I survived 75. I was 17. My parents joined JW’s in 1963. All my childhood we were told on the podium and during the meetings. We were told at the conventions. We read it in the watchtower and awake magazines. We read it in the literature/books. We were told 1975 was the year, Armageddon would come. My parents sold our home in 1967 and moved to Oregon. Where we could quietly live out our lives till 75. My family fell apart. After I was kicked out of my parents home at 17 my father did not speak to me for 10 years. I cared for him until his death in 2021. He just knew he would never die in this old system of things. I’m so incredibly insulted by current Jehovah witnesses telling me that this belief was from over zealous ministers. That is incorrect and a false teaching of their history. Sham on them!
My mother was quite shocked when she found herself dying from cancer. She seriously thought she would live forever. She also was deeply saddened when the Elders told her that perhaps she should rely on her disfellpwshipped children for end of life care. The same children, and by proxy grandchildren, she had spent decades shunning.
@@shadegreen5351 that’s an appalling situation. Nothing could ease her pain. On the other hand, congregations are organized into groups. If someone needs assistance in our specific or another group it would be arranged. We show love for one another even during end of life circumstances.
@@gottagoride7889 Maybe, but that was not my experience. The part that is appalling is my mother living decades and dying with a hatred for the children she bore, raised, and who did as the Bible says and honored thier father and mother with taking care of her at her most vulnerable and needful state. A hate that was taught to her and fostered by the very folks who had no Christian charity or compassion for one of the widows of the flock.
What bothers me, is that they never took responsibility for it. They just blamed the people who left the organization, saying they were 'spiritually weak'. It's always someone else's fault, never the fault of the organization. If you point it out to them, they will just say that they didn't have a good understanding back then, but now they have 'new light', so all is well again. Happy, happy! Best life ever! You can never win.
I read something recently that never occurred to me when I was a JW, but I think it makes really good sense. When it comes to the alleged importance of using God's name, JWs argue that it's important because how could a person otherwise have a close relationship with God, if one didn't know and use his name? But Jesus actually emphasised that God would be like a father to humans. He told his disciples that they should address God as 'father' in their prayers, like in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. People don't commonly address their parents by their first names. Is 'father' not a more intimate address than any name?
Yes, 'Father' is much more intimate, and that's why Jesus used it - and also partly why the Pharisees were so offended, because Jesus called God 'Dad'.
Yes, and moreover, Jesus never refers to his father with his name, in formal situations when he's talking to others or when he's praying to him. He never argues with the pharisees about it either, even though JWs always bring up that jewish leaders are to blame about the fading of the name. Nor does he tell one parable about it. Nor devote any time for it in his sermon on the mount. All we have are a couple vague mentions about "God's name", which even JWs admit means (at least partly) his reputation.
The JW are the only religion that even recognize the Father as God most others claim that Jesus is God the Catholics are all about the Mother Mary now and give little attention to God or Jesus.
@@markbrandon7359 I'm sorry, but as a Catholic I have to call your claim out as an utter heap of male bovine excrement! 1) You realize that, especially according to the prologue of the Gospel according to John, Jesus, the "logos", the "light", is God (ho theos)? *BOTH* Jesus *and* the Father *are GOD* ! The FATHER is God, JESUS is God as well, the SPIRIT is God -- three simultaneously existing persons or aspects of one and the same being. It's called Tri-Unity for a reason. It took quite some time for the doctrine of the Trinity to be developped -- or better discovered. That, however, doesn't mean that it's apostasy! 2) The claim, that we Catholics "are all about the Mother Mary now and give little attention to God or Jesus" is, again, a heap of bovine excrement. We pray the Our Father regularily. It is a a fixed part of every Catholic liturgical celebration, be it the Eucharist (Mass), the Office of the Hours (Lauds, Vespers), the rosary, or any other service. We may venerate the Mother of God (as confirmed by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesos), and we call her our mother as well because isn't Jesus -- her son -- our brother? But we don't worship her! We don't put her -- the _ancilla Dei_ -- ahead of God! We don't give little attention to the Father or Jesus. You wanna know why? Because we celebrate the Eucharist regularily! How can we Catholics, who worship the literal *real presence of Jesus* in transsubstantiated bread and wine, who consider the celebration and sacrament of the Eucharist -- especially the Sunday Eucharist as the celebration of the Paschal Mystery and the original Feast of the Lord -- as the "the summit and source of all worship and Christian life" (Can. 897), give "little attention to God or Jesus"? I'm sorry, but this claim about us Catholics is just absurd. And, a piece of advice: David and Vivian Aspinall may be able to help you when it comes to debunking JW lies about "Christendom"...
Our Father who art in Heaven (HALLOWED BE HIS NAME) his name is not Father. "I have made your name manifest to the world. I believe he said that while dying on the cross
I could never wrap my head around the two classes of Christians - the little flock who are anointed, and the great crowd who are not anointed. I asked numerous Elders to show me a scripture that talked about non-anointed Christians. They couldn’t, as none exist. I was told the New Testament was written for anointed Christians only. I asked why us non-anointed ones had to follow the rules laid out in it and was told told it was a sign of our support for Christ’s brothers. I asked them, “If Jehovah is our father, wouldn’t we all be brothers (and sisters) of Jesus?” The answer was, “yes but the anointed are special brothers that have been chosen for a special role, and the rest of us are his friends.” Again, I asked for a scripture to back this up. Again, I was was greeted with nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Duck egg. Lloyd, I love the reasoning, logic and facts you use to support your arguments. It’s amazing that an apostate (albeit an ex-Bible student) has more knowledge of the scriptures than, dare I say, the majority of rank and file witnesses. Thanks for all that you do mate. Much appreciated.
Part of the reason for the two flocks was because when JW numbers were growing rapidly, they realised that the 144,000 'slots' in heaven would soon be filled. So they had to invent more 'slots' so as to give others a reason for joining even if the 144,000 tickets had been sold out. I think in the early days of that doctrine, they referred to them as 'Jonadabs', although I may be mistaken on that.
@@virtualcolditz LOL, "144,00 slots"; a number from a book that's presented in signs and symbols no less. Yea they make crap up as they go along and the need arises. Err, I mean 😏"New Light".
Ray Franz got kicked out of the Governing Body and Bethel for supporting other bethelites in their view that Romans 8:14 meant that all Christians were anointed and God's children. If you haven't checked out Crisis of Conscience, I recommend you do, the whole episode was chilling to read about.
They have since then changed it. They no longer refer to anyone as being apart of a “class”. Now they just refer to the “whole association of brothers”, those with the Earthly hope and the others with heavenly. Apparently using the class distinction was nurturing an elitist attitude amongst the anointed presumably.
If you got no tangible reply from the elders you asked does not mean that the two christians groups are not provided for in the Bible(the anointed and the non-anointed).They are well catered for and I can show and prove to you from your own Bible.Wanna give me a try?
They stopped my School education. Finally, when became an adult, pursued education and became university graduate. Later, employed in Govt sector. Thus I became a PIMO. Am truly following ur RUclips channels without any break. Hats off you... 👍👍👍
Why have you listened them? Even when I was "good" witness I supported my son for higher education. When elders learnt about it they emphasized this topic in congregation needs. I just ignored them. I only know that my son has good paid job now. When we had hard period they were mocking us.
Abram? What is a pimo? Your story is very common amongst us all . I'm happy you pulled it back. Instead of listing my story etc I just want to wish the very best for the ones who are only just breaking free and spare a thought for them
Lloyd, this video once more shows your love for the details and your effort to make the details importance seen and understood. It is this devotion of yours that makes your channel outstanding. Please say hello to Dijana and tell her thank you for sharing her husband with the community.
You never recommending any Atheist-Channels to your followers shows me that you dont 'really' believe they can make their own Decision and choose a Religion for the right Reasons. It shows a lack of Faith and it maybe, just maybe, even shows you dont trust them or even yourself that you can study the Atheist-Viewpoint without issues for your Faith. Not to mention: Experts warn of creating an 'Echo-Chamber', but you dont warn them of that, yes? You dont warn them of watching only Christian-Channel, despite it being obviously unhealthy to stick to 1 corner of the internett? ?
I just want to say THANK YOU. I'm Italian and it's very difficult find valid videos in my language which talk about jehova's witnesses like this. I'm not good in English, especially in listening but when you talk I can understand every single word, your speech is very clean. Thank you so much!!! (sorry for my bad English)
I remember studying the Revelation book when I was 14, and learning about 1919 teaching and the 3.5 times has to do with Rutherford being in jail, without even doing the math, my immediate reaction was that there was no way it was true.
They were not so important to be in Bible. What to do with Revelation 13:7,8? Repeating same prophecy from chapter 11:7,8? 13th chapter speaks about later events, like today when Governing body is misled by Satan with covid vaccine agenda.
I'm very happy to hear you have made a video!!! I subscribed to your channel in anticipation, hoping you would, as you seemed interested to do so. I will check out your vid. with Jordan. Thanks for letting us know! :-)
@@daniellamcgee4251 thank you for the kind comments Daniella. Yes I had a lot of fun with Jordan and making the beard video. Haven’t made any myself for my channel yet, maybe in the future 👍
Just another way JW’s stifle the natural physical progression of young people. No sex, no masturbation, no beards. It was definitely something that lead me to slowly become PIMO as I went through adolescence. I sacrificed so much of my teenage years and beyond, based all my decisions on “The Truth”, and yet they’re trying to make me feel guilty about my facial hair? In full disclosure, I grew up in Western Europe, where it’s generally more liberal and accepted; especially nowadays. Recently, a childhood friend of mine became an elder, and even he has a beard. I live on yet another continent now, and even here there are different attitudes towards it. Regardless, after moving to the United States as a young teenager, I vividly recall being asked to comply with this rule several times, but it was done in such a sly, underhanded way that I simply couldn’t respect it. My qualm has always been that this rule is so oddly strict in some places, and so lax in others. And it’s not even based on any scripture! It weirded me out, to be honest, that it was a big enough deal for elders to chase after me in the parking lot to ask me to shave. “Oh, I haven’t had a chance to shave yet”, I remember saying. “Yeah, but you’ve got it all shaped up and stuff”, he replied. It even happened several times during my personal Bible study with an elder, which I was only doing at the behest of my mom. He would occasionally go over how “we” present ourselves. “We make sure we’re always neat, we speak well, we shave…”. “Okay? You’re obviously talking about me. So just say that”, I remember thinking. It annoyed me that this was constantly being brought up to me, but in such a cowardly way, because they knew they had no real scriptural leg to stand on. There was even a brother who would routinely come up to me and jokingly say “What’s up, Wolfman?” Of course, as a kid just trying not to get disfellowshipped (because you’re only allowed to have JW friends) you become a master of the “just smile & wave” technique. The same thing happened when I tried getting reinstated, and it was only then that I went along with it. They employ this sort of “When in Rome” philosophy to it, as though we should be considerate of local norms and customs, even though a beard is not actually seen as controversial in “The World.” Hell, even senators, lawyers, judges, and world leaders have them. The JW organization obviously follows a corporate structure, and this rule is so evident of that. It’s simply an open secret that you can’t progress as a brother in the congregation if you have facial hair, which is a big deal if you want to get married, because that’s what sisters look for; a brother who can also help them progress. So basically, if you have a beard, you’re seen as someone who’s not really interested in The Truth, or is rebellious in some way. Had I known about these “beard” scriptures, I probably could’ve pulled one over on them. 20/20, I guess.
I appreciated this video. I was raised from age 3 as a JW. I was never baptized and rebelled as a young teenager. I lived afraid I would not get to live life and be destroyed in the coming of Armageddon because I was not good enough, this was in the early 70s, so I believed it was just around the corner. I have struggled for many years with their theology as still thought some of it was the truth. In the last few years have been attending a nondenominational Christian church and still struggled with believing in heaven and this has helped me to understand so much. I am now 65 and finally feel so much better about my choice to not be baptized in this religion and more free to be baptized as a nondenominational Christian. Thank you so much for your videos.
