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The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower →
The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
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Posted on May 6, 2016
tumblr_static_bobposter1I had brothers when I was a Jehovah’s Witness.
They were not related to me. We shared no blood. Neither did I use this term in the arbitrary “spiritual” sense, granting brotherhood simply because someone shared my religious beliefs irrespective of the content of character or the quality of their friendship.
No, they were not physical brothers, nor brothers in faith. Yet they were my brothers in every way that truly mattered.
I grew up with them. From the explosion of discovery and imagination and growth that was childhood, to the energetic teenage and early twenties where life and energy seemed infinite and glittering with potential, to the growing maturity and stability of adulthood, we shared each others triumphs, felt each others pain. We adventured across the world together, built memories that will echo inside me forever. We had each other’s backs, and we’d take a bullet for each other if we had to.
Yet we postponed our lives.
Some of us put off getting married. Sure, there were lots of great girls in the congregations, but there would be time for that later. Right now, the faith needed our time and energy. So we lived single and alone, not knowing things like the fundamental joy of sleepily holding close the person you love in bed on a lazy Sunday morning.
Some of us put off doing what we loved, delayed becoming who we wanted to become. I knew musicians, artists, scientists, lawyers, activists and writers, none of whom were doing what they loved. Their talents lay slack, fallow, as they cleaned windows, and worked mundane low-pay jobs. In the New System, we thought, we can be what we truly are. For now, we can just put what we are on hold, and become something else, something lesser. Just for a little while. Just until the New World.
Some of us put off having children. Not in this system. Not in all this chaos. After Armageddon, when the children can grow up safe in a better world. One day we would be the parents they so desperately wanted to be, but not now. Not now.
I used to think this way.
Then I was set free.
Freedom to feel the ticking clock
set-free1Against a background of increasing cognitive dissonance and disquiet about what I was seeing and hearing from he organisation that ruled my life, I was finally given the information I need to make an informed choice about allegiance to the religion I had been born into.
This information came not from Watchtower publications, nor from “apostates” screaming abuse in my face. It came from JWfacts.com. JWsurvey.org. Google. Youtube. Raymond Franz. All of these online resources provided the counterpoints to the propaganda I’d been fed since birth.
For the first time in my life, I was able to weigh up the facts, and ask hard questions of my religion. For the first time in my life, I saw how dismally the Watchtower faith responded to the challenge.
And so, like so many others who finally see behind the curtain of the high control religion we were blindly born into, I chose to leave.
Shedding doctrine and belief was easier for me than many others have found. On some level, I think I’d always rejected most of the Watchtower’s more ludicrous teachings and harmful practices. The one exception to this was giving up my idea of eternal life on a paradise earth. This loss was bitterly painful, but the resulting energy that this loss brought to my life was spectacular.
Now that I know my life is finite, I have finally begun to live it with an energy and enthusiasm that my JW self never could have conceived. The seconds tick away, and I know that life has more to see and do than I can ever achieve.
No matter how hard I try, I know now that I will die with many items on my “to-do” list unfulfilled.
This knowledge has not crippled me: it has set me free to focus on what truly fulfils me. It has empowered me to cast away the dawdling, casual wastes of time I indulged in when I felt life was infinite. The things I was putting on hold are now the core of my life, and I have lived more since I left the cult than I ever did during my imprisonment.
Yet I left my brothers behind.
Brothers in chains
1226928328176I know the potential that is chained and suppressed in the brothers I left behind.
They are musicians and artists so talented and bursting with potential it would make you weep. They are scientists and philosophers who could contribute vastly to the human condition, saving lives and minds, who instead clean windows because they are waiting for a paradise that will never come. They are wonderful parents who will never have children because they are using their time to serve a lie for a phantom reward.
Time is bleeding them, and they do not even know it. Every year that goes by is another year of wasted opportunities, where choices narrow and options shrink. I cannot bare the thought that the brothers I love will look back one day, with fading eyes and struggling breath, on a life of wasted potential and disappointment, and wish that they could have gotten out of the cult whilst there was still time to live.
I yearn to give them the same chance I had: to obtain all of the information they have previously been denied, and make an informed choice.
Yet this is hard to do.
If I were to attempt to discuss this directly with them, I know they would simply refuse to engage, and that any lingering threads of friendship still existing between us would be severed. The cult that imprisons them has driven its hooks in deep, and any rising impulse to directly engage with me on this subject would be dragged back down on a razor-blade leash.
Yet I remember my own path. Growing evermore disquieted by increasingly extreme and illogical Watchtower teachings. Reaching out in secret to online activists. JWfacts.com. JWsurvey.org. Google. Youtube. Raymond Franz. Weighing the facts they presented against Watchtower’s claims.
And finally becoming free.
That is a path my brothers can walk. It is a path I am increasingly sure many of them will. The only question is; will they do it whilst there is still time to live a real life?
So this is why I do what I do.
To help pile legal and media pressure on Watchtower, forcing it to make increasingly extreme and damaging mistakes in public that reveal its deceitful and harmful core.
To raise public awareness of those mistakes, to make them so unavoidable and exposed that my brothers cannot help but become aware of them, rusting the chains and straining the leash that the cult has placed around their minds.
To help grow the online resources available to my brothers so that when they do make their choice to reach out for the facts, in secret and trembling from fear, they have every possible chance of choosing to free themselves from their chains as soon as possible and spend whatever time they have left genuinely living, rather than being told how to live.
I seek not to drag my brothers away from their faith against their will. If they choose to remain, so be it, but let it be an informed choice.
I seek no followers. Follow no man. Question everything, then follow only your own conscience and the conclusions you draw through your own powers of reason and critical thinking. Understand that truth fears no enquiry, but that falsehood is terrified of questioning.
Choose your life. Never allow another to choose it for you. Carve out your own destiny from the time you have with your own two hands. My Brothers deserve this chance just as much as I.
Leave no man behind
Tmaxresdefaulthere is a moment in the war film Black Hawk Down that captures with simple elegance why I feel compelled to do what I do in trying to hold Watchtower to account.
In the scene I refer to, a soldier (played by actor Eric Bana) is given an opportunity to stand down from the harrowing battle and recover in the safety of his base of operations. He refuses, and instead goes back into the danger of the war-zone to try and rescue his trapped fellow soldiers. When challenged on the apparent insanity of this act, he replies.
When I go home, and people ask me, “Hey Hoot, why do you do it, man? Why? You some kind of war junkie?” I won’t say a goddamn word. Why? They won’t understand. They won’t understand why we do it.
They won’t understand it’s about the men next to you… and that’s it.
That’s all it is.
Leave no man behind.
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The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower →
114 Responses to The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
Newer Comments →
Bill Thinker says:
May 6, 2016 at 7:18 am
Thank you for your thought-provoking article. We all have the responsibility to “leave no man behind”.
Reply
Ren says:
May 6, 2016 at 7:34 am
Hello Covert Fade
I really appreciate this article and it resonates with me profoundly. Do I understand from the last bit of text that you may be going back in? I ask because I have often thought about it myself. I have a daughter and two grandchildren still in. I haven’t seen them in two years. The only way I could talk with her is if I was “back in,” and I often wonder if I were there with her, in the trenches so to speak, if I could help her out, expose her to what I know, passively of course. The thought is beyond overwhelming, and I’m not sure it would even work, but if there’s a chance . . .
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Covert Fade says:
May 6, 2016 at 9:27 am
Hey there.
I don’t think I’d be able to go back in, to be honest. I simply don’t have the kind of willpower that would be required to play along and pretend to believe in things I despise. I’m in awe of those who are able to stay in for the sake of family and friends, but they have a gift of willpower I that I don’t have.
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chuck says:
May 6, 2016 at 8:00 am
that religion cost me the woman I love,
even tho, I didn’t get her,almost 50 years later.
I still love her, still as strong as all those years ago,
maybe some day, the big guy in the sky will send her to me
Reply
John ship says:
May 7, 2016 at 10:33 am
Same for me she was salvation army id just started study with jws.it was the blood issue
.she could not agree..i now have friended her on facbook.we both70 now…if it wasent for WT what might have been …thats life.
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Jeffreycanning says:
May 6, 2016 at 8:05 am
Just now I was thinking back to when they threw me out, Coral and Mary drove round the corner almost crashed looking sideways so as not to have to make eye contact with me… They were on their way to Toorak to choose the mansions they were shortly to inherit… (Around 1974). Nothing to do with the great article you wrote, thought just popped into my head.
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Anonymous says:
May 6, 2016 at 8:16 am
This is what I am dealing with and I appreciate you bringing it up. My brothers are people who have been there for me in ways that most wouldn’t even consider bothering themselves about. When people tell me dismissively “oh, these people aren’t your friends because they’ll leave you in the end, you should move on from them”; its insulting because it is simply not that simple or neatly-packaged as “they don’t really care and that’s that”. Yes, they are plugged in, but we care for each other because we understand each other’s true selves. Not many people you meet, really understand you, even if they care about you. If this something that we eventually have to walk away from, we will all be fighting it, and it will be the loss of a lifetime.
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Brother from Austria says:
May 6, 2016 at 8:59 am
Thank you!
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Big B says:
May 6, 2016 at 9:05 am
Covert Fade;
A wonderful, thought provoking piece. Truthful as well as poignant; well done.
Verily, this is a battle; a battle being fought worldwide for the hearts and souls of close to 8 million slaves held in bondage to a soul-sucking cult. “Yes”, they say, “serve Jehovah (the Watchtower) now. Wait for the real life to come in the New System.” The catch is after 100 years of false predictions and promises it hasn’t come and the New System is nowhere in sight. Maybe by the year 2033 A.D. after 2,000 years since the death and supposed Resurrection of Jesus, maybe then….maybe.
Poor deluded fools, blinded by FOG (Fear, Obligation and Guilt). They should not be hated but pitied. For at one time we were just like them but we finally were helped to break free. “Free at Last, Free at Last, thank God Almighty we’re Free at Last!” MLK,Jr.
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Michel says:
May 6, 2016 at 9:27 am
Great column. Thank you!
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MARS says:
May 6, 2016 at 9:30 am
I grew up during 1973 -1984 era . My old KH congregation was run by an old guard of brothers who were related to each other. They dominated every congregation that used the hall. The fact that some of us were told to put off marrige came from old men who were married themselves. My congo we had few girls to the ratio of boys . Girls and boys never socialized, or were seen talking to each other. We were all watched by these old men in tight pants . If a girl found a boy friend out side of the hall , shed be called in a JC meeting quickly if word got out. The fear mongering 80s was filled with doom and gloom talks . Most of all talks about Demons to frightened us into submission. Those were my memories.
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Sval says:
May 6, 2016 at 6:12 pm
I grew up in the org around the same time. I remember my mother reading my younger brother and I experiences out of the yearbook about the horrible things the brothers were going through in Malawi because the society wouldn’t let then buy a political card. We were told that we would eventually have to face persecution to prove our loyalty. I was a child. I was terrified all the time for fear the authorities would raid our house and take me off to a concentration camp. I can’t tell you how I long to get my childhood back and be raised normally. That can’t happen so I just concentrate on my like now and the future that lies ahead without the influences of this awful organization.
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if only says:
May 6, 2016 at 10:29 am
This has made me cry. So much time wasted. Yet there were many happy times, good times, fun times. But because of this organization I can no longer share them with my old friends. I wonder sometimes with my old friends when they are reminiscing, if they do say ”Do you remember when ******** did this or do you remember when ********* did that.” I hope they laugh at the memory, and not think bad thoughts about my choice to leave. I hope the ones that knew me well, and knew my dedication will one day ask me why I don’t return, and genuinely listen, and most of all hear my reply. You see I didn’t leave them behind either. But behind is where they are.
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Fanned Fret says:
May 6, 2016 at 10:44 am
Decisions are the hardest thing to make especially when it is a choice between where you should be and where you WANT to be. It’s never too late to make the right choice.
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ruthlee says:
May 6, 2016 at 11:40 am
Such a beautiful article, such poignant words. They made me feel quite tearful but not sad. It is like saying goodbye to that wicked lover who cheated and cheated and couldn’t stop themselves despite protestations of true love. The first time our lover org cheated on us we were blissfully unaware and when it dawned, boy did we hurt. Sorry my analogy is a bit off from MrC’s ie war and true brothers in arms.It is true some will have great loss when they leave the org for good but some of us never really fitted so we won’t be mourned or grieved over and that hurts on a different level because our opportunities of youth are long gone and we leave no lasting contribution to this life and we won’t be missed by even pseudo friends. So enough of this maudlin stuff ive got a life to live I’m off to see a rock band tonight and gonna rock on cheers Ruthlee.
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Roman Castañeda says:
May 6, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Very powerful article here! This is truth at its simplest form. Great job Covert Fade!
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Sharon Christensen says:
May 6, 2016 at 1:15 pm
I agree with all comments…wonderful article! Brought me to tears to…sad tears…but also happy freedom tears…tears of heartache, for all who have suffered and cont to suffer sooo much loss and sadness from such a horrible orgy, who falsely claims God’s backing. It is not easy to turn and go from family and friends, and even worse, if these are ripped from you forcefully, by heartless men,who dictate how one must feel and act. Tears of pride for those, who like yourself feel the need to…not leave a brother behind, and keep trying to get this evil and corrupt orgy to answer and suffer like they make others do…May there be a God of Justice in the end, and may He make them suffer as they have made and cont to make so many to suffer. Thanx soooo very much Covert, much” Brotherly Love.”… Keep up the good work!
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Rowland Nelken says:
May 6, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Brilliant piece of writing! And encouraging in the most practical way. Mega exposure of JW cruelty and stupidity on the internet and other media is clearly having its effect.
A uniformly ghastly public image will make JWdom unsaleable. How many folk today would sing the praises of Hitler or Stalin? Back in the 1930s these deranged monsters had plenty of fans amongst folks who were not essentially gullible or simple minded; some of them, like Henry Williamson, a Hitler admirer, and George Bernard Shaw, a cheerleader for Stalin, were quite brilliant.
Even us oldies might yet live to see the collapse of the Watchtower.
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Average Joe says:
May 6, 2016 at 2:48 pm
Lovely article mate. Still taking it all in. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
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Man from the lions pit says:
May 6, 2016 at 2:57 pm
Thanks CF!
Emotional ,honest and touching article with relevant analogy.However I have to say that I’m sadden that I did lost another brother in faith.The scarfs this org. leave are lasting,deep and painful.In every case where the affected one lost completely the hope and faith in better world “paradise” I do feel like I left brother behind ,I lost a brother.
Best wishes my bro & big hugs on your new journey!
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1914 ha ha ha says:
May 6, 2016 at 3:35 pm
i feel so sorry for the older ones still caught in this cult, watching the flip flops, money grabs, overlapping bs. IE my mum and dad.
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Twmack says:
May 6, 2016 at 5:24 pm
Great article CF got me reminiscing about my own
journey. I did the window cleaning stint 17 years,
always a struggle to make a living so much bad
weather in England.
I left a good job in engineering because I allowed
myself to be persuaded that working with worldly
people was a drain on ones spirituality and that they
were basically bad inside.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I worked
with some splendid men, men who were happy to pass
on valuable skills to me a younger man, no thought of
jealousy that I could become better than them and take
their job. There was some barrack room language and
good natured ribbing, but nothing evil or Satanic.
Started studying in 58, and like every other JW I felt
let down when after 8 years of intensive hype 1975
fizzled out like a damp squib. Many disappointed
people left. At a National Assembly shortly afterwards
one speaker referred to these ones. He said, let them go
we don’t want them, they were just opportunists.
I persevered with the org until 1982, when after the
witch hunt at headquarters they started to really turn the
screw. If we had even private thoughts that did not align
with the org, we were proud, independent, rebellious ,
just like Satan. That was the last straw for me
I’ve been out 34 years, In that time along with my wife I
qualified as a professional ballroom dancer and teacher,
It was something I was always interested in but shelved it
for the more urgent kingdom work not to mention
disapproving comments. Overjoyed that I woke up with
a good few years ahead of me.
Y life of uncertain span. Please. don’t waste it on a
proven failure, a mirage.
Reply
Holly Chu says:
May 6, 2016 at 8:41 pm
Lovely and so accurately presented comment. Exactly consistent with my general and personal experience with Watchtower. And I so love your inclusion of the Org’s favorite phrase “urgent work”
Reply
Velta Maes says:
May 7, 2016 at 4:26 pm
twmack, Looks like you left about the same time we did. We had been witnesses for over 45 years. Got married, against the advice of the Society and had 4 children. Although we did not sacrifice our life for the WT, we truly believed they had the truth until we started reading just the Bible without the literature and found out we could ask for Holy Spirit. We were out in a year. We left in 1983 and were disfellowshipped for “apostasy”. We left family and friends there. I am so glad that you and your wife got out and were able to follow your dreams with the gifts that God gave you. The true God gives us dreams and gifts to follow. He is not the “Jehovah” of the Watchtower who steals our desires and substitutes false hopes. God bless you and keep you in His Will! Hugs, Gramma Velta
Reply
Frederick says:
May 6, 2016 at 5:33 pm
Interesting article, my best friend is still indoctrinated. The last time I saw him I passively raised some questions but it didn’t really seem to be sinking in. I remember feeling so sad when we parted ways, the guy is in his 30’s and he’s throwing his life away. Its such a fine line in trying to awaken someone. I faded in my early 20’s, I can’t imagine how terrible I’d feel if I threw away my adulthood. I just hope my childhood friend can start connecting the dots
Reply
Twmack says:
May 6, 2016 at 5:34 pm
One life of uncertain span was the intended was the
Intended sentence.
Reply
Elmer Groom says:
May 6, 2016 at 7:52 pm
After I left I found strength in in this song….https://youtu.be/VzGAYNKDyIU
Reply
Winston Smith says:
May 6, 2016 at 8:00 pm
Nice article; a thought provoking message. When I finally left I lost all my jw friends. Fortunately, as I was fading, I came upon several non-jw friends who I found I could count on (truly discovering people like this outside of “God’s Organization” helped me realize that not all worldly people were evil as I had been raised to believe). Upon leaving, however, I was also able to reconnect with old friends who had left before me. We now had an even stronger bond than before.
I don’t miss the old friendships at all. I think it’s because I now know they were conditional friendships, built on something that wasn’t real.
WS
Reply
Darlene says:
May 6, 2016 at 9:19 pm
I think you speak for so many… The thought of the time I’ve lost truly living, believing in this cult, still angers me. However, I am free now from the brainwash!!! Hallelujah!!!
Reply
vivian says:
May 6, 2016 at 9:49 pm
I dont understand the people watching the broadcasts, watching the gb dudes and how average and really unusual they come across, awkward and non emotional and they continue to make these peoples delusions their own delusions. I think about all the stuff Jesus would be working on and doing if he were on Earth compared to the crap they are producing. For me, the best tactic is to give a quick sincere bold statement then back off. It will grow in their minds if its honest and true.
Reply
Freed Mason says:
May 7, 2016 at 1:35 am
Great article, thank you so much Convert Fade for the time and effort that you and your fellow team members have put in to this and other articles.
I have a feeling that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of our former brothers and sisters who have woken up to what is really going on in the organisation. Social engineering never worked in the past and all indications are that it will not work in the future, just look at what happened to Hitler, Stalin, Apartheid South Africa, Affirmative Action and countless other failed social experiments. Sorry to say to our brothers and sisters left behind – the WBTS experiment has failed as well.
For those that feel leaving this prison is not worth the effort and it would be better to leave things as is – the comforting fact is that it is never too late to change your life or world view. How much better to focus your mind and energy on positive living and working on those things that give you a spark and love for life as mentioned in this article.
My 81 year old mom still reads her bible every day and is still a member, she has always had the courage to speak out against abusive elders, shunning, hypocrisy of taking blood fractions, discouraged higher education, etc and I love her for it, she has however become conditioned over decades that this is the best that life gets. I feel very sad that she still has this daily fight at her age and has lived most of her life on pause – never pursuing her dreams.
Please don’t be another victim of this experiment.
Reply
Sarah says:
May 7, 2016 at 3:12 am
Why give up on eternal life? If WT is unfaithful by serving up their own ideas then the organization won’t survive. But there are many decent people who do not steal, lie or murder. The prophet Elijah once thought he was the only one in Israel faithful to God, but it turns out God knew of 7,000 faithful ones.
Living with death in view gives you a sort of anxiety which makes it hard to deal with periods of boredom or having to deal with situations you don’t want to be in. It could also make us selfish – not wanting to give time to others we could use for ourselves – not that I’m saying this is the case.
Just a thought.
Reply
Winston Smith says:
May 7, 2016 at 4:32 am
Sarah,
Not intending to open up a philosophical debate, but when we look at life on this planet, everything is finite. All things have a set time and then they are gone. This includes humans. It even appears that our sun and all the planets in our solar system may cease to exist one day.
This knowledge doesn’t cause me any anxiety. I live each day so as to make it the best it can be. If I find myself in an unpleasant situation, I take steps to change the situation or find ways to make it work for me. And I am never bored.
Dreaming that at some point there will be some magical change or that at some point in the future we will get a second chance at life is like taking a placebo. It may make us think we feel better, but it does not change reality. It may even do harm if it causes us to stop trying to be the very best in life, as it has done with so many JWs.
When we die, we may go to some wonderful place of bliss, heaven if you will, but no one can say for sure as none have ever returned from such a place. And some day a divine being may step in and fix all our problems. We cannot totally rule it out. However, based on experience it won’t be any time soon. Thus we need to take responsibility for our own lives and do all that we can to leave this planet a better place once we are gone.
That’s my thought on it.
