Jehovahs Witnesses

For over forty years I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses.  I left the organisation (for reasons that will become apparent in future blogs) a few years ago or to use JW parlance I 'drifted away'.  Hopefully this blog will give an insight into what it's like to be a member of this strange and often misunderstood religion. I will begin in the mid 1970's in a small mining town in the English North Midlands.  I'm eight years old, dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase almost as big as me.  In the briefcase you would find a barely worn bible, some Watchtower and Awake magazines, a pen (heavily chewed at one end) and a grubby S8 (a form to mark down all the 'not homes' and any house number where the resident showed even a modicum of interest in the JW message). As I walked down yet another weed lined concrete path towards yet another battered council house door my father uttered the most frightening words I had ever heard; "You have a go ...

Normally my posts are designed to point out the many inconsistencies in the teachings of Jehovahs Witnesses but this time I want to get you thinking on Christianity in general. Basically, if you ignore all the arguments between the various Christian faiths about specifics, the bible teaches that God made man, he wanted man to worship him, man disobeyed and as a result man lost his perfection and inherited sin and death.  God then decided that for man to regain his lost perfection another perfect human would have to sacrifice their life and then all men who put their faith in this ransom sacrifice would achieve redemption.  Of course I've missed out the Devil, the Flood and many other things that interweave with the story but the basic premise is there. Now put yourself in the role of God for a moment.  Firstly you are omnipotent - all powerful, all knowing and immortal.  You've created man and before man you created Angels - both of which you created...

Islamic State - Al Qaeda  - Pol Pot - Mao Si Tong - Adolf Hitler - Jehovahs Witnesses Why would anyone put a peace loving organisation like Jehovahs Witnesses in a list of individuals and groups who have perpetrated murder on huge scale? The answer is that every Jehovahs Witness pray's that Gods war of Armageddon comes soon.  A war that they claim will destroy everyone who isn't on Gods side (anyone who isn't a Jehovahs Witness).  Their own children, parents, grandparents, any who are not Witnesses, will supposedly die in this act of mass murder - and they still look forward to the day that it arrives. They justify this terrorist threat by declaring that everyone has a chance to join them and save themselves from Gods wrath - an identical approach to that being taken by Isis at this very moment; convert to Islam and you will not be beheaded. God, according to Witness teachings, apparently made us to fawn over him and any that don't massage his ego w...

Who Are Jehovah's Witnesses? The Governing Body The leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses—known as the Governing Body—consists mainly of middle-class, American, white men. They claim to be guided directly by the Holy Spirit, yet their "understanding" of Scripture shifts constantly. Failed prophecies, doctrinal reversals, and reinterpreted commands are explained away with the phrase "the light is getting brighter." In practice, this slogan functions as a theological "get out of jail free" card: every mistake, no matter how damaging, is rebranded as a fresh revelation. Thus, the "truth" is always proclaimed with certainty—until it isn't. The generation that was supposed to live to see 1914, the shifting policies on blood transfusions, the controversial "two-witness rule" in abuse cases—all once taught as divine truth, all later discarded or reframed. Yet, each reversal is presented not as a failure, but as a step forward. A Selec...