Jehovah’s Witnesses: ‘End is near’
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Author: Moxie
Tags: 1914, district convention, end of the world, Jehovah's Witnesses
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The following is an article by WPTV (May 30, 2009) outlining the Watchtower’s “The End is Near” campaign. Seemingly capitalizing on the current state of the world’s economy, the 2009 convention series looks like it’s targeting folks who are finding themselves down and out, hopeless and in dispair. With all due respect, I can’t help but read this and feel like the Witnesses are upping their quota of “crazy talk”. I’m not one to poke fun at the witnesses and in truth I feel compassion and pity for the spokesperson quoted in this article.
I wonder though, was this kind of talk so public when I was still in the organization 10 years ago? As much as I knew the message must sound crazy to the outsider, I can’t remember statements like this being made on such a public scale before, I thought this kind of talk only happened internally but now it seems to have spilled out into the media. I can’t help but feel that this will have a very negative impact on the public perception of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They sound more and more like a fringe / fundamentalist cult and I feel like they are damaging their public image even more by their own words; no need to blame apostates for this one.
Read the article for yourself. I’d be very interested in your comments… what’s your take on this? Is it the same old stuff, or is this an escallation of crazy? How do you feel about the Watchtower taking advantage of current events to target a vulnerable audience?
Read original article here: WPTV.com
WEST PALM BEACH, FL — If you feel like the world has been crumbling down around you lately, the Jehovah’s Witnesses say - you’re right. It is.
In fact, beginning this weekend, they’ll be holding a series of public lectures entitled “How to survive the end of the world”.
“It’s imminent. It’s at hand,” says local Jehovah’s Witnesses spokesman Travis Telfair.
Local Witnesses will be holding 14 consecutive ‘conventions’, as they call them, at their convention center on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard - formerly the West Palm Beach Auditorium.
They hold such gatherings each year, but this year’s theme is, admittedly, far more alarming. Spiritually surviving an imminent apocalypse! When?
“No one knows the day or the hour,” says Telfair, “but we know we’re in the last days of this system of things.”Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the beginning of the end started around 1914 with World War One.
Since then, there have been plenty of natural and man-made threats to contend with. But the bible, they say, offers specific events to “keep on the watch” for. An escalation in natural disasters, crime, war. Even diseases like Swine Flu.
“These are all things Jesus said would be increasing in intensity in the last days,” says Mario Beltrami, also a Jehovah’s Witness spokesman, “and we’re seeing that. I think most people agree that these are probably the most critical times we’ve seen.”
Sure, the prospect of a cataclysm may sound a bit - terrifying. But witnesses say it’s not their intention to scare people. Rather, it’s to provide believers with a revelations roadmap. A spiritual survival guide to emerge from Armageddon intact.
“They will be hearing things as far as how they can avoid Satan’s snares. Because we know that the goal of Satan is to hamper people from surviving,” says Telfair.
The lectures begin this Friday, and they’re open to the public. There’s no admission fee. No collection plate being passed. Just an analytical approach, they promise - to let people know why they believe the end is near.
Read original article here: WPTV.com
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I’ve often wondered if they’re getting further out on the “fringe” as well since I was attending meetings about 13 years ago. I finally decided that–in my case–at least some of that impression seems to be where I was then versus where I am now. For me, this certainly seems true within the scope of the literature at any rate.
I decided this was the case because I went back and started reading articles from when I was a Witness. They seemed just as badly put together as the new stuff, and contained the same amount of double-speak.
I always felt that the conventions were a little over the top. Unlike most Witnesses, I always hated them. Maybe that’s why I spotted it so easily.
The only things that surprise me at the current conventions is how “on the nose” the themes seem to be considering that they are now open to everyone. In my day, the conventions were closed and Elders would prowl the corridors looking for anyone that wasn’t carrying a convention card or a suit/dress to kick out of the convention center. But now that the conventions are open, you would think they’d avoid themes like “Obedience” from a group that many feel is a cult. Ya know?
For me at least, it seems that they are somewhat worse. But not by a lot. I know a lot of ex-Witnesses online think they’ve changed more than I have.