WS
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dee2 says:
May 7, 2016 at 7:07 am
“Living with death in view………could also make us selfish – not wanting to give time to others we could use for ourselves – not that I’m saying this is the case.”
But is it realistic to believe that you are going to live forever? Is it true that you are going to live forever?
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dee2 says:
May 7, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Sarah,
“Why give up on eternal life?”
Isn’t it also selfish if one needs to have the promise of the reward of eternal life in order to be able “to give time to others we could use for ourselves”?
It seems to me that the real test of unselfishness is if one doesn’t have the promise of the reward of eternal life yet you are able “to give time to others we could use for ourselves”.
“Living with death in view gives you a sort of anxiety which makes it hard to deal with periods of boredom or having to deal with situations you don’t want to be in.”
The promise of the reward of eternal life can perhaps help in these situations but what if eternal life is not real, what if it is just a phantom reward?
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Markie says:
May 7, 2016 at 4:50 am
The problem must JWs have is that they put their faith in men. That is the governing body, elders etc…. The bible tells ua not to put our faith in men. I did what I felt was right for me. I got an education. My kids all do. I just tell them to never mention it at the KH. It’s worked pretty well. One is in law school and another is getting a master’s and no one at the hall knows.
I would never listen to those stupid tapes, kingdom melodies etc. Years ago I had a led Zeppelin cassette on in the car and my wife changed it and put in a kingdom melody. She asked me if it was bothering me and I said it was and threw it out the window were it belonged. Never listened to one since.
My point is do what you want. Pursue what you want. Don’t let anyone tell you what is right for you. Never go to an elder, once they drive out of the kingdom hall parking their only place where they get some sort of valadation in life goes away. Truly sad.
The very fact that they sold Brooklyn and used all those people’s time to move to Warwick tells you to live your life to the fullest. Take care of yourself. They are taking care of themselves with other people’s money.
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Caroline says:
May 7, 2016 at 7:03 am
I was baptized in 1966 at the age of 19. I wasn’t a born-in. I came in after I left home. I fell in love with a born-in and we got married. Since he was a born-in and I wasn’t, his mother was always suspicious of me but I really loved him and I thought it would be forever. I thought we would never get old and die because that is what the Society taught and I believed it.
He died two months ago after a year long battle in pain, fighting cancer and instead of looking back at fond memories, all I have is painful memories of both of our lives wasted.
I expected him to be perfect because the Society makes it look like if you marry a JW, that they will be the perfect husband and father. He expected me to be perfect as well because the Society makes people think that jw women are the perfect wife and mother. We went through our 49 years of marriage always being disappointed in each other.
Most of the time we got along okay but three years ago, I saw that he was doing porn on the internet and I turned him into the elders and he got publicly reproved. I thought he was sinning against Jehovah and so Jehovah was withholding his holy spirit from the congregation and I actually wanted him disfellowshipped but instead they “only” publicly reproved him and then shortly afterwards, they told him that if he went in service more and attended more meetings that he’d be able to answer again at the meetings and even that made me angry.
That was so upsetting to me that I went online for support and that’s when I came across jwsurvey and jwfacts etc. and Ray Franz’s books and I actually was glad that what happened to my husband was the thing that sent me searching and I found out that the Society is not and never has been appointed by Jehovah and Jehovah’s spirit was never on the organization in the first place and the elders had no business being in my husband’s and my business.
I told my husband that if I had it to do over again that I would never have involved the elders and reading Ray Franz’s books is why I would never have done that to him but it was too late and I do believe the public humiliation of being publicly reproved led to him being so depressed that he got cancer and I have to live with that for the rest of my life now.
My husband didn’t agree with me about Ray Franz but at least I tried to make him feel better, even though, right up until he died, he thought that it really was the Society was the “truth” and he died with the hope of being resurrected on a paradise earth.
When I knew he was going to die, I shut up about what I had learned about the “truth” because at least he had that to keep his mind off of being dead forever and I didn’t want to take that away from him then.
The point of my story is that the Society has never been appointed by God and no matter what they say, they don’t know any more about the Bible or life than any one of us. They are just egomaniacs who think they know it all and Witnesses (me included) believed that they were being talked to by God. They have no authority over us and they never did.
Please don’t get involved in that religion. It will ruin your life, your children’s life, your parent’s life, your husband’s life or your wife’s life, your grandparents life and anybody who works with you. It will ruin your personality and make you an egomaniac too, thinking that only you have a good relationship with God and you don’t. It’s all in Witnesses’ minds. They are all being led along like a bull with a ring in it’s nose and don’t even know it. They don’t know they are wasting such a precious thing called life.
It’s so sad.
Reply
Patrika says:
May 7, 2016 at 7:57 am
So sorry Caroline.
Reply
dee2 says:
May 7, 2016 at 8:37 am
Hi Caroline,
Sorry to hear about the death of your husband. Death, though a reality of this life is never pleasant to deal with.
Hope you will be able to find support during your time of grief as you say goodbye to what was, and get ready for that which is yet to come.
I have always enjoyed your comments in this forum.
Best regards.
Reply
Markie says:
May 7, 2016 at 8:43 am
I have always said, if you want to make your problem worse, go to the elders. I am sure the brothers on his committee all gazed at Internet porn themselves.
Reply
Winston Smith says:
May 7, 2016 at 9:48 am
My sincerest condolences on the loss of your husband, Caroline. Don’t blame yourself for his depression and subsequent cancer. His depression was a result of the egomaniacs in the Watchtower organization and their litany of rules and regulations.
And don’t feel that your life was wasted because of the JW influence. Sure, they had a harmful influence, but they never had total control over you. That you eventually woke up once you had the resources available to you is a key indicator of this. And I am sure if you look back with an honest assessment of your life you will see both triumphs and disappointments. That’s true for everyone whether they were in this cult or not.
When you have lost someone so close to you for so long, it’s hard to see that your life isn’t over. You still have a lot of potential for the future, and although it might be hard to see right now, there is a bright future ahead of you. When you are ready it will be waiting for you.
WS
Reply
Freed Mason says:
May 7, 2016 at 10:43 am
Sorry Caroline, you are a loving and caring person, please don’t blame yourself, you can be forced to do very irrational things when your mind is being played with, you have had the courage and strength to realize this, all the best to you for your future!
Reply
Tara says:
May 7, 2016 at 1:42 pm
Caroline I am so sorry to hear your husband has died. My thoughts and love are with you. xxx
Reply
Erik says:
May 7, 2016 at 5:57 pm
Hard to agree that the depression caused his cancer! Remember- “Time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all”!!!
Reply
Grace says:
May 8, 2016 at 5:17 pm
Dear Caroline,
Thank you for opening your heart up to us. We must have woken up around the same time. I have known you back when you were “Anonymous” & always looked forward to your comments. I feel like we’re friends. I had been wondering lately where you have been & now I know.
Please don’t blame yourself as everyone has said. I have spent the last 20 years battling that myself for my daughter.
Love
Grace.
Reply
Caroline says:
May 8, 2016 at 6:38 pm
Hi Grace. Thank you too so much for your kind comment. Being all alone now after all those years is going to take me time and I do feel as if I have “family” here with you and so many others that come here and comment and it helps a lot.
Reply
Tara says:
May 7, 2016 at 7:04 am
I sat with my granddaughter this weekend and she asked me why I no longer go to the hall. I don’t often see her as she lives a long way a way with her mother. My ex daughter in law, who’s family are all in JW’s. He Uncle is an elder in my hall. I could have told my granddaughter all sorts of things but in the end I asked her some questions. I found out she had no idea that there was a hierarchy within the WT. She didn’t really understand who the CO was let alone there was a GB. I I asked her ‘if someone does something really, really naughty what should you do?’ She said go to the Police. At that point I was able to tell her, in a way a 7 year old could understand, that the GB, even when they knew something very naughty was going on, didn’t tell the Police. She saw straight away that, that was wrong. “The police are there to help us Grandma! How can they stop bad things happening if we don’t tell them?’ Out of the mouths of babes eh.
She asked about the fires in Alberta…. we are in Canada. She said that in the Paradise there would be no more fires… I think it was then that I started to sob inside. Yes, she is slowly being indoctrinated. I asked her if she understood Baptism. ‘No, not really’. So I said to her that it is something that I want her to promise me she won’t do until she is a grown up and until she has spoken to other people and not just JW’s. I asked her to ask questions of her own. Hopefully, she will see that her non witness family do fun stuff with other people who are not JW’s. That just because she is told it is bad and evil to ‘celebrate’ as she puts it, we are not bad people. She is the only one behind… I will not leave her there. I will hang on till the bitter end to bring her out. If I fail, then I can but only say ‘I tried’.
Reply
John ship says:
May 7, 2016 at 10:40 am
I brought up my two sons in the org .one baptised one not i made them wait till 16 before they decided ..ive got grandchildren in the jws .i worry they will be pushed into baptism…im out mentaly trying to fade as im hanging in for family. But its becoming harder and harder to sit thru the nonsense that is now being pumped out at especialy the mid week meeting .its a struggle
Reply
Winston Smith says:
May 7, 2016 at 11:35 am
John ship
I can relate to your feelings. I remember just trying to make it through the meetings and keep quiet about things I knew were just total BS. Eventually something has got to give. For me I just slowly stopped going until I was totally gone. It’s hard when you have family. But once you’ve woken up, it’s just too hard to keep listening to the rhetoric. I haven’t been to a meeting (other than a couple memorials that I gave in and went to in order to appease family) for almost 3 years and I am happier for it. When I was first fading, I confided in an old friend who had faded years before. She told me “at some point, you will wake up on a Sunday morning and realize you have no where you have to go, just your whole day to yourself; It will be great.” I am finally there and you know what? My friend was right.
WS
Reply
Twmack says:
May 7, 2016 at 12:06 pm
Caroline, Your comments have always been an
inspiration to me and I’m sure to many others.
I can tell you are a strong intelligent woman who is
more than capable of resolving any issues in your
life without any help from me.
What I can say though, is that we all screw up,
sometimes badly and it’s too painful to keep
scourging ourselves by replaying these things
over and over in the mind. I’m trying not to do it
anymore.
So sorry about the loss of your husband, my thoughts
are with you, as I’m sure are those of many others
on this site, who have been encouraged by your
comments.
Reply
Caroline says:
May 7, 2016 at 12:34 pm
Thank you all for your comments. It’s a certain kind of hell former Jehovah’s Witnesses or active Jehovah’s Witnesses go through when we lose someone close to us, especially if we feel responsible for either getting them disfellowshipped and they committed suicide or they get cancer and die from being publicly reproved or they die because of blood. There are no words to describe that kind of hell and you wonder if you will ever be happy again.
There is so much blood guilt on the head of the governing Body of the Watchtower Society of New York because of the millions of lives that they have destroyed.
Nobody can appreciate how horrible it is until we go through it ourselves and now I know how others like me have suffered in similar situations.
Reply
enlightened says:
May 7, 2016 at 1:31 pm
45 members of my JW family shun us, following the April 2012 Watchtower where the stronger rules came into play. We are considered “apostates worthy of death”…….after being in the organization for 30 years, and marrying a 3rd generation JW who has also left, it is difficult to re-enter society and make friends. But I am glad to be free of mind control.
Reply
Bad Penny says:
May 7, 2016 at 1:55 pm
A thought provoking article Covert, and one that must touch the heart of every ex JW out there.
I was one of those from the ‘world’, who along with my partner, took hold of the JW carrot at the age of 29. I spent the next 30 years striving to do Watchtower bidding until the wake-up call in 2013. Reading Ray Franz book opened my eyes – his words were saying just how I felt. Further research confirmed that this one time love affair with Watchtower had been a waste of my time and my life. It was a lie!
I still feel bitterness towards the GB and have to stop myself from kicking over those dreaded trolleys, but as they say, time is a great healer. We can’t undo the past, we can only change our future. Unfortunately, the scars remain.
Reply
Alice says:
May 7, 2016 at 5:09 pm
This web site reminds me of a self help group I once attended called The Compassionate Friends. It’s a group that meets together to help parents who have lost their children to death. I went to this group for a year after my ten year old son died. The majority of the parents who attended had lost their children to drowning in swimming pool accidents. A doctor started the group when he realized that parents who had lost their children to death were the best for helping other parents going through the same experience. This sort of help is going on here. The people who come to this website are going through different stages in their own personal dealings with the JW religion. I’ve been through all of the stages. First denial. I thought I could bluff my family into thinking I was still a JW. Then came anger. I couldn’t hide my true feelings towards the JW religion from my family as I woke up more and more… Now I’m going through acceptance of my family situation. They are indoctrinated. I’m not. I understand they’re indoctrinated so I love them, I understand them, I forgive them, I’m ready to let go. And I have moved on. I no longer have to look over my shoulder. I tired of being a hypocrite but I wanted to be with my family at the time. My anxiety is gone. I’m very calm. I was ready to let go. Good for me. But I understand what people are going through. I went through it. Thank you
Reply
Alice says:
May 7, 2016 at 11:33 pm
I want to add there will never be closure for me when it comes to losing my ten year old son. He was my only child. For many on this website there will never be closure because they have family and loved ones who are still indoctrinated. It doesn’t matter what someone else feels about your own situation. It’s hard when people say the wrong thing. I hate it when people say Ah, get over it. When they say that to me it makes me feel like I want to slap them, oh, so hard.. Many people remember someone who loved them and then is gone. For many people it takes time for things to fall in place in their minds. Ridicule doesn’t help. I hate ridicule because the person who ridicules someone shows the kind of person they are and it’s not good. I think I’m staying away from you. Your no good. Ridicule causes a negative reaction. It doesn’t help because even if a ridiculer might be correct. When he says it the wrong way people wont listen.
Reply
Grace says:
May 8, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Alice,
Your comment resonates so deeply with me. I just spent the weekend with my sister talking about this very thing. Losing a child is the most painful thing anyone can go through. Our daughter was our only child as well & we weren’t able to have more children.
20 years ago the offer for me was there to join a support group as the one you mention but I chose the JW’s instead. Now I feel ready to find one again. Thank you for making the comment because I have been contemplating that for a couple of months now but held off. Still shaking off the shackles, I guess.
Also, what a beautifully written article. There are many wonderful people & things to pursue, we just have to find the courage now to pursue them & let go of the fear that WT induced into us.
Reply
Alice says:
May 8, 2016 at 10:45 pm
Thank you. When my husband and I went to the Compassionate Friends group we were mad at each other because I wanted to talk about it but my husband didn’t. After we joined the group, people in the group told us we were being normal and what we were doing was very common. That helped my husband and I. We became very close. My husband died in 2010. This website helps me the same way that group helped me. All of us here are going through feelings of loss because of the JW religion and are trying to get the poison out of our mn Dos and to be unindoctrinated
Reply
Caroline says:
May 8, 2016 at 2:12 am
https://youtu.be/GPfIzNgxzqc
This video says it all for me and for so many of us.
Reply
Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:
May 8, 2016 at 2:21 am
This cult has spoiled many people. this was written before they came in my country…
*** km 5/74 p. 3 How Are You Using Your Life? ***
Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world’s end.—1 John 2:17
It seems “the short time remaining” is worse than “(Genesis 3:15) . . .I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.”
Reply
New Carrion says:
May 8, 2016 at 7:35 am
Thanks to Covert Fade !!!
The orgs kangaroo court justice system opened our eyes. Repeatedly they refused to even hear factual evidence of innocence. Then used the excuse of an unrepentant attitude to convict and DF our innocent brothers.
Shortly after we discovered Crisis of Conscience and JW Survey. A new brotherhood.
Reply
Chiafade says:
May 8, 2016 at 9:34 pm
I’ve been reading everyone’s comments on here and decided to check on JW.Borg to see what they had to say about this years regional assembly. David Simoneon said : “Our convention this year features content that will help people develop stronger bonds with friends, family members and, above all, with God. We are confident that all who attend will enjoy this program.”
To say this with a straight face shows the level of delusion. You can feel people’s pain just reading the comments on this sight. Families are shattered because of an ideology that is the equivalent of a child’s fairytale.
David Simoneon and I had speaking parts in the same convention in 2009. I remember he said of Christendom ” she is that dog!” Considering watchtowers history he had no room to talk. I wish I had known then what I know now. He deserves a well placed pop on the nose and so does the gb.
We all know the stronger bonds spoken of are mental and emotional chains meant to bind their already dutiful slaves. A God of Justice would have nothing to do with this organization.
Reply
Vinitha says:
May 8, 2016 at 11:43 pm
Well written article Covert Fade. The only reason to identify ourselves as Ex-JW is to help the people left behind in the organization.
Reply
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← Why Watchtower should be ashamed of its new homophobic child propaganda cartoon
The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower →
The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
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Posted on May 6, 2016
tumblr_static_bobposter1I had brothers when I was a Jehovah’s Witness.
They were not related to me. We shared no blood. Neither did I use this term in the arbitrary “spiritual” sense, granting brotherhood simply because someone shared my religious beliefs irrespective of the content of character or the quality of their friendship.
No, they were not physical brothers, nor brothers in faith. Yet they were my brothers in every way that truly mattered.
I grew up with them. From the explosion of discovery and imagination and growth that was childhood, to the energetic teenage and early twenties where life and energy seemed infinite and glittering with potential, to the growing maturity and stability of adulthood, we shared each others triumphs, felt each others pain. We adventured across the world together, built memories that will echo inside me forever. We had each other’s backs, and we’d take a bullet for each other if we had to.
Yet we postponed our lives.
Some of us put off getting married. Sure, there were lots of great girls in the congregations, but there would be time for that later. Right now, the faith needed our time and energy. So we lived single and alone, not knowing things like the fundamental joy of sleepily holding close the person you love in bed on a lazy Sunday morning.
Some of us put off doing what we loved, delayed becoming who we wanted to become. I knew musicians, artists, scientists, lawyers, activists and writers, none of whom were doing what they loved. Their talents lay slack, fallow, as they cleaned windows, and worked mundane low-pay jobs. In the New System, we thought, we can be what we truly are. For now, we can just put what we are on hold, and become something else, something lesser. Just for a little while. Just until the New World.
Some of us put off having children. Not in this system. Not in all this chaos. After Armageddon, when the children can grow up safe in a better world. One day we would be the parents they so desperately wanted to be, but not now. Not now.
I used to think this way.
Then I was set free.
Freedom to feel the ticking clock
set-free1Against a background of increasing cognitive dissonance and disquiet about what I was seeing and hearing from he organisation that ruled my life, I was finally given the information I need to make an informed choice about allegiance to the religion I had been born into.
This information came not from Watchtower publications, nor from “apostates” screaming abuse in my face. It came from JWfacts.com. JWsurvey.org. Google. Youtube. Raymond Franz. All of these online resources provided the counterpoints to the propaganda I’d been fed since birth.
For the first time in my life, I was able to weigh up the facts, and ask hard questions of my religion. For the first time in my life, I saw how dismally the Watchtower faith responded to the challenge.
And so, like so many others who finally see behind the curtain of the high control religion we were blindly born into, I chose to leave.
Shedding doctrine and belief was easier for me than many others have found. On some level, I think I’d always rejected most of the Watchtower’s more ludicrous teachings and harmful practices. The one exception to this was giving up my idea of eternal life on a paradise earth. This loss was bitterly painful, but the resulting energy that this loss brought to my life was spectacular.
Now that I know my life is finite, I have finally begun to live it with an energy and enthusiasm that my JW self never could have conceived. The seconds tick away, and I know that life has more to see and do than I can ever achieve.
No matter how hard I try, I know now that I will die with many items on my “to-do” list unfulfilled.
This knowledge has not crippled me: it has set me free to focus on what truly fulfils me. It has empowered me to cast away the dawdling, casual wastes of time I indulged in when I felt life was infinite. The things I was putting on hold are now the core of my life, and I have lived more since I left the cult than I ever did during my imprisonment.
Yet I left my brothers behind.
Brothers in chains
1226928328176I know the potential that is chained and suppressed in the brothers I left behind.
They are musicians and artists so talented and bursting with potential it would make you weep. They are scientists and philosophers who could contribute vastly to the human condition, saving lives and minds, who instead clean windows because they are waiting for a paradise that will never come. They are wonderful parents who will never have children because they are using their time to serve a lie for a phantom reward.
Time is bleeding them, and they do not even know it. Every year that goes by is another year of wasted opportunities, where choices narrow and options shrink. I cannot bare the thought that the brothers I love will look back one day, with fading eyes and struggling breath, on a life of wasted potential and disappointment, and wish that they could have gotten out of the cult whilst there was still time to live.
I yearn to give them the same chance I had: to obtain all of the information they have previously been denied, and make an informed choice.
Yet this is hard to do.
If I were to attempt to discuss this directly with them, I know they would simply refuse to engage, and that any lingering threads of friendship still existing between us would be severed. The cult that imprisons them has driven its hooks in deep, and any rising impulse to directly engage with me on this subject would be dragged back down on a razor-blade leash.
Yet I remember my own path. Growing evermore disquieted by increasingly extreme and illogical Watchtower teachings. Reaching out in secret to online activists. JWfacts.com. JWsurvey.org. Google. Youtube. Raymond Franz. Weighing the facts they presented against Watchtower’s claims.
And finally becoming free.
That is a path my brothers can walk. It is a path I am increasingly sure many of them will. The only question is; will they do it whilst there is still time to live a real life?
So this is why I do what I do.
To help pile legal and media pressure on Watchtower, forcing it to make increasingly extreme and damaging mistakes in public that reveal its deceitful and harmful core.
