About Brandon Harper Expertise I was raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and was baptized for 21 years. I was a 4th generation Jehovah's Witness both paternally and maternally and am qualified to answer many questions regarding doctrine, doctrinal changes, historical basis for various doctrines, as well as offer rebuttal responses from the perspective of a former Jehovah's Witness. I can also answer questions from the perspective of an ardent Jehovah's Witness.
Experience I am 33 years old, became a publisher and gave my first public talk at age 4, was baptized at age 12, became an inactive publisher at age 32, and disassociated myself at age 33. My father has served as a congregation servant/elder continuously from the age of 17 on. Of my 9 uncles, 6 are elders. Of my 9 aunts, four are regular pioneers. My father is the presiding overseer of a congregation. When I began seriously investigating this religion I had to prepare for conversations with a very large extended family steeped in the history and doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses. I have thoroughly studied many Watchtower Society publications that most Jehovah's Witnesses have never even read, if they have heard of them at all, seeking the origins of various doctrinal points. I knew I would need to have this knowledge to discuss the issues in detail with my family when I decided to disassociate myself.
Education/Credentials I read every Watchtower and Awake! magazine from at least age 8 through age 32. According to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society I have the equivalent of several four-year degrees (Reference available on request). I would hope that education would qualify me as an expert.
Question were you really a jehovah's witness for that long?
why did you leave the jehovah witness religion
Answer Dennis,
I realized that my answers have not yet appeared in the listing because the minimum Expert requirement of 10 answers has not yet been reached. So, I feel the need to answer your question even though it is a duplicate question. I wish I had the option to answer this privately as it is more of a personal question than a doctrinal one. Since I do not have that option, here is the answer to your question.
Yes, I really was a JW for that long, almost 21 full years, from 1985 through 2005. I began publishing at age 4, and had my first Theocratic Ministry School assignment (Talk #2) at the same age.
The answer I gave to Jerry (which has not yet appeared on the list of questions asked) was related to the doctrinal reasons. I will give you a an answer that should accompany my previous answer and also share the doctrinal points I shared with Jerry.
When I discovered that the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. had been an Associate member of the United Nations Department of Public Information for almost 10 years, I began to seriously question some of the teachings. I wrote a letter to the Society about the matter. My father is the Presiding Overseer of the congregation I attended. Obviously, the reply I received was also sent to the congregation to which I was assigned.
I was greatly dissatisfied with the response I received. Particularly disturbing was the description of the nature of the relationship as a registration when it was, in fact, an Associate membership. I shared my concerns with my father, along with other things I had begun to question, and tentatively compared the Governing Body to Pharisees in the making of and enforcement of rules and policies they themselves do not adhere to.
He said I had only discovered a few things and encouraged me to remember that the Pharisees were characterized by that sort of behavior, whereas the Governing Body might have only one this unintentionally. I didn't understand how a membership could be accidentally maintained for 10 years, but I was willing to consider his opinion on the matter while writing my second letter to the Society.
I asked him, "These are just the things I have figured out. What if there is much more? What if this is characteristic of the Governing Body?"
He said if I had doubts of that nature I had to once again convince myself of the truth. I only knew of one way to do that.
1 John 4:1 says, "Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world."
So, I did. And each time I scratched the surface I came away astounded again at what I found. On almost each doctrine and practice I examined carefully I discovered it did not come from the Bible—and neither my father, nor the rest of the local body of elders, nor the Circuit Overseer could show me Scriptural basis for point after point. Often I found direct Scriptural statements that opposed the doctrine or practice. In each case, the answer I was ultimately given was some variation of, "Wait on Jehovah. Trust the channel. Trust that Jesus is in control of the congregation. If it is wrong it will be corrected eventually."
Having been a JW for so long, thousands of times I have heard or read that the beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses are based on the Bible. We are encouraged to stress that point to new ones. We are encouraged to invite new ones to ask us to show them where our doctrines come from in the Scriptures. And yet, here these responsible men were telling me that I had to wait on Jehovah to bring our doctrine and practices in line with the Scriptures.
That meant I had been unintentionally lying to people. If the doctrines originated from the Bible there would be no need to correct them so that they would be Scriptural. If they didn't originate with the Bible, then they originated from the only other source allowed by 1 John 4:1.
I aided 3 people to baptism during my 21 years as a baptized JW. I have apologized to each of them.
Here's a short list of what I discovered:
(1) If Babylon fell in 539 BC, then Jehoiachin was exiled in 597 BC, contrary to what I was taught, (the same archeological proofs that establish the timing of Babylon's fall also establish the timing of Jehoiachin's exile, if one event moves in the chronology, then the other must accompany it)
(2) Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus is the mediator for only 144,000 people ever since Christianity emerged on the world scene, (see Worldwide Security Under the Prince of Peace, p. 10, paragraph 16)
(3) Judicial Committees are secret meetings which the accused are not freely permitted to record even if they desperately want to do so,
(4) Jehovah's Witnesses teach that mature Christians have no private ideas regarding Bible understanding, (see Watchtower August 1, 2001, p. 14, paragraph 8; Hebrews 5; 1 Corinthians 2)
(5) Jehovah's Witnesses regard the extent of activity (works) as an indication of spirituality and judge each other as weak or strong based on that criteria, (Watchtower July 15, 2005, pp. 24-25, paragraphs 19, 20)
(6) The terms "paradise earth", "paradise on earth", "earth a paradise", and "earthly paradise" never appear in the Bible but of the three times the New Testament refers to paradise it twice refers specifically to heaven. The remaining reference does not specify the location of paradise, but it is inferred to be located wherever Jesus would be, (the terms quoted are variously used 1,472 times since 1950 in the Watchtower magazine alone)
(7) the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit directly teaches those who are Christ's disciples (John 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 2:18-29), so after someone becomes a disciple they are taught by holy spirit, not by letters from the Governing Body.
On this last point, it is interesting to me that Hebrews 10:24, 25 does NOT indicate that learning would be a part of the gatherings—whereas indictrination is without question the principal activity at JW meetings.
I hope this has answered your question satisfactorily.
