Beyond the Watchtower
Looking to our Past for lessons to help inform our Future
Our new logo of the original Watchtower cross and crown supports our subtitle “Looking to our Past – For lessons about our Future. Find more out the Watchtower history of the cross and crown by clicking here:
WHY THE NAME CHANGE FROM “FRIENDS OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES” TO “BEYOND THE WATCHTOWER?” New redirected website address is — BeyondWatchtower.com.
First an introduction: We are Bible Students who since the early Watchtower days have continued to meet together in congregations around the world. We retain, continue to study, and offer to others, the original Watchtower writings and literature, which we enjoy as wonderful resources to help understand and harmonize the Bible’s teachings. Some of us created the “Friends of Jehovah’s Witnesses” website in an attempt to reach out in the spirit of Christian love and friendship, both to struggling Jehovah’s Witnesses and to Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Why are we reaching out?
A. We hope to provide a safe haven website of help, support, encouragement, open conversation and as well an information center.
B. We hope to provide for your consideration, the enduring, valued, spiritual light of truth that shone forth so brightly in the early days of the Watchtower ministry. In the spirit of Christian love and liberty, we extend to you this invitation to study, not with an autocratic ORGANIZATION controlled by a “Governing Body,” but rather with fellow Christian students of the Bible in the spirit of the Berean’s (Acts 17:11).
C. We hope to share with you areas of our common roots and the true history and the original mission of the early Watchtower Society. In its early days, it operated as a publishing house. It had absolutely NO authority over any of the hundreds of independent congregations which were controlled solely by the congregation members themselves; not by domineering elders, overbearing overseers or a dictatorial Governing Body. In those days each elder could only remain in office if at the annual elections they received 75% of the vote from the Holy Spirit anointed congregation members voting based on the Biblical qualifications for elder (1 Tim 3 and Titus 1).
So why the name change to “Beyond the Watchtower.”
Some visitors to our site have had the mistaken impression that by calling ourselves “Friends of Jehovah’s Witnesses” that this meant we were in agreement with the new doctrines and the oppressive and controlling spirit of the organization itself and its governing structure as well as its historical practice of shunning questioning members, and the resultant dividing of families. Dear brothers and sisters, nothing could be further from our true heart’s desire. These types of practices were never to be found among the original Watchtower friends prior to 1917.
Our new name “Beyond the Watchtower” contains a dual meaning which helps clarify our mission:
1: To help, support and encourage present JWs looking BEYOND todays Watchtower or else former JWs AFTER leaving the JW Organization. We would like to provide the type of support as shared in A & B above, to help those presently questioning or struggling with their relationship in the J.W. Organization and who may even have endured and suffered from spiritual and emotional wounds.
2: As described in C above, to provide an accurate historical account of events that took place BEYOND or AFTER the early Watchtower” days when a new organization emerged under new leadership, dramatically changing its beliefs and practices.
In these early Watchtower days, many of the original Bible Students refused to accept the new and changed teachings. Nor would they be controlled by and surrender their Christian liberty to this new and very tough leader, Joseph Rutherford. These Bible Students broke away from the new and emerging JW organization and either maintained or reestablished Bible Student congregation’s worldwide. By 1931, 75% of the Original Bible Students had left this new organization which in that year adopted the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses” in order to draw a clear line of distinction from those who had left the Society and those who remained.
The Bible Students as a Christian fellowship still meet together to the present day as free and independent congregations retaining their original beliefs and practicing the same spirit of Christian liberty as was adhered to during the early Watchtower days up through October of 1916 when Brother Russell died.
With these true, loving and encouraging wishes for you, we hope that this website aids you, our visiting brothers and sisters, to find satisfying answers to questions you may have. We hope this site can be an educational, healing center, a safe harbor for achieving a healthy emotional state, a place for spiritual growth in a manner that faithfully follows the scriptures and a place where all of our combined efforts will be found pleasing and honoring to the name of Jehovah, our loving and merciful Heavenly Father.
We hope that a journey with you to the not so distant past will bring you fresh hopes of Jehovah’s kindness and mercy to us today as well as for the bright and wonderful tomorrow that He has promised for all mankind through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
We continue now with our original WELCOME message below.
1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint. Indeed, he that is under fear has not been made perfect in love. – NWT
WELCOME TO THIS CITY OF REFUGE
AND SANCTUARY FOR STUDIOUS AND INQUIRING MINDS.
Acts 17:10, 11: Immediately by night the brothers sent both Paul and Silas out to Be-roe’a, and these, upon arriving, went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thes-sa-lo-ni’ca, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so. – NWT
You are anonymous here. You can speak to other Jehovah’s Witnesses, former Jehovah’s Witnesses, Bible Students and other Christians. When posting your comments, you will be able to use a Pen Name. Your e-mail address and website info are completely optional. No one can identify you. No one can report you. You have a home and quiet place to pray and honestly investigate scriptures. It is not our purpose to indoctrinate you, but merely to provide you with resources for further study of Jehovah’s word. You are not alone. You have friends.
Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge the house servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for Jehovah can make him stand. – NWT
2 Tim 1:7 (Amplified Bible) – For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but He has given us a spirit of power and of love and of calm {and} well–balanced mind {and} discipline {and} self–control.
Gal 5:1 – Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. NKJV
Gal 5:13 – For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. NKJV
2Co 3:17 – …where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. NWT
John 8:31, 32 – And so Jesus went on to say to the Jews that had believed him: “If YOU remain in my word, YOU are really my disciples, and YOU will know the truth, and the truth will set YOU free. NWT
If 1 John 4:8 says “God is love,” then shouldn’t love, not fear, be our motivation to serve Jehovah? Are you serving Jehovah in a certain way because you are afraid/fearful of being destroyed in Armageddon?
Hebrews 13:6 (Amplified Bible) – So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?
Thank you every one who helped me into becoming Christ almost like faith I study for many years the bible and thank you all for allowing me to study in the New York city class thanks to all brothers. Let the past be the past. The true God and the Christ love all as one union. Many will make it all over the earth soon the earth will be a paradise but how long will this be I do not know. I love all even people from Church but sadly most were blind in this world thanks to Christ and his Father I started seeing. great time of end has arrived bless all. I believed . I am grateful for the elders of the park avenue class.
Hello Br. Peter, I have launched the new website for ask jacqueline. It is on a domain that will reach more of the target market for my profession, the new .LIFE Domain.