Lloyd, judicial committees should be in the top 10. There is no scriptural teaching in both the Old and New Testament that calls for 3 men to act as Judge, Jury and Executioner for real and perceived wrongs committed by members of the congregation. And if you happen to be guilty of the charge against you, forgiveness of your error usually is not the case, and if so you’re ‘reproved’. They will resort to name calling and degrees of social ostracism to punish the offender. Unfortunately, this behaviour goes on even without a judicial committee. Brother Smith let his grown child go to college, he’s not fit to be an Elder. That family is spiritually weak. Mr, Jones bought a boat, he’s materialistic. Sister Williams has a retirement account, she doesn’t believe the end is near. Sister Nurse works 12 hr. shifts, misses meetings, she’s not seeking the kingdom first. Ad Nuaseam.
And to take it one step further, those in the Bible who were judged by other humans had full access to what they were being judged from. None of the Kings, judges, pharisees, or saduccees had top-secret elder books
"Does that mean we're not allowed to have dogs?" Very good point, but apparently now people ARE supposed to get rid of their dogs and spend more time serving the org.🙄 (according to the recent video you showed)
When I was still in, my best friend got df'd and while she was out she got pregnant. She was at every meeting and my family always sat behind hers. I was doing my level best to respect the disfellowshipping arrangement, but she was my best friend and she was pregnant and basically left to deal with all that on her own and that killed me. At one meeting she cried quietly throughout the last prayer and then ofc left the hall as soon as they said amen. I couldn't take it anymore so I followed her out to the parking lot, and without saying a word, just gave her a huge hug and let her cry some more. We didn't speak, though. At the next meeting, I got hauled into the back room and counseled about "not being respectful of god's theocratic arrangement." I straight up told them that I was always taught that disfellowshipping was a loving arrangement to get wayward ones to return to god, discipline, not punishment, and I wasn't about to act like my best friend didn't exist just bc she screwed up. That I could see she was upset and I was moved to comfort her and that really, that should have been their job, to notice that she was in distress and ask if she'd like to talk or have one of them pray with her, but I didn't see any of them following her out to make sure she was ok. Idk if I shamed them or what but they didn't take it any farther. They ended the meeting with a pretty lame, "well just don't do it again," but I assured them if I felt like I needed to, I certainly would do it again. But she got reinstated a couple months later, so it wasn't an issue anymore.
Maaaaaaan this "organization" did a number on me that I'm just realizing later in life. I was baptized in like 1992 as I was graduating highschool. Most of it was to please my grandma. I started attending meetings at an early age was on the ministry school was an active publisher, until I started to notice ways they were carrying on were no different from the church folks they condemned. I know because my father is a Deacon and have been since I was a child. He allowed me to go to JW meetings however when he wanted me to go to church that's where I went. It opened my eyes to all "organized" religion and as I continue to be more spritual in my walk and talk the same God is still there blessing me Everytime. Keep doing what you are doing because they have a serious hypnosis game working
I wish my family would just watch this episode. This is so clear. 😔 Thank you for standing for the folks that escaped and helping others to do the same.
So wrong that you are saying escaped like it’s a bad place they are coming from. Might not be the most correct following of Christ but they morally are in a good place and will inevitably go to heaven
I remember being a kid and encouraged to become a plumber or electrician. There's nothing wrong with those jobs, but I wanted something more since in my birth country it was really hard to make the ends meet working on those type of jobs. I left it all and graduated from university, but some of the kids I knew back then are working as mechanics or painters. Again, nothing wrong with those jobs, it's the fact they encourage kids to not think for themselves that bothers me the most.
Rev 22:18 Adding or taking away from the meanings of the scriptures. Isn’t that what they do for their own convenience all the time? Especially when nitpicking on a minute point in the only scripture it may be mentioned then turning it into laws within the religion, instead of using principles. Love the Video Lloyd, I’d bring this up as a child when witnessing with an elder, with a lot of bluster I was dismissed. As I was fading, I read the elders(during a sheparding call) these sort of articles and remind them the word is a two edged sword and how Jesus regarded the Pharisees.
The witnesses spend months teaching their students a new gospel: 1 You are not a child of God. 2 You don’t belong to Christ, 3. You do not have his spirit. 4. Jesus is not your mediator. 5. The Kingdom of the heavens is closed. But if you identify ‘The Faithful Slave’ aka Governing Body as the sole channel that Jehovah is using. Make a Dedication Vow, Get baptized in symbol of that Vow then live up to that Vow by carrying out the perfunctory tasks you are assigned, you can be called Jehovahs ‘Friend’. Then have the prospect of cleaning up billions of dead human carcasses that Steven Lett and his associates kill on their white horses alongside Jesus.
Yep, this is it in a nutshell. And yet, the most indoctrinated ones still won't logically process it because it did not come out of the GB's mouth. They allowed men to rob their god given intelligence. smdh
So thrilled to see Beards on this list! The harassment my husband went through about his beard was actually the beginning of my questioning. I thought it was such a petty thing to spend so much time and energy on.
In our congregation we were discouraged to study further, yet the most prominent elder in our congregation sent his two daughters to University. We all looked on stunned, but never said anything...Their daughters were snobbish and were always spoken of as exemplary as far as dress code was concerned. I also must mention that the elders were the "haves" and the rest of us the "have nots'.
Very well done, as always. The equating between the oral law/traditions and the jw rules is undeniable. I am reminded of a statement quoted by Raymond Franz (Crisis of Conscience p 118) of one of the GB (Milton Henschel) saying "If we let the brothers do this [make a personal decision regarding alternative civilian service], there is no telling how far they will go." Franz even notes in that section that they felt they were putting up a protective wall. Did they not hear the similarity to their description of the pharisees they constantly made?!?! Regarding 1919, I seem to remember some verses in Daniel and Revelation that interpreted as having a bearing on this date. Not, of course, saying God would choose his representatives in that year or any such nonsense. But 1919 was seen as the beginning of a period of the recuperation of God's people after the "death" of the work for those 9 months (btw, please tell me you saw the ridiculous way the Revelation book contrasts the 1260 days of sackcloth preaching in Rev 11 to the 3.5 days of death- rv p 168, para 21 ftn. Check it out.. It is hilarious!) The chart on p 183 of the Revelation book shows 1919-1922 as the "period of recuperation" when the organization "fled away into the wilderness", which they compared to Israel going into the wilderness after Egypt to be organized and prepared for going into the promised land. They compare this to when Rutherford and Co were released in March 1919. The 1260 days of Revelation 12:13,14 began in the spring of 1919 and ended in 1922 (at that ADV convention, no less.) See the Revelation book, chap 27, paragraphs 24-26. Likewise, Daniel 12:11 speaks of a 1290 days any using a starting point of 2 months earlier than the Revelation period, January 1919, they also count down to that exact same convention. (See the Daniel prophecy book, chap 17, paragraph 20-23). When I was a fully believing PIMI, it was little things like this that stuck with me and helped me deal with doubts. Reaching, of course. They manipulate the terms and definitions until they can massage it all together with a date they have already decided upon. But just like 1914, 1919 is not something in the Bible. But with some prophetic calculus, some squinting, and a lobotomy, you can get there. Keep up the good work.
I love this, and I really hate the double standard about education. I have struggled with this for a while and I finally decided to take my education seriously. Of course nobody in the congregation knows... I have just been going through the motions because of my family and not wanting to rock the boat, but I can't wait to finally be done with it!
Thank you Lloyd! I always follow your videos. But this one is just amazing! So clear! Im actually writing notes in my language to send this to my parents or just tell them! I was from 2 years old in JW religion. But I got out. I been disfellowshipped. My parents stayed there. Now they start speaking with me but never like before. I just want to open them eyes. And this video so informative. thank you a lot. Hope they listen. 🤞Very appreciated your work ❤️
In general the bible is strange and unstructured collections of writings. Why a god would want an ambiguous document to spell out how to worship and what the overall plan is, is beyond me. Also fundamentalists are quick to point to the fact that the Old Testament is the old law and jesus replaced that law, until they need the Old Testament to make their point.
well some of the things jesus changed in the new testament others he didn't is what i think there reasoning is i could be wrong though but if that was the case the laws pertaining to rape are still in effect and i don't know anyone who would follow them in today's age
A lot of the old testament is in regards to the deal made Between God and the Jews to free them from bondage and form a nation in there name this agreement was exclusive to god and the Jews Along comes Jesus who stood for all nations so yes much of the Mosaic laws are obsolete
The Bible was deliberately made difficult to understand only a religion that God favors and that he guides can understand it that's why many people scoff at religion saying it reads like a fairytale when in fact God's word is simple logical and brilliant. Rule of thumb if it makes God look stupid, mean, cruel or vindictive it's not his truth
@@markbrandon7359 That logically doesn’t make sense. If there was a god and an inspired book, said god would make the book impossibly easy to understand that no one could possibly say it wasn’t the word of god. Making it difficult to understand just further proves the fact that the god of bible is a giant ass or that it simply is book of nonsense.
Congratulations, I'm the 2,1k liker haha I am so remarked and refreshed by the fact that I finally get to hear ppl's story that explain the Bible that you don't hear as a Jehovah's Witness and growing up as one. Biblical verses, explanation and why it should or should not be the right thing( your opinion included). You don't hear these things as a child, there has been a lot of truth being withhold from me while I knew that something was going on. They just weren't allowed to talk about it. Real good video, thank you!
@@johnnasalazar7617 I’ve listened to numerous talks and you are admonished to give your life to God. Never have I heard to give it to the religion, organisation or the GB
This is why they tell us "Stay off the internet". You will hear truth. All my life I served Jehovah and didn't go to college Now I'm struggling and hardly making ends meet. Yes, I was a regular pioneer and served where the need was great, and it was amazing work. But, now I'm older and I'm struggling. I don't understand 😢😢😢
The Society stated in 1917 that the ultimate destruction of religion would occur in 1918, explaining that God would destroy the churches "on the wholesale" and that "Christendom will fall like a system into oblivion." (The Finished Mystery, 1917, p. 485, 258, 513 as quoted by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 206-211.)-Joseph Franklin Rutherford, lived to the year 1942, and none of his predictions came to pass. From 1918 until now, the number of religions increases.
Not to mention having the article series, "Explains their Faith" where they interview doctors, scientists, and engineers. People that only get to that position in life through HIGHER EDUCATION.
Talking of the ridiculous logic of the watchtower, the standout nonsense would have to be the teaching that anyone who died before Jesus died could not enter the kingdom of the Heavens, since they died before the way to Heaven had been opened. John the Baptist is apparently excluded on those grounds. Using this logic, no one who died before Jesus could benefit from the ransom either, since they would have died before the ransom had been provided, and therefor could not benefit from this new arrangement, and therefor would be doomed to everlasting death. Very sad for Able, Abraham, David, etc. All of them must be doomed. Similarly stupid logic states that the covenant for a kingdom in the Heavens that Jesus made with the disciples during the lord's evening meal only applied to the anointed since all those sitting at the table were of the anointed. Using the same logic though means that women could not benefit from this arrangement either, since all those present at the meal were men. Also, only Jews could be included since those at the Lord's evening meal were all Jews. I suppose if all the people at the Lord's evening meal had been tall people, that must mean that no short people could be with Jesus in Heaven either. When it comes to stupidity, the watchtower organization seems to have cornered the market.
Great points!.. 🙌 Just a little twist to something that I discovered.... I cannot wait to see how they portray their new "Jesus story"...because as you may know during the "Lords Evening Meal" none of the partakers were Anointed at that time! They were anointed after Jesus was resurrected! This will be fun to see because in WT / JW Land...No one can partake of the emblems unless they are Anointed!
Exactly!... Job celebrated his children's birthday. Job 1:4 mentions "set day" in the silver sword. But, if you go to bible hub and check out the different translations it says "birthday" Our "set day" is our "birthday" because the day of our birth will NEVER change therefore it's always "set". The UNinspired GB needs to get a real life and stop the evil silly madness!!
Sure, the NIV says birthday, but several other translations render Job 1:4 differently. The CSB says, “His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes”. The ESV says, “His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day…” “On his day” means it was the son’s turn to host a banquet. There was no mention of a birth anniversary.
