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I Want To Believe

Submitted by Teeny on September 30, 2011 - 11:24 am 7 Comments

I want to believe that Armageddon is near, but it seems Jehovah's Witnesses don't think it is Honestly, I do. I want to believe that all seven plus million Jehovah’s Witnesses really believe that Armageddon is just around the corner. But you see, I have a problem believing that and here’s why.

In the years leading up to the reported Armageddon in 1975, thousands of Jehovah’s Witnesses sold their houses, and many of their unnecessary possessions as well as leaving their jobs. Why? Total devotion, that’s why. In my time as a non-active Jehovah’s Witness, I’ve spoken to a lot of former and current Witnesses that sold off their homes in anticipation of Armageddon. In fact, it was an active Jehovah’s Witness, Anna, who gave me the idea for this article.

She sold off her house in North London, England, quit her job as a seamstress and became a regular pioneer. Ninety hours was way too low an offering, therefore Anna pioneered with a zeal most of you should be envious of. On average, Anna pulled off an astonishing 140 hours per month. So what happened when 1975 came and went? Anna simply got her job back, took the money she made on the sale of her house out of the bank and bought a house five doors down. Did she continue as a pioneer? Yes. To this day, Anna has never failed to turn in her hours, although she’s doing 70 hours per month now.

Do I need to spell out for you why I think nearly all active Jehovah’s Witnesses are hypocrites? If they weren’t, they would have followed Anna’s example. Why do so many Jehovah’s Witnesses still plan ahead and think of mortgages? Why are some of them paying into retirement plans? It’s because they don’t believe in any of it. If they did, they would have sold their houses, left their careers and pioneered. Stocks in window cleaning goods would have rocketed if they believed, yet not many Jehovah’s Witnesses are buying shares in Mr. Muscle. No, the ones that can flex their financial muscle are trending towards longevity shares. So much for Armageddon then, eh?

Isn’t it funny how the Organisation never comes out clearly and asks its members to do this? Oh but wait, if their members all became window cleaners, who would bankroll the donations? Keep on fooling yourselves guys.

If you want to back this story up, call up the London bethel and ask to speak to Anna. I’m sure she will tell you all about her 1975 story, although she’s never mentioned her 1978 and 1979 experiences whilst smiling away on the Bowes Road platform. Don’t worry yourselves about that now, as I’ll bring out this amazing story soon enough.

Tags: Armageddon, Critical Times, Materialism

7 Comments

Jacob February 2, 2012

Jehovah Witnesses are not Christians. They believe Jesus is an angel..not God, They don’t believe in a soul, or in hell or even in heaven for anyone except the 144,000. they don’t believe that Jesus died on a cross or that he was resurrected from the dead. But one of the few things that both JWs and Christians believe in is the coming Armageddon and a coming new and perfect world. Have Christians stopped paying mortgages to go homeless…I think not.. Have Christians ended retirement accounts..of course not ….for no one knows the day and the hour of His coming. We are told to occupy (occupation) until He comes. So let’s not lay this blistering denuciation on the JWs that she should behave differently than anyone else in these end times. As for poor Anna
she is still trying to please God with her good works and trying to earn her place in heaven because someone (apparently not you) has failed to introduce her to the gospel message. Write her!
Ben February 2, 2012

Hi Jacob,

Thanks for your comment, but you are mistaken. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe in Jesus, and that he was resurrected. That makes them Christians, as in followers of Christ… Of course, there are differences in belief systems from religion to religion, but they are still Christians.

As for the rest of your comment, how do you know that what you believe is true? You have no evidence for your beliefs whatsoever (or prove me wrong and present some). At the end of the day you believe one set of nonsense and Jehovah’s Witnesses another for the same reasons with equal amounts of evidence – zero.

Ben
Phillip Elliott February 2, 2012

Ben…What evidence do we have that God exists..His creation of course…He designed and made a mind like yours to love, to think, to believe, to hope. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse”.

I won’t argue Christian vs Witness doctrine with you because you think both are bogus. But Ben, you
must admit that you have a faith and a religion as well. You are a Nogodian.

Your Big Bang is my “in the beginning” Evolution is your creation story “let there be” is mine. Making it by being good is your testimony, God’s free sacrificial gift is mine. And your fervor to show me your point of view is equal to the fervor I have to share with you. In fact you are very religious!

We are ALL people of faith in on thing or another.

But, there is only one truth. Your ‘no god, no meaning, no future truth and mine. There is no proof that I could give aside from the miracle of your existance that God exists and if He exists he has some plan for you beside dust in a grave. No preaching here…just a choice we all make and while we live, one we can change.