It focuses on Spiritual abuse and it’s aftermath. Take a look when you have time please to see if it is appropriate to put as a link from this site. Thank you, Jacqueline
http://www.askjacqueline.life
We are all so excited for you Sr. Jacqueline! I know that the struggling people you help will do better with a site dedicated to their needs. We wish you could stay with us and hope you will visit and comment often. We wish you well in being a blessing to those seeking your encouragemwnt, insights and experience. You are truely a national treasure.
Br. Peter thank you so much for the kind words of support. I felt it was the utmost priviledge to have served on this platform with you brothers. We have seen the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD operate with our endeavor to help his mistreated and abused people! I offer sincere thanks and prayers to Jehovah God and His King Jesus Christ for helping all of us as we tried to help out.
From the historic 1st comment of the Beautiful sis Rachel in 2010 from Australia who said; JACQUELINE HELP ME PLEASE! I don’t know my age or where I come from.
This eventually led to the investigation by the “Australian Royal commission on Child Sexual Abuse”, who as a grand jury is still investigating to see if they have enough evidence to go to trial. This site has God’s blessing and many thousands of young victims within the so called “organization of Jehovah’s witnesses” are more safe now, from sexual predators that exist within this organization like an infestation.
I decided to shift my focus after getting calls from mothers and fathers that have left saying how devastated their teenage children are over this shift in their lives! They too have lost their former religion and friends! They are being shunned because their parents left! They don’t know what to do, the children need to talk it out. Hopefully Jehovah will bless the new Ask Jacqueline site that provides a softer platform suitable for young ones as well as not so young ones with open platform discussions on whatever is on their mind.
I am new at working with wordpress and as you see I can’t figure out how to drop the great internet pictures on the articles that you and I had. but I will learn.
I would like to think of us as sister sites. Just last night I informed an entire study group to go over and read TempleBarbQue, ZionsHerald and your spirited discussions, it made for great discussions this last 2 weeks.
I will speak October 27th before a huge Non Profit group and doctors who deal with sex trafficking because of the part we played in the “Autralian Royal commision on Child sex abuse”. I will start off with Rachel’s first words to me. I pray that this is divine providence and will do absolutely everything Our God and Father directs me to do. Thank you so much for allowing this space to talk and introduce the new site. http://www.askjacqueline.life Love you my brother!
We are excited together about the new “Ask Jacqueline.” website which is intended to be a another fear free zone to help people dealing with Spiritual Abuse and it’s aftermath. With special focus in that area, no doubt more people can receive encouragement and feel the love without the distraction of other unrelated topics drawing attention in other areas. If you lose or forget the “Ask Jacqueline” website, you can always find it in our right column of links under the heading “JW Help.” Also look for encouragement in our weekend call in and advertised Testimony Meetings.
Hey Jacqueline,
Is that you that send the emails from “Jacqueline Misera”?
Yes that is me Christopher. I forgot some people on the big email so I sent out the smaller one that you were on. The Home page has additional info if you scroll to the bottom. The Blog articles is where you can blog. There is also tough blog spot for the type of difficult topics that come up. I have had websites for 20 years but this is my first time with a blogspot in almost real time.
Hi Jacqueline,
Yes I thought that was you too! I must look at your new site and see what its like. Thanks for your words of wisdom that you’ve put here as they have helped me immensely, so have a few other people. You really know your stuff and I’m sure your new site will do well. I hope you won’t leave this site completely but whatever you do, I know that God will bless your efforts.
Thanks Nubby Tope, Leah Remini will have a new show that will feature witnesses this fall/winter so hopefully we can be of help to them. Under 30 year olds tend to just talk and teenagers should be able to ask a question and with their parents permission, I can skype with them or phone.
This was where the Spirit kept leading me and I try hard to be sensitive to where it pushes. I check this site daily. There are lots of help now since we started this site so I felt I could branch out into the forgotten ones, the family. When one parent leaves especially two the children have questions and now we can discuss what is working for other parents on our blogs. We have ones coming on thru skype to the call in also. Last week was a testimony meeting because we were all new. It is a fresh approach with some God but mostly let it all out of your heart type of thing. I often would refer persons to sixscreens and forums when they were angry. So with the internet forums and Wednesday study from this page and the “Ask Jacqueline” we can work together on a big problem of “SPIRITUAL ABUSE” and it’s many forms within organizaed religion. Take Care
Hello Sister Jacqueline,
I would like to tell you something I think will be helpful, possibly, for your site which has to do with the “anatomy” of the xJW Tsunami now flowing across the internet. I am going to do a very brief outline of what I had been discovering doing this full-time from 2011 to 2016 as I fled the JW Organization in 2012.
What this has to do with is engaging people who are looking into this information in a unique and constructive manner in that there is a unanimous feeling against the JW Org, but the way people get there and there variety is very interesting so this outline was identifying some of the generic types of xJWs and indirect “xJWs” and the reasons why they split or disagree with modern JW policy. And I mean policy, not theology, because the modern GB blowback propelling this mass exodus from JW Egypt is mostly now due, not to theology, but to blatant CRIMINAL LAWLESSNESS and it being spread down to the JW pews as far as accountability.
I will refer you to the Reddit post that will contain this bare bones out line because:
1. It can help an xJW researcher understand the breadth of lawless policies JWs now promote in one view.
(In my case, before I left, I just was doing this mentally. Then one day I decided to make a timeline like detectives do in law enforcement and begin to also database, so to speak, ALL the anomalies I was seeing. When I did this and saw the true magnitude of this lawless operation in front of my face visually— in spiritual and secular criminal machinations which actually inter-related to the goal of stumbling and even trapping sheep, I KNEW this was no accident nor was it just random corruption. That may have aided it’s beginning, but this thing is truly an “OPERATION of error” first, which equates to an enormous lie later, NOW.)
2. It can help people focus on an area they are looking into further.
3. It shows in some areas how JWs are being implicated down to congregational level in lawless criminal accountability AT GLOBAL SCALE.
4. I think it will help people also see the general area of dissension they can identify with and get a better grasp and just how broad and sweeping this set of stumbling blocks is, a veritable GB obstacle course to prevent people from the kingdom and the salvation which empowers it is very dastardly “evil genius” manner.