To raise public awareness of those mistakes, to make them so unavoidable and exposed that my brothers cannot help but become aware of them, rusting the chains and straining the leash that the cult has placed around their minds.
To help grow the online resources available to my brothers so that when they do make their choice to reach out for the facts, in secret and trembling from fear, they have every possible chance of choosing to free themselves from their chains as soon as possible and spend whatever time they have left genuinely living, rather than being told how to live.
I seek not to drag my brothers away from their faith against their will. If they choose to remain, so be it, but let it be an informed choice.
I seek no followers. Follow no man. Question everything, then follow only your own conscience and the conclusions you draw through your own powers of reason and critical thinking. Understand that truth fears no enquiry, but that falsehood is terrified of questioning.
Choose your life. Never allow another to choose it for you. Carve out your own destiny from the time you have with your own two hands. My Brothers deserve this chance just as much as I.
Leave no man behind
Tmaxresdefaulthere is a moment in the war film Black Hawk Down that captures with simple elegance why I feel compelled to do what I do in trying to hold Watchtower to account.
In the scene I refer to, a soldier (played by actor Eric Bana) is given an opportunity to stand down from the harrowing battle and recover in the safety of his base of operations. He refuses, and instead goes back into the danger of the war-zone to try and rescue his trapped fellow soldiers. When challenged on the apparent insanity of this act, he replies.
When I go home, and people ask me, “Hey Hoot, why do you do it, man? Why? You some kind of war junkie?” I won’t say a goddamn word. Why? They won’t understand. They won’t understand why we do it.
They won’t understand it’s about the men next to you… and that’s it.
That’s all it is.
Leave no man behind.
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← Why Watchtower should be ashamed of its new homophobic child propaganda cartoon
The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower →
114 Responses to The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
← Older Comments
rahab says:
May 9, 2016 at 1:40 am
hie all you guys.my family and I hav been jws until 2010 when we were awakened due to mistreatment by elders.we searched these blogs and realized we hav been tragically misled.i disassociated together with my husband,son and two daughters bt one was left in.it has been traumatic for us since that tym bcoz she could hear none of it.luckily she was also mistreated and started searching[I salute you guys of this blog] and it dint take long for her to see.now we are all out.i have a question here for all of you.ever since I discovered the truth,i wondered why people can stage manage to deceive people in such a manner.after doing intensive research,i concluded wt is a satanic cult,just like fritz springmeier says.its teachings are convoluted so that once you discover its a lie,you start asking,where do I go now?you get annoyed and having been taught tht everything else but it on planet earth is satanic,you enter into another trap,that all religion is a deception and all believe is false and hence disbelieve in God.people in this blog,dont you think you have fallen into another watchtower trap?is that what is happening here?
Reply
Alice says:
May 9, 2016 at 5:48 am
Rehab, my answer is no, not at all, what you are seeing here is many people with different beliefs. Some who come here are very religious. Others aren’t. We are learning to think for ourselves. That can come across as being very negative at times. Waking up is a process. We have gone from being mindless robots to thinking for ourselves. It’s a mindset. Satan has nothing to do with waking up. I understand your question. It comes from being misguided for so long by the organization. You will be glad at how well you will feel a year from now.
Reply
Josh says:
May 9, 2016 at 8:55 am
Hi Alice,
I am still in, active, living the lie, trying to find a way to break free, that won’t devastate my family.
Funny thing is I read your post, and it really made sense. ” waking up is a process”. It doesn’t have to be instant right? Thanks 🙂
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Big B says:
May 9, 2016 at 9:54 am
Josh,
You are absolutely correct; “waking up is a process” as well as when to start your fade. Some, that are unencumbered by J.W. family members, are more likely to leave immediately. Others find it more difficult as they ‘leave behind’ family and comrades.
After 55 years of involvement, my immediate family and I, finally realized that this cult offered us nothing but continued work; not to Jehovah but a “Millerite Adventist” throw back. Period!
We, although doing separate research, came to the same conclusions; namely,
1.that the Bible does not give New Light or corrections in interpretations (imperfect men do),
2.those who claim to have or be guided by the Holy Spirit don’t and aren’t,
3.while professing to have the above, joined the U.N. as a N.G.O. for 10 years thus showing that they don’t practice nor believe what they preach http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/united-nations-association.php ,
4.while claiming poverty Watchtower continues to purchase property for investment http://gotoby.com/news/article/2245/Watchtower-Buys-Former-FAA-Training-Facility-in-Palm-Coast-for-$7025000 ,
5.child molestation payouts in the $10’s of millions worldwide giving them bad press http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/15/12225753-jehovahs-witnesses-ordered-to-pay-more-than-20-million-to-woman-who-said-she-was-sexually-abused?lite ,
6.J.W’s, because of lack of college education, are forced to take menial jobs, while being told that getting a secular education “is being a tool of the Devil (2013 ‘God’s Word is Truth’ District Convention “Believe Inspired Truth not Inspired Error”).
That’s sums up our case for my immediate family leaving ‘the Truth’. All are doing well and except for my occasional comments, and hopefully encouragement, have completely broken free of this nonsense calling itself ‘God’s Organization’.
Anytime you want to learn or vent please feel free to come here. As they say on exjw Critical Thinker, “Better to have Questions you can’t Answer than Answers you can’t Question”, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpHhWSPtMDTSa8dzapmzo5A
Besides I find that this site is both therapeutic and enlightening. Good Luck with your fade. 🙂
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Winston Smith says:
May 9, 2016 at 10:20 am
Josh,
Just as it took a set amount of time for us to be indoctrinated into the JW cult, for many it was years, it will take a similar amount of time to awaken/recover. And likely the longer we were associated, the longer the recovery process.
I have been fading since 2012 and I am now about as far out as I can be while still preserving my marriage to an active member. I still have to be careful who I talk to within the org (I don’t talk to anyone other than family, and only some of them will speak to me) because I have minor children who I don’t want to have to deal with their parent being DF’d as an apostate. Maybe someday my wife will wake up.
WS
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Will says:
May 10, 2016 at 11:17 am
@Winston Smith I stopped attending in 2014 and my wife is in and only reason I haven’t officially withdrawn are my wife and kids. I think at this point, it will do more harm than good. The label “apostate” or “disassociated” will only strengthen the “Satan is attacking the family” mentality.
Alice says:
May 9, 2016 at 9:27 am
I’m sorry Rahab I called you Rehab I am sorry
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peggy says:
May 9, 2016 at 4:03 pm
Fritz Artz Springmeier (also known as Viktor E. Schoff) is an American right wing conspiracy theorist author, formerly a resident of Corbett, Oregon, who has written a number of books claiming that satanic forces are behind a move toward world domination by various families and organizations.Wow, I never heard of him. And, probably don’t care to. Yet, to kindly respond to your question of another “trap” here. I am certain there is no deception here. There are free thinkers and activist interested in freeing others from the chains of fear. Uhmmmm I am doing fine. It would appear that Mr. Springmeier is selling a lot of fear. So, I am confused as to whether you “like” him and think he is helping people by selling his version of what ever.
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peggy says:
May 9, 2016 at 4:05 pm
This was reply to Rahab,
p.s. I am glad you all got away from Watchtower.
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Julien says:
May 10, 2016 at 9:09 pm
Perhaps Rahab you need to dig deeper on where the theory of satan comes from. It would be nice for a change if people started taking responsibilities for their actions and stop blaming “satan” the man made boggie man. I do beleive that religions are all systems of controls but some are far more destructive than others. Others beleive christ liberates them frim everything. I dont personally beleive in the bible i have done too much digging and too much searching as to its origins to beleive but If i where to beleive in a god i would have to say god existed befor religion and therefore does not require human interpretation or rationalization. I am still convinced that some people do need religion. The concept of being forgiven is a huge motivator specially for those who cannot forgive themselves. Some have a great need that needs to be filled by something external, higher, above themselves. But to choose an enslaving frame of mind that is debilitating and crippling not only to ones own growth but to others as well? That is very tragic.
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Tara says:
May 11, 2016 at 6:53 am
I think I am more spiritual now rather than religious. I won’t go back to organised religion but I still have a faith….. saying that, I feel confused as to my faith at times. I can no longer use the name Jehovah…. There are times I believe the Bible was written for and only for the people of that era. I say that because if God knows everything he would have made sure his word encompassed the probability that, for example, blood would be used in transfusions. He would have made it clear. I think people clutch at interpretations as the truth when we really have no way to know. We could take another similar book written thousands of years ago and say ‘this is the way’…. I’m not knocking the Bible… I just think it is a history of a people long gone.
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Twmack says:
May 9, 2016 at 3:30 am
Gramma Velta,
Thanks for your good wishes it’s greatly appreciated.
What arrogance, disfellowshipping you , a true believer
for apostasy. You didn’t abandon God but a man made
organisation that has placed itself before God.
As Ray Franz expressed it. “They say, alright you can have
a relationship with Christ, but first you’ve got to go through us”.
They ignore the teaching about “One Mediator”. I repeat
“What overbearing Arrogance”.
Gramma Velta, all my best wishes to you and your family,
@ Also thanks to Holly Chu for kind comment.
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Gary says:
May 9, 2016 at 6:14 am
If I ruled the world I’d make every religious person listen to “sheep” by Pink Floyd and get them before they go to war.
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Gary says:
May 9, 2016 at 6:24 am
Interestingly in the picture on the album cover, between the mouths of the statues, there is a church. “The division Bell”.
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Gary says:
May 9, 2016 at 6:34 am
One of the tracks is called “keep talking”, such is the deafness of religionists.
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Tara says:
May 9, 2016 at 7:21 am
Had and very short but interesting text over the weekend. I am basically shunned now by the cong. because I am spiritually weak – don’t go to meeting, don’t report blaa blaa blaa. Anyway, out of the blue came a short text from a MS who has always had a softer spot for me than he should have – being married. He just told me how much he values my friendship and how special I am to him. Then he signs off with ‘you are in ‘our’ thoughts and prayers’… One tormented soul. I know this guy. He is a rebel at heart but torn between the rebel and the WT. For him to contact me, albeit short and sweet, he is obviously missing the association we once had. I told him before Christmas I would not be back. I know he panicked back then but I think he now knows I mean it. I also believe he will have a hard time shunning me.
My point is, there are many who are sitting on the invisible fence. Many of our previous, brothers and sisters are having issues with the whole shunning thing and I believe it will only take a little push ie something happening in their lives for them to walk away from the WT. I hope we can all be there when the wall comes down for them. We know how difficult it is so I hope our compassion holds out. Who knows who will come out. Maybe that horrid elder and his equally horrid elderette. But a survivor is a survivor. Leave none behind.
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Freed Mason says:
May 9, 2016 at 7:51 am
Great comment, I agree totally, the WTBS turns some normal people into narcissistic morons especially when they get a few rungs up the corporate ladder – who knows what they would be like when not under the influence, many of us will certainly be there for any survivors of this cult.
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Twmack says:
May 9, 2016 at 8:07 am
@Rahab, I don’t consider I have fallen into a WT trap by
questioning the existence of a God. It’s just that going through
life accepting as a given without question all that religion teaches,
that’s any religion not just W T. — Then–
Once critical thinking kicks into life, it takes us beyond the surface
even questioning the reality that we are all here by the will of an
all wise loving creator. Many questions cross my mind that cause
me to doubt.
Because of recent comments, one puzzling thought occurred to me.
In July I will have been married for 62 years, my wife and I are still
deeply in love. It can’t be all that long before one of us has to leave.
It makes not the slightest sense to me, say that my wife should be
taken from me and to a place, be it a paradise earth or heaven, where
there is no marriage. No special relationship , no laying together,
no tender caresses , I cannot accept this as either wise or loving.
One man made the imbecilic statement that “We could all be changed
into men, ( J F Rutherford )
I try not to regret my 24 years in the org, I made the decision it’s
my responsibility. I just take the positives from it. Oh yes there are
one or two, it got me out of the killer habit of smoking. With the
asthma and bronchitis that I have I’m certain I wouldn’t have reached
the age of 85. had I continued.
If oblivion is the final outcome, I’m not morose or bitter, I’m grateful
for a long life which sadly is not the experience of all.
Thanks Rahab for your thought provoking comment.
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dee2 says:
May 9, 2016 at 11:13 am
For Twmack’s a jolly good fellow, for Twmack’s a jolly good fellow……………
That’s an awesome batting average skipper – 85 not out! Any fours, any boundaries?
Best wishes 🙂
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Freed Mason says:
May 10, 2016 at 3:11 am
@Twmack – Critical thinking and questioning is not encouraged by the WTBS as can be seen by the modus operandi:
1. Watchtower Study: We will push our thoughts down to you and you underline and answer a question from our thoughts in the paragraph.
2. Questions from Readers in the Watchtower: Disappeared a while ago, the questions that were answered were heavily moderated and tuned to fit in to current understanding.
3. Your Relationship with God: We will handle your life account with the Big Man, please don’t raise any questions or injustices at the hand of the Judicial Committee as errors and omissions are due to the imperfect nature of humans.
4. New Light: If you don’t keep up with new light – it is your fault, please don’t blame us for your tardiness and lack of time to study current understandings.
5. Higher Education – We need qualified lawyers at Head Office – any out there that disobeyed us and went and got a law degree?
What a bunch of Jokers…
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Big B says:
May 11, 2016 at 8:05 am
Number 5, what a laugh!
Still can’t get over the unmitigated nerve. Good Luck finding qualified lawyers in the organization that will drop their own case loads to help the Watchtower. They probably want them to work pro bono as well. 🙂
Their foolish policy’s concerning Higher Education have come home to roost.
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Holy Connoli says:
May 10, 2016 at 4:04 am
@twmack. You have a good attitude. I also try to have the same attitude but it is difficult for sure. During my 23+ years as a JW and raised 3 JW kids
I went thru some very tough times and things I always questioned etc and a LOT of negative experiences but I try to look at the good things I did experience also and there was some good things that I carry over. For example, I did learn about the bible ( even though they wrongly interpret it to their benefit ) There was a sense of community. I traveled to places I never would have been to in the past, My kids and myself did not get involved with drugs,I did meet some interesting people and a lot of people from all ove the world. That being said, the negatives far outweigh the positives. The mind control was overwhelming to me. The freedom of thought and expresion was taken away from all of us,The hypocrisy from the Elders and ORG was horrible,The future that they took away from so many young people who are now old and never went to higher education to serve the demands of the WT org. The forced marriages that went bad bc of WT forcing young ones into marriage so quicly bc of “POLICY”. The sexual scandals that have caused 1000’s to be damaged and no help from the WT not even anapology bc they know they are wrong. The forced acceptance of anything they say even though it changes from month-month sometimes. The daeaths of 1000;s due to No blood transfusions. WOw, TWmack, we should be glad we woke up, Even though you are 82 years old be glad you are awake and you have a great attitude. I am so glad you and your wife love each other deeply. That is a great and wonderful thing most people never experience. MAy you have many many more happy years together.
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dee2 says:
May 9, 2016 at 11:11 am
Rahab:
Like Twmack, I don’t consider myself to have fallen into a WT trap. I consider myself to be more along the lines of what Alice stated in her comment above and what this article encourages: I have learnt to think for myself and to question everything.
I don’t see why I can use my critical thinking skills and power of reasoning in every other aspect of my life but when it comes to the Bible, Christianity and religion this is taboo/off limits………the untold grief I would cause myself if I wasn’t able to use my critical thinking skills and power of reasoning in every other aspect of my life.
This is why, after waking up from JW indoctrination, I started to investigate the origins of Christianity, the reasons for writing the Bible and what went into the writing of the Bible and came to my own conclusions.
I do not hold back from questioning everything for fear that God will punish me in some way for doing so as some persons may be inclined to think.
When we can’t question everything then that is when we open ourselves up to undue influence, phobia indoctrination and information control.
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Twmack says:
May 9, 2016 at 11:47 am
Dee 2, One or two fours Dee even the odd six
but most of the time stumped. LOL.
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dee2 says:
May 9, 2016 at 1:42 pm
Naah…….85? you’ve guarded that wicket very well. I would definitely put you as a higher order batsman……..my opening batsman definitely. It would definitely be a bad strategy to use you as a night watchman. LOL.
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Outandabout says:
May 9, 2016 at 3:21 pm
Reading all these experiences makes my heart bleed. Nothing gets my gander up more than injustice.
Just as there are laws to try and keep us safe from drugs or anything deemed harmful, it is high time we enacted laws to strangle these cults off at the base.
It will come, but sadly, when it does it will be touted as persecution and the deluded will retreat further into their prison.
One of the things fundamentalism shows us is that when the bible gets taken literally, it leads to trouble. No question. It san only be palatable after all the nasty bits have been removed, but the problem is, doing that is not being true. A dilemma. Just a few more dots to join and a wee bit of critical thinking will fix that.
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C M says:
May 9, 2016 at 4:18 pm
I know exactly what you felt while writing this letter “Covert Fade”. I had brothers and sisters I would die for in this religion, some of whom now pass by me in the grocery store, some who say hi and are really glad to see me at the Memorials or Funerals or at the Assembly/Convention with my mom since she is the only one in my direct family who still attends the meetings even though she is not doing well healthwise. But it is sad to know that people you love so dearly are still prisioners of this religion and will choose the religion over our friendship. So you just don’t go to the meetings anymore and mind your business and decide to never tell them it’s all a lie and that there so much more to life and how happy I have been since I stopped going to the meetings and yet how sad I am and wish they could enjoy it with me but you just can’t because you know what will happen. But I have also had success in helping some people fade away as well, but they seek me first. Thanks for writing this article.
C M
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Truth sets free says:
May 9, 2016 at 4:38 pm
Bravo!!!!!!!
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Alice says:
May 9, 2016 at 10:05 pm
CM you wrote, you have helped some people fade away as well, but they seek you first. Have you seen this month’s May video with Tony Morris? Others may seek you out after watching this video. A quarter of the way through the video a family is interviewed who continues to pioneer even though they no longer have a bread winner in the family. The father lost his job and said the congregation has been suporting them for months. At the end of the interview Tony Morris said, “Thank you for your story.” And that’s what I think it was, a story. Many of the rank and file are beginning to smell a rat. At the last meeting I attended the brother giving the talk said many are falling away because of changes made through enlightenment. People are beginning to see it’s all smoke and mirrors.
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OZY says:
May 10, 2016 at 1:51 am
The Poster Said Something I Dont Agree With, He Said ‘The Paradise Wont Come’ Its Just Like Saying Christ Will Never Come.
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dee2 says:
May 10, 2016 at 6:13 am
OZY,
Will Paradise or Christ come?
What reason(s) are there for believing that Paradise or Christ will come?
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James Broughton says:
May 10, 2016 at 6:55 am
What a superb article, sensitively written straight from the heart, and yet with an intellectual persuasiveness that reminded me of Ray Franz ‘Crisis of Conscience’ and William Schnell’s ‘Thirty Years a Watchtower Slave’. I am challenged by your words “Choose your life. Never allow another to choose it for you. Carve out your own destiny from the time you have with your own two hands. My Brothers deserve this chance just as much as I.” Thank you.
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Truth sets free says:
May 10, 2016 at 9:29 am
Excellent article! Websites like JW survey and articles such as these were very instrumental in helping me to be set free. I was a slave of the watchtower for over 30 years. served as an elder and ministerial servant . One of the reasons I step down as an elder is I felt I could no longer be a part of the harsh treatment that the body of elders inflicted on the brothers and sisters in the congregation! So I step down and became a m/s. then I became the victim of the abuse Of a few “elders” that loved beating the sheep into submission rather than shepherding! The whole congregation knew that I was treated unfairly so it was a perfect time for me to take my leave. I still have family and friends that are very involved and wanted to maintain a relationship with them. So as a previous comment was made it is a process in leaving the watchtower. A lot of things had been bothering me up to that time , the United Nations, protection of pedophiles, watching Brother Jackson lie under oath before the Royal commission! I had been wanting to leave for quite some time. So I put together a exit strategy . I have kept my mouth shut and I’ve let the brothers know that I was just hurt ! and they claim they understand. I feel by knowing the truth about the truth I have been set free! My choice has been not to let those SOBs disfellowship me and take my family and friends away from me! So I go about my new life now ! I still believe in Jesus Christ and living a good clean life . I have not been to a meeting in two years and I refuse to knock on someone’s door and teach them lies!!! And I’ve come to the realization that there are a lot of good people in this world that have chosen different faiths and they wind up being good hearted people. Jesus said you will know my true followers by the Fruits they bear, and the more I reach out and gain new friends and new associates it is very obvious to me that the watch Tower does not have A monopoly on those kind of people !!!!! Sometimes I do feel like screaming out to the top of my lungs and trying to help the friends break away from this cult. But I realized that it’s a process each one of the friends eventually will have to choose for themselves there is plenty of information and plenty of places to go like this website to get it! So I do it slowly with a little comment here and a little comment there , I watch the reaction and then make a choice whether to become silent or pursue a conversation it seems to be the best approach for me. As dealing with it this way I feel I still get a chance to talk to the friends and that gives me an opportunity to give what information I can without going too far .
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Big B says:
May 12, 2016 at 11:20 am
@Truth Sets Free;
Brilliant exit strategy; and my hat’s off to you!
Agree with all that you said and you’re right, I too “wish to scream at the top of my lungs to help the friends” however, I realize that they will deny it, or not appreciate what I’m telling them unless they do their OWN research. After all, what do you appreciate more, a free “something” you have no time/money invested in or a paid/worked for “something”.
