Expert: Andrew - 6/22/2007

Question
QUESTION: Greetings Andrew,

From what I have read of your work, I gather that you do not believe the Bible to be the unerring word of God nor do you belive that it is relevant for our day.  Is that the case?

ANSWER: Dear Andrew C,

Your question about my view of the bible is in the subject area of theology, which is not my area of expertise.

One of the dishonest mind games used by Jehovah's Witnesses is to label ideas as "true" or "false" based on assumptions about the origins of the idea, rather than to consider evidence, and the weight of an argument.

Therefore if a person is disapproved because of his lifestyle or another litmus test, then anything that person says can be dismissed under this mindset, regardless of how well reasoned, regardless of how much sound evidence is presented.

Whether a person views a bible the way you do could be such a litmus test. Therefore, I suggest you be careful. If a lying politician were to knock on your door and tell you your house was on fire, would you not at least look to see if there was a fire?

I do not claim to be a virtuous or godly man. What I claim is that I have fully explored the topic area of cult mind control and I have a gift of seeing through mind games, and that I attempt to use that gift to reduce the suffering of others.

My warnings about how Jehovah's Witnesses destroy family ties and manipulate their members with deception, thereby depriving them of freedom of mind, are based on an abundance of direct personal experience and indirect experience from accounts received from many other people. Such experience combined with a study of mind games used by cults as disclosed by many researchers and authors is what gives me expertise to offer in this area.

My view of the bible is not particularly relevant because I am not a spiritual leader.

I believe the bible is a book that has lead many people to grace and higher consciousness, but that it is meant to be understood with a spiritual mind, not an intellectual, analytical, or pragmatic mind. In other words, I do not believe the bible is unerring when taken in an intellectual context, but perhaps it is unerring when taken in a spiritual context. Grace and higher consciousness are timeless, so to the extent that people use the bible toward these ends, it is relevent to all eras.

I do not believe ancient biblical texts which history records as having been developed/canonized through church politics are the direct "unerring word of God". Rather, I believe the bible represents accounts of spiritual experiences that people had (and perhaps God has fostered and preserved for us). I believe that bible writers attempted to write about their inspired experiences for the benefit of others; yet we can have such experiences ourselves and therefore not have to rely on second-hand accounts.

Many things can go wrong in understanding spiritual experiences recorded thousands of years ago. Perhaps illustrations used for a nomadic or agricultural people are less meaningful for today's urban dwellers. Did God give people precise words to write; or inspire a vision, and leave it to them to describe the vision? Perhaps it is not possible to fit a spiritual experience into human language, which is inherently intellectual (the wrong side of the brain). Perhaps it is not always possible for expressions in Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic to be translated precisely into English. Huge contrasts of meaning are often seen when comparing original-language words to their English "equivalents".

So our traditional values today are more influenced by the English-language meanings of bible words than the original-language meanings. Thus the central message of many unrelated inspired texts from the modern era seems to be that God is telling us, "You've got me all wrong".

I believe the "unerring word of God" comes only from God when he bears witness directly with your soul in answer to your prayers. This is only one man's perspective, and should not be considered any form of expert testimony.

Best wishes,
AndrewXJW

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Andrew,

I truly feel that you do a disservice to anyone that wants to belive the Bible is Gods Word.

Your ideas are purely based on mans ideas.

Have you ever considered that it is not the JWs teachings of the Bible that disrupts families but it is the non JW family members that cause the problem? It a very minority of casses has the JW in the split family been the problem.

Jws tach and encourage strong family ties no matter what the religious beliefs of the other members.

By not accepting the Bible is relavant for our day as JWs do and a lot of other religions do you actually deny that there is a God that created us and has a purpose for us.

So all your reasonings are missleading.

If every one on earth lived by the Bible standards as practised by JWs there wouls be no ploce forces or war of any kind.  But off course you would not agree with that.

So again I say I feel sorry for you for wanting the sort of freedam Adam and Eve wanted when they followed Satans advice that we could determin for our selves what is write and what is wrong.

By far the majority of split families are better of because one member or two become JWs.  The hole family situation improves.  

Answer
Dear Andrew C,

> I truly feel that you do a disservice to anyone that wants
> to belive the Bible is Gods Word.

I have not used any deception or manipulation or social pressure, nor insisted that my view of the bible or other spiritual matters is the only right way, but merely stated in clear language my personal belief about the Bible in answer to your question. Since I cannot control the social environment of my readers, I cannot exercise cult mind control over them. I do no disservice to anyone by this.

> Your ideas are purely based on mans ideas.

Except for those rare ideas which I received from God, yes, the vast majority of my ideas originate with me, a man; or other men I have cited. I have not claimed otherwise.

Your ideas are also purely based on man's ideas, in your case, the men who write your organizational literature. Yet you treat such ideas as if they are food from God, where God did not inspire nor appoint nor give any other direct influence.

We both have ideas that originate with men. At least I am honest about it. Those who claim to know the mind of God in detail are claiming false authority to control others.

