Watchtower Files
I now class myself as an EX Jehovah's Witness.
I have not been disfellowshiped or have disassociated myself at
this moment in time. ( For the benefit of any non JW's , any JW
who has been DF'd or DA'd will not be spoken too by any current
JW who follows the Watchtower line)
This has been the case since I discovered early
last year that a number of core doctrines that I believed for the
last 23 years are wrong!! This precipitated my own "crisis
of conscience" and I feel only now that I am beginning to
move forward as a Christian in the true sense of the word.
Below is a some of the core issues that I found
out to be incorrect. For any who read this, the information is
presented honestly and with Christian love. There are certain web
sites who present this information in a hostile manner, one can
only suppose this may be because such ones have been hurt by
their experiences or have another agenda.
- The
Great Crowd. For a number of
years I have been puzzled about Rev 7 and the Society
explanation regarding the Great Crowd serving Jehovah
from earth.If you read Revelation 7:9 with the Kingdom
Interlinear you will see that the Greek word translated
"in sight" or "standing before" is
also used for the angels in Rev 7:11! Are the angels on
earth or in heaven? This is repeated in other verses in
revelation. So are the Great Crowd in heaven?? Imagine my
surprise when I came across the article that is
hyperlinked at the start of this section which talks
about this issue an much much more. It appears this info
has been around since the 1980's.
- The Blood Issue.Well,
I was "blown away" by this one. I have worked
in medical computing industry and know that blood
transfusions are not "risk" free. However it
appears that the divine law of Acts 15:28-29 is not a
divine law atall but good advice!! Since it is not a law
then it is a matter of conscience as to whether one takes
blood, not a law to be prosecuted by the Society.To see
this you have use the Kingdom Interlinear again. You will
notice that in verse 29, there is a Greek word that is
translated "(things) sacrificed to idols" as
part of the divine "law", basically we are told
to keep ourselves free from things sacrified to idols
etc. But in 1 Cor 8:1-13 we are told it is OK to eat food
sacrificed to idols!!You can see this in verse 4 that the
Greek word for "(things) sacrificed to idols"
is the same word as in Acts 15:29.Would the bible
contradict a divine law? The Society trys to shrug this
off in a 1940's Question for Readers as saying it refers
to worshipping idols, but as you have seen it is the same
greek word as in Acts 15:29.There is no contradiction, it
just shows that the statement was advice, up to the
conscience of the Christian involved. Read the whole of
Chapter 15 and you will see that this advice was to the
gentiles so they could get on well with the Jewish
Christians ( 15:19-21) A further point; Is the symbol
(blood) greater than which it symbolizes (life)?
- Jerusalem's
Destruction in 607 BCE? It
appears that the evidence is that Jerusalem was destroyed
in the 580 BCE decade. This knocks the 1914 date clean on
the head as not valid!! More info
- Early Society History 1870 to 1950. The society has not been honest with us about
its early history. 1914 was originally the date of the
end of armaggeddon, not the start of Jesus's rule and
there are many more strange things. Looking back at the
history of the Society made me feel we had been
deliberatly mislead about our past.When you look you will
see why!
- There are many more points and this list
will be updated with time.
If the above information is correct ( and
believe it to be so ) then some of our core doctrines are wrong
and we are in danger not following what Jehovah & Jesus have
instructed us about in the Bible. There is also a
"domino" effect on other beliefs which we may have and
you will need to meditate on the consequences of these effects.
What helped me was to read the New Testament from Matthew to
Revelation in a number of different translations of the Bible.
The translations I found usefull were:-
- Kingdom Interlinear of the Greek
Scriptures WBTS
- New Testament in Modern English by J.B
Philips
When I did this, I felt that I was on the way
to understanding the Bible as it was meant to be understood. If I
can help in any way just let me know at seekit@geocities.com.
Don't be discouraged, the "door" is
beginning to open ......