It is concise, as time I am not, but thsi outline is very simple. I will refer you to the concept on reddit when I do it very, just as food for thought for your site in helping those wanting to leave LEAVE FASTER by seeing the true scope of this WTBTS operation and the true breadth of the types of people and points of protest it has inspired which is actually enormous and as said, open JWs individually to criminal accountability in certain aspects of the way these criminal polciies have been “enforced” illegally against God and Ceaser in the congregational system globally.
It is just fodd for thought, the goal is to help people leave quickly by summarizing the big picture quickly for these xJW researchers, to help them get out as fast as they can, because time is of the essence in reality, not just to leave (Matt24:15) but to also be resolved NOT to be scared back in for whatever reasons. It actually will become life and death serious in some cases in time, it will get worse and worse until it it a full blow catastrope— for that is what Satan has designed in that “operation of error” as the end purpose for this totally h-jacked and off course fraud ministry. It will set up more than a “proverbial saying” in its aftermath, the JW all-covering (fake) “end of the world” smokescreen that will help confuse the real meaning of the WTBTS global-corporate catastrophe will FAIL, it will be the final discrediting stumbling laughing-stock-scale by-product as this “operation of error” comes to its “transgressor” conclusion.
Hope your site is helpful and a success.
TempleBBQ, hello thanks very much for your imput. I watched and read your post but we never got the chance to meet in the 8 years I posted articles to this site. I have enjoyed your dialog. You probably don’t know what my approach is. I only deal with persons that have already come to the realization that it is time to leave. I have never tried to get a person to leave, to do so would be irresponsible because it could leave a vaccuum. Nature abhors a vaccuum, it will generally fill in the spot with weeds and garbage. They must awaken on their own. If the person is aware of the facts enough to leave then I will help them crawl out! When the blogging begins then you will see how we do it! Greg put together a Mission statement for me just 30 minutes ago and I will advertise it after we are sure the content is straight. A lot of what you have mentioned is what we have been discussing on this site for many years. (Look at the ask jacqueline site now and it is different than 5 hours ago constantly tweaking it. LOL)
This site has helped a lot of brothers and sisters recover. In fact quite a few of the new you tube poster, webpages etc hit this site when they first came out of the organization and even attended a convention or talked to us. This site was the first to get in touch with Australia. I called right into their police department on a cold winter weekend in 2010. That is how the Royal Commission started with a sex ring of child tafficking within the organization in Australia and the elders were a part of it. We couldn’t talk about it until they had their info gathered. I go softer when I speak with bruised, injured and abused individuals. I know the possibility of suicide, so I walk softly but carry a big stick. My main focus now is not exposure (you brothers are doing a great job of that) but to deal with collateral damage and the carnage left behind. God gave me this as a gift I think, the ability to stick with them for months until they can get up off their belly and knees and RUN!!!
You see a lot of them on the internet with their own forums. Take Care of yourself I visited your website when you first came on. Keep on doing what you do. You have put a lot into your research. I will read some more on your site tomorrow. May God Bless you in your journey toward Christ and the Kingdom. Jacqueline
PS: The ANNUAL MEETING WAS A MESS YESTERDAY! They are packing their little go bags, gearing up for Russia to attack them. Go bags will protect them not God they feel. What a mess. They think they are Israel. The devil is playing them along by having Russia act against them. Self fulfiling.
Hi Jacqueline,
I heard that at the Annual Meeting yesterday a new brochure is coming out about Russia being King of the North and USA/UK being King South. This again? They said this in the 80’s. Before that it was Nazi Germany that was King North. More flip-flopping?
Hello Bro NT,This Understanding about the king of the North(Russia)& King of the South(Anglo/America) was around in the JW Study Books in the early 60s.We studied it for years.Then as time went by,& Russia started losing Influence,This understanding was Laid to rest,But now that Russia is now re-amerging Again as a power,They(JWs)Have resurected it from the dusty Book Shelves where it was allocated after it went out of Favour with The GBody.It just goes around in a circle!Brother Richard(Bible Student)
PS, I Still remember every tuesday Night at the book study studying this book for at least 4/5 years.
Richard….Adams Clarks comentary on Daniel 11th chapter sugjested the King of the North was Russia when the turks (Ottoman Empire) were in decline almost two centurys ago. He wrote this in 1825. Finally, It wasn’t till 1914 when the Ottomans were defeated and Palistine was then set aside for Jehovah God’s choosen people,” the sons of Jacob.
In Ray Franzs book he said Fred Franz got a lot of information from Adam Clark. If you go on the Bible Hub you can read all of Adam Clarks commentaries.
Hello,JSW&Good.We also thought that the WTB&TS WERE GODS Chanel.This book(I cannot remember its name)Was Green in Colour & I was about 7 or 8 when Mum & Dad started to Study with the JWs in the Mid 1950s,I remember it so clearly,The book Study(every tuesday Night)was held at our house.It covered the march of the world Powers,Daniels Dreams & Prophecy.I remember the Picture/Diagram of the Image made up of many metals/Clay,Iron etc,& the Large boulder coming from the heavens & completly smashing this Image. We studied it for many years.Then In the Mid 1960s we were Introduced to New Light??The new Book ”Babylon the Great has Fallen Gods Kingdom rules”.Again like all other WTB&TS Publications it was relegated to the book shelves to Gather Dust,as New Light??? Kept Increasing!Bro Richard,Bible Student,Australia
Just Remembered the books title,It was ”YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH,& was printed in 1958( I was 9 years old,It was the same year they printed the book Paradise Lost,to Paradise Regained)Bro Richard
Hi Richard,
I was born in 1958 when that book came out and its the first book I remember! Then as a kid we did the Babylon book. That was heavy going!
Yes,Nubby it was heavy going,but very Interesting.Do you remember the large Pink Coloured Book-Paradise Lost-To Parasise regained?You probably studied it during your youth.Richard.Bible Student,Australia.
Yes Richard,
I remember the Paradise book but here in UK it was orange! Never mind, but what I recall from it was the picture of Nimrod and Molech having a child sacrificed to him. A few years ago my eldest daughter gave her newborn baby a blood transfusion and compared Jehovah to Molech. Any thoughts on this?
Yes now he that scatters is for us (Matt24:15)– but you are correct people must use their own “discernment”. Scattering is OK for those who decided on their own discernment, because in Daniel 11:32-35 the stumbled “fall” into Christ for refinement in those cases, they are better off out. And as in the basic principle wise and foolish “ten virgins” have all nodded off, original light low, and now comes a wake up call in time, and there is a second light phase of the future after this nap ends, for the whole collective ministry has burned low since 1914. Very basic principles are what Christ taught first in his parables, even if at global scale today.
