Jehovahs Witnesses

Recently two young women have died in Canada because they refused to have blood transfusions after they haemorrhage d during childbirth.  It is national news in Canada and, as you can imagine, many ex-JW sites are also headlining it. The problem is, so many of these ex-Witness sites are making claims that are simply not true and, as a result, all of us who are trying to show the religion up for what they really are lose credibility with Witnesses who are wavering in their beliefs. I read one websites interpretation of the events and it made me cringe.  They portrayed the Hospital Liaison Committees as some sort of death squad, forcing JW's to refuse blood and preventing their relatives from contacting them whilst they fought for their lives in hospital. This is utter rubbish. JW Hospital Liaison Committees are JW elders trained by the Governing Body to make Hospital Management and surgeons aware of Witnesses stance on blood and to act as representatives ...

Many years ago I was called out to a nursing home in Newport Pagnell (in the UK) to repair a piece of equipment.  It was fairly late at night, around elevenish, and after I had finished my work the night manager, a thick set lady in her mid fifties, made me a very milky coffee.  We sat in a long narrow dining room with a set of double doors at one end and a dark kitchen at the other.  The kitchen door was open and though the room was in darkness it was possible to make out a stainless steel fridge close to the door and a white mug on the top of it. As the manager and I chatted I noticed the white mug moving.  It was one of those moments when you think your eyes are playing tricks on you and I did a double take.  Suddenly the mug lifted into the air and hovered.  I suppose my face must have been a picture because the night manager cackled at my open mouthed expression. "Have you seen our resident ghost?" She laughed. I pointed towards the kit...

JW.ORG are running an article entitled;  Jehovah’s Witnesses Help to Beautify Rostov-on-Don On May 20, 2015, the head of administration of southern Russia’s largest city, Rostov-on-Don, issued a letter of gratitude to Jehovah’s Witnesses, commending them “for very active participation in the springtime beautification of the city.” The article describes how local JW's from four congregations helped with clearing rubbish from city pathways and riverbanks around the Russian city of Rostov.  At first glance it seems an innocent enough piece of editorial and lets be honest, highly commendable.  Of course the cynical side of me wants to believe that the Witnesses in Russia are looking for ways to generate positive publicity because they have experienced years of bad press and anti-Witness sentiments. My main reason for this cynical view is that in forty years of being a part of the Organisation I never once saw or heard of any group of Witnesses actively ...

I was talking to an ex-Witness on Facebook yesterday and the subject of regression therapy came up which reminded me of a conversation I had with an elder (a particularly prominent elder in the UK) about fifteen years ago.  He talked about 'false memories' being implanted by Satan and the Demons in Witnesses.  This conversation was just before the start of the first media revelations of the extent of child abuse within the JW religion. The elder said that they had been warned by Bethel that there were a number of Witnesses who claimed that they had been abused as children but there had never been any abuse, the accusations were as a result of demonic sources creating false memories. Of course subsequent revelations have revealed very real abusers but I began to wonder how many of us who were brought up as JW's from childhood are suppressing bad things that happened.  I know that I was never sexually abused, in fact I know that in their own Borg like way my ...

I've recently joined an ex-JW Facebook group and some of the people who contribute to it have made me realise just what a journey it is leaving the Organisation.  As you read their experiences and their (often) open-hearted pleas I am constantly reminded that all of them, in some way or another, are echoing my own feelings and experiences. There is a lyric in the wonderful Aerosmith song 'Amazing' that says; Life's a journey not a destination .  It is a sentiment that until recently I never truly understood but now I realise that leaving a religion that has controlled and manipulated you for a lifetime is a journey that never really ends but it can be incredibly rewarding and fulfilling if you allow it to be. Even years after you leave there will be moments where you are suddenly transported back to the Kingdom Hall, whether by a word, an old face or even a TV program.  Every time it happens the hurt, resentment and anger bubble to the surface, however wh...

