Eric on Wednesday January 30th, 2013

feedback

It has been about five months since being hailed before the elders and speaking to them at length, for some three hours. During the tribunal (1 Corinthians 4:3-5) my goal was to let my light shine and speak the truth about the truth to these men. Perhaps they would “get the sense of it”, perhaps not, but the main goal was to speak out for what is right and not regret one minute of sharing TTATT with these men. Indeed, I would not hesitate to do it again if necessary. I wanted to reach a wider audience than just those three men of course, not for fame or glory, but so as to help all the thousands of little sheep that are waking up to the lies and mind control of the Watchtower leadership. This “different gospel” or spirit (2 Corinthians 11:4) preached through the pages of the Watchtower Magazine as well as JW.org the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses has a terrible hold on the thought processes of millions of people trapped inside the Organization. It is tragic, yet more and more are hearing the voice of the Master, Christ. (John 10:27) They are heeding the call to put their light on a mountaintop not under a basket, which necessitates leaving the Kingdom Hall and the JW movement. This is being done both mentally and physically by thousands and thousands of Witnesses and former Witnesses and it is thrilling.

I wanted to share just a fraction of the feedback I have received, as much of it is quite encouraging. The few negative comments have literally constituted less than one percent of what has been said regarding the YouTube videos making up my entire Judicial Trial process and documentation of it.

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Eric on Sunday January 13th, 2013
Do You Know TTATT?

Do You Know The Truth About The Truth?

I had been thinking about how hard it can be to tell the difference between a high quality product, the “genuine article”, and a knockoff or an inferior product recently. Well sometimes the imitator can be so hard to distinguish that even an expert can be fooled at first. To me it’s like that when we are in the Jehovah’s Witness structure- we are told what to believe, given a very well-thought out schedule of all the things we should be doing, etc.

There are two lengthy meetings per week, field service at least once or twice on the weekend, family study night, cleaning of the Kingdom Hall every couple months or even more often, and more. There is the reading of the three monthly issues of the Watchtower and Awake, and now there is the reading of the extra online content at the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, JW.org as well. On a yearly basis there are two assemblies and one District Convention to attend, two visits of the circuit overseer (sometimes three even) and on and on it goes.

How could we ever stop and really examine our belief system in fine detail to see if it indeed is that genuine article, or a knockoff in disguise?  1 John 4:1-3 tells us:

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Eric on Friday January 11th, 2013

listI’ve received so many great points to ponder lately from different ones and wanted to share some of the best ones. Here’s something a brother with many years of experience and stories to tell shared with me:

——————————————————————

Points for Pondering For Jehovah’s Witnesses and those whose lives they’re touching. Consider what your use of these words shows:
.
.
“Knowledgeable” – An informed person who does not oppose your religion.
“Opinionated” – The same person, once he disagrees with some of your religious dogma.

“Loyal” – A person faithful to his ideals and not opposing your religion.
“Stubborn” – The same person, once he rejects some of your religious dogma.

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Eric on Saturday December 15th, 2012

happy birthdayBirthdays have been on my mind a lot lately. Now that we as awake JWs and former JWs know that birthdays aren’t wrong, we can be free to be more “normal” and just enjoy this benign personal holiday for what it is. One great place I found online that demonstrates the extremes the JWs go to regarding birthdays is www.WatchtowerLetters.com. Go there and then click on “More Info”. This site is a great resource! The whole thing started when this JW man James had doubts about a global flood being scientifically possible, and how he wrote the Watchtower Society on this, but ultimately it was the issue of birthdays that got he and his wife cast out. They had faded from the org, then after not attending for quite some time decided to have a birthday party for their little son.  Of course if you were to check JW.org for information on birthdays you will get a skewed view, talking about how two people had their heads chopped off in the Scriptures. Well James points out on his site that dogs are spoken of negatively 40 times in the Bible, and not once in the positive. Does this mean that it would be unscriptural to keep a dog as a pet? This illustrates the ridiculous reasoning used by the WTO quite well.

