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My time with Jehovah's Witnesses is through
smeacham:
Please bear with me while I vent a bit and get this off my shoulders. I'd bet that some others here have experienced something similar, though.
Last year, my oldest daughter ran away from home under very bad circumstances. She was gone about a month before she came back, and she didn't do most of the stuff that she ran away in order to do. For that, I'm very thankful to God, because it would have been a much worse experience for her if she had.
Just a few days after she left, while the pain was still very raw, some JW's came to our door. I asked them if they had any advice in our situation, and they did. We agreed to study, and it was really like a counseling session every week. I still can't thank them enough for the support during that time. We spent our time reading and discussing one of their publications about families and teenagers.
Eventually, my daughter came home. She began sitting with us, and for several weeks, the group session was just what the doctor ordered. She became interested in spiritual things again, and teachable. During the week I wouldn't teach her JW doctrine, either. I'd teadch her the Good News of God's Love for all mankind, and His purpose for creating us. Y'all know what I mean.
Then...I said THEN, the JW's decided that we'd done enough on that material, and we need to understand Jehovah's Kingdom and how we can be a part of it. To my wife and I, it became like tasting sour milk every week. Even my daughter began to feel this way.
They have driven my daughter closer to her mother and I, so I can't complain about that. But it has become too high a price to pay. None of us can sit silently anymore while we read from a little book that Blasphemes God. Much of this resolves around the issue of Free Will.
About a month ago, I prepared my own study on free will for when they came. We went along with it, instead of looking at the obvious meaning of obvious scriptures (to me), they'd then turn to other scriptures that don't say what they think they say to counter. More than once they became very visibly angry, and I had to caution them not to say some things they'd say. They would even accuse God of doing evil deeds! For example, because they could only believe that Adam and Eve "were set up for failure," if what I was saying was true.
Last Saturday, against MY will, we were supposed to study "Why does God allow suffering." Reading that study simply made me sick, and once my wife read it, she agreed. When they arrived, she told them in no uncertain terms that our studies were over, and why. I told them that if God ever leads them to question what they've been taught, to come see us again.
They couldn't help but say it was my own "free moral agency" that they were respecting when they'd brush the dust from their feet and move on. They really think that it was the Bible and God that we are rejecting, and not their fleshy, carnal interpretation of it.
It's just a melancholy time for me. They've watched my baby grow up from 2 weeks old to 4 months old. They were nice people. We share some similar criticisms of Christendom. Now they're gone. I can see the benefit in my life and my family's from our time together. It just feels kind of empty seeing them walk away probably more convinced of their own righteousness than ever and having harder hearts than they started with.
Steve
Samson:
Thankyou Steve,
Enjoyed your Testimony! I completely understand your experience with
Jehovah's Witnesses, I was one of them for twenty years, voluntarily
resigning in 2004. Although they are certainly Unorthodox in there Theology;
Non-Trinitarian, Soul Sleep, a Resurrection required in the future upon Christs
return and although they don't believe in Hell-Fire or Eternal Separation, they
expect that eventually all Non-JWS will be Endlessly dead(Annihilation).
They possess some of the same critical errors as the Mainline Churches; Free Moral
Agency, Satan was created a perfect Angel, Adam & Eve were created Physically
and Spiritually perfect with the ability to have resisted the Forbidden fruit. Also
they don't subscribe to the God created Evil(Hebrew Ra). They don't believe that
is Creating(A Process), Male and Female in his image. Also they are extremely
Legalistic in Nature, expecting individuals to conquer carnal desires with there
Free Will, not realizing that only God can remove these desires, when he's ready
to do so.
If you ever have any questions regarding other details regarding JW'S, feel free to
send me a Personal Message.
Kind Regards, Samson.
aqrinc:
Hi Steve,
Just read your testimony; well you have at least escaped their clutches. My Mother
who is over 75 years has been a JW for about 50 of those years. She is so scared
now of letting go of her beliefs at this time, because she has put most of her lifetime
into that church. Today we spent over two hours on the phone discussing many of the
same topics Samson quotes above.
