Posted by Sunspot [Sunspot] on November 05, 1999 at 18:34:31 {6xiCHW3gJ2/CPYT8orz2ebMrN7e8s2}:
Dear Ones,
This has been an extremely difficult letter to write, please do me the courtesy of reading it all. Everything that I hold close to my heart has been touched on, with great care and thought.
When an organization encourages others to unquestioningly accept its leadership as being spirit-directed, the responsibility then rests on it for the people that follow it. Over the years, many things have bothered me about things we were taught, but I accepted them as coming from God, and didn't question certain practices.
I was disturbed by the many experiences in our literature that told of Jehovah's Witnesses lying when asked a direct question. I finally asked an Elder about this and his answer was that it was okay to lie if the information wasn't something that the person asking was entitled to know. This made me even more uncomfortable since it was then up to anyone to determine "what" someone else should know, or how to accurately determine when it is acceptable to lie. We know that God hates a liar, and we know who the Father of the lie is....and there are no other Bible suggestions that I can find, to indicate any circumstances when this can be done.
Before I became a Witness, I had the average viewpoint on lying, mostly when I was protecting myself or someone else, and I had lied on a job application (it still bothers me). I had to work to train my conscience to the Bible standards once I discovered how God feels about liars, no ifs, ands, or buts. So this obscure reasoning was painted with too broad a brush, and I decided to take the "easy" way out, and not lie. I feel this was a "bad call" to print this, just so that we could feel free to lie to protect other Witnesses. Couldn't we have been more rightly instructed that we could rely on Jehovah to handle situations as spoken of, along with keeping the mind of Christ?
I was baptized in 1972, and the two questions put before me were along the lines of, "Do I see myself as a sinner in need of salvation and have faith in Jesus Christ"? The other was something like, "Do you now dedicate your life to serve Jehovah and do his will as you have been taught through scripture and the holy spirit"? Sitting in the War Memorial in Syracuse in 1985,during the baptism talk, my ears picked right UP when the "new" words were spoken, not so much the idea of now being recognized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but the odd "ring" of, "in accordance with his spirit-directed" organization. This also made me uncomfortable, somehow, as the years pass by, we seem to hear more emphasis on following an organization, rather than Jehovah.
Why is it that Jesus direct words from Matthew state to "baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit", that the Society feels the need to totally ignore that and decide for themselves what to say for baptismal candidates?
Another issue that has bothered me was that of donations. When we pick up literature at the Hall, we give a donation. When we place the same literature, the donations go back to the Hall.This has struck me as odd for a long time, but, I "did it" because I was expected to. The building Fund....we donate (worldwide?) to a special contribution box for this. When we saw the need for a new Hall, we asked the Society to loan the money to build one. Then, each publisher was asked to donate a set amount each month for a given period of time, to repay the loan that came from....donations sent to the Society for that purpose! Not only does this seem odd, but, then, INTEREST was asked ON the loan! Not only did this surprise me, but in both Deuteronomy and Luke, we are expressly told NOT to be charging our brothers interest on money! I have never said a word to anyone about how strange I thought this all was...until now. As I said, a LOT of things have been eating away at me for a long time.
We were told back a few years ago that we were going to be changing over to a "donation arrangement" concerning the literature, the reason was given to us that it was to make it more accessible, and to ease some of the bookwork for the brothers. Someone had asked me about this and when I gave the answer WE had been given, he said it was to get out of paying sales tax. I argued that Witnesses always pay to "Caesar" what is due, and then I was shown what he was talking about.The truth is, that Jimmy Swaggart was involved in a court case which ended up in the Supreme Court, concerning his being taxed for literature and tapes he sold. In June 1989 the Society filed a writ of amicus curiae, or "friend of the court" ALONG WITH Swaggart Ministries Inc, the National Council of Churches, and the Hare Krishna movement. In January1990, the Supreme Court ruled against the case, saying that taxes would be raised on these sales. February of 1990, the WTBS writes to all US congregations about the "new donation arrangement" and was implemented soon after. This is not a worldwide arrangement, there are still many counties under the "set amount" policy.
I find this deception appalling and dishonest, and I felt pretty foolish having argued for and defended the Society, and our "unity" worldwide. They not only covered up the real reason for the donation arrangement, but also became linked with false religion to get out of paying taxes. I felt very betrayed and very ashamed.
The 1991 Dec 1 Watchtower p.97 says that any religion that teaches lies cannot be true, and the Apr 1-91 Watchtower p 24 says there is no allowance in this language for LYING, DECEIT, or a tricky tongue. Those who speak this language must ALWAYS speak the truth. I totally agree.
We are told to accept that this is the chosen channel that speaks for God today. The only way to prove this claim is to have their predictions come true. Obviously, this has not happened, and on several occasions. We have the examples of 1874, 1914,1925 and1975 to look at. It's hard to imagine that Jehovah can't figure out a way to get information he wants made known to these men, and to impart the correct date. Wouldn't it be logical to conclude that something as important to mankind as this, that God would make sure his only channel would get it right? Duet. 18:20-22 tells us that when one presumes to speak in Jehovah's name , words he did not tell them to speak, they will die, and since the words did not come true, they weren't from God, so we are not to be afraid of what these men speak any longer.......... Exactly.
The masthead that was changed in 1995 in the Awake magazine, eliminating the 1914 understanding about this generation........where we were taught for years that this was from Jehovah. Again, Jehovah did not change the dates or his timetable. Mal. 3:6, I am Jehovah, I have not changed. HIS promises never fail.
Why couldn't the Society be humble enough and honest enough to admit they had made a mistake, instead of hiding behind the shield of now saying they have a "clearer understanding".
Back in 1970, when I began a home bible study. I became firmly convinced that whatever the Society said, was indeed, from God. I loyally and faithfully accepted everything they printed and never questioned anything. I very foolishly overlooked the Bible's counsel to MAKE SURE of ALL things, and to TEST the inspired expressions to see if they were true. This is so sad, all these years later, that NOW I'm doing just that. My trust in these men has cost me most of my family, including my parents, my sister, her children, most of my own children and their children, who will have nothing to do with me because of the "rules" I loyally followed, and misplacing my trust to something I fully believed in. And of course, upon receipt of this letter, my daughter and all of the wonderful friends I've made in 30 years will be disowning me as well, as directed by the Society.
I do not now, or have I ever, questioned God's ways, as set down in the Bible. I DO question the men who claim to speak for him, causing others needless pain and broken families whose members choose not to listen to them. Leaving the Watchtower bible and Tract Society is NOT the same as leaving Jehovah, even though we've been told this...by men. Romans 8 tells us that NOTHING can separate us from God's love, I firmly believe this, because the Bible says so.
I have chosen, after much prayer and even more anguish as I came to this decision, that I cannot, in good conscience, be a follower of man any more. The more years that go by, the more I am certain that the WTBS does not truly represent the God of the Bible.
I do not deny Jehovah and his promises, nor do I deny the Christ and his shed blood. They have not disappointed me and my hope still rests with them. I am disappointed in the way the sheep have been deceived and I won't be a part of this any more.
I am formally disassociating myself from this organization for the reasons I've given. I know what will happen, I am now mentally prepared to deal with the shunning which will occur. I do not wish to be invited to any meetings (judicial or otherwise) and have made my position clear. This religion is getting farther and farther away from the precious teachings of love and forgiveness that Jesus gave his life to make known.
I am taking the advice found in Revelation to" GET OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE, if you don't want to share in her sins."...
With affection for all the brothers,