Reasons We Left The Watchtower

Dearest Brothers and Sisters,

You must be wondering why we are no longer at the meetings.

Perhaps you have thought that we are “busy with secular work”, “stumbled”, “spiritually weak”, or “unappreciative of spiritual things”.

The truth runs deeper than that.

We could have been like many who simply fade away and become forgotten in the passing of times but we choose to share our reasons simply because of the love of our brothers and sisters. As one author puts it aptly:

“What this letter contains is written out of a sense of obligation to people we sincerely love. In all good conscience we can say that its aim is to help and not to hurt. If some of what is presented is painful to read, it is also painful to write. It is hoped that you will recognize that the search for truth need never be destructive of faith, that every effect to know and uphold truth will, instead, strengthen the basis of true faith. What those reading this information will do is of course, your own decision. At least it will have been said, and a moral responsibility will have been met”

We find it particularly depressing to share why we are no longer at the meetings. This has been our cherished beliefs for more than 20 years and it is certainly not a decision easily or hastily made. This is a very painful decision.

We did not abandon lifelong, cherished beliefs at the first sign of trouble.
We did not stop attending meeting or engaging in the ministry because we wanted to engage in “worldly” sins.

We did not become discouraged because someone in the congregation has offended us.

We did not forsake bible truth because of pride thinking that we are smarter than Jehovah and the Bible.

Intelligence or the lack of it had nothing to do with our decision. The fact is, not much intelligence is required to examine a matter based on verifiable evidence to arrive at a sound conclusion. Such evidences have to be factual rather than emotional. It cannot be based on rumor, hearsay, lies, or deceptive reasoning. After unbiased considerations of numerous readily available facts, it is common sense, more than intelligence that helps us to draw our conclusions.
We still love Jehovah very much. He is our Grand Creator and we owed him our every living breath. We did not stop attending meetings because we no longer cared about him. On the contrary, it was our earnest desire to know the truth about Jehovah that caused us to reexamine our beliefs in the first place.

Questioning one’s beliefs is the course of action recommended repeatedly to those whom we meet at the door. There is no valid reason to conclude that such honest, humble questioning should stop after we received “the truth”. Failing to continue asking sincere questions of one’s belief leads to the danger of taking truth for granted or worse, assuming it will be spoon fed to us without much real thinking on our part. The bible constantly admonished us to “make sure of all things” (1Th 5:21), serve God with a “power of reason” (Rom 12:1) and be like the Boreans, “…search the scriptures to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the Truth” (Acts 17:11). If this is the Truth, it will stand up to close scrutiny.

There is no shortage of such information available today. Older books/articles, such as those written by CT Russell and Judge Rutherford, scan of old issues of Watchtower and Awake magazines are freely available online. Baseless statements are readily exposed and discarded if one cared to consider the facts. That is the only way to be as objective as possible.
For many years in our efforts to live up to our name as “true obedient Christian” we have brushed aside and justified many nagging doubts with regards to information dispense by the Watchtower. The last straw came about in the July 15 2013 Watchtower articles-serious issues we simply cannot accept blindly without digging deeper.

“Old truth” vs “Present truth”

We were puzzled by the statements so frequently appeared in the articles when it comes to revision of old understanding often expressed as such- ”For a number of years, we thought that…”, “Upon further examination, we perceived that…”, “Previously we thought that…”, “In the past, we have stated… however a further consideration of prophecy indicates that an adjustment in our understanding is needed”, “In the past, our publications have said…a further careful study indicate that our understanding of Jesus’ words needs to be clarified”-WT 7/15/13

The knee jerked answer is “the light gets brighter” as Jehovah blesses his servants with increased understanding! We asked ourselves “Is this really new understanding or light getting brighter?”

When we examined the watchtower record of “brighter light” we realized there were so many changes in the understanding and many are before our times. More than light getting brighter, they seem to be of different colored lights all together! Some of the changes have been tabulated below for clarity.

