Dear Readers,
I recall growing up as a Jehovah's Witness being told that after the battle of Armageddon had taken place, all those "nasty, evil and vile worldly sinners" that had been killed by Yahweh's heavenly army with Jesus at the helm would have their bodies eaten by the birds, having their eyes pecked out and their flesh consumed. The bodies would be cleared away and Yahweh would transform the earth into a paradise where all the Jehovah's Witnesses who survived Armageddon and those resurrected which included the JW's who died before Armageddon took place as well as those persons who died before the Jehovah's Witness denomination came into existence who have accepted Yahweh's rule over them will live happy lives free of crime, drugs, sickness, hatred, violence and war for all eternity. 144,000 pre-selected persons who might have been leaders in the JW Church congregation who may also have been alive back in 1914 when Jesus made an invisible return to earth to end the rule of the Gentiles will go to live in heaven with Yahweh and Jesus over the earth as kings, princes and judges to help rule over the Jehovah's Witnesses who live on the earthly paradise.
I don't think the JW's talk about the birds consuming the flesh of the dead "worldly" persons after Armageddon has taken place anymore, but they did when I was growing up. The JW's still hold to the notion that "only Jehovah's Witnesses have any Scriptural hope of surviving the great battle of Armageddon". This means that the JW's believe that passages in the Bible foretell that only Yahweh's most devout followers, meaning members of the fundamentalist Christian denomination known as the Jehovah's Witnesses will survive the War of Armageddon which is to occur any day now and everyone else is doomed to die. JW's are big on the importance of religion I.E. their specific denomination of Christianity, belief in God ( specifically the Abrahamic God Yahweh) and in the answering of prayers by Yahweh. Well, I don't believe that Yahweh exists or answers prayers and how could one be sure that Yahweh is answering your prayers. Where is the verifiable evidence to support this? No, the Bible does not count as "evidence", the Bible is making claims in it's texts that have to be proven. I really don't know how it isn't blasphemous to take out the word "Lord" and replace it with the name "Jehovah" as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has done, claiming that the name would have been in the original copies of the Hebrew and Christian texts. There is a problem with this, we don't have ANY of the original texts and even if we did, that doesn't mean that the texts were "divinely inspired" or prove the existence of Yahweh. They would however, give us a glimpse into what the early Jews and Christians believed of course. We sort of have ideas about what they would have believed already from historical and archaeological studies.
The Jews who are supposedly Yahweh's chosen people would not refer to Yahweh as "Jehovah". The letter "J" does not exist in the Hebrew language. He would actually be called Yahweh and I know for a fact that one edition of the "Watchtower" magazine has pretty much admitted that Yahweh is a more accurate name for the God of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions. In fact, the JW's put almost as much emphasis on the "Watchtower" magazines as much as the Bible. Isn't that sort of blasphemous? I mean, I don't remember reading in the Bible anything about "Watchtower" or "Awake!" magazines or any other kind of religious supplemental reading material. It seems to me that the Jews and Christians relied on their religious texts solely. " Watchtower" and "Awake!" magazines are not really scriptures, in all actuality. The Book of Mormon, for instance as used by the various branches and groups within the Latter-day Saint movement are scriptures as are "Doctrines and Covenants" and " The Pearl of Great Price". In fact, I remember reading on Wikipedia about this Japanese JW male celebrity, I think he is a singer or something and one of the names that he goes by comes from the Book of Mormon. Why would a JW have name that is associated with Mormonism? I see strong parallel's between JW's and the Orthodox Mormons ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) which is one reason that I mention them a lot and I am an ex-member of both denominations. Charles Taze Russell , for one thing isn't as revered by the JW's as Joseph Smith is to the Orthodox Mormons. One Japanese JW male singer, viewed himself as a "punk rocker". I don't think that Jehovah's Witnesses and the punk rock culture are compatible.