@@barriekelley2241 Job 1:4 uses the same Hebrew as Job 3:1. Job 3:1 is translated as birthday. Heb: (yo-w-mow) Most biblical scholars agree that Job 1.4 is also referring to birthdays.
@@denishartley3828 It doesn't say that his children died on Job's birthday. He is cursing the day of his birth because his life has been made miserable.
Great video, thanks! You make a really good point about the Bible having 1000+ pages, which should be ample space to explain the will of God. Yet, all my believing JW family members have large bookcases in their homes containing what must be tens of thousands of pages of WTS literature. And yet it never occurs to them that what they are really following are the writings of the WTS, and not the Bible.
I have joyously been an “apostate” since the early 1990s! I went to and graduated from college, and one of the courses I took was an anthropology class entitled, “Magic, Ritual and Religion”. I was already a PIMO since high school, but stayed under the radar for my mother’s sake. (thankfully my father was a very lapsed Catholic, who most likely was agnostic, and never converted into the cult.) l eventually wrote a note of disassociation in 1991(I was born into the cult in the late 60s), and have never looked back, especially after having been enlightened by the anthropology course I mentioned above. They (JW Cult) don’t want their sheeple to get an education because it would open up their minds and cause a mass exodus the likes that their 1975 failed guess would pale to in comparison. Thanks for your continued efforts to spread the word to the RUclips universe in hopes that more people will wake to the fact that the JW’s and all religions are cults based on mythology! The ancient cultures of Greece and Rome no longer exist, and it makes me wonder just how much longer Western culture will survive if it continues to believe in fairytale religions.🧚🏻♀️
It could be, and has been argued, that early Christianity was based on resurrection to a perfect world on earth. The idea of a heavenly existence separate from earth seems to be a later, or at the very least less popular idea of eternal life.
Yes, it seems that Jesus, as an apocalyptic jewish prophet, believed that the end of the world would bring peace on EARTH, but after he died, his followers were in shock and had to heavily shift their views towards a heavenly resurrection since Jesus couldn't have just vanished. And as the NT is written 20-80 years after his death, not much of the original message remains. Paul anticipated to get to heaven but clearly believed it to happen during the 1st century, since he said the end times had arrived (1 Cor 10:11). Paul had lost the view that there would be any earthly eternal life. This crops up again in maybe 2 Peter, written in the 2nd century by an unknown author, and in Revelation, written by some guy called John, who we know nothing about. Other than that, it seems most Christian authors have nothing to say about an earthly paradise. As JWs we learned to string together the few separate instances that the NT alludes to an earthly hope and ignore the rest. And of course pretend that all Bible writers agreed on this stuff when they clearly did not.
57:05 About the ban on beards - it's not tolerated even on a congregation level. I was forbidden to simply read a passage from Bible at the Ministry meeting (probably the lowest possible task for brothers) because I've had a scruff. Not to mention public talks on a weekend meeting.
As an ex witness since age 15, I planned on going to one or two sections but I ended up sitting through the whole thing because I was interested in every last thing you brought up.
@@BudgieFan101 If humans don’t preach, god will make stones talk, or was that the “stoned”? Must depend upon which version of the buybull you’re reading…😂!
No it doesnt. Jesus would added the following to make the sentence completed "I deserve Mercy not Sacrifice so that completely undoes going door-to-door." However he instead added "To Obey is better than Sacrifice".
Finally a truth I can understand…. THANK YOU for always giving us the truth about “ the truth”…..SMDH!!!! No wonder they never wanted members to research outside of their material….
You make very logical sense. I agree that scripture in Rev relates to the WHOLE Bible. NO additions are needed!!! God gave us all we need for every situation in life!!You are so right, no man’s words are needed!!! Good thinking. God doesn’t need our help by making up words that He didn’t provide. We as humans often think we are smarter than the inspired words of the bible. You make SO much sense. I wish more people understood that as you do. Don’t we all understand that when. Grist brought His teachings that the old law was done away
You can definitely be a sincere christian without being a Jehovah's Witness. Please dont let the treatment you and those you love received keep you from Loving God.
Number 6 just explained to me what happened many many years ago… it all now makes sense! I left the cult back in 2018 after 22 years of being a jw, got ‘recruited’ or rather manipulated into it as a vulnerable 14 year old back in 1996… thank goodness I managed to get out, for my kids sake so they can go and get university education unlike myself. Thanks for sharing this information, wish I had known it when I first met jws… better late than never though.
What's really ironic is that Lloyd and other "apostates" know their Bible better than most JW's or religious people in general... I personally did a deep dive into it to "face my doubts" and "strengthen my faith" as the February 2021 WT encourages and it had the opposite effect as my brain started noticing all the contradictions and atrocity.
And if JW's really read the Old Testament with open eyes, they'd soon realise Jehovah is a mass murderer who has major temper tantrums and enjoys the sweet aroma of burnt animal carcasses as sacrifices unto himself. He is an evil psychopath known as Satan the devil.
@@briezchannel I went through that 25 years ago, it was so much fun. I spent hundreds of dollars on bible translations, concordances, dictionaries, commentaries etc. I visited different churches. I studied evolution. The entire world opened up right before my eyes. A lot of people talk about rejoining their church after moments of doubt or just malaise. Hardly anybody rejoins the JWs, and I don't believe those recent "almost went apostate" stories from jw broadcasting.
Same here!! My elders told me to spend my time in quarantine December 2020 to "build my rship with Jehovah by personal study" and tbh I never really took that heart before but I decided "why not give personal study a try?"and that's when I found out Jesus was not my mediator confronted my elders about it and they couldn't explain it to me. I delved deeper and I made a list of dozens of contradictions in JW teaching and the bible itself. (I think the only reason I haven't been hauled before a judicial committee yet is because it's a pandemic haha) And then I found Lloyd, ExJw Critical thinker, Watchtower Examination, Mentally Diseased, John Maple, Mark Martin, JW Escape, Beroen Pickets, The Truth Hurts and many others and well...here I am now PIMO heading to POMO haha. I believe that any Witness who studies objectively will see the charlatan nature of this organization.
You my friend are a true gem! These are the topics that took me out of “the truth” because there is no “biblical truth” or what Christianity would call orthodoxy within the JW theology.
Why would Jesus be on paradise earth and not heaven? Also, how can the thief be with Jesus TODAY in paradise if the paradise is in the future? Or do they not address these questions?
Hi Lloyd, I just wanted to say thank you for the time and effort you up towards your videos. They have showed me the flaws within the organization and I tried showing my girlfriend and she doesn’t want to believe which is understandable since she was born into it and is the only thing she knows. I hope you continue to make the videos because you are helping so many people, keep it up!
I can’t describe the feeling when I took my daughter to meet her family who was in and they told me I was damning her along with with myself for not staying (I was 11 when I decided I’d rather make the sin of ending my life than to suffer longer in the life I was with the religion and Jehovah knowing my heart. I knew even then that I wasn’t “good enough” for what “He” wanted from me and I would suffer for eternity regardless)- I can’t describe to people in a simple conversation how horrible the whole thing is- and I’ve had no where near the worst experiences while PIMI, and for that… my heart goes out to everyone still being hurt by the organization, mentally, emotionally, and physically 💔
Your family are very much deceived as all JW's are. They don't realise it, but their Jehovah is Satan the devil. Just as Jehovah in the Hebrew Scriptures delighted in killing 100's of thousands of men, woman, children and babies, likewise, JW's are looking forward to the day he strikes 8 billion people dead come armageddon. He's the same God in the Old Testament that Jesus condemned the Jews for worshipping. John 8:44 Compare 2 Samuel 24:1,2 with 1 Chronicles 21:1, 2. (Don't read out of the NWT as their bible has been altered to read differently)
Knowing you are not good enough is exactly why Jesus came! Galatians 5:4You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.
I don’t believe the person who raised me in it nor the one who said those things meant to be cruel. I know the mentality that exists behind the religion, and at the time, they were putting out a lot of awful material that made the interactions volatile. I don’t think that person is still as involved based on more recent conversations- including “I hope jehovah allows you into paradise with such a good heart” most recently- which isn’t at all following the teachings. She wholeheartedly believed that the only way she would ever see me and my daughter happy for eternity would be if we followed in her footsteps. She cares to see us happy and not suffering, she was indoctrinated by these people for her entire life- taught to her by her mother. I still love my family who is in the religion, but it’s not to say it hasn’t caused incredible pain trying to navigate the relationships with them. Also I am no longer religious for anyone who may comment around those things. If there is a God out there-one who has the power to grant eternal life and happiness- I want it to be based on my merit and values alone, not having to pick the “correct one” or “have faith” in anyone in particular. I had accepted eternal damnation as a child and I’m not opposed now if I am required to do anything more than act with kindness and empathy. My thought is, if there is a god, why wouldn’t satan divide and conquer by making everyone believe different things so strongly they hate people who don’t believe the same? The bible-and the different versions- is more proof of evil than of good imo.
@@modifiedmomma2365 with respect, most abusers don’t mean it - that’s still cold comfort for those on the receiving end. Abuse doesn’t need intentions to hurt and damage.
As you were talking about the prodigal son came to mind the 7 turn towards in Deuteronomy 30, from verse 1: 1 ..thou shalt call (them) to mind among all the nations... We call to mind the LORD or God in our mind 2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; We return to the LORD our God in our actions. 3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. The son was returning to his fathers house and goes out to gather his son. The remaining turn towards are a back and forth between the repentant one and the LORD. That being said, the prodigal was returning to his fathers house with the LORD having compassion and gathering his son. Thanks Lloyd. JT
39:01 Item 6: my entire existence is due to that precise item. I was born out of wedlock my dad cheated and had me with another woman, everyone shut their mouth until today and I was told to never explain anything to anyone. Something in me wants to drop the bomb.
Nailed it. My thoughts on the "secret rules" and "secret GB meetings" stuff. And the beard rule was pretty much the breaking point. Lastly, you mirrored my stance on higher education! Thats why I eventually said screw it and got my MS
I loved the common sense examination of the father running to greet the wayward son. I laughed as you described it. Good job! I also like the Father explanation. So much more to say, but great,
You forgot Point 21). Despite anything the Governing Body teach and/or The Watchtower Publications teach, any Body of Elders at any said congregation are completely at liberty to act with impunity and formulate which or whatever decisions they stipulate when they meet behind closed doors on a monthly basis. This is not "What The Bible Really Teaches." On an additional note, they are not 'Appointed by Jehovah,' they appoint amongst themselves.
Excellent video. True, having a beard is not a disfellowshipping offense, but unrepentant celebration of birthdays is. So are political involvement and smoking disfellowshipping issues.JWs are simply modern day Pharisees.
I would perhaps substitute no. 2 with "Christians should use God's name". I do agree with the org, that the usage is more important than how it's pronounced. But, did Christians care about the divine name? Jesus and his followers seemed to be utterly uninterested in the name. No parables or sermons or polemics in the Gospels or Paul's letter are ever about the use of the name, no christian accepts the faith based on learning God's name, and Jesus refers to God as father, not YHWH. And all the extant Greek manuscripts only use "Lord". The real reason for this is probably because even if Jews used the name, the NT wasn't written by Jews but by Greek-speaking gentiles who didn't care about the name.
You also see this in the book of Daniel. It transitions back and forth between Aramaic and Hebrew. The Hebrew parts use YHWH. But, the Aramaic parts use the word for Lord or Sky God, but never YHWH.
Was it Jesus and his disciples who were not interested in God's name or it was the Bible writers who decided to omit it in their translations from Hebrew,Greek,or aramaic to other languages including English? Kindly check in the preface of most of the Bible versions and see what they say about God's name and why it doesn't appear in the new testament.If Jesus says he made his father's name known to his followers (John 17:6) Which name could that be?