DFed for Bday

So some publisher got wind of it and informed on them after seeing it on their Facebook. Guess who didn’t have any interest in them, who hadn’t called on them in eons, but suddenly started calling and showing up at their door?? That’s right- The JW police, the elders! So this lovely couple are DFed for celebrating their child’s birthday party- what a travesty of freedom of worship. Well the good news is there was an outstanding write up in the local newspaper about what happened and it is quite illuminating.

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Eric on Friday November 30th, 2012

taking-responsibility-for-your-mistakesA new video has been published on the JWStruggle YouTube channel entitled, “Sins of Omission and Taking Responsibility For Our Actions”.  It will be linked to later in this article, but first I wanted to expand on this title and why it seems relevant to me.

I have been thinking lately about the Nazis, and how their principle defense at Nuremberg was to blame Hitler. They claimed that they were just following orders. They said they had to do what he told them to do, and so shifted all the blame onto him for the atrocities they committed.

That court, as well as history and people’s sense of right and wrong ruled against them. You cannot blame someone else for your own actions. Even under duress we have a choice. For those of us that were congregation members, regularly attending the Kingdom Hall and practicing the Jehovah’s Witness religion we can relate to this. Those of us that still are Witnesses and are waking up to TTATT also feel this burden. How long can we say that we are “just following orders”?  At what point do we become culpable for our own actions?

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Londo111 on Monday November 26th, 2012
Central Virginia

Calling all Strugglers in Central Virginia!

 Brothers and Sisters of Central Virginia,

* Are you waking up to the truth about the ‘truth’? Or have you been awake for some time?

* Do you simply have doubts or see the injustices in the Organization and need a safe way to vent these to people who understand?

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Eric on Thursday November 22nd, 2012
Daily Text?

The Daily Text?

One of the things that I used to read regularly was the Daily Text. That’s what most Witnesses call it in everyday speech, but it’s formally titled, “Examining the Scriptures Daily”. It used to be read before field service meetings, however that is no longer done.  When I was little I remember it used to be bound into the back of the Yearbook.  At any rate, I read “The Text” nearly every day, and often looked up the Watchtower article the theme scripture was taken from, and researched the verse in other translations and read the context also. This was something my mother inculcated into me at an early age and it seemed like a good thing when I was an active adult member to do.  It was a way to daily feed on the Word of God and I used it for that purpose. When I was a Bethelite the family even received it in a “tear-off block”, sort of  like a daily calendar that’s gummed on the back, so they could grab the individual sheet without having to tear it out of a booklet and ruin it.

Now as a Witness I had always thought that we basically invented everything that was good about serving Jehovah. I really did, and of course the Daily Text is such a valuable commodity among Jehovah’s Witnesses I always took it for granted that there was no other thing like it anywhere outside of the organization [2].

Having only been raised with the religious background of being a JW, (my father was spiritual but not a church-goer) and never ever going to another church, never hearing a sermon from another Christian minister, how else could I or would I know any different? When a person is immersed in the JW culture and experience it from their infancy on, we have no other frame of reference.

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Eric on Thursday November 8th, 2012

Does this young JW really know what he is getting himself into?


Water baptism is a very important step in a Christian’s life. It is a solemn oath to dedicate yourself to do the will of God and his appointed king, Jesus. For this reason it is taken quite seriously among many people of Christian faith, including Jehovah’s Witnesses. Notice the following quotes from the New World Translation Bible on the importance of this step:

Matt. 28:19, 20: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.”

Acts 2:41: “Those who embraced his word heartily were baptized.”

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Eric on Friday October 12th, 2012

How much “new light” can the rank and file publishers take?

Like it or not we are in a spiritual warfare. (2 Cor. 10:4, Eph. 6:12) We must fight every day to safeguard our own imperfect hearts and keep our spiritual balance against this wicked world as all Christians must do. On top of that, many of us are forced to brace up our minds as they are subjected to a barrage of propaganda that assaults us at the Kingdom Hall and in the Watchtower magazine. This can cause many of us cognitive dissonance of the worst kind.

