansing process. The thought of evening going to jw.org just fills me with feelings of stress & anxiety. Seeing witnesses around I know that they cross the street from me but I do too as I don’t want to have to justify myself to them. Simple as that, we just want them to leave us alone.
@Grace, I do the same thing. I don’t want to run into the Witnesses anymore then they want to run into me. It was maybe about 10 months ago, when the cold hard reality of the “imposters” as you so aptly described them, finally dawned on me too. All those 50 years, I had this feeling in the deep pit of my stomach that it wasn’t following the Bible but it was the fear of Armageddon that kept me in.
I was thinking back about what I thought I was getting into in 1964 and 1965 when I joined up with this religion. This is the way the religion was depicted to me: Armageddon was coming any minute and if I didn’t join up with the JW’s, I’d die at Armageddon.
The generation that was alive was all getting old and Armageddon was certainly coming before they died off.
No clergy class. Everyone would be equal in stature.
Everything would be backed up by the Bible. I could approach God in prayer through Jesus Christ then I found out that I didn’t have a mediator because he was only meant for the 144,000.
I found out that the Bible wasn’t written for me but for the “anointed” instead.
I was told the love was unconditional. I was to not associate with anybody who wasn’t a JW, including my family and that in the JW religion, all the family and friends that I had to give up, would be replaced by a new family with brothers and sisters all over the world who would replace my old family and friends.
Nobody told me that I’d have to follow all the ridiculous rules, no matter how out of line they were with the Bible or get disfellowshipped for it.
Nobody told me that the Society was lying about 607.
Nobody told me that if I got attacked, that I had to die, rather than get raped or if I didn’t die, I’d have to stand trial in front of a committee of 3 men for fornication and face getting expelled for that if I couldn’t defend why I lived through the attack.
Nobody told me that a woman could get beat up by her JW husband and didn’t have any recourse, not even being able to divorce him without getting disfellowshipped and shunned for leaving him.
Nobody told me that her husband could have sex with an animal or another man and she couldn’t get a scriptural divorce and if she did divorce him and remarry, that she’d be disfellowshipped and shunned and if she complained about this stupid rule, that she’d get disfellowshipped and shunned for “talking” about it to anybody.
Nobody told me that children could get raped and molested by another JW and they had no recourse and if they reported it to the police without going to the elders first, they the whole family could get disfellowshipped and shunned.
Nobody told me that there was no proof at all that God didn’t appoint the Watchtower in 1919 to be his “spokesman” to mankind in warning them about Armageddon.
Nobody told me that there are no scriptures that show the earth will be turned into a paradise.
Nobody told me that the “other sheep” that Jesus was referring to meant only the 144,000 with no scriptures to back that up and that I was only to take the Society’s word for it and if I didn’t agree with that and talked about it to anybody that I could disfellowshipped and shunned for talking about it to anybody.
Nobody told me that there is no scriptural basis to have to let my child die if she needed blood and that if I chose to let my child live through a blood transfusion, that I’d be disfellowshipped and shunned for letting my child have a blood transfusion.
When I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, there was no Governing Body. There was the president Knorr but he was supposed to be “equal” to the rest of us. I knew people revered him but he wasn’t supposed to be special. People weren’t named in the articles because nobody was to be made to be “special”. Everyone was supposed to be humble and not to be made “special”.
When I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I was told that Rutherford said that the door to heaven was closed in 1935 and nobody else was going to be chosen to be of the anointed anymore but all the Governing Body today were chosen after that date. To get around that, the Society decided to write another article and say that no, Rutherford was wrong. I was told that there was no way for me to be of the anointed because of what Rutherford had said. If I told anybody that I thought I would be going to heaven, I’d be laughed at as mentally ill.
I could go on. What I got duped into believing was the “truth” wasn’t the truth at all. It turned out to be just another extreme cult just like all the other extreme cults that are only out to make money off of us with free labor and using the fear of Armageddon to keep us going and the fear of getting disfellowshipped if we even allowed our minds to doubt any of the teachings coming out of Armageddon.
If anybody had told me about how I’d be forced to go along with anything and everything these 7 men in New York come up with and be happy about it, I’d never have given this religion another look.
What I got involved in was not what it turned out to be at all. I was tricked and wasted my whole life and I surely don’t want to see anybody else waste their precious life supporting this religion another minute.
The sad thing is though that other cults just want your money. This cult wants all your money and won’t even let you get a college education so you can lead a decent life. They want you to remain poor as well and then all the time and money you do have, you have to give it to them and all in the name of “saving ourselves at Armageddon.”