IsaacJ
People close to me “as of early May” told me that the sign is here. The end of times is coming. He has been trying to get me to read the NWT. He wants to hold a bible study and I told him .. no thank you. I personally think JW’s are “whackjobs”. He has been trying to convert me since I was a child at 12 years old. I was born a different religion which i do not practise as well but believe in “god”
I have been argued upon with the current state of economy, but you can’t break me, I am a well learned guy with a lot of experience. I understood the technique. It is called “baiting” first we speak softly and ask your input, afterwhich, once we understand your thought process we will talk it down using facts and reasoning from articles in the media and famous economist, we have looked it up. Now you can’t argue, so the JW fact is real.
The JW I am interfacing with is so sure that the economy will never recover and this is the last day’s, I am very sure it will and we will strive back and he feels it is not true. They want to be right that the end is near. They want to be right for at least once. Sad to say, the end will be here “When you die” period. How can modern people be so delusional ? I ask myself this ? I have no answer, to each their own I guess. Use the moral teachings of the bible and don’t read too much into it. Else you will find out Moses was delusional as well when he heard voices in his head” In modern times we call it “crazy shit”. So the OT leading to the NT was all delusional, as many scholars are now saying that the prophecies from the OT was intentionally written to have com true in the NT.
Bill Maher and Bart Ehrman, got it right. Meditate,excersice, eat well and helppeoplegenuinely, not just because you were saved by Christ. The end is not here you ditwits. The end of your religion might be closer - lol.
Intelligent people fall for JW’s as well, but they do so so that they can feel empowered when they convert someone of a lesser maturity or experience. I call it fitting the “ego”. But when argued upon their BP shoots up. I watch in laughter. Don’t love bomb me, I will “love bomb you” and give you a card to a good friend who is a psychatrist. “Get Help”. Stop using paper and wasting the trees to publish the WT (Worthless) journals.
those comments sounded like people who never really got what they were taught sorry to say. we are like everyone else in most ways i own a construction business that was great until the recession, i deal with depression, my mother has cancer, and have my hards times living by the requirements Jehovah expects.
i have had my share of problems but there is no truth closer to the Bible and doing what God recorded for us in those pages. the signs that Jesus spoke of are all around us and becoming more appearent everyday. if you truly understand your Bible and watch the news you can not miss it. as for the economy, my opinion and understanding is that it will get better before the end but i could be wrong. many things foretold seem almost impossible but so have many other things in our lifetime, the Berlin wall coming down is the most memorable.
the Bible says that many will not listen to our message and that is each person’s right. to obey Jehovah’s commands we have to give people the clear oppurtunity to decide which means coming back over and over. we are told in the Bible that we should be followers, the key, of Christ follow his example. he was know as a preacher and teacher not miracle healer or food producer. he also preached about the end of the world in his message as well 2000 years ago. he said things would be just like Noah’s day when people were too busy or involved in their life to learn about God and then follow his requirements. it is not easy or for all but that does not change what Jehovah requires.
i have been a witness my entire life and have sidetracked several times sorry to say. i have my doubts if i will even make it through the end of this system. i have never doubted the Bible or what i was taught even being relatively intelligent and will listen to most ideas to some extent. most every religion or belief has many flaws when held up against the Bible. even priests, ministers, or pastors can not make it make sense much less live by it. Witnesses are imperfect like everyone else in the world and sorry to say every witness is at a different level of spirituality. no one can follow God perfectly but who is trying to do what God says regardless of the difficulty. i have never found an organization that is even close to following the Bible or even understanding the Bible better.
there are so many people we talk to that love their bible and read it but do not understand it. would Jehovah really give us a book to put faith in we could not understand. there are many difficult things to understand in the Bible but it is not mystery as many religions say. Jehovah’s Witnesses only want to help you understand your Bible ad how to live by it. if i remember, Isa. 48:19,20 Jehovah teaches us the best way to live our lives. many hide from the Witnesses, why and what are you afraid of? talk to them about what concerns you in the Bible or you don’t understand. They want to help you. i find if you have firm conviction in your beliefs and care for other people it is almost impossible to not talk to other and share. ask us to explain why we believe the end is so close or better yet go to a convention close to you with an open heart to see what the Bible says.