The original text of the Greek scriptures that we have doesn't have the tetragrammaton even once so I don't know how translators could omit it from the text that doesn't have it. And no, scholars don't think that it was there and was later replaced with "Lord", except for one or two scholars who suggested it in the 70s that WT constantly cites. These suggestions have not gained any traction since. As for "name", JWs and others constantly explain that the word in the Bible means more than just someone's literal name: their reputation, their person etc. For example in the Lord's prayer, sanctifying his name means to clear God's reputation. As I said before, Jesus doesn't use the name in speech or teach about it, which would indicate that when he says, "I've made your name known", he isn't talking about the literal name. Of course it could also be that the writer of John (and other Gospel writers) didn't use the name, and thus omitted it from their text even if Jesus did originally use it. While most translations use "name" in John 17:6, there are other options as well: "I have shown you" (NIRV), “I have revealed you" (NIV), "I showed what you are like" (NCV), "I spelled out your character in detail" (MSG). Also, some use the phrase "manifest your name" and some "reveal/show your name". So it's a matter of interpretation what Jesus meant. But the context shows that he didn't use the divine name, not in this prayer or elsewhere, so I don't think you should consider it to be the most likely interpretation unless you're wearing JW glasses when you read the Bible.
For any people who are still going to meetings, go up to one of the brothers preferably an elder and tell them that their mustache stumbles you. It should be entertaining.
My brothers girlfriend was shunned, she was only 18, she had been going out with my brother in secret for about a year when they found out. They were both kids and never did anything apart from kiss and hold hands, my brother was a good lad, he didn't drink or anything, but they made her dump him, and then they still chucked her out., they didn't even let her know when her grandfather died.
I know someone who's mother was a wittness she killed herself she suffered bad mental illness well his dad remarried she got kids well anyway this boy stopped believing in the watchtower things didn't make sense his father was a elder he took the elders book and put it up on RUclips his father threw him out got police involved and now don't bother with him ...all because he didn't believe the poor boy went through a lot losing his mother but didn't care ..to me Jesus wouldn't treat someone like that he would talk and listen ...Who are the watchtower to judge hypocrites
Yes indeed, I call God Yehovah or at times Yahweh which is the Father of the Christ, thanks lloyd for your input, I believe in the biblical teachings not in Religion's as I ones did even if you don't believe in the existence of God and so forth I still watch your channel keep on the good work lloyd.
"Yehovah" is actually a missinterpetation of tetragtammon and it's based of misunderstanding Hebrew writing traditions. Originally Hebrew words were scrubbed without vowels, they were more like a symbols noted to remind text they've already memorized. Vowels were put inside along the idea that the name of God should not be vocalized so the reader would know when to use Adonai or Elohim instead. When after time non Jewish christians tried to interpret that they came to the conclusion about reading those vowels inside JHVH. And it ended with this outrageous missinterpetation of the word.
Regarding number 10, it’s quite the opposite actually. The Dead Sea scrolls give us insight into the existence of schools that taught reading and writing. These schools were evidently where many scriptures were copied. The existence of the Bible today depended on the existence of schools.
The prodigal son storu is a good example for counteracting the alleged biblical backing of shunning, however, Christianity has always been more fond of Paul's teachings than Jesus' teachings. The Pauline letters (leaving aside if some are a forgery or not) present a more detailed, more authoritarian, and, frankly, more Judaism 2.0 version of Christianity, where shunning can be logically implemented (not saying that Jesus' teachings don't involve fundamental problems, such as thought control, but they are generally more whimsical). As long as those letters remain part of the protestant canon that JWs subscribe to, I think shunning will always have strong scriptural backing for WT, and it will never be abandoned.
Well, it IS a CONTROL mechanism. They don't care about a scriptural basis, they're running a business here. They only need just enough scriptural word twisting to make it look somewhat viable to the sheeple.
This is the scripture that drew me in 30 odd years ago as far as paradise is concerned Isiah 11:6 -9 not thinking at the time i got well caught up my atheist son put some questions before me and opened up my critical thinking door then all my questions bubbled up I have 3kids in, love the info out there now 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Regarding#6- 2 years after a sin. For the love of God its going to take 1914 years for all my sins. After this I will start a cult, drink whisky, and live in paradise. My dreams have come true, thanks to my sins of 1914 years.
I think one birthday was mentioned quite significantly: that is, that of Jesus' birthday: were there not choirs of angels singing in the heavens at his birth to the shepherds?
A JW just texted me a video by a politician saying "We are working tom restore peace and security to Afghanistan", and insisting that is incontrovertible proof the end is imminent. When I pointed out it's a common phrase used since the beginning of time, he went on rambling about the king in the north. How frustrating.
Yes, long-dead Ronald Reagan, a notorious Biblicist US President often spoke of an emerging era of “peace and security” in the 1980s, especially with the then thawing of relations between the US and the USSR. JWs went into paroxysms of glee saying this proved the end was so very close. Decades later, brain-dead JWs conveniently forget all the fervour the false expectations ignited. These people reside in Dullard Central. 🧐
@@rodywithers3536 What bothers me the most is when (some) react with glee when they hear of earthquakes, tsunamis or other catastrophes, for much of the same reason. What a prison of the mind.
This was a brilliant video Lloyd, Beards....... my son was a Ministerial servant, he had a neat beard as shaving caused a rash. Now here is the stupidest thing I’ve heard about the NO BEARD rule.,he used to help out a lot at conventions ,as a carpenter, he made lots of props for the dramas. One year , when his congregation where being used as actors for the drama, he was invited to participate, but only if he was willing to SHAVE off his OWN BEARD & water a FALSE one........ truly !! He declined that privilege !!!! 🤪🤪🤪
excellent talk Lloyd. I give you a 'Good' for Convincing Argument! To add my own observations, Item 3. I was raised a JW and even as a child saw a conflict between the teaching in the Mosaic Law forbidding the recording and interpreting of dreams (punishable by death, if I remember correctly) and the various significant prophecies and/or commands that were relayed from God via dreams. Say what?? Item 10: the Society also happily not only uses JWs with existing tertiary educatio but sends Bethelites or construction volunteers to univeristy to attain the necessary qualifications to do their job for the Society i.e. engineers for construction.
I never knew their was pro beard scriptures. Thanks Lloyd. 👍 I remember in the 80's/90's a brother in our congregation had a beard and whilst it was tolerated (I don't recall him being used on the platform but may just be my memory) also in these situations you tend to get cohersive local needs talks about doing away with anything that would stop you progressing and taking the lead in the congregation.
Adding and taking away from the Bible is also stated with the verses in the Hebrew covenant below: "You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, neither must you take away from it, so as to keep the commandments of Jehovah your God that I am commanding you." (Deuteronomy 4:2) Proverbs 30:6 "Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar." Proverbs 30:5-6 "Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. Deuteronomy 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it." Actually the name "Jehovah" did not actually appear in English until the first English language book was used to make a clear distinction between ⟨i⟩ and ⟨j⟩ in the King James Bible 1st Revision Cambridge and an English grammar book published in 1633. Up till that time the name "Iehovah" was used and not "Jehovah" as there was no letter "J" in the English language. The letter"I" was substituted with the letter "J". Jesus was actually spelled with the Latinized version of "Iesus" until the 1600's when it was then spelled as "Jesus." So the actual name of God spelled as "Jehovah" was only 329 years ago. There is no Biblical reference that the great crowd shall not partake of the emblems at the memorial. There is no Biblical reference that Jesus is not the mediator for the great crowd. There is no Biblical reference that the New Covenant is only for the anointed and not the great crowd. There is no Biblical reference for Circuit Overseers. There is no Biblical reference of turning in preaching hours and placements on a time card to Jesus or the apostles. There is no Biblical reference for titles as publishers, pioneers, temporary pioneers, auxiliary pioneers, special pioneers. There is no Biblical reference for the name Governing Body ever being used. There is no Biblical reference for abstaining from life sustaining blood transfusions to save life. (I want mercy not sacrifice.) There is no Biblical reference for false dating in 1799, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1889, 1906, 1913, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1925, 1929, 1943, 1966, 1975, (and many more false dates) Armageddon being in the 20th century, which never occurred and the 1914 generation is long gone. There is no Biblical reference for an overlapping generation.
Long time watcher, first time commenter, and ny first thought when you said 'how is 3 1/2 days equivalent to nine months' is that 3 days is the approximate length of a pregnancy in The Sims. So all anyone needs to do is find a reference to The Sims in Danuel or Malachi and it will all make sense!
the fact that the shepherd book is not available to ordinary JWs is fantastically absurd, it's like it wasn't allowed for citizen to know the law and read the civil code
In the United States, the beard thing is so strong they probably wouldn't let you get baptized if you don't shave. No joke. It's enforced at an extreme level here. I was told I was sinning for having one as a teenager. My dad was sent to get counseling a few times for that.
I do appreciate your comments on Jehovah; and I only recently understood that Jehovah is a 'form' of his name and not the original and to me it seems more reasonable to use the form Yahweh. The same should be applied to the name for Jesus .... According to the biblical accounts and historical records, Jesus’ real name when he was on earth is believed to be Yeshua (Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ, Yeshua) or Joshua (English: Joshua). This name is derived from the Hebrew word “yehoshua” (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ), which means “God is salvation” or “God saves”. Just saying.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
I survived 75. I was 17. My parents joined JW’s in 1963. All my childhood we were told on the podium and during the meetings. We were told at the conventions. We read it in the watchtower and awake magazines. We read it in the literature/books. We were told 1975 was the year, Armageddon would come. My parents sold our home in 1967 and moved to Oregon. Where we could quietly live out our lives till 75. My family fell apart. After I was kicked out of my parents home at 17 my father did not speak to me for 10 years. I cared for him until his death in 2021. He just knew he would never die in this old system of things.
I’m so incredibly insulted by current Jehovah witnesses telling me that this belief was from over zealous ministers. That is incorrect and a false teaching of their history. Sham on them!
I agree sham on them, I only heard about it. I know it caused alot of pain...
My mother was quite shocked when she found herself dying from cancer. She seriously thought she would live forever.
She also was deeply saddened when the Elders told her that perhaps she should rely on her disfellpwshipped children for end of life care. The same children, and by proxy grandchildren, she had spent decades shunning.
@@shadegreen5351 that’s an appalling situation. Nothing could ease her pain. On the other hand, congregations are organized into groups. If someone needs assistance in our specific or another group it would be arranged. We show love for one another even during end of life circumstances.
@@gottagoride7889 Maybe, but that was not my experience. The part that is appalling is my mother living decades and dying with a hatred for the children she bore, raised, and who did as the Bible says and honored thier father and mother with taking care of her at her most vulnerable and needful state. A hate that was taught to her and fostered by the very folks who had no Christian charity or compassion for one of the widows of the flock.
What bothers me, is that they never took responsibility for it. They just blamed the people who left the organization, saying they were 'spiritually weak'. It's always someone else's fault, never the fault of the organization. If you point it out to them, they will just say that they didn't have a good understanding back then, but now they have 'new light', so all is well again. Happy, happy! Best life ever!
You can never win.
I read something recently that never occurred to me when I was a JW, but I think it makes really good sense. When it comes to the alleged importance of using God's name, JWs argue that it's important because how could a person otherwise have a close relationship with God, if one didn't know and use his name? But Jesus actually emphasised that God would be like a father to humans. He told his disciples that they should address God as 'father' in their prayers, like in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. People don't commonly address their parents by their first names. Is 'father' not a more intimate address than any name?
Yes, 'Father' is much more intimate, and that's why Jesus used it - and also partly why the Pharisees were so offended, because Jesus called God 'Dad'.
Yes, and moreover, Jesus never refers to his father with his name, in formal situations when he's talking to others or when he's praying to him. He never argues with the pharisees about it either, even though JWs always bring up that jewish leaders are to blame about the fading of the name. Nor does he tell one parable about it. Nor devote any time for it in his sermon on the mount. All we have are a couple vague mentions about "God's name", which even JWs admit means (at least partly) his reputation.
The JW are the only religion that even recognize the Father as God most others claim that Jesus is God the Catholics are all about the Mother Mary now and give little attention to God or Jesus.
@@markbrandon7359 I'm sorry, but as a Catholic I have to call your claim out as an utter heap of male bovine excrement!
1) You realize that, especially according to the prologue of the Gospel according to John, Jesus, the "logos", the "light", is God (ho theos)?
*BOTH* Jesus *and* the Father *are GOD* !
The FATHER is God, JESUS is God as well, the SPIRIT is God -- three simultaneously existing persons or aspects of one and the same being. It's called Tri-Unity for a reason. It took quite some time for the doctrine of the Trinity to be developped -- or better discovered. That, however, doesn't mean that it's apostasy!