The latest JW.ORG has an article entitled; The Truth About Halloween It explains the origins of the celebration and links it to witchcraft, supernatural spirits, the occult and of course their old favourite paganism.  The article then goes on to use their interpretation of the bible to condemn the tradition:  "There must never be anyone among you who . . . practices divination, who is soothsayer, augur or sorcerer, who uses charms, consults ghosts or spirits, or calls up the dead.”—Deuteronomy 18:10, 11 What Jehovahs Witnesses and their Governing Body never really appreciate is that everything is linked but everything changes.  To illustrate just consider the atomic bomb.  It was designed by the Americans and used on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki in an attempt to force the surrender of Japan in the second world war.  It was a vile, evil weapon that not only killed tens of thousands at the time but also caused pain, suffering and death to hundred...

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the Aberfan disaster in which 144 people died, 116 of them children between the ages of 7 and 10, when a huge, manmade mountain of coal waste buried a school and houses in the little Welsh village.  It was one of the single most horrific disasters in post war British History, made all the worse by the tragic loss of so many very young lives. At 9.15am in the morning those children and their teachers were starting the last school day before the half term holiday.  Eye witnesses describe a roaring sound like that of a jet engine as the huge slag heap began to collapse.  Beneath it one of the teachers told the children in his class not to worry, the sound was only thunder he reassured them.  Seconds later one hundred and fifty thousand tonnes of mud and slurry engulfed the building, burying teachers and children in seconds. Today the people of Aberfan, especially the families of those killed in the avalanche, still b...

JW.ORG are at it again! Once more they are teaching their young members the righteous benefits of homophobia, this time using worksheets for them to fill out!  When will some authority have the courage to prosecute them for hate crime? This is their approach;  “Bible standards are out-of-date!”   BEFORE REPLYING, CONSIDER: Sometimes when people say that the Bible is out-of-date, what they really mean is that its standards differ from theirs. Do you think the person you’re talking with feels that all Bible standards are outdated—including its prohibition of theft, adultery, and murder? —Romans 13:8-10 Here they are suggesting that homosexuality is equivalent to being a thief, a murderer or cheating on a marriage partner.  Remember this is an organisation that has protected child abusers for decades! The next worksheet is no better. “Homosexuals can’t change the  way they are—they were born that way.” BEFORE REPLYING,  CONS...

When I was a kid I loved going to my grandparents houses.  They lived a long way from us and so it wasn't a regular thing, maybe a couple of times a year visiting my mums parents who lived close to London and maybe once every eighteen months for my dads parents who lived on the South coast. My sister and I loved those visits and we would look forward to them for weeks beforehand.  Each set of Grandparents were very different, in fact they were chalk and cheese, but both loved us and looked forward to seeing us in their own way.  Looking back now I recognise the tension in my mums parents house but as a kid the adults shield you from all that crap and attempt to propagate the fantasy that everything is wonderful all the time. The common denominator between the two sets of Grandparents was that three of them were Jehovahs Witnesses.  My mums mother, the exception, was a chain smoking, potty mouthed Catholic who didn't suffer fools and challenged the worl...

I lost a court case today.  Nothing major, just a small claims thing, but it really pissed me off because I was telling the truth and the claimant was telling lies, in fact all the evidence demonstrated how her story kept changing from e-mail to e-mail as she tried to cover the huge holes in her defence.  Sadly, one of my employees made a simple mistake on his paperwork, which the Judge used to rule against my business.  Now this isn't a moaning blog in any way - sometimes you just have to accept the Judge is an arse and move on! Seriously though the whole episode got me thinking about Armageddon - yes I know that the Small Claims Court and Gods war are at opposite ends of the spectrum but bear with me.  You see the Judge in todays hearing admitted that his decision was based on a personal view of the evidence.  The over-riding evidence was that the explanation by the lady didn't hold water, in fact it was clearly extremely flawed at the least and lie...