Thnaks for listening
thanks not thnaks i always do that
Jw’s have been propogating the idea that the end of this system is very close for over 100 years. Armageddon was due in 1914, 1925, 1940’s, 1975 and before the end of the 20th centuary. All these predictions can be ascertained from their previously published literature. Each prediction failed so why should anyone have anymore faith in the current predictions about the imminence of the end than those made previously? True Jesus gave signs in Matt 24, Luke 21 and Mark 13 in relation to the end of the Jewish nation and their system of worship in his day and this system. Those signs have been experienced across the world since his death, but nowhere in scripture did he, as has been claimed, indicate that the last days would see an increase in intensity and frequency of the signs. The exception to this would be the global preaching of the Kingdom (Matt 24:14) which JW’s believe that THEY ALONE are doing. Other Christian groups believe they are also doing this but in different ways and concentrating on the good news of the value of Jesus Christ’s ransom sacrifice(1Cor 15:1-4). Jesus advised Christians to stay spirtually awake because he would come at a time they would NOT expect him (Matt 24:44). Jesus also warned them during the last days NOT TO BE MISLEAD by those who would come on THE BASIS OF HIS NAME claiming that ‘the due time has approached’(Luke 21:8). JW’s are still proclaiming ‘the due time has approached’.
I wish I had read the web sites on JWS before agreeing to a short 15 minute weekly bible study. From the beginnging I explained that I have my own faith. Their views are radically different than mine. How many lessons will they give until they get tired.Its been over six months. I have refused their invitations to visit their hall and meetings.
I remember the district/circuit assemblies pushing the “end of days” fear into me every year, I thought it was quite ridiculous because nothing ever really changed. It is a good way to manipulate people into staying on the straight and narrow I suppose, wouldn’t want to step off because the end is right around the corner. I find it amazing that people like my parents who were born and raised as JW don’t actually take a moment to think hmmmm, they were pumping the end of days around the corner 60, 50, 40, etc.. years ago, any chance they might not have any clue and just keeping saying it to keep people scared into staying? I really despise the societies use of fear and guilt to ruin peoples lives. If it wasn’t so sad it would almost be funny that the society can say with a straight face the same things they said were about to happen over and over again without any change. I thought predictions of the end of the times were against biblical teaching anyway?
Even though it is sad, I have to say I chuckle at the crazy talk that continues to spew out of the organization…
Edna
All you have to do is tell them when you are next visited that you no longer wish to continue with your study and if you do not want any futher visits ask to be put on their ‘do not call’ list. If you have the phone number of those calling on you you could call and say the same thing or write if you have a postal address.
Moxie,
Yes they do sound crazy, but no it’s not really any different from what they have always taught. I’ve been out for 20 years now, and that article could have been written 20 years ago or yesterday. Fear mongering is another method to keep people in the religion, and it has worked very well for a very long time.
I remember my parents always watching the news, and almost any event was cited as ‘evidence’ of the last days. Whether they were natural disasters or a crime wave or a bad economy…everything was considered to be caused by Satan and a sign of the end times. I find even now, talk to any JW and they will be very up to date with current news headlines (whether it is on CNN or BBC or whatever…any news will do, even FOX!). Part of that interest in news headlines comes from keeping up to date with any new ’signs’.
It is sad that they will prey upon people’s current fears, but it is an effective tool to keep people in line and keep people docile. All religions do it, JWs just have their own unique take on fire and brimstone.
its so funny many hate jehovahs witness but think about it …… wat religion strives so hard to be in good standing to do whats rite…all the time..i am studying with JW and i have seen so much happiness sense i started my life seems peaceful and i dont have to put on a show in church and i dont have to get up and testify and all that i’ve studied religion many religions and the only one that can really prove that they have stayed true to wat the bible says not just the new world translation but all bibles in many churches they dont even let you use the bible so the pastor preacher pope father wat every can tell anything and because you dont knw the truth you can be being told anything. so the next time a jw comes to your house u might wanna listen…the bible says test and see if god is good so test and see.
jane smith… oh dear, just when i thought people were waking up to the danger of cults, you come along & ruin my faith in humanities ability to grow up and learn…
perhaps another 100 years will do it…
Moxie, love your site! I, too, have been out ten years! I think it’s a process that we all go through as ex cult members. I was in a bit over 25 years, from 71 to around 98…..my ex husband was/is an elder, still “faithful”……still brainwashed……this cult is one of the most destructive when it comes to tearing famiy and friends away from you. It’s like that old Eagle’s song “Hotel California”……..”you can check in anytime you want, but you can NEVER leave” with any dignity or contact with family who are still in/brainwashed. I was 14 years old when I got sucked in, but will NEVER go back. I value my sanity and my freedom too much. Even at 14 I knew what they were, but, I studied with them to please my mom. Even in the early stages, I tried to get out, but, was always manipulated emotionally, and I had no other recourse but to continue. I developed severe depression among other things. After being out for ten plus years, I feel like I’ve returned to that happy go lucky girl woman I was before JW’s.
