For those saying 'Jehovah's Witnesses aren't true Christians', bear in mind that they do not class whatever denomination you belong to or belonged to as 'true Christianity'. The reason why I titled the video as I did is because not only did I leave Jehovah's Witnesses, but I stopped calling the Bible inspired or infallible. I stopped calling myself a follower of Christ. It is true that there are aspects of mainstream Christianity that Jehovah's Witnesses do not agree with, however the reason there are thousands of denominations and offshoots even within those who largely agree on core foundational beliefs, is because there is no objective standard of true Christianity. It's merely the subjective opinion of one person/religion over another, with everyone believing they possess the one and only true interpretation of the Bible. As far as they are concerned, everyone else will either burn in hell or die at Armageddon. For me, if someone claims to be a true follower of Christ and believes the Bible is the Word of God, that's good enough for me to class them as Christian. Rather than labelling Jehovah's Witnesses as false Christians and a cult, why not read one of the 5 books (displayed in the video) that challenged me when I classed myself as a 'true Christian'. Maybe, just maybe, there is no such thing.
I agree with your perspective on the issue of differing denominations completely. That is something for me as a Christian, I personally wrestle with. The Bible views this kind of seperation as Carnal (cited in 1 Corinthians 3).I came to terms that no matter how strongly I believe in a doctrine or teaching, I think humility is shown when I find myself open to the possibility of being wrong in some points. And since I do believe in the existence of God, I trust that God will be understanding in that area. Based off of my understanding, The differences in the church was foretold by Christ ahead of time. “He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up? ’ the servants asked him. “‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’”” Matthew 13:24-30 CSB The reason I do believe in God is solely due to the testimony of Christ. The fact he is historically placed in history and that his disciples did what they did to spread the word. I am open to hearing the other side to obtain a better all around viewpoint. At one point in life I was a the very most Agnostic so these arguments aren’t new to me.
@@carbon273 As an atheist I believe all religions have a basic message in common: Love. So for me: There is no God, there is only Love. Apart from that message all religions in my opnion have another thing in common: a doctrine based on obedience and fear. I personally reject that. You seem like an openminded person and I hope you will find your answers. To quote Funkadelic: "Free your mind and your ass will follow"
@element5888 I don't understand your stance I am an atheist Are you an atheist or a theist If ur a theist, whats ur position Pls clarify your position and point before I can respond It wasn't clear to me
My PIMI husband always tells me,, “You only do enough research to prove what you want to believe.” He doesn’t realize that my extensive research came first, then I formed my belief. 😞
@@adamsmith868 thank you 👍🙋🏻♂️. I tried searching for it, but could not find anything relevant. Then after posting my question it occurred to me to add Jehovah's witness to my search and found it. Hopefully, the rescent Belgian court ruling will hold up. I'm hoping the case against the Watchtower will go all the way to the ECHR and that they find shunning a violation of European Human Rights. With the child abuse cases around the world and now human rights violations, hopefully, the Watchtower will crumble under the weight of litigation against them.
@@Nilsy1975 also there Is PIMO (out) and other variations such as POMI, POMO etc. Interestingly a person can be Physically Out And Mentally In for many decades. They either left on their own accord or were disfellowshipped but continued believing it was true for all that time.
My wife tells me the same thing, also that I am close minded to her truth. Totally ignoring the fact that I was once religious, I had doubts, did some research and discovered irrefutable facts about the universe, humanity and religions. She considers atheism, or even science, to be just competition for her religion, and projects her own confirmation bias on to me. So frustrating.
sometimes i think this is one of the reasons why they shun us: if not, if they would go on sharing family life with us, they would have to admit that our new life, without the theistic god revealed by the bible and his sole communicating channel, did NOT turn out to immorality, angry or bitterness, and them watching our happiness and our balance would raise too many questions for them about their lives. I wouldn’t say they like or love to shun us, but i got the impression that shunning us makes it easier for them, they dont want to question their comfort zone...
That is absolutely it, have no doubt. There is a reason behind this shunning policy, and that is because they are afraid to lose more people in their organization or religion and many religions use the same tactics in fact cut out all the fat and meat and you will see they all have the same skeleton. In the minds behind these religions its crucial to pass on the religion at the moment of birth before the person has critical thinking ability as most people do not tend to question things and are comfortable to continue things as where before and if grown into something most likely will never question it. But some people do question everything, they are curious and when they develop critical thinking abilities as they grow up they become a problem. That is even though they actually do believe and have no intentions beforehand but the very act of questioning to know more rips through the very fragile exterior of these religions, and slowly pursuing question after question it is realized how little sense it all makes. Religions are very weak to questioning cuz although if you dont look too far they seem to have all the answers but dig a little deeper and it is obvious they have no actual answers at all. So these type of curious people become like cancer which will spread very fast if not dealt with. They know after this happens they cant influence that person anymore so they have put in place tactics to use the influence they have on others to cut the cancer out before it spreads. JW has shunning, islam says to behead these people. Even JW would probably do the same if it could. All this non believers are this and that, they want to sin, they know god exists but hate him thats why they deny, they just have closed their eyes on the truth and so and so and so are there for a reason. I would say mainly apologetics and their content, the thinking behind it and the way its made is their for the same reason. That reason is not to convince the non believer who has gone through this process. The reason is to keep the believers that might have started having questions as a result of these non believers but yet have not started to look deeply into it from just doing that. To dry up the the little seeds of questioning and doubt. To keep up the facade intact for people looking from within. And why I say this is because what they say is nothing new they just state what is said countless times before and if not completely ignorant they must know a person having gone through this process previously being a religious believer, will most likely have already seen all they have to provide and have realized the problems they have, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone through the painful and hard process of stoping to believe and admitting being wrong and wasting a big part of their life and then starting to learn from scratch. This is not an easy blink of an eye decision and thats when you dont have to fear for your life being beheaded or being shunned from all you family and friends and society. Worse if you live under those conditions, this maybe the biggest decision you will ever make in your life so they must know you just didn’t wake up one day and go ahh Im done with it.
Glad to see a new video, and your methodical approach to breaking down your subject matter. I can see the day your father finally listens to the son. Do not give up.
@@Ithaca-vv5dy No I am not, but very supportive of Harrison making not only a stand on his current situation, but trying to bring enlightenment to the world.
Don't underestimate the power of indoctrination - most people will never rise above religion and will remain in their deluded state. That's the real danger of religion..its myth, superstition and pseudoscience posing as truth..and all without evidence, only to rely on faith. Disgusting ideologies..Christianity and Islam are cults and need to be eradicated by public discourse, reason and science.
As a Christian, I want to say thank you for sharing so honestly (and thanks to the youtube algorithm for bringing me here!). I’m not part of the JW world so I can’t comment on that, but I do think that Christians are too quick to make judgements on those who leave the faith when we should be listening to the actual reasons that people have and considering areas where we are at fault and have caused hurt.
Don't miss the point though. People don't choose what they believe but are led by evidence. Sometimes a hurt starts the search for evidence but it does not change it not the final conclusion.
I can respect people of faith. I no longer believe the things in the Bible, after doing deep research into scriptures. Just because I left the faith, does not mean I hate people of faith. I no longer believe any of the stories in the Bible and that’s ok. I’m told I’m “deceived” and “possessed by satan.” I never let it get to me, because it’s just an opinion they have. I believe some things from the Bible are good, like loving the neighbor and other things. I love everybody, but that does not mean I will accept everything people believe or do.
@All mighto Of course I do. My actual father raised me well. Not some imaginary, non existent all knowing father who has never once spoken to me. I follow logic and evidence, and so far there is no evidence to prove the existence of Yahwey.
Just 3 minutes in, but I have to say this: It never ceases to amaze me how people who claim to have the one and only truth and to be God's chosen people call themselves humble, and how when someone asks, "Are you sure about that?", that person is accused of being proud.
Kate W. You're right a lady that I know told me that the Catholic Church ⛪️ was the only true religion. And I don't believe a word that she said 🤔 . I guess she was upset with me , because I sent her a article on religion, and she disagree with it 🤷.
Its like everything they teach about non believers is projection about themselves! WOW! Thank you so much Harrison! I am greatly benefited by your analizations.
Yea Christianity the "religion" is pretty messed up. Hypocrisy, judgment, abandonment is all terrible. If you truly believe what was said in this video then please don't be a hypocrite right back and try to see what a real Christian is about. Do some research. If you won't then everything you heard in this video doesn't apply to you.
@@adamplentl5588 Nah I'm agreeing with what he said in the video. If I'm doing what's in the video than you are too but on the opposite side. And we never like to think we're wrong do we?😛
They have to attack our character and motives because to do anything else would be to acknowledge the religion's flaws, and the vast majority of JWs are unwilling to do that. It's sleazy, unkind, and disrespectful, but this accusatory reaction stems from a deep desperation to protect their life choices and world view.
Of course they do. If a Christian believed that someone could become a non-believer honestly by diligent reasoning, they are stuck in a trap. Christians claim to honesty and thoughtfulness are virtues. Here's the syllogism. 1. Harrison deserves to be ostracized and damned because he is an atheist. 2. Harrison became an atheist because of his virtues. Therefore 3. Harrison deserves to be ostracized and damned because of his virtues. The Christian can't accept the conclusion, as it's morally repugnant. Therefore they have to reject one of the premises. They cannot reject the first, because it contradicts their dogma. So their only options are to reject the second premise. It's easier to call the atheist a liar than admit that they don't view honesty or critical thought as virtues.
Yes, people are leaving religion in droves. The pastors, ministers, preachers will have to find new professions. There is a group called: The Clergy Project, which helps the clergy leave and find new occupations.
Lol Mormonism is a special kind of stupid ideology. It blows my mind how anyone can be so gullible as to fall for it..but then again, indoctrination is almost always to blame
@@rosiej.1473 They have a form of shunning called disfellowship and excommunication. Though they are told to love and accept those who leave, it is rarely followed. The head of the cult, er, I mean church, called those who lack faith, have left, or question the truth after learning history "lazy learners" and "rebellious children". That was what he said about a week ago. My experience is that I am not invited to things anymore and no one tries to be my friend. Even my family is only cordial at best (at least amongst my siblings).
@@CraigCall Exactly, most cases are due to childhood indoctrination, that's why they grow up never questioning it and accepting it as fact. Once they reel in the children, its virtually impossible to get them out..only with a few exceptions such as yourself. Religious leaders are fully aware of this: get 'em when they're young!
Growing up, I was forced to be in the Christian faith by my relatives and specifically my dad. I started realizing how flawed the religion was at age 9, and that's when I started to highly dislike going to church. My dad would spank/slap me, yell at me, and belittle me...just because I didn't feel comfortable in that religion anymore. He said that he could not have a daughter that didn't believe in God, and that I was going to Hell. I had crippling anxiety and stress for years upon years until he made me hit the breaking point. I was meer seconds away from "not existing" anymore one day after another outburst from my dad because I didn't go to church. Luckily, I didn't go through with it and I started to stand my ground against him. After I stood up to him, I started to find myself again and my anxiety suddenly got a lot better. I suffered years and years of religious abuse. Please, PLEASE, if you are a parent who is like this, please just stop. Nothing will ever take away all those horrible feelings and now have a panic disorder. Just listen to your kids sometimes, they are not supposed to be a spinning image of you. Also, lovely video. I used to feel so alone thinking that something was wrong with me because I wasn't religious. The truth is that we just have too many people trying to push what THEY believe on others and forcing it down their throats.
It’s even tougher for Christians who don’t believe in the Conservative propaganda. We are attacked just as aggressively for having the “audacity” to think outside their church and pursue a personal relationship with God. My faith is strong, but because it isn’t what THEY want, I’m wrong. Just because I refuse to subjugate others and refuse to continue the cycle of abuse, I’m going to Hell. Tell me, what part of the Golden Rule that Christ taught does this cover? It saddens me to see people leave, because I truly to believe in Him, but there is no anger or resentment to be had. How can I blame the people who ditched the religion that put them through so much? I do believe there will be a culling in this world one day, but they all will be shocked at who God chooses to be with Him.
@@TheSuicune7 They should have read about the sheep and the goats from Matt 25. If your god is real, he will personally throw them in the lake of fire as he promised. He will say to them, "how you treated the least of these is how you treated me."
During my fading out of the JW religion, we were having elders visit last year. They would keep asking how we were. They expected us to be sad and down. Yet, my answers were always, "we're fine....doing great." And that wasn't a lie. Yet they sat there at my house and said, "You think you're fine, but you're not." It was ridiculous. It's like they want us to be sad and need them.
I used to have very similar arguments with my mom. Every time I expressed doubt about God's existence, she used to get all mad and be all " how dare you say that! God is almighty and he will strike you down! " but in more recent years, she,s become more tolerant and patient. I even managed to get HER to doubt her beliefs on more than one occasion. The most significant of them was this one day when my mom talked me into sitting down and actually read the Bible together. While she was reading out loud, I kept asking questions about the logic behind some of these events. By the time we got to Noah's ark, she was already starting to run out of counterpoints. By the time we got to Sodom and Gamora, she could barely think of anything to argue in her defense. I could see it in her eyes. She had a look on her face that said " what the hell just happened?! "
@@raysalmon6566 well apparently moses asked for God's name.... And the answer was "I am what I am" well that didn't turn out too good either did it.. Especially for the Jews. You have a right to an Opinion, but don't judge.... If he is lost I'm sure he will find a path to go along very happily, just not following the yellow brick road of a cult. 😁 You have a nice day now.