She was very dogmatic, but at least able to hear that maybe; some of her beliefs need
to be reevaluated. I know that only God can change someones attention; so i Pray daily
that He Gives me the right words when she is prepared.
One thing came out to me clearly; most people in any Religion are really scared of
dying and Judgement. We that have the Light; need to be aware of this very thing
and be diligent in our preparation, to have the correct information; whenever called,
to be a Witness for Our Lord Jesus Christ. These are very trying days coming upon
us and the World and we must be able to verbalize clearly our HOPE.
In GOD THE FATHER and Our Lord Jesus Christ.
george. :)
Samson:
--- Quote from: aqr on January 21, 2009, 11:16:36 PM ---
Hi Steve,
Just read your testimony; well you have at least escaped their clutches. My Mother
who is over 75 years has been a JW for about 50 of those years. She is so scared
now of letting go of her beliefs at this time, because she has put most of her lifetime
into that church. Today we spent over two hours on the phone discussing many of the
same topics Samson quotes above.
She was very dogmatic, but at least able to hear that maybe; some of her beliefs need
to be reevaluated. I know that only God can change someones attention; so i Pray daily
that He Gives me the right words when she is prepared.
One thing came out to me clearly; most people in any Religion are really scared of
dying and Judgement. We that have the Light; need to be aware of this very thing
and be diligent in our preparation, to have the correct information; whenever called,
to be a Witness for Our Lord Jesus Christ. These are very trying days coming upon
us and the World and we must be able to verbalize clearly our HOPE.
In GOD THE FATHER and Our Lord Jesus Christ.
george. :)
--- End quote ---
Hello George,
It's so true, what you state above regarding a deep fear of Judgement. A fear of
dying and eventually being Annihilated(Endless Death), with no hope for a Ressurection
consumed my thoughts. They drum into your head that if you leave the Organization,
even voluntarily, never to return, you will enter the Second Death, upon your natural
death, with no hope of a Ressurection.
The founder of the Watchtower Society, not Jehovahs Witnesses, Charles Russell
believed that most mankind would eventually saved. He had some discussions with
Universalists regarding the final disposition of the extremely wicked. I read a letter
and it's reply that he wrote to A.E. Knoch of the Concordant Publishing Concern, the
letter took place sometime between 1910-1916. Despite the overwhelming evidence
that ruin, destruction and being lost was not the final disposition of the Wicked, the
erroneous belief in Free Will was Idol of the Heart that prevented understanding.
It was not God's Will for him to see the Eventual Salvation of all. Although he was
in error, his outlook towards Mankind's eventual hope was much closer to what we
believe compared to the Watctower Societies current viewpoint.
It was through researching the Early Bible Student Movement and coming upon
a library(God's Truth for Today) of Universalist thought from A-Z that was part
of the path that led me to Bible-Truths. The Library contains that writings of
Andrew Jukes, Thomas Alin, Hosea Ballou, John Wesley Hanson and the Etymologist
Alexander Thomson that Ray mentions regarding how the Greek Aion eventually came
to be misunderstood in Latin. I actually found that article by Alexander Thomson.
Through the help from former JW Governing Body member Ray Franz, these Universalist
Authors and a desire in prayer to God to my question answered: " If the JWS don't have
the Truth, please tell me; What is the Truth." Prior to my discovery of Ray's Site, I was
just planning on going it alone(God, me, myself & I & The Bible), I figured that the chips
will fall wherever they fall.
Fear acts as a restraint, Samson.
smeacham:
Yes, my short few months with these witnesses makes me believe that the single, overwhelming obstacle to understanding they have is the "free will" idol of their hearts. I never wanted to teach these guys, either. I was sort of pressed into trying, simply to give a reason when pressed for one, when I was unwilling to agree with their studies from "What does the Bible Really Teach?" It is amazing how that single deception makes the entire Bible read differently, isn't it?
I have two coworkers who are also JWs. A good friend at my work, who sits less than 3m from me, and a senior executive (not in my management chain), who came on one of the JW visits. I'm concerned how this will affect our relationship, when they discovers I'm now a goat.
Steve
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