I find it amazing that there are so many sites dedicated to opposing Jehovah’s Witnesses and quite sad that some, ex-JWs try to position the religion as some overbearing ogre. Elders “prowling” convention centers to toss people out? I studied off and on for over 20 years, never had a “card” at a convention, and never got tossed out; only thing that ever happened was that they wanted people to take their seats at a convention to keep the noise disruption down in the hallways, etc; as any normal assembly of people would do.
Were there over-zealous predictions in the past, absolutely, and I’ve found a lot of it on the internet and in some of the older JW literature. Are they a mind-controlling cult which won’t let you think for yourselves for force a study on you? Not at all, simply say you don’t want to study anymore and its over. You can’t mistake their sincerity for belligerence.
In the final analysis, its up to each person to decide to follow or not, there is no collection plate making elders or society rich, no full time office (my father and brother are elders and both always have worked full time jobs).
Is it a religion for everyone? Well, no religion appeals to everyone, that is why there are so many; and I’ve studied Buddhism, Catholicism, been a Methodist, Baptist, and even looked into the Bahai religion, but I still have yet to find one I believe comes closest to the bible. I’ve also looked into the Trinity in depth, and not from a reglious source but secular sources (encyclopedias, historical writings, etc) so its really up to each person to decide the religion/path they will travel.
Has this message been spoken before, absolutely; its reiterating that given everything else in the world, not to lose focus on the more important things, thats really it in a nutshell (no pun intended). So, its fine to disagree, and for those of you who are ex-JWs, if it didn’t work out for you, so be it, but no need to be so negative or hateful; I hope you find what you re looking for in other religions or in just whatever path you take, in the end, no one forces you to do anything, we all have the gift of free will, so I wish you the best in using that gift for your own life plan.
Michael, I’m glad that you have been able to tie things up in your mind in a nice, neat little package. I wish you all the best. However, for some of us, the journey is different, and no one has the right to tell others how they should deal with their life and their emotions. One thing that I’ve learned is that people are all individuals and we are the sum of all of our experiences in this life, starting from birth. My hope and prayer for all of us is that we learn how to deal with our life in as positive a way as possible. That is why I continue to read and share with other ex’s, to share my experience, strength and hope with them.
Moxie, it sounds like the same old story to me.
Michael, it sounds to me like you’ve chosen to study with JWs. That’s fine for you. What you are failing to see is that a child has no choice when they’re being force-fed brainwashing from extremists placing unrealistic moral demands on them. Then if they decide they don’t want to be a part of it, they are damned to eternal death because any behavior not accepted by the church is a willful choice to commit sin and they’re meant to know “better”.
The beliefs that have been buried deep in the minds until they’re foundations of the subconscious, are stripped of them. They’re left with nothing to believe but that they are not good enough for god. They are also cast out of their whole families and all their friends, dumped into a world they have no knowledge of how to survive and function in and left to die in a world they don’t know.
Many commit suicide for feeling there is nothing left to live for, others try their hardest to integrate into this alien society (normal human life), with heads full of fear, guilt and shame that they don’t know how to heal from, some turn to alcohol or drugs in an attempt to escape, others to crime and psychotic behavior.
Without sites like this, there is no other support for these people who desperately need to feel that they are not alone and not evil “satanic” people. This religion IS an “overbearing ogre” and it causes a lot of pain for a lot of people who have every right to be angry about it.
Hi Moxie,
although it sounds the same dam thing to me, the last world events just make them more crazy.
Jws are psychotics, because they rejoice of bad events that kill peoples, just to convince them that they are in the good path and soon they’ll be saved.
So the bigger the events, the more fanatic they become. Like bubbles, it will pop and they again, like their history, prove that they are so stupid.