@@jeannec7558 someone didn't read the bible.😛 The Jews made there own lives hard by saying God is a fake AFTER THEY JUST WATCHED A SEA COME APART. Anyways after there blasphemy they uncountered struggles set by God to see where there faith in God lies and if they were strong enough to believe that with God anything is possible. Unfortunately things didn't go well not because of God because they didn't believe in what was right in front of them.
@@jonasd.2548 who's the someone...? My statement doesn't mean I haven't read the bible or understood it, its you that have read my comment in the way you wish to read and understand it. A bit like the bible funnily enough that's the problem with religion and the bible all have their own interpretation.
@@jeannec7558 uh you cant just understand things the way you want to because one is right and one is wrong. Someone who understands a math problem can get it done easy contrary to someone who doesn't understand. People thinking that they can interpret things how ever they want( which they can but it won't end well) are selfish and think only of themselves. I'm not saying your one of them I'm saying... please don't do that it's annoying and the most "Karen" thing ever.
Or anyone else either. I mean how the f do they think they know better then you yourself. I mean it makes no sense at all. I have had all these 5 reasons said to me by believers of any religion when we start to talk about it and why they believe and why I don't believe. It always goes the way that I don't really want to know the truth, or that just study hard and believe hard and god will show himself to you etc. Usually I try to give them a snark comment about them not believing other religions nor even other sects inside their own religion. After that it's pretty much silent.
They're indoctrinated cult members who think they have a skydaddy on their side, of course their delusional-arrogance is going to surmise why you left the cult
@@themacocko6311 Yeah that's the love of their god they so talk about. How their god is all good and loving, but it's odd that it only applies to believers of same faith, no matter if blood related or not if you don't believe in same god. Hypocrites, the worst kind of people, even a liar and a thief can be honest about what he is but religious people, just hypocrites.
It is after exiting the watchtower that you can better see the rickety structure of the building. While you are there you cannot see it. The further you are from this building, the more you will have a complete view of the disaster.
I had a similar thought: When I was in, we were frequently admonished to build our faith on a foundation of stone; a foundation of sand would not stand the test of time. NEVER was mention made of the worm riddled, termite infested wood with which they were building the structure of faith.
My Mum said the exact words “throwing the baby out with the bath water” just 2 weeks ago when my wife and I both disassociated. I’m glad it’s not just my parents who are like this.
I can't disagree with you that your parents are probably prideful but they also aren't perfect just as imperfect as you are. They have a lot to learn because pride is the first sin.. the sin that sent the devil straight down to hell. Do what you want with this but don't let your pride get in the way either because we all have it sometimes.👌
@@jonasd.2548 are you familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses? My parents CHOSE to shun me because i don't believe in their religion. They would never dare watch this video because it is "apostate material." Their minds have been closed by the cult like tactics of the witnesses. They think that they are so right, that they would never even consider being open to another viewpoint. This isn't just "imperfection," this is much deeper than that.
@@iamrambo99 yes I am familiar with the works of the Jehovah Witnesses. First of all I completely agree the name "Jehovah Witnesses" just sounds like a cult it doesn't even sound like a religion. Second yes It does go much deeper than imperfections but to me those imperfections and gigantic flaws they have lead to them trying to force something on you. Choosing God isn't a law it's a choice. I've simply grown out of the way my church and parents do things because i know that cant be correct. I didn't understand how my mom could be such a "good" Christian but a horrible person. I'm doing things different and doin this service my own way. I want you to do the same but just be mindful of the consequences of both sides. Remember I too was once a victim of this fake society as well. Do you man but do the right thing. I wont say what the "right thing" is because you probably already know what I think but I'm also not saying it because its up to you do do what you think is right.
Same, but I kinda think people don't want to listen to reason because they know it will make sense then lead to doubt, then doubt may lead to them learning something that they have believed their wholes lives isn't true. I thinks that's one reason why they don't listen is because they are scared of not believing.
The work you’ve been putting out is really incredible. Your ability to be respectful while criticizing extremely sensitive topics is enviable. I’m glad you’re doing what you’re doing.
He's awesome, I can't be this polite lol. I will shred the superstitious to pieces..only online though. In real life, I will discuss respectfully and refute anything they throw at me
@@TheTruthHurts Hi brother. This is just something to consider Ask yourself why 10 of the 11 remaining (after Judas' betrayal) disciples were executed because of their Christian faith, as attested confidently by historical sources. To quote Sean McDowell of Peter: ''The early, consistent and unanimous testimony is that Peter died as a martyr;" and of the martyrdom of the disciples as a whole: "It shows the depth of the apostles’ convictions. They were not liars. They truly believed Jesus rose from the grave and they were willing to give their lives for it." They needed only to deny their faith to be saved, but did not. Would you seriously die for something that you know wasn't true? These men died fully believing in their contact with the risen Christ. If you'd like to research more on the martyrdom of Peter, you can research (amongst other sources) 1st Clement. Some have theorised that they merely had hallucinations, but this isn't true for 4 reasons: 1) The theory does not explain the empty tomb 2) Multiple people shared in group-visions of Jesus 3) They had group-conversations with the risen Christ 4) They touched Jesus and ate with him, which is impossible with a hallucination. The gospel of John speaks of Thomas physically touching Jesus' wounds to prove to himself he was real! And we can know the gospel’s are reliable. Papias - a contemporary of the apostle John, wrote that the gospel of Mark was based on Peter’s eye-witness testimony; and that Matthew and John were indeed Jesus’ disciples. This is someone who directly knew eye-witnesses to the reported events!
@@michaal105 prove to me that the disciples actually existed. Prove to me that multiple people actually had shared visions of Jesus. We have absolutely no archaeological evidence and no historical evidence to support Jesus even existing.
@@michaal105 Mike, your whole story is still based on one old Historical book called the bible which itself doesn't hold any prove of what is written on it. I am so happy I left Jehovah's witness and religion as a whole.
Another great one. I honestly love everything about your content. I will have no hesitation sharing your videos to close believing family members if we are on the topic and sharing media. I'm sure that if you keep it up, you'll reach millions of people.
Found your channel through your talk with Andrew Gold. Actually paused that video and came over here and subscribed and set up notifications right away to make sure I didn’t lose track of you while watching the rest of his interview with you! Your poise, knowledge and manner of speaking make your information very understandable for the non-JW. But a definition please - from the comments on a couple of vids, I think it’s JIMI (not 100% sure I’m remembering that correctly and of course now I can’t find it again lol). Not an acronym I’m familiar with. Otherwise, please keep up the great work! Looking forward to learning more about the JW and their inner workings!
Once again a very considered and intelligent analysis Harrison. What you are doing with these videos has the potential to benefit so many in a very powerful way. Keep up the great work you are doing.
He is making this a career and fooling his followers. He is a deft manipulator. Instead of looking forward to his toxic, negative energy videos, I encourage you to get saved and look forward to something infinitely better, the Kingdom of God/Heaven. May God bless you!
@@thetruthshallsetyoufree.84 Nothing negative about calling Christianity fake, friend. If you don't like it, than actually prove god's existence instead of verbally attacking those who don't believe.... Frankly speaking, there are many religions apart from Christianity, so even if there is a god/goddess/gods/prophets/etc. than I see no reason why I should believe your word.
@@Random_Traveler_ The Truth will Set You Free has accused people of thinking he's handsome (which I really can't see it, no offense to Harris), accused Harris of being a manipulator, and has projected his victim complex onto others. There is no reasoning with him unfortunately. 🤷
@@funnibeanboi1363 I'm not surprised, though I hoped to have something to gain from an interaction.... Still, I appreciate your polite interjection. I find myself increasingly interested in videos made by Harris and others! The subject of atheism and religion are fascinating, and to hear their stories equally so.
Phenomenal Harrison! I've been called "proud" soo many times...but just last week, I had my most successful email conversation with my mother about why am I not attending Sunday meetings on zoom using some of the arguments from your Are JWs the one true religion? video. You're a great inspiration and I wish you best of luck
I'm not in a church but had free will to explore my beliefs and it Mormon and stuff seems strange to me bc I assume they have different doctrine rules they made up and seem kind of strict. I don't think if we believe in the same God we should have these other rules but just follow the commandments. Even bible comes from Torah. I think Instead of following religion doctrine we should just follow a relationship with God and try being like Jesus (yeshua)and that's kind of the problem now since we make stuff up like other rules and doctrine we divide and hate . Even if a person goes to church they can also not be a good person. I think people just be prideful in these denominations because as long as you try to be like Jesus to follow his teaching and follow the commandments you should be fine even if they tell you it's not right just read and ask God himself! And you'll find the way if you keep searching
@@jmuniz985 This man has done all of his research and realized God is not real... At least none of the hundreds of Gods out there as defined by man. Some of the mythical Jesus' traits, as described in the fictional Bible are wonderful, and some are not, much like any human as described in various mythologies
Harrison is the same age as my Son, and I’m so grateful that I left before he was born, without the shackles of this indoctrination affecting him. He’s a well rounded, motivated, smart, happy and considerate person, that sees things for how they are, and does his best in life, for himself and others. Having said that, if Harrison was my Son, I would be EXTREMELY proud of how he has turned out. I feel for Harrison, no longer being able to have a wholesome and clear connection with his Dad, (as I can still empathise with) but at least he’s free to have a full and rich life, which he will, that’s for sure, and his future family.
Thank you so much for this!! Your videos are so well done 👏 👏👏 My son expressed his doubts to me when I was still a believer, but I sat and listened to what he had to say. As he spoke, I was sure that I would be able to come back with answers and explanations that would set him back on the right path. I thought on his words for a few days and began to realize he wasn't wrong. That led to my, I guess you could call it, waking up. I'm so glad that I heard him out and didn't dismiss him. I later came across Grundy's jwfacts, Evan's youtube and then your channel and all three have been a tremendous help. I appreciate all the work all of you activists put in and I hope that your dad sees what a brilliant son he has.
I have a very simple answer to anyone trying to convert me "I have tried speaking to God, multiple times. Every time he is silent. He has done nothing for me, so why should I worship him? God can have me when he earns me."
I didn't leave the jehovahs but I left a very strict Christian home. Raised in a Christian school, went to church twice a week but as I got older I asked too many questions and found answers the church couldn't. Glad I found you channel, I feel like I know you haha keep seeking truth and understanding!
7:20 - I feel exactly the same way. I feel a great sense of accountability for the impact I'm having on the world. I'm always thinking, do my actions make the world a better or worse place and I'm a more empathetic person as a result. JWs DO NOT think like this. They just leave it all in "Jehovah's hands".
Leave it Jehovah's hands is an EXCUSE TO DO NOTHING TO HELP. BUT AS EVERYONE CAN SEE THE GB DOESN'T LEAVE IT IN JEHOVAH'S HANDS. The GB uses the legal system and heavily rely on their hired legal team to handle things. If the average rank and file did the SAME EXACT THING, then the GB would loose control 🤔. And couldn't enforce their ridiculous rules and policies. That's another reason why the GB don't want JWS to be involved in politics. Because it keeps them from helping get laws and legislation changed for the betterment of mankind when they see or realize that 🤔 organizations are not always right in their rules and policies. And there is room for adjustments. Every JW should have a right to 🗳 vote. They ALL PAY TAXES. And if they are to follow the government ( Roman's 13:1). Then they could help laws change for the better of mankind.
@@cyndibenson3140 Thanks. I was in this CULT for over 50 years and the GB doesn't do ANYTHING to help people. They are all about oppression and free slavery. A ton of people have been seriously hurt by this CULT and its time for it to ✋ stop. To many lives have been lost unnecessarily and the GB and everyone involved don't CARE. ITS ALL ABOUT BRINGING NEW PEOPLE IN AND INCREASING THEIR BOTTOM LINE. Well, the tides are turning and people are leaving and waking up and standing up for their right and speaking out. The WRATH OF GOD IS UPON this CULT and many others like them. These DOOMSDAY CULTS must go.
Yea pretty lame... You can't want something without hard work. Giving nothing to God and expecting him to give us what we want is like getting a 10/100 on a test and expecting your parents to buy you an IPhone100000. 9/10 times it's not gonna happen. Basically this "religion" filled church thinks that doing the absolute least amount of work can get you far as long as you "leave it in the hands a Jehovah" sheesh!
Just finished watching this video. You have expressed everything I dealt with and I thought of, but never talked about it out loud. Another very good video. Cheers man. I hope you're doing well
This isn't a comment on religion. Reading your post just had a weird effect on me. ~I am half way through the video. ~You said that you just finished watching it, and that was a year ago. ~The guy in the video made it before it was posted (obviously). ~He uploaded it a while after he edited it. ~Somebody else will experience the video in the future. All of those unconnected, yet connected events occurred in each person's "now". I have thought about how television and radio signals that are moving out in to space will eventually reach another galaxy years from now. Hypothetically, the beings that would experience those radio or television transmissions would experience it in their "now". They would receive television series shows one at a time as the waves reached them. I always thought of time in a linear way. Your comment hit me because your "now" wasn't my "now" and we don't live light years apart. Depending on where you live, your "now" might be at night and in the winter, while my "now" is during the day and in early summer. Take something as controversial as the moon landing. Forget about whether either of us believe it or not. Let's assume that we both believe in it. The astronauts "now" was about 1.4 seconds before our "now" as television watchers experiencing the event. "Now" is a relative event that is only experienced by one person, ever. Even if a friend is sitting next to me on the couch (assuming that I had a friend 🙂) they would experience the television show at a different time than I would. The time difference would be so small that it would not be noticed but the difference is there. This means that if we live in the "now", which everybody does, we are truly alone. We are the only person that exists in our "now." There isn't one other person or animal that we can connect with right "now." Even a touch occurs milliseconds before we experience it in our brain. Wow. I have never felt so truly alone as I do right now. That didn't"t end up where I thought it was going. 😐
@@piotreksiedlec Your first comment reached me 1 year after you wrote it. The second one only took 8 minutes. 🙂 what a strange world we live in. Take care.