2) The claim, that we Catholics "are all about the Mother Mary now and give little attention to God or Jesus" is, again, a heap of bovine excrement.
We pray the Our Father regularily. It is a a fixed part of every Catholic liturgical celebration, be it the Eucharist (Mass), the Office of the Hours (Lauds, Vespers), the rosary, or any other service.
We may venerate the Mother of God (as confirmed by the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesos), and we call her our mother as well because isn't Jesus -- her son -- our brother? But we don't worship her! We don't put her -- the _ancilla Dei_ -- ahead of God!
We don't give little attention to the Father or Jesus.
You wanna know why? Because we celebrate the Eucharist regularily!
How can we Catholics, who worship the literal *real presence of Jesus* in transsubstantiated bread and wine, who consider the celebration and sacrament of the Eucharist -- especially the Sunday Eucharist as the celebration of the Paschal Mystery and the original Feast of the Lord -- as the "the summit and source of all worship and Christian life" (Can. 897), give "little attention to God or Jesus"?
I'm sorry, but this claim about us Catholics is just absurd.
And, a piece of advice: David and Vivian Aspinall may be able to help you when it comes to debunking JW lies about "Christendom"...
Our Father who art in Heaven (HALLOWED BE HIS NAME) his name is not Father. "I have made your name manifest to the world. I believe he said that while dying on the cross
I could never wrap my head around the two classes of Christians - the little flock who are anointed, and the great crowd who are not anointed. I asked numerous Elders to show me a scripture that talked about non-anointed Christians. They couldn’t, as none exist.
I was told the New Testament was written for anointed Christians only. I asked why us non-anointed ones had to follow the rules laid out in it and was told told it was a sign of our support for Christ’s brothers. I asked them, “If Jehovah is our father, wouldn’t we all be brothers (and sisters) of Jesus?” The answer was, “yes but the anointed are special brothers that have been chosen for a special role, and the rest of us are his friends.” Again, I asked for a scripture to back this up. Again, I was was greeted with nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Duck egg.
Lloyd, I love the reasoning, logic and facts you use to support your arguments. It’s amazing that an apostate (albeit an ex-Bible student) has more knowledge of the scriptures than, dare I say, the majority of rank and file witnesses. Thanks for all that you do mate. Much appreciated.
Part of the reason for the two flocks was because when JW numbers were growing rapidly, they realised that the 144,000 'slots' in heaven would soon be filled. So they had to invent more 'slots' so as to give others a reason for joining even if the 144,000 tickets had been sold out. I think in the early days of that doctrine, they referred to them as 'Jonadabs', although I may be mistaken on that.
@@virtualcolditz LOL, "144,00 slots"; a number from a book that's presented in signs and symbols no less. Yea they make crap up as they go along and the need arises. Err, I mean 😏"New Light".
Ray Franz got kicked out of the Governing Body and Bethel for supporting other bethelites in their view that Romans 8:14 meant that all Christians were anointed and God's children. If you haven't checked out Crisis of Conscience, I recommend you do, the whole episode was chilling to read about.
They have since then changed it. They no longer refer to anyone as being apart of a “class”. Now they just refer to the “whole association of brothers”, those with the Earthly hope and the others with heavenly. Apparently using the class distinction was nurturing an elitist attitude amongst the anointed presumably.
If you got no tangible reply from the elders you asked does not mean that the two christians groups are not provided for in the Bible(the anointed and the non-anointed).They are well catered for and I can show and prove to you from your own Bible.Wanna give me a try?
They stopped my School education. Finally, when became an adult, pursued education and became university graduate. Later, employed in Govt sector. Thus I became a PIMO. Am truly following ur RUclips channels without any break. Hats off you... 👍👍👍
Why have you listened them? Even when I was "good" witness I supported my son for higher education. When elders learnt about it they emphasized this topic in congregation needs. I just ignored them. I only know that my son has good paid job now. When we had hard period they were mocking us.
I am still Jehovah's witness but I do not believe Governing body is inspired by holy spirit.
Well done sir!
As a child, I had limitations.
Abram? What is a pimo? Your story is very common amongst us all . I'm happy you pulled it back.
Instead of listing my story etc I just want to wish the very best for the ones who are only just breaking free and spare a thought for them
There are pages and pages on how to sacrifice goats properly, but god couldn’t be bothered to have “don’t celebrate birthdays” written in the bible.
😅 It's painful how obvious the foolishness is now.
Or “pedophiles will be judged and done away with to Sheol”
Do not covet thy neighbours goat, is far more important, so gets its own law in “stone”
I want to know when JWs sacrifice goats!
@@lisaherrling6880
No, in the bible. Lot of detail on sacrifice animals in there. Not so much on birthdays despite their existence at that time.
MVP comment
Lloyd, this video once more shows your love for the details and your effort to make the details importance seen and understood.
It is this devotion of yours that makes your channel outstanding.
Please say hello to Dijana and tell her thank you for sharing her husband with the community.
You never recommending any Atheist-Channels to your followers
shows me that you dont 'really' believe they can make their own Decision
and choose a Religion for the right Reasons.
It shows a lack of Faith and it maybe, just maybe, even shows you dont trust them or even
yourself that you can study the Atheist-Viewpoint without issues for your Faith.
Not to mention: Experts warn of creating an 'Echo-Chamber', but you dont warn them of that, yes?
You dont warn them of watching only Christian-Channel, despite it being obviously unhealthy
to stick to 1 corner of the internett?
?
I just want to say THANK YOU.
I'm Italian and it's very difficult find valid videos in my language which talk about jehova's witnesses like this.
I'm not good in English, especially in listening but when you talk I can understand every single word, your speech is very clean. Thank you so much!!!
(sorry for my bad English)
Isn’t window cleaning higher education because you have to climb the corporate ladder, or are they only allowed to work on bungalows .
Lmao
Hahaha
Funnyyy
😂😂😂😂
😄😄😄
😂😂😂😂😂
You are the man, Lloyd. I must say you nail this cult thoroughly. Thanks for your activism.
I remember studying the Revelation book when I was 14, and learning about 1919 teaching and the 3.5 times has to do with Rutherford being in jail, without even doing the math, my immediate reaction was that there was no way it was true.
They were not so important to be in Bible. What to do with Revelation 13:7,8? Repeating same prophecy from chapter 11:7,8? 13th chapter speaks about later events, like today when Governing body is misled by Satan with covid vaccine agenda.
The no beards one is very interesting and personal to me. Jordan and I covered it over at the Shunned Experience, video drops today!
I'm very happy to hear you have made a video!!! I subscribed to your channel in anticipation, hoping you would, as you seemed interested to do so. I will check out your vid. with Jordan. Thanks for letting us know! :-)
@@daniellamcgee4251 thank you for the kind comments Daniella. Yes I had a lot of fun with Jordan and making the beard video. Haven’t made any myself for my channel yet, maybe in the future 👍
Just another way JW’s stifle the natural physical progression of young people. No sex, no masturbation, no beards. It was definitely something that lead me to slowly become PIMO as I went through adolescence. I sacrificed so much of my teenage years and beyond, based all my decisions on “The Truth”, and yet they’re trying to make me feel guilty about my facial hair?
In full disclosure, I grew up in Western Europe, where it’s generally more liberal and accepted; especially nowadays. Recently, a childhood friend of mine became an elder, and even he has a beard. I live on yet another continent now, and even here there are different attitudes towards it.
Regardless, after moving to the United States as a young teenager, I vividly recall being asked to comply with this rule several times, but it was done in such a sly, underhanded way that I simply couldn’t respect it. My qualm has always been that this rule is so oddly strict in some places, and so lax in others. And it’s not even based on any scripture! It weirded me out, to be honest, that it was a big enough deal for elders to chase after me in the parking lot to ask me to shave.
“Oh, I haven’t had a chance to shave yet”, I remember saying. “Yeah, but you’ve got it all shaped up and stuff”, he replied. It even happened several times during my personal Bible study with an elder, which I was only doing at the behest of my mom. He would occasionally go over how “we” present ourselves. “We make sure we’re always neat, we speak well, we shave…”.
“Okay? You’re obviously talking about me. So just say that”, I remember thinking. It annoyed me that this was constantly being brought up to me, but in such a cowardly way, because they knew they had no real scriptural leg to stand on.
There was even a brother who would routinely come up to me and jokingly say “What’s up, Wolfman?”
Of course, as a kid just trying not to get disfellowshipped (because you’re only allowed to have JW friends) you become a master of the “just smile & wave” technique.
The same thing happened when I tried getting reinstated, and it was only then that I went along with it. They employ this sort of “When in Rome” philosophy to it, as though we should be considerate of local norms and customs, even though a beard is not actually seen as controversial in “The World.” Hell, even senators, lawyers, judges, and world leaders have them. The JW organization obviously follows a corporate structure, and this rule is so evident of that.
It’s simply an open secret that you can’t progress as a brother in the congregation if you have facial hair, which is a big deal if you want to get married, because that’s what sisters look for; a brother who can also help them progress. So basically, if you have a beard, you’re seen as someone who’s not really interested in The Truth, or is rebellious in some way.
Had I known about these “beard” scriptures, I probably could’ve pulled one over on them. 20/20, I guess.
You covered you beards!!!
Literally, that would be funny!
🧔🏻🧔🏼♀️
I appreciated this video. I was raised from age 3 as a JW. I was never baptized and rebelled as a young teenager. I lived afraid I would not get to live life and be destroyed in the coming of Armageddon because I was not good enough, this was in the early 70s, so I believed it was just around the corner. I have struggled for many years with their theology as still thought some of it was the truth. In the last few years have been attending a nondenominational Christian church and still struggled with believing in heaven and this has helped me to understand so much. I am now 65 and finally feel so much better about my choice to not be baptized in this religion and more free to be baptized as a nondenominational Christian. Thank you so much for your videos.
Lloyd, judicial committees should be in the top 10. There is no scriptural teaching in both the Old and New Testament that calls for 3 men to act as Judge, Jury and Executioner for real and perceived wrongs committed by members of the congregation. And if you happen to be guilty of the charge against you, forgiveness of your error usually is not the case, and if so you’re ‘reproved’. They will resort to name calling and degrees of social ostracism to punish the offender. Unfortunately, this behaviour goes on even without a judicial committee. Brother Smith let his grown child go to college, he’s not fit to be an Elder. That family is spiritually weak. Mr, Jones bought a boat, he’s materialistic. Sister Williams has a retirement account, she doesn’t believe the end is near. Sister Nurse works 12 hr. shifts, misses meetings, she’s not seeking the kingdom first. Ad Nuaseam.
And to take it one step further, those in the Bible who were judged by other humans had full access to what they were being judged from. None of the Kings, judges, pharisees, or saduccees had top-secret elder books
I like Lloyd's "Tony Morris.. I'm not begging" t-shirt 😂😂😂
"Does that mean we're not allowed to have dogs?" Very good point, but apparently now people ARE supposed to get rid of their dogs and spend more time serving the org.🙄 (according to the recent video you showed)
Laura, all dogs turn apostate after living with a JW. It’s just facts 😁
LOL I was about writing just the same thing then I spotted your comment. 😂
@@MrCaradras it’s like birthdays Stefan! People die. It’s just facts😂😆
What video was that?
🥺
Per the WT/GB OCTO -POPES, please watch your "B's"...
No BEARDS
No BLOOD
No BIRTHDAY
BUT, BOOZE is a Blessing!! 😂😂
“Octo-Popes” has me SENT😂
When I was still in, my best friend got df'd and while she was out she got pregnant. She was at every meeting and my family always sat behind hers. I was doing my level best to respect the disfellowshipping arrangement, but she was my best friend and she was pregnant and basically left to deal with all that on her own and that killed me. At one meeting she cried quietly throughout the last prayer and then ofc left the hall as soon as they said amen. I couldn't take it anymore so I followed her out to the parking lot, and without saying a word, just gave her a huge hug and let her cry some more. We didn't speak, though. At the next meeting, I got hauled into the back room and counseled about "not being respectful of god's theocratic arrangement." I straight up told them that I was always taught that disfellowshipping was a loving arrangement to get wayward ones to return to god, discipline, not punishment, and I wasn't about to act like my best friend didn't exist just bc she screwed up. That I could see she was upset and I was moved to comfort her and that really, that should have been their job, to notice that she was in distress and ask if she'd like to talk or have one of them pray with her, but I didn't see any of them following her out to make sure she was ok. Idk if I shamed them or what but they didn't take it any farther. They ended the meeting with a pretty lame, "well just don't do it again," but I assured them if I felt like I needed to, I certainly would do it again. But she got reinstated a couple months later, so it wasn't an issue anymore.