I rememnber about 15 years ago when “knocking doors” with an Elder, I asked him:” When do you think the end is coming? ” and he answered:”Oh I think no more than 3 years…” yeah, yeah…
Memnoch, Terri, I empathize with how you feel, but I also started as a child (15), drifted away in college, came back in my early 20s, and then left again for quite some time while exploring other religions. I can’t pass judgment on your experiences, but no one said I was damned to eternal death (not my father, brother, or any in the congregation); they would stop by and chat every now and then and ask how things were going, but no one “takes delight in the death of a sinner”.
Terri, I apologize if I came across that I was telling people what to do/think, definitely wasn’t my intent. To be honest, we all search for that meaning in life/connection to a higher power, and I’ve respectfully participated in Buddhist new year observances, and even had some acquaintances (friends of a friend) who I stayed with for a weekend who were Wiccans. Was an interesting weekend understanding how they came to that place in their lives where they felt that Wicca was THEIR religion.
So again, I truly wish everyone the best; its tough given the multitude of religions, and every religion, to some degree (whether admittedly or not), feels that their path is the correct one, otherwise, why would they be a religion at all (vs. merging into another’s).
I’ve never found the JW’s to be mean-spirited and most of the rank/file are extremely sincere; if anything, I have friends I grew up with there that even now in my late 40s, we are still close. Is it perfect? far from it, as no religion is.
By the same token, so many others are sincere in their own beliefs I met a Sun Yung Moon devotee in field service one time who was extremely warm and sincere in her belief that God’s kingdom will come about my all christians having kids and populating the earth with righteous people. Do I agree? Nope, but do I respect her belief and her conviction to it? Absolutely. In the grand scheme of things, no one will know until That Day comes I guess, but hopefully, we will all be judged on our intent and be welcomed into everlasting bliss.
Michael - You seem sincere in your statements and obviously you have every right to want to believe whatever you want, but your Organization doesn’t have the same tolerance. Watchtower articles are filled with negative statements about other faiths, especially Christendom. Your Organization is preoccupied with finding faults in other religious faiths and then sugar coat the bad fruitage in your organization that causes friction, tension and even break ups in families. Those of us who have been affected find it very difficult to be sympathetic, but your right, everyone makes their own choices…
I have been very hurt by this organization in my life. My father “listened” to that weekly bible lesson for 40 years just so my mother wouldn’t be able to divorce him. It always sounds to me like preaching the sky is falling. Sorry, that’s view. Manipulation and fear to win converts is a very old technique in religion, politics, war, family abuse or whatever. Control is what it is about…just power and control…. Not God-like qualities of love and grace for everyone of his/her creation.
Michael, unfortunately I don’t have the same view as you. My daughter befriended a really sweet girl and their family wouldn’t have anything to do with the friendship because she wasn’t JW. I, not knowing or caring what kind of religion they practiced fought for their friendship with the Mother. All of a sudden we find our daughter sneaking to meetings with the family so they could be friends. We did alot of research on the JW religion and even talked to a theologist about the religion and ex-JW’s and came to conclusion that it wouldn’t work in our family. We totally enjoy and celebrate Birthdays, Christmas’s, Easter’s etc. and we enjoy voting for what we believe in. Unfortunately my daughter did not want to partake in any of the holidays with us and had to phone for permission to come to Thanksgiving dinner (which is not a religious holiday) with us to relatives. Now that doesn’t seem she had any free will left in her, they sucked that out of her. Well I found a little book in her room that had all the answers to all the questions people would ask and what the right answer is (in their minds). For instance: very first question in the book and answer and she recited it off the bat. “Would you please read this (article I had) and tell me what you think”, her response was “I’ll read that if you read my magazine”. Wow, they had brainwashed her already! Well, knowing now that you cannot argue any viewpoint with a JW and knowing they think they are right in every aspect, the only way she could not control is our feelings of disappointment and the lack of her support in our holiday traditions. She finally broke and happily engaged to a Catholic!!!!!
Sharon and Sahara,
Definitely understand your point of view. I think in terms of pointing out faults in other religions, in my view its more of a way to have distinctions to show where the religions vary. Could it be done more tactfully? In some instances yes though in recent years they seem to have moderated their approach and with some of the rank and file, its definitely not as strict.
