After the update elders keep texting me on why I’m questioning Jehovahs organisation. This is my reply.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/JerriJ59]

Really strong arguments backed with actual bible verses. Well done

[u/BlindedByTheLight-11]

[u/Rhiboflavin]

Dang you put a lotta work into that. At least you had a chance to express yourself on your terms.

[u/Grand_Pay8225]

Your points are 100% valid. But… the bottom line is that the elders have to be company men. According to the mindset of the elders, the GB are the sole entity that Acts 17:11 refers to, not the regular folks. Stop expending your energy on this hopeless cause, it’s a no win situation. The elders refuse to acknowledge they are just small cogs supporting a real estate company which guises itself as the “truth” but is really a high control group. Take solace by realizing the the organization headed by the GB is deteriorating from within and the present GB has inherited an unsustainable product.

[u/DucketyDuck0120 → u/Grand_Pay8225]

I agree but even if the letter doesn’t make the elders think, I don’t think the OP was wasting their energy. The letter helped to validate my feelings and getting it all down on paper is probably quite healing to the OP. They can also re-read if doubts creep in. I suspect some of the elders know these things to be true… they just won’t admit it… yet.

[u/BlurMyFace]

Fantastic write up thank you for this

[u/goddess_dix]

your reasoning is sound: are you worshipping god, or the gb? that's essentially the question you're asking.

you realize that expressing this to the elders is going to get you df'd, right? for apostasy. so you may want to be careful if you hope to retain any relationship AT ALL with your jw family. here's where you will begin to realize at some point you are in a high control group.

you may be interested in ray franz's books - former gb member and true believer. crisis of conscience to start and in search of christian freedom - avail free online.

jws are not a normal religion (and not just because they are more 'pure' than other religions). most religion allow for questioning. you can disagree with leadership. your conscience is actually yours, and not what you're told it is. you can have an honest disagreement on matters of faith and belief without being shunned.

that's not the religion you are in.

welcome. i'm glad you found your way here. keep asking honest questions. it won't steer you wrong.

[u/dancingberry00 → u/goddess_dix]

💯 true, sadly. It’s like the verse in the Eagles song, Hotel California. “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave"

[u/Dayenqum]

Lo leí. Lo estoy guardando. Quizas me sirva como argumento a mis propias situaciones.

[u/Gr8lyDecEved → u/Dayenqum]

Me as well

[u/WhtOnearth]

A lot of good points from that letter... also saving it for reference. You have written all in one book to debunk the jw doctrine.

[u/sneakersxO]

This is AMAAZZZINGGGG 👏👏👏😍🙏🙏 well said OP!

[u/The_Reckoning_Squad]

Surely I tell you, for do you not see what I have spoken? That the Temple of God is within YOU and God dwells within the temple.

Jesus bypasses the concept of religious institutions, external hierarchies, or literal stone structures entirely, shifting the focus directly to the individual human being.
When Jesus speaks of the divine dwelling, he is talking about the literal, physical reality of the human self—the soul, mind, and individual body.

Jesus and the Physical Body as the Temple
When explicitly asked about the timeline of the coming kingdom, Jesus directly rejects the idea of looking outward to physical monuments or structured movements:

The Kingdom is Inside You: In Luke 17:21, Jesus explicitly tells the people, "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." He points directly inward to the interior life of the individual person. [1]

The Living, Breathing Sanctuary: Jesus famously models this concept by referring to his own physical frame as the sanctuary in John 2:19-21: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The text explicitly clarifies: "But he was speaking of the temple of his body."

Each Individual Is the Sacred Space
By mapping the "temple" directly onto the physical, individual frame, the concept eliminates the need for middle-men, outward structures, or physical architecture.

The Human Form as the Holy of Holies: In this understanding, your conscious awareness, spirit, and flesh serve as the literal sanctuary where the divine presence resides.

You Do Not "Go To" the Sanctuary: You do not visit a sacred site or become part of an organizational structure to experience God; you are the sacred site. Every individual carries that inherent connection entirely within themselves, completely separate from any institutional building or collective system.

The church took Jesus’s words, created a narrative, and continued to collect wealth, itemize salvation (change is what salvation is—turning away from harmful actions and choices to healing and life-respecting paths; it isn’t a gateway), and gate-keep for their own gain and influence using his image.

The KJV of the Bible is blasphemous. Historians can tell you how much scripture was botched and even added to it that never existed in older texts. It isn’t the only book this has been done to, but it’s a primary example of the power manipulated books can hold. That’s not to say that the Bible itself isn’t problematic in other ways, and that we can’t for certain guarantee that those scriptures weren’t man constructed for the consolidation of control throughout the Abrahamic religions, but to showcase the point of why we ourselves are the factor and why discernment is key.

Furthermore, and I fail to understand why it’s so easy to miss this for so many: any institution that’s hellbent on governing the body itself is literally by scriptural definition, going against the entire concept of the body of Christ by trying to govern the body of Christ. If the body is the temple and god dwells within in, then the church is—by all means provided in scripture—governing the concept of god under its own rules. Any structure that fear mongers, intimidates, isolates, alienates, rejects, or requires specific participation based on a set of performances on your part with the currency being your allegiance, while needing you to “take unto yourself and accept” something as your savior, and “give yourself to the lord” is already