JW's are fundamentalist Christians, though they will deny the fact that they are fundamentalists. They don't seem to understand what a fundamentalist Christian is. The inerrancy of the Biblical texts is one thing that makes the JW's qualify as Christians. They are in subjection to male religious authorities. Open dissent and/or disagreement of any kind will result in either be counseled by the religious authorities, any further persistence in disagreement with the prescribed doctrines or practices as espoused by the patriarchal leaders, including talking to other members of the group about your dissenting views will result in the person being excommunicated and shunned by the denominational members worldwide. Most JW's that are being "disfellowshipped"/excommunicated and shunned are usually being kicked for engaging in some sexual activity that is not done in the form of a monogamous and married heterosexual couple, except maybe if your a child molester.
The LGBT community, in my opinion, should never be allowed to join the JW's, whether they promise to lead lives of romantic and sexual repression or gender dysphoria until death or not. Homosexuality is a "serious sin" in their eyes. Homosexuality isn't all about sex, having sex with someone of the same-gender is a part of being gay, just like having sex with a person of the opposite gender is a part of being heterosexual. What harm is the act of gay sex or undergoing a sex-change/gender identity reassignment surgical procedure actually doing to any outside parties? That's the real question. Homosexual sex and sex-change operations are not "sins" nor are they really all that "serious" of an issue if you ask me. Same-sex marriages aren't allowed in the JW's. Oh well, the JW's don't have to marry same-sex couples if they don't want to, it would be very nice of them if they did marry same-sex couples in their Kingdom Halls though, it could happen one day, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it though if I were LGBT and I'm sure most LGBT ex-JW's wouldn't either. I do think that same-sex couples should be allowed to be legally marry i.e. be married by the government. That would be fair. I think the JW's once stated that homosexuality was descended from temple prostitution. I doubt that. Homosexuality has been around since the beginning of time pretty much. I'm quite sure same-sex relationships don't have anything to do with temple prostitution. I'm more worried about what pedophiles are doing to little kids and teenagers. I don't think unmarried couples having sex is a bad thing. Cheating on your spouse or partner is not a good thing, but I don't think that JW Elders or religious leaders have the right to dictate your relationship, if your spouse cheats on you, you should decide whether or not to want to stay with that person if your a heterosexual married couple for instance. I wouldn't, personally.
People who are in multi-partner relationships are okay with me, I think ethical, non-monogamous relationships are just fine, if they are carried out responsibly. Now, I don't know if marriage to more than one person will be allowed any time soon, if ever because of the legal complications it would result it. I don't think that being married to more than one person is immoral though, just legally complicated. Besides, even the ancient Jewish patriarchs like Abraham, King David and King Solomon, they are portrayed in the Jewish Bible as polygamous and Yahweh doesn't have much of a problem with that. So, I really don't know how the JW's can justify their anti-polygamy stance when the Bible never condemns it.
No mention of why the Governing Body has never came up with any truly satisfactory answers for why the Organization/denomination has predicted the coming of Armageddon so many times over the years and have always been wrong about each of these predictions which have all failed. 1975 was a big year. Armageddon was supposed to occur, they were so sure of it and I remember it well. Your not allowed to learn about other religion's which is kind of biased to me. The JW's magazines never include any references for you to further research so you can decide for yourselves which includes scientific and historical evidence to back up their claims. Didn't Jesus say something about no man can when the end will come, except for Yahweh? I think he did.
You know, I am glad that I never agreed with most of it because who knows where I would be today. Here's a really BIG question: why do practicing JW's think it is okay for them to go on, websites, blogs and forums that are run by ex-JW's when they have been told numerous times to stay away from "apostate" or other material that take a critical look at the JW's which might be written by non-JW's? I'm not saying it to be mean, to any JW's that might be reading this, I'm just stating what is the WBTS has written to it's members in it's literature. It's a rule actually. It's one that I have seen being repeatedly violated, ask Jaymes Payten or Steve McRoberts, two atheistic ex-JW's who run the " Jehovah's Witness Blog" website. See how many comments from practicing JW's are on there writing all sorts of disturbing comments that they should not be writing on there in the first place. That's about all for now. I've ranted on this post long enough.
Sincerely,
Brandi Amari Williams
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