In terms of friendships with those outside the religion, its really not much different (though perhaps not as outwardly noticeable) as the hasidic jews, mnenonites, amish, etc in terms of taking the scripture “be no part of the world” or “do not be unevenly yoked with ..” to a certain degree. I guess the more I think about it, many religions are quite similar though they differ on a few main topics like trinity, hellfire, survival of the soul, etc.
But the areas where there common fundamental belief, they sometimes differ in the extent to which they practice a point of view. For example, JWs can drink (but not get drunk) whereas some 7th day adventist denominations forbid any alcohol at all (had a spirited discussion the other day with a coworker about that one). While there are some absolutes in scripture (though shall not kill, etc),
in other cases, even taken in context to surrounding scripture, it leaves some areas open for interpretation.
So while Catholics stress excommunication for things like divorce, a witness can be disfellowshiped/excommunication for additional items listed in the bible; again a matter of interpretation and degree.
I guess until the day when Jesus actually does bring about armageddon, we will all continue to try and find our own way and end up in different religions for various reasons. Hopefully, whichever one we choose brings some comfort in this life and, in our own sincere view, brings us closest to what God wants.
So the story goes .. can anyone proof “Noah’s Ark” existed. Just becuase it was written does not mean it existed. National Gegraphic has a good segment on this, looked it up on you tube. The true “Noah did exist” but he was not the “Noah” from the bible. He was a babylonian, his simple story was elobrated in the bible. True text prior to mose’s existence was found, and guess what “Noah the businessman” his story to save his family from flood was told. Small boat and live stocks were on his boat. No more than 10 people on his boat. He made an instictual choice to escape the rising river rather than recieving the command from “GOD” saying .. build an ark and look for the great flood. :-). Truth is scientist say there are no water markers or any great flood that happened during that period.
Book of revelation - written by John when in exile to some mountain to escape his leader “Nero’s” prosecution mentioned “666″ = Nero, hebrew translation. Beast = “Nero”, he had many vision in a delusioanal state and all realted to “Nero”. His story ends with his time and how people had carried it forth to make it their own belief is surprising.
End of the world = true, when you die. Your world ends and somelses new world begin. Nothing more nothing less. We are all littel demi GOD’s but we fight to proof the big GOD. Look within yourself for answers not religious organizations.
BTW, Armagadeon, is a place called Harmagedon, where the four horseman is to land and slay “Nero” and his team. The big war from heaven against “Nero”. Not War against humanity and non believers.
Don’t drink, don’t smoke and have sex with plenty of partners with caution. As the body responds well to it and the mind is happy.
Demigods? Would that imply we have some measure of divine in us or some supernatural abilities?
All I can say is I was raised one, am now DF’, and I still feel inside of me a fear that Im wrong to leave, that the end is NOW, and Ive abandoned God. II go back and forth, daily, on this theme, sometimes determining I should go back, that that is the only Truth, and other days I think thats ridicules, and try and not worry about it. The fact is, wether its true or not, the absolute rightness of them, the fear and guilt involved in it, has ruined me, as a person. for real. I dont mean the basics of the Bible, but the impending doom, the better than everyone else, all that. And that is there. No association with anyone not a witness, as a kid, was helpful tio a degree, but it also left me completley un prepared for life, relationships, all the normal growth of a human making mistakes and finding his way, was stunted, in the name of safety. its simply not human normalcy.
I cant rectify how to put faith in the Organization that has been wrong sop many times, and used God as the authority in which they spoke, and then see the them say that they never spoke for God. Its a shell game. The total faith I had in them was BECAUSE they sayy they are unique and used by God. You would expect them to be right once in awhile then, or am I asking too much?
so, either God is playing games, using them, but misinforming, or they are just people. If just people, they have no more insight into this than I do.
I am out, but have lost many relationships, including my now ex wife, and my kids, because Im still not able to come back. they love me, and are normal people, non of this cult stuff people talk about, but they are very rigid and misled, im my opinion
I would love them to be right, to see the end of this shit world, and have certainty as to what God wants.
