Disassociation

I recently disassociated myself from the Jehovah's witnesses.Just wanted to warn the JW's so they wouldn't think I am trying to mislead or fool them.Having been where they are and thought how they think and felt how they feel,I can honestly say that no matter how hideous they think I am right now,I love them from the bottom of my heart.Always will..And the best piece of advice I can offer them is to ponder WHY the society tells you constantly that any outside opinions and literature are poison.It is because the society could not stand under the light of the type of scrutiny and the brutal honesty you can find in books like "Crisis of Conscience" and "Captives of a Concept".Where would someone go if they aren't on the WT "ark"?To Jah through Christ,obviously.It is ok to home fellowship or seek somewhere less controlling and dogmatic about nonessential issues for worship(though it CAN be hard it's worth the effort to find a place or make one).And those who think that would be forming some kind of sect,well,the WT IS a sect from another sect etc.Congregating with fellow Christians who believe essential truths isn't forming a "sect".Questioning men who have been detrimentally wrong too many times to count is NOT the equivalent of questioning Jehovah as they would have you believe.And them having you believe that is the equivalent of imprisoning your mind to be susceptible to anything they want to plant there.It takes a WHILE to break free.First come the nagging smaller doubts.Then come the disturbing discoveries that JW's push out of their minds by reading more and more bias WT literature or being afraid of losing everyone they love.Then if one remains objective unbias and continually studious and fair minded,one discovers the inconsistencies and outright lies within the org till it breaks you down and leads you to Christ who ALONE can save you with sayings of everlasting life.No organization of fallible and inconsistent men can,especially if those men are going to require you believe them even when something may be false in order to remain "saved" and "unshunned" and "acceptable".In other words,they expect followers to accept what they say as if God said it even if it is speculative at best(1914 anyone?) and then proceed to say they are fallible.Those two concepts are incongruent..Now there are obvious succint truths in scripture regarding Jesus being the savior,the Christ,the Son of the living God.His father being the ONLY TRUE God,and God being love and the wicked perishing(hell is a lie).Christ's actually dying(ALL of him) and being raised on the 3rd day..the earth being inhabited forever by the meek and righteous..these are clear.."Interpretive possibilities" should NOT be dogmatically enforced beliefs.I realize there are many fantastic things about JW's and about the literature.I understand their views on holidays,war,essential truths etc are all good ..but there is too much bad mixed in.Think of Christmas.There are beautiful lights,trees,gifts,family dinners,warm fuzzy feelings of sharing and closeness etc..but there are DARK truths beneath the surface,no?Well that is how I will classify the WT organization for now.Bad analogy..just trying to think of a way to express it.As hard as it will be after reading the bible WITH WT literature for so long,I recommend JW's read the bible ALONE for a while..things will pop out you never noticed before and certain WT teachings and strong assertions and repeated declarations will start to appear questionable.Their overuse of "faithful and discreet slave class","organization for salvation","new light","past truths"(that were REALLY lies),1914,"Jehovah's sole channel of communication"(while still saying they are fallible..again,incongruent concepts),"other sheep class","anointed class","watchtower ark",being unable to actually BE born again,passing around bread and wine that you will only deny,etc...these should all be examined meticulously without watchtower literature.It is an uncomfortable feeling being confused and not having answers about many of the things I thought I knew before,but it's a process.And I darn well know Jesus will not say to me EVER

"I never knew you!!Get away from me you worker of lawlessness!You wouldn't preach 1914 even though the men who set the date were wrong about all the other dates they had set before it!!You are none of my sheep!"

Yet,that is what the WT is willing to do.Disturbing.And unfortunately,that's just one of a number of qualms.I won't lie and say I'm in a comfortable place right now..that I know everything and feel I've found some greater truth..I only know the thought of implicitly trusting men to guide me to salvation and being forced to adhere to their every whim and speculation is a scary thought.I have a hard journey ahead seeking truth and finding my place but as long as I think of God before I think of me(because I rarely feel like doing what is right) I will be ok.

Btw,I will leave the pro-Jehovah's witnesses blogs up because I feel some of the information is still relevant and besides,it is always good to know how they defend themselves.