I know this is a very minor thing but I do love the background...the book, the fossils etc! It is a treat every time! Of course the content is much more important and as usual very well done!
Stay strong man, I was disfellowshipped in 2015, and by far the hardest part so far is, none of my family from colorado (all jw's in Colorado) tell me when a relative dies. My grandmother and cousin so far. Your videos have been really inspirational, it's been so hard staying strong and not falling back into their trap
I left Christianity last year after years and years of intellectually struggling to make logical sense of all of it. What you said around the 11:20 mark was extremely true for me: I was completely terrified that if I did my own research I would find answers I didn’t want to hear or accept. I had to force myself to be ok with hearing things I didn’t want to (aka being open minded). Once I opened up my mind to being wrong, it was shocking how fast my beliefs fell out from underneath me.
Accepting that your beliefs even could be wrong is the first step to realizing they are wrong. This is why religious people are in deep denial, because if they can allow themselves to even consider for a moment that their beliefs could possibly be wrong, then their beliefs will immediately collapse under the weight of the facts they have been ignoring. On some level no matter how buried every single religious person on the earth knows that their religion is wrong and doesn't want to admit it because they are terrified of admitting to themselves that they've bought into the world's greatest and longest enduring scam.
The irony is that christians preach humility but if they actually lived that they'd find a way to open their minds. You can't be humble with a closed mind. A closed mind is pure arrogance which is the opposite of humility.
I wish your videos were longer. I was never a JW, I was Assembly of God (Pentecostal) they use the same tactics. The way you speak makes me want to listen to more.
@@joelmouton9365 I didn't look you up, or anything, but my wife was raised in SW, La. Welsh/ Jennings your name drew me to ask the question. She was raised much more hardcore AOG, than even myself. She's a Fontenot/Deshotel.
@@ridenourbikewithdystonia5888 Yeah I'm from Carencro. I went to school with a few Fontenot and Deshotel. My religious indoctrination was pretty hard core. I suffered from Religious Trauma Syndrome when I first deconverted.
One thing I admire aboot your videos are how neatly placed things are in your background~ in terms of aesthetics.That plant looks well watered lol it's a cool little focal point just like the dino fossil head in your last upload.Great content at any rate, Cheers!
This is such a passionate and personal experience that it rings so true. Plus his logical and deliberate examination of his beliefs and disbelief leading to his enlightenment is a perfect example of the scientific method. That this method also applies to faith shows that this is the only way forward for humanity.
My wife unfortunately is still a witness so when recently received several letters from Jdubs. She was like, just look at the good intentions and nice messages. I replied yes absolutely but if i replied saying here is some Buddhist philosophy you should look into, they'd immediately call for me to be disfellowshipped for apostasy. So is it a fair exchange? No not at all. Harrison you have a rare gift of seeing through the BS despite indoctrination from birth, not an easy thing to do. Keep up your eloquent, insightful arguments.
Great video, Harrison!! I’ve been enjoying your content immensely. Thank you for taking the time and expending the effort you have in order to create these excellent videos! 🙂👏
The construct of your reasoning is sound IMO. Noted a few pin pointed lines of reasoning for future use. If you enjoyed this video and are very pleased with the content viewers please support the channel on Patreon. Thank you for making this video. 🙂
I love you’re videos!!! So well done and presented!! Thank you for all the hard work. I know many are seeing this and feeling relief that they aren’t alone.
Too true. When you are a Christian and wrong another person, you should apologize to God. When you are an Athiest and wrong another person. You should apologize to that person. I can tell you which one the wronged individual would prefer.
@All mighto can I get the chapter and verse number there? If it's just a nice sounding quote someone else came up with, how can we know they aren't putting words in the mouth of God? I'm not going to get into whether or not lines in the bible itself are "inerrant word of God" for the purposes of this request. I just want a source cited.
@All mighto thanks...so I did read that and some lines ahead of it to get context. The person talking is Jesus, rather than God talking directly the way he did to Adam an eve about the special trees he didn't want them eating off of. It earlier mentions how getting into a spat with your bro can mean you will get judged or punished to varying degrees, and then here is what I have in the English Standard version: 5:23 - So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you. And the on to your lines. I can see how this might be interpreted as apologize to the person and then to god...but none of those lines even seem to imply offering recompense to God for doing another person wrong. I can't speak to the exact verses at this exact time that espouse begging gods forgiveness for sins and all but I know they are there and I could look later. I interpret this as these people would attend religious gifting affairs at regular intervals, and could gauge some time by it...many days may have passed since the spat and the next religious meeting... I read it as: "so if it's been a while since you and your friend had this fight and he's still mad. Stop what you're doing and go make up. That's more important, and you can go through the proper gift giving after that." Which can be decent advice if the goal is to encourage and inspire social bonds and perhaps community. If you cherry pick it. But this is the same guy who says a while later that he was there to break up even the close bonds of family and that people should put God above all others (implying above the people they are friends with). Matthew 10:34-37
@All mighto Specifically 10:37 whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy if me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. This literally says prioritize him over your own family. I'm interested in your interpretations about the next couple lines. Especially revolving around the cross (and thus crusifixion) imagery. I honestly interpret it as either "if you don't suffer and heavily burden yourself while serving me, you are unworthy" Or as "I expect you to suffer and die for me. But don't worry, you will 'live on' [in heaven] as a reward"
Another top video with great content. I also enjoyed your chat with Lloyd on his channel, I share a lot of similarities with both of your experiences and it's good to here you talk about it. Keep it up 👍
Another gem from you, Harrison, well worth the wait since your last video. I loved it so much I watched it back to back. Great production and attention to detail, great content, research, logic and humour. "Why do you hate the Babylonian god Marduk?", "Why do you love the Greek god Zeus?", "Luke Skylwalker, good. Lord Farquaad, bad. Cinderella, good. The Abrahamic god, I'll let you decide..." Thank you for making these videos, @Harrison.
Such an articulate young man! Good points. I started questioning God (Using as proper name, so capitalized) when I was about five, challenging him to strike me down for not believing IF he existed. I admit I thought there was some risk. It took years before I, at nineteen, went to a little chapel and said a ritual farewell to Jesus. I've been a happy freethinker ever since. It has been a bit rocky with my Baptist/Lutheran family, but we all get along. Every now and then someone will ask me a cautious question. I don't try to change them. They're happy as they are.
Thank you for making all of these videos! I binged them all lol and it's nice to see your sub count go from 9.8k to 10k when I went from one vid to the next. You earned it. You speak well and draw from real experiences that you've had, which really is helpful in illustrating the point and making it feel more personal. I wasn't a Jehovah's witness myself, but I always enjoy hearing explanations of why others left their brand of Christianity/religion. I'm looking forward to any other videos you might have in store. :) Edit: New video uploaded while I wrote out this comment hahaha
The Noah's flood story always annoyed me growing up, I remember thinking it was unfair that god let wicked angels come to earth and procreate with humans resulting in wicked offspring, then God had had the audacity to say that he regretted making humans, maybe he should have regretted making angels, it's kind of like victim blaming, blaming humans for somthing that much smarter and powerful angels did and then killing all the humans instead of punishing the angels. I tried telling my dad this and he looked at me and said "are you saying that god is unloving?" Ummm where do you go with that. It's like banging your head against a wall. Anyway another great video 😊
@Jasmine Reesby, You could try answering with a question: Do you think THAT was an act of love? Of course, if he, or any JW, does, it would explain why JW's are willing to accept shunning as an act of love.
People put so much effort into turning a mad dog into a friendly loving dog, but God, our creator who has faith that man can turn to him with love is ludicrous. Please listen to yourselves. Please tell me how we were all created?
@@jasonmurphy8470 None of it matters if you can't prove your supernatural skydaddy to begin with. Religious folk are a joke and embarrassment to humanity..
@@jasonmurphy8470, I no longer believe in ANY organized religion, but I am reticent to fully abandon the idea of a supreme being. As such, I have to ask: Why would you ask such a question of an atheist?! It really makes no sense to ask an atheist how s/he was CREATED. If you want an explanation of evolution, there are many fine books on the subject, I suggest you avail yourself to one because the subject is far too complex to be answered here.
@@williamsawyer9894 I agree it's ridiculous but there was a time that I believed it but it still didn't make sense. I'm just glad that a psychopathic God isn't real😬
How sad. You would take his depressing, false/dishonest message over the true, blessed hope of the Kingdom of God/Heaven? He is a dishonest liar and false teacher. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Matthew 23:13. Jesus Christ saves souls, while this one aides in sending them to Hell. May God bless you!
Well said mate,. Also the Deliberate break up of marriages through suggestions, coercion and fear of an Armageddon death of your minor if one of the parents are not in the org.
I absolutely adore your post and am eternally hopeful that you continue on your new journey. And please continue to help us who struggle with similar institutionalized religious pasts
Keep up the good work Harrison. You are not alone. A RUclipsr, Owen, who was in the same boat as you, is also a former JW, he goes by the name ' TELLTALE' and he's very active.
Hey, "Jay the comedian" pointed me here and this is the first video I watched, I like what I see and hear and I subscribed and will continue to watch I like the way you break things down for people and at the same time relate it to not only real life situations but personal situations, well said.
RUclips algorithm doing something right! Found your video via recommendations, and I really like your style. As a former Mormon, I relate so much to your experiences with your father. I had similar conversations with mine, and though we have a truce now and can speak quite cordially, I always feel that lingering disappointment in him. In any case, glad to have your insightful contribution to the larger world of atheist activism!
Spot on Harrison. WHEN YOU CAN: OWN your actions without pointing blame on others or the spirit realm; PRACTICE what you preach, bringing personal beliefs under scrutiny; TREAT others with respect and kindness simply for decency's sake, because it's the right thing to do, instead of for shares in an everlasting utopian afterlife and brownie-point-scoring with God and a religious hierarchy; LIVE like you sincerely believe that the truth can be established and will always prevail following objective, unbiased interrogation: ... you are a more selfless, humble and honest individual.
Harrison you are a true gift to youtube and the atheist community. your work is so well thought out and explained and i have looked forward to your next video since your first video. Thank you
@@jonasd.2548 *BREAKING NEWS* It is a pretty basic atheist logo tbh. to answer your question the devil is not real. I figure this was basic knowledge considering most of your main stream "satanic" groups do not even believe in Satan.
@@atheistapostate4328 yea I heard that too! It's said that they don't believe in the devil but they try to make themselves there own god like how the devil tried to do in the Bible. They don't want to serve anyone but themselves, not even the devil himself. I just found it interesting that you picked out that symbol out of all the ones that exist. It's just not adding up to your claim.
Your talks are SO fun to listen to!... truly enjoy the logic and the step by step approach to your understanding... your experiences are so close to my own....
I've looked through and commented a paragraph on at least 6 peoples comments and they all had "religion" as there biggest problem. Look man I'm not gonna go to far into it but religion is not Christianity. Christianity is hard word, determination, faith, power. Dont be a hypocrite and do some real research otherwise you didn't truly believe everything in this video.
@@jonasd.2548 Christianity is a religion. A religion, by definition (let's take google, but I'm fine with any other dictionary) is understood to be: the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power (**check**); especially a personal God or gods (**check**). a particular system of faith and worship (**check**)
@@jonasd.2548 I really don't care what it "was supposed to be," but what it _is._ And it crosses basically all relevant checkmarks for what is understood to be a religion. In fact, if one wants to be more frank, most more fundamental Christian groups also fill most checkmarks for what makes a cult.
11:27 I got that all the time when I started discussing religion online, and my then lack of it, after having left the JWs. I think that if you leave a group such as the JWs, other Christians will hold it against you, 'cause _"you were never a proper Christian"_ , and then your arguments don't count, according to them. But they're only shooting the messenger.
Unfortunately religion removes reality, logic and lateral thinking from individuals. Why?, Because these attributes allow the truth for alternatives to be seen.
Incredible. Thank you for using your voice on RUclips. You are going to wake up so many. You helped me wake up, and now you’re helping my husband. WT must be sweating bullets knowing you are going to singlehandedly reduce their numbers. Please keep the videos coming!
I'm watching the chat you had on MythVision and I had to come over to your channel and subscribe!! You are so eloquent and precise on what you say, I absolutely love it! Thank you! 🤗
It's tiring... but I have to do it to effect a smooth fade, fake smiles, kiss ass and all the rest, it's mind blowing what one would do for self preservation just because you hold a different belief 😂
Great job Harrison 👏👍🏻👌 the more logic you spread about this, the greater chance we all have to see our families again one day. ❤ I appreciate what you're doing very much. You are courageous....i hope we all let our bitterness become a stepping stone to courage 💪like you have done.