	OLD UNDERSTANDING	NEW UNDERSTANDING
Great Tribulation	Already started, begins from 1914	In the future, will only start when UN attacks Babylon the Great
Judging of the sheep and goats	Started in 1914	In the future when Jesus comes during Great Tribulation
Babylon the Great fell	In 1919, “Babylon the Great has Fallen” tract distribution campaign	Not yet, but it is in the future
Christ appoint slave over his belongings	In 1919, after Jesus came to inspect the Spiritual Condition of anointed one year before in 1918	Applies to his future coming, will occur only during the Great Tribulation
Christ “belongings”	All spiritual asset on earth	All things heavenly & earthly, including the Messianic Kingdom
Faithful & Discreet Slave	All anointed 144,000 followers	Only those in the Governing Body consisting of 8 men
Faithful & Discreet Slave was appointed	Beginning in Pentecost 33 CE, when Jehovah pour out his spirit	In 1919
Christ’s Domestics	Consists of Only the Anointed ones	Anointed and Great Crowd the “other sheep”
Evil slave class	Such a class exists and they are apostates that oppose the slave class during 1915-1916	This class does not exist. Jesus’ words are actually a warning directed to the Faithful slave.”(WT 7/15, pg24)
Jesus appointed faithful and discreet slave over All his belongings	In 1919	Appointment over all his “belongings” takes place only after Great Tribulation when Jesus comes. In 1919, Jesus appointed faithful and discreet slave over his “domestics” only

Jesus said that God’s word is truth and with God, the one who created all the lights in the heaven, he never changes or casts shifting shadows. (Jn 17:17; Jas 1:17). It dawned upon us that such record of date-fixing, date-shifting, adjustment or changing of ideas/ concepts/definition to be presented as “current truth” does not harmonise with the Bible’s plain and simple teaching at all.

Society wants us to keep up to date with the “present” understanding with question like ”How much do I love the Truth? Do I keep up to date with our present understanding as set out in the pages of this magazine?” (Para. 6 .WT Dec 2013). Has the watchtower magazine taken precedent over the Bible as the main source of instructions? The Bible truth is plain and simple and like Jesus says we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. How can one be truly free if Bible understanding changes and is as fickle as the weather!

The obvious and only conclusion we can draw from this is that Jehovah and his holy spirit is NOT responsible for the constant changes in the Bible understanding as present by the Watchtower.

We may well justify that the Governing Body members are imperfect man and thus mistakes and errors are inevitable. Yet, Jehovah is claimed to be also the one who reveals sacred truth and provides instructions through this body of men.

“Today, Jehovah provides instruction by means of the faithful steward.”- Pay Attention to Yourself and to All the Flock. Pg 13

“A mature Christian has complete confidence in the truth as it is revealed by Jehovah God through his Son, Jesus Christ, and “the faithful and discreet slave.” Watchtower 2001 Aug 1 p.14

With constant changes to interpretations, are we to believe that it comes from Jehovah or from men?

Parable of the Faithful and Discrete Slave

This is one of the many unique terminologies used exclusively by brothers and sisters – “the faith and discreet slave”. We know, it is from the Bible at Matt 24: 32- 25: 30 and we have read it many time. But how many of us have actually read it in its context and in its entirety?

After reading the full chapter in its entirety, it becomes quite clear that Jesus spoke about his coming and stressed the importance of being alert and watchful in a series of parables, all of which are intended to illustrate a point. Simply put the parable is an illustration for explaining a certain truth and not meant to be taken literally.

From verse 32 onwards, Jesus spoke at length about lessons from the fig tree, men in Noah’s day, 2 men working in the field, 2 woman working at the mill, a watchful homeowner over a potential thief, faithful slave, evil slave, 5 wise virgins and 5 foolish virgins, a master going on long trip and return to settle accounts with his 3 slaves.

Jesus taught a series of parables to drive home the point of being watchful and spiritually alert.

But in the minds of some imaginative men, this singular parable takes on a life of its own. They appointed themselves to be the faithful slave. And the singular slave transforms himself into a composite slave, a class of 8 men known as the Governing Body.

Jesus merely is asking a simple question “Who is the faithful and discrete slave?” and tell us why should this turn it into a multifaceted and constantly changing prophecy?