Recently, supposed “new light” has been discovered by the Governing Body regarding just who or what the faithful and discreet slave is, and it is now all over the internet. The following things were publicly announced by these men at their annual meeting:

  • The Faithful and Discreet Slave was NOT appointed at Pentecost 33 C.E., meaning that there has NOT been a continuous line of members of the Slave Class on the earth down through the ages. The Slave Class was only appointed for the first time by Christ in 1919.
  • The “domestics” of Matthew 24:45 are all those who are fed spiritually by the Governing Body, whether of the anointed or “other sheep”.
  • The events described in Matthew 24:46, 47 now refer to Jesus coming during the Great Tribulation and giving the Governing Body their reward in heaven along with the rest of the anointed.
  • The “belongings” of Matthew 24:47 refer to all of Christ’s heavenly and earthly interests.
  • Despite founding the Watch Tower Society, Charles Taze Russell was not part of the Slave Class because he was not alive and serving at Headquarters when Christ made his selection in 1919.

Talk about an enormous reversal in policy and doctrine! Will the rank and file publishers among Jehovah’s Witnesses accept this “different gospel”? Sadly, the evidence suggests that they will accept these confusing reversals in doctrine with ease. (2 Cor 11:4, Gal 1:6-9) Notice how the following verses are rendered in The Message Bible:

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Eric on Friday October 5th, 2012
groups helping

How can I help with the Struggle?

Over the last year or so I have had a number of visitors to the site ask me how they can help. Specifically most have asked if they can contribute funds to keep the site going. I have always thanked them and declined the offers because in financial matters I had been doing okay and was able to cover the website expenses myself. Also I feared the perception some could have that JWStruggle had turned into something commercial and I was operating it “just for the money.”

Unfortunately for the first time in years I find myself in a place where I barely have enough to cover my own needs. I received the quarterly bill from my hosting package and web domains recently, which was charged onto my nearly-maxed out credit card. I cringed when I saw the emailed bill. The cost to maintain the site is modest compared to many websites, but never in my life have I worried about bills like this until just now. Also I had mentioned in my previous article “Thank God JWStruggle is finally fixed!”, my web host recommended that I upgrade my hosting package with them as the traffic and size of the database are at the limit.

In addition, there have been a lot of great ideas generated regarding ways to promote the Struggle, and to help more awakening Jehovah’s Witnesses escape Watchtower control. I’ve wanted to implement some of these for a long time, as I feel they would be very worthwhile to pursue, but funds would be required to make them happen. I don’t mind putting in the time, and as much money as I am able to contribute personally. I have been doing that for the last two+ years now happily. The following is a list of things that could be potentially very beneficial if we all chipped in together. Some are in the brainstorming stage and need to be refined.  Nevertheless, here are the things we could do:

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Eric on Thursday October 4th, 2012

To all:

For about one week the database that runs the JWStruggle blog has been locked by my internet hosting service. When this happened no one was able to add a comment, register for a new account, or post anything whatsoever.

I spent easily a dozen hours trying to figure this out and get it fixed, and was on the phone to tech support twice. Late yesterday my host, 1and1.com, finally rectified the problem (with some vigorous coaxing by me) and then just now I was able to update the WordPress configuration files to accept a new and improved database file so this should never ever happen again.

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Eric on Saturday September 22nd, 2012

My judicial trial is now over. The elders were not arrogant or mean spirited. Mutual respect was shown by all four of us, but these men were compelled to follow the Watchtower policy playbook, and by those standards of men they had no alternative but to disfellowship me. I do not blame them, and harbor no ill will towards them.

After much prayer I felt that I had to let my light shine, and that the Lord was with me, giving me the words that I should say. I was found guilty of “apostasy” as defined by the Watchtower Organization, and they will be announcing that I am no longer one of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Tuesday the 25th of September. I am not devastated, nor downhearted. Quite the contrary, as literally hundreds of people have been expressing their thanks and prayers in my behalf. It is overwhelming and very much a humbling experience for me.