Case in point, with the JW “darkness” is the Daniel 11:42-43 global gold and silver true coup is not complete and neither has nation-state “Egypt” lost all its “desirable things” to globalist global debt securement, that is yet to come. That did NOT fulfill with the USSR, they went bankrupt in part of that global-pawning process of the nation-state system (Dan11:27b). Plus, all Kings in Daniel 11 have noted rise and a noted fall, a fall as significant as that of the USSR would have been noted in the prophecy, but in Daniel 11:36c the truth is King North is successful “until the denunication comes to a finish”.
My point is, these latest Russia intensifications in general media (via Trump scandals) and specific to JWs in the JW Russian “Seige”, mean they can be placed in the JW mind as if Daniel 11:44 is readying to activate. This would be well premature. (2Thess2:1-2)
This is not good, for Daniel 11:40-43 effects of globalization have not yet completed, it takes a final sword-stroke to fully topple the nation-state King South/7th King centric system, but for King North Globalized System recovery. Thus, talk about a ” JW self fulfilling prophecy” here! This is a TOTAL HOAX that JWs are being setup to believe. IF— IF, things do spin out of control with Russia in any conflict with the Anglo-American and NATO systems in the future, then JWs will think it is Daniel 11:44 well premature of its transition-into-world-government reality, the GB has primed them for that KN-Decoy in Russia ruse.
This is of course a speculation, but it does not hurt to have it jotted down mentally and tacked on the thought-fridge for future reference. The are engineering a FAKE “the end” in the JW mindset in this “self fulfilling prophecy” as the smokescreen to dissolve the WTBTS and cancel the JW ministry from the GB mouth as if “the ministry is done brothers, the end is here sisters!” “thanks for showing up”, “see ya, wouldn’t wanna be you”, tschuss…
Me again!
I’ve just seen John Cedars youtube channel and there is a review of Annual Meeting there. He and 3 others gave a good report including a new book about Ezekiel, a new version of the Benefit book for giving talks, and they showed some pictures from the new Ezekiel book and the obsession with 607-1914; they are NOT letting go of that idea! They have a new way of arriving at 607; apparently it involves the 997BCE as the year that King Rehoboam split the nation of Israel into 2 groups and the time between 997 somehow ties in with 607. But if you look up Rehoboam on Wikipedia you’ll see the year should be 937 circa. so their new chronology is wrong already!
Its a long review so have some snacks ready!
And it closes with the story of something startling in Canada. A vehicle of naked JWS kidnapped a family and drove around screaming that Armageddon was coming! Unbelieveable? Apparently not. The devil must be laughing his socks off!
Just remembered 1 thing from the review – apparently the GB say that because the moon landings didn’t bring praise to Jehovah because the spacecrafts were called Apollo (after the sun god) so the moon missions were a form of sun-worship!
The GB need to get out more and get lives!!
Hi Sis. Jacqueline. Thanks for introducing me to br. Peter, and him for introducing me to Sis. Regine. I attended their bible study today. Also, i’d like to thank br. Ray Charlton for inviting me to their online bible study. During the meeting this afternoon, one of the songs we sang mentioned that we worship Jesus. But aren’t Jesus teaching in Matt. 4:10 that it’s only Jehovah we should worship? I already texted Sis. Regine about it, because I forgot to ask during the meeting. But what is your input about it? Thanks
Hi Noel, Hebrews 1:5,6
5For to which of the angels did God ever say: “You are my Son; today I have become Your Father”? Or again: “I will be His Father, and He will be My Son” ? 6And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all God’s angels worship Him.”
Philipians 2:10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
A study of the Hebrew word shachah and the Greek word proskuneo reveals that both these words mean “to bow down.” The Hebrew word shachah (Strong’s number 7812) is used of bowing or prostrating oneself, often before a superior or before God. [1] In the King James Version, it is translated by a number of different English words, including: “worship” (99 times), “bow” (31 times), “bow down” (18 times), “obeisance” (9 times), and “reverence” (5 times).
The examples of “worship” in the Bible confirms that in the biblical culture, people bowed down before those to whom they wanted to show respect or honor. Lot “worshipped” (shachah) the strangers who came to Sodom even though he had never seen them before. He prostrated himself before them to show them respect (Gen. 19:1). Moses “worshipped” (shachah) his father in law, whom he respected and honored (Ex. 18:7). Abigail “worshipped” (shachah) David. She honored him by prostrating herself before him. These three examples can be multiplied many times over, but they show that when someone wanted to honor another, he would fall down before him. The act of falling down is called “worship,” and reveals the heart of the worshipper—respect and honor towards the one being worshipped.
Hello Everyone, just wanted to introduce myself and say hello. 🙂 I am so happy to have found you all. It is so nice to have the real truth now about the Bible Students and the real truth about the truth. I am an x-jw who was trying to find answers for many years now. I feel a complete body relief to have found you all. Prayers helped guide me here now and following Jesus. I am located in the Asheville, NC area and moved here from Sarasota, FL. I am shunned by my family for leaving, so it is nice to find a new christian family here and see a true display of love. If you look my name up online you can find all my links and message me anytime. :)xx Sanura Moon
Sanura welcome, we were glad to hear your voice on Wednesday and here learn more about your journey and it is just that. I know sometimes you walked, crawled and hitched a ride to get to Jesus Christ but you made it. You are free here to respond to comments and ask questions. It is a fearfree zone. We have 3 internet talk meetings this weekend. North America is Friday 8pm your time. Let me come nsck to put links or someone else might. I need to get to a larger computer after i get some coffee. Lol Welcome, you have already been a blessing to us your story resonates with our experiences.
Thank you so much Jacqueline! It is wonderful meeting you! It was surely an adventure to get to where I am today and finding true faith and also all of you. I am so overjoyed to have Jesus in my life now. As a JW it was not until I left that I found Jesus. I had no idea until now the love that truly fills your heart when you find him. It is something almost indescribable until you actually experience and feel it. Its something that when you get it, you never want to let go.
Welcome Sanura I too am an ex JW. You have truly found friends here. I look forward to hearing more from you. I think I found your Facebook page and sent you a Friend request.