Nothing they teach is backed up by the Bible. Nothing.
In my above comment about the “other sheep” were the 144,000, I should have said the “other sheep” were supposed to be an earthly class and not gentiles.
At this point, I am so confused that it seems like I can’t even keep that straight in my head anymore.
I wanted to add a few things to my above comment about what I “wasn’t” told about being a JW when I was studying”
I wasn’t told that I’d never be able to send my mother another mother’s day card.
I wasn’t told that there is no scripture in the Bible condemning birthday parties.
I wasn’t told that I’d never be able to attend one of my class reunions because that would be associating with “bad associations” and it wouldn’t be setting the example for my children when I would have to tell them that they couldn’t attend any school dances or join in any sports.
Nobody told me that if I had children, that they’d be expected to preach to their school mates and not have any as friends unless they became Witnesses.
Nobody told me that if the Watchtower crossed the line and became an extreme cult in my opinion, that I’d be barred from taking my name off the rolls or suffer disfellowshipping and shunned from all my friends and family for doing so.
Nobody told me that since I had followed directions and stopped being friends with all my old family and old associates that if I decided that the Society had crossed the line and became extreme in my opinion, that I’d be left with no friends or family because of following their orders.
Nobody told me that I’d not be able to go to any movie that I wanted to see or watch any television show that I’d like to watch or read any book that I wanted to read or be able to talk to anybody I wanted to talk to because the Society said that was all “bad association”. And if I didn’t follow that counsel, that I could be expelled with no friends.
Nobody told me that after I had followed orders and only associated with my “brothers and sisters” in the “truth” if I decided I couldn’t take the extreme straight jacket it placed me in, that I would lose all those so-called “friends” that I had been led to believe had unconditional love for me.
Nobody told me that it was “loving punishment” to disfellowshipp a person who decided they didn’t want to be a Witness anymore. Nobody told me that a person was free to leave that religion without being disfellowshipped and shunned for it.
Nobody told me that I’d be judged for how good a person I am by how I was dressed and how many hours I got in field service and how many meetings I attended and if I underlined and looked up every scripture in every meeting part and how many articles I read in the magazines and how much Bible reading I did and if I took notes at the meetings and assemblies.
Nobody told me that when I walked into the Kingdom Hall, almost nobody would even noticed I was alive or cared how I was doing. They only wanted to see a smile on my face and be “quiet”.
Nobody told me that when I tried to talk to elders, they were too “busy” with other matters and would have to fit me in.
Nobody told me that when I would meet with the elders, all they could do to help me was to show me scriptures that I already knew.
Nobody told me that the Bible “studies” at the meetings was only paragraphs that were read and all the answers had to come from the paragraph just read. Nobody told me that it wasn’t a real Bible study but what it really was was a “book” study, filled with made up doctrines that weren’t supported in the Bible.
Nobody told me that the New World Translation committee used the Grebe bible for John 1:1 which is admittedly a Satanic Bible and reads for for word from the Grebe Bible.
Nobody told me that I couldn’t trust any of the sources the Watchtower supposedly quotes from because the Watchtower takes all their comments out of context.
Nobody told me that the New World Translation is probably the worst translation ever printed and something Witnesses should be embarrassed to carry in their book bags.
Nobody told me that I couldn’t say words like gosh, golly or gee because those were just other words for God.
Nobody told me that it was wrong to say “don’t work too hard” because it’s wrong to say that because we are supposed to not take it easy in the preaching work.
Nobody told me that I couldn’t better myself by going to college but I’d see all kinds of people coming to meetings who did go to college and had nice homes and good jobs and could travel.
Nobody told me that I could only marry another Jehovah’s Witness but I’d see all kinds of sisters at the Kingdom Hall who married “out of the truth” and they had really nice homes and loving husbands and could travel the world and were very happy.
@ Anonymous. My HEART goes out to you at what you have written above .I feel the same thoughts & emotions and MORE!’ But I’m sure there are many more contradictions you could enunciate. I worked with an Elder in the ministry on Xmas day & said I don’t agree with baptism at a young age because there is NOWHERE in the BIBLE that allows for youth baptism .He said he feels youngsters of 18,19,20 or 21 are too young too get married as he has to pick up the pieces from the damage of the breakdown of these marriages. I said Surely Baptism is more important than marriage as Eternal Life is involved.He Agreed . The conversation went on to Higher Education which he said if it isn’t stipulated in the bible then he wouldn’t go along with it .He is a more balanced Elder but there are those who will follow what the Shepherd the Flock of God book says but not even Reason on what Scripture says which is Basically a Cult!! In the Watchtower Study at the Hall today I said Many Pioneers & Elders I went to Pioneer School with are no longer in the Truth. TITLES mean Nothing.Our love of God by the way we treat people is more important.The watchtower overseer couldn’t disagree with that . Keep posting your comments. There are JWS reading this site who will be touched & moved by your experiences !!