That is why I don’t feel obligated to help those who refuse to ask or question why I left. Too bad for them. A true pity. 🙁
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Alice says:
May 10, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Truth sets free. You did good. My mom told me don’t try to reason with a closed mind. You’ll get nowhere after you’ve run around in circles and it only results in anger, hurt feelings and you’ll get nowhere. I’m not saying don’t be honest. I’m saying there’s nothing wrong with being mature about it as you’re realizing the person is being a sucker. A person isn’t being true to themselves by blowing people out of the water. They’re just being volatile and impatient . I say, don’t allow an organization to manipulate you into disassociating yourself. Don’t let them win that way. That way people who are still in the cult will be able to come to you.
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clement says:
May 11, 2016 at 10:15 am
That was a nice post,am currently active JW member and about to exit the society because i feel they have succeeded in ruining my life,wasted my time of going to the university but need a concrete prove to leave this cult. Clement
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Bad Penny says:
May 14, 2016 at 3:58 am
clement – Concrete proof – how about a little deception to research?
The Battle of Carchemish, when was it fought? History (check it out) dates the Battle to circa 605 BC.
Why then does the ‘Insight Volume 1’ page 418, last paragraph, date the Battle to 625 BCE?
By DELIBERATELY re-dating this battle it fits in with their deception on 607.
ALL the dates that corroborate their thinking on 607 have been manipulated and changed to suit. Check it out for yourself. Then ask yourself WHY? I hope you come to the same conclusion.
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rahab says:
May 10, 2016 at 7:16 pm
@alice.apology accepted though really no harm done.thankyu all for the responses.my take on this is that,in order to get even with wt and what it did to me,i will shed everything it taught me and revert back to everything I was bfo they knocked on my door,including belief in God[its the only believe that makes sense to me] and my same old religion and church.i want to make a statement to wt that I have undone what they did to me and non of its false teachings has any influence on the decisions I make,and am my old same self again.i will reclaim my life they robbed away from me.
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Gary says:
May 11, 2016 at 12:18 am
Just a heads up. . . Both my children and their friends and family have had friends requests from local elders using Facebook. One of my daughters friends was contacted by an elder from Africa telling her to read certain articles produced by the society regarding her tattoos. . Has anyone else had this experience?, . . Be careful what you put on Facebook and who can see it. . . Evidence.
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Gary says:
May 11, 2016 at 12:22 am
Apologies. . .we’re in the UK
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ruthlee says:
May 11, 2016 at 12:36 am
I have so enjoyed the responses to this very thought provoking article and how we are dealing with the fallout of this religion. It got me thinking about how UNREAL the paradise hope truly is because if any one who has given birth to or fathered a child in a happy normal union and raised that child through all the trials of human experience and then is told to discard the said offspring without a thought and care by men who are not even relatives of that child then they have not thought of eternity. There is not a crime against anyone that warrants an eternity of silence. Be honest Jehovahs Witnessess emphatically deny hell yet they willingly will submit a young baptised member to a cold silent hell forever because they don’t follow anymore. Can these shunners not SEE. When they get into their paradise and the dust settles and boredom sets in their beloved children will not be there because those loyal ones followed the rules. Who will be in a cold hell then with no chance of reconciliation with the child , their gift from God they so carelessly discarded. So you see in my mind if it is all true you will reap what you sow and paradise will be hell on earth with many many guilty conscience families who will be bereft forever. Now that is justice. Ruthlee
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Markie says:
May 11, 2016 at 11:04 am
Think your wrong. Must JWs are very self righteous and will say that there children didn’t love Jehovah enough and that they did the best they could. So its not their fault their kids didn’t make it.
One loving elders wife said in front of her grandchild that she better enjoy them now because they are soon to be bird food. He was young so I hope he didn’t understand.
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rahab says:
May 11, 2016 at 1:43 am
@peggy;i will be very brief on whether I belief fritz springmeier.i will quote the fictional detective who said that,when investigating crime or murder,eliminate all impossibilities and what you will be left with is the truth no matter how much you see it as not being possible.he[fritz] mentions that he wondered why and how th wt controls its adherents the way it does as I had mentioned in my earlier comment.i realized that apart from money,power and control,there is something else.after eliminating thoz three and looking at the similarities btween wt,masons/secret societies,pedophilia in wt etc,i concluded there was more to it than meets the eye.call it whatever you imagine could but I call it satansm
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rahab says:
May 11, 2016 at 1:47 am
I mean fictional detective sharlock holmes
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Innocent Son says:
May 11, 2016 at 4:16 am
Great article ‘ Covert Fade ‘ I was held a slave to this Organisation for many, many years. I gradually faded but in the process lost many close Brothers and Sisters most of whom do not speak or even acknowledge me in any shape or form…..However I’m free and living life and have got many close ‘ worldly friends ‘ who are like family to me. I appreciate every day and I’m so glad that I’m no longer under a yoke!
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Grace says:
May 11, 2016 at 9:04 pm
Just wondering if anyone wants to sign this petition if you haven’t already yet. It only needs 270 more to reach the goal.
https://www.change.org/p/united-states-attorney-general-investigate-the-watchtower-society-of-jehovah-s-witnesses-re-child-sexual-abuse
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Terence Hackett says:
May 12, 2016 at 1:08 am
Depressingly accurate !
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Gary says:
May 12, 2016 at 6:51 am
In the 1930s the world suffered a terrible financial depression, no doubt in the aftermath of the 1914 conflict. Politicians rose to frame and religion capitalised on people’s hope for better days.
Such is the brutality of mind control https://youtu.be/xE_dA479MCs
Beware of “better days” manipulation
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Gary says:
May 12, 2016 at 7:18 am
Just another Crime of the Century (Supertramp)
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Doc Obvious says:
May 13, 2016 at 6:00 am
Dude Kingdom Halls rocked last night with Rock and Roll music in Jehovah’s House. Caleb and Sophia video on Respect Jehovah’s House. The video blew out a speaker in the Kingdom Hall.
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Lesley Dewar says:
May 17, 2016 at 2:51 am
My lovely mother was a JW from the 1950s until she unexpectedly died, last August. She was a few months short of her 95th birthday, and in complete control of her faculties. I had not been associated since the 1960s. She got disfellowshipped, once, because she would not give up associating with me, her only daughter. Eventually she was allowed back into the congregation but she and I maintained a deep and loving relationship all our lives.
She and I would discuss things which, she would laughingly say, if they knew what we were talking about today they would disfellowship me again, for heresy.
I approached the local congregation to give her a memorial service. The response was “she is old, no one here remembers her, no one would come.” A fine response for a woman who had devoted so many years of her life to their organisation.
I wrote her Eulogymyself, chose two songs that she had told me she wanted from their website and played one of them at the service. Let me tell you:.two elders turned up, uninvited, with Bibles marked ready to give us a sermon.
After I had finished speaking on behalf of my mother, I invited one of them to the podium. He said, “what can I say. You have said it all on behalf of your mother who was faithful to the end.”
What I did not say is that towards the end, my mum said “I know you will not follow me no matter how much I love you, and I am sorry my daughter but I am too old now to change.” She knew she had been deceived.
I love her and may she rest in peace.
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Truth sets free says:
May 19, 2016 at 4:21 pm
Thankyou Big b and alice!
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← The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
News Bulletin: Dutch reporter thrown out of District Convention →
The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower
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Posted on May 13, 2016
Kcj48ABcqI don’t want to bring down the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
That might have a couple of you blinking in suprise. If you are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses reading this, you may have been told that so called “apostates” want nothing more than to destroy your organisation, and wipe your faith from the surface of the planet.
If you are an ExJW, you might think that someone who spends as much time as I do criticising Watchtower behaviour and policy must have the total destruction of the religion as an endgame.
Well, I don’t.
I believe that religious freedom is a fundamental human right, and that people should be free to believe whatever they want to believe. I disagree with virtually every doctrine held by Jehovah’s Witnesses, but I will defend utterly their right to believe them.
I draw the line, however, when religious doctrines directly call for behaviour that is actively harmful to others.
Thus we come to the point.
My goal is not to destroy the Watchtower organisation and convince every Jehovah’s Witness on the planet to leave the religion.
My goal is to force Watchtower to abandon specific practices that are causing significant harm to other human beings by bringing these practices to the attention of Governments, the media, the general public, and in some cases Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves.
What specific practices are these? I will outline them below, and state the specific conditions Watchtower must achieve in order for me to consider the matter resolved. I do not speak for JW Survey, or for my fellow activists in this matter. These are my personal opinions, and my person criteria for “Mission Accomplished” as regards my activism towards Watchtower.
Child abuse policies
Geoffrey Jackson appeared before the Australian royal commission to answer to concerns over child abuse mishandling
Geoffrey Jackson appeared before the Australian royal commission to answer to concerns over child abuse mishandling
I believe that no organisation can ever have a perfect record when it comes to handling child sexual abuse, and that it is absurd to pretend otherwise.
People are imperfect, systems break down, and sometimes, despite all best efforts from a religious community, a predator will enter the flock and attack a child.
But there is a big difference between a few bad apples slipping through robust safeguards despite the diligent best efforts of an organisation on the one hand, and a systemic failure from the top down to tackle an abuse problem that is a well known problem internally, but is carefully hidden from the outside world on the other.
As has been shown again and again, in open court, in government investigations, and in multiple documentaries, the policies that Jehovah’s Witnesses use to handle allegations of child sexual abuse are not only ineffectual, they are actively dangerous and harmful, both to the abuse survivor and the surrounding community.
The “two witness” rule. The policy of not reporting molesters to the police unless legally required to do so. The traumatising Judicial Committee process that sees a vulnerable victim forced to give harrowing details of their abuse to a star-chamber comprised of three untrained men.
All of these factors combine to create an environment that the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex abuse found placed the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses at “significant risk of sexual abuse,” and extends to affect the children of non-Witness parents sharing a community with an unreported abuser.
What is even worse is that most Witnesses are in the dark as to the details of these policies, and also to the scathing criticism these policies have been subjected to. They only see the casual dismissals by the Governing Body, who then warn Witnesses to flee from any news report or comment that shows the organisation in a bad light, and have no idea how prevalent child abuse actually is within their religion, or how vulnerable their children really are.
This situation cannot be allowed to stand.
◾Watchtower needs to be forced (via legal and financial penalties if needs be) to bring their worldwide child protection policies into line with what legal professionals and child psychologists believe to be “Best Practice” to safeguard children and prosecute molesters.
◾Watchtower needs to admit past flaws in its policies, compensate and apologise to abuse survivors, and openly do the above in full view of its membership.
Blood Transfusions
I believe that an adult Jehovah’s Witness has the right to refuse a blood transfusion.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. I believe that a mature adult has the right to decide what happens to their own body. A mature adult has the right to refuse any and all medical treatment they so wish, even if this results in their death. I may consider their reasons foolish and absurd, but I respect the right of a mature adult to make this decision for themselves.
However, at present, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not making this choice of their own free will. Every Jehovah’s Witness facing this choices knows that, should they choose to accept a transfusion and live, they may face a Judicial Committee. Should they be unable to convince three Elders that they are sufficiently repentant for taking blood and staying alive, they will be disfellowshipped.
It is hard to argue, therefore, that Jehovah’s Witnesses currently refusing blood are doing so without coercion. No one should be made to choose between death on the one hand, and life without their family and friends on the other.
◾Watchtower needs to make it clear that there will be no official or unofficial sanction should an adult Witness decide to accept a transfusion.
Additionally, every year, Jehovah’s Witness parents place the lives of their children at risk by refusing life saving medical treatment for their children on purely religious grounds.
The infamous issue of Awake that celebrated the deaths of Witness children who died due to Watchtower’s policy on blood.
This practice is actively encouraged by Watchtower, who once printed an article celebrating children who had died needlessly due their parents refusal of treatment. Additionally, any parent who disobeys Watchtower’s instructions may face discipline from the congregation, and possible shunning.
A child is not capable of giving rational, informed consent in this matter; especially not one who has been raised all their life subjected to the indoctrination of their parents, and who relies on their parents to make all other decisions in life for them.
◾Watchtower needs to teach that the refusal of blood is a personal decision for a mature adult, that a child is not capable of making the choice to refuse, and that parents cannot make it on their behalf. It should be made crystal clear that children are neither expected or encouraged to refuse blood.
Shunning
Shunning is rife among Jehovah's Witnesses - a practice that breaks up families
Shunning is rife among Jehovah’s Witnesses – a practice that breaks up families
I believe that Watchtower has the right to disfellowship and to disassociate people.
Yes, I will say that again.
I believe that Watchtower has the right to disfellowship and to disassociate people. Any private group or organisation has the right to decide who does and does not hold membership of their group. Sports clubs. Charities. Financial companies. Religions. Such groups have the right to remove membership from a member who is no longer considered to meet the requirements for membership.
What Watchtower does not have the right to do, however, is demand that those who have left their organisation be shunned by family and friends.
Of all the harmful practices currently employed by Watchtower, the practice of shunning is by far the most widespread.
Simply put, any who officially leave the religion, either involuntarily (by disfellowshipping) or voluntarily (disassociation) must expect to undergo the harrowing and cruel ordeal of shunning. Any family and friends who remain as Jehovah’s Witnesses are required to treat the leaver as if they were dead, to not even say a greeting to them.
Whilst there is an unofficial third option known as “fading” (to simply cease all Watchtower related activities and no longer attend religious meetings) this option is far from reliable, as Watchtower still considers such a person to be subject to their rules and regulations. Many examples exist of Witnesses who have “faded” for many years nonetheless being tracked down and disfellowshipped once they move in with an unmarried partner, criticise the religion, or celebrate Christmas. The testimony of Geoffrey Jackson during the Australian Royal Commission confirmed that this was possible.
Additionally, many faders find themselves effectively shunned regardless, with friends and family ceasing contact and treating them as dangerous association. This means that children who are baptised and then grow up to no longer believe the faith must choose between their beliefs and their friends and family. It means adults who wish to excersise their right to change their religion (or choose no religion at all) must make the same harrowing choice.
Shunning is essentially a particularly vile form of blackmail. “Believe what we tell you to believe, and do what we tell you to do, or you will never see your loved ones again.”
◾Watchtower must repeal the sanction of shunning as part of Disfellowshipping or Disassociation, and must take active steps to alter Witness culture so that Witnesses do not expect to shun or be shunned when a person leaves the religion of their own accord or is removed from it against their will.
There are many other aspects of Watchtower doctrine that I dislike or consider harmful; Watchtowers teachings on divorce laws, sexual morality, evolution and so forth. But if the sanction of shunning were removed, these doctrines cease to be harmful to others.
If a beaten wife were free to divorce her abusive husband and remarry without being shunned…
If a gay Jehovah’s Witness were free to leave the religion and live according to their true self without being shunned…
If a Jehovah’s Witness was free to state that he felt the creation account of Genesis to be pure metaphor for the evolutionary process God set in motion without being shunned…
See? Without the threat of shunning, Jehovah’s Witnesses are free to genuinely make their own choices and live the lives they honestly think to be correct, instead of towing the line and flinching every time an Elder looks their way and flexes the “Shunning Stick.” Even if their choice means that the religion no longer considers them to be a member, that choice no longer costs them their family and friends.
Granted, relationships might alter if the family and friends are not broad minded enough to accept the change, but these relationships are not arbitrarily severed. And once shunning becomes a thing of the past, one can quite see Witnesses culture evolving with it, becoming more accepting of association with past members. Indeed, it would probably be instrumental in starting to erode the poisonous “us and them” mentality that Watchtower currently enforces upon its flock. The “information control” that Watchtower enforces upon its congregations would likewise erode once those who left were free to discuss their reasons for doing so with those who remain in.
In the 21st century, religiously enforced shunning is inexcusable. It must go.
Mission Accomplished?
boxIf Watchtower were to enact the changes I have outlined, I would be content to cease my activism against them.
I would still consider their religion to be full of doctrines and beliefs that I consider to be utterly without merit, but they would no longer be a harmful cult; they would simply be another religion whose doctrines a person was free to research, accept, or discard of their own free will.
Granted, it may well be hard to envisage a situation where such reforms took place within the Organisation. It may will be that such harmful doctrines continue to feature front and centre of Watchtower policy until the Organisation crumbles under the weight of legal and financial sanctions, public notoriety and a burnt out membership. Scientology is already going this way; Watchtower should take note.
Nonetheless, this is not my goal.
Whether this ignominious ending comes to pass is entirely down to Watchtower. I remain hopeful that legal, financial, and public pressure can in time make the Organisation cede some of the required ground in order to survive. Recent events have shown that the current leadership’s taste for public humiliation and hardship is significantly decreased. Russell and Rutherford used to face their opposers in public debates and in the courts. Today’s Governing Body flee in panic from both, and when forced to appear in public court they put in a performance that bespeaks a distinct lack of capability and vigour for the fight. Their PR attempts are weak willed and desperate for public adoration, and when placed under pressure their representatives react in a fearful, confused way.
Watchtower is on the wrong side of history in this battle, and lacks the stomach and the tools required to fight it. One way or another, it will lose.
Until then, whilst these damaging practices remain in place, my fellow activists and I are not going anywhere.
We have work to do.
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← The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
News Bulletin: Dutch reporter thrown out of District Convention →
171 Responses to The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower
Newer Comments →
Brother from Austria says:
May 13, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Thank you for your activities!
Reply
Rowland Nelken says:
May 13, 2016 at 1:52 pm
The pressure will continue. Watchtower’s policy of letting awkward stories die will not work. The tales of Watchtower abuses will continue to be aired via every medium available until Jehovah’s Witnesses are comprehensively reformed or disappear down history’s toilet.
Reply
Markie says:
May 13, 2016 at 1:52 pm
It seems to me you will be criticizing the Watchtower until you die or you get bored with it and move on with your life. They could careless what you or your fellow activists think or say. I am not saying this to cause an argument or inflame you have but you know that’s the truth.
Reply
Nullandvoidboy says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:14 pm
@ Markie….someone chooses the path of activism not for personal, emotional, satisfaction…. It’s to expose wrongs….that’s done with criticisms…. and the greater good that’s served is to bring out in the open, that which is hidden…. If intentions are correct, the activists do NOT get bored and “move on”…. So when you said, ” I didn’t say this to cause an argument or inflame”…..I need to ask you, are you really sure about that??… It seems that you don’t get what activism is about.
Reply
Winston Smith says:
May 13, 2016 at 3:20 pm
Valid points Nullandvoidboy. I live in the U.S.A. About 250 years ago my forefathers had an issue with the King of England. They were activists. The King could care less what they said. But their activism was valid and vital and sparked a new age of freedom.
150 years ago in my land, millions of people were enslaved based on the color of their skin. Some people thought this was wrong. They became activists and got things to change.
Markie, you seem to state that activism is pointless because the oppressors don’t care about the oppressed. But isn’t that always the case with oppressors? History shows that activism works.
I’ll leave this thread with two quotes that I especially appreciate that can be applied to this situation:
1.) The only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
2.) The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who claim neutrality in times of moral crisis.
WS
Reply
Ethan says:
May 14, 2016 at 8:55 am
@Winston Smith.
Your well thought out comments and two points at the end have me slack jawed and shaking my head… I’ll be thinking about what you said all day. Thank you, sincerely.
Oh and, umm (clearing throat and pulling on collar)..
Covert Fade! As always, great article..
Reply
Markie says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:00 pm
When you have 8 million people trying to convert people all over the globe. Spending millions of hours it’s going to continue to grow despite all its failings. In my congregation all the newer ones are all special needs people, easy to sway. I actually agree with most of what he said but he is not going to change anything. And I do think some day he will get bored with his activism. Sorry.
Reply
Covert Fade says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:34 pm
If I can help one person, it will have been worth it. Anything else is gravy 🙂
Reply
John ship says:
May 14, 2016 at 4:10 am
Your comments help me to stay sane..after 50 years in the org.all i can say is yes you are doing the right thing .you are giving hope to many that are hanging in WTs cage .who are woken up but still have family in .if WT was like other religions were you can question or just walk away fine .but is not .
Eric Arthur Blair says:
May 13, 2016 at 9:08 pm
Markie, those 8 million are welcome to keep trying to convert people, the point is, what are they converting them to? That’s what needs to change, as the article eloquently explains.
Did you see the movie “spotlight” by any chance? Was that investigative team of four wasting their time? I don’t think so. They couldn’t solve the whole problem, but they did affect change and accomplish some good. Did it bring down the Catholic Church? No, but it contributed to wider recognition of abuse and the systemic failures of the church. It also empowered the community to demand change, and gave some acknowledgement and (hopefully) healing for victims. That’s the point. And hopefully it makes the church more accountable and transparent, and more importantly, removes the policies and practices that perpetuate abuse long term.
Reply
Peter van der Brink says:
May 13, 2016 at 9:38 pm
Am a JW still as member and critized very hard the policy of the GB. The elders gave me two times a so called “yellow card”without any Scriptural evidence that the GB are right. Bethel lawyers in Netherlands can not do nothing because when i am banned of given a free meaning in the Kingdom Hall( WT study) my lawyer shall bring them to court. Am baptized and never shall obey the GB today.Am even visit the Seventh Day Adventist, they are acting much more adult than the blockheaded and scared looking JWs. Free meaning is important so even faith and not fear…
Reply
ronnyb says:
May 15, 2016 at 1:45 am
@ markie, we no longer live in the dark ages, 1940- 1975. Nowadays people do research on automobiles, houses, schools ,hospitals and religions are no exception. In the old days,people were gullible and accept almost any preachings that would incite fear into them. No longer the case. People now research articles like this one and draw intelligent coclusions based on the foundations and history of certain religions, so this activist ,like you say, is giving people a perspective of the other side of the coin ,so he is not wasting his time and he is making sure people have a fair chance of making the best choice in their lives, unlike 70 years ago when people were coerced simply by fear.