> Have you ever considered that it is not the JWs teachings
> of the Bible that disrupts families but it is the non JW
> family members that cause the problem? It a very minority
> of casses has the JW in the split family been the problem.

Are you familiar with the dynamic of cognitive dissonance, as elaborated by Leon Festinger? People who have invested themselves deeply in a way of life like you have SIMPLY MUST believe it is right, even where there is no evidence that it's right, even when there's abundant evidence that it's wrong, merely because you're too deeply invested to consider that your way of life might be wrong. You are suffering from cognitive dissonance.

It is not because JW's follow the bible that families are split up, it's because JW's INTERPRET the bible to mean they are justified in shunning that families get torn apart. Non-Witnesses do not shun. Only Witnesses do. Non-Witnesses get together for regular family events with extended family, such as holidays and birthdays. Witnesses alienate themselves from extended family by rejecting these occasions without offering any alternative opprotunities to get together. Further, even where there is no shunning, Witness literature repeatedly warns Witnesses not to socialize with non-Witness relatives any more than "necessary". This is why your shifting the blame is hollow.

When I describe damaged family ties, I'm not just talking about divorce. I'm talking about teens put out on the street by their Witness parents who have dehumanized their children and cut off all compassion because their judgemental worldview justifies it. I'm talking about brother and sister barely speaking to one another anymore because one is a Witness and the other is not. It is the fault of Witness behaviors that this occurs, not non-Witness behaviors.

> Jws tach and encourage strong family ties no matter what
> the religious beliefs of the other members.

This is an outright lie. Your literature repeatedly justifies shunning between family members where one has been expelled because of not living up to your man-made interpretations and even where there is no shunning, warns Witnesses not to socialize any more than necessary with non-Witness relatives based on your interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:33.

Just as with all cults, because of a mindset of maintaining supposed purity, Witnesses purposefully erode family ties between Witnesses and non-Witnesses. But you are not more pure, only more judgemental.

> By not accepting the Bible is relavant for our day as JWs
> do and a lot of other religions do you actually deny that
> there is a God that created us and has a purpose for us.

No I don't. This is a logical non-sequitur. I believe in God; but whether I believe in God is irrelevant to whether your organization is using deceptive manipulations and eroding family ties.

> So all your reasonings are missleading.

Another logical non-sequitur. Even if I didn't believe in God, that doesn't demonstrate that my reasonings mislead. By contrast, I have repeatedly demonstrated how Witness reasonings mislead including yours in this very message. Yet you have not demonstrated how anything I have said misleads. Because you cannot. There is no evidence to disprove the truth. That is why you have given none, but only made assertions.

> If every one on earth lived by the Bible standards as
> practised by JWs there wouls be no ploce forces or war of
> any kind.  But off course you would not agree with that.

You don't live by the Bible. You live by the Watchtower. If everyone lived by the Watchtower, the entire world would be made up of automatons like you who choose not to think for themselves, and therefore make themselves vulnerable to control by others, which in turn invites others to abusively control them. The end result would be the same lost freedom of mind, family destruction, abuses of power, souls distorted by repressing doubts, inauthentic emotional life, deep personal shame for no cause, and stunted social development as now exists among Witnesses, only on a larger scale.

> So again I say I feel sorry for you for wanting the sort
> of freedam Adam and Eve wanted when they followed Satans
> advice that we could determin for our selves what is write
> and what is wrong.

I have not sought freedom from God's guidance. Again you equate guidance of your organization with guidance from God. YOUR ORGANIZATION IS NOT GOD, NOR HIS MOUTHPIECE, NOR HIS CHANNEL. There is no evidence otherwise.

Yet even without evidence, it is your underlying premise. You have embraced the view that your organization is God's mouthpiece because you suspend your critical thinking faculties.

I have sought freedom from the arbitrary reasonings of men who are no better than I. And so should you.

It is not rebellion against God to disallow men to manipulate our minds. It is loyalty to God to leave such a deceptive controlling unhealthy environment and practice love instead.

> By far the majority of split families are better of
> because one member or two become JWs.  The hole family
> situation improves.

You are completely unaware of the other side of the coin. You do not even know what happens to the former Witnesses which your congregation expelled, and their parents put them out on the street. You don't care what happened to them because you judgementally consider them less than human. You never hear their side of the story because your organization knows if you found out both sides of the story, you might leave too.

Family destruction is not a good thing, no matter how your deceptions try to reframe the situation. I've known enough people abandoned by their families and seen the tremendous suffering inflicted upon them to identify your statement as rubbish.

Families that get split apart by the Witness dogma on shunning and "bad associations" cause members of those families to be weakened, and their lives destroyed. Even those who remain Witnesses who are cut off from their families are weakened, making them easier for your cult organization to control.

Family destruction is evil. Your deceptions which enslave minds are evil. May God forgive you for such evil. God is love.

Best wishes,
AndrewXJW