Rrspect!
Maaaaaaan this "organization" did a number on me that I'm just realizing later in life. I was baptized in like 1992 as I was graduating highschool. Most of it was to please my grandma. I started attending meetings at an early age was on the ministry school was an active publisher, until I started to notice ways they were carrying on were no different from the church folks they condemned. I know because my father is a Deacon and have been since I was a child. He allowed me to go to JW meetings however when he wanted me to go to church that's where I went. It opened my eyes to all "organized" religion and as I continue to be more spritual in my walk and talk the same God is still there blessing me Everytime. Keep doing what you are doing because they have a serious hypnosis game working
I wish my family would just watch this episode. This is so clear. 😔 Thank you for standing for the folks that escaped and helping others to do the same.
So wrong that you are saying escaped like it’s a bad place they are coming from. Might not be the most correct following of Christ but they morally are in a good place and will inevitably go to heaven
you NEVER disappoint me Lloyd very thoroughly researched info i cannot say thank you enough thank you
But do YOU research Atheism? Ever?
@@slevinchannel7589 why does she need to?
I remember being a kid and encouraged to become a plumber or electrician. There's nothing wrong with those jobs, but I wanted something more since in my birth country it was really hard to make the ends meet working on those type of jobs.
I left it all and graduated from university, but some of the kids I knew back then are working as mechanics or painters. Again, nothing wrong with those jobs, it's the fact they encourage kids to not think for themselves that bothers me the most.
Rev 22:18 Adding or taking away from the meanings of the scriptures. Isn’t that what they do for their own convenience all the time? Especially when nitpicking on a minute point in the only scripture it may be mentioned then turning it into laws within the religion, instead of using principles. Love the Video Lloyd, I’d bring this up as a child when witnessing with an elder, with a lot of bluster I was dismissed.
As I was fading, I read the elders(during a sheparding call) these sort of articles and remind them the word is a two edged sword and how Jesus regarded the Pharisees.
The witnesses spend months teaching their students a new gospel: 1 You are not a child of God. 2 You don’t belong to Christ, 3. You do not have his spirit. 4. Jesus is not your mediator. 5. The Kingdom of the heavens is closed. But if you identify ‘The Faithful Slave’ aka Governing Body as the sole channel that Jehovah is using. Make a Dedication Vow, Get baptized in symbol of that Vow then live up to that Vow by carrying out the perfunctory tasks you are assigned, you can be called Jehovahs ‘Friend’. Then have the prospect of cleaning up billions of dead human carcasses that Steven Lett and his associates kill on their white horses alongside Jesus.
Yep, this is it in a nutshell. And yet, the most indoctrinated ones still won't logically process it because it did not come out of the GB's mouth. They allowed men to rob their god given intelligence. smdh
Accurate
all I can say is WOW that is a powerful statement that is 100% accurate
Wonderful, very succinct, well done...
Yes totally agree this is The definition of this Cult!
So thrilled to see Beards on this list! The harassment my husband went through about his beard was actually the beginning of my questioning. I thought it was such a petty thing to spend so much time and energy on.
Did you marry a non witness?
look at them now, beards are suddenly okay xD
In our congregation we were discouraged to study further, yet the most prominent elder in our congregation sent his two daughters to University. We all looked on stunned, but never said anything...Their daughters were snobbish and were always spoken of as exemplary as far as dress code was concerned. I also must mention that the elders were the "haves" and the rest of us the "have nots'.
Thumbs up if you want a second '10 Jehovah's Witness Teachings That Are Unbiblical' video.
Very well done, as always. The equating between the oral law/traditions and the jw rules is undeniable. I am reminded of a statement quoted by Raymond Franz (Crisis of Conscience p 118) of one of the GB (Milton Henschel) saying "If we let the brothers do this [make a personal decision regarding alternative civilian service], there is no telling how far they will go." Franz even notes in that section that they felt they were putting up a protective wall. Did they not hear the similarity to their description of the pharisees they constantly made?!?!
Regarding 1919, I seem to remember some verses in Daniel and Revelation that interpreted as having a bearing on this date. Not, of course, saying God would choose his representatives in that year or any such nonsense.
But 1919 was seen as the beginning of a period of the recuperation of God's people after the "death" of the work for those 9 months (btw, please tell me you saw the ridiculous way the Revelation book contrasts the 1260 days of sackcloth preaching in Rev 11 to the 3.5 days of death- rv p 168, para 21 ftn. Check it out.. It is hilarious!)
The chart on p 183 of the Revelation book shows 1919-1922 as the "period of recuperation" when the organization "fled away into the wilderness", which they compared to Israel going into the wilderness after Egypt to be organized and prepared for going into the promised land.
They compare this to when Rutherford and Co were released in March 1919. The 1260 days of Revelation 12:13,14 began in the spring of 1919 and ended in 1922 (at that ADV convention, no less.) See the Revelation book, chap 27, paragraphs 24-26.
Likewise, Daniel 12:11 speaks of a 1290 days any using a starting point of 2 months earlier than the Revelation period, January 1919, they also count down to that exact same convention. (See the Daniel prophecy book, chap 17, paragraph 20-23).
When I was a fully believing PIMI, it was little things like this that stuck with me and helped me deal with doubts. Reaching, of course. They manipulate the terms and definitions until they can massage it all together with a date they have already decided upon.
But just like 1914, 1919 is not something in the Bible. But with some prophetic calculus, some squinting, and a lobotomy, you can get there.
Keep up the good work.
I know quite a few that hid their "sins" long enough and were never disfellowshipped.
Aww yes
Me lol
@@kristhomas8295 - LOL!
I love this, and I really hate the double standard about education. I have struggled with this for a while and I finally decided to take my education seriously. Of course nobody in the congregation knows... I have just been going through the motions because of my family and not wanting to rock the boat, but I can't wait to finally be done with it!
Thank you Lloyd! I always follow your videos. But this one is just amazing! So clear! Im actually writing notes in my language to send this to my parents or just tell them! I was from 2 years old in JW religion. But I got out. I been disfellowshipped. My parents stayed there. Now they start speaking with me but never like before. I just want to open them eyes. And this video so informative. thank you a lot. Hope they listen. 🤞Very appreciated your work ❤️
In general the bible is strange and unstructured collections of writings. Why a god would want an ambiguous document to spell out how to worship and what the overall plan is, is beyond me.
Also fundamentalists are quick to point to the fact that the Old Testament is the old law and jesus replaced that law, until they need the Old Testament to make their point.
well some of the things jesus changed in the new testament others he didn't is what i think there reasoning is i could be wrong though but if that was the case the laws pertaining to rape are still in effect and i don't know anyone who would follow them in today's age
Yes, this!
A lot of the old testament is in regards to the deal made Between God and the Jews to free them from bondage and form a nation in there name this agreement was exclusive to god and the Jews Along comes Jesus who stood for all nations so yes much of the Mosaic laws are obsolete
The Bible was deliberately made difficult to understand only a religion that God favors and that he guides can understand it that's why many people scoff at religion saying it reads like a fairytale when in fact God's word is simple logical and brilliant. Rule of thumb if it makes God look stupid, mean, cruel or vindictive it's not his truth
@@markbrandon7359
That logically doesn’t make sense.
If there was a god and an inspired book, said god would make the book impossibly easy to understand that no one could possibly say it wasn’t the word of god.
Making it difficult to understand just further proves the fact that the god of bible is a giant ass or that it simply is book of nonsense.
Congratulations, I'm the 2,1k liker haha
I am so remarked and refreshed by the fact that I finally get to hear ppl's story that explain the Bible that you don't hear as a Jehovah's Witness and growing up as one. Biblical verses, explanation and why it should or should not be the right thing( your opinion included). You don't hear these things as a child, there has been a lot of truth being withhold from me while I knew that something was going on. They just weren't allowed to talk about it. Real good video, thank you!
Thank you for the insight. 25 years I gave to the organization. My daughters and I are all well and healing!
Well you should have been giving it to God not the organization!!
@@usethis2mail ya that was the idea..
@@johnnasalazar7617 I’ve listened to numerous talks and you are admonished to give your life to God. Never have I heard to give it to the religion, organisation or the GB
This is why they tell us "Stay off the internet".
You will hear truth.
All my life I served Jehovah and didn't go to college
Now I'm struggling and hardly making ends meet. Yes, I was a regular pioneer and served where the need was great, and it was amazing work. But, now I'm older and I'm struggling. I don't understand 😢😢😢
The Society stated in 1917 that the ultimate destruction of religion would occur in 1918, explaining that God would destroy the churches "on the wholesale" and that "Christendom will fall like a system into oblivion." (The Finished Mystery, 1917, p. 485, 258, 513 as quoted by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 206-211.)-Joseph Franklin Rutherford, lived to the year 1942, and none of his predictions came to pass. From 1918 until now, the number of religions increases.
As a J-Dub, I was taught, and I used Ecclesiastes 12: 12 as a Bible basis for avoiding higher education.
Not to mention having the article series, "Explains their Faith" where they interview doctors, scientists, and engineers. People that only get to that position in life through HIGHER EDUCATION.
Thank you so much, Lloyd, you are so articulate, understandable, and a joy to listen to.
It's kind of strange... you can't celebrate birthdays BUT we all now exactly how old bible- people are all the time...
Great video. Thanks
/ Kris
Your voice and the way you pause is very calming
I love to listen to you
Talking of the ridiculous logic of the watchtower, the standout nonsense would have to be the teaching that anyone who died before Jesus died could not enter the kingdom of the Heavens, since they died before the way to Heaven had been opened. John the Baptist is apparently excluded on those grounds. Using this logic, no one who died before Jesus could benefit from the ransom either, since they would have died before the ransom had been provided, and therefor could not benefit from this new arrangement, and therefor would be doomed to everlasting death. Very sad for Able, Abraham, David, etc. All of them must be doomed.
Similarly stupid logic states that the covenant for a kingdom in the Heavens that Jesus made with the disciples during the lord's evening meal only applied to the anointed since all those sitting at the table were of the anointed. Using the same logic though means that women could not benefit from this arrangement either, since all those present at the meal were men. Also, only Jews could be included since those at the Lord's evening meal were all Jews. I suppose if all the people at the Lord's evening meal had been tall people, that must mean that no short people could be with Jesus in Heaven either.
When it comes to stupidity, the watchtower organization seems to have cornered the market.
Great points!.. 🙌
Just a little twist to something that I discovered....
I cannot wait to see how they portray their new "Jesus story"...because as you may know during the "Lords Evening Meal" none of the partakers were Anointed at that time!
They were anointed after Jesus was resurrected!
This will be fun to see because in WT / JW Land...No one can partake of the emblems unless they are Anointed!
The LogicalDanger they think that those who died before Jesus only have a “earthly hope”.
Job's sons feasted on "their own day", which is saying they celebrated their birthdays. JW's don't ever mention that though.
Exactly!...
Job celebrated his children's birthday.
Job 1:4 mentions "set day" in the silver sword.
But, if you go to bible hub and check out the different translations it says "birthday"
Our "set day" is our "birthday" because the day of our birth will NEVER change therefore it's always "set".
The UNinspired GB needs to get a real life and stop the evil silly madness!!
And the reason Job said ch3;1 "cursed is the day of my birth" is because they died on Jobs birthday at the hand of Satan.
Sure, the NIV says birthday, but several other translations render Job 1:4 differently. The CSB says, “His sons used to take turns having banquets at their homes”. The ESV says, “His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day…” “On his day” means it was the son’s turn to host a banquet. There was no mention of a birth anniversary.