Whether you believe in evolution or creation there is no doubt that the diversity of life is simply amazing.  From frogs that can change their sex to whales that can communicate over hundreds of miles, nature is packed with amazing things.  Whether it's huge, tiny, loud, whisper quiet, bright and beautiful or grey and ugly the animal and plant kingdoms are anything but uniform and dull. Think for a moment of the magnificent, rustling display of a male peacock as he tries to attract a mate.  The huge colourful fan tail abundant with amazingly vivid blues, greens, gold and ruby shimmering above his emerald and turquoise head.  Or the savage beauty of a Bengal tiger as it springs from the long grass to bring down its prey.  On a more peaceful note, can there ever be anything more beautiful than a field full of poppies gently swaying in a summer breeze?  Or maybe you love the intricate detailing and rich, vibrant colour of a rose. Beneath th...

I love the Beatles song; Eleanor Rigby.  It's a haunting tale of loneliness and it has always reminded me of the ghosts in the Kingdom Hall. Every day I see an elderly lady go by my house, sometimes two or three times, walking her dogs. She's a sprightly woman with dyed black hair, a pinched face and an air of constant worry.  If she see's me she will always wave or stop and have a few words.  On a Sunday morning she passes my front door at precisely nine thirty five, without her dogs in tow and dressed in her Sunday best, as she heads for the Kingdom Hall.  For the purposes of this blog I will call her Joan, though that is not her real name.  Joan has been a Witness for decades but she is what I call a JW ghost.  She never misses a meeting, she is regular on field service and she occasionally answers during the Watchtower study.  She lives alone and within the Kingdom Hall she has a very small circle of friends, in fact probably only two,...

Shepherd the Flock Chapter 5, paragraph 48 reads; There are rare occasions when it is obvious the baptism was invalid because serious wrong-doing did not cease before baptism, even for a brief period of time.  For example, it may be that at the time of baptism, the individual was... a member of a non-neutral organisation , or something similar. By a non-neutral organisation are they referring to an Organisation that they have declared to be in opposition to their beliefs? Maybe they are referring to a sports betting company that the individual worked for or maybe it's an association with another church.  These would seem to be examples of 'serious wrong doing as a member of a non-neutral organisation' which would 'invalidate a persons baptism'. Or maybe the person was serving in the armed forces or even as a politician - again invalidating their baptism because of serious 'wrong doing' on the grounds of being a member of a 'non-neutr...

JW.ORG  - Young People Ask: Is Homosexuality Wrong? Attitudes about homosexuality may vary from one culture to the next or from one time period to another. But Christians aren’t governed by popular opinion or “carried here and there by every wind of teaching.” ( Ephesians 4: 14 ) Instead, they base their view of homosexual conduct (and any other kind of conduct, for that matter) on the standards set forth in the Bible. Really!  Jehovah's Witnesses don't have any interest in modern thinking and cultural enlightenment, preferring instead to base their views on the instructions of men from over two thousand years ago who lived in tents and caves.  This article is aimed at children and teenagers and makes claims such as homosexuals can change if they 'arm themselves with a good spiritual routine of bible study and prayer '. Seriously, why don't they just call it an illness and the JW religion the cure!? Later in the article they say; But ...

JW.ORG How God Offers Comfort The apostle Paul describes Jehovah   * as “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trials.” ( 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4 ) Thus the Bible assures us that no person is beyond God’s help and that no tragedy is so great that our heavenly Father cannot comfort us. A friend of mine who is still a Witness confided that he doesn't want Armageddon to come.  His confession surprised and intrigued me.  He explained; 'When everyone at the Kingdom Hall is clapping because the brother on the platform is telling us Armageddon is right in front of us I want to cry, not clap.  When it comes it isn't just worldly strangers that will die, it's my daughters as well! Why would I clap the imminent deaths of my lovely girls.  I've tried to convince them that they need to become Witnesses but they won't take me seriously.  The problem is, when I was younger I was a bit of a bad lad and now I've got the 'Truth' they t...