This appears to be a new channel, if so I want to let you know your channel's going to do very well very quickly, they're a bunch of reasons I could list. Keep recording videos keep uploading, keep your quality and production and standards good
Holy hell, I thought just another atheist RUclipsr I hadn’t watched popping into my recommendations. You have 15k subs? 15K?! That is too little. You’re gonna blow up soon and I’m gonna be thrilled I found this channel early :).
If I wanted to sin without guilt I'd be a christian. That way I can just bend the knee, and pray to jebus for forgiveness. Unfortunately, I'm accountable to only the people I hurt. And sometimes "sorry" isn't enough.
According to Christians everyone is going to hell anyways because they were born into sin. Imagine if you had never been told that? You would have been a better person without being brainwashed. No one can confirm heaven or hell exists and its a form of control and manipulation. We have laws not to go to jail otherwise what can you prove?
Top Video Harrison. We all can relate to you. I have not broken it to my Christian / Church Family as yet. Don't know how it is going to turn out. Stay well my Brother, there are a lot like you out there, we just need each other's support.
Awesome bullet point presentation of the reasons your family say you left the cult. The truth is indisputable, your logic is undeniable. Thanks for adding your voice to the ever increasing world of exjw activism!
I'm Christian and this baffles me. How arrogant of them to assume they know what's in your heart and mind. I've got this weird idea that I can't read minds and that I should assume that the reasons a former Christian left the religion are what that person says they are.
So true, it's SO frustrating when you have all the logical reasoning and they are almost like children with their fingers in their ears. The cult programming is strong. My older (and elder!) brother said that I was right on the edge of a spinning roundabout and would be flung off into 'the world' and I needed to get back in the centre. I told him when you get off and your head stops spinning you can finally see clearly! But I've thought about that analogy many times, they are so dizzy they can't see straight.
Hi, such a great video, and I’m enjoying learning about your journey away from the Jehovah’s. I’m a former Roman Catholic Priest myself, I left as an Atheist and haven’t looked back since. My discovery of the world outside theology, it’s brilliance, the freedom, the ACCOUNTABILITY (as you so eloquently stated in this video) are powerful. Keep up the great work, your voice is heard and it matters. - Thomas
As a Christian, while not in the domination of the Jehovah's Disciples, it's truly great to see that you're finding your own path out there! Keep going your own way, there's importance in being comfortable with yourself, and in enjoying your day to day, instead of staying simply because you were born into it. I do hope that your days are filled with radiance, for simply being yourself Is better than what most people can say, even amongst Christians themselves. I would just happen to agree with nearly every point you put out here. Of course, I am simply human so there will always be things that irk me. Such the argument that we have scapegoats. Well, yes, I cant help but agree here, there are quite a few who use items like the devil and his temptation as such, but I wholeheartedly believe that they should not be done as so, they should be as guidance, not as something to grab onto at the last second. People can use even metaphore and meaning wrong, and it makes me sad. Even if you no longer believe in God, may He grant you solace as you forge your own path in the world of darkness, and may He be someone to trust in, even if he is no longer within your heart. I love the videos so far, and I hope that you keep it up in the future.
"If someone wants to disprove it, they will." Actually, if someone doesn't want to find out whether their belief is really true, they won't consider the evidence and arguments against it. Believers are far less interested in what is true than people who have their beliefs ripped away from them as a consequence of their interest in what is true.
As a lifetime atheist I can only say: you described your reasons and pointview very good and agree with you. I'm glad you discovered YOUR OWN path and took over responsibility for your own life. You're free person now.
I totally agree with you. I was brought up by JW too. I have anxiety...I tried to kill myself before and sadly my sister was succesful. I could tell so many stories that would make you understand why I am anxious. I was the black sheep of the family. I am doing much better now but there will always be that dark cloud hanging above me when I see or even just talk to my family on the phone. Thank you for sharing on youtube...we are not alone...xxx
You're welcome Cynthia. Thank you for your comment. I'm so sorry for the loss of your sister and I truly hope you are coping as well as you can in the present. Sending lots of love your way xx
@@watchandjewelryloft4713 So glad you posted that. I have seen a few other activists attacking those with high subscriber numbers and or patreon members. Basically saying those activists are only in it for the money.
Belief in god is not humble. It is an arrogant declaration to fellow mortals that they are privileged, chosen, and destined for eternity by the simple, convenient belief god exists on their behalf and takes interest in their life. The god belief is a selfish, solipsistic declaration of a mind unwilling to consider the unknown as it is, not as they want it to be. Intellectual honesty, skepticism, refutation and evidence are what the mind needs to build an accurate mental model of reality.
i was FORCED to go to a non-denominational christian church as a child under threat of SEVERE beatings. at no point did i ever believe any of it and sometimes felt the horrific beatings were better. if that is what being a good christian was, i want no part of it.. ive seen what "christian love" is. its sick and disturbs me to this day, 30yrs later.
It must have been a painful journey. True friends and true family will not abandon you because of a faith. I trust you have many real friends and a wider family now. Peace bro.
Brilliant video 🙌 I hate the argument that "because you're clever you're proud" - I've had that thrown at me and it is insulting...and actually irritating - just because they cannot accurately defend their beliefs and view past doctrine as irrelevant (although those doctrine form the foundation of their current beliefs) JW's view it as an action of a "proud and egotistical nature" if you do so. I had a "friend" (after he had ran out of excuses for erroneous doctrine) say to me (we were at Excel convention) in a condescending and incredulous tone: "So..out of EVERYONE here you're saying you are correct?" But...its not EVERYONE there is it. It's just 8 men.
This is such an interesting video, please watch...Thank you for your videos, I have also gone through the mental fatigue and waste of time...you are not alone. Keep strong 💪🏻
I just want to say that this is the first video of yours that I’ve seen, but I love it! It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of time into thinking about the beliefs that Jehovah’s Witnesses hold, and it’s obvious that you have strong reasons for what you believe and for where you’re at today. That takes a lot of time, effort, and mental fortitude to examine a system of beliefs that you once held as true and to decide that not only are they not true, but that this fact is important enough to you that you’ll leave the religion. In a lot of ways, leaving a high control group is like leaving your entire life with them behind
Appreciate you sharing this short video. It reinforces my belief, as a Christian (Latter-day Saint), that the following ideas are extremely important for Christians to understand and put into practice: 1) Listen to those who have questions and/or doubts regarding their faith and religious beliefs. Don't assign motives and other reasons behind their doubts. Just listen to them and try to understand and appreciate where they are coming from with an open mind and a loving heart. You don't have to agree with them, but just listen to them and be open minded towards them and their reasoning. 2) It is OK and normal to have doubts regarding anything regarding faith in religious beliefs that require faith in addition to physical evidence. As believers, all of us have doubts from time to time, to varying degrees. I see this as normal and healthy. We can then choose where to go with those doubts. All of us are different, with different life experiences and learning, talents, weaknesses, challenges, trials, etc. Many of us who are strong in our faith have had doubts in the past and often continue to do so from time to time. Acknowledging them and dealing with them, while maintaining a trust in God, can actually strengthen one's faith, as it has mine. There is no such thing as a 'bad question' in this regard, in my opinion. We should be willing to seek out truth, both of a religious/spiritual nature as well as of a scientific nature, both within and without our religion. 3) Abandon the whole idea that others that don't believe as you do will automatically 'burn in hell for eternity'. This is not what Jesus taught and is nonsensical. It only serves to turn others off regarding Christianity, and I find it a very repugnant belief that absolutely does not in any way characterize the God that I believe in. 4) All good religions (meaning those that basically practice the "golden rule") have truth in them to varying degrees. Obviously the religion (or belief system) that we hold to is the one we perceive to have the most truth, or else we wouldn't be a member of that particular religion or sect. 5) God loves ALL of His children and throughout history has given inspiration, to varying degrees, to all peoples, to the extent that they are ready for such inspiration culturally and in their given environment and culture of that particular time period. 6) Don't, in any way, shun or 'disown' those who leave your faith. Continue to treat them with the same love and respect as before they left. You don't have to agree with their choices and opinions, but continue to love and appreciate them without assigning motives or reasons why they may have left, but truly listen to and try to understand them, (as pointed out in point #1 above). 7) Be open minded regarding the Bible and other inspired writings. Having an 'all or nothing' attitude towards them will result in overly simplistic and inaccurate ideas regarding how revelation from God works. Be open to the idea that revelation from God gets filtered through our human imperfections, those that are personal as well as cultural and environmental. For example, the Bible can and does have many inspired truths without every single sentence being the 'inerrant word of God'. There is a happy medium between believing it to be all or nothing, and too often I see folks going from one extreme to the other: From the "all" to the "nothing". The same holds true for science and religion. I hold both to be important, and that we don't have to choose one to the complete exclusion of the other. That is why I believe future Christians need to be much more open minded regarding science, such as being open to the idea that evolution and a limited flood of Noah are sound beliefs that don't mean we have to abandon a belief in God and in our religion. Such historical accounts in the Bible can be seen as cultural beliefs of the ancient Near East instead of being the 'literal words of God'. This goes along with the idea of revelation getting filtered through our human cultural beliefs of the time period it was given in.
For those saying 'Jehovah's Witnesses aren't true Christians', bear in mind that they do not class whatever denomination you belong to or belonged to as 'true Christianity'.
The reason why I titled the video as I did is because not only did I leave Jehovah's Witnesses, but I stopped calling the Bible inspired or infallible. I stopped calling myself a follower of Christ.
It is true that there are aspects of mainstream Christianity that Jehovah's Witnesses do not agree with, however the reason there are thousands of denominations and offshoots even within those who largely agree on core foundational beliefs, is because there is no objective standard of true Christianity. It's merely the subjective opinion of one person/religion over another, with everyone believing they possess the one and only true interpretation of the Bible. As far as they are concerned, everyone else will either burn in hell or die at Armageddon.
For me, if someone claims to be a true follower of Christ and believes the Bible is the Word of God, that's good enough for me to class them as Christian.
Rather than labelling Jehovah's Witnesses as false Christians and a cult, why not read one of the 5 books (displayed in the video) that challenged me when I classed myself as a 'true Christian'. Maybe, just maybe, there is no such thing.
I agree with your perspective on the issue of differing denominations completely. That is something for me as a Christian, I personally wrestle with. The Bible views this kind of seperation as Carnal (cited in 1 Corinthians 3).I came to terms that no matter how strongly I believe in a doctrine or teaching, I think humility is shown when I find myself open to the possibility of being wrong in some points. And since I do believe in the existence of God, I trust that God will be understanding in that area.
Based off of my understanding, The differences in the church was foretold by Christ ahead of time.
“He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up? ’ the servants asked him. “‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’””
Matthew 13:24-30 CSB
The reason I do believe in God is solely due to the testimony of Christ. The fact he is historically placed in history and that his disciples did what they did to spread the word. I am open to hearing the other side to obtain a better all around viewpoint. At one point in life I was a the very most Agnostic so these arguments aren’t new to me.
@@carbon273 As an atheist I believe all religions have a basic message in common: Love.
So for me: There is no God, there is only Love.
Apart from that message all religions in my opnion have another thing in common: a doctrine based on obedience and fear. I personally reject that.
You seem like an openminded person and I hope you will find your answers.
To quote Funkadelic: "Free your mind and your ass will follow"
@element5888 Only 1 ?
Every religion claims their scripture is the "word of God " right ?
@element5888 I don't understand your stance
I am an atheist
Are you an atheist or a theist
If ur a theist, whats ur position
Pls clarify your position and point before I can respond
It wasn't clear to me
@@mikevandernoordt4507 God is love
My PIMI husband always tells me,, “You only do enough research to prove what you want to believe.” He doesn’t realize that my extensive research came first, then I formed my belief. 😞
What's a PIMI?
@@adamsmith868 thank you 👍🙋🏻♂️. I tried searching for it, but could not find anything relevant. Then after posting my question it occurred to me to add Jehovah's witness to my search and found it.
Hopefully, the rescent Belgian court ruling will hold up. I'm hoping the case against the Watchtower will go all the way to the ECHR and that they find shunning a violation of European Human Rights.
With the child abuse cases around the world and now human rights violations, hopefully, the Watchtower will crumble under the weight of litigation against them.
@@Nilsy1975 also there
Is PIMO (out) and other variations such as POMI, POMO etc. Interestingly a person can be Physically Out And Mentally In for many decades. They either left on their own accord or were disfellowshipped but continued believing it was true for all that time.
@@TheChariotdriver thank you for the information 👍🙂
My wife tells me the same thing, also that I am close minded to her truth. Totally ignoring the fact that I was once religious, I had doubts, did some research and discovered irrefutable facts about the universe, humanity and religions. She considers atheism, or even science, to be just competition for her religion, and projects her own confirmation bias on to me. So frustrating.
sometimes i think this is one of the reasons why they shun us: if not, if they would go on sharing family life with us, they would have to admit that our new life, without the theistic god revealed by the bible and his sole communicating channel, did NOT turn out to immorality, angry or bitterness, and them watching our happiness and our balance would raise too many questions for them about their lives. I wouldn’t say they like or love to shun us, but i got the impression that shunning us makes it easier for them, they dont want to question their comfort zone...
Profound
Excellent
You need to lose the victim mindset.
