It is with all the previous blogs and points that I have made in mind that I really have struggled with my mother’s decision to cut me off. As previously stated, both my parents are intelligent people, able to reason and think rationally. It is my opinion that the religion has sucked all of this rationality out of them, it has been done in such a way that they are oblivious to it happening they would appear to be blind to many of the opposing arguments and have close off that thought process simply because they have been warned by the organisation that it would be detrimental to their faith. I do understand their position however, as I have also been there, so whilst I may wholly disagree with the events that have taken place, rational thought allows me to understand the reasoning behind it.
Having said all of the above it renders me at a loss and leaves me somewhat frustrated at the fact that, perhaps all of the faithful witnesses blindly follow the teachings and never fully have an understanding of both sides (even though they feel they have that due to how the religion put the opposing arguments across). I really do hope that maybe my parents will take a look outside the “box” if you pardon the expression, and just maybe notice some of the contradictions in the religion and it’s take on the bible. As I said from the start, this is not an attack on religion, so it would be wholly wrong for me to condemn the witnesses for following the bible. I do feel however, that there should be consistency in how this is done and also transparency with regard to the reasoning behind the doctrines.
The witnesses always reiterated the fact that they follow the bible more closely and accurately than any other religion, so it baffles me that there can be so many holes picked with the doctrines. As part of my education in the bible we were shown the examples of the Pharisees and Sadducees who were Jewish religious leaders from the old testament and even up to the time of Jesus, there were many conflicts between both sects over the years but their job was similar to that of priests. Jesus condemned them for their complications of the Mosaic Law; they would take a law from God and then add to it and add to it. Eventually there was a whole list of actions that had to take place with regard to say cleanliness, where the bible may have instructed people to wash their hands before a meal, the Pharisees would have had stringent rules regarding the length of time and the extent of washing up the arm and so on… Jesus stressed that we should primarily take what the bible says and that is all, he further stressed the need to avoid adding to it. This is one of my main problems with the religion; they have taken the previously discussed rules regarding non-believers and added to it in a similar fashion to the Pharisees, yet another example of contradictions in the belief system.
At this point I feel I have given you all the facts necessary to be able to make your own mind up, the next blog will be the transcription of my mother’s letter, with no commentary from me, the reason being I want to leave people free to make up their own mind with regard to what has happened. I hope you read it and can then understand my frustrations with the situation.
Thank you all so much for comments and the support from many people I don’t even know. It has been a pleasure writing this blog and I hope folks have enjoyed the read
Dave
davetrash 
The gripping finale is near!!!
very near. probably a massive anti-climax
Dave this is wonderful and very well done! I do feel very sorry for you and I cannot comprehend, as a mother, how your mother has been ‘brainwashed’ to this point x
Thank you for your comment, it certainly is a strange old one…
What are you trying to say here,that the witnesses are adding things on? ? Read a few of your blogs,clearly this is an attack on witnesses and are you are trying to make your self feel better as you were disfellowshipped! Why go against religion,let people make there own choice as you would of done when you got baptised. Also what do you believe in now? Evolution, cheers
I am trying to say that they promote the fact that they follow the bible closely, if this is the case where does the advice to shun come from, where does the advice concerning blood transfusions come from, the bible does not at any point specifically mention these? so following the bible doesn’t come into it, when you reason these things clearly in a logical manner, there is no argument. All the way through the blog I have clearly stated the fact that I wish to remain fair, all I can do is put the facts out there and people can make their own minds up (as you clearly have). I have cited the witnesses web site allowing people the opportunity to look into it themselves. I don’t need to feel better about the disfellowshipping part as I am ok in myself, I just cant understand the reasoning behind it. I was baptised at the grand old age of 14… many people still want to go into space at 14… they don’t really know what they want, I got baptised in an effort to make people proud of me and to do what my friends did, not for any love of God. Yes I do believe in evolution now as to me, it makes more sense than intelligent design… I urge you to logically weigh up the facts concerning that particular argument and perhaps come back to me when you have a full and insightful understanding of what it is you speak of… All the best Dave
Ohhh Behave Colin!