For many decades, the Slave included all 144,000″anointed” Witnesses, but from 2009 the Governing Body began making statements to increase its own authority, as shown later. Finally, during the 2012 Annual Meeting, the Governing Body announced they have solely assumed the role of the Slave.

“We need to obey the faithful and discreet slave to have Jehovah’s approval.” Watchtower 2011 Jul 15 p.24 Simplified English Edition

“Since Jehovah God and Jesus Christ completely trust the faithful and discreet slave, should we not do the same?” Watchtower 2009 Feb 15 p.27

“To act consistently with our baptism for life and into the Greater Noah we must submit to and cooperate with that slave and its legal instrument, the Watch Tower Society.” Watchtower 1959 Oct 1 p.583

These grandiose claims have important implications. Conviction that Jehovah reveals the Bible through the Governing Body affects what all JWs believes regarding their doctrines. As a result, the “truth” changes in line with the interpretations of men.

Being an innocent parable, the Watchtower has been able to use a range of preconceived notions to arrive at a variety of interpretations for who constitute the Faithful Slave, highlighted by numerous changes to this doctrine. There are references from original Watchtower articles on the above interpretations and I summarized it as follows.

Originally, Russell said the Slave was an illustration of the entire body of Christ, the little flock of 144,000 heavenly rulers. Russell continued to be considered the Faithful Slave after his death in 1916.

In 1926, Rutherford re-interpreted the Faithful Slave from a single person to a group of people. Thus the interpretation had come full circle, but this time the servant included Jesus as well as the 144,000.

Over time, Jesus was removed from the role of faithful servant, so once more it was just the little flock. Refinements to this interpretation resulted in a convoluted doctrine, with this single Slave described as a class of people that feed the same class of people.

From around 2009, the Watchtower openly admitted the Governing Body leaders represented the Slave,

“That slave is made up of a small group of anointed brothers who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food during Christ’s presence. Throughout the last days, the anointed brothers who make up the faithful slave have served together at headquarters. In recent decades, that slave has been closely identified with the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Note, however, that the word “slave” in Jesus’ illustration is singular, indicating that this is a composite slave. The decisions of the Governing Body are thus made collectively.” Watchtower 2013 Jul 15 p.22

These changes in interpretation do not make any sense. Yet, we have to obey and believe it regardless.

“At that time, the lifesaving direction that we receive from Jehovah’s organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint. All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.” Watchtower 2013 Nov 15 p.20

One must wonder, if Jehovah truly appointed the Governing Body to dispense truth since 1919, why it took them 95 years to dispense this “new understanding”. Truth should be based on solid biblical foundation, and not the shifting sand of human understandings.

False prophecies

In 1918, Rutherford exclaimed in a series of public lectures, “Millions now living will never die!” This was related to his false prophecy that the resurrection would commence on earth in 1925.

“The chief thing to be restored is the human race to life; and since other Scriptures definitely fix the fact that there will be a resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other faithful ones of old, and that these will have the first favor, we may expect 1925 to witness the return of these faithful men of Israel from the condition of death, being resurrected and fully restored to perfect humanity.” Millions Now Living Will Never Die p.88

“When you take up a more advanced study of the Bible, you will find that the year 1925 A. D. is particularly marked in prophecy.” p.220

“Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith then Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge.” Watch Tower 1923 Apr 1 p.106

Based upon the promises set forth in the divine Word, we must reach the positive and indisputable conclusion that millions now living will never die.” Millions Now Living Will Never Die pp.89-98

The 1921 book The Harp of God had inscribed on the cover “Proof Conclusive that Millions now Living will never Die”.

The above quotes give the impression that the Society leaves nothing to doubt and are 100% affirmatively sure of what they are saying, because it is directed by Jehovah’s spirit, or so they claimed.

1925 came and gone and once Rutherford’s prediction was proven wrong, the Governing Body shifted the blame for the false prophecy away from themselves and onto the rest of the flock. Noted that “we” become “Bible Students”, “they”- a third party reference, is used to shift the fault from Rutherford himself to the rank and file JWs. This method has continued to this day.