That is absolutely it, have no doubt. There is a reason behind this shunning policy, and that is because they are afraid to lose more people in their organization or religion and many religions use the same tactics in fact cut out all the fat and meat and you will see they all have the same skeleton. In the minds behind these religions its crucial to pass on the religion at the moment of birth before the person has critical thinking ability as most people do not tend to question things and are comfortable to continue things as where before and if grown into something most likely will never question it. But some people do question everything, they are curious and when they develop critical thinking abilities as they grow up they become a problem. That is even though they actually do believe and have no intentions beforehand but the very act of questioning to know more rips through the very fragile exterior of these religions, and slowly pursuing question after question it is realized how little sense it all makes. Religions are very weak to questioning cuz although if you dont look too far they seem to have all the answers but dig a little deeper and it is obvious they have no actual answers at all. So these type of curious people become like cancer which will spread very fast if not dealt with. They know after this happens they cant influence that person anymore so they have put in place tactics to use the influence they have on others to cut the cancer out before it spreads. JW has shunning, islam says to behead these people. Even JW would probably do the same if it could. All this non believers are this and that, they want to sin, they know god exists but hate him thats why they deny, they just have closed their eyes on the truth and so and so and so are there for a reason. I would say mainly apologetics and their content, the thinking behind it and the way its made is their for the same reason. That reason is not to convince the non believer who has gone through this process. The reason is to keep the believers that might have started having questions as a result of these non believers but yet have not started to look deeply into it from just doing that. To dry up the the little seeds of questioning and doubt. To keep up the facade intact for people looking from within. And why I say this is because what they say is nothing new they just state what is said countless times before and if not completely ignorant they must know a person having gone through this process previously being a religious believer, will most likely have already seen all they have to provide and have realized the problems they have, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone through the painful and hard process of stoping to believe and admitting being wrong and wasting a big part of their life and then starting to learn from scratch. This is not an easy blink of an eye decision and thats when you dont have to fear for your life being beheaded or being shunned from all you family and friends and society. Worse if you live under those conditions, this maybe the biggest decision you will ever make in your life so they must know you just didn’t wake up one day and go ahh Im done with it.
@@thetruthshallsetyoufree.84 You need to have some basic human decency. It's called "empathy", you should try it sometime.
Glad to see a new video, and your methodical approach to breaking down your subject matter. I can see the day your father finally listens to the son. Do not give up.
Bro! Are you a former witness? I’ve watched your ASMR for a while now.
@@Ithaca-vv5dy No I am not, but very supportive of Harrison making not only a stand on his current situation, but trying to bring enlightenment to the world.
@@TirarADeguello do a “you’re an atheist!?” Role play asmr
Don't underestimate the power of indoctrination - most people will never rise above religion and will remain in their deluded state. That's the real danger of religion..its myth, superstition and pseudoscience posing as truth..and all without evidence, only to rely on faith.
Disgusting ideologies..Christianity and Islam are cults and need to be eradicated by public discourse, reason and science.
@@Ithaca-vv5dy I'll seriously think about doing that.
As a Christian, I want to say thank you for sharing so honestly (and thanks to the youtube algorithm for bringing me here!). I’m not part of the JW world so I can’t comment on that, but I do think that Christians are too quick to make judgements on those who leave the faith when we should be listening to the actual reasons that people have and considering areas where we are at fault and have caused hurt.
Thank you Levi👍
Don't miss the point though. People don't choose what they believe but are led by evidence. Sometimes a hurt starts the search for evidence but it does not change it not the final conclusion.
I can respect people of faith. I no longer believe the things in the Bible, after doing deep research into scriptures. Just because I left the faith, does not mean I hate people of faith. I no longer believe any of the stories in the Bible and that’s ok. I’m told I’m “deceived” and “possessed by satan.” I never let it get to me, because it’s just an opinion they have. I believe some things from the Bible are good, like loving the neighbor and other things. I love everybody, but that does not mean I will accept everything people believe or do.
I hope you manage to recover from religion one day, it must be totally mind blowing
@All mighto Of course I do. My actual father raised me well. Not some imaginary, non existent all knowing father who has never once spoken to me. I follow logic and evidence, and so far there is no evidence to prove the existence of Yahwey.
Just 3 minutes in, but I have to say this: It never ceases to amaze me how people who claim to have the one and only truth and to be God's chosen people call themselves humble, and how when someone asks, "Are you sure about that?", that person is accused of being proud.
Kate W. You're right a lady that I know told me that the Catholic Church ⛪️ was the only true religion. And I don't believe a word that she said 🤔 . I guess she was upset with me , because I sent her a article on religion, and she disagree with it 🤷.
Why can companies have pride points but you can’t be proud of yourself? That doesn’t make sense
Its like everything they teach about non believers is projection about themselves! WOW! Thank you so much Harrison! I am greatly benefited by your analizations.
Very insightful
Yes you have learned the that groups of people are always corrupt.
Yea Christianity the "religion" is pretty messed up. Hypocrisy, judgment, abandonment is all terrible. If you truly believe what was said in this video then please don't be a hypocrite right back and try to see what a real Christian is about. Do some research. If you won't then everything you heard in this video doesn't apply to you.
@@jonasd.2548 you're literally doing exactly what is described in this video champ.
@@adamplentl5588 Nah I'm agreeing with what he said in the video. If I'm doing what's in the video than you are too but on the opposite side. And we never like to think we're wrong do we?😛
They have to attack our character and motives because to do anything else would be to acknowledge the religion's flaws, and the vast majority of JWs are unwilling to do that.
It's sleazy, unkind, and disrespectful, but this accusatory reaction stems from a deep desperation to protect their life choices and world view.
And it's so sad
Of course they do. If a Christian believed that someone could become a non-believer honestly by diligent reasoning, they are stuck in a trap. Christians claim to honesty and thoughtfulness are virtues. Here's the syllogism.
1. Harrison deserves to be ostracized and damned because he is an atheist.
2. Harrison became an atheist because of his virtues.
Therefore
3. Harrison deserves to be ostracized and damned because of his virtues.
The Christian can't accept the conclusion, as it's morally repugnant. Therefore they have to reject one of the premises. They cannot reject the first, because it contradicts their dogma. So their only options are to reject the second premise. It's easier to call the atheist a liar than admit that they don't view honesty or critical thought as virtues.
In a nutshell!
Sometimes, like in Harrison's case, they are not attacking his character or motives, but simply describing them. He really is arrogant and dishonest.
Yes, people are leaving religion in droves. The pastors, ministers, preachers will have to find new professions. There is a group called: The Clergy Project, which helps the clergy leave and find new occupations.
I grew up Mormon and this is soooo close to home for me. I have heard my family and friends say many of these things to my face.
Hi, Do Mormon's shun? I have heard yes and no. What has been your experience? If you don't mind sharing. Thank you
Lol Mormonism is a special kind of stupid ideology. It blows my mind how anyone can be so gullible as to fall for it..but then again, indoctrination is almost always to blame
@@rosiej.1473 They have a form of shunning called disfellowship and excommunication. Though they are told to love and accept those who leave, it is rarely followed. The head of the cult, er, I mean church, called those who lack faith, have left, or question the truth after learning history "lazy learners" and "rebellious children". That was what he said about a week ago. My experience is that I am not invited to things anymore and no one tries to be my friend. Even my family is only cordial at best (at least amongst my siblings).
@@FactStorm Yeah. It is pretty dumb. If I hadn't been born into it, I don't think I would have joined. Very manipulative and I'm glad to be out
@@CraigCall Exactly, most cases are due to childhood indoctrination, that's why they grow up never questioning it and accepting it as fact. Once they reel in the children, its virtually impossible to get them out..only with a few exceptions such as yourself. Religious leaders are fully aware of this: get 'em when they're young!
Growing up, I was forced to be in the Christian faith by my relatives and specifically my dad. I started realizing how flawed the religion was at age 9, and that's when I started to highly dislike going to church. My dad would spank/slap me, yell at me, and belittle me...just because I didn't feel comfortable in that religion anymore. He said that he could not have a daughter that didn't believe in God, and that I was going to Hell. I had crippling anxiety and stress for years upon years until he made me hit the breaking point. I was meer seconds away from "not existing" anymore one day after another outburst from my dad because I didn't go to church. Luckily, I didn't go through with it and I started to stand my ground against him. After I stood up to him, I started to find myself again and my anxiety suddenly got a lot better.
I suffered years and years of religious abuse. Please, PLEASE, if you are a parent who is like this, please just stop. Nothing will ever take away all those horrible feelings and now have a panic disorder. Just listen to your kids sometimes, they are not supposed to be a spinning image of you.
Also, lovely video. I used to feel so alone thinking that something was wrong with me because I wasn't religious. The truth is that we just have too many people trying to push what THEY believe on others and forcing it down their throats.
It’s even tougher for Christians who don’t believe in the Conservative propaganda. We are attacked just as aggressively for having the “audacity” to think outside their church and pursue a personal relationship with God. My faith is strong, but because it isn’t what THEY want, I’m wrong. Just because I refuse to subjugate others and refuse to continue the cycle of abuse, I’m going to Hell. Tell me, what part of the Golden Rule that Christ taught does this cover? It saddens me to see people leave, because I truly to believe in Him, but there is no anger or resentment to be had. How can I blame the people who ditched the religion that put them through so much? I do believe there will be a culling in this world one day, but they all will be shocked at who God chooses to be with Him.
@@TheSuicune7 They should have read about the sheep and the goats from Matt 25. If your god is real, he will personally throw them in the lake of fire as he promised. He will say to them, "how you treated the least of these is how you treated me."
My parents always said - no, you don't feel that way. I never ever had my feelings validated. Nice job Harrison.
During my fading out of the JW religion, we were having elders visit last year. They would keep asking how we were. They expected us to be sad and down. Yet, my answers were always, "we're fine....doing great." And that wasn't a lie. Yet they sat there at my house and said, "You think you're fine, but you're not." It was ridiculous. It's like they want us to be sad and need them.
Sounds about right 🤦🏻
Thank you Johanna😊
I used to have very similar arguments with my mom. Every time I expressed doubt about God's existence, she used to get all mad and be all " how dare you say that! God is almighty and he will strike you down! " but in more recent years, she,s become more tolerant and patient. I even managed to get HER to doubt her beliefs on more than one occasion. The most significant of them was this one day when my mom talked me into sitting down and actually read the Bible together. While she was reading out loud, I kept asking questions about the logic behind some of these events. By the time we got to Noah's ark, she was already starting to run out of counterpoints. By the time we got to Sodom and Gamora, she could barely think of anything to argue in her defense. I could see it in her eyes. She had a look on her face that said " what the hell just happened?! "
Thank you for the insightful conversation I myself questioned Gods existence I guess no human has evidence or proof ? Where does evil come from ?
Harrison is of a different class to any activist I have heard. Informative elequant, and factual. Brilliant honest video. 👌
@@raysalmon6566 I think he knows where he is Ray, he is where he wants to be.
@@raysalmon6566 well apparently moses asked for God's name.... And the answer was "I am what I am" well that didn't turn out too good either did it.. Especially for the Jews. You have a right to an Opinion, but don't judge.... If he is lost I'm sure he will find a path to go along very happily, just not following the yellow brick road of a cult. 😁 You have a nice day now.
@@jeannec7558 someone didn't read the bible.😛 The Jews made there own lives hard by saying God is a fake AFTER THEY JUST WATCHED A SEA COME APART. Anyways after there blasphemy they uncountered struggles set by God to see where there faith in God lies and if they were strong enough to believe that with God anything is possible. Unfortunately things didn't go well not because of God because they didn't believe in what was right in front of them.
@@jonasd.2548 who's the someone...? My statement doesn't mean I haven't read the bible or understood it, its you that have read my comment in the way you wish to read and understand it. A bit like the bible funnily enough that's the problem with religion and the bible all have their own interpretation.
@@jeannec7558 uh you cant just understand things the way you want to because one is right and one is wrong. Someone who understands a math problem can get it done easy contrary to someone who doesn't understand. People thinking that they can interpret things how ever they want( which they can but it won't end well) are selfish and think only of themselves. I'm not saying your one of them I'm saying... please don't do that it's annoying and the most "Karen" thing ever.
Nothing infuriates me more than a family member telling me why I left
Or anyone else either. I mean how the f do they think they know better then you yourself. I mean it makes no sense at all.
I have had all these 5 reasons said to me by believers of any religion when we start to talk about it and why they believe and why I don't believe. It always goes the way that I don't really want to know the truth, or that just study hard and believe hard and god will show himself to you etc.
Usually I try to give them a snark comment about them not believing other religions nor even other sects inside their own religion. After that it's pretty much silent.
They're indoctrinated cult members who think they have a skydaddy on their side, of course their delusional-arrogance is going to surmise why you left the cult
Hell, my family (except my mother) didn't say a thing and hasn't said anything to me in 13 years.
@@themacocko6311 Yeah that's the love of their god they so talk about. How their god is all good and loving, but it's odd that it only applies to believers of same faith, no matter if blood related or not if you don't believe in same god.
Hypocrites, the worst kind of people, even a liar and a thief can be honest about what he is but religious people, just hypocrites.
It's a form if gaslighting.
It is after exiting the watchtower that you can better see the rickety structure of the building. While you are there you cannot see it. The further you are from this building, the more you will have a complete view of the disaster.
Excellent comment
I had a similar thought: When I was in, we were frequently admonished to build our faith on a foundation of stone; a foundation of sand would not stand the test of time. NEVER was mention made of the worm riddled, termite infested wood with which they were building the structure of faith.
Being intellectually honest and asking questions should always be something everyone should strive for. Thanks for the video.
My Mum said the exact words “throwing the baby out with the bath water” just 2 weeks ago when my wife and I both disassociated. I’m glad it’s not just my parents who are like this.