Yes, please friend me anyone. 🙂 Thank you very much, it is delightful to meet all of you!
Greetings dear sister Sanura!
It is wonderful to hear that your search for truth has been rewarded. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Welcome!
I, too, experienced a complete sense of relief and peace through my entire body when I was finally led to the Bible student community. That sense of peace and joy has only grown richer and deeper since that time. I trust you will experience similar in the days, weeks, months and years to come.
-greg
https://www.friendsofjehovahswitnesses.com/2017/11/09/testimony-meeting/ (added by Jacqueline)
Thank you very much! Yes, I am happy to read that you felt that too in finding the Bible Students! I can’t believe I had no idea all these years. But searching and prayer and following Jesus helped me surely find my way here. Now here I am, and I look forward to talking and meeting all of you. Blessings!
Hello Sister,Greetings from Australia,Where quite a few ex JWs(My self included)Have found the Truth that sets us free.We have our Main Convention in Australia on the last weekend( from Thursday Eve to Sunday A/Noon).God bless.Bro RichBro Richardard.P.S Forgot to Say it was the last week in Jan 2018.
Hello! Wow, Australia! I have always wanted to go, maybe one day I will be able to! Its exciting to meet everyone and see we are all scattered around the globe but can still remain very connected. Then many of us have gone through the same life trials too and are also healing from the JW mindset. Every time I would ask a question as a JW, I was told that its just independent thinking and you are basically wrong to do such a thing. God gave me my brain and I do intend to use it to the best that I possibly can, that was and still is my answer to that lol. So I am happy to hear you all sharing your thoughts, feelings, questions, and supporting one another in the very best way that you can. I noticed this immediately among the Bible Students and also on this delightful helpful site. Now that is a real loving blessing. Nice to meet you!
Thank you to everyone who friended me on FB and for all the friendly messages!
I noticed right away you all talk to one another saying Brother “first name”, Sister “first name”.
What a delightful experience to see you all using the first name in place of the last name. As a JW we all said sister “last name only” or brother “last name only”.
I always thought using the “last name” after saying brother or sister was impersonal.
When we were in the Kingdom Hall (I say Church because it is a church which simply means a building used for Christian worship) we would use the term inside the Church and outside the Church brother and sister wasn’t used at all. Think about it, right when you walked out as a JW everyone started using their first names together again.
Because outside any church or fellowship its not natural to talk to your friends by calling their last name out and not mentioning at all their first name.
When we are with our friends we use their first name, so why not in the Church – aka Kingdom Hall.
So I really like that about the Bible Students. It also helps us get to know each other better, makes so much more sense this way. Its always harder to remember someones last name because we are used to using first names to distinguish who we are really talking to and who we each truly are. Our last names are shared with our family, but our first name tells who we are as an individual.
I am seeing Brethren used. Which is the plural form for Brother. The plural form for Sister which was lost many years ago is Sistren. In English its not used much, but more recently its starting to be used once again.
I know these phrases are used to identify who is in a spiritual relationship and in fellowship. Meaning someone who shares the same faith in Christ, or fellow believer.
I see Brethren used more today and I wanted to add, that phrase can make sisters feel that only brothers maybe being addressed to in a certain area. So it is helpful when the phrases of: Brothers & Sisters, or Brethren & Sistren are used.
Adelphoi / Adelphos
(Greek: spiritual siblings in the house of God)
Adelphe – Sister
—
*JW Bible: 1 Tim 3:15 / Church is replaced to be called Gods Household.
They really make it seem as forbidden to say the word Church; which simply means a house of God. But my guess is since others use Church they have to be different since they are the only ones in the world with the true god by their side, as they preach. But I just remember my parents teaching as a JW child to “never say church and never enter one either”. So in my mind as a child I thought the word Church meant something evil or Satans house. Like if you were to enter one you were doomed.
Anyway just some thoughts. 🙂
Good evening brethren,
I have been using the New American Standard Bible for years before finding the “truth”, and needless to say, no matter what version I use, the footnotes are those of Christendom… is there a particular version the Bible Students use? What about concordances, and commentaries? Need direction. Thanks
Hello Richard,
I think its a matter of which version or translation one is most comfortable with. I have a shelf full and use most of them. I think I use the American standard version the most. Here is a link for a bible you can find online that is a translation by one of the bretheren called the RVIC. https://herald-magazine.com/christian-literature/online-bible/
Brandon
To be a bit more accurate. The RVIC is actually the American Standard Version of 1901 that has been updated according to recent finds in manuscript evidence.
There is a list from the author of RVIC as to which he believes might be the most accurate translations according to manuscript evidence. You can find the listing here —
http://www.heraldmag.org/2009/09so_7.htm
Some manuscripts are online. For example the Codex Siniaticus is found here — http://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/
Thanks! Good to know that, I have heard about the Rvic and read some but didnt know this.
Brandon
Hi, My name is Yumi
I am studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses in Japan. I am a housewife with three little children. My parents and brothers are Buddhists so they don’t interested in the Bible.
Many Japanese people think that most are Buddhists and that God does not exist.
So I am very lonely. The kingdom hall is older.
I have no friends of the same circumstances who are studying the Bible. The place I live in is the countryside.
Japanese people have little interest in the Bible, so I have a hard time finding friends. I thought about seeking friends overseas.
I am on Facebook.
I am going In the kingdom hall, they don’t do Facebook. Can anyone communicate with me on facebook? Please send a request to Facebook. I want a friend who is studying a lot of Bible.
Greetings Yumi.
I really empathize with your situation. I also can sympathize with it because it sounds all so familiar. It sounds to me as though your very lonely, isolated, perhaps discouraged, longing for some connection with others who share your passion for the Bible. It sounds to me as though there’s a sense of frustration and sadness you cope with.
I’m guessing that your three little ones keep you very busy, and very focused on what’s important to little people. While that can be very rewarding, I’m guessing that you’d also like to enjoy some moments of more stimulating and encouraging conversations with others who aren’t quite so young, but who can inspire you to grow.
I sincerely hope you can find the meaningful connection you seem to be desperately wanting and needing. If you want to connect with other sincere Bible Students, you’ve definitely come to one of the best places to get it. If there are any pressing concerns or Bible questions you have, please feel free to express them here. Whatever it is that’s on your mind is welcome here.
