Another Letter From A Jehovah’s Witness
I received the following note recently, regarding a post I made several years ago. It was on reading into the scriptures. I thought the reasoning of this Jehovah’s Witness was quite telling. I’m including his response in its entirety.
“Excuse me, but Doug, the bible speaks of false godly people, and in 2 Timothy 3 : 5 that men would be having “an appearance of godliness but proving false to it’s power.” I think you bring an example of this. Also we Jehovah Witnesses believe that we are the only true religion because in John 13 : 35 it said, “By this all will know that you are my disciples – if you have love among yourselves.” Have you ever seen a more unified loving organization? Plus we don’t always do things because we aren’t sure of it, which means we don’t want to take our chances such as oral sex. What happens if it is a sin? Also in Matthew it mentions how his disciples would preach the word through out the whole word, and what have we done? Just that! Showing we have the true religion, no matter what anybody says.”
This was my response:
Okay so let’s just take your line of reasoning out a little further.
The Bible says that God will bring to ruin those ruining the earth right? (Rev 11:18) So since automobiles belch greenhouse gases as well as pollution, anyone driving a car out in field service would be destroyed at Armageddon.
Let’s make a new rule: Anyone caught driving an automobile is to be disfellowshipped.
Since Styrofoam products aren’t biodegradable then let’s disfellowship anyone using those products.
But let’s not stop there…since cattle are a large part of the greenhouse emissions, and since the beef industry is largely responsible, let’s make a rule that anyone eating a hamburger be disfellowshipped.
Do you see how messed up your line of reasoning is? Reading things into the scriptures because you want to be “absolutely sure” (when all you’re really doing is misusing scripture as a license to legislate behavior), leaves a LOT of room for interpretation and is, in my view, going way “beyond the things written” (1 Cor 4:6). I also find it quite laughable that anything “new” that the Governing Body comes up with is called “New Light” as if it emanated from Jehovah Himself.
I remember one of our District Overseers had a real problem with men wearing any sort of jewelry like necklaces or bracelets. This was his line of reasoning:
“Homosexuality is condemned in the scriptures. Homosexuals are known to wear jewelry, therefore jewelry worn by men is tantamount to a homosexual act and alerts other gay men that you’re open to experimentation.”
You simply can’t make this stuff up! We had an elder who wore a medical alert bracelet that was gold and attractive and this District Overseer had the unmitigated gall to criticize him for it.
How pompous would one have to be to reason: “Well this is what Jehovah really meant when He said this and He forgot to include this and that and the other thing…”
To assume the role of “God” in the lives of your followers is one of the key methods of cult leaders. I can’t think of anything more presumptuous than to read into scripture, as if you know better than God.
With regard to your assertion that your organization is filled with love:
I’ve been in your organization. I spent half my life in it. “Love” isn’t a word that I would use to characterize the way most JW’s treat each other and I’ve got a long list of former JW’s (30,000 plus on this blog alone) who would strongly agree with that last statement. I would add that most of those in positions of responsibility that I’ve come into contact with, have a terrible record of abusing their privilege. The elders and overseers that are the most loving and kind, usually encounter the most difficulty in this organization and I’ve seen that from the District level on down to the local congregations.
I’ve seen the “love” that this organization metes out to those it deems “weak and mentally diseased”. I’ve seen the families torn apart because of their Machiavellian methods and I’ve seen plenty of JW and ex JW suicides in my lifetime.
With regard to your assertion that your religion is the only “truth” because you knock on doors:
The fact that you proselytize doesn’t confirm your organization as teaching “the truth” anymore than standing in a parking space makes you a car.
I’m reminded of Christ’s admonition to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:15:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”
No, I think I’ll get along just fine without the “Faithful and Discreet Slave” telling me what to think, what to do, and what I can and can’t say and to whom.
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Hi I'm Doug Shields.
I was a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses for twenty-three years of my life. I finally realized that they didn't have "the truth" and I left the organization.