Reply
M Saurus says:
May 16, 2016 at 9:14 am
Activism is not pointless, WS – agreed.
HOWEVER, these people are not slaves. They are not being held against their will. They have the free will and choice to GET OUT of this crazy org.
I know, they “can’t” because it’s too “painful” – they will lose their “friends”.
Seriously? Losing friends and so-called family is a reason to remain in a toxic, insane religion?
If all the people who claim they hate the WT but just “can’t” leave got out it would collapse.
Fooledmeonce says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:16 pm
The Watchtower and its followers DO VERY MUCH CARE what former members and activists have to say!!!
They will even find and subpoena former members who aren’t too angry or opposed to their religion.
This cult, like every other cult, relies on attracting new members. While I was in, it was well known among the elders and circuit Overseer’s that, “We bring them in the front door and push them out the back door.” The JWs constantly churn through new people but that is really slowing down with all of the bad publicity available to possible converts. This hurts them right where it counts.
This cult has an expiry date built into them. As 1914 fades into the distant past, and the scare tactics become stale, the cult will collapse in on itself. It may remain as some kind of shadow of itself but it won’t be anywhere nearly as powerful as it once was. It already is 10 years past its zenith and a much smaller, weaker organization of what it was just a decade ago.
Reply
Matias says:
May 13, 2016 at 3:02 pm
Smaller and weaker? Where did you get that from? I mean, I wish that’s true, but as far as I know they are growing in members at around %1.5 annually, which is slightly above the growth in population. And that figure is decreasing, but still growing in absolute numbers.
Reply
Eyes opened says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:38 pm
Hi Matias,
Not sure how long you’ve been with the organization. Myself over 40 yrs. before I recognized the truth about the truth. This is not the org it once was. Leadership has become increasingly weak. Their fear makes them threaten members and they make feeble attempts to spiritually bully the r & f. You now only need to push a button on a smart device to do your ministry. Might as well go back to the phonograph, you don’t need to know anything. Not that using our devices is bad, I love technology. But this simplified ministry doesn’t make us smarter. We still need to be able to defend our faith. I can’t do that with a button. We used to be considered weak if we didn’t get at least 10 hrs a month in the ministry. Notice they don’t publish that anymore. My guess is the average is probably below 7 or even less. You may see what seems like growth but the foundation holding things up is not so strong. The organization has gone back to needing milk and feeding us milk, no more solid food. Yes those of us who are pre-1975 have seen a lot of changes and I don’t think for the better.
Regards
Reply
Ian Howat says:
May 14, 2016 at 4:19 am
Agree with you after 50 years in i can see the weaknesses the younger jws cant defend the faith any more unless the got jw .org at their fingertips .the leadership has no dignity any more.they are robots..knorr franz and Rutherford had drive that these guys lack .look at the things they come out with . The tight pants is an example of spiritual bancruptcy .the WT studies are shallow and lacking substance even boring. .unless the bcome more like the old WT the rush to digital jws will shrink the org . They only keep the numbers up by the children getting to be unbaptised publishers…
dee2 says:
May 13, 2016 at 6:43 pm
As long as there is the belief that this world we live in is inherently defective, unimportant and worthy of destruction, and that divine intervention is going to bring about its passing and replace it with something better, whether in this dimension or in a supernatural one, the JWs will find converts.
Ever since the emergence of Jewish Apocalypticsm which anticipated that divine intervention would have ended the world over 2000 years ago, there have been those among Christianity who believe that the world will end during their lifetime.
This end of the world by means of divine intervention belief, has become a traditional cultural outlook which has embedded/cemented itself in the psyche of the western world. And so every generation that comes along has persons who believe that the world is going to end during their lifetime. Interestingly, however, the world has persistently refused to end.
Until this mindset is replaced with the realization that the world is our responsibility, and thus, if it should come to an end, even an apocalyptic one, it will be our own fault (apart from the sun imploding) then people will continue to believe otherwise and the JWs will find converts.
Reply
Markie says:
May 13, 2016 at 7:26 pm
Smaller? Weaker? I would say just the opposite. Not sure what you have been reading. Perhaps wishful thinking on your part?
Reply
dee2 says:
May 13, 2016 at 8:44 pm
Markie,
How do you know how many JWs there really worldwide?
How can you be sure about this?
Reply
Markie says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:00 am
Three new kingdumb halls have been built where I live in the past 4 or 5 years. And they all have two to three congregations meeting in them. So I would have to say there has to be some growth.
eeee says:
May 14, 2016 at 2:02 am
Well, let’s see what will happen. I sincerely pray God keeps me alive to see what these self serving organisation will turn to in say 40 years time.
But currently, their tactics has change greatly, it’s almost like they employed some sort of rebranding expert to help them. Today, they use technology, videos and small animation to feed their fantasy on most of their members and that you can see them nodding their heads in amazement.
And currently, their much emphasis on preaching, reporting is getting to much and even makes many to resent it. To many, though they don’t know, it seems like the WT has much to gain from this preaching and disciple making more than God himself.
At some point, a sister hissed that this videos at meetings is too much and I laugh. Maybe, at some point in time, they will be showing videos at all meetings, I don’t know.
Reply
Winston Smith says:
May 14, 2016 at 3:46 pm
The org is definitely evolving. Many of their tactics today are reminiscent of the televangelists (700 club and similar). When I was growing up in the cult, such tactics would have been poo-pooed as being too closely related to “false religion.” Maybe the new tactics indicate that they are getting ready to go more mainstream. We can only hope that their teachings and rules get more mainstream too.
WS
Reply
Big B says:
May 18, 2016 at 6:56 am
@Winston Smith,
Who cares if they “go more mainstream”? Personally speaking, I don’t care where they go. Hopefully, to the Millerite “Great Disappointment” oblivion they rightly deserve. There will always be a core remnant of knuckleheads (Sheeple) but I predict that the WTBTS will implode in my lifetime. I am 64 now. They’ve reached their zenith and are finished, nowhere to go but downhill!
Besides, I wouldn’t go back to that hypocritical, doomsday, pedophile protecting, Amway-sales cult if Jesus Christ came down and said to me personally to return (which he will never do).
If Armageddon is real, and not symbolic like the rest of Revelation, the Kingdom Hall would be the last place of refuge I would run to!
Gardian says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:33 am
They really could care less what these people think say or put on the internet.. the GB has been very good at paying them no mind whatsoever.. the most effective way to irritate and infuriate people.. is to treat them as of no account at all.. and the GB is very skilled at this.. so they can keep coming with their pressure… We’re not going anywhere!
Reply
Average Joe says:
May 14, 2016 at 6:51 am
I’m sorry Markie but I have to agree with David Mitchell on this one. I can’t let your bad grammar slide. The correct phrase is “they COULD NOT care less about what…activists think.” If they COULD care less about it, that would imply that they DO care about what they say, even just a little bit.
Also the word is “care less”, two words in fact, and not “careless”, which means something completely different.https://youtu.be/om7O0MFkmpw
Reply
Markie says:
May 14, 2016 at 10:35 am
Good for you! You must be so proud of yourself.
Reply
Average Joe says:
May 14, 2016 at 2:20 pm
😉
All in good humour mate.
Reply
Eric Arthur Blair says:
May 15, 2016 at 3:11 am
Haha, love it!
Markie says:
May 15, 2016 at 8:26 am
What a little prankster!
Chiafade says:
May 15, 2016 at 3:31 pm
Markie in response to your “they are growing comment” (which I find hilarious hahaha thanks for the laugh). 4 or 5 Kingdoms built in your area vs the 10 or so that have closed in my area with the congregations combining to fill up surrounding hall’s.
So using your stats and mine, which one seems the more likely? Unless you live in an impoverished country which is where the JW focus is right now. Growth in those countries is believable. But still not explosive which judging from your past comments is what you seem to imply. You may not like that but it’s true. Also, anything printed in the JW yearbook is HIGHLY suspect as it doesn’t take into account the VAST number of inactive. Plus it was written by watchtower. That equals lost credibility.
Now if you want an example of explosive growth look no further than the Protestant church in China. They are baptizing an average of 500,000 people a year. With a membership estimated to be up to 40 million.
The JW business model is a failure. They cannot sustain themselves indefinitely using their current system. Add to that annual lawsuits that seem to be growing and you can easily see a finite future.
Please don’t be silly. Of course Watchtower cares what the apostates say. I have several gb member talks. In one of them Tony Morris makes a quote from the silent lambs website almost word for word. He never states where he got it from but it was easy to find because he was speaking about silent lambs. He called them “an apostate organization that throws bloody Teddy bears at kingdom halls”. To quote Daniel Sydlik (former gb) when a bethelite found a very spiritistic book in the bethel library : ” you can’t write about it if you don’t read about it”. Indeed Mr. Sydlik.
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Markie says:
May 16, 2016 at 8:50 am
Thanks for returning the favor. “Your status vs mine”? Really? If you want a real laugh reread what you wrote. I think you might wet yourself with laughter!
Lets go with your stats! Those JWs are nothing but liars and your stats are nothing but the truth.
Could you please indulge me and give me the addresses of the ten kingdom halls that have closed in your area? It would really help when I quote your “stats”. I would give you the addresses of the new kingdom halls in my area but what would that accomplish since we know your “stats” are the absolute truth.
PeterB says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:07 pm
@CovertFade Your arguments are totally valid. I totally agree with your article.
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Vox Populi says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:17 pm
I want to congratulate you, Covert Fade, on another excellent article.
If the creator has given us a conscience, then why shouldn’t we as individuals have the freedom to live our lives according to our conscience and not be penalised for it.
I look forward to reading your future articles.
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Paul Small says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:23 pm
Terrific Article @covertfade I whole heartedly concur
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JBob says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:35 pm
Some matters are not open for debate; the blood issue did thaw somewhat but like many other Wt matters, the ultra-conservatives and hardliners seem to have slammed the door on being progressive. The gay thing–especially now with a spotlight on pedophilia, the gays are being used as a scapegoat, or “red herring”–if they’re anti-gay, the public will cease believing they’re possibly sheltering pedophiles. This is disgusting and bigotry as pedophilia is not the same as homosexuality.
Another point I’ve noticed in scanning the horizon of dissenters and those who are booted or rejected, some come from very hardline conservative denominations and would expect nothing less in terms of strict morality codes. Typically, persons in more progressive religions would listen to JW’s and express empathy for freedom of expression but wouldn’t be inclined to have this structure imposed on their lives.
So change from the top meets resistance (more rebellion in the ranks, even splintering) from below as the momentum of “what we have taught over the years” collides with “how we’d like to transform what we taught and believe”. The history in Raymond Franz’ memoirs is an example of this–the progressive changes he and others were guiding the Watchtower to make ran into the resistance of the ultra-conservatives and conservatives.
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Matias says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:53 pm
I think you have omitted the worst thing they do: spreading ignorance and a distorted view of reality
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Jerry Lahjalahti says:
May 13, 2016 at 2:59 pm
No, no I cant agree.
Without:
Child abuse
Blood Transfusions
Shunning
What’s there left of the Watchtower???
False prophecies?
Fear of Armageddon?
Giving up your retirement plans for knocking on doors whole your life?
NO, besides the arguments. The Watchtower is a dangerous cult. And it must FALL.
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JBob says:
May 16, 2016 at 4:47 pm
@Jerry I see where you may feel that the Watchtower as a dangerous group should lead everyone to evacuate or avoid joining, but since they hold families hostage, and have been dropping large hints regarding shunning being only way to be an “ideal JW” [so you too can have a Memorial/Funeral service as a JW in “good standing” at the KH (like Bro. Nelson and unlike former Bro. Jackson)], fact is they will always have a base population–smaller or larger, perhaps frustrated and gagged, but some followers.
If Pastor Russell can still garner a core of hardline followers, I see a future where the Watchtower perhaps at reduced and minimal existence has adherents. In the Burned Over District near to where JW’s evolved, there is an example in the Shakers which once were numerous, yet today are nearly extinct. Nearly extinct, because there are still some persons who gravitate toward this obscure group.
One issue JW’s have which was revealed in a mocking documentary is that JW dogma doesn’t foster settling down to create a family. I can hear the grumbling already–settle!–yes, JW’s do have families, and children, but pay close attention to the training material coming out. For instance, the previous year’s “What Is True Love?” video. Examine it closely, does it offer a guide to coping with any issues deriving from family life or is it laying out an ideal life pattern which few will be able to achieve and sustain? It’s the latter.
This is why when heavy-duty issues are taken in for counseling before the elders and MS bodies, you get light counseling: advise to study more, take the issue to Jehovah in prayer (pray for what?), etc. Rarely are individuals given practical advice on using coping skills to overcome difficult issues or dealing with individuals, or how to seek strong secular therapy, medical treatment or marital counseling. In the video released last year, once more psychology and marital counselors are portrayed with a deprecating view.
Resourceful videos for the skeptics among us:
“Selling God” and “Waiting for Armageddon” (seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will open..)
Mirror of JW videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC4LLNWctxg
Typical secular advice on finding lovehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH8pzfcgu3o
Interesting (yet rambling) interview with son of JW’s who escaped [take away: make a plan before you step away from home (& JW’s)]
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Sharon says:
May 13, 2016 at 3:17 pm
I believe in religious freedom, but this is a cult. The WTBTS is a money making publishing company and the leaders are getting rich off the slave labor of the masses of cult members (publishers) who put money in the donation boxes so the literature will keep coming and they scurry around like a bunch of worker bees distributing that literature and trying their best to recruit new worker bees to do the same.
All the abuses are for the purpose of getting and keeping publishers and bringing in wealth for the leaders. You can’t get rid of these abuses and leave the cult. Even if you could get rid of the current abuses, new ones would crop up because they serve a purpose.
We’re not talking about a religion but a money making cult.
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Markie says:
May 13, 2016 at 7:38 pm
Your comment is kind of ridiculous. A lot of people say it’s a publishing company designed to make its leaders rich. I don’t see where any of the leaders are accumulating wealth. They are just a bunch of uneducated guys thinking they are doing right. The only perk they get is to occasionally fly around the world like rock stars. Yes the have sold off Brooklyn but they just put the money back in the contaminated site at Warick. I don’t see them sport new cars, nice suits etc….They have to keep plugging away at bethel or they will get their arses kicked out with nothing like so many others.
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dee2 says:
May 13, 2016 at 8:46 pm
Markie,
How do you know what the true financial position of the WT is?
Have you ever seen an audited financial statement from the WT?
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Markie says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:03 am
I would have to say your guess is as good as mine.
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Big B says:
May 14, 2016 at 7:44 am
Hi Markie;
Here is a site to show how J.W.’s account for some of their monies collected at circuit assembly’s. It’s entitled “Why is there always a Deficit at the Circuit Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses?”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APb1RpfjCrA
Very informative video as is this Friday Column. 🙂
Winston Smith says:
May 14, 2016 at 3:56 pm
You also have to keep in mind that’s it’s not all about money. It is also about POWER. Having power over others is like a drug and once you get a taste of it, you often want more.
Another fact to consider is that the organization has become an entity unto itself. It seeks to self perpetuate which necessitates the constant publishing. Since about 1/2 of all converts end up leaving, it constantly needs fresh blood to replenish itself.
WS
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Christopher says:
May 13, 2016 at 3:19 pm
Great artical however until the current GB die off I don’t see any change forth coming maybe they will just implode from the pressure that would be just fine with me.
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Katydid says:
May 13, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Very well put! Add in post-secondary education & include conscience-driven family celebrations, & I would be happy. It sounds so simple, and Christian, doesn’t it, without labeling people? The practices you described have all but destroyed my large & beautiful family in multiple ways, and has left me feeling friendless & abandoned. But the Watchtower has stated they will not change, so I don’t know if there is any hope. Keep on writing & speaking out, please, as truth is important.
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Winston Smith says:
May 13, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Valid article Covert Fade. While I agree that these issues need to change, I think that they are symptoms of a larger problem. These issues stem from the GB’s belief that they are spirit-directed by God and have cornered the market on biblical truth. This sense of elitism, leads them to believe that there is nothing wrong with enforcing harmful policies on the rank and file members. What it comes down to is a matter of humility, which they entirely lack. Furthermore they have become accustomed to the power they wield and of course power corrupts.
As Ray Franz brought out, the GB are captives of their own concepts in regard to their organization. This is why I believe it is unlikely that they will change on their own. External political and financial pressures could potentially help force some changes to be made. But I don’t think that a full change will occur without some truly spectacular circumstances.
As I mention above, this does not invalidate your activism. Activism is both necessary and vital to bring about change. But I would look for change to be initiated from factors external to the organization rather than internal ones.
WS
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Eric Arthur Blair says:
May 13, 2016 at 9:28 pm
I completely agree Winston.
Yes, fantastic article covert fade, outstanding reasoning and very balanced. But the top of the list for me is their claim to be the one true religion, appointed and directed by Holy Spirit. I think everything flows from there, especially the policies you outline which, ironically, also disprove that claim (along with their false predictions and false teachings.) I guess the distinction you make is between what people believe and what they do, and I agree that they can believe (and claim) what they want, but the harmful policies need to change, even if their bs doesn’t.
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Ren says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:01 pm
Amen, Covert Fade
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Charles Huff says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:05 pm
Very well said.
Why do you chose to “Covert Fade” yet call yourself an “activist”?
Do what you want, but activism means being front and center. If I’m wrong the ones you love have no idea you feel the way you do, is that “activism”?
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Covert Fade says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:39 pm
Yep. Activism is about what you do, not about exactly who knows you’re doing it 🙂
(Besides, right now I can probably do more this way in some areas. Sometimes subtlety gets more done than a full frontal assault 😉 )
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Mama Joy says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:12 pm
The problem is that everything they believe IS HARMFULL to others.
Afterlife- they believe in genocide for nearly all except them.
Blood- no blood even to children to save their life.
Disfellowshipping- shunning and abandoning family members which divides families.
Holidays- no holidays to have fun and share in Christ’s birth.
Memorial- is the same ritual in a Satanic Black Mass by passing the body and blood of Christ.
God- their belief in an unforgiving fearful God that punishes and judges Jehovahs Witnesses.
Control- elders need to be asked before a party or major decision outside of the hall.
Abuse- children victims go to elders for help and protection but instead they are told to hide it.
Door to door work- Jesus specifically says NOT to go from door to door, but rather go to a house where you are wanted and stay there awhile teaching that house the good news in exchange for room and board then when you are not wanted leave and shake the dust off.
Prostlatizing- they do not spread the good news that Jesus death erased our sins, instead they peddle magazines for a publishing company.
Slaves- they are made to work for free. I say made because if you don’t then you aren’t considered that spiritual.
Brainwash- brainwashing happens when a group or individual says “it’s not me telling you to do this, it’s God telling you”. So if you don’t do it then you aren’t listening to God or “Gods Organization”.
Obey- you MUST obey, or risk losing family, friends, work acquaintances, etc who are JWs. You CANNOT question elders decision without risking disfellowshipping over questioning “Gods Authority”.
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Bad Penny says:
May 14, 2016 at 3:35 am
Mama Joy – Well said.
Sorry, Covert Fade, I want them GONE, not just reformed. The world without JWs or any religion would be a better place, I think, but “maybe I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one” …… Imagine, J. Lennon.
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Jeffreycanning says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:17 pm
You might not want WT destroyed, but I am sure there are many like me who hate them like the plague… If you had your family torn assunder by shunning and felt the pain of your children treating you as though you never happened to be you too might want the orginisation destroyed…
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Covert Fade says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:35 pm
Totally get the pain. Not suggesting for one moment that anyone who has been mauled by the Cult is wrong for wanting to see it gone. A world without Watchtower would indeed be a better world, but I don’t know what the chances of 8 million JW’s suddenly apostatising are. Much better chance of the leadership being forced to moderate some things to dodge a legal and financial kicking.
Sorry to hear you’ve had a rough time. Genuinely hope you’re doing okay.
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Eyes opened says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:44 pm
This is an excellent article. You have expressed views my husband and I are totally on board with. Thanks for your thoughtful article.
Regards
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Alice says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:46 pm
Hate the religion but not the members. They are what Christ described, they are tossed about by wolves in sheep’s clothing. Something like that. I forgot how that saying goes. JW Disfellowshipping and disassociation is used as emotional blackmail.
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HaveATallOne says:
May 13, 2016 at 5:27 pm
@Alice, The phrase originates in a sermon by Jesus recorded in the Christian New Testament: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves (Gospel of Matthew 7:15, King James Version). The other verse you are thinking of may be at Ephesians 4:14, it reads, Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming
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HaveATallOne says:
May 13, 2016 at 5:31 pm
Thank you, HaveATallOne. I got the two mixed up.
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Eric Arthur Blair says:
May 13, 2016 at 9:48 pm
You are right though Alice, I knew many beautiful people over the last 20 years. I fit into that third category – faded, but effectively shunned. I’ve lost all my friendships, which is disappointing. They won’t call me because they are frightened of what they will hear and they know they will never win a scriptural debate with me. I feel sorry for them because I know they are held captive, but it’s tough rebuilding your life and I wouldn’t wish what I’ve been through these last two years on anybody. That said, I know that they are all going to have to face their own mortality in this system and the realisation that everything they were promised was false. And I hope I can still be there for them.
In the meantime, I wish Watchtower would come clean and admit that they are not spirit inspired but just a bunch of men trying to fathom a, quite frankly, confusing and unfathomable book. That way at least people might have time to adjust; to think for themselves again and truly exercise their free will. And they would hopefully be there to support one another through the transition, agree to disagree where they do, and accept those who chose their own path without recrimination or disdain.
