An insider’s look at the organization

My name is Kay, I’m 33 years old and I am a Jehovah’s Witness — well, technically anyway. I am part of the growing number of JWs that some like to refer to as the “conscious class”.

I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness in a zealous household. My father was an elder; my brothers are now elders and all of them have served at Bethel. We were the kind of family that was always on the assembly platform and held up as an example (yeah, one of those families). Although I had the usual teenage thoughts of rebellion, I left school in the early 1990s, took a part-time job and pioneered (Armageddon was so close by now that it was foolhardy to consider buying green bananas, much less go to college). Read the full story

Popularity: 51%

Is the term “governing body” unique to Jehovah’s Witnesses? Growing up as a JW, I would have thought so. The Watch Tower Society uses the term so frequently in connection with their work they give that impression. In fact, the Watch Tower Society makes it seem that the term “governing body” was in use in the first century, and that the modern day activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses follows that model (using the search terms “governing body” and “first century”). In this essay, I will demonstrate that the use of the term “governing body” is a common legal term that in no way is exclusive to JWs. Furthermore, the term “governing body”, being a legal term, cannot be found in scripture. What are the implications for Jehovah’s Witnesses as a result? Read the full story

Popularity: 34%

It takes only a quick glance at the Free Minds website to see that it is everything its name implies — a venue for open thought and expression by people of all varieties of spirituality.

“We have bloggers who are Christians, we have bloggers who are atheists, we have a blogger who is gay and God knows what else we will have next,” says Freeminds.org founder Randall Watters. “All I care about is that they are truthful and that we can all get along in spite of our differences of viewpoint, in spite of different world views.” Read the full story

Popularity: 13%

One of the hardest things to understand is how a parent can shun a child, completely cutting off all meaningful contact, for simply disagreeing about religion. If you have a loved one who was excommunicated from the church, he or she has undoubtedly explained to you at least the end result of being “disfellowshipped” or “disassociated”: shunning. All Jehovah’s Witnesses, even his immediate family, are forbidden to speak with him with very few exceptions.  So what’s the story here? Read the full story

Popularity: 22%

Barbara Anderson’s research on the “true” history of Jehovah’s Witnesses would fill many volumes. So it hardly comes as a surprise that she spends every spare minute — sometimes more than six hours a day — researching the organization. Read the full story

Popularity: 25%

The year is 1983. Mr. K, a kindly Jehovah’s Witness man and his wife knock on the door of a typical middle-class, suburban home. He doesn’t know that his return visit is about to ask him not to return, that Mr. B has only been being polite in taking his Watchtower magazines and nothing more. But something else is about to happen. A seemingly small event will trigger a drastic shift that will change the lives of that family forever — even two yet-unborn children. It will be a change that will tear the family apart, cause desperation and inconsolable sorrow.

It was the day that changed everything… Read the full story

Popularity: 48%

Most people would agree that the word “cult” is loaded and controversial. The joke is: A cult is any group that doesn’t agree with my particular group’s views. The reality is no cult member ever believes that they are involved in a cult. That revelation only becomes apparent after the member leaves the group and reflects upon his or her experiences with a more balanced 20/20 clarity.

Read the full story

Popularity: 15%

His name is Adrien.

He is a 16-year old boy, stocky, sturdy, bright and articulate, who uses my own brand of humor to disarm me when he needs me to agree with his point of view. He was born with the thoughts and feelings and longings of a boy, but the anatomy of a girl. And I am his mother. Read the full story

Popularity: 26%

My mother became a Jehovah’s Witness when I was three, left my dad for Jehovah and moved us several hundred miles away from him. Her new congregation almost immediately paired her with a young new brother and within the year, they married. He immediately attempted to get me in line with what he thought a young Jehovah’s Witness daughter should be, distancing me from my real dad and forcing me to refer to him as “dad”, and my real dad as “my father”. My mother was happy to give him the responsibility of financially providing for us and taking care of my discipline. In becoming the submissive wife, she was becoming how she thought Jehovah wanted her to be. Read the full story

Popularity: 30%

Gary Busselman interviews the author of Captives of a Concept, Don Cameron

Gary Busselman

Gary Busselman: Don, how did you become associated with the Jehonvah’s Witness group?

Don Cameron: Back in the early ’60s I was attracted by the society’s “end of this system of things” message and especially the part about never having to die. That thought was appealing enough to inspire me to want to try to prove to myself that what they said might actually be true. And so I accepted their offer of “a free home Bible study.” Read the full story

Popularity: 8%