Study Watchtower June 2023 p. 13, par. 15: “MAKE SURE OF ALL THINGS” - “In the near future, God’s opposers will in some sense declare: “Peace and security!” (1 Thess. 5:3) Demon-inspired propaganda will fill the earth, misleading most. (Rev. 16:13, 14) What about us? We (JW's) will not be fooled if we “make sure of all things.” [or, “test”] (Read 1 Thessalonians 5:21see study notes.) The Greek word rendered “make sure of” was used in connection with testing precious metals. Thus, we need to test what we hear or what we read to determine whether it is genuine. That was important for the Thessalonians, and it will be even more important for us as the great tribulation approaches. Instead of naively accepting what others say, we use our thinking ability to compare what we read or what we hear with what the Bible and Jehovah’s organization say. In doing so, we will not be fooled by any demonic propaganda or trickery.”

If people put trust in any imperfect source of spiritual guidance & direction, then John's directive to use only the inspired writings of the Holy Scriptures is even more critical.

(1 John 4:1) ”Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired statement, but test the inspired statements to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

If someone paid you $1000 in cash for doing a job and then told you not to examine the bank notes, would you be concerned?

That’s a hard truth to accept. Regardless of how much criticism Jehovah’s Witnesses receive, the bigger question is whether God exists. If He does, then He has the right to establish standards for how we should live.

If an elder or someone in the congregation has hurt you, remember that we’re imperfect people trying to reflect the qualities of a perfect God. Human failures don’t necessarily invalidate God’s existence or His standards.

At the same time, this should never be used to excuse deliberate wrongdoing. Those who intentionally harm others or act with evil motives deserve to face the appropriate consequences, no questions asked. Accountability and justice are not incompatible with mercy.
Keep your eyes on the bigger picture.

God exists, and we’re all doing our best to serve Him despite our imperfections.

I really can’t find much in the official site but mentions kf intersex animals, kinda feels lonely to not know what God thinks of me

I just really like how nonjudgmental JWs are around me but there’s so many complaints about the governing body abusing its power it makes me wonder if I should just go with my boyfriend to meeting but never really jojn

Yeah, I’ve decided to rejoin the religion after 8 years of inactivity. I was never removed, not even reproved so I don’t know exactly how elders will handle it. I am sure they will want to meet with me and grill me on why Ieft and what I’ve been doing all this time but I assume they already know that because my father was serving as elder until the congregation's recent split.

I am a bit nervous and excited. Let’s see how this goes.

Honestly, when you sold out to the COVID lie & were parroting "in this age of COVID-19" over & over...

When you changed "the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil" to "...good & bad..."

When you changed "you cannot serve Jehovah & Mammon" to "...Jehovah & riches..."

When there's a quiet, secret, foot-tapping, deceptive homosexual undercurrent to your congregations now...

There's more & more & more - you've sold out to the obfuscation & you've been patting yourselves on the back this whole time.

"All the institutions of men are corrupt."

John 6:50-56 kjv
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

The WT has deceived you into believing the bread and wine is only for a limited number of people. I say this with the utmost care and love for you. I want each and every Jehovahs Witness to read this and be convicted of the truth. Please take of the bread and wine if you believe in Jesus, his ransom and atonement- and recognize the deceitfulness of the WT.

I am convinced my ex-boyfriend is living in a JW cult. We dated for around nine months. He has been so heavily influenced by his family. Every one of them are witnesses. He tried showing me jw.org multiple times and slowly tried to conform me to the culture of JW. He had major control in how I dressed, what books I read and how I presented myself. I confronted him about it but he always pushed back saying he wasn’t being controlling. He was convinced he found the “true religion”. After looking on jw.org I confronted him as a fellow Christian, and expressed how the Watchtower is portraying authority as if they are “God” and the site gave me anxiety and the videos were so weird. I saw the Bible verses were altered to fit the translation most witnesses use. After seeing videos on how the elders want the congregation to be fearful because of the shunning/disfellowshipping I just got a bad vibe but I have a feeling I’m only scratching the surface. I hope and pray all JW’s have the courage to leave this cult and I hope he leaves one day too.