I live in hope, but like my old CO told me, a fish rots from the head down. He was more right than he knew, and it’s the own true thing he taught. A bit like Geoffrey Jackson at the ARC, he swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but the only true word he spoke was when he admitted that it was presumptuous of them to claim to be gods spokesperson on Earth.
But it’s the sheep that suffer, like you say. My parting words to the body of elders I was serving on, which was mired in petty politics, backstabbing and nepotism, was to remind them that they were wolves in shepherds clothing.
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Markie says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:09 am
I would love to ask old Geoffrey what he meant by his presumptuous remark.
Peter van der Brink says:
May 13, 2016 at 9:30 pm
Very good written !
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Maria F. says:
May 13, 2016 at 4:49 pm
Great, Great, Article..
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Sharon Christensen says:
May 13, 2016 at 6:55 pm
Excellent article! Unlike the heavy burden and control .. JW.org puts upon it’s believers….Jesus said His yoke kindly, load light…and all that is epected of us is to show love to one another… Love moves ones like you to care enough for people to continue on with the activist work against the Wt….it must be done out of love and care cuz it is no easy task…thankyou to you Covert, and all who make this a part of their life. Jw survey is a something to look forward to each week…thanx to you and all who make a difference in many of our lives who have suffered from the horrors of Jw.org. Keep up the good work…thankyou sooo much!
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Peter van der Brink says:
May 13, 2016 at 9:28 pm
Watchtower = Jehovah. The Governing Body not need to explain the history, 1914,1919 and all failed claims or mistakes.Millions died with a given hope from Watchtower teachings. Deut. 18:22 shows that the Watchtower organisation shall be destroyd as Babylon .They claim the name of God, other religions do not. Further the arrogance of the GB is even a big problem, so there is nothing left. Maybe from inside a coup is coming to replace the 7 of Brooklyn and finish the North Korean Propaganda machine of http://www.jw.org
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Sarah says:
May 13, 2016 at 11:41 pm
WT’s secret policies should be stopped. Members have the right to know which rules they are being judged by. The Scribes and Pharisees had a large list of their own rules. These were not secret but the practice of extra rules made the Pharisees come under the worst condemnation from Christ (Matt 23). It was worse than his comments on other sins. So, create extra rules and then keep them secret – that surely has to be the worst sin ever.
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Concorde says:
May 14, 2016 at 4:51 am
The problem with the GB saying they are the faithful and discreet slave results in the r&f adhering to everything they say and when doctrine is changed, the excuse is that there is new light. Checking the internet is viewed as apostasy so, as the ARC said, JWs are a captive audience. God’s teachings are confused with the teachings of the GB but it is the GB that demands obedience even though “some things cannot be understood at the time”. How’s that for mind control?
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Jeffreycanning says:
May 14, 2016 at 4:56 am
Getting too serious, time for a larf… Our overseer late 1974. “This is probably the last talk I will give in this system of things…” – Born in 16 yr old. “Where will we all live during the thousand year rain???. – Middle aged 20 yr dubs baby sitting for us one night… “No we weren’t bored, we watched a lovely bible movie on TV” Checked the TV guide when they left… ‘Ben Hur’. – M/S. “It will be good when those ancient ‘Christians’ like Moses and Noah get resurrected wont it..! And he had three bible studies going… Sorry couldn’t help it…
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Markie says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:29 am
What makes me laugh is when people say that jehovah needs those new buildings in Warwick for the new system. In reply I always say “really with all the buildings all over the world, Jehovah needs those ones specifically? Enough to take people away from the preaching work to build them when we are deep in to the time of the end?” They usually don’t know how to respond.
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Twmack says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:31 am
Some well reasoned points CF and I fully support freedom
Of choice, But I cannot look at that Awake cover,
“Youths who put God first”, and not want this foul, sickening
Quasi religion completely obliterated.
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David M. says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:39 am
I just wanted to make a correction to one of your points. If a JW unrepentantly accepts a blood transfusion he is considered to have disassociated himself after an investigation is made by a committee (but not a judicial one). This change was made in 2000 so WT could claim there are no sanctions against JWs who take blood. Bulgaria was instrumental in forcing them to make this change.
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Tilli says:
May 16, 2016 at 2:04 am
That’s right. They simply assign new terms to the same things. You get investigated and judged by a committee of three elders, yet this is not called a judicial committee. If they consider you unrepentant and they will tell your congregation that you’re no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Yet, you’re not disfellowshipped, but you have left the organization yourself. Fantastic. But one great difference is there: As you are considered to have disassociated yourself, you’re unable to appeal the decision. In the end, with this new treatment you’re in a worse position than before.
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ruthlee says:
May 14, 2016 at 5:50 am
Well done Mr C this was so well written and the points you made I can only say Hear Hear!. Well as always i do have something to say. I’m not talking to athiests but those of us who have a belief in god are actually disappointed in our religion. We do not want to defect or apostasize or abandon our core. but we inevitably have to because despite the profession of being god’s spirit directed org and having the audacity to use god’s alleged name in their title They do not have any authenticity left. They do not adhere to the bible, the gospel of jesus or Christianity. They do not entitle them selves Christian either.It is only a matter of time before a genuine seeker of jesus or a bible reader will abandon jehovahs witnesses because it is fraudulent. The stupid policies you so eloquently wrote about are the politics of their confused ideas and nothing to do with god , jesus, or the bible. So my point is that even if they rescinded all the cultish behaviour and false doctrine they still wont represent god they will still be in error and still doomed to blindness and failure. Someone made the point that the only ones coming in are special needs or in my vocabulary, wierdos deadbeats and dropouts or children under a certain age. (sorry that’s a bit nasty). But it may grow but there is no success because it is only poor people and the dim who will be attracted to this way of life or the terminally bored who cannot think of anything better to do with their time. It is all a bit of a damp squib really and on my better days quite amusing to see the demise. That in no way to minimise the hurt and pain of victims but really this was a terrible cult to have been associated with and were we not so foolish? So I say keep up the activism it is a light shining on a dark place. Cheers Ruthlee.
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Eyes opened says:
May 14, 2016 at 6:24 am
I would like to share a point to consider…several comments have to do with growth of the organization seen in membership numbers and construction of new halls and so on. My personal view is that this is not an educational/publishing organization…it is a real estate conglomerate. They own property throughout the globe. They have “forgiven” all Kingdom Hall debts, in other words thanks for the property. Oh now you owe us rent. The new halls etc., being built are built with free labor and designed to be attractive to potential commercial buyers. Don’t be fooled by all the building work. These buildings will be sold as needed to keep the numbers up, in their finances that is. Their investment in these beautiful halls is greatly reduced because of all the willing volunteers. Imagine the profit if a building is sold. How manipulative to take advantage of honest hearted ones who think they are doing this for God and fellow believers. Just some personal conclusions I’ve come to.
Regards
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Big B says:
May 14, 2016 at 8:02 am
@Eyes opened;
Bingo! Check out new purchase in Florida!
http://gotoby.com/news/article/2245/Watchtower-Buys-Former-FAA-Training-Facility-in-Palm-Coast-for-$7025000
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Gary says:
May 14, 2016 at 8:44 am
Terrible weather Florida has.
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JBob says:
May 16, 2016 at 4:49 pm
Settles it, they are a bunch of “space cadets”…
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Sval says:
May 14, 2016 at 8:55 am
Wow! That is a valid point. Never thought about that.
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John ship says:
May 14, 2016 at 9:34 am
New light to come .go back to small groups in homes because the GT is almost upon us..dint neen many elders as all talks are videos from the .org. …now sell off ALL kingdom halls because we need money to help the needy during the GT…
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John Plummer says:
May 14, 2016 at 6:24 am
The writer of this article makes some interesting points but the bottom line is that the Watchtower Society is an organization that counsels its members who have very sick children to deny permission for essential blood transfusions. To take your own life because of a religious belief is tragic (and stupid) but to effectively kill a child because of somebody else’s interpretation of something written in an ancient book… is pure wickedness.
The writer also ignores how there must now be many thousands of current and ex J.W’s now living in abject poverty because they trusted their leaders’ promises that they would be part of that 1914 generation that “will not pass away” and they therefore made no financial provision for their old age.
The Watchtower Society is surely one of the most despicable scams on this planet and the sooner it is put out of business… the better!
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Jeffreycanning says:
May 14, 2016 at 3:07 pm
That’s what I like tp hear… bravo
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KAY GH says:
May 14, 2016 at 7:43 am
Thank you. Am just drafting my resignation letter at the cafe, after a year of finding the truth behind the watch tower and it’s doctrine through your medium and jwfacts.com i have decided to leave. my last meeting as a JW was on 12/05/2016. Can’t continue in this cult anymore.
Because of my association with the WT ORG, my sister who happens to be the only surviving sibling i have since our parents died before i turned Ten, has disowned me. Worse of all is i stop enrolling as a systems and network engineer because of WT ORG’s policy on higher education. Am out of work but still applying as an electrician because i have been trained as one and would be glad to use the knowledge i acquired while mixing and controlling cameras at regional conventions in broadcasting.
Thank you for setting me free. Veritas Liberat!_John 8:32
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JBob says:
May 16, 2016 at 4:54 pm
“Worse of all is i stop enrolling as a systems and network engineer because of WT ORG’s policy on higher education.”
Curious, who told you getting a network engineering training would be “higher education”?
Once more, a zone of confusion because Watchtower throws out edicts but doesn’t often crystallize or quantify what is considered “higher education”–high school graduation? vocational courses that aren’t available in high school? community college courses? a DIY course at a local hardware store?
In this fog of war, everyone is trembling in fear before the Watchtower–afraid to do and afraid not to do.
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Telescopium says:
May 14, 2016 at 8:11 am
Fun fact:
The February 2017 Watchtower (Study Edition) on apostasy is now being researched by the Writing Dept. They’re planning on using a quote from this article by Covert Fade as follows:
“My goal is… to destroy the Watchtower organisation and convince every Jehovah’s Witness on the planet to leave the religion.”
Just kidding…
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Big B says:
May 14, 2016 at 10:43 am
Hello to all,
It is my firm belief/opinion that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society will morph into something else because of the bad branding the organization has received as of late.
If all properties, holdings, etc. are under a new name (say JW.org) and the WTBTS ceases to exist or disappears (as in bankruptcy) would not the child molestation cases against the WTBTS disappear as well?
I can also envision further reductions in printing with the “Awake!” and the “WatchTower” magazines being pulled from the public distribution or phased out altogether. Study lessons or information (Kingdom Ministry) to be available on-line to be printed out by you at your cost.
Just wondering out loud. I agree wholeheartedly with this article. WTBTS implosion is definitely immanent, it’s just a matter of time.
“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” –credited to Abraham Lincoln 16th President of the United States.
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Adam Heckathorn says:
May 14, 2016 at 12:56 pm
I haven’t read all the comments but I think one point should be taken to heart. I have been surprised by how many have told me that although they attend meetings and even go out in the ministry they don’t believe it, any of it. The local Elders where I live in Moorhead MN have demonstrated by their actions that they don’t really believe it, at least not all of it. I think we would be surprised how many just go
along with it to avoid consequences. I think the governing body is well aware of this hence the severe consequences to control the behavior of the masses.
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Frankie's Market says:
May 14, 2016 at 2:25 pm
This article contains reasonable demands for the WT. But the shunning policy will never dropped. As the writer for the article states, many of the JW beliefs and scriptural interpretations are faulty, if not total nonsense. The practice of shunning is crucial for the GB to keep the rank-and-file in line. If active publishers were freely allowed to associate with so-called apostates, their minds will finally be exposed to ideas and lines of reasoning that was previously kept off limits by WT propaganda. Before you know it, you will have many of the rank-and-file questioning WT teachings to their elders. The elders, in turn, would have a heck of a time defending WT doctrine and predictions that have proven false over the years. Really, the only means of keeping the flock in line has been to get the rank-and-file to swallow and accept WT teachings on faith, not reasoning. And the tool for elders to rein in those who would have the audacity to question even a smidgen of doctrine would be to threaten DF’ing and shunning. That is why you are not likely to see the GB ease up on the shunning policy. For them to do so would be to take a step towards the disintegration of the JW organization where a small group of men in Brooklyn (the GB and their helpers) wield the power of God over 8 million followers. Who among here thinks that those men are going to voluntarily give up their exalted status? Not a chance of that happening, if you ask me. They are drunk with power and enjoying every minute of their ego trip.
Reply
Bad Penny says:
May 15, 2016 at 4:31 pm
Frankie’s Market –
Excellent points. I agree that the WT shunning policy has to remain to keep the rank and file in their place.
After all, wouldn’t we all love a chance to discuss things freely with former associates without them feeling threatened.
The brothers who continue to be blinded by the ‘light’ will inevitably remain in the dark.
Reply
TeraG says:
May 14, 2016 at 6:01 pm
Wow! Love this article. My thoughts exactly! Thank you covert fade, very well written
Reply
Ready 4 to Fade says:
May 14, 2016 at 7:34 pm
https://www.change.org/p/united-states-attorney-general-investigate-the-watchtower-society-of-jehovah-s-witnesses-re-child-sexual-abuse?recruiter=373488240
Reply
Ready 4 to Fade says:
May 14, 2016 at 7:38 pm
This is for anyone who missed the post in Cedar’s Twitter feed. It’s a great way to anonymously have your voice heard.
Reply
enuffsenuff says:
May 14, 2016 at 7:57 pm
I was reading your comments Winston Smith and I have to agree, POWER is the drug. In fact Jesus prophecy Math24;48-9 says “But if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ 49 and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards”. I don’t believe he was talking about literal drunkards. Men in particular have the problem of being drunk with power, why else would billionaire Trump run for the US Presidency? The pay packet is not in his class of earnings.
And Markie keep up the good work in saying what the current reality is with regards to WT thinking. They GB do indulge themselves a little when it comes to rings, watches and expensive well tailored suits- but then again don’t all televangelists?
A dislike of the WT doesn’t mean others wont like them and support them (not me) but I like your comments.
Reply
MamaJane says:
May 14, 2016 at 8:08 pm
I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS RELIGION! IDIOTS!
Reply
Garrett says:
May 14, 2016 at 8:54 pm
Please put my name down for those who wish to destroy this cult, genocide the members and cut the throats of all the Governing Body live on Pay Per View.
Reply
Outandabout says:
May 15, 2016 at 1:31 am
Now that’s a bit harsh, Garret, but I understand your sentiment.
The words ‘Jehovah’ and ‘Watchtower’, to me, are now toxic and I loathe them. I would love to see the GB arrested for crimes against humanity, and if they’re are so keen for Armageddon to come about and be transported back to the bronze age, they should be granted that wish. The Watchtower building should be demolished, ring fenced, and then the GB put to work with hammers from dawn til dusk, breaking up the rubble while being pelted with stones by any of the abused who wish to do so. The GB are showing no quarter, so none should be shown. They have blood on their hands and must pay.
I understand and agree with Covert on one level, and the rank and file are not to blame of course, but on another level…….
Reply
Markie says:
May 15, 2016 at 11:59 am
Gosh, it sounds like you have been shown some loving counsel by some spirit appointed elder in the past.
Reply
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← The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
News Bulletin: Dutch reporter thrown out of District Convention →
The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower
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Posted on May 13, 2016
Kcj48ABcqI don’t want to bring down the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
That might have a couple of you blinking in suprise. If you are one of Jehovah’s Witnesses reading this, you may have been told that so called “apostates” want nothing more than to destroy your organisation, and wipe your faith from the surface of the planet.
If you are an ExJW, you might think that someone who spends as much time as I do criticising Watchtower behaviour and policy must have the total destruction of the religion as an endgame.
Well, I don’t.
I believe that religious freedom is a fundamental human right, and that people should be free to believe whatever they want to believe. I disagree with virtually every doctrine held by Jehovah’s Witnesses, but I will defend utterly their right to believe them.
I draw the line, however, when religious doctrines directly call for behaviour that is actively harmful to others.
Thus we come to the point.
My goal is not to destroy the Watchtower organisation and convince every Jehovah’s Witness on the planet to leave the religion.
My goal is to force Watchtower to abandon specific practices that are causing significant harm to other human beings by bringing these practices to the attention of Governments, the media, the general public, and in some cases Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves.
What specific practices are these? I will outline them below, and state the specific conditions Watchtower must achieve in order for me to consider the matter resolved. I do not speak for JW Survey, or for my fellow activists in this matter. These are my personal opinions, and my person criteria for “Mission Accomplished” as regards my activism towards Watchtower.
Child abuse policies
Geoffrey Jackson appeared before the Australian royal commission to answer to concerns over child abuse mishandling
Geoffrey Jackson appeared before the Australian royal commission to answer to concerns over child abuse mishandling
I believe that no organisation can ever have a perfect record when it comes to handling child sexual abuse, and that it is absurd to pretend otherwise.
People are imperfect, systems break down, and sometimes, despite all best efforts from a religious community, a predator will enter the flock and attack a child.
But there is a big difference between a few bad apples slipping through robust safeguards despite the diligent best efforts of an organisation on the one hand, and a systemic failure from the top down to tackle an abuse problem that is a well known problem internally, but is carefully hidden from the outside world on the other.
As has been shown again and again, in open court, in government investigations, and in multiple documentaries, the policies that Jehovah’s Witnesses use to handle allegations of child sexual abuse are not only ineffectual, they are actively dangerous and harmful, both to the abuse survivor and the surrounding community.
The “two witness” rule. The policy of not reporting molesters to the police unless legally required to do so. The traumatising Judicial Committee process that sees a vulnerable victim forced to give harrowing details of their abuse to a star-chamber comprised of three untrained men.
All of these factors combine to create an environment that the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex abuse found placed the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses at “significant risk of sexual abuse,” and extends to affect the children of non-Witness parents sharing a community with an unreported abuser.
What is even worse is that most Witnesses are in the dark as to the details of these policies, and also to the scathing criticism these policies have been subjected to. They only see the casual dismissals by the Governing Body, who then warn Witnesses to flee from any news report or comment that shows the organisation in a bad light, and have no idea how prevalent child abuse actually is within their religion, or how vulnerable their children really are.
This situation cannot be allowed to stand.
◾Watchtower needs to be forced (via legal and financial penalties if needs be) to bring their worldwide child protection policies into line with what legal professionals and child psychologists believe to be “Best Practice” to safeguard children and prosecute molesters.
◾Watchtower needs to admit past flaws in its policies, compensate and apologise to abuse survivors, and openly do the above in full view of its membership.
Blood Transfusions
I believe that an adult Jehovah’s Witness has the right to refuse a blood transfusion.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. I believe that a mature adult has the right to decide what happens to their own body. A mature adult has the right to refuse any and all medical treatment they so wish, even if this results in their death. I may consider their reasons foolish and absurd, but I respect the right of a mature adult to make this decision for themselves.
However, at present, Jehovah’s Witnesses are not making this choice of their own free will. Every Jehovah’s Witness facing this choices knows that, should they choose to accept a transfusion and live, they may face a Judicial Committee. Should they be unable to convince three Elders that they are sufficiently repentant for taking blood and staying alive, they will be disfellowshipped.
It is hard to argue, therefore, that Jehovah’s Witnesses currently refusing blood are doing so without coercion. No one should be made to choose between death on the one hand, and life without their family and friends on the other.
◾Watchtower needs to make it clear that there will be no official or unofficial sanction should an adult Witness decide to accept a transfusion.
Additionally, every year, Jehovah’s Witness parents place the lives of their children at risk by refusing life saving medical treatment for their children on purely religious grounds.
The infamous issue of Awake that celebrated the deaths of Witness children who died due to Watchtower’s policy on blood.
This practice is actively encouraged by Watchtower, who once printed an article celebrating children who had died needlessly due their parents refusal of treatment. Additionally, any parent who disobeys Watchtower’s instructions may face discipline from the congregation, and possible shunning.
A child is not capable of giving rational, informed consent in this matter; especially not one who has been raised all their life subjected to the indoctrination of their parents, and who relies on their parents to make all other decisions in life for them.
◾Watchtower needs to teach that the refusal of blood is a personal decision for a mature adult, that a child is not capable of making the choice to refuse, and that parents cannot make it on their behalf. It should be made crystal clear that children are neither expected or encouraged to refuse blood.
Shunning
Shunning is rife among Jehovah's Witnesses - a practice that breaks up families
Shunning is rife among Jehovah’s Witnesses – a practice that breaks up families
I believe that Watchtower has the right to disfellowship and to disassociate people.
Yes, I will say that again.
I believe that Watchtower has the right to disfellowship and to disassociate people. Any private group or organisation has the right to decide who does and does not hold membership of their group. Sports clubs. Charities. Financial companies. Religions. Such groups have the right to remove membership from a member who is no longer considered to meet the requirements for membership.
What Watchtower does not have the right to do, however, is demand that those who have left their organisation be shunned by family and friends.
Of all the harmful practices currently employed by Watchtower, the practice of shunning is by far the most widespread.
Simply put, any who officially leave the religion, either involuntarily (by disfellowshipping) or voluntarily (disassociation) must expect to undergo the harrowing and cruel ordeal of shunning. Any family and friends who remain as Jehovah’s Witnesses are required to treat the leaver as if they were dead, to not even say a greeting to them.
Whilst there is an unofficial third option known as “fading” (to simply cease all Watchtower related activities and no longer attend religious meetings) this option is far from reliable, as Watchtower still considers such a person to be subject to their rules and regulations. Many examples exist of Witnesses who have “faded” for many years nonetheless being tracked down and disfellowshipped once they move in with an unmarried partner, criticise the religion, or celebrate Christmas. The testimony of Geoffrey Jackson during the Australian Royal Commission confirmed that this was possible.