Crushed it again... If only my family could swallow their pride and watch this video
I wish my family would to. My family lets their emotions override their listening capabilities.
I can't disagree with you that your parents are probably prideful but they also aren't perfect just as imperfect as you are. They have a lot to learn because pride is the first sin.. the sin that sent the devil straight down to hell. Do what you want with this but don't let your pride get in the way either because we all have it sometimes.👌
@@jonasd.2548 are you familiar with Jehovah's Witnesses? My parents CHOSE to shun me because i don't believe in their religion. They would never dare watch this video because it is "apostate material." Their minds have been closed by the cult like tactics of the witnesses. They think that they are so right, that they would never even consider being open to another viewpoint. This isn't just "imperfection," this is much deeper than that.
@@iamrambo99 yes I am familiar with the works of the Jehovah Witnesses. First of all I completely agree the name "Jehovah Witnesses" just sounds like a cult it doesn't even sound like a religion. Second yes It does go much deeper than imperfections but to me those imperfections and gigantic flaws they have lead to them trying to force something on you. Choosing God isn't a law it's a choice. I've simply grown out of the way my church and parents do things because i know that cant be correct. I didn't understand how my mom could be such a "good" Christian but a horrible person. I'm doing things different and doin this service my own way. I want you to do the same but just be mindful of the consequences of both sides. Remember I too was once a victim of this fake society as well. Do you man but do the right thing. I wont say what the "right thing" is because you probably already know what I think but I'm also not saying it because its up to you do do what you think is right.
Same, but I kinda think people don't want to listen to reason because they know it will make sense then lead to doubt, then doubt may lead to them learning something that they have believed their wholes lives isn't true. I thinks that's one reason why they don't listen is because they are scared of not believing.
The work you’ve been putting out is really incredible. Your ability to be respectful while criticizing extremely sensitive topics is enviable. I’m glad you’re doing what you’re doing.
He's awesome, I can't be this polite lol. I will shred the superstitious to pieces..only online though. In real life, I will discuss respectfully and refute anything they throw at me
I really appreciate that Alex, thank you so much!
@@TheTruthHurts Hi brother. This is just something to consider
Ask yourself why 10 of the 11 remaining (after Judas' betrayal) disciples were executed because of their Christian faith, as attested confidently by historical sources. To quote Sean McDowell of Peter: ''The early, consistent and unanimous testimony is that Peter died as a martyr;" and of the martyrdom of the disciples as a whole: "It shows the depth of the apostles’ convictions. They were not liars. They truly believed Jesus rose from the grave and they were willing to give their lives for it." They needed only to deny their faith to be saved, but did not. Would you seriously die for something that you know wasn't true? These men died fully believing in their contact with the risen Christ. If you'd like to research more on the martyrdom of Peter, you can research (amongst other sources) 1st Clement.
Some have theorised that they merely had hallucinations, but this isn't true for 4 reasons:
1) The theory does not explain the empty tomb
2) Multiple people shared in group-visions of Jesus
3) They had group-conversations with the risen Christ
4) They touched Jesus and ate with him, which is impossible with a hallucination. The gospel of John speaks of Thomas physically touching Jesus' wounds to prove to himself he was real! And we can know the gospel’s are reliable. Papias - a contemporary of the apostle John, wrote that the gospel of Mark was based on Peter’s eye-witness testimony; and that Matthew and John were indeed Jesus’ disciples. This is someone who directly knew eye-witnesses to the reported events!
@@michaal105 prove to me that the disciples actually existed. Prove to me that multiple people actually had shared visions of Jesus. We have absolutely no archaeological evidence and no historical evidence to support Jesus even existing.
@@michaal105 Mike, your whole story is still based on one old Historical book called the bible which itself doesn't hold any prove of what is written on it. I am so happy I left Jehovah's witness and religion as a whole.
Another great one. I honestly love everything about your content. I will have no hesitation sharing your videos to close believing family members if we are on the topic and sharing media. I'm sure that if you keep it up, you'll reach millions of people.
Thank you so much. Really glad you enjoy them 👍
I'm glad i found your channel. I'm an ex seventh day adventist. And thank you for clearing out that it's o.k. to feel some kind of bitterness.
Found your channel through your talk with Andrew Gold. Actually paused that video and came over here and subscribed and set up notifications right away to make sure I didn’t lose track of you while watching the rest of his interview with you! Your poise, knowledge and manner of speaking make your information very understandable for the non-JW. But a definition please - from the comments on a couple of vids, I think it’s JIMI (not 100% sure I’m remembering that correctly and of course now I can’t find it again lol). Not an acronym I’m familiar with.
Otherwise, please keep up the great work! Looking forward to learning more about the JW and their inner workings!
I'm so glad that you enjoy my content. Thank you for the feedback too! 😁
Once again a very considered and intelligent analysis Harrison. What you are doing with these videos has the potential to benefit so many in a very powerful way. Keep up the great work you are doing.
Thank you for the kind words my friend 🙏
You are one of the best presenters I’ve seen on RUclips. You could make this a career. I really look forward to your videos.
he was taught by the JW hahhaha, he is amazing lecturer.
He is making this a career and fooling his followers. He is a deft manipulator. Instead of looking forward to his toxic, negative energy videos, I encourage you to get saved and look forward to something infinitely better, the Kingdom of God/Heaven.
May God bless you!
@@thetruthshallsetyoufree.84 Nothing negative about calling Christianity fake, friend. If you don't like it, than actually prove god's existence instead of verbally attacking those who don't believe.... Frankly speaking, there are many religions apart from Christianity, so even if there is a god/goddess/gods/prophets/etc. than I see no reason why I should believe your word.
@@Random_Traveler_ The Truth will Set You Free has accused people of thinking he's handsome (which I really can't see it, no offense to Harris), accused Harris of being a manipulator, and has projected his victim complex onto others. There is no reasoning with him unfortunately. 🤷
@@funnibeanboi1363 I'm not surprised, though I hoped to have something to gain from an interaction.... Still, I appreciate your polite interjection. I find myself increasingly interested in videos made by Harris and others! The subject of atheism and religion are fascinating, and to hear their stories equally so.
Phenomenal Harrison! I've been called "proud" soo many times...but just last week, I had my most successful email conversation with my mother about why am I not attending Sunday meetings on zoom using some of the arguments from your Are JWs the one true religion? video. You're a great inspiration and I wish you best of luck
That's so kind. Thank you 👍
I'm not in a church but had free will to explore my beliefs and it Mormon and stuff seems strange to me bc I assume they have different doctrine rules they made up and seem kind of strict. I don't think if we believe in the same God we should have these other rules but just follow the commandments. Even bible comes from Torah. I think Instead of following religion doctrine we should just follow a relationship with God and try being like Jesus (yeshua)and that's kind of the problem now since we make stuff up like other rules and doctrine we divide and hate . Even if a person goes to church they can also not be a good person. I think people just be prideful in these denominations because as long as you try to be like Jesus to follow his teaching and follow the commandments you should be fine even if they tell you it's not right just read and ask God himself! And you'll find the way if you keep searching
@@jmuniz985 This man has done all of his research and realized God is not real... At least none of the hundreds of Gods out there as defined by man. Some of the mythical Jesus' traits, as described in the fictional Bible are wonderful, and some are not, much like any human as described in various mythologies
@@travisjazzbo3490 what other mythology is like Jesus I haven't done research on characters similar to him
@@jmuniz985 you arent aware of other dying and rising Gods in folklore?
YES!!!! YES!!! YEEEESS!!!!!!
I literally shouted I was so excited when I saw your video notification. ❤️
🤣 I'm really glad you enjoy them!
Loving all your videos kid who could be my son!
I left when I was 17 years old in the mid-eighties. No youtube, no Internet at all.
Harrison is the same age as my Son, and I’m so grateful that I left before he was born, without the shackles of this indoctrination affecting him. He’s a well rounded, motivated, smart, happy and considerate person, that sees things for how they are, and does his best in life, for himself and others.
Having said that, if Harrison was my Son, I would be EXTREMELY proud of how he has turned out.
I feel for Harrison, no longer being able to have a wholesome and clear connection with his Dad, (as I can still empathise with) but at least he’s free to have a full and rich life, which he will, that’s for sure, and his future family.
i give credit to anyone who left before the days of internet! if it wasn’t for internet i’d likely still be in
@@FyourCult yeah same here
Knocked it out the park again!
Thanks Gary👍
Thank you so much for this!! Your videos are so well done 👏 👏👏
My son expressed his doubts to me when I was still a believer, but I sat and listened to what he had to say. As he spoke, I was sure that I would be able to come back with answers and explanations that would set him back on the right path. I thought on his words for a few days and began to realize he wasn't wrong. That led to my, I guess you could call it, waking up. I'm so glad that I heard him out and didn't dismiss him. I later came across Grundy's jwfacts, Evan's youtube and then your channel and all three have been a tremendous help. I appreciate all the work all of you activists put in and I hope that your dad sees what a brilliant son he has.
I have a very simple answer to anyone trying to convert me
"I have tried speaking to God, multiple times. Every time he is silent. He has done nothing for me, so why should I worship him? God can have me when he earns me."
I didn't leave the jehovahs but I left a very strict Christian home. Raised in a Christian school, went to church twice a week but as I got older I asked too many questions and found answers the church couldn't. Glad I found you channel, I feel like I know you haha keep seeking truth and understanding!
7:20 - I feel exactly the same way. I feel a great sense of accountability for the impact I'm having on the world. I'm always thinking, do my actions make the world a better or worse place and I'm a more empathetic person as a result. JWs DO NOT think like this. They just leave it all in "Jehovah's hands".
So true
Leave it Jehovah's hands is an EXCUSE TO DO NOTHING TO HELP. BUT AS EVERYONE CAN SEE THE GB DOESN'T LEAVE IT IN JEHOVAH'S HANDS. The GB uses the legal system and heavily rely on their hired legal team to handle things. If the average rank and file did the SAME EXACT THING, then the GB would loose control 🤔. And couldn't enforce their ridiculous rules and policies. That's another reason why the GB don't want JWS to be involved in politics. Because it keeps them from helping get laws and legislation changed for the betterment of mankind when they see or realize that 🤔 organizations are not always right in their rules and policies. And there is room for adjustments. Every JW should have a right to 🗳 vote. They ALL PAY TAXES. And if they are to follow the government ( Roman's 13:1). Then they could help laws change for the better of mankind.
@@tammyg8031 very good point.
@@cyndibenson3140 Thanks. I was in this CULT for over 50 years and the GB doesn't do ANYTHING to help people. They are all about oppression and free slavery. A ton of people have been seriously hurt by this CULT and its time for it to ✋ stop. To many lives have been lost unnecessarily and the GB and everyone involved don't CARE. ITS ALL ABOUT BRINGING NEW PEOPLE IN AND INCREASING THEIR BOTTOM LINE. Well, the tides are turning and people are leaving and waking up and standing up for their right and speaking out. The WRATH OF GOD IS UPON this CULT and many others like them. These DOOMSDAY CULTS must go.
Yea pretty lame... You can't want something without hard work. Giving nothing to God and expecting him to give us what we want is like getting a 10/100 on a test and expecting your parents to buy you an IPhone100000. 9/10 times it's not gonna happen. Basically this "religion" filled church thinks that doing the absolute least amount of work can get you far as long as you "leave it in the hands a Jehovah" sheesh!
Just finished watching this video. You have expressed everything I dealt with and I thought of, but never talked about it out loud. Another very good video. Cheers man. I hope you're doing well
This isn't a comment on religion.
Reading your post just had a weird effect on me.
~I am half way through the video.
~You said that you just finished watching it, and that was a year ago.
~The guy in the video made it before it was posted (obviously).
~He uploaded it a while after he edited it.
~Somebody else will experience the video in the future.
All of those unconnected, yet connected events occurred in each person's "now".
I have thought about how television and radio signals that are moving out in to space will eventually reach another galaxy years from now.
Hypothetically, the beings that would experience those radio or television transmissions would experience it in their "now". They would receive television series shows one at a time as the waves reached them.
I always thought of time in a linear way. Your comment hit me because your "now" wasn't my "now" and we don't live light years apart.
Depending on where you live, your "now" might be at night and in the winter, while my "now" is during the day and in early summer.
Take something as controversial as the moon landing. Forget about whether either of us believe it or not. Let's assume that we both believe in it. The astronauts "now" was about 1.4 seconds before our "now" as television watchers experiencing the event.
"Now" is a relative event that is only experienced by one person, ever. Even if a friend is sitting next to me on the couch (assuming that I had a friend 🙂) they would experience the television show at a different time than I would. The time difference would be so small that it would not be noticed but the difference is there.
This means that if we live in the "now", which everybody does, we are truly alone. We are the only person that exists in our "now." There isn't one other person or animal that we can connect with right "now."
Even a touch occurs milliseconds before we experience it in our brain.
Wow. I have never felt so truly alone as I do right now.
That didn't"t end up where I thought it was going. 😐
Maybe this is why most of us are always focused on the future or the past. Maybe it is because in the real "now" we are completely and utterly alone.
@@h_r7708 your comment was so deep that I'm not even going to answer I'm to dumb to do so:) hope your loneliness will disappear soon. Greets
@@piotreksiedlec Your first comment reached me 1 year after you wrote it. The second one only took 8 minutes. 🙂 what a strange world we live in. Take care.
I know this is a very minor thing but I do love the background...the book, the fossils etc! It is a treat every time!