@@barriekelley2241 Job 1:4 uses the same Hebrew as Job 3:1. Job 3:1 is translated as birthday. Heb: (yo-w-mow) Most biblical scholars agree that Job 1.4 is also referring to birthdays.
@@denishartley3828 It doesn't say that his children died on Job's birthday. He is cursing the day of his birth because his life has been made miserable.
Great video, thanks! You make a really good point about the Bible having 1000+ pages, which should be ample space to explain the will of God. Yet, all my believing JW family members have large bookcases in their homes containing what must be tens of thousands of pages of WTS literature. And yet it never occurs to them that what they are really following are the writings of the WTS, and not the Bible.
I have joyously been an “apostate” since the early 1990s! I went to and graduated from college, and one of the courses I took was an anthropology class entitled, “Magic, Ritual and Religion”. I was already a PIMO since high school, but stayed under the radar for my mother’s sake. (thankfully my father was a very lapsed Catholic, who most likely was agnostic, and never converted into the cult.) l eventually wrote a note of disassociation in 1991(I was born into the cult in the late 60s), and have never looked back, especially after having been enlightened by the anthropology course I mentioned above. They (JW Cult) don’t want their sheeple to get an education because it would open up their minds and cause a mass exodus the likes that their 1975 failed guess would pale to in comparison.
Thanks for your continued efforts to spread the word to the RUclips universe in hopes that more people will wake to the fact that the JW’s and all religions are cults based on mythology! The ancient cultures of Greece and Rome no longer exist, and it makes me wonder just how much longer Western culture will survive if it continues to believe in fairytale religions.🧚🏻♀️
It could be, and has been argued, that early Christianity was based on resurrection to a perfect world on earth. The idea of a heavenly existence separate from earth seems to be a later, or at the very least less popular idea of eternal life.
Yes, it seems that Jesus, as an apocalyptic jewish prophet, believed that the end of the world would bring peace on EARTH, but after he died, his followers were in shock and had to heavily shift their views towards a heavenly resurrection since Jesus couldn't have just vanished. And as the NT is written 20-80 years after his death, not much of the original message remains. Paul anticipated to get to heaven but clearly believed it to happen during the 1st century, since he said the end times had arrived (1 Cor 10:11). Paul had lost the view that there would be any earthly eternal life. This crops up again in maybe 2 Peter, written in the 2nd century by an unknown author, and in Revelation, written by some guy called John, who we know nothing about. Other than that, it seems most Christian authors have nothing to say about an earthly paradise. As JWs we learned to string together the few separate instances that the NT alludes to an earthly hope and ignore the rest. And of course pretend that all Bible writers agreed on this stuff when they clearly did not.
Very illuminating and helpful. Lots of thanks.
57:05 About the ban on beards - it's not tolerated even on a congregation level. I was forbidden to simply read a passage from Bible at the Ministry meeting (probably the lowest possible task for brothers) because I've had a scruff. Not to mention public talks on a weekend meeting.
As an ex witness since age 15, I planned on going to one or two sections but I ended up sitting through the whole thing because I was interested in every last thing you brought up.
When Jesus says I want mercy and not sacrifice, that completely undoes going door to door...
Not really because if no one's preaches God's Word, how will they know. Think of the Eunoch story
@@BudgieFan101
If humans don’t preach, god will make stones talk, or was that the “stoned”?
Must depend upon which version of the buybull you’re reading…😂!
@@greyberet1 Ah yes, I see where you're going with that one Larry. Very good
@@BudgieFan101
Thank you!
I thought that was funny 😄!
No it doesnt. Jesus would added the following to make the sentence completed "I deserve Mercy not Sacrifice so that completely undoes going door-to-door." However he instead added "To Obey is better than Sacrifice".
I remember shaving my beard when I started to move towards joining the cult and have the members say to me, "Ah, look! Progress!"
to this day I cant take a freshly shaved face serious
Finally a truth I can understand…. THANK YOU for always giving us the truth about “ the truth”…..SMDH!!!! No wonder they never wanted members to research outside of their material….
You make very logical sense. I agree that scripture in Rev relates to the WHOLE Bible. NO additions are needed!!! God gave us all we need for every situation in life!!You are so right, no man’s words are needed!!! Good thinking. God doesn’t need our help by making up words that He didn’t provide. We as humans often think we are smarter than the inspired words of the bible. You make SO much sense. I wish more people understood that as you do. Don’t we all understand that when. Grist brought His teachings that the old law was done away
Yay! a topic I voted for!☺️🗳. I won’t be able to join live but I will be watching this over the weekend.
@Maryann Lockwood 👋MLock !
@@catmeow333 🙋🏻♀️🐱
You can definitely be a sincere christian without being a Jehovah's Witness. Please dont let the treatment you and those you love received keep you from Loving God.
as an ex jw duly disfellowshipped. thanks for the great informations you always put in your videos
keep up the great work
Number 6 just explained to me what happened many many years ago… it all now makes sense! I left the cult back in 2018 after 22 years of being a jw, got ‘recruited’ or rather manipulated into it as a vulnerable 14 year old back in 1996… thank goodness I managed to get out, for my kids sake so they can go and get university education unlike myself. Thanks for sharing this information, wish I had known it when I first met jws… better late than never though.
What's really ironic is that Lloyd and other "apostates" know their Bible better than most JW's or religious people in general... I personally did a deep dive into it to "face my doubts" and "strengthen my faith" as the February 2021 WT encourages and it had the opposite effect as my brain started noticing all the contradictions and atrocity.
And if JW's really read the Old Testament with open eyes, they'd soon realise Jehovah is a mass murderer who has major temper tantrums and enjoys the sweet aroma of burnt animal carcasses as sacrifices unto himself. He is an evil psychopath known as Satan the devil.
@@briezchannel I went through that 25 years ago, it was so much fun. I spent hundreds of dollars on bible translations, concordances, dictionaries, commentaries etc. I visited different churches. I studied evolution. The entire world opened up right before my eyes. A lot of people talk about rejoining their church after moments of doubt or just malaise. Hardly anybody rejoins the JWs, and I don't believe those recent "almost went apostate" stories from jw broadcasting.
Same here!! My elders told me to spend my time in quarantine December 2020 to "build my rship with Jehovah by personal study" and tbh I never really took that heart before but I decided "why not give personal study a try?"and that's when I found out Jesus was not my mediator confronted my elders about it and they couldn't explain it to me. I delved deeper and I made a list of dozens of contradictions in JW teaching and the bible itself. (I think the only reason I haven't been hauled before a judicial committee yet is because it's a pandemic haha) And then I found Lloyd, ExJw Critical thinker, Watchtower Examination, Mentally Diseased, John Maple, Mark Martin, JW Escape, Beroen Pickets, The Truth Hurts and many others and well...here I am now PIMO heading to POMO haha. I believe that any Witness who studies objectively will see the charlatan nature of this organization.
You my friend are a true gem! These are the topics that took me out of “the truth” because there is no “biblical truth” or what Christianity would call orthodoxy within the JW theology.
Why would Jesus be on paradise earth and not heaven? Also, how can the thief be with Jesus TODAY in paradise if the paradise is in the future? Or do they not address these questions?
They moved the comma. "I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise." Problem solved. A lot of suckers buy it.
Hi Lloyd, I just wanted to say thank you for the time and effort you up towards your videos. They have showed me the flaws within the organization and I tried showing my girlfriend and she doesn’t want to believe which is understandable since she was born into it and is the only thing she knows. I hope you continue to make the videos because you are helping so many people, keep it up!
Best of luck getting your girlfriend out! It’s an uphill battle, but it’s worth it, to help people escape.
Arcaan The Arcane thank you brother! I’ll try as much as I can take!
How can one accept that anything from them is biblical when it is materially proven that they distort and change bible scriptures?
you have a very soothing voice.
I can’t describe the feeling when I took my daughter to meet her family who was in and they told me I was damning her along with with myself for not staying (I was 11 when I decided I’d rather make the sin of ending my life than to suffer longer in the life I was with the religion and Jehovah knowing my heart. I knew even then that I wasn’t “good enough” for what “He” wanted from me and I would suffer for eternity regardless)- I can’t describe to people in a simple conversation how horrible the whole thing is- and I’ve had no where near the worst experiences while PIMI, and for that… my heart goes out to everyone still being hurt by the organization, mentally, emotionally, and physically 💔
Your family are very much deceived as all JW's are. They don't realise it, but their Jehovah is Satan the devil.
Just as Jehovah in the Hebrew Scriptures delighted in killing 100's of thousands of men, woman, children and babies, likewise, JW's are looking forward to the day he strikes 8 billion people dead come armageddon. He's the same God in the Old Testament that Jesus condemned the Jews for worshipping. John 8:44
Compare 2 Samuel 24:1,2 with 1 Chronicles 21:1, 2. (Don't read out of the NWT as their bible has been altered to read differently)
Knowing you are not good enough is exactly why Jesus came!
Galatians 5:4You who are trying to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.
I don’t believe the person who raised me in it nor the one who said those things meant to be cruel. I know the mentality that exists behind the religion, and at the time, they were putting out a lot of awful material that made the interactions volatile. I don’t think that person is still as involved based on more recent conversations- including “I hope jehovah allows you into paradise with such a good heart” most recently- which isn’t at all following the teachings.
She wholeheartedly believed that the only way she would ever see me and my daughter happy for eternity would be if we followed in her footsteps. She cares to see us happy and not suffering, she was indoctrinated by these people for her entire life- taught to her by her mother.
I still love my family who is in the religion, but it’s not to say it hasn’t caused incredible pain trying to navigate the relationships with them.
Also I am no longer religious for anyone who may comment around those things. If there is a God out there-one who has the power to grant eternal life and happiness- I want it to be based on my merit and values alone, not having to pick the “correct one” or “have faith” in anyone in particular. I had accepted eternal damnation as a child and I’m not opposed now if I am required to do anything more than act with kindness and empathy.
My thought is, if there is a god, why wouldn’t satan divide and conquer by making everyone believe different things so strongly they hate people who don’t believe the same?
The bible-and the different versions- is more proof of evil than of good imo.
@@modifiedmomma2365 with respect, most abusers don’t mean it - that’s still cold comfort for those on the receiving end. Abuse doesn’t need intentions to hurt and damage.
@@modifiedmomma2365 I very much appreciate and relate to your thoughts; thanks so much for sharing!🙏❤️
As you were talking about the prodigal son came to mind the 7 turn towards in Deuteronomy 30, from verse 1:
1 ..thou shalt call (them) to mind among all the nations...
We call to mind the LORD or God in our mind
2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;
We return to the LORD our God in our actions.
3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
The son was returning to his fathers house and goes out to gather his son.
The remaining turn towards are a back and forth between the repentant one and the LORD. That being said, the prodigal was returning to his fathers house with the LORD having compassion and gathering his son.
Thanks Lloyd.
JT
39:01 Item 6: my entire existence is due to that precise item. I was born out of wedlock my dad cheated and had me with another woman, everyone shut their mouth until today and I was told to never explain anything to anyone.
Something in me wants to drop the bomb.
Nailed it. My thoughts on the "secret rules" and "secret GB meetings" stuff. And the beard rule was pretty much the breaking point. Lastly, you mirrored my stance on higher education! Thats why I eventually said screw it and got my MS
What a wonderful awakening tool this video is for JWs that are still have lingering doubts about this religion. Great thanks Lloyd for this great one.
Thank you for fervent endeavor to set God’s people free. God bless you abundantly.
Amazing information , opened my eyes up especially heaven
I loved the common sense examination of the father running to greet the wayward son. I laughed as you described it. Good job! I also like the Father explanation. So much more to say, but great,
You forgot Point 21). Despite anything the Governing Body teach and/or The Watchtower Publications teach, any Body of Elders at any said congregation are completely at liberty to act with impunity and formulate which or whatever decisions they stipulate when they meet behind closed doors on a monthly basis. This is not "What The Bible Really Teaches." On an additional note, they are not 'Appointed by Jehovah,' they appoint amongst themselves.