PS are you teeny as well as Ben?
Jacob February 3, 2012

The muslims believe in Jesus and they also believe He was the Son of God and that He was resurrected…does that make them Christians too? Just because people worship Someone they call Jesus doesn’t make them Christians.
Teeny February 3, 2012

Hi Phillip,

I am Teeny and Ben is, well, Ben. We’re very good friends and were lucky enough to have left the Jehovah’s Witnesses together. If I didn’t have his friendship at the time, I don’t know what would have happened. Leaving a cult is difficult at the best of times, so thank God I had Ben.

Anyway, I know Ben is eager to answer your comment Phillip, or should I call you Jacob?

Have a good one.

PS. While you’re at it, take a look at the reason both Ben and I became Atheists. Visit my other blog, http://www.AtheistsWeekly.com. It’s by no means finished, but I think you’ll get the point as to why we are “Nogodians”. Isn’t that an Armenian surname?

Kind regards,
Teeny
Ben February 3, 2012

Hi Jacob/Phillip (You’re the same person, or share the same IP address…)

Creation is not evidence of God. You’d have to prove everything had been created, which you can’t. You’re basically saying that “evolution is wrong, therfore God must have done it!”. Replace God with “gorilla eating spaceworm” and you’ll see that the argument is empty.

There is no evidence whatsoever to show that life was created as told in the bible account. We have mountains of evidence that life came from simple celled lifeforms and evolved over a long long time. Don’t take my word for it – go to a museum or read a scientific text book. Go examine the evidence for yourself. That’s the difference between you and I here – your position requires faith and mine does not. I have evidence.

Let me concede the point to you for a moment in order to make a further point. Even if you could prove that a supernatural being, or god, had created everything, you’d still have all your work ahead of you. You’d still need to prove that it was YOUR god and that he could hear prayers, or that he really cared about what sexual acts you can carry out or not.

When someone says something extraordinary, that person needs to provide evidence. So, if I was to say that we evolved, I’d need to provide evidence. There is tons of evidence – so much so, in fact, that we KNOW evolution is as true as the fact Earth orbits the sun. It isn’t a faith based position at all.

Also, we are all ‘nogodians’ when it comes to Thor, Ra, Vishnu, etc. I just go one god further than you.

My comment is getting long so I will close off by saying that how life evolved and how the universe began are two separate things and you shouldn’t mix the two scientific theories (‘theory’ said with the scientific definition, not as in the “its only a theory” meaning). If you think it is highly unlikely that life could have evolved, or the universe came to exist through a big bang, consider how much MORE unlikely a supernatural god is – a being that would have to be infinitely more complex than the universe itself in order to create it. Saying god created the universe isn’t an answer – it raises far more questions than it answers and makes the whole thing a lot more complicated than it needs to be. You can’t say “the universe is too complex to have arisen by itself, so god must exist” and then not say that god him/itself isn’t equally, if not more, complex and therefore the odds of him existing isn’t also very unlikely.

Cheers for commenting on JWB – feel free to continue doing so, but I won’t be able to carry on the creation v evolution debate with you unless you provide REAL evidence.

Ben
Phillip Elliott February 4, 2012

Teeny Ben: Congratulations on leaving the JWs…That’s a first great step. My grandmother got me involved with Watchtower when I was in high school. I went along because I was searching for something different than Protestantism…I even spent some time with VonDonikan and extra terrestrial BS. Anything to rattle my folks. I met someone in the Coast Guard in my early 20s who helped me escape that misery and introduced me to the freedom I found in John 3:16. (Even Protestants and Caholics can be chained to guilt instead of being freed by Love) I got on your Blog because I thought I could help others in the same way.

I think you have a really good opportunity that you are wasting. Writing articles like “God is a Liar” including a woman in a devil suit doesn’t do much but release your anger. Why not use your deeper knowledge of the poison in JW doctrine to help others trapped in that faith. Instead, your blog just makes people angry.. JWs…ex JW and Christians too…what’s the point? When people find out you are an atheist they dismiss your essay as an attack piece. The result is you appear insincere and no one benefits from your experiences. You have an exemplary writing talent…especially seen in your last comment to me. I expect you find many positive uses for it.

I don’t have definitive proof for either creation or evolution. Asking the question “which came first the DNA that makes the cell or the cell that makes the DNA?” won’t be answered until the veil is (or isn’t) drawn back. Its not a very big issue with me anyway. Helping others on the wide road to think about what they believe is.

Thank you for a stimulating exchange…All the best to you (if any of this seems “preachy”…forgive me
I can’t help myself sometimes

Phillip J Elliott