I don’t use Facebook myself. But I do try to connect with persons here on this site. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Warmly,
-greg
Thank you for your reply,greg.
I’m happy that I can talk with each other who are studying the Bible. Just because my English is not good enough, I may give you a misunderstanding.
I was not baptized, so I thought that I could not make friends with my brothers and sisters who were baptized. So I thought I was lonely. But it is unavoidable. Still God will listen to my prayers and I will try to get better.
yumi, hello and thank you for commenting. This is the link to our facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/Friends-of-Jehovahs-Witnesses-142526309141368/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
You will find Jehovah witnesses and Bible students on that page and be able to talk to them.
We are the original Bible students from where the Jehovah witnesses branched off. Some of the discussions on there will be according to what the bible actually say and not doctrines taught and believed by the witnesses. Our beliefs are similar so discussions can proceed smoothly. Jehovah witnesses have many doctrines that the governingbody has decided should be followed, so that is why you will see a slight difference here on this site as we don’t go beyond the bible.
Interesting that majority of Japanese don’t believe in God the same as Christians. I never knew that.
Tell me do Buddhist religion believe you live again? If so where?
I will wait on your reply. Take Care, Jacqueline
PS: I also had three sons and they are still all Jehovah’s witnesses
Thanks for your reply,Jacqueline.
I’m glad to read your reply. Thank you for letting me know the URL of Jehovah’s Witness friend’s recruitment. I often see the site.
Japanese buddhism is a great trouble seed. In primitive Buddhism, Buddha teaches that there is no God.
Before Buddhism was conveyed to Japan, there was a religion called Shinto in Japan. Shinto is polytheism. There are many gods.
Based on that influence, a completely new Buddhism was born in Japan.
In original Buddhism, the existence of a spirit was denied.But new Buddhism began to recognize the spirit immortality.And people came to worship idols. It is for the politics of the country.People do not know the origins of their religion,And people are at the mercy of religion.
It is regrettable.
This is a very difficult story, so I may be misleading because I am not good at English. I hope that you can convey to you well.
You have three children, are not you? I am also. I am glad about the same thing
Yumi, First let me assure you we can understand you perfectly. We have over 3,000 visitors from every nation on this site per month.
I finally understand New Buddhism. It is always best to get an answer from a person that has been in a religion. Thanks for the short version. So coming from that background I could imagine it is difficult to talk about the bible at all with most of your friends. I was raised a witness and had a need to just study the Bible and not go beyond what it has written. That is why I associate with the Bible students. Religion is to me like a slavemaster. I prefer being a spiritual person, open to what others see in the scriptures and not condemning their thought if I don’t see it that way.
Tell me what it is that interests you in scripture, and let’s open the bible and discuss. I do copy and paste of scripture from this link so you don’t have to write a scripture out or just refer to it and we can look it up. https://www.biblegateway.com/
Just thinking about your background: I think this might be a great subject to discuss. https://www.friendsofjehovahswitnesses.com/2010/05/06/will-present-unbelievers-serve-and-worship-jehovah/
Does this interest you since so many of your family and friends don’t believe or accept Christ as a saviour.
If not look to the left and let me know which subject appeals to you.
Dear Jacqueline
A reply becomes slow, and I’m sorry.
I take time to write an answer in English.
You were right, and I had to argue from the Bible.
Though there were many visitors in this site, I did an inappropriate comments.
I should not have judged other religion.
and I should not have looked for a new friend of Facebook.
I am imperfect too, and I reflected.
Please delete my comment if you can.
next time, I would like to talk from the bible.
Thank You very much for your advice.
Yumi hello, I dont see an inappropriate comment. Has someone scared you and told you not to talk about the bible with anyone?
We can take your comments down if you like. I encourage you to use the internet to check out any religious organization or corporation before joining it because you will lose your family.Christians are free to discuss the Bible with anyone.
But, I will take your comments down so your conscience isn’t hurting. Take care of yourself and feel free to read articles on this site and comment.
Your English is okay and it was a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for info on Buddhism. In Christian Love Jacqueline.
Hello Yumi and welcome,
I went through a time where I was quite lonely and unsure and found alot of help from friends on this page, this is and excellent place to reach out and talk to others and discuss the bible. I pray that you will find friends close by. I too live in an area where it is country and there are not many near me to relate to personally on spiritual things, even my wife is not really on the same page but is coming around to some things. Prayer helps, ask anything according to his will and it will be given us, (1 John 5:14-15) I am confident that it is never the will of Jehovah or Jesus that we are ever alone.
Take care, Lee Anthony
Dear Lee
Your comments” I am confident that it is never the will of Jehovah or Jesus that we are ever alone”
I think that is exactly right about that too.
My husband don’t know the bible. but just like your wife, he is coming around to some things.
I am praying for both to approach the Jehova.
I thank that there is a place to talk freely like this.
I thank your advices.
yumi, I do facebook and would love to be your friend my name is forrest( butch) jones I live in ohio in usa friend me if you wish
Greg and Lincoln, Now you will see all of your replies to each hopefully. So sorry not monitoring for a number of hours. Links and key words will sometimes mark the comment to be looked at. We should be on track now. Take Care.
I try “to get to the bottom of this”?
Lincoln
August 18, 2016 at 1:10 pm · Reply (I just left this reply)
Dear Friends,
I have a reply/question? Here on this site, does it mean anybody (like me) can discuss, tell or question “things”, religion, beliefs and stuff? Let me speak clear out:
I did register on Jehovas-Witnesses.com (my name is Lincoln) and after one day with a new “subject” (it was on the Holy Spirit), all of a suddent my “writings” and “things” were remooved and my “asccount” disabled.
So, I do not understand and my thoughts was: is this “former JW treating a “member” like this and ” is this USA”?
Now, I do not want to write things you are not allowed to write, but think about it; a site for “former member of JW, and you cannot write about their beliefs”?
I do not know wehat I did wrong, but I do not want to repeat “what ever” once more, so therefore I ask:
“On this site, can you write things”?
Greetings and welcome Lincoln.
The answer to your question is Yes. You can ask questions here. You can discuss ideas, concerns, understandings, and even opinions here.
I’m curious about something: How is it that your search for truth brings you here?
-greg
Dear Greg, Thank you.
No, this is not “my search for the truth; that brings me here”.
It was more an interest in “what Jehovah Witnesses are doing right now” since I cannot understand (I have family JW) why they keep on with their doctrines.
