From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained, 1958, page 209
When persons are in great danger from a source that they do not suspect or are being misled by those they consider their friends, is it an unkindness to warn them? They may prefer not to believe the warning. They may even resent it. But does that free one from the moral responsibility to give that warning? –The Watchtower, January 15, 1974, page 35.

My Purpose in Creating this Site

So why am I doing this? Briefly, I was raised a "Jehovah's Witness". My parents became Witnesses when I was about seven years old, and from that point on, my pre-adult years were spent attending five congregational meetings each week, as well as participating in "field service" every Saturday. (For the layperson, "field service" consists of banging on peoples' doors, sharing the "good news" that they are going to be destroyed at the ever-just-around-the-corner "Armageddon" unless they become a Jehovah's Witness.1)

To make a very long story very short, while still a teenager my Jehovah's Witness parents asked me to leave their house. They did this by leaving all my belongings on the front step while I was out. My crime? I was still not baptized, had become irregular in "field service", and had removed myself from the "Theocratic Ministry School", which meant I would no longer give discourses from the podium at congregational meetings. In short, I was not making advancement as a Jehovah's Witness.

The next ten years of my life were spent with the Watchtower Society at arms length. Friends and relatives kept me around. I decided to pursue post-secondary education - something strongly discouraged by the Watchtower Society.2 (Armageddon, just around the corner, remember?) After graduating with honors, I was able to quit my dead-end job that is the norm for so many Jehovah's Witnesses and move into my chosen field of software engineering.

One day, after years of living with fear and guilt (Armageddon, any day now) something amazing and totally unexpected happened. I was surfing the web, and stumbled upon an "apostate" website. Of all the sins that may be committed by a Jehovah's Witness, nothing even comes close to "apostasy". Witness children are raised to fear and hate the evil apostates. Witnesses are trained to never even look at "apostate material". I can still remember a picture in one of the Watchtower magazines I studied as a youth. There was a picture of a woman throwing a letter in the garbage. The postman could still be seen, just leaving her door. The caption read, "Do you wisely destroy apostate material?"3

In reality, an "apostate" is just a former member of the Watchtower religion, one who now disagrees with the teachings of the Watchtower Society. While I had pondered many times why these persons were to be feared and hated so, why they warranted such slander on the part of the Society,4 how their "lies" and "poison" could be so potent as to deceive us who had "the truth", I now realized the simple answer. The so-called apostates were telling the truth! They were telling the truth, and in this they had the power to bring down the entire house of cards that is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.

This realization is without question the single most profound event of my life. Nothing can compare with the moment I realized the Watchtower Society was just another sham religion. For those who are not and have never been Jehovah's Witnesses, you will not be able to fully comprehend the gravity of this realization. I can only compare it to the realization that you are only dreaming, while in the midst of a nightmare; but that does not do it justice.

For those who are Jehovah's Witnesses, I urge you to let your guard down for one moment. With an open mind, consider the information that is on this site, or better yet, this site. Ask yourself, if you really have "the truth", why does the Watchtower Society prohibit your reading any information from ex-members? Is Watchtower "truth" so weak that it can not stand up to a lie? Remind yourself that light has nothing to fear from darkness; rather, it is the darkness that must flee the light.

If you honestly have "the truth", then you have nothing to fear. On the other hand, if you do not have the truth, then you have nothing to lose.

Trevor Scott.
(Email me)

Footnotes

1. According to Watchtower doctrine, only members of the Jehovah's Witnesses religion have any scriptural hope of surviving Armageddon:

Only Jehovah's Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the "great crowd," as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil.The Watchtower, September 1, 1989, page 19.

2. For an understanding of the Watchtower view of post-secondary education, consider the following excerpts from Watchtower publications:

If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. Why not? Because all evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. ... Therefore as a young person you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!Awake!, May 22, 1969, page 15.
A university degree may or may not improve your employment prospects. But one fact is indisputable: "The time left is reduced"! (1 Corinthians 7:29) For all its presumed benefits, would four years or more in a university be the best use of that remaining time? –Ephesians 5:16. Would a university education steer you toward or away from your spiritual goals? Remember, a high income is not a Christian priority.Questions Young People Ask-Answers That Work, 1989, page 177.
"A [university] degree no longer guarantees success in the job market"Questions Young People Ask-Answers That Work, 1989, page 177.
But for us who are alert to the significance of world events in the light of Bible prophecy, there are much stronger reasons for not putting a worldly career foremost in life. (Matthew 24:3-14) We might compare ourselves to a person that sees a building with a sign: "This Company Going out of Business." Would we seek employment there? Of course not! And if we worked for such a company, we would wisely look for employment elsewhere. Well, the sign is evident everywhere on this world's institutions: "Going out of Business-End Near!" Yes, "The world is passing away," the Bible assures us.The Watchtower, August 15, 1987, page 11.

3. The article in question appeared in the March 15, 1986 issue of The Watchtower, on page 12. Click here to view a scan of the picture.

4. Consider the following excerpts from Watchtower publications:

Our safety lies in avoiding apostate propaganda as though it were poison, which in fact it is. –The Watchtower, July 15, 1992, page 13.
Like gangrene, apostate reasoning is nothing but quick-spreading spiritual death.The Watchtower, March 15, 1986, page 15.
Therefore, resolve in your heart that you will never even touch the poison that apostates want you to sip.The Watchtower, March 15, 1986, page 20.

For a more complete representation of the Watchtower Society's treatment of former members, visit this page.

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