“Instead of its being considered a ‘probability,’ they read into it that it was a ‘certainty’.” Yearbook 1975 p.146

“Like the apostles of Jesus Christ, they have at times had wrong expectations.”-Reasoning from the Scriptures p.136.

“On the basis of what was said there, many hoped that perhaps the remaining ones of the little flock would receive their heavenly reward by 1925. … Though mistaken, they eagerly shared it with others.” Jehovah’s Witnesses – Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom p.632

“Ever since the 1870’s, Bible Students had been serving with a date in mind – first 1914, then 1925. Now they realized that they must serve for as long as Jehovah wishes.” Watchtower 1993 Nov 1 p.12

Often, the eagerness with which these false messages were spread was praised. Even when such prophecy failed, they quickly excused themselves, claiming they presumptuously “have wrong expectations”, “eagerness for the Lord’s coming”, “over zealousness”, “impatient” etc.

Could Jehovah use any organization to promote falsehood and wrong expectation? Could Jehovah ever direct them with his Spirit to make such false claims in the first place (Titus 1:2).
Psalms 146:3 – “Do not put your trust in nobles, Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.”

We view this is a serious matter. One cannot be presumptuous if they claim to be Jehovah’s spokesman.

Deuteronomy 18: 20 – “The prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak, that prophet must die.”

Google the May 15^th Watchtower 1984 article, and every single one of the brothers and sisters in the photo had passed away. The Awake states 1914, the Generations that will not pass away.
“Some of that “generation” could survive until the end of the century. But there are many indications that “the end” is much closer than that!” – Watchtower 1984 Mar 1 pp.18-19

How could Jehovah be using this organization to publish wrong, misleading information as “spiritual food”?

In fact, the interpretations of the “generation” in Matt 24:34 have already changed 6 times since the 1900s.

This teaching will continue to change and it baffled our mind if this interpretation can be in any way correct.

The Governing Body is supposedly God’s only channel of communication on earth and they dispense spiritual instruction on behalf of Jehovah and Jesus. All instructions are taken to heart and followed by millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide. The tremendous impact on people’s life choices-the way we live, as married or single persons, couples with or without kids, the kind of what jobs we hold, the level of education we received, the type of what medical treatment we accept, the decision to live or to die – all hinges on the instructions from this channel of communication. It is no small matter to dismiss failed promises as “mistakes”or “ error” by hiding behind the veil of imperfection.

The real question is whether the Governing Body operates under the guidance of Holy Spirit? Our Bible remains unchanged after thousands of years since it was first written down. Jehovah has always been able to provide accurate information, even though imperfect humans used. The Gold standard for what is Spirit inspired is the permanency and consistency of what was first written down. Jehovah does not make mistakes (like us humans do) and he does not give humans wrong or partial truth. There is no room for errors if an Organization claims that Jehovah personally reveals it.

Errors and constant changes in understanding make it apparent Holy Spirit does not guide Watchtower doctrine any more so than it has in any other religion.

It really stabs us to the heart when we read Deut 18 :22 “When the prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah did not speak. With presumptuousness the prophet spoke it. You must not get frightened at him”

As we continue in our search, it becomes crystal clear that we have been living in an illusion for the past 20 years.

Warning against Higher Education

We notice the gradual change in tone and writing style of the Watchtower articles across the ages from a reasonable and loving one to one of dogmatic, strict and arrogance. Jesus said “my sheep will listen to my voice and not to voice of strangers.”(John 10:5).

Awake! 1969 May 22 p.15 -“If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. Why not? Because all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. Of the generation that observed the beginning of the “last days” in 1914, Jesus foretold: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.”-Matt. 24:34. Therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!”

Society changes its stance from 1992- 2005 to a very reasonable one.

Watchtower 1992 Nov 1 p.18,20, -“It has been reported that in some countries many well-intentioned youngsters have left school after completing the minimum required schooling in order to become pioneers. They have had no trade or secular qualifications…Some have had to accept jobs that required them to work very long hours to make ends meet. Becoming physically exhausted, they gave up the pioneer ministry…when parents and young Christians today, after carefully and prayerfully weighing the pros and cons, decide for or against post secondary studies, others in the congregation should not criticize them.