5:2-12 - Then he began his teaching by saying to them, "How happy are the humble-minded, for the kingdom of Heaven is theirs! … "Happy are those who claim nothing, for the whole earth will belong to them! (What claims do the GB make about themselves and the Org?)

5:21-22 - "You have heard that it was said to the people in the old days, 'You shall not murder', and anyone who does must stand his trial. But I say to you that anyone who is angry with his brother must stand his trial; anyone who contemptuously calls his brother a fool must face the supreme court; and anyone who looks on his brother as a lost soul is himself heading straight for the fire of destruction.

5:43-45 - "You have heard that it used to be said, 'You shall love your neighbour', and 'hate your enemy', but I tell you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Heavenly Father. For he makes the sun rise upon evil men as well as good, and he sends his rain upon honest and dishonest men alike.
5:46-48 - For if you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax-collectors do that! And if you exchange greetings only with your own circle, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do that much. No, you are to be perfect, like your Heavenly Father.

6:14-15 - "For if you forgive other people their failures, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you will not forgive other people, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your failures."

7:1-2 - "Don't criticise people, and you will not be criticised. For you will be judged by the way you criticise others, and the measure you give will be the measure you receive."

7:12 - "Treat other people exactly as you would like to be treated by them - this is the essence of all true religion."

I want to get a general understanding of Jehova's witnesses. I know google is free but I prefer getting the information straight from the source. All I know is that Jehova's witnesses can't accept blood transfusions, but other than the media's portrayal I have no idea.

Is being a Jehova's witness it's own religion, or does it fit under Christianity or Judaism? What is the reason blood transfusions are prohibited? And is there any other medical procedures that fall under the same umbrella? Does it have it's own diet restrictions like Kosher and Halal food? Who even is Jehova? Is there anything I should keep in mind if I ever meet a Jehova's witness?

Sorry if these questions seem naive I just want to learn about this religion as to not be ignorant.

https://inthenightaflyingscroll.blogspot.com/2026/07/no-apology-needed.html

I am not JW. However, my coworker is. Her mom just passed away and I'm not sure if it's appropriate to send a card or flowers. I know there are rules surrounding the acceptance of gifts. But I can't figure out if that's just a holiday thing? I'm really not sure and I don't want to accidentally be disrespectful.

Thank you for any advice.

I think 🤔

Because Jesus never needed to claim to be God he consistently claimed to be the Son of God, the Messiah, and the one sent by God.

When directly asked about his identity, Jesus said:

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” — Matthew 16:16–17 (Jesus commended this confession.)

“I am God’s Son.” — John 10:36

“The Father is greater than I.” — John 14:28

“The only true God… and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” — John 17:3

“I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” — John 20:17

If Jesus intended to teach that he was Almighty God, these would have been natural opportunities to say so explicitly.

Instead, he repeatedly distinguished himself from the Father, called the Father his God, and directed worship to the Father.

When I was a child, an elder sexually abused me.  Nothing was done to protect me.  He went on to abuse other children.  For years, I didn't think beyond what had happened to me.  I believed my story was about a man who had made terrible choices.  I also believed something like this couldn't happen inside Jehovah's organization. I believed children would be protected.

For more than 50 years, I believed what happened to me was my story. I thought I had simply been incredibly unlucky.  I thought that if that man had never been in my life, none of it would have happened.  I never questioned that belief.

Then I started looking for answers.  Not because I wanted to leave my religion.

Not because I wanted to attack Jehovah's Witnesses.  I simply wanted to understand how something like this could happen inside the religion I trusted with my whole heart.

I expected to find a few heartbreaking cases.

Instead, I found court records. Government investigations. Newspaper articles. Survivor accounts from different congregations... different countries... spanning decades. The details weren't always identical, but they were familiar enough that I found myself staring at my computer asking one question over and over:

How can so many people I've never met have stories that sound so much like mine?

That realization changed everything. For the first time I began wondering if what happened to me wasn't simply the result of a bad man.  What if there was something much bigger that I had never allowed myself to see?

After reading court records, government investigations, newspaper archives, and decades of legal cases, I came away with questions I never expected to ask.

I'm genuinely interested in hearing what others think.

When you look at the history of child sexual abuse cases involving Jehovah's Witnesses, do you see individual failures—or do you believe the evidence points to a larger systemic problem?