Excellent video. True, having a beard is not a disfellowshipping offense, but unrepentant celebration of birthdays is. So are political involvement and smoking disfellowshipping issues.JWs are simply modern day Pharisees.
I would perhaps substitute no. 2 with "Christians should use God's name". I do agree with the org, that the usage is more important than how it's pronounced. But, did Christians care about the divine name? Jesus and his followers seemed to be utterly uninterested in the name. No parables or sermons or polemics in the Gospels or Paul's letter are ever about the use of the name, no christian accepts the faith based on learning God's name, and Jesus refers to God as father, not YHWH. And all the extant Greek manuscripts only use "Lord". The real reason for this is probably because even if Jews used the name, the NT wasn't written by Jews but by Greek-speaking gentiles who didn't care about the name.
You also see this in the book of Daniel. It transitions back and forth between Aramaic and Hebrew. The Hebrew parts use YHWH. But, the Aramaic parts use the word for Lord or Sky God, but never YHWH.
Was it Jesus and his disciples who were not interested in God's name or it was the Bible writers who decided to omit it in their translations from Hebrew,Greek,or aramaic to other languages including English? Kindly check in the preface of most of the Bible versions and see what they say about God's name and why it doesn't appear in the new testament.If Jesus says he made his father's name known to his followers (John 17:6) Which name could that be?
The original text of the Greek scriptures that we have doesn't have the tetragrammaton even once so I don't know how translators could omit it from the text that doesn't have it. And no, scholars don't think that it was there and was later replaced with "Lord", except for one or two scholars who suggested it in the 70s that WT constantly cites. These suggestions have not gained any traction since. As for "name", JWs and others constantly explain that the word in the Bible means more than just someone's literal name: their reputation, their person etc. For example in the Lord's prayer, sanctifying his name means to clear God's reputation. As I said before, Jesus doesn't use the name in speech or teach about it, which would indicate that when he says, "I've made your name known", he isn't talking about the literal name. Of course it could also be that the writer of John (and other Gospel writers) didn't use the name, and thus omitted it from their text even if Jesus did originally use it. While most translations use "name" in John 17:6, there are other options as well: "I have shown you" (NIRV), “I have revealed you" (NIV), "I showed what you are like" (NCV), "I spelled out your character in detail" (MSG). Also, some use the phrase "manifest your name" and some "reveal/show your name". So it's a matter of interpretation what Jesus meant. But the context shows that he didn't use the divine name, not in this prayer or elsewhere, so I don't think you should consider it to be the most likely interpretation unless you're wearing JW glasses when you read the Bible.
Thank you so much for your time and knowledge 😊🇨🇦👍🏻
For any people who are still going to meetings, go up to one of the brothers preferably an elder and tell them that their mustache stumbles you. It should be entertaining.
😂🤣
They say they've dumped crazy Freddy Franz's "Types/Antitypes" but can't stomach dumping Daniel ch. 4, the biggest one of them all.
My brothers girlfriend was shunned, she was only 18, she had been going out with my brother in secret for about a year when they found out. They were both kids and never did anything apart from kiss and hold hands, my brother was a good lad, he didn't drink or anything, but they made her dump him, and then they still chucked her out., they didn't even let her know when her grandfather died.
I know someone who's mother was a wittness she killed herself she suffered bad mental illness well his dad remarried she got kids well anyway this boy stopped believing in the watchtower things didn't make sense his father was a elder he took the elders book and put it up on RUclips his father threw him out got police involved and now don't bother with him ...all because he didn't believe the poor boy went through a lot losing his mother but didn't care ..to me Jesus wouldn't treat someone like that he would talk and listen ...Who are the watchtower to judge hypocrites
THANK YOU LLOYD! You are incredible!
Amazing video.
Yes indeed, I call God Yehovah or at times Yahweh which is the Father of the Christ, thanks lloyd for your input, I believe in the biblical teachings not in Religion's as I ones did even if you don't believe in the existence of God and so forth I still watch your channel keep on the good work lloyd.
"Yehovah" is actually a missinterpetation of tetragtammon and it's based of misunderstanding Hebrew writing traditions. Originally Hebrew words were scrubbed without vowels, they were more like a symbols noted to remind text they've already memorized. Vowels were put inside along the idea that the name of God should not be vocalized so the reader would know when to use Adonai or Elohim instead. When after time non Jewish christians tried to interpret that they came to the conclusion about reading those vowels inside JHVH. And it ended with this outrageous missinterpetation of the word.
Regarding number 10, it’s quite the opposite actually.
The Dead Sea scrolls give us insight into the existence of schools that taught reading and writing. These schools were evidently where many scriptures were copied. The existence of the Bible today depended on the existence of schools.
Do you reckon Tibor's mints are a minty bit stronger?
That goes through my mind too
The prodigal son storu is a good example for counteracting the alleged biblical backing of shunning, however, Christianity has always been more fond of Paul's teachings than Jesus' teachings. The Pauline letters (leaving aside if some are a forgery or not) present a more detailed, more authoritarian, and, frankly, more Judaism 2.0 version of Christianity, where shunning can be logically implemented (not saying that Jesus' teachings don't involve fundamental problems, such as thought control, but they are generally more whimsical). As long as those letters remain part of the protestant canon that JWs subscribe to, I think shunning will always have strong scriptural backing for WT, and it will never be abandoned.
Well, it IS a CONTROL mechanism. They don't care about a scriptural basis, they're running a business here. They only need just enough scriptural word twisting to make it look somewhat viable to the sheeple.
This is the scripture that drew me in 30 odd years ago as far as paradise is concerned Isiah 11:6 -9 not thinking at the time i got well caught up my atheist son put some questions before me and opened up my critical thinking door then all my questions bubbled up I have 3kids in, love the info out there now 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Regarding#6- 2 years after a sin. For the love of God its going to take 1914 years for all my sins. After this I will start a cult, drink whisky, and live in paradise. My dreams have come true, thanks to my sins of 1914 years.
Lol, right with you🥂
@@impala1330 Thanks my love, I will let u in my cult. We both know some of those sins were with you.
😜👍
@@impala1330 let's go commit a sin right now. Let's get 2 1919.
Ok👉👌
I think one birthday was mentioned quite significantly: that is, that of Jesus' birthday: were there not choirs of angels singing in the heavens at his birth to the shepherds?
A JW just texted me a video by a politician saying "We are working tom restore peace and security to Afghanistan", and insisting that is incontrovertible proof the end is imminent. When I pointed out it's a common phrase used since the beginning of time, he went on rambling about the king in the north. How frustrating.
Watchtower wrote a book with that in the title like 35 years ago didn't they
Well the world as we know it may quietly slip into Peace mode with many not knowing or aware of it!!
Yes, long-dead Ronald Reagan, a notorious Biblicist US President often spoke of an emerging era of “peace and security” in the 1980s, especially with the then thawing of relations between the US and the USSR. JWs went into paroxysms of glee saying this proved the end was so very close.
Decades later, brain-dead JWs conveniently forget all the fervour the false expectations ignited. These people reside in Dullard Central. 🧐
@@rodywithers3536 What bothers me the most is when (some) react with glee when they hear of earthquakes, tsunamis or other catastrophes, for much of the same reason. What a prison of the mind.
Thanks again Lloyd you rock let’s get to 200k subscribers and more exposure maybe we will get a viral video! Best to you! So many people waking up….
This was a brilliant video Lloyd, Beards....... my son was a Ministerial servant, he had a neat beard as shaving caused a rash. Now here is the stupidest thing I’ve heard about the NO BEARD rule.,he used to help out a lot at conventions ,as a carpenter, he made lots of props for the dramas. One year , when his congregation where being used as actors for the drama, he was invited to participate, but only if he was willing to SHAVE off his OWN BEARD & water a FALSE one........ truly !! He declined that privilege !!!! 🤪🤪🤪
I dunno if it helps but try colloidal oat lotion on the skin. It has calming properties.
JW logic = 🍌
excellent talk Lloyd. I give you a 'Good' for Convincing Argument! To add my own observations, Item 3. I was raised a JW and even as a child saw a conflict between the teaching in the Mosaic Law forbidding the recording and interpreting of dreams (punishable by death, if I remember correctly) and the various significant prophecies and/or commands that were relayed from God via dreams. Say what?? Item 10: the Society also happily not only uses JWs with existing tertiary educatio but sends Bethelites or construction volunteers to univeristy to attain the necessary qualifications to do their job for the Society i.e. engineers for construction.
I never knew their was pro beard scriptures.
Thanks Lloyd. 👍
I remember in the 80's/90's a brother in our congregation had a beard and whilst it was tolerated (I don't recall him being used on the platform but may just be my memory) also in these situations you tend to get cohersive local needs talks about doing away with anything that would stop you progressing and taking the lead in the congregation.
Adding and taking away from the Bible is also stated with the verses in the Hebrew covenant below: "You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, neither must you take away from it, so as to keep the commandments of Jehovah your God that I am commanding you." (Deuteronomy 4:2)
Proverbs 30:6 "Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar."
Proverbs 30:5-6 "Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.
Deuteronomy 12:32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it."
Actually the name "Jehovah" did not actually appear in English until the first English language book was used to make a clear distinction between ⟨i⟩ and ⟨j⟩ in the King James Bible 1st Revision Cambridge and an English grammar book published in 1633. Up till that time the name "Iehovah" was used and not "Jehovah" as there was no letter "J" in the English language. The letter"I" was substituted with the letter "J". Jesus was actually spelled with the Latinized version of "Iesus" until the 1600's when it was then spelled as "Jesus."
So the actual name of God spelled as "Jehovah" was only 329 years ago.
There is no Biblical reference that the great crowd shall not partake of the emblems at the memorial.
There is no Biblical reference that Jesus is not the mediator for the great crowd.
There is no Biblical reference that the New Covenant is only for the anointed and not the great crowd.
There is no Biblical reference for Circuit Overseers.
There is no Biblical reference of turning in preaching hours and placements on a time card to Jesus or the apostles.
There is no Biblical reference for titles as publishers, pioneers, temporary pioneers, auxiliary pioneers, special pioneers.
There is no Biblical reference for the name Governing Body ever being used.
There is no Biblical reference for abstaining from life sustaining blood transfusions to save life. (I want mercy not sacrifice.)
There is no Biblical reference for false dating in 1799, 1874, 1878, 1881, 1889, 1906, 1913, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1925, 1929, 1943, 1966, 1975, (and many more false dates) Armageddon being in the 20th century, which never occurred and the 1914 generation is long gone.
There is no Biblical reference for an overlapping generation.
Wow!
Well covered once again Lloyd 🙏🏼
Going meeting 3 times a week and having to preach all weekend is a burden when I could have been focusing on my education
Long time watcher, first time commenter, and ny first thought when you said 'how is 3 1/2 days equivalent to nine months' is that 3 days is the approximate length of a pregnancy in The Sims. So all anyone needs to do is find a reference to The Sims in Danuel or Malachi and it will all make sense!
Great 1st comment 😁
You made me laugh 😂 thank you.
Top comment, facts!
Even if 3 days is equivalent to a pregnancy, revelation says 3 1/2 days.
Ankaret nice to see you on here!
the fact that the shepherd book is not available to ordinary JWs is fantastically absurd, it's like it wasn't allowed for citizen to know the law and read the civil code
Many powerful points made and a fantastic annihilation of illogical JW teachings totally blown out the water and exposed as false.
Fantastic video! Thanks for this
In the United States, the beard thing is so strong they probably wouldn't let you get baptized if you don't shave. No joke. It's enforced at an extreme level here. I was told I was sinning for having one as a teenager. My dad was sent to get counseling a few times for that.
In many parts of Europe it is tolerated. Even appointed men have them.
I do appreciate your comments on Jehovah; and I only recently understood that Jehovah is a 'form' of his name and not the original and to me it seems more reasonable to use the form Yahweh. The same should be applied to the name for Jesus .... According to the biblical accounts and historical records, Jesus’ real name when he was on earth is believed to be Yeshua (Hebrew: יֵשׁוּעַ, Yeshua) or Joshua (English: Joshua). This name is derived from the Hebrew word “yehoshua” (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ), which means “God is salvation” or “God saves”. Just saying.