Of course the content is much more important and as usual very well done!
Thanks for the feedback! 😀
Stay strong man, I was disfellowshipped in 2015, and by far the hardest part so far is, none of my family from colorado (all jw's in Colorado) tell me when a relative dies. My grandmother and cousin so far. Your videos have been really inspirational, it's been so hard staying strong and not falling back into their trap
I left Christianity last year after years and years of intellectually struggling to make logical sense of all of it. What you said around the 11:20 mark was extremely true for me: I was completely terrified that if I did my own research I would find answers I didn’t want to hear or accept. I had to force myself to be ok with hearing things I didn’t want to (aka being open minded). Once I opened up my mind to being wrong, it was shocking how fast my beliefs fell out from underneath me.
Accepting that your beliefs even could be wrong is the first step to realizing they are wrong. This is why religious people are in deep denial, because if they can allow themselves to even consider for a moment that their beliefs could possibly be wrong, then their beliefs will immediately collapse under the weight of the facts they have been ignoring. On some level no matter how buried every single religious person on the earth knows that their religion is wrong and doesn't want to admit it because they are terrified of admitting to themselves that they've bought into the world's greatest and longest enduring scam.
Logic is to faith as computers are to creativity…..knowledge is to feelings…..science is to supernatural
The irony is that christians preach humility but if they actually lived that they'd find a way to open their minds. You can't be humble with a closed mind. A closed mind is pure arrogance which is the opposite of humility.
Dude, great stuff, keep going, your doing an amazing job, listening from Trinidad.
Thank you Jovan 👍
Never thought I'll see another trinidadian on one of these videos
I wish your videos were longer. I was never a JW, I was Assembly of God (Pentecostal) they use the same tactics. The way you speak makes me want to listen to more.
I grew up Assembly of God as well.
@@joelmouton9365 are you from Louisiana?
@@ridenourbikewithdystonia5888 Yep sure am. Born and raised.
@@joelmouton9365 I didn't look you up, or anything, but my wife was raised in SW, La. Welsh/ Jennings your name drew me to ask the question. She was raised much more hardcore AOG, than even myself. She's a Fontenot/Deshotel.
@@ridenourbikewithdystonia5888 Yeah I'm from Carencro. I went to school with a few Fontenot and Deshotel. My religious indoctrination was pretty hard core. I suffered from Religious Trauma Syndrome when I first deconverted.
One thing I admire aboot your videos are how neatly placed things are in your background~ in terms of aesthetics.That plant looks well watered lol it's a cool little focal point just like the dino fossil head in your last upload.Great content at any rate, Cheers!
That's kind to say, thank you, I try my best😁
This is such a passionate and personal experience that it rings so true. Plus his logical and deliberate examination of his beliefs and disbelief leading to his enlightenment is a perfect example of the scientific method. That this method also applies to faith shows that this is the only way forward for humanity.
My wife unfortunately is still a witness so when recently received several letters from Jdubs.
She was like, just look at the good intentions and nice messages.
I replied yes absolutely but if i replied saying here is some Buddhist philosophy you should look into, they'd immediately call for me to be disfellowshipped for apostasy. So is it a fair exchange? No not at all.
Harrison you have a rare gift of seeing through the BS despite indoctrination from birth, not an easy thing to do.
Keep up your eloquent, insightful arguments.
Great video, Harrison!! I’ve been enjoying your content immensely. Thank you for taking the time and expending the effort you have in order to create these excellent videos! 🙂👏
That's so kind. I'm really glad that you enjoy my content! Thanks for saying 👍
The construct of your reasoning is sound IMO. Noted a few pin pointed lines of reasoning for future use. If you enjoyed this video and are very pleased with the content viewers please support the channel on Patreon. Thank you for making this video. 🙂
Thanks for the kind words😊
I love you’re videos!!! So well done and presented!! Thank you for all the hard work. I know many are seeing this and feeling relief that they aren’t alone.
That's very kind, thank you 👍
Too true.
When you are a Christian and wrong another person, you should apologize to God.
When you are an Athiest and wrong another person. You should apologize to that person.
I can tell you which one the wronged individual would prefer.
Christians still apologise to the person they have wronged as well
@@SCOOBYBLACKA88 they are taught that by good parenting, but according to their holy book, it is not required or makes no difference to do so.
@All mighto can I get the chapter and verse number there?
If it's just a nice sounding quote someone else came up with, how can we know they aren't putting words in the mouth of God?
I'm not going to get into whether or not lines in the bible itself are "inerrant word of God" for the purposes of this request. I just want a source cited.
@All mighto thanks...so I did read that and some lines ahead of it to get context.
The person talking is Jesus, rather than God talking directly the way he did to Adam an eve about the special trees he didn't want them eating off of.
It earlier mentions how getting into a spat with your bro can mean you will get judged or punished to varying degrees, and then here is what I have in the English Standard version:
5:23 - So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you.
And the on to your lines.
I can see how this might be interpreted as apologize to the person and then to god...but none of those lines even seem to imply offering recompense to God for doing another person wrong.
I can't speak to the exact verses at this exact time that espouse begging gods forgiveness for sins and all but I know they are there and I could look later.
I interpret this as these people would attend religious gifting affairs at regular intervals, and could gauge some time by it...many days may have passed since the spat and the next religious meeting...
I read it as: "so if it's been a while since you and your friend had this fight and he's still mad. Stop what you're doing and go make up. That's more important, and you can go through the proper gift giving after that."
Which can be decent advice if the goal is to encourage and inspire social bonds and perhaps community. If you cherry pick it.
But this is the same guy who says a while later that he was there to break up even the close bonds of family and that people should put God above all others (implying above the people they are friends with).
Matthew 10:34-37
@All mighto
Specifically 10:37
whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy if me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
This literally says prioritize him over your own family.
I'm interested in your interpretations about the next couple lines. Especially revolving around the cross (and thus crusifixion) imagery.
I honestly interpret it as either "if you don't suffer and heavily burden yourself while serving me, you are unworthy"
Or as "I expect you to suffer and die for me. But don't worry, you will 'live on' [in heaven] as a reward"
Even growing up in a religious family, I could never comprehend how someone could have unwavering faith in something with zero quantitative evidence.
Fear of death is very strong and some people just never grow out of it. So they'll believe anything that salves their fear.
Another top video with great content.
I also enjoyed your chat with Lloyd on his channel, I share a lot of similarities with both of your experiences and it's good to here you talk about it.
Keep it up 👍
Thanks very much Glyn👍
Another gem from you, Harrison, well worth the wait since your last video. I loved it so much I watched it back to back. Great production and attention to detail, great content, research, logic and humour. "Why do you hate the Babylonian god Marduk?", "Why do you love the Greek god Zeus?", "Luke Skylwalker, good. Lord Farquaad, bad. Cinderella, good. The Abrahamic god, I'll let you decide..." Thank you for making these videos, @Harrison.
Me too.
You're welcome! Really glad you appreciate them so much😊
I clicked so fast so glad I found this Chanel. Such good researched videos
Thanks 👍
Such an articulate young man! Good points. I started questioning God (Using as proper name, so capitalized) when I was about five, challenging him to strike me down for not believing IF he existed. I admit I thought there was some risk. It took years before I, at nineteen, went to a little chapel and said a ritual farewell to Jesus. I've been a happy freethinker ever since. It has been a bit rocky with my Baptist/Lutheran family, but we all get along. Every now and then someone will ask me a cautious question. I don't try to change them. They're happy as they are.
Nobody cares
@@jacksonrelaxin3425 Moron!
Thank you for making all of these videos! I binged them all lol and it's nice to see your sub count go from 9.8k to 10k when I went from one vid to the next. You earned it. You speak well and draw from real experiences that you've had, which really is helpful in illustrating the point and making it feel more personal.
I wasn't a Jehovah's witness myself, but I always enjoy hearing explanations of why others left their brand of Christianity/religion. I'm looking forward to any other videos you might have in store. :)
Edit: New video uploaded while I wrote out this comment hahaha
You're welcome! I'm really glad you enjoy my content. Plenty more to come👍
The Noah's flood story always annoyed me growing up, I remember thinking it was unfair that god let wicked angels come to earth and procreate with humans resulting in wicked offspring, then God had had the audacity to say that he regretted making humans, maybe he should have regretted making angels, it's kind of like victim blaming, blaming humans for somthing that much smarter and powerful angels did and then killing all the humans instead of punishing the angels. I tried telling my dad this and he looked at me and said "are you saying that god is unloving?" Ummm where do you go with that. It's like banging your head against a wall. Anyway another great video 😊
@Jasmine Reesby, You could try answering with a question: Do you think THAT was an act of love? Of course, if he, or any JW, does, it would explain why JW's are willing to accept shunning as an act of love.
People put so much effort into turning a mad dog into a friendly loving dog, but God, our creator who has faith that man can turn to him with love is ludicrous. Please listen to yourselves. Please tell me how we were all created?
@@jasonmurphy8470 None of it matters if you can't prove your supernatural skydaddy to begin with. Religious folk are a joke and embarrassment to humanity..
@@jasonmurphy8470, I no longer believe in ANY organized religion, but I am reticent to fully abandon the idea of a supreme being. As such, I have to ask: Why would you ask such a question of an atheist?! It really makes no sense to ask an atheist how s/he was CREATED. If you want an explanation of evolution, there are many fine books on the subject, I suggest you avail yourself to one because the subject is far too complex to be answered here.
@@williamsawyer9894 I agree it's ridiculous but there was a time that I believed it but it still didn't make sense. I'm just glad that a psychopathic God isn't real😬
Smashed it Harrison! Brilliant break down and explanation of your stand point - When the truth is on your side it's easy!
How sad. You would take his depressing, false/dishonest message over the true, blessed hope of the Kingdom of God/Heaven? He is a dishonest liar and false teacher.
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." Matthew 23:13.
Jesus Christ saves souls, while this one aides in sending them to Hell.
May God bless you!
@@thetruthshallsetyoufree.84 Woah woah woah what’s wrong with hell? Easy tanning, barbecue, and tons of pirates and interesting stories.
Well said mate,. Also the Deliberate break up of marriages through suggestions, coercion and fear of an Armageddon death of your minor if one of the parents are not in the org.
I absolutely adore your post and am eternally hopeful that you continue on your new journey. And please continue to help us who struggle with similar institutionalized religious pasts
Keep up the good work Harrison. You are not alone. A RUclipsr, Owen, who was in the same boat as you, is also a former JW, he goes by the name ' TELLTALE' and he's very active.
I definitely threw the baby out with the bath water after discovering I was bathing a fake baby the whole time! 😡
What fake baby? I cannot even see or sense it in any way. I don't even have good indirect evidence that it was there in the first place.
At least you had a fake baby 😂🤷
Oh my God, thank you for putting my feelings into words because SAME
Lies.
LOL. I love that metaphor.
Thank you for the time you spent on this, as never being religious ever, it is fascinating to hear why people left their religion.
You're welcome. Thank you 👍
Extremely well done video! Critical thinking skills are lacking in most religious systems.
Thinking is a limited thing of action. Spiritual living is much more powerful.
Thanks Derek👍
Hey, "Jay the comedian" pointed me here and this is the first video I watched, I like what I see and hear and I subscribed and will continue to watch I like the way you break things down for people and at the same time relate it to not only real life situations but personal situations, well said.
Thank you! Glad you enjoy 👍
RUclips algorithm doing something right! Found your video via recommendations, and I really like your style. As a former Mormon, I relate so much to your experiences with your father. I had similar conversations with mine, and though we have a truce now and can speak quite cordially, I always feel that lingering disappointment in him. In any case, glad to have your insightful contribution to the larger world of atheist activism!
Spot on Harrison.
WHEN YOU CAN:
OWN your actions without pointing blame on others or the spirit realm;
PRACTICE what you preach, bringing personal beliefs under scrutiny;
TREAT others with respect and kindness simply for decency's sake, because it's the right thing to do, instead of for shares in an everlasting utopian afterlife and brownie-point-scoring with God and a religious hierarchy;
LIVE like you sincerely believe that the truth can be established and will always prevail following objective, unbiased interrogation:
... you are a more selfless, humble and honest individual.
This is such a beautiful comment that really captures exactly how I'm trying to navigate my life right now! I need to print this out
Very well done! I love how you organize your thoughts and arguments so clearly and directly.
Thank you! Glad you enjoy👍
Harrison you are a true gift to youtube and the atheist community. your work is so well thought out and explained and i have looked forward to your next video since your first video. Thank you
That's so kind. I really appreciate that👍
That's an interesting pfp you got there. How can you believe in the devil but not God? Atheist my butt.🤗
@@jonasd.2548 *BREAKING NEWS* It is a pretty basic atheist logo tbh. to answer your question the devil is not real. I figure this was basic knowledge considering most of your main stream "satanic" groups do not even believe in Satan.
@@atheistapostate4328 yea I heard that too! It's said that they don't believe in the devil but they try to make themselves there own god like how the devil tried to do in the Bible. They don't want to serve anyone but themselves, not even the devil himself. I just found it interesting that you picked out that symbol out of all the ones that exist. It's just not adding up to your claim.
@@jonasd.2548 when you live in reality you are your own god.
Thanks for sharing this great piece. I definitely subscribing because I want to see, hear and learn more.
Fantastic. Thank you 👍🏻
Your talks are SO fun to listen to!... truly enjoy the logic and the step by step approach to your understanding... your experiences are so close to my own....