Additionally, many faders find themselves effectively shunned regardless, with friends and family ceasing contact and treating them as dangerous association. This means that children who are baptised and then grow up to no longer believe the faith must choose between their beliefs and their friends and family. It means adults who wish to excersise their right to change their religion (or choose no religion at all) must make the same harrowing choice.
Shunning is essentially a particularly vile form of blackmail. “Believe what we tell you to believe, and do what we tell you to do, or you will never see your loved ones again.”
◾Watchtower must repeal the sanction of shunning as part of Disfellowshipping or Disassociation, and must take active steps to alter Witness culture so that Witnesses do not expect to shun or be shunned when a person leaves the religion of their own accord or is removed from it against their will.
There are many other aspects of Watchtower doctrine that I dislike or consider harmful; Watchtowers teachings on divorce laws, sexual morality, evolution and so forth. But if the sanction of shunning were removed, these doctrines cease to be harmful to others.
If a beaten wife were free to divorce her abusive husband and remarry without being shunned…
If a gay Jehovah’s Witness were free to leave the religion and live according to their true self without being shunned…
If a Jehovah’s Witness was free to state that he felt the creation account of Genesis to be pure metaphor for the evolutionary process God set in motion without being shunned…
See? Without the threat of shunning, Jehovah’s Witnesses are free to genuinely make their own choices and live the lives they honestly think to be correct, instead of towing the line and flinching every time an Elder looks their way and flexes the “Shunning Stick.” Even if their choice means that the religion no longer considers them to be a member, that choice no longer costs them their family and friends.
Granted, relationships might alter if the family and friends are not broad minded enough to accept the change, but these relationships are not arbitrarily severed. And once shunning becomes a thing of the past, one can quite see Witnesses culture evolving with it, becoming more accepting of association with past members. Indeed, it would probably be instrumental in starting to erode the poisonous “us and them” mentality that Watchtower currently enforces upon its flock. The “information control” that Watchtower enforces upon its congregations would likewise erode once those who left were free to discuss their reasons for doing so with those who remain in.
In the 21st century, religiously enforced shunning is inexcusable. It must go.
Mission Accomplished?
boxIf Watchtower were to enact the changes I have outlined, I would be content to cease my activism against them.
I would still consider their religion to be full of doctrines and beliefs that I consider to be utterly without merit, but they would no longer be a harmful cult; they would simply be another religion whose doctrines a person was free to research, accept, or discard of their own free will.
Granted, it may well be hard to envisage a situation where such reforms took place within the Organisation. It may will be that such harmful doctrines continue to feature front and centre of Watchtower policy until the Organisation crumbles under the weight of legal and financial sanctions, public notoriety and a burnt out membership. Scientology is already going this way; Watchtower should take note.
Nonetheless, this is not my goal.
Whether this ignominious ending comes to pass is entirely down to Watchtower. I remain hopeful that legal, financial, and public pressure can in time make the Organisation cede some of the required ground in order to survive. Recent events have shown that the current leadership’s taste for public humiliation and hardship is significantly decreased. Russell and Rutherford used to face their opposers in public debates and in the courts. Today’s Governing Body flee in panic from both, and when forced to appear in public court they put in a performance that bespeaks a distinct lack of capability and vigour for the fight. Their PR attempts are weak willed and desperate for public adoration, and when placed under pressure their representatives react in a fearful, confused way.
Watchtower is on the wrong side of history in this battle, and lacks the stomach and the tools required to fight it. One way or another, it will lose.
Until then, whilst these damaging practices remain in place, my fellow activists and I are not going anywhere.
We have work to do.
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← The Friday Column: Leave no man behind
News Bulletin: Dutch reporter thrown out of District Convention →
171 Responses to The Friday Column: Why I don’t want to destroy Watchtower
← Older Comments
It'sJustMe says:
May 15, 2016 at 7:26 am
I do not want to destroy watchtower too. How could I ? But if some governments felt like to confiscate some JW.Org infrastructures for real humanitarian needs I would not be sad. On the contrary I would be delighted even so much delighted.
Reply
Paranoid Android says:
May 15, 2016 at 10:48 am
Nice article CF.
However;
The WT sets up it’s members to suffer and die as martyrs.
There is nothing noble, inspiring,or respectable about suffering and dying for an American publishing company.
It is not holy sacrifice.
It is merely a waste.
It is just tragedy.
The GB has the audacity to spread lies and inaccuracies worldwide, all the while demanding that it’s members give away their dignity, freedom and even their lives for it.
In the more tolerant countries of the West, this happens through doctrinal sanctions as mentioned in the above article.
However, if you live in Russia, or Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea and many other less tolerant nations, WT will demand that in the name of –
False teachings
False promises
False prophecy
and
A false sense of righteousness
– it’s members oppose the Governments, the law of the land.
This leads to persecution, suffering, imprisonment, torture and Death.
All the while the GB sit in the safety of their American Throne room, dictating who should die for them.
There is nothing poetic about this.
It is not honourable to suffer and die for a lie.
Rather, it is just dreadfully tragic.
How many have suffered ad died for the WT?
How many more will suffer and die for the WT?
The WT does not deserve a future.
Reply
Outandabout says:
May 15, 2016 at 1:11 pm
Bang on!! Tell it like it is. They deserve nothing!
Reply
Bad Penny says:
May 15, 2016 at 5:06 pm
The sacrificial altar of the Watchtower has claimed and destroyed so many lives.
I found out this evening what an impact leaving the cult has had on our son. He was brought up as a witness from birth, he has known nothing else. Our leaving pulled the rug from under him. Everything he had believed in and worked hard to achieve within the org was now lost. He is trying to rebuild his life in a different world, a world where the future is not so certain, and he’s afraid.
I agree with you Paranoid Android, the WT does not deserve a future.
Reply
Paul says:
May 15, 2016 at 10:35 pm
I agree with the general premise of the OP and with the comments above. There is so much obviously wrong with the JW view of the world and even more wrong with the GB view – that change is highly overdue. I doubt that the current leadership will change anything at all, anytime soon. That leaves the only option as more visible activism and exposure.
I have been out for just 1 year, was born in and spent 62 years trapped in a cult that I did not see as such. A big waste!
Reply
Big B says:
May 18, 2016 at 10:53 am
@ Paul,
Glad you’ve have seen the light and found the courage to leave. Hope all goes well with you and your new found Christian freedom!
Reply
GEM says:
May 15, 2016 at 12:35 pm
Bravo, Covert Fade.
This skil(l)full piece of writing is “en pointe”.
Can I add a point, please. If the early congregation could write “For the Holy Spirit and we ourselves add no further burden to you but these necessary things….” and bring a shed load of issues in line with the (then) modern world….why does the Governing Body hesitate to do so today?
The Bible according to JW song and lore was written “as a protection and GUIDE”…
so, many lives could have been saved by common sense and humanity.
Thank you CF
Reply
way forward says:
May 15, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Hmmm nice write up. Are you a free thinker? I mean do, you belong to any religion? Do you believe in the holy quaran, or in the bible? I’m asking because, its not just enough to give advise against, and not at least prescribe a way forward. Humans have this natural tendency to belong to a religion, at least in africa. So where is the way forward? Islam, Catholic, pentecostal, Buddhism, idol worship……..
Reply
Matias says:
May 15, 2016 at 10:09 pm
NONE. You don’t have to belong to a religion. That something is natural/common does not imply that it is the way it should be. Just get out of every religion and start thinking for yourself.
Reply
way forward says:
May 15, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Hmmm nice write up. Are you a free thinker? I mean do, you belong to any religion? Do you believe in the holy quaran, or in the bible? I’m asking because, its not just enough to give advise against, and not at least prescribe a way forward. Humans have this natural tendency to belong to a religion, at least in africa. So where is the way forward? Islam, Catholic, pentecostal, Buddhism, idol worship……..
Reply
way forward says:
May 15, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Hmmm nice write up. Are you a free thinker? I mean do, you belong to any religion? Do you believe in the holy quaran, or in the bible? I’m asking because, its not just enough to give advise against, and not at least prescribe a way forward. Humans have this natural tendency to belong to a religion, at least in africa. So where is the way forward? Islam, Catholic, pentecostal, Buddhism, idol worship……..
Reply
way forward says:
May 15, 2016 at 6:16 pm
Hmmm nice write up. Are you a free thinker? I mean do, you belong to any religion? Do you believe in the holy quaran, or in the bible? I’m asking because, its not just enough to give advise against, and not at least prescribe a way forward. Humans have this natural tendency to belong to a religion, at least in africa. So where is the way forward? Islam, Catholic, pentecostal, Buddhism, idol worship……..
Reply
Vinitha says:
May 15, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Rightful existence of watchtower as an organization would not be a debate if it stops proselytizing, especially to vulnerables kids through child indoctrination and targeting people of poor nation with little education. Ofcourse, it has the right to treat women has second class citizens if the women who join the organization are willing to submit themselves to it and agree to it. Just like this women have right to join the organization, the organization has its right to impose child abuse, shutting and mind controls or citizens who willingly submit themselves to the organization and vouch their loyalty to the GB puppets. How long would it take for them to twist the interpretation of the verse that Jesus has come to put sword between members of the family to become a literal translation of ringt to stab unbelieving family members. This cult and it’s indoctrination practices and teachings are dangers. Their right to exist and obtain charity status is a legal issue, lets us not confuse it and try to be magnanimous in justifying them for it vs human right abuse.
Reply
Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:
May 16, 2016 at 12:06 am
There is no need to destroy Watchtower, it still has some secrets to share…
*** g81 11/8 p. 21 Is the Bible a White Man’s Book? ***
European nations, although claiming to be Christian, have quarreled and fought right through their turbulent history, this strife reaching a climax in this century in World Wars I and II, and now are making frantic preparations for World War III. And instead of proclaiming God’s kingdom, they look to a man-made political organization, the United Nations, as man’s only hope.
Reply
Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:
May 16, 2016 at 12:07 am
*** g82 8/2 p. 21 La Bible est-elle un livre des Blancs? ***
les nations européennes, bien que se prétendant chrétiennes, n’ont cessé de se quereller et de se battre tout au long de leur tumultueuse histoire. Ces luttes ont atteint leur paroxysme en ce XXe siècle avec les deux guerres mondiales. À présent, ces pays préparent avec frénésie une troisième guerre mondiale. Au lieu de proclamer le Royaume de Dieu, ils se tournent vers un organisme politique établi par les hommes, les Nations unies, et le considèrent comme l’unique espoir de l’humanité.
Reply
James Broughton says:
May 16, 2016 at 1:13 am
Sometimes it is difficult to stand back from an organisation with which one has been involved and write with such clarity but I believe Covert Fade has done just that. This is not just freethinking which is more about being all things to all people. Being critical is not necessarily negative when one can support one’s views in a balanced way with evidence. If those currently studying with the Witnesses were shown the points mentioned in the article then maybe they would think twice about joining.
Reply
Mr Negative says:
May 16, 2016 at 2:14 am
To a large extent, I agree with this article. But I’m just not 100% sold on the idea that everybody should have a right to believe whatever they want. When it comes to things that are contrary to established fact (e.g. evolution, global flood), I do not think people should have a right to believe this nonsense, nor should they be allowed to attempt to spread it to others. They should be called out on it and prevented from divesting it to others. Now, when it comes to things that cannot be known for certain (e.g. the existence of god or an afterlife), then fair enough, people can believe what they want.
Reply
Winston Smith says:
May 16, 2016 at 3:19 am
@Mr Negative
I understand your sentiment about people believing in and spreading flawed thinking, however to place any restriction on the freedom of thought and expression is a slippery slope that can easily lead to totalitarian control. After all, the restriction of free thought, is that not part of the issue with Watchtower?
WS
Reply
Covert Fade says:
May 16, 2016 at 2:56 pm
Winston Smith’s post pretty much sums up how I feel on this, with far greater eloquence. If you muzzle freedom of thought, speech and belief for JW’s, you have created a muzzle that can (and history sadly teaches, WILL) eventually be used on everyone.
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Cuthbert says:
May 16, 2016 at 3:19 pm
Hmmm.. Covert, Winston, you are entering very shaky ethical territory when you say that people have a right to believe what they want and express themselves in consequence. A 12 year old may believe that he is ready to engage in a sexual relationship; that’s not to say as a society we are to accept his beliefs and let him carry on regardless. I’m all for freedom of speech and expression, however when the freedom of religious expression extends to coercing minors into refusing blood, even when they haven’t been dunked, we are duty bound to intervene.
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Covert Fade says:
May 16, 2016 at 4:10 pm
Cuthbert.
I understand your point, but how do you propose outlawing belief?
If someone believes something, and refuses to relinquish that belief in the face of all argument and logic, the only way to stop them believing it is to shoot them in the head.
That doesn’t mean they are free to ACT however they want; if my actions are causing demonstrable and significant harm to others, then then my actions must be stopped or contained. Belief drives action, but belief cannot be regulated or contained like action.
There are grey areas and difficult scenarios as a result, sure, but my point stands; a person is free to believe whatever he wants to believe. Thoughtcrime is not a concept I support.
Winston Smith says:
May 18, 2016 at 11:31 am
Education is the most powerful tool in combatting dangerous thinking. Making information available on sites like this one as well as educating folks about cults and mind control are the best solutions. Trying to use force (or legislation with the threat of force) to change people’s thinking never works (and is ethically questionable). Just look at nations that tried to control the thoughts of their citizens – Nazi Germany, USSR, and others – freedom of thought always wins out.
WS
Hakizimana Jean de Dieu says:
May 16, 2016 at 3:11 am
Keep it until Jehovah himself takes the courage to tell humanity why he created this religion! He needs to be assured that we will forgive and forget as we keep in mind that he regrets having created man (Genesis 6:6)!
How can you explain that the same religions has written this?
*** g93 10/8 p. 5 How Can We Protect Our Children? ***
Tragically, adult society often unwittingly collaborates with child abusers. How so? By refusing to be aware of this danger, by fostering a hush-hush attitude about it, by believing oft-repeated myths. Ignorance, misinformation, and silence give safe haven to abusers, not their victims.
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ligniappe says:
May 16, 2016 at 5:47 am
Covert Fade’s point on shunning is well illustrated by this experience and it has just happened in this last week in a Cong in the nearby hills of large capital city in Australia. An elderly woman of 86 years age, suffering early onset dementia, and being treated for mental illness and on medication, and being cared for by her family, suffered bouts of kleptomania due to the meds.
This woman, a JW well enough, even though she, more often than not, cannot remember what she has talked about 2 hours beforehand knew that she had pilfered magazines and a vase from somewhere. I don’t know if the property was returned when the family became aware but I would think that that was what they did. There may have been other instances but all minor and silly, but this poor woman made the nearly fatal error of telling the elders what she had done and was so sorry about.
What happened next was, the elders led by G off r, (name changed but persons who know will recognise) declared her to be unrepentant and that a judicial committee meeting was to be held, which it was and she was disfellowshipped. The announcement was to be made this coming Wednesday. The distraught family sought advice elsewhere from men who know what to do, advised the family to contact the Australian Branch Office for an appeal, since this elderly 86 year old has mental illness. In the meantime the family spoke to elder G r, and his reply that she came and saw the elders, and that she was lucid in ‘fessing up and that they saw no reason not to kick her out, and I might add, kick her while she was down as well.
All of this fell on this elderly woman’s shoulders and she suffered a stroke from the pain of what they have done to her, and is in hospital as I type this. But what about the appeal to the Branch Office? Well, they are going to allow an appeal despite the 7 day time limit being well exceeded, because their concern was potential bad publicity if this gets out. Which they would deny if challenged. What a “great Organisation” makes you wonder why we haven’t joined sooner.
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Tara says:
May 16, 2016 at 6:42 am
Terrible 🙁 that is so sad. You have to love the shepherds eh.
A brother in my old hall… I haven’t been for half a year – yay me!…. has Bipolar. At times he was a real mess and would go off binge drinking. His wife is/was a shrew. Yelled at him, called him all the names under the sun, disrespected him, swore profanities at and about him…. yet he was the one who was df’d because he couldn’t bring his drinking under control. She was given support for having to live with him. I felt so sorry for him and most people did but the elders made the rules and out he went. I’m surprised it didn’t push him over the edge. He is reinstated now. I couldn’t tell you how he is doing as I have no contact.
I hope the elderly sister gets support from genuine people.
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Eyes opened says:
May 16, 2016 at 7:22 am
The experience you have related and the one prior are heart wrenching examples of the grotesque injustice that takes place within this organization. Some Elders who probably have no authority over others except within the org let it go to their heads and become heartless and abusive with this perceived authority. And it’s nothing less than tragic when their victims suffer. They make it perfectly obvious that holy Spirit and the love of Christ have no place in their minds and hearts.
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Winston Smith says:
May 16, 2016 at 7:32 pm
In general, congregation elders are simply unqualified to lead, shepherd, or teach. Some of them are kind fellows and others real rats, but I’d dare say that 99% are completely unqualified to serve the rank and file. I served for just under a decade and I was admittedly unqualified. And those I served with were similarly inadaquate.
Without proper training (and not that acquired at KM school, I might add), elders are grossly ill-equipped to handle the issues faced by the congregation members. Couple that with the fact that the organization looks down on pursuit of an education in psychological studies, promotes ass-backwards reasonings, and only promotes organizational yes-men to the rank of elder and you have a recipe for disaster. Then add to the mix the handful of glory-seekers who want to play the prince and the problems really add up. No wonder cases like the ones above occur. Elders are inept at best and corrupt at worst.
WS
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Big B says:
May 18, 2016 at 8:43 am
@Winston Smith
I totally agree with you. All members are coerced into thinking that higher education is “a tool of the Devil”. So the results of these policies logically follows in that what you have at the Hall are the most uneducated, unqualified elders (who wouldn’t make deacon in Christendom) teaching Sheeple who also don’t know any better. If brain power were explosives the combined knowledge of the so called “Elders” couldn’t blow their own noses.
A true case of “the blind leading the blind”.
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Telescopium says:
May 19, 2016 at 10:27 pm
@WS & Big B
“The blind leading the blind” is so true. In reality, the most qualified leaders in any organization are the reasonable, level-headed individuals that can get things done. I believe there are plenty of men and women in each congregation that could fill this role. However, the written material from the WTB&TS indicates they are not interested in promoting two out of three of those traits. They want brothers (only) who will serve as a local mouthpiece for the Organization and can get things done without question.
I believe this is why we see so few elders that can be counted as qualified. For the ones that are “kind fellows” their genuine value to the congregation is stifled or watered down to the point that they just become cogs in the machine. It’s like witnessing the diminishment of the person as he relinquishes his mental faculties to someone else.
I served only briefly as an elder, but the experience was enough to convince me that I couldn’t be a cog – my conscience wouldn’t let me. Needless to say, the other brothers did not understand or agree when I tried to explain why I was stepping down.
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Eyes opened says:
May 16, 2016 at 7:05 am
@Matias, totally agree, we don’t need to be part of a religion. Being spiritual and being religious is are two different things. I do wholeheartedly agree with the watchtower statement that religion is a snare and a racket, including Watchtower. My spouse and I do strive to be spiritual people and we are liberated and much happier without Watchtower telling us what to think and how to believe and having the audacity to threaten our relationship with God if we don’t see it their way.
Regards
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Startrekangel says:
May 16, 2016 at 8:22 am
I would agree with the general sentiment of this article, except that the sad true is that the WT has moved beyond the point of no return. Is like saying you would give Nazis another chance of existing. Where they can practice everything they believe, so long they do so without actually pressuring or practicing what they preach. Sooner or later it will happen. There is no place for intolerance in the 21st century. Of any kind. If you go to a restaurant without shoes, you are not banned forever. You will be welcomed as long as you were shoes. You don’t have to put on a show of repentance. To say that JW can continue DFing people so long family ties remain, is only a small step in the right direction. Membership, is strictly speaking of membership, should dictate that, as soon as the requirement is met, you are automatically back in. In other words, I agree to some degree, but the culture is so engrained in them that many thing will remain the same. WT needs to go, there is no other way.
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M Saurus says:
May 16, 2016 at 8:56 am
I have not read all the comments yet so someone may have said this already. If so, I apologize.
My thoughts on reading this – you mention “free will” a lot in this article. Whoever uses their free will and CHOOSES to be/remain a member of this organization has to follow the rules. They cannot become a member then say “ok, I don’t like this rule or that rule – they need to change this or that”. No.
One rule is no blood transfusions. Want to have one? Don’t become /REMAIN a JW.
Another rule: when baptized members get disfellowshipped or disassociate, you shun them. Don’t like the rule? Don’t join the club.
The only exception is the child abuse thing. None of the things I mentioned above are against the law. Child molestation is. If they condone it, they should be held accountable, morally and legally.
HOWEVER – if the parents of an abused child CHOOSE to follow the elder’s advice and NOT notify the authorities… SHAME ON THEM. They have chosen this crazy religion and its crazy rules OVER THEIR OWN CHILD. They should also be held accountable, morally and legally.
OK, some crazy church elder tells you not to report the abuse of your own child – if you CHOOSE to obey them vs. protecting/helping your child – then it’s on YOU. Not on the WT.
