Expert: Andrew - 2/1/2008

Question
The organisers here have stopped me from being represented on this board even though one can still see many of my past answers.  That is becasue I was not a critic of JWs but a critic of the critics.

I was here to counter the disstorted view of JWs that you present here.  Some of the things you say are true and a lot of the information on the social pressure is unture.  

I have not visited this section of Jehovahs Witnesses for some time and have been reading through some of your replies.  You tell a good story but unfortunately a lot of what you say is very distorted.

You may have spent time in bethal and visiting many different congregations but from what you say in your answers I see you realy did not understand the social life or you have forgoret.  I would say it was a mixture of both.

Your understanding on the so called totalitarian authority is exremely distorted.  

JWs DO NOT allow the Watchtowe Society (the Governing Body in particular) to rule and control thier lives as you say.  We allow Jehovah to rule and controll our lives and come under his direction. The Bible is our guide not the WTS or the GB.

The WT never lied about dates.  They missunderstood dates and cnhronology but they never lied about it.

I wish I could be back here to set the readers straight.  

Answer
Dear Brenton,

You are invested in the Witness organization. Your investment makes it difficult for you to see the legitimate errors of the organization. I am very familiar with this mental gymnastic. It goes something like this:

"I have spent 20 years following the prescribed methods that I learned from the Watchtower Society and conforming my life to those methods. Everything I know, my entire world, is tied up in those methods. I give this allegiance because I believe the organization represents God who is infallible. If there are any important fundamental errors within the organization, this is inconsistent with representing an infallible God, and therefore cannot be real. Further, all the years I have spent could have been wasted, and if one important thing is wrong, then my entire world could be wrong. That is too unthinkable to consider, so I won't consider it."

You seem to be employing this mental gymnastic which is common among Witnesses. Otherwise, it would be as clear to you as it is to outsiders that there are important fundamental errors in Watchtower policy.

> I was here to counter the disstorted view of JWs that you present
> here. Some of the things you say are true and a lot of the
> information on the social pressure is unture.
> I have not visited this section of Jehovahs Witnesses for some time
> and have been reading through some of your replies.  You tell a good
> story but unfortunately a lot of what you say is very distorted...
> Your understanding on the so called totalitarian authority is
> exremely distorted.  

Nothing I have said is distorted or untrue. Truth is my highest value. Clarity is my only weapon. I need these things in order to cope with the immensely distorted mind games and false statements made by Witnesses.

If it seems distorted to you it is because you are wearing glasses with thick lenses, and you have been wearing them so long you have forgotten you have them on. Your thick glasses make simple reality appear false, and an extensive network of manipulation and deception appear true.

Is it wise to accept correction of "distortions" from persons to whom distortion is a way of life?

> You may have spent time in bethal and visiting many different
> congregations but from what you say in your answers I see you realy
> did not understand the social life or you have forgoret.  

Or perhaps I understood it deeply. It has always been my habit to look deeply into an issue I am concerned with to understand it well. Rather than jump to conclusions after a glance, I hold back in silence for much longer periods while studying to truly understand. God himself gave me this gift. Your organization's obfuscation was unable to take it away.

> JWs DO NOT allow the Watchtowe Society (the Governing Body in
> particular) to rule and control thier lives as you say.  We allow
> Jehovah to rule and controll our lives and come under his direction.
> The Bible is our guide not the WTS or the GB.

This is a most telling comment. You admit that you accept control over your life, yet you know full well God has not spoken to you or any member of your organization in any special way. You know full well that everything you hold true about "the Bible" came to you through the Watchtower Society, and specifically the Governing Body.

God has not told you what you hold true. The Governing Body has. So the control over your life which you accept comes from the Governing Body. Here is a litmus test of this simple logic: If you take the Bible to be God's literal word, and you read something in the Bible but interpret it differently than the Governing Body, can you believe it and follow it because the Bible tells you so? Or must you disregard what the Bible says to you because the Governing Body tells you it means something else? In fact people are expelled from your organization for believing and doing what the Bible tells them to do, because your Governing Body's interpretation of the Bible is more important than the Bible itself.

The Governing Body is your controlling authority, not God. Yes, I know, you claim they are God's representatives on earth, so you would see this difference as splitting hairs. Yet it is a vital difference, for the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses does not receive any special guidance from God (and doesn't even claim to), and without such special guidance, how can it legitimately claim to represent him?

At least other cult leaders have the good sense to claim they are prophets, meaning they do receive special guidance from God. Your leaders do not make that claim, yet still expect you to believe they represent God, which is a logical non-sequitur, in the simplest of terms.

> The WT never lied about dates.  They missunderstood dates and
> cnhronology but they never lied about it.

They did not lie in advance when predicting. You're right, they misunderstood and made mistakes. Again and again and again. Should someone who misunderstands and makes innocent mistakes so often be trusted as an authority? Should not the Watchtower Society have realized after the first dozen failed prophecies that they were unqualified to continue prophesying?

But they did lie after the predictions failed, by disowing responsibility for the failure and blaming the rank and file for having misunderstood EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE IN FACT TAUGHT, just as you are blaming me for "misunderstanding". No, we understand quite clearly what we have seen and heard. It was you and your organization who predicted things that repeatedly failed to materialize. Do not blame us for believing exactly what we were told. Do not blame us for seeing the simple reality you have tried to turn us away from with your distorted thick glasses.

For those who are interested in dozens of specific examples where Watchtower literature engaged in false prophecy, please see the following link:

http://www.freeminds.org/history/list.htm

Best wishes,
AndrewXJW
____

A follow-up added on 2.5.2008:

As supporting documentation for my statement that the Witness leadership shifted responsibility for their failed predictions to their members, I offer the following additional links. In other words, the Watchtower leadership covered up their mistakes by blaming the rank and file for having "misunderstood" when in reality the Watchtower leadership had changed their tune, but in order to retain their credibility and authoritarian control, they did not own up to it.

This link...
http://www.jwfiles.com/1914Generation.htm
...shows how in Oct/Nov, 1995, the Watchtower Society subtly changed their tune about a central theme of their teaching for many years previously.

This link...
http://www.jwfiles.com/outline.htm
...offers a wealth of data excerpted from Watchtower literature (1892 to 1989), including claims about a predictable date for Armageddon.