@Pickled brain. You are braver than I was when I was still going to meetings. I was too scared to speak up except I didn’t agree with putting a name on how many hours (pioneers) and spoke up about that.
I never agreed to children getting baptized either. I discouraged my kids from getting baptized but they insisted anyway but at least they were teenagers and not 8 but like you said, if teenagers are too young to get married, they are also too young to make a decision as important as getting baptized.
The Society knows full well how important it is to force kids to get baptized at an early age before they start thinking. Children do what they are told and rebel later when they realize that they were tricked into getting baptized. Governments know how important it is to get young people to join in armies and so does the Watchtower know how important it is to get them young.
In our congregation, one of the elders’ daughters was graduating from high school and she still wasn’t baptized but I think the dad was threatened with being kicked off of being an elder because she did get baptized finally but it was only weeks later she moved out and got married and didn’t even tell her parents that she got married. She has 2 children now by a different man than her ex-husband and is disfellowshipped and the parents cry when they talk about her and how she “screwed” up her life but it’s they who are suffering because they’d love to associate with her and her 2 kids but she doesn’t want anything to do with it.
You can tell when kids are being forced to go in service and meetings. They don’t even pretend to like being there so it’s no surprise to me when these kids are forced to get baptized and soon fall away and get disfellowshipped.
It’s such a shame that people have to be such “sheeple” and not stand up for what they in their gut, tells them is the wrong thing to do. They pay for it in the end, but they are so sucked into the thought that God has chosen the Watchtower and that God is talking through them and no other religion that they can’t see how damaging it is to everybody involved.
In order to cope with it, they like to think that they are right and their children are wrong. It would be so devastating for them to realize that they have been conned and have wasted all this time not being able to hold and hug those grandchildren the way most grandparents do who are in a “normal” religion so they rationalize in their minds that they have to keep up the mandate to not associate with their children in order to save them through Armageddon. I think though, that most parents realize it’s never going to happen.
It’s those so-called experiences that the Watchtower prints on how these family members wouldn’t associate with a disfellowshipped member of the family and in the end, the one that was disfellowshipped came back into the “truth” and they did it because of the “loyal” ones who upheld the shunning. I personally don’t believe those stories though. And what if that’s true? Is that the reason people should join a religion, so they can associate with family? It should be because they love the religion, not because they were forced to join in order to have their family love them. Family love should be unconditional, not conditional.
If that’s the way a religion is going to be in turning parents against their own children, then those children are better off without their parents.
When parents are like that, a person should remember how cruel their parents were to turn their backs on them when they needed them the most and always remember that, and not be forced to go back to the “vomit” of the Watchtower to have family.
They should not dwell on how it should be or the good times they remembered, but that their parents don’t deserve their love anymore until these parents apologize for how they treated their own children. People deserve respect and love, especially from their own family. If people are such cowards and can’t stand up for what’s right, then children are better off without them. That’s my opinion.
I sure wish they tried this hard to protect my sister from harming herself (she hung herself) but it seems they are more interested in what others think than protecting their vulnerable members . Sister of Janet Barrick !
@ Anonymous your comments about parents CUTTING OFF CHILDREN is HEART wrenching & from the Way you write is VERY TRUE & moving. I think anyone who has been JW would totally empathise where you are coming from! Your right it is basically Blackmail the ISOLATION of children by their parents just because a child may change their mind about their Baptism at say 11,12,13 etc & no longer want to be a JW. The ORGANISATION Get them Baptised Young to TRAP them in by Emotional ties of the Family .Very Cruel & Unkind!!! You say I am brave by my comments,but two can play at this Theocratic Warfare & I think I can cause much more damage to this organisation from within than outside so this is my plan. I will keep you posted.But thank you for your compliments.There are so many of US WHO HAVE BEEN HURT by this organisation.About 50,000 to 60,000 a year are disfellowshipped . that’s ONE MILLION in 20 years. That is a LOT OF ANGRY Ex JWS!!! It will come back & bite them SOON….SOW the WIND REAP the WHIRLWIND!!