Doc Bobs Jehovahs Witness Web Site

First of all, let me dispel a longstanding misconception - I am not really a doctor. Years ago, when I first got on the internet, I figured that I needed a "handle" to use here. Even more years ago, my nephew used to call me "Doctor Bob" after the character in the "Doctor's Hospital" sketch on "The Muppet Show." So, I figured that would be a good handle.

This site is the latest iteration of my site which started in late 1995. I started the site as a repository for my thoughts as I was in the process of ending 22 years as one of Jehovah's Witnesses. As I compiled and shared my thoughts on earlier versions of this site, I received - and still receive - a fair bit of email from active, exiting and ex-Witnesses who had many of the same thoughts that I did.

If you are one of Jehovah's Witnesses, please consider the contents of this site carefully. Yes, I am critical on this site of the teachings and practices of the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses. But they have invited a critical look at themselves. Consider the following from the August 22, 1984 Awake! magazine. In response to a letter calling them to task for their criticism of the Pope, the "faithful slave" replied:

We surely were not trying to take cheap shots at the pope or the Catholic Church, nor were we criticizing Catholics. The Catholic Church occupies a very significant position in the world and claims to be the way of salvation for hundreds of millions of people. Any organization that assumes that position should be willing to submit to scrutiny and criticism. All who criticize have the obligation to be truthful in presenting the facts and fair and objective in assessing such. In both respects we try to live up to that obligation.—ED.

The Watchtower has set itself up as Gods channel of communication with mankind and has stated that one must be connected with it in order to be saved. They, therefore, should be as accountable and as subject to a critical examination of their teachings and practices as they feel the Catholic Church should.

Now please dont take me wrong, or immediately write me off as a raving apostate. For most of the years I was a Witness, I thoroughly loved it and enjoyed it. I was convinced that it was Jehovah's visible, spirit-directed organization. I learned a lot of good things as a JW. I learned a lot about the Bible, I learned to teach and to speak effectively in public - skills which certainly stand me in good stead today.

But as I served as a pioneer and as an elder, I began to realize things about the organization that were troublesome. I began to see that we were not raising up spiritual people, but organizational people. It also began to dawn on me that much of the training I was receiving as an elder had more to do with protecting the considerable assets of the Watchtower corporations than it did with helping my brothers and sisters.

For a while, I tried to teach around the things I realized were wrong. But, as time went on, I was left with less and less that I could teach with a clear conscience. At that point, I stepped down from being an elder. Then, over the next couple of years, I attended fewer and fewer meetings.

At this point, I have found that there is not only life after being a JW, but there is "abundant life" in Christ. While I was a Witness, I was sure that we had a spiritual paradise that people in Christendom could not appreciate. But since leaving Jehovah's Witnesses I have realized that it is not about religion, but its about relationship. I now enjoy a relationship with God that I could not have as a Jehovahs Witness. In fact, when I sent out letters that told my old Witness friends of my new relationship with God, the elders wanted me to face charges of apostasy. For the whole story, please read the letter that I wrote to my Witness friends at my letter.

I wish I could convey to my old Jehovahs Witness friends how wonderful that relationship is. I wish I could get across to them the shallowness of what we thought was so deep, the insignificance of what we thought was so profound. I wish I could help them see that the Holy Spirit is not confined to one organization headquartered in Brooklyn or Patterson, New York. I wish they could see how applicable Revelation 3:17 is to the Watchtower organization:

Because you say: "I am rich and have acquired riches and do not need anything at all," but you do not know you are miserable and pitiable and poor and blind and naked, ... ".

To those ends, the purpose of this site has evolved from just being a place for me to record my thoughts to the following:

To honor God

To reach out to Jehovah's Witnesses

To educate, equip and encourage Christians to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses

I have moved to my own domain and am using a new web host and the PHP-Nuke hosting software to make this a more dynamic, interactive site than previously. There are plenty of opportunities for you, the reader, to comment on what I have written here or to submit your own material. I invite you to take full advantage of them. If you find something on this site that is in error, please let me know. I will change it immediately.

Doc Bob's Jehovah's Witness Website

Opening eyes since '95


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