If Christian parents responsibly decide to provide their children with further education after high school, which is their prerogative. For financial reasons and in order to enable their children to get into the full-time service as quickly as possible, many Christian parents have chosen for them short-term study programs in vocational or technical schools. If additional courses are taken, certainly the motive should not be to shine scholastically or to carve out a prestigious worldly career. Courses should be chosen with care. This magazine has placed emphasis on the dangers of higher learning, and justifiably so, for much higher education opposes the “healthful teaching” of the Bible. (Titus 2:1; 1 Tim 6:20, 21) It must be admitted, however, that nowadays youngsters meet up with these same dangers in high schools and technical colleges and even in the workplace.”

A sister, who worked in the writing department at the Brooklyn Bethel during the 1990s recalls that Governing Body member Lloyd Barry, who himself had a university degree, was behind this new stance on education. She wrote:

“Lloyd Barry was empathetic towards the low-paying job plight of Witnesses as expressed in personal letters received at headquarters, and from Jehovah’s Witnesses branch office communiqués from around the world. … Due to difficult economic changes in a world that Witnesses could not escape from, Lloyd Barry, along with the rest of the Governing Body, authorized the November 1, 1992 Watchtower article that changed the view of Witnesses towards higher education.”

Governing Body have reverted on their stance and since 2005, there have been regular articles warning against higher education.

As a result, it comes as little surprise that the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey 2008 by the Pew Forum identified Jehovah’s Witnesses as having the second lowest level of families earning over $100,000, just slightly better than Pentecostals.

Source from economix.blogs.nytimes.com May 13 2011, based on 2008 USA Pew report.

Over emphasis on self perceived “dangers of higher education” without scriptural basis is not healthy. Education broadens the mind and the reverse is also true.

The Bible contains many examples of very intelligent, well-educated men—some who even received extensive education from those who were not worshippers of God. Paul was an expert in law and probably knew a thing or two about the literature of the Gentiles as well. He was not restricted to Bible knowledge alone, as he was able to quote from a Gentile poet to communicate his message to philosophers in Athens. Luke was a doctor. Matthew was a tax professional. Daniel was a prominent government official and received higher education from the Babylonian royal court. Joseph was second in authority to the Great Pharaoh of Egypt and is also a food administrator. He no doubt is highly educated in Egyptian culture. Moses was in a similar position in his younger days in Egypt. Solomon was known for extraordinary wisdom, and unless all of it was poured into his brain by Jehovah, he probably had to read and learn a few things along the way to gain it. While being educated by those of the nations may not always have been by choice, such education put these individuals in a unique position to provide help to their fellow worshippers when the opportunity presented itself.

Given the number of examples mentioned, it is hard to imagine how the Bible can be used to justify limiting one’s education. If anything, it shows how well-educated men can become pillars of faith, wisdom, and in the relative sense, leadership. We felt there is no need to constantly warn people against it and should leave it to our individual conscience.

Child Abuse within the organization

A jury at the Alameda County Superior Court found Jehovah’s Witnesses legally responsible for the sexual abuse of Candace Conti, who suffered repeated molestation at the hands of a brother in her congregation when she was only nine years old.

Her local elders at North Fremont congregation knew that her molester, Jonathan Kendrick, had sexually abused other young girls in the congregation, but concealed this information from her parents.

In showing such shocking negligence, a jury has found that the Fremont elders were acting under the Watch Tower Society’s instructions. The resulting lack of intervention allowed Kendrick to use his position of trust in the congregation to gain control of his young victim during activities such as field service work.

It appears Kendrick had molested at least two young girls in his congregation prior to abusing Candace. In both cases, the elders did not report these incidents to the authorities, or warn parents in the congregation.