I just dont find it with them, despite their insistence
its left me in no mans land, depressed, sad, afraid and confused, for years now. in that sense, it is harmful
my opinion
I left the Watchtower control-grid after I came to realize who, exactly, is behind that organization and WHY–scared the crap out of me. But once I got over my initial shock, I thanked my Creator and have continued on with my life. I know the people who are being herded about that organization are being set-up for some pretty painful (if not deadly) suffering. All this talk about “the end is near” is pure cult yap, and if those people had any sense, they would realize that the only “end” coming is theirs. Religion is a trap, and I’ll tell anybody: get out of it, maintain your own personal relationship with the Father by means of His Son, Messiah our Savior, and leave the cult-rhetoric to useful idiots. If you choose to not believe in a Creator, that’s between you and the Father in heaven.
I feel so bad for you Shawn, I know it is tough. I have wondered myself given how many changes there have been all based on the “new light”. I guess the 1995 change for generations concerned me, then some since then. I was never baptized but attended regularly for over 20 years..but have been inactive the last year or so because of the same concern, how could they be wrong?
So not sure where to go from here… I’m leaning towards agnostic; I know God exists but I wonder sometimes how can he let people who really just want to get to know him fall into a trap like this..just confusing.
People,
Read up, wise up and don’t let this hooligans bother your consciousness.
Believe in what you want to believe, live well and pray to GOD. He/She is real, but not in JC expression. Google , “Jesus and the naked boy”, you will find scriptures that were not included in the bible. But events were recorded.
Mohammed screwed a 6 year old and his is a religion called “Islam” that the US is still fighting with. Jesus may or may not have had sex with a little boy, I will let you decide on this. My presumption is he did. Now imagine if that was your son, daughter, nephew or niece or even a friends child. Will you put up with this shit.
So what we have here is a religion that promotes child abuse. This to me sounds more like “pain”. There is no true religion in this world and as I mentioned, god is in you, you don’t have to seek him through books and religious organization. Meditate,pray and believe. When JW’s go knocking on doors to me it is like they are promoting “child abuse” unconsciously. Save your children. JW’s as well have a high number of child abusers in their religion. Even convicted sex offenders ae allowed to go door to door.
I do not like JW’s period. One can be good genuinely wothout being religious.
Do you remember your Logic or Critical Thinking 101 classes? You were taught to make sure the article or argument you promote was cogent! I have been reading some EXJW sites that say “Things A JW Will Never Tell You!” “How I Was Duped for 50 Years By The Watchtower! ‘Former JW Turns To Atheism!” Using your primal thinking skills alert you to a sensationalism or Alarmist style of communication. Your basic common sense makes you ask “Why am I listening to an Atheist or man who say’s the Bible is a fraud? One site that claims to promote help to EX JWs hooks you up with a fellow Stalin! This same site had an ExJW who is waiting to take your donations via PayPal for his start up Church. The agendas of these men and women is not vague at all.. Read how “Evil JWs excommunicate a woman who left her husband and six kids to live like a Hippie!” Please be balanced with your thinking and writtings! So many liars abound and as Mark Twain said “A lie can travel half way around the world before the truth can put it’s overalls on to chase it down.”
well i am from South Africa and i am one of the JW’S there. I have read all the negativity you have towards Jw’s and it is understandable. Jehvah states in his word that he looks beyond a persons feeling or heart to see if that person suits him and yes there will be those people in the last day who oppose his words and thosw who will leave him but he says that he who remains in the truth till the end will gain everlasting life. I have been a Jw for 21 years and my father was always fighting with us for attending the meetings neverthe less injuring my mother. When i sat down with him and told him that doesnt he see the diff between us and all the other kids that are none belivers he said that he could. I am 24 years of age and still a virgin because living in the bible principles taught me that. My parents are none belivers but i managed to stay in the truth and applied those principles too. Maybe you should all skip the whole story of the end of the system of things and your main foucus should be on doing what is right but nevertheless i just wish jehovah would bring back the light that satan took away from you and you could all make him happy either than cursing him like that. I feel sorry for those who left him coz clearly you dont want to be called his friends and belive me i befirended jehovah for 21 years and all the trauma i have been through in my life just went away.
My dear Mother joyfully accepted the “truth” when I was 7, so until the age of 17 I was raised as a witness child.
Our situation was rather odd as my Mother was devout and zealous and my Father a non-believer, so Mum, my sister and I were never fully accepted into the congregation, yet the witnesses knew and liked Dad and always greeted him warmly.
