The Last Post

This will be my last blog as Rydler.  (sorry in the end this didn't become my last post as I found a new source of inspiration.)  I will leave you with a few last thought provoking comments on the Governing Body and Jehovahs Witnesses.

Lots of JW's who have read my blogs have commented that us 'apostates' are negative and are motivated by destroying faith.  I should, according to many of them, keep my views to myself.

There are a couple of comments I would make here to defend my views.  Firstly, Jehovahs Witnesses are renown for NOT keeping their views to themselves.  In fact it is a badge of honour for them to promote the views of their organisation.  Could I politely ask why they should be allowed to actively and aggressively push their beliefs upon billions but those who have a different viewpoint should keep quiet?

Secondly are my views negative?  Do I want to destroy faith?  First and foremost I want people to hear the truth - the real truth.  I want people to be armed with the full facts about the Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society, not just the sanitised version that the Society want to perpetuate.  I want people to know that this society that calls itself 'The Truth' has been caught lying and misleading the people who follow it.  I want people who are in the religion or who are contemplating joining it to have the full facts at their disposal, not just the sound bites and empty rhetoric that they are confronted with when they first engage with this religion.

If, after hearing and seeing both sides of the argument, a person wants to join the JW's, at least they do it with full knowledge of what they were signing up to.

Personally I have no interest in whether an individual joins the JW's or leaves it.  Everyones decision is personal to them.  I simply want people to be aware of the real 'truth', a truth that is verifiable. What they do with that information is up to them.  I have no desire for followers, nor any desire to damage faith if it is in possession of all the facts.

At one time an apostate was defined to be someone who lied to entice people away from 'The Truth'.

Now, apparently, an apostate is any former believer who has left the organisation and doesn't accept it as Gods earthly organisation.

Whatever!  In the end facts are facts, no matter how hard the Governing Body want to suppress them.

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It's ridiculous that an elder (according to the Shepherding the Flock book) can get away with fornication/adultery if they keep quiet for three years or more and still retain their position because the 'Holy Spirit has obviously forgiven them' otherwise they would have been removed!  I know of a presiding overseer who died in his position and was later revealed to have been a child abuser for DECADES.  Did he stay in his position because the Holy Spirit had forgiven his crimes?

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The problem is the Society want to cast all their detractors as Satan's puppets and apostates but some of us have no interest in showing you a new religion.  Some of us think that you should just embrace   life NOW.  Enjoy it, cherish it, make the most of it because the likelihood is you won't get another one.  Fretting, worrying, hoping, praying for some new life in the future seems incredibly futile when you have one to live right now.

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Someone said to me today;  How would JW's react if, say a school teacher, was accused of molesting one of their children?"

In all likelihood they would suggest to the parents that they go to both the authorities.  They certainly would not apply the two witnesses to an accusation rule!  That rule is exclusively for protection of the rank and file Witnesses!

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'The latest assembly program emphasised how close we are to Armageddon.  We are nearly at he end of this system.' A Witness informed me yesterday.  I said nothing because there is nothing to say. Since 1975 EVERY assembly has claimed we are 'around the corner' from Armageddon or we are 'staring it in the face'!  When it doesn't come we are told 'Yes but we are that much closer to it!'.

Really?  Why?  The world isn't any more 'wicked' today than it was thirty, forty, one hundred even five hundred years ago.  The difference today is that social media gives us instant access to every monstrous event that occurs anywhere on the globe within minutes.

In the case of JW's and their predictions for the end of this 'system of things' the term 'Cry Wolf' seems to fit perfectly.

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Finally thanks for reading my blogs.  I hope if you are a Witness I have opened your eyes to some of the things your leaders don't want you to know.  If you are an ex-witness I hope that you gain some degree of comfort that everything you have had to go through has been justifiable.  And if you have never been a JW but have shown an interest in their teachings I hope I have given you a reason to question just a little more.

Rydler July 2016