After these two previous cases were brought to their attention, the Fremont elders, evidently acting under instructions from their branch office, stripped Kendrick of his position as a ministerial servant, but allowed him to remain in “good standing” within the congregation, telling nobody of his actions. Adhering to the “two witness” policy and/or instructions from the branch office, this brother’s abusive tendencies were concealed from young Candace’s parents, with devastating results. Society has tried to sweep this problem under the carpet, and continues to do so in a misguided effort to try to protect its reputation and uphold Jehovah’s name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ELBt4mA7sI

The Watch Tower Society has therefore been held responsible for the abuse suffered by Candace, and has been ordered to pay compensatory damages of US$7 million. A further US$21 million is due to be paid by the Society in punitive damages in 2012.

The media coverage of the Candace Conti verdict is on the following sites:

Her lawyer, Rick Simons, described the judgment as “one of the largest in the country for a child sex abuse single victim in a religious institution molestation case.”

Why did the court found Watchtower Society responsible for child abuse? There are two main reasons:

The “two witness rule” – The Society believes that this rule, which is based on Deuteronomy 19:15, should be applied rigidly whenever a case of child abuse is reported. If somebody molests a child without any witnesses and subsequently denies any wrongdoing, the elders will be forced to take no further action against him.

Authorities NOT contacted first – In its guidance to elders, the Society insists that the local branch office should always be contacted first whenever an allegation of child abuse is brought to light. This itself is damaging (and in some countries unlawful) because law enforcement authorities should ALWAYS be contacted first if child molestation is alleged to have taken place.

Please refer to page 72 of the 2010 elders’ guidebook “Shepherd the Flock of God”.

Note that elders are specifically told by the Society to “leave the matter in Jehovah’s hands” if a child abuser continues to deny wrongdoing. This is a clear negligence on the organization’s behalf as the elders are merely following society’s direction.

The shockwaves from this legal case will surely continue to reverberate over many years to come. Many JWs are not aware of this court case. Instead, they are warned of the following.

“Misleading statements and outright lies about Jehovah servants and their beliefs are sometimes featured in the media. Newspaper headlines, Internet web pages are used to propagate untruths. As a result, some people become disturbed, gullibly believing such lies.” -Watchtower Dec 2013

Whether they are facts or lies, you need to use your discernment and reasoning power to judge for yourself.

Aside from the legal ramifications, it goes without saying that many JWs around the world will be dismayed to learn that millions of dollars’ worth of their hard earned money donated for the “worldwide work” were spent on paying for legal penalties.

Many abuse victims will be emboldened by Candace’s story into coming forward, but this case has certainly set a legal precedent that makes it much easier for others to do so. It is sad that the Society would rather risk breaking Caesar’s law than humbly accept that its policies are negligent and damaging towards children. It was only a matter of time before the Governing Body paid the price for their stubbornness with more legal defeat.

Many are disgusted with Society’s inaction in the above court case. We cannot imagine the number of innocent children at risks worldwide. It opens a proverbial can of worms as slowly, many past lawsuits involving abuse of JWs children are brought to light. Gag order (court order banning all parties involved in a case before a court of law from reporting on or publicly disclosing anything relating to the case) has forced these victims to stay quiet by accepting an undisclosed amount of money from Society. If such are not acts of cover-ups, we don’t know what is.

If Jehovah is really behind the Watchtower Society, would he have allowed such atrocities in the organization, which claims to be a spiritual paradise, to continue for so long, until they are brought into the spotlight by the world’s media? Do not think that we are living in the times of Judean Kings where errant kings are allowed to run rampant. Our King now is Christ and he takes the lead and do not submit yourself to any man made organization.

Based on the information at hand, this is only the tip of the iceburg. There are at least 11 new legal cases of child abuse lined up for 2014.

The same yardstick that we always use to help our householder recognize the true religion in Matthew 12:33, ”for by its fruits the tree is known”. We can either evade the truth or be true to our conscience and face the fact.

If one leave the organization where should they go?

At the beginning of this journey finding out the truth about the truth,the question asked by Jesus to Peter if he would leave came to our mind.