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Eric on Monday September 10th, 2012
"A" for Effort!

God blesses our effort and it is never a waste of time!

I would like to discuss briefly in this post just what the JWStruggle.com website that you are reading right now is all about. But first a short recap: In my previous article entitled “Apostate Trial Part 1” I wrote about the news that the local Elders are after me, despite the fact that I have not attended meetings in over a year and have no leavening influence on their local flock, as the friends that attend in my area already snub or shun me when they see me around town. The elders will be “spiritually stoning” me in a few days at their judicial tribunal (1 Corinthians 4:3-6, HCSB) and I am preparing for it now, even as I write this article.

 

Our faithful and dedicated sister LonelySheep has gotten me to think seriously about what this site is about lately, and I want to personally and publicly thank her for her comment in that past article regarding my reference to another blog site from a brother that was wrongly disfellowshipped by the Watchtower Organization. This has stimulated my thinking to use it as a springboard to discuss it in more detail. I had made a comment below that previous article about Brother Rory, who himself was a faithful Jehovah’s Witness elder for a number of years, and then was deleted and later disfellowshipped for so-called apostate thinking. His site presents his principled thoughts and musings on Jesus and religion and philosophy and is quite different from this one in some ways. That is his blog, and he has the right to say whatever he wishes and that is part of freedom of religion and freedom of belief and he did the hard work and had the courage of his convictions to research and write these articles and put his viewpoints into the public forum of information online.

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Eric on Thursday September 6th, 2012
Apostasy Trial

Where’s the 3rd elder?

Well it has finally happened; the elders sent me a letter summoning me to a judicial committee a couple weeks ago, accusing me of “spreading apostate teachings that go against Bible truth as taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses.” For those of you that are in the know, this means that they have already determined that I am guilty of the above mentioned “crime”. The letter was sent certified mail, and when I received it I signed and printed “Martin Luther” on the return receipt. I wrote back and asked for a date one week later as I could not make the 8/30 day they had ordained for my spiritual stoning.

A continuance was granted and I was given a tentative date of mid September  so we will see what happens. I am not afraid of this meeting, however it is not something that I relish either. I personally feel it must be done as my conscience will not allow me otherwise. The early Christians were fed to the lions and Yeshua said that if we confessed him as Christ we would be persecuted and delivered up before the synagogue and expelled. (John 16:1-4)  Anyway, I felt a strong need to make a video of me talking about (and showing the letter) and it is linked to below:

 

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Londo111 on Tuesday August 14th, 2012
Myths

Fighting the DF monster…

Are you disfellowshipped, dear one? Do you now feel lost, bereft, and directionless? If so, know that when Jesus looks down from heaven, he feels toward you exactly as he felt toward individuals during his earthly ministry. Matthew 9:36 says regarding him: “On seeing the crowds he felt pity for them, because they were skinned and thrown about like sheep without a shepherd.”

By his life course, Christ our Exemplar showed us how to live. (1 Peter 2:21) There is no record of him of shunning anyone. In fact, he did just the opposite, eating with individuals from God’s dedicated nation who had strayed–sometimes severely so–and this is what gave such ones the strength to turn their lives around. (Luke 15:1, 2, NIV). Should we not then imitate our Lord in all things? In carrying forth Paul’s admission in Corinthians not to worship as a group with an unrepentant sinner, could we break God’s instructions to us given through the life course of his Son? Should not the Lord’s example be the overriding factor, especially in regard to repentant wrongdoers?

The unfortunate truth is: there are many myths that sincere Jehovah’s Witnesses hold in regard to disfellowshipping. These myths are what cause an “insensibility of their hearts” toward those in the so-called ‘disfellowshipped state’. (Mark 3:5) When an active Witness encounters a disfellowshipped one on the street, you often see severe discomfort in their body language and facial expressions. In some cases the Witness will even cross to the other side of the road to avoid passing nearby; if it were not so sad, it would be humorous.

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