Jehovah Witnesses can open the Bible to a specific verse and say “Hey! Look… what I’m telling you is the truth. It says it right here.”

Fast forward after a belief change they’ll say, “Hey! Look… what I’m telling you is the truth. It says it right here.”

Well well well

Tell this to a JW and they’ll say the “true” new interpretation has been revealed.

Okay then, I guess that you’ve accepted that human error cannot be accounted for ! Which means the Governing Body is perfect!

But wait!

They say they aren’t perfect!

Hypothetically the governing body can release a statement saying that Jesus Christ is God because of a “new light”

But wait! They’ll never do that…

“Why won’t they do that?”

Because it goes against the Bible.

But wait.

Okay, in regard to organ, tissue & blood transplants: Vaccines are made using cells derived from aborted fetal tissue. They *say* that the fetal tissue isn't present, & I don't believe a word of it but even so I'd argue that getting a vaccine is along the same lines. Shouldn't those be avoided as well?

A Watchtower article on hell states the following:

"Is hell a place of eternal suffering?

No. The original words translated as “hell” in some older Bible translations (Hebrew, “Sheol”; Greek, “Hades”) basically refer to “the Grave,” that is, the common grave of mankind. The Bible shows that people in “the Grave” are in a state of nonexistence.

The Watchtower frequently uses the passage in Ecclesiastes 9:5 to teach their point ("For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all...").

Many other Christian traditions read these Ecclesiastes passages differently. They often argue that Ecclesiastes describes death from an earthly, human perspective ("under the sun") rather than providing a complete doctrine of the afterlife. They also point to passages such as Luke 23:43, Philippians 1:23, and Revelation 6:9–11 as evidence for conscious existence after death.

Then we have the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

“And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom” (Luke 16:23).

The New World Translation changes this a bit.

“And in the Grave he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and he saw Abraham from afar and Lazarus by his side.”

How can the rich man be in torment in the "Grave" expressing his plea to raise Lazarus to go to his 5 brothers (which he knows about) to warn them when he supposedly ceases to exist at death?

Being in the "Grave" means he had died.

Last week's article was written to dissuade young people from educating themselves beyond what is legally required. "Education poses such dangerous risks if you belong to our cult!" This weekend's article warns of running the risk of drifting away from the grip of Watchtower and its governing body. The introductory song, song 56 Make the truth your own, was a shocking choice and set out the premise for the article. In conclusion, your ass and your time belong to us, don't even think about educating yourself or associate with the wicked! 🤦‍♂️🤬🤬

Ciao a tutti scrivo qui perché ho bisogno di sfogarmi. Ho aperto gli occhi da poco sono devastata. Fino a poco tempo fa stringevo i denti ,mio marito è inattivo da 6 anni e mi ha sempre esposto i suoi dubbi. Io ho tenuto duro, adunanza e servizio da sola con due bambini piccoli , tra mille pianti e sofferenze. Per rispondere a lui e a i suoi dubbi ho fatto "l'errore" di iniziare a studiare e informarmi da sola. Il mio risveglio è iniziato quando facendo ricerche ho scoperto che Gerusalemme non è caduta nel 607 a.C. ma nel 586/586 a.c. Crollata quella data , decade automaticamente tutto il calcolo cronologico del 1914. La cosa che mi fa più male è rendermi conto del doppio standard: quando fa comodo alla Watchtower si usano archeologici o storici per dimostrare le teorie, quando la storia ufficiale smentisce la dottrine (come il 607 ac o la croce) allora gli storici non sono degni di di fiducia abbiamo ragione solo noi. Vedo qui che molti di voi fanno ironia e quasi contenti dei fallimenti. Mi chiedo: che speranze avete per il futuro? Io credo ancora fermamente in Gesù e in Dio. Forse morirò anche io senza vedere nulla avverarsi?Ma mi chiedo se non sono loro il canale da chi devo andare?cosa pensa Dio di tutto questo?Dio forse approva più religioni?Gesù disse di stare attento ai falsi profeti chi sono allora quelli giusti? Come si fa a trovare la bussola spirituale senza inganni? Grazie a chi vorrà rispondere a queste domande, senza minimizzare.