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Eyes opened says:
May 16, 2016 at 11:37 am
To a degree I agree with you. But how many adults who become members fully understand all the consequences when most of the negative side is tucked away and their exposure is to all the feel good things. Now with the extreme push for children to be baptized, how can they be expected to grasp the seriousness of such a decision. People are expected to be accountable for their decisions, but in witness culture no one is truly informed before making the decision. I know that people are told don’t worry if you don’t understand everything, it’s okay, nobody knows it all before baptism. That’s right. If people were better informed, how many do you think would continue to be baptized? When someone finally does begin to understand and perhaps disagree, now they are threatened with loss of family and friends. Yes I agree, don’t join if you don’t like the rules, but at least tell what the rules are.
Regards
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Holy Connoli says:
May 17, 2016 at 2:16 am
To Eyes Opened: I agree with your point. In todays world it is all about transparency.
In Real estate you MUST disclose all known material facts about a property or you will be liable if a hidden fact comes out.You cannot hide things of importance. You will get sued. In all business it is the same. In legal matters also.In banking also. In medical field also. THE WT DOES NOT disclose and is not transparent when they study or convert someone. Do they tell someone when they study ” if you ever leave this Org” your life will be destroyed! Your family if they are JW’s will not be allowed to speak with you, your friends will not be allowed to speak with you. You must curtail freedom of thought and speech and if you EVER DARE to say anything against our teachings you will be DF’d. You must die if you need a blood transfusion, also all the other craziness about not allowing your children to part take in school sports/activities etc.
It should d all be transparent down to the minor details. The WT just sells you on the “new world” then adds tons of man made rules and restrictions after ur baptized but never explain the harshness to you until you are in the flytrap. One brother years ago likened being a JW to belonging to the “Mafia”! he told me once you join this org you just don’t leave whenever you want to. You just can’t leave without consequence happening to you! What a way to view your religion? Like Marlon Brando said in the Godfather,” I want to make you an offer you can’t refuse”. Welcome to the WatchTower. Now we own you.
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M Saurus says:
May 17, 2016 at 8:45 am
Holy Connoli – agreed. Except:
(1) Real Estate, banking and other financial disclosures are business transactions that demand full disclosure (believe me, I know this first hand). WT is a religion. Not the same thing at all.
(2) Other than children who are born in, any adult or young person who is studying and being told all the rainbows and unicorns stuff SHOULD have enough sense to research the org before joining. Remember, these people are not already witnesses so cannot be worried about “objective” research.
If someone joins a religion (or anything else) blindly with no personal research, then they were not duped.
In all this discussion, I am failing to see where any personal responsibility is being brought in. There needs to be some.
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dee2 says:
May 17, 2016 at 5:44 pm
M Saurus,
“WT is a religion. Not the same thing at all.”
WT was a publishing company and now a real estate business, so Holy Connoli’s analogy is appropriate 🙂
WT is definitely not a religion but a cult. Cults are well known to hide many of their more controversial practices from potential converts. A surreal picture is painted of the cult up front in order to attract converts. Many persons do not know up front what they are getting themselves into when they sign up.
Holy Connoli says:
May 17, 2016 at 7:19 pm
To M Saurus: True that the WT is a religion but full disclosure and transparency should be required if they are what they claim to be.
My point was that in any relationship that involves your entire life there should be full disclosure by the ORG that claims to be the spokesperson for God. Perhaps today since the advent of the internet it is easier for many to make a wise decision based on their own research. In my case I was 19 years old and very impressionable and the internet did not exist. To go to libraries and book stores and do days of research was not practical at that point in most peoples lives. Also when you have undue influence by those around you that can also cloud things. In life also it sometimes takes time to see the entire picture and the false prophecies iver many years. Yes, we aLL HAVE SOME RESPONSIBILTY OF THE DECESIONS WE MADE TO BE PART OF THE WT BUT WE ALSO WERE DUPED INTO BELIEVING
the WT teachings. I was never told that if I ever disagree with a teaching or play on a school sports team or have a beard or
attend a wedding of a friend or relative in a church or do not agree with a change in the teachings that my entire friends and family would not talk to me?
YEs, they are a religion but they are also a BIG BUSINESS also. Like getting a mortgage on a house you have to sign tons of disclosures or to invest in a bond or stick etc. You give more of your life to a religion than any bank so why should the WT NOT disclose any consequences to a possible convert of what happens if they leave the org? Now most people can do honest research on the internet yet the WT still converts some educated adults?
In that case yes, they ae responsible but we have to remember that Religion and especially the WT preys on adults that have problems in their life and they pretend that they have the answers and that they care. I was coming to an airport a short time ago and the JW’s had their table out there with BIG letters and the heading What happens when a Loved on dies? There were 2 ladies sitting there and hoping someone would come over and talk with them. They acted like they cared. So they were preying on the emotions of others. I still say full disclosure from the WT should be the rule.
dee2 says:
May 17, 2016 at 9:24 pm
Most definitely Holy Connoli,
“Religion and especially the WT preys on adults that have problems in their life and they pretend that they have the answers and that they care.”
The JW recruitment strategy has always involved targeting persons who are at their lowest, most vulnerable moment in life.
An elder once said: we need to keep going from house to house as we never know when a person will lose a loved one in death or some other devastating thing happens in their life for which they seek answers which can spark their interest in “the truth”.
dee2 says:
May 17, 2016 at 9:47 pm
Holy C,
There’s a reason why cults don’t do full disclosure of their terms and conditions up front – if they did, it is very unlikely that they would gain recruits.
Interestingly, when you read or hear about the experiences of persons who were once members of a cult, almost always, without exception, they relate that they didn’t know what they were getting into up front – this is a common theme in the experiences of just about every person who was formerly a member of a cult.
Bestium says:
May 20, 2016 at 2:15 am
M Saurus you are
so smart talking sitting in front of computer in America probably where you have internet since 1980’s and other benefits of civilization. But if you were living in another less developed country, where you don’t have access to info to research, and your life is a sh*t, you would agree to believe all rainbows and unicorns, because it would give you some hope for better life.
Bestium says:
May 20, 2016 at 2:01 am
100% agree, they don’t open all rules. You learn all that horrible stuff later when you have no choice but to comply
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M Saurus says:
May 24, 2016 at 12:20 pm
@Bestium –
You ALWAYS have a choice. Always. The consequences of your choice may not be to your liking (i.e. shunned by so-called family and friends, or having to live in the real world like everyone else-minus the paradise fantasies) but the choice is up to you. No one is making you stay in this crazy cult against your will.
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dee2 says:
May 16, 2016 at 5:18 pm
In the case of JW parents’ refusal of blood transfusions for their minor children, the law is involved to some extent since doctors have been known to obtain court orders in order to overturn the parents’ decision.
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Juli says:
May 16, 2016 at 11:25 am
This cult needs to be destroyed completely. There is absolutely nothing about it worth salvaging.
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Gameisover says:
May 17, 2016 at 3:10 am
Nazism needed to be destroyed. Isis needs to be destroyed. They are not recuperable.
Neither is the Watchtower. If they would completely reverse their murderous evil doings, they would no longer be Nazis, Isis or Watchtower.
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Koos says:
May 16, 2016 at 11:44 am
Covert Fade, great article not taking a hard stance against watchtower. JW’s might stay reading.
But how to convince JW-parents that mentally abuse their children by allowing them to notice horrifying pictures in their publications?
Armageddon Art – Jehovah Will Destroy You!http://www.quotes-watchtower.co.uk/armageddon_art.html
https://www.watchtowerlies.com/refusal_of_blood_transfusions_by_jehovah_s_witnesses.html
Well said M Saurus, thank you!
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dee2 says:
May 16, 2016 at 5:21 pm
“Armageddon Art – Jehovah Will Destroy You!”
It’s meant to terrify children into submission.
Some ex-JWs have relayed their experiences about the horrible nightmares about Armageddon which they had as a child; some relate how they always had dreams about dying at Armageddon and being in concentration camps.
I read about one case where the child is so scared that he is always afraid to leave his mother’s side because he thinks Armageddon will happen while he is at school or at a friend’s home.
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Twmack says:
May 16, 2016 at 11:59 am
Allowing blood fractions which were formerly banned
in the Fred Franz era, ( The instigator of this flawed doctrine )
Suggests they would dearly love to ditch this mill stone he put
around their neck.
It would very easy to produce scriptural reasons for abandoning
the teaching. Most of the R & F I’m sure would welcome this as
“New Light” and even congratulate the gb for perceived
scriptural integrity.
What though of the many, literally thousands, whose loved
one’s were sacrificed to this man made law? would they not
be extremely anguished ? over the senseless deaths of their
precious children, wives, husbands,and others.
Would the 7 autocrats, even consider these ones? no doubt
they would. But would it stop them going ahead? I think not,
the advancement of their empire,would take precedence.
I know, at the present this scenario is merely speculation, but
it could easily become a reality. An almost identical
occurrence has already taken place. When the 13 year ban
on organ transplants was quietly withdrawn. Said to be
Cannibalism, then admitted “There was no Scriptural
injunction against it”.
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dee2 says:
May 16, 2016 at 5:57 pm
Twmack,
The GB would perhaps love to abandon the flawed teaching banning blood transfusions but they are absolutely terrified of three words:……….wrongful death lawsuits.
I suspect the move to allow blood fractions, which were formerly banned, was done more out of a fear of a backlash – the GB needed to stem the tide of needless deaths so as to cover their behinds and ward off any wrongful death lawsuits.
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Winston Smith says:
May 17, 2016 at 9:53 am
It is my understanding that blood fractions became allowable at or around the same time they were seeking legal recognition in certain Eastern European countries and getting blocked due to their blood sanctions. It was either in Bulgaria or Romania (can’t remember which) where the organization said that JWs could accept any medical treatment without fear of repercussions from the congregation. After gaining legal recognition, they quickly back pedaled on these statements.
WS
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dee2 says:
May 17, 2016 at 5:55 pm
Watchtower shenanigans at it’s best Winston!………….otherwise known as God’s holy spirit at work!
One thing is for sure, there is always some reason behind any changes which the Watchtower makes and it usually has nothing to do with being directed by God’s holy spirit.
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Grace says:
May 17, 2016 at 6:53 pm
Also, they have a lot of investments in bloodless medicine so while they have influence over the members they are going to protect their investments by keeping the blood ban. While at the same time covering their butts from lawsuits by allowing fractions.
If you follow the money since ww2, you will see where the rabbit hole goes.
Gary says:
May 16, 2016 at 12:38 pm
‘Keep talking’, it’s that simple. Many thanks to the team for your efforts.https://youtu.be/-ithViBMF1k
Oh look there’s a church between the statues.
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A.M says:
May 16, 2016 at 10:22 pm
Thank you for giving a voice to my silent thoughts! I was baptized at 13 even though I didn’t really believe any of the words coming out of the elders mouths. I was terrified of disappointing my family, congregation, and friends.
I used to have panic attacks before any meeting, thinking about the “paradise earth/living forever”
The idea of being disassociated / shunned was so unbearable I lead a very secretive alter life, I lied all the time.
That put in many dangerous situations because I couldn’t call home for help.
I still believe in, and love our creator. But I too wish religion, all organized religion, would stop using fear as a tactic to keep people in line. Stop the abuse of power, and turning a blind eye to those that use there power to prey on others!!!!
Thanks again, A fellow X wittness
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Gary says:
May 17, 2016 at 1:26 am
Everything considered, all differing points of views considered, it’s about heart. The Watchtower fails miserably, ‘please stand’.
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Gary says:
May 17, 2016 at 1:38 am
Retribution?, thank you for your education Watchtower. Never, though I wish you would change, do I wish to be like you and for that I thank you for that.
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Gary says:
May 17, 2016 at 1:41 am
Apologies for the missing words fudleded:-)
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Twmack says:
May 17, 2016 at 6:49 am
The rescinding of the ban on organ transplants reveals
a significant truth about the teachings of the WT ORG.
Here is the verbatim announcement from the WT. —
“there is no “Biblical Command” pointedly forbidding the
taking in of other human tissue” WT, 15 / 3 / 1980, p31.
Since there is no Biblical Command, from where did that
command originate ? The answer is plain, and against
which the Bible gives a very strong warning.—-
“Their worship is a farce, for they teach man made ideas
as commands from God”. Matt, 15/9 , NLT.
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Average Joe says:
May 17, 2016 at 7:56 am
That’s a brilliant observation and piece of research TWMACK!
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Outandabout says:
May 17, 2016 at 7:43 pm
Well done! I’ve just had a quick look at google scholar and without thorough reading it looks as if blood is classified as either connective tissue or tissue. The Watchtower may have put there foot in it here and it’s a shame it’s taken so long for somebody to spot it.
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Outandabout says:
May 17, 2016 at 5:25 pm
Jehovah Witnesses are a group of people who can silently enter your family and infect any of them with the notion that to commit suicide for them is a noble thing to do. If this weren’t a religious group, what do you think the authorities would have to say about that? What if this were a communicable disease running loose in the community? Something is very twisted here. Beware of the evil that is the Watchtower!
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Covert Fade says:
May 18, 2016 at 2:45 am
Thanks for your comments everyone, both those who agree and those who disagree with me. 🙂 Discussion always illuminates things.
I have noted a lot of people here and in other comments sections online stating outright that they want Watchtower wiped off the face of the Earth and the religion gone forever.
Okay, fine, I get that impulse, but I have an honest question:
Can anyone who feels that way outline here a workable detailed, real world scenario in which that actually comes to pass, including a way of dealing with all the Witnesses who might never cease believing in their religion and will want to continue practicing it in some form?
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Holy Connoli says:
May 18, 2016 at 4:07 am
Covert Fade: I don’t think there will be one size fits all if that ever happened. I think it could be like when Rutherford took hostile control over the WT back after the death of CT Russell. Many , many left and or stayed with Russell’s teachings. Some stared their own similar religions and no doubt many just stopped believing the entire thing or went back to nominal Christianity. As we know there are several groups even today that continue to teach Russells teachings, The international bile students still exist in different forms and groups.There was another similar group to the WT called the Worldwide Church of God led by Herbert Armstrong. It was an end times religion always making false predictions and having extreme control over the followers very much like the WT.When he died several other groups within that org began to form. May felt the existing org was not following his teachings and splintered off into several other groups. The actual religion that was the Worldwide Church of god ended up denouncing all of the original teachings and joined “Nominal Christianity” and took on their beliefs which they had for decades condemned as being false and “PAGAN”? Sound familiar? I can see that happening to the WT also.
Maybe right now we don’t see it but anything is now possible with the internet and people having an awakening. If perhaps another GB member awakens and comes out of the WT grip it could have a major effect on the entire WT teachings and religion. Also many may just not want to be part of an organized religion anymore after being “BURNED” by the teachings of the WT. Some will panic and we can understand that bc they have given their whole life to something and realize it is a scam and don’t want another religion. Some may also go back to other Churches or other beliefs, It will be a rough time for a lot of JW’s if that ever happens. For sure it will go in many different directions.
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Tara says:
May 18, 2016 at 7:03 am
That would be me HC. I will have no part in organised religion anymore, not after the Borg. I prefer to think of myself as Spiritual now, not religious though I do still pray. We had an experience last night when a piece of equipment broke down in our house. My son in law called a JW friend who would use his work related skills to help us…. he told my son in law to call up his work company and go through those lines. End game. Basically it was unsaid but, ‘they don’t go to meetings anymore so I will no longer help you.’
Conditional friendship. Who needs that. No more religion for me. as far as the WT I will be here for any JW that escapes. But I hope the organisation falls apart.
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Sunshineonarainyday says:
May 18, 2016 at 6:21 am
Thank you for this article, I have never commented on here before although I have read all the articles and comments. I was raised a JW in a large, dysfunctional family. Even so 5 years ago when I left because of many doubts and a failed discussion with the elders and bethel on dress (tights under a long skirt or dress) my privileges were removed because I was labeled a “trouble maker” I then became disillusioned and left, met the love of my life who is an unbeliever married him and was subsequently shunned. A lady who knew my father told me whenever she saw him in the shops he would cry about me. I have since had a baby and he has not met him. Shunning is the worst! The organization is controlling and the elders feel they are the security team, with no training. The organization and magazine articles is their weapon that they wave around like bullies. Maybe WTS will eventually implode causing it to pop like a pimple that is festering … I can only but hope. Until then I will continue to read ur articles and enjoy my very happy life that I have found.
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M Saurus says:
May 18, 2016 at 8:53 am
Sunshine –
I am so proud of you for having the personal fortitude and courage to leave – even though it meant losing family and friends.
That is so sad about your father. But remember – it is his choice – he chose the org over you and his grandchild. That is no reflection on you and not your fault. Hopefully you have some new family on your husband’s side now who will love you unconditionally, not only if you belong to the same religion.
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Twmack says:
May 18, 2016 at 11:00 am
Maybe not a swift end to this cult, but a continual decline.
Which in many ways seems to have already begun.
They’ve painted themselves into a corner with the now expired
generation teaching, but clinging on desperately with the
ludicrous “Overlapping” invention. Recently I asked my brother
in law elder to show me, where in the Bible the overlapping gen,
was indicated. He was flustered , and blustered and incoherent,
I almost felt sorry for him. I don’t think he believed it himself.
Time is not on their side !
Another nail in their coffin could be the removal of tax exemption
resulting in more cuts and less growth. Already people’s attention
is being focussed on these billionaire freeloading “Religions”.
there are calls right now for another investigation into Scientology,
and if their exemption is removed, the dominoes could start falling.
Life after WT. Well life goes on, people are resilient, many may
welcome a new found freedom, and like some on this site, others
may formulate their own philosophy. many who have left WT,
have already affiliated with other religions.
I totally agree with you CF that freedom of thought, freedom of
religion must be protected. But when that religion and associated
thought, not only support an ideology that has resulted in an
estimated 50,000 deaths but actively preach and inculcate it.
Should we then be overly concerned about such freedom?
Reply
Average Joe says:
May 18, 2016 at 12:38 pm
Just came upon this in a Tweet from someone I follow. Seems a very balanced approach to teaching children about religion. Not to everyone’s taste but the author makes some very poignant statements.http://honeyquill.com/2014/06/09/redefining-faith/
I’m not sure if it is really relevant to the discussion at hand (please feel free to delete it if not CF) but I found it very interesting and thought I’d share.
AJ
Reply
ruthlee says:
May 19, 2016 at 2:56 am
Hi AJ thanks for sharing this I found it very interesting. I am at the stage of the family splitting apart me and my little dude believe in god and heaven and read the bible and my husband and other child are ingrained jdubs who never pickup the bible and are expecting their panda prize at any moment now. For me and my heaven bound child, we have no affiliation as yet because I do not want to be bullied anymore. This is where the horns of dilemma lay because my little dude will have no jdub friends and it takes a while to establish new connections. The strangest thing is , is that i don’t grieve so much for my deadawake still in jdub family because even though they are believers they are not at peace or happy and now I’m through the fire I can say that I am at peace . It all takes time as many here have said and we all reach different conclusions. I actually would like to join a church but I do not want to get mired down in another set of ridiculous rules and nonsense and politics. One thing I will say is no matter how the jehovahs witnesses reform , regroup, change their mind, believe in all being born again etc, etc, I will never go back because they did too much damage and told lies and covered up their filth with more filth. That was never godlike or Christian.I still think that they should compensate all of us who were denied an education, or were victims of the 1975 scam, or were raped and not allowed justice, and that is just a start. If the society started giving it’s wealth away to us the faithful first and the victims of them then they may start storing up treasures in heaven. So putting their money where their mouth is would at least rub salve into a calloused collective conscience. Sorry ive gone on a bit cheers Ruthlee
Reply
KaKaJones says:
May 18, 2016 at 4:39 pm
The way the JWs in my family act, think and speak causes me to think they would stone people to death like they did in the old testament if they could. They probably would if it wasn’t for man made laws. They find ways to get around good reasoning. Religion doesn’t have to be banned for the law through doctors and child protection to help people. For example I called C.P.S. on my family member because she was giving her baby to much alcohol to drink. The case worker saved that baby’s life as far as I’m concerned. My family wouldn’t listen to me but they are intimidated by C.P.S. The elders said to me it wasn’t a congregational matter and it was up to the mother to raise the baby in the way she saw fit. That really happened to me. I feel sometimes people need to be protected from themselves weather they are in or out of a religion or a cult. Children need to be protected from stupid people. Teachers, doctors, nurses have laws they must follow to protect children. JWs, catholics, athiests, christians, muslims, budists, satan worshipers, and also the cult of Mary need laws to protect their children. That applies to Any cult
Reply
KaKaJones says:
May 18, 2016 at 4:40 pm
JWs, catholics, athiests, christians, muslims, budists, satan worshipers, and also the cult of Mary need laws to protect their children. That applies to Any cult.
Reply
KaKaJones says:
May 18, 2016 at 4:48 pm
Some of the things I saw on The Cult of Mary on National Geographic reminded me of my JW family.
Reply
Robert67 says:
May 19, 2016 at 5:15 am
No, it definitely has to close its doors. It’s not a ‘religion’ it’s a ‘for profit’ printing company that uses scripture to brain wash those seeking Christ to eternally push their product to earn salvation and forgiveness (a free gift from Christ according to scripture)
Reply
Quendi says:
May 25, 2016 at 11:01 pm
I haven’t read all the comments here, so what I say may have already been stated by others. There is a biblical adage that applies very well to the Watchtower: “As you sow, so shall you reap.” (Galatians 6:7) Should the Watchtower come to a disastrous but hardly untimely end, it will be well-deserved. While no impartial person would deny the organization has done good in the world, that has been outweighed by its evils–for evils they have been. The wreckage of broken families, sundered friendships and shattered lives speaks for itself. Any organization which is responsible for bringing these things about merits whatever end it reaches.
Reply
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