This is reminder in Watchtower 1975 Sep 1 p.531 “Where could we turn if we would leave God’s organization today? There is nowhere else! (John 6:66-69)”

“Furthermore, suppose a person was to separate himself from Jehovah’s people. Where could he go? Is he not faced with the same issue that confronted Jesus” apostles when he asked them if they also wanted to leave him? The apostle Peter rightly replied: “Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life.” (John 6:68) There is nowhere else to go but to “Babylon the Great,” the world empire of false religion, or into the clutches of Satan’s political “wild beast.” (Revelation 13:1; 18:1-5) Watchtower 1988 Mar 15 pp.18-19

At John 6:68, Peter actually asked Jesus “Lord, whom shall we go away to?” This is the essence of true Christianity. It is not about an organization but about being a true follower of Jesus (1Pet 2:21).

Freedom comes from belonging to Christ, not membership in an organization. He is the true vine and we Christians are the branches (John 15:5). He is the door we need to go through to be saved (John 10:9).

We no longer believe that Watchtower speaks the truth. The truth must be able to stand up to test and research, back up by evidence and scrutiny. Watchtower’s version of “Truth” was put under the microscope and found lacking. We have to come face to face with the devastating consequences of awakening to this harsh reality. It is really DIFFICULT. We have countless sleepless night and Bible discussions, asking how the truth can turn out to be falsehood. Why are we so blinded that I did not see it? Maybe, we are biased and knowingly suppressed any nagging doubts. We are constantly condition to support the organization despite knowing that many of the things spoken is wrong and simply does not make sense.It took us months, if not years to fully wake up from our drunken spiritual stupor.

The reason why it is so difficult is covered in this video. It is a deliberate calculated process and based on established mind control psychological techniques.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmeSmlHyDRU

As much as we want to deny it, we and many others who woke up, admitted that we have been systematically brained washed. All those who woke up said the SAME THING!

The world is not always in black and white as what the Watchtower teaches. There are many grey areas that we need to use our Bible trained conscience and Jehovah’s spirit to navigate our decisions in life.

We love our brothers and sisters and we pray that one day you will know the real Truth. It hurts us to see honorable worship of our grand Creator reduced to a weekly catechistic session of questions and answers. Thousands had left and are leaving the Watchtower, drawn by our Good Shepherd, Christ who had invited us to come to him and he will give us refreshment and rest (Matt 11: 28). Former elders and ministerial servants who have left the organization before us quote information like the ones you just read as the main reasons why they left. They know the truth about the Watchtower Society, and felt extremely disgusted with the falsehood and manipulations that they decided to leave quietly ( you call it “cool off”). For us we feel that we owe you a duty to know about our real reasons of leaving.

We concluded that even though Watchtower Society claimed to be spirit directed, but by their fruits it shows otherwise. It is a manmade organization build on free labor and cunning deception. Well, given our own observations and reading of the Bible, we had reached a point where we felt a need to revisit that which we had assumed to be true for more than twenty years.

There were those rare moments, just us and the Bible, when we felt genuinely close to God. We felt that Watchtower literature rarely did much to enliven the power of scripture without telling you how and what to think. We are glad that we made time to read the Bible itself more than anything else, as in the end, that was all the only real spiritual food we
needed, and always at the proper time. (1Peter 2:2)

Sadly, some have invested too many years into this religion and this makes getting out too difficult and at a tremendous loss, both emotionally and socially. Do not let any religion come in between your relationships with your heavenly father.

We are much happier now and we have put more emphasis on bible reading and allowing Holy Spirit to guide us in our understanding, as Jesus has said will “Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth…will teach you all things and bring back to your minds all the things I told you.”(John 14:26, 16:13). Jesus promises the Spirit will come and help individual Christians to recall things he taught.

We are genuinely happy and we are finally set free (John 8:32). We pray that one day you will be freed too. We learnt that there are other bibles translations which are well translated, reliable and easy to read. We have benefited much spiritually. Till then, continue to read the Bible daily.

Agape,

JN WH

	XKhanX on The Real Reasons
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	Danielle on The Time Is At Hand!

Reasons We Left The Watchtower

The Time Is At Hand!

The Truth Hurts

A Teacher’s Message To His JW Students

Don’t Be Easily Shaken

Who do you trust?

Learn Something New

We remember you all in our prayers.

Equating an Organization with Jehovah and Christ

The Real Reasons

The Truth Will Set You Free (Jn 8:32)