We had pioneers and COs and elders for meals, ours was always Open House for any witness and Mum was known and loved for her hospitality and love and generosity.
I left when I was 17 and did my own thing, then in 1995 I made the decision to dip my toe back in for the Memorial. I was baptised in 96, became a regular auxilliary pioneer and then a full-time pioneer. By this time Mum was coming up to 70 and was ill and infirm, she was no longer able to go out in service and had difficulty attending meetings.
I broke my ankle and had to come off pioneering. From then on Mum and I might just as well not have existed. There have been no shepherding calls, no telephone calls, no visits from brothers or sisters. Nothing.
The sites I have found on the internet, including this one, have been very useful and a great comfort to me, though Mum grieves for all the time she has wasted. We both still believe and love Jehovah and Jesus, but the WT has made it very difficult for us to make any progress.
Thanks for reading.
Well here we are in the year 2010.
Only 4 years to 2014.
The witnesses have lost all credability.Millions living in the last century and the one prior to that are now basically dead.(Millions now living….will never die…so they said in the 1930’s).Millions then are now dead & buried.
Wake up everyone.Enjoy life to the full without all this lying and falsehood by the Watchtower Society.Won’t be long before they make some more doctrinal change to accomodate their previous falsehoods and make it look like truth….to set us free!!!
Maybe the end of this system of things will begin in 2014????
I’ll let you know in 2020.
This is not the first time Jehovah’s Witnesses have said the end is right around the corner. In 1973 when I first started studying with them I was told that the end would come within a year or two, that my oldest son, four at the time, would not go to school because there would be no schools in a couple of years. My son has children in middle school now. At an assembly in Fayetteville, NC a speaker had the crowd worked up into a frenzy. Can you hear the four horsemen of Revelation? The auditorium was filled beyond capacity. My family were sitting behind the stage listening. If the speaker had told the crowd we were meeting in Mexico the next day everyone would have packed into their cars and headed out without going home. It broke my heart in 1975 when nothing happened. I felt like I had been lied to. Even so I could not brake away for twenty-five years. I am still very sad. Not because of the time I wasted but because it was not true.
The JW’s are not the only ones harping on about the state of the world and pointing to an increase in all things calamitous. Even agnostics and atheists look at the world and think, ‘This place is going down the toilet!’
When most people find themselves in a conversation about this they point out that there seems to be more war and warmongering, more crime, more natural disasters, more man made disasters, more hunger and misery. There’s less respect for life, less concern for others, less tolerance and patience, less hope, less decency.
I’m afraid the sad fact is there really isn’t more or less of anything. Not relatively, at least. History doesn’t hide this fact, no matter who wrote it.
The Dark Ages weren’t so called because of a lack of light, but because there was so much carnage in the world that very little information survived to illuminate our knowledge of what was happening. Whatever it was was not pleasant. But we survived.
The bubonic plaque, or black death killed HALF the population of Europe. But we survived.
Does anyone know how many years have gone by without war? Of any kind, anywhere? I believe the number is very small and only occurred once. In the 20th century, no less.
‘Iraq is going on so long.’, ‘it’s the new Vietnam.’ Well, the world came out of longer wars (the 100 years war, anyone) and survived.
Crime? it’s more sophisticated for sure, but nothing is new. Murder, rape, robbery, extortion. Nothing new there.
Disasters? We survived the ice age. Krakatoa, Tunguska.
And so on. Two factors ARE new. There’s more than three times as many of us on the planet than at any time in history up to the beginning of the last century. I’m no mathematician, but I think we can expect three times as much of everything as a result.
Another thing that’s new is our exposure to all of this. In the western world the prevalence of television is not more than 50 years old. The internet, in terms of popular use is less than 20 years old.
If you accept these facts rationally they are self evident, and our responses to events can be informed. Viewed through a religious lens it’s easy to see the same facts moulded to fit your chosen ideology. And with so many people doing so many things you can cherry pick to your hearts content. What baffles me is the desire to place us continually on the brink of apocalypse. ‘The End is Nigh’ said the man with the sandwich-board. It seems that many religions are most keen to spotlight the darker side of human nature. But let’s face it, we don’t tune in to the news to hear about someone having a great day and a fine nights sleep.
We love to think the worst of ourselves, don’t we?
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