From the beginning they have cursed everyone but themselves and after becoming a Christian myself I just think, what is going on.
I found the “truth” in Jesus.
But, thank you for your welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo9nDAhNx3c
Lincoln hello and welcome. You mentioned you wanted to know what the witnesses are doing. There are some closed and open facebook pages that post every elders letter and myriads of every minute thing going on in the witnesses. This site doesn’t really post that much. I do from time to time if I feel it will help readers on here to know about it. We are the Bible students association we hold very few common beliefs with the witnesses now as they change every five- ten or even yearly and monthly their beliefs. Also we present the Biblical view as we see it and don’;t have a lot of extra rule books such as the “Shepherd the Flock Book” used by the witnesses. If you ask entrance to these groups they will approve you. Just do a search on Jehovah witness groups on facebook, there are hundreds if not thousands of them. http://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com has a lot of info and http://www.jwfacts.com and http://www.jwstruggle.com print and deal with what the witnesses are doing now. We deal with the doctrinal differences. Thanks for commenting. Jacqueline
Dear Jacqueline,
Thank you very much. Ok, about JW, I thought so. This is one very peculiar thing.
When I became born again Christian, I became a Jesus believer and follower. He said to me:
Hebrews 13:8 Christ’s Unchanging Nature.
…7Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those devoted to them.…
quote end.
So, looking forward to have interesting spiritual conversations with you people here.
“Him” I shall praise always. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuuZMg6NVeA
Love from here.
Lincoln I am truely sorry. I failed to turn on the volume on my phone which would have alerted me to a need for moderation of a comment. Please excuse and forgive me. I was driving a car for last 24 hours but normally pull over or I should have told Br. Peter this was a travel day for me. I dropped the ball on this.
Wow, this is interesting. I will read all of it when I stop for the night. I am still on the road in the RV. Only 2 cities left then back in.
I am like you I have to bite my tongue, think pray so I don’t blame individual witnesses for their behaviour. It is the system headed by the governing body and it corporation.
Dear Jacqueline
I am new here and please bear over with me (I also is not American and this is not my first language), but I also like to know “what you have to say”. So, please write back.
Lincoln
Lincoln, I have a friend that is from your country and he always say to me slow down Jacqueline English is not my first language. I am going to email or call him on skype and tell him to come talk to you. I am sure you speak the same language. His name is Kent. He is 7 hours ahead of me but I know he works nights so I am going to call him right now and tell im to come on. be right back.
PS:Lincoln, BTW when the comment is very long it will kick it into moderation. I am trying to go over the comments and release them now with the replys.
If you can link out to material rather than quotes it can be helpful also. But hey sometimes you got to say what you have to say and there is no link.
I will go release your comments and collapse repeats. I was on the road for most of the last 24 hours and not able to monitor the site. So that is me not doing my job not you. The site will think a long comment with links need to be looked at. I will also alert the webmaster. Take Care catching up.
OK, Kent can talk to me. If he write here I will answer him. He can use is own langue.
Lincoln
LINCOLN, I just spoke to Kent it is 3PM in Sweden and 9 am here. He is interested in coming on the conversation and another brother. He will join in when he gets off work. They are opening the work up over there and he is duplicating this website. He has had 2 conventions in his home with brothers visiting from England, Romania etc. He is an exJW also. I will only have a phone or tablet for a few hours as they are upgrading my internet today putting fiber optic cables, so I don’t answer long on those little devises. lol So today is a new day and I will go over all your conversations and so will Kent and he will reply. Take Care my brother. I will make some coffee and review yesterday.
Jacqueline,
I am eager to read what you write. Your topic intrigues me greatly. In contemplating that particular subject, I’m reminded of the book: The Grand Inquisitor’s Manual – A History of Terror in the Name of God, by Jonathan Kirsch. What he wrote about the Inquisition aptly describes my experience with JW zealots.
As a tiny taste of it, Page 8 reads: Since the inquisitors were utterly convinced that they were doing God’s work, they collected and preserved the smoking-gun evidence of their own brutality and greed with unmistakable pride as well as an obsessive attention to detail. The whole point of the Inquisition was to achieve a critical mass of terror by making examples of the men and women who dared to think for themselves, and thereby frightening the rest of the populace into abject compliance. Interrogation, torture, and trial were conducted in strict secrecy, and the inquisitors emerged into daylight only to sentence and punish the victims at the great public spectacle known as an auto-da-fé.
Page 11: Here we find what is arguably the single most dangerous idea that the medieval Inquisition bequeathed to the modern world. “Heretics were not only burned,” writes historian Norman Cohn, “they were defamed as well.” And these two acts were intimately linked. As the inquisitors grasped, and as history has repeatedly proved, it is far easier for one human being to torture and kill another if he has convinced himself that the victim is not really human at all.
Page 12: The Inquisition understood the danger that its victims might be seen by their friends, neighbors, and relations as pitiable rather than hateful. So the inquisitors sought to convey the impression that they were engaged in a life-and-death struggle against “a monstrous, anti-human conspiracy” under the control of “a devoted underground elite,” and that the Inquisition itself had been “called into existence to meet a national emergency,”…
Page 14: … the will of the victim to resist had to be utterly crushed, his or her sense of self eradicated, and the authority of the interrogator acknowledged as absolute. The best evidence that an accused man or woman has been utterly defeated, then as now, is the willingness to betray a loved one or a trusting friend.
Page 22: To understand the Inquisition at all, it must be seen as a panicky and ultimately futile effort to establish a monopoly in religion rather than as an effort to preserve one that already existed.
Page 43: Bernard was willing to entertain the subversive notion that words written on parchment were not the only or even the best resource for achieving spiritual enlightenment. “You will find something much greater in the woods than in books,” he wrote. “The woods and stones will teach you what you cannot learn from other masters.”
Page 64: By a certain Orwellian logic, the Inquisition always fancied itself to be the spiritual benefactor of the men and women whom it arrested, tortured, and killed. Pope Innocent III encouraged the inquisitors to regard the persecution of heresy as strong medicine intended to restore the spiritual health of the heretics even if it meant afflicting their bodies or even ending their mortal lives. Pope Gregory IX, too, saw the Inquisition as “an integral part of pastoral care.” Thus did the inquisitors come to justify the prosecution of accused heretics as “an act of love” and “profound Christian charity” toward errant Christians who had put their souls at risk by straying from the benign embrace of the Mother Church.