Thank you Jeff! I'm so glad you enjoy the content and can relate 😊
Confirmation bias is a really common problem in society, especially in religious bodies!! Really good analysis here
Thanks very much Nick!
I've looked through and commented a paragraph on at least 6 peoples comments and they all had "religion" as there biggest problem. Look man I'm not gonna go to far into it but religion is not Christianity. Christianity is hard word, determination, faith, power. Dont be a hypocrite and do some real research otherwise you didn't truly believe everything in this video.
@@jonasd.2548 Christianity is a religion.
A religion, by definition (let's take google, but I'm fine with any other dictionary) is understood to be:
the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power (**check**); especially a personal God or gods (**check**).
a particular system of faith and worship (**check**)
@@cy-one that's not what it was supposed to be because in the bible Christianity has a different definition as well as religion.
@@jonasd.2548 I really don't care what it "was supposed to be," but what it _is._
And it crosses basically all relevant checkmarks for what is understood to be a religion.
In fact, if one wants to be more frank, most more fundamental Christian groups also fill most checkmarks for what makes a cult.
11:27 I got that all the time when I started discussing religion online, and my then lack of it, after having left the JWs. I think that if you leave a group such as the JWs, other Christians will hold it against you, 'cause _"you were never a proper Christian"_ , and then your arguments don't count, according to them. But they're only shooting the messenger.
Unfortunately religion removes reality, logic and lateral thinking from individuals. Why?, Because these attributes allow the truth for alternatives to be seen.
Incredible. Thank you for using your voice on RUclips. You are going to wake up so many. You helped me wake up, and now you’re helping my husband. WT must be sweating bullets knowing you are going to singlehandedly reduce their numbers. Please keep the videos coming!
Thank you for saying that. I'm so glad I can contribute in helping ones like yourself. Definately more to come!😊
I'm watching the chat you had on MythVision and I had to come over to your channel and subscribe!! You are so eloquent and precise on what you say, I absolutely love it!
Thank you! 🤗
Am attending pioneer school via zoom and watching your video at the same time...the 3Hs is our pioneer School motto😂😂😂
So you are okay faking it 😂
How hard it has to be for you to spend all the time required for such a "privilege" and no believeing anymore. Get out!
It's tiring... but I have to do it to effect a smooth fade, fake smiles, kiss ass and all the rest, it's mind blowing what one would do for self preservation just because you hold a different belief 😂
@@Dreamer5.0 smooth fade is the best way👍🏻getting DF’d or writing a letter isn’t worth the hastle
@@Dreamer5.0 nice. Keep doing what you can to survive while you are still in the Borg. Wish you well
Been waiting with exciting for the next truth hurts video!!
Love your work Harrison! Outstanding reasoning!
Thank you! That's very kind 😊
Great job Harrison 👏👍🏻👌 the more logic you spread about this, the greater chance we all have to see our families again one day. ❤ I appreciate what you're doing very much. You are courageous....i hope we all let our bitterness become a stepping stone to courage 💪like you have done.
Thank you Kristy!😊
☺💕
This appears to be a new channel, if so I want to let you know your channel's going to do very well very quickly, they're a bunch of reasons I could list. Keep recording videos keep uploading, keep your quality and production and standards good
Holy hell, I thought just another atheist RUclipsr I hadn’t watched popping into my recommendations. You have 15k subs? 15K?! That is too little. You’re gonna blow up soon and I’m gonna be thrilled I found this channel early :).
You really make good job ! Keep on going. You're watched and shared from France ;-)
Thank you!😊
The "you just want to sin without guilt" and "in your heart you know God is real" are the reasons still given to me
If I wanted to sin without guilt I'd be a christian. That way I can just bend the knee, and pray to jebus for forgiveness.
Unfortunately, I'm accountable to only the people I hurt. And sometimes "sorry" isn't enough.
According to Christians everyone is going to hell anyways because they were born into sin. Imagine if you had never been told that? You would have been a better person without being brainwashed. No one can confirm heaven or hell exists and its a form of control and manipulation. We have laws not to go to jail otherwise what can you prove?
You my sir, are pure GOLD😀 looking forward to your future videos😀
Thank you so much Jonas 👍
Stumbled upon you a couple weeks ago. You're going far. Love from Canada.
Thank you that's kind to say 😊
He's only a kid what does he know ??????
Top Video Harrison. We all can relate to you. I have not broken it to my Christian / Church Family as yet. Don't know how it is going to turn out. Stay well my Brother, there are a lot like you out there, we just need each other's support.
Thank you! I wish you all the best 👍
Awesome bullet point presentation of the reasons your family say you left the cult. The truth is indisputable, your logic is undeniable. Thanks for adding your voice to the ever increasing world of exjw activism!
Thanks for your kind words 👍
My comment has already been covered brother 😉
Another great video. Keep em coming!
Will do my friend 🙏
I'm Christian and this baffles me. How arrogant of them to assume they know what's in your heart and mind. I've got this weird idea that I can't read minds and that I should assume that the reasons a former Christian left the religion are what that person says they are.
I stumbled upon this video and really enjoyed it. Good for you! I hope to also make a video like this soon.
Thank you Jill! 👍🏻
So true, it's SO frustrating when you have all the logical reasoning and they are almost like children with their fingers in their ears. The cult programming is strong. My older (and elder!) brother said that I was right on the edge of a spinning roundabout and would be flung off into 'the world' and I needed to get back in the centre. I told him when you get off and your head stops spinning you can finally see clearly! But I've thought about that analogy many times, they are so dizzy they can't see straight.
I see this today with Trump worship
Hi, such a great video, and I’m enjoying learning about your journey away from the Jehovah’s. I’m a former Roman Catholic Priest myself, I left as an Atheist and haven’t looked back since. My discovery of the world outside theology, it’s brilliance, the freedom, the ACCOUNTABILITY (as you so eloquently stated in this video) are powerful. Keep up the great work, your voice is heard and it matters. - Thomas
Hey Thomas. Your story sounds fascinating! Thank you for the kind words regarding my content 👍
As a Christian, while not in the domination of the Jehovah's Disciples, it's truly great to see that you're finding your own path out there!
Keep going your own way, there's importance in being comfortable with yourself, and in enjoying your day to day, instead of staying simply because you were born into it.
I do hope that your days are filled with radiance, for simply being yourself Is better than what most people can say, even amongst Christians themselves. I would just happen to agree with nearly every point you put out here.
Of course, I am simply human so there will always be things that irk me. Such the argument that we have scapegoats. Well, yes, I cant help but agree here, there are quite a few who use items like the devil and his temptation as such, but I wholeheartedly believe that they should not be done as so, they should be as guidance, not as something to grab onto at the last second. People can use even metaphore and meaning wrong, and it makes me sad.
Even if you no longer believe in God, may He grant you solace as you forge your own path in the world of darkness, and may He be someone to trust in, even if he is no longer within your heart. I love the videos so far, and I hope that you keep it up in the future.
"If someone wants to disprove it, they will."
Actually, if someone doesn't want to find out whether their belief is really true, they won't consider the evidence and arguments against it. Believers are far less interested in what is true than people who have their beliefs ripped away from them as a consequence of their interest in what is true.
As a lifetime atheist I can only say: you described your reasons and pointview very good and agree with you. I'm glad you discovered YOUR OWN path and took over responsibility for your own life. You're free person now.
I totally agree with you. I was brought up by JW too. I have anxiety...I tried to kill myself before and sadly my sister was succesful. I could tell so many stories that would make you understand why I am anxious. I was the black sheep of the family. I am doing much better now but there will always be that dark cloud hanging above me when I see or even just talk to my family on the phone. Thank you for sharing on youtube...we are not alone...xxx
You're welcome Cynthia. Thank you for your comment. I'm so sorry for the loss of your sister and I truly hope you are coping as well as you can in the present. Sending lots of love your way xx
Simply awesome. You are destined for so much more then window washing
He definitely is. Can't wait to see him have six digit subscriber numbers and then some. He deserves every single one.
@@watchandjewelryloft4713
So glad you posted that. I have seen a few other activists attacking those with high subscriber numbers and or patreon members. Basically saying those activists are only in it for the money.
No keep window washing it will keep you humble ha ha
Belief in god is not humble. It is an arrogant declaration to fellow mortals that they are privileged, chosen, and destined for eternity by the simple, convenient belief god exists on their behalf and takes interest in their life. The god belief is a selfish, solipsistic declaration of a mind unwilling to consider the unknown as it is, not as they want it to be.
Intellectual honesty, skepticism, refutation and evidence are what the mind needs to build an accurate mental model of reality.
Couldn’t have put it better 👏🏼
Thank you for this. I'm tired of being expected to prove the whole of Christianity is wrong on the spot.
i was FORCED to go to a non-denominational christian church as a child under threat of SEVERE beatings. at no point did i ever believe any of it and sometimes felt the horrific beatings were better. if that is what being a good christian was, i want no part of it.. ive seen what "christian love" is. its sick and disturbs me to this day, 30yrs later.
It must have been a painful journey. True friends and true family will not abandon you because of a faith. I trust you have many real friends and a wider family now. Peace bro.
Brilliant video 🙌
I hate the argument that "because you're clever you're proud" - I've had that thrown at me and it is insulting...and actually irritating - just because they cannot accurately defend their beliefs and view past doctrine as irrelevant (although those doctrine form the foundation of their current beliefs) JW's view it as an action of a "proud and egotistical nature" if you do so.
I had a "friend" (after he had ran out of excuses for erroneous doctrine) say to me (we were at Excel convention) in a condescending and incredulous tone:
"So..out of EVERYONE here you're saying you are correct?"
But...its not EVERYONE there is it. It's just 8 men.
Thank you! 😊
This is such an interesting video, please watch...Thank you for your videos, I have also gone through the mental fatigue and waste of time...you are not alone. Keep strong 💪🏻
ruclips.net/video/88GTUXvp-50/видео.html
_Nothing is truer than truth._ Would that more people could half as objective, insightful and honest, regardless of the cost. Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much 😊
I just want to say that this is the first video of yours that I’ve seen, but I love it! It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of time into thinking about the beliefs that Jehovah’s Witnesses hold, and it’s obvious that you have strong reasons for what you believe and for where you’re at today. That takes a lot of time, effort, and mental fortitude to examine a system of beliefs that you once held as true and to decide that not only are they not true, but that this fact is important enough to you that you’ll leave the religion. In a lot of ways, leaving a high control group is like leaving your entire life with them behind
Appreciate you sharing this short video. It reinforces my belief, as a Christian (Latter-day Saint), that the following ideas are extremely important for Christians to understand and put into practice:
1) Listen to those who have questions and/or doubts regarding their faith and religious beliefs. Don't assign motives and other reasons behind their doubts. Just listen to them and try to understand and appreciate where they are coming from with an open mind and a loving heart. You don't have to agree with them, but just listen to them and be open minded towards them and their reasoning.
2) It is OK and normal to have doubts regarding anything regarding faith in religious beliefs that require faith in addition to physical evidence. As believers, all of us have doubts from time to time, to varying degrees. I see this as normal and healthy. We can then choose where to go with those doubts. All of us are different, with different life experiences and learning, talents, weaknesses, challenges, trials, etc.
Many of us who are strong in our faith have had doubts in the past and often continue to do so from time to time. Acknowledging them and dealing with them, while maintaining a trust in God, can actually strengthen one's faith, as it has mine. There is no such thing as a 'bad question' in this regard, in my opinion. We should be willing to seek out truth, both of a religious/spiritual nature as well as of a scientific nature, both within and without our religion.
3) Abandon the whole idea that others that don't believe as you do will automatically 'burn in hell for eternity'. This is not what Jesus taught and is nonsensical. It only serves to turn others off regarding Christianity, and I find it a very repugnant belief that absolutely does not in any way characterize the God that I believe in.
4) All good religions (meaning those that basically practice the "golden rule") have truth in them to varying degrees. Obviously the religion (or belief system) that we hold to is the one we perceive to have the most truth, or else we wouldn't be a member of that particular religion or sect.
5) God loves ALL of His children and throughout history has given inspiration, to varying degrees, to all peoples, to the extent that they are ready for such inspiration culturally and in their given environment and culture of that particular time period.
6) Don't, in any way, shun or 'disown' those who leave your faith. Continue to treat them with the same love and respect as before they left. You don't have to agree with their choices and opinions, but continue to love and appreciate them without assigning motives or reasons why they may have left, but truly listen to and try to understand them, (as pointed out in point #1 above).
7) Be open minded regarding the Bible and other inspired writings. Having an 'all or nothing' attitude towards them will result in overly simplistic and inaccurate ideas regarding how revelation from God works. Be open to the idea that revelation from God gets filtered through our human imperfections, those that are personal as well as cultural and environmental. For example, the Bible can and does have many inspired truths without every single sentence being the 'inerrant word of God'. There is a happy medium between believing it to be all or nothing, and too often I see folks going from one extreme to the other: From the "all" to the "nothing". The same holds true for science and religion. I hold both to be important, and that we don't have to choose one to the complete exclusion of the other. That is why I believe future Christians need to be much more open minded regarding science, such as being open to the idea that evolution and a limited flood of Noah are sound beliefs that don't mean we have to abandon a belief in God and in our religion. Such historical accounts in the Bible can be seen as cultural beliefs of the ancient Near East instead of being the 'literal words of God'. This goes along with the idea of revelation getting filtered through our human cultural beliefs of the time period it was given in.