You may wish to point out that Charles Russell was convicted of fraud for advertising “miracle wheat” in an early watchtower; that the Kingdom Interlinear Translation clearly tampered translations (john 1:1 for example); That a mansion has been built by the watchtower bible and tract society in the USA for the returning kings (but is occupied by elders to keep it in good order, how nice); or that Charles Russell, a former 7th day Adventist constantly changed tact when his predictions for the end of the world didn’t happen.
The ravings of an attention seeker became a cult.
You witnesses may be sincere…but, sincerely wrong.
Also he was an egyptologist (possibly sic). and believed that the great pyramid was God’s stone witness on earth, the whole organisation was set up with money loaned partly by the rothschilds, you gotta question why they were involved as they only come out when they smell PROFIT? Also… try to track down a copy of the accounts for the organisation… they release some for various aspects of it but large amounts of money go un-accounted for, the members are told to not store up treasures on earth but rather treasures in heaven, then pray tell why do the witnesses own over a billion dollars worth of assets, also why are they perhaps the richest charitable organisation on the planet…. I’m just saying…. The more you dig the more you wont like!!!
Russell was not an Egyptologist, although as related to study of the Bible he did study much about Egypt; he did indeed believe that the Great Pyramid is God’s Witness in Egypt, as I also believe. The evidence is overwhelming concerning this.
Russell did not believe in created a religious organization such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and he sought, by means of the WTS charter, by his last will and testamnet and other promises from the Board of Directors, that the WTS would not be used for such purposes after his death. Rutherford ignored all of this, and did the very thing that Russell had sought to keep from happening.
The idea that Russell was supported in funds from the Rothschilds is ludricrous, to say the least. It is based on one twisted assumption after another, which I have addressed on my website.
http://ctr.reslight.net
Charles Taze Russell was never convicted of fraud, nor was Charles Taze Russell a former member of the 7th Day Adventists. One could conclude from Russell’s earlier statements that he was expecting the world to end in 1914, since up to 1904 he accepted Barbour’s conclusion that all Gentile kingdoms would be destroyed by the beginning of the Biblical fall to fall year 1915, which would begin in October of 1914. In 1904 — ten years before 1914 — however, he rejected Barbour’s conclusion, and concluded that 1914 would see the beginning of the time of trouble, and the Gentile Kingdom would continue for some time after 1914. Russell, therefor, never “changed tact when his predictions of the end of the world didn’t happened.”
Nevertheless, Russell never spoke as a prophet, or as a central authority of a religious organization, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He did not believe in such, and was still preaching against such just a few weeks before he died. Russell sought to keep the WTS from becoming what it has become, but Rutherford essentially destroyed the WTS as Russell had intended for it. Rutherford used the WTS as a basis to create his alleged “Jehovah’s visible organization”, which resulted in a split that caused more than 75% of the Bible Students to stop supporting the WTS.
http://ctr.rlbibile.com
Thank you for your input, it would appear that I do not know Russell as well as you do. It would appear that I have fallen victim of 2nd hand information from the internet…yet again.
To be fair I have never undertaken an in depth look into Russell’s life etc, only really the obvious stuff on the net. I will be reading your web site with interest.
I do wonder that if Russell had it right, how did “Jehovah” allow it to fall into the hands of Rutherford and co?
I will have look at your website, but there is something wrong with servers and internet witchcraft… I live on an Island and the comms can be rubbish, soon as I can, I look forward to it.