Page 65: All of them had taken vows of obedience when they joined their orders, and a papal bull of 1260 formally redirected their loyalty from their own Dominican and Franciscan superiors to the pope himself.
(Personal Comment: Doesn’t THAT sound familiar?)
Page 67 reads: The real work of the Inquisition, of course, was always conducted by those humble friars who wore the hooded mantle of the mendicant orders rather than a cardinal’s red hat. And the greatest number of them were probably not sadists or homicidal maniacs; rather, they have been described by Malcolm Lambert as nothing more offensive than “zealous, hard-working bureaucrats” who, not unlike the clerks who devised the railroad schedules for Auschwitz, showed up every day and simply did their jobs. No matter where they stood in the hierarchy, all the inquisitors prided themselves on their hard work in ridding Christendom of “heretical filth.”
Page 73: [The inquisitors] also perfected and used various weapons of what we would call psychological warfare to reduce their victims to a state of isolation, anxiety, and vulnerability.
Page 91: For this reason the Inquisition has been called “the first international law-keeping force,” a phrase that sums up its vast reach even as it obscures the fact that the Inquisition enforced only the law that criminalized an act of conscience.
Page 92: The inquisitor’s handbooks, as we have noted, prescribe the precise formula to be used by one inquisitor in addressing a request to another inquisitor for the return of a person who has managed to escape from an inquisitorial prison, and the escapee is described as “one insanely led to reject the salutary medicine offered for his cure, and to spurn the wine and oil which were soothing his wounds.” Thus we are reminded that the Church insisted on presenting itself not as a persecutor and a punisher but as “a loving mother unwillingly inflicting wholesome chastisement on her unruly children.”
Page 115: Next in severity after pilgrimage was the obligation of a convicted heretic to wear “the cross of infamy”—a yellow cross sewn to one’s outer clothing as an unmistakable sign that the wearer had been convicted of the crime of heresy. Sometimes the cross was affixed to the breast only and sometimes to both the front and back of the garment, sometimes for a designated number of years and sometimes for the rest of the penitent’s life. Once the wearing of crosses had been decreed by the inquisitor, however, they were to be worn at all times, both at home and on the street, as an indelible mark of one’s status as a former heretic. So the wearing of crosses reduced the victim to a pariah, just as it was intended to do, and exposed him or her to abuse, isolation, and ridicule.
Page 116: While the wearing of crosses was regarded as among the lesser afflictions imposed on the victims of the Inquisition, the sentence amounted to a social and financial catastrophe. A man or woman compelled to wear the heretic’s crosses would find it hard to secure work or lodging. Even if the family were not reduced to homelessness and hunger, the sons and daughters of convicted heretics made poor prospects for marriage. The whole family might be ostracized by friends and relations who were fearful of being seen to associate with convicted heretics and then finding themselves accused of the same crime. Indeed, the terrible isolation that resulted from the wearing of crosses was the whole point of the penance.
Page 138: Then, too, the inquisitors sought to enforce the theological monopoly of the Church as a matter of realpolitik, and the Inquisition objected to the Beguines and the Beghards less because they were dangerous heretics than because they submitted themselves to “no Rule and no authority from the Holy See.”
Page 189: “We must remember that the main purpose of the trial and execution,” wrote one Spanish inquisitor in 1578 in a commentary on Eymerich’s classic manual, “is not to save the soul of the accused but to achieve the public good and put fear into others.”
Page 201: The sight of men, women, and children being slowly burned to death was apparently a crowd-pleaser, and “the shrieks of dying heretics sounded as sweet music in the ears of blameless adherents of the Church,” according to Cecil Roth’s bitterly sarcastic description of the scene.
Page 201 continues: Not every spectator was quite so cool about the carnage. A private letter written by one of the queen’s attendants, the Marquise de Villars, betrays a degree of compassion that apparently escaped the others: “The cruelties which were witnessed at the death of these poor wretches it is impossible for me to describe.” Yet the writer also confirms the principle of terror that the Inquisition applied not only to its victims but to the populace at large. “It was necessary to put in an appearance from beginning to end, unless one had a medical certificate, for otherwise one would have been considered a heretic,” she reports. “Indeed, people thought very ill of me that I did not seem to enjoy everything that was happening.”
Page 215: Both the Inquisition and the Nazi regime were fearful of any idea or practice that fell outside the narrow circle of dogma; thus, for example, both turned their attention to Freemasons, homosexuals, and Jews, among other victims. Both were obsessed with their self-appointed mission of imposing a rigid authoritarian order on an unruly world, always putting “the C’s with the C’s.” Tragically, the similarities do not stop there.
Page 218: Indeed, the violence that Nazi Germany did to language was always intimately linked to the violence it did to its victims.
Page 238: What Hitler and Stalin had in common was the same aspiration that animated the first inquisitors—the simple but deadly notion that it was both possible and desirable to rid the world of anyone whom the regime deemed to be unworthy of life. Significantly, Hitler, Stalin, and Pope Innocent III all used the word filth to apply to a different set of victims, but each saw himself as the ordained agent of purification, each arrogated to himself the absolute power to decide who lived and died, and each was convinced of both the rightness and the inevitability of his role in history.
I have a Personal Comment here: “JUDGE Rutherford” with his rigid authoritarian upbringing, and his evidenced subscription to attitudes of rigidity, crime, punishment, power, control, domination, and (demands for perverted forms of) obedience –all of which seem to have been highly valued by his supporters, and which, like the inquisition, seem to have been mistaken for piety and Godliness– seems (to me, at least) to have continued the zealous work of the inquisition under pretty much the same justification and methods. Ask any JW today this question: “What would make life wonderful?” and the reply will most often be “Kill billions of people.” History well attests to just how deadly are such attitudes.
As much as I hate the inquisitorial acts that have been perpetrated upon me over the years as a JW, I pray that I myself NEVER fall into the deadly trap of adopting inquisitorial attitudes, expressions, or actions. I wish never to become the same as the monster that I condemn.
I could have included so many more snippets and excerpts, yet I believe this closing comment from Page 247 of the book rather captures the essence of the issue quite completely: “And here we confront the deadly and inevitable peril of the inquisitorial impulse: sometimes we do not know the difference between an authentic threat and an imaginary one until it is too late.”
I eagerly await the fruits of your research and efforts.
-greg