Dave
I believe in my self:)
I believe in you too sanna, in fact i’m going to start the church of sanna very soon 😉
If you kept reading the scripture in1 Corthintians 5 you quoted in an earlier blog to verse 15 you would see the reason for disfellowshipping or shunning as you call it as you are required to quit mixing in the company of the wrong doer…… this is from the bible and this is what witnesses follow closely…you may also want to consider 1 Thessalonians 3 6-15 for more information on why Jehovah’s Witnesses dis-fellowship.Gen 9 v 3&4 tells us not to eat blood,again post mosaic law acts 15 v 29 tells us to abstain from blood,blood is a carrier of many diseases with cleaner more modern methods why risk aids or hepititis when there are far more effective safer methods than blood transfusion? NOTE this is all straight from the bible no Jehovah’s Witness books being quoted from! A lot of your blog has simple answers to the issues you raised.You obviously are not as clued up on the bible as you like to think,I suggest you contact the Witnesses as they offer free home bible studies so maybe you could brush up on the areas of your knowledge you are lacking?You were baptized at 14…… In some countries people go to war at this age,if you got baptized to make friends happy is this really the witnesses fault?Really?Main stream religion baptize infants Jehovah’s Witnesses have a number of questions regarding the faith you must answer before baptism, to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into. People study for years before baptism….. sometimes 10 or more years(My mothers personnel experience). You could get a P.H.D in that time!A quick note to Paul…..Witnesses do not believe in returning kings or saints that,s people who believe they are born again….So don’t believe all the rubbish…or trash…..or Dave trash you read on the internet.There are underlying issues here and this blog has a definite agenda
You my friend are full of vitriol it would seem… ! 1 Corinthians 5 does not make any mention of cutting off all contact with family members does it? surely to quit mixing in the company of the wrongdoer would mean everyone, as everyone who is not of the faith is a wrongdoer??? The scripture in Acts concerning blood is talking of consumption of blood as was popular with the pagans at the time, it is from the view of cleanliness, are you honestly telling me that you can glean all the information contained in the advanced medical directive from this one scripture? That is nuts! You are absolutely right there are more cleaner methods of bloodless surgery etc, however if you were faced with a situation where only a blood transfusion can save your ( and these situations do arise) life or the life of a loved one, you would abstain based on this scripture. What has going to war at 14 got to do with any of this, besides, the kids who went to war at that age more than likely had no choice in the matter so i am not sure where you are going with this? I got baptised for the wrong reasons my friend, no ones fault but mine, however there should be an age limit placed on this as you do not know your own mind at that age… I went through the questions with an elder before baptism.. this does not show your heart condition does it?? i learned the correct answers in the same way you would studying for a PHD, this does not indicate that i believe it… I understand and can answer questions concerning Tolkiens world of Lord of the Rings but that is not evidence that i believe in it… Its very easy to learn stuff in order to achieve a goal… Dont believe what i have written in the Blog… check it out for yourself… Test your faith, push it to the limit, to breaking point this is an ongoing point i have been trying to make, go to the watchtower website and check up on what i am saying, I have nothing to hide there is no agenda other than to put the facts out there and allow people to make a judgement for themselves. What i dont appreciate is the tone of your reply… I wont have this turning into a Youtube-esqe slanging match, lets try and keep it respectful, I fully respect you for your apparent faith but comments of a derogatory nature concerning my knowledge of the bible are unfair and unfounded… It is an opinion and I am not trying to force it on anyone, the Bible is able to be interoperated in so many different ways, for that reason i cannot put faith in such an ambiguous collection of writings. Thank you for reading it, it would have been nice to have recieved feed back in a more christian manner but hey ho.
And – Rick – while it’s true that ‘some mainstream religions baptise infants’ – these religions do NOT cut off family members and friends if the baptised person later moves away from the faith, so I really don’t think it can be compared. Being baptised as a Witness is essentially like signing a legal and binding contract for life, with many young people not having the life skills or knowledge to sign such a contract. Witnesses should have to wait until they are of age before entering into such an agreement, as many of them live to regret it and many families are torn apart as a result!
For what its worth, I think you’ve put your point across very clearly and its been very well balanced in its tone. I think current Witnesses may well see it as an attack and this is unfortunate but I think this may be born of a paranoia instilled into them by their church that the rest of us (all 6.95 billion current U.N estimate minus the relative handful of JW’s) are evil and are out to turn them to the darkside. All you’re guilty of here is that you’ve asked people to take the blinkers off and actually look at the evidence, no more no less.
I reckon you should continue blogging with tales of our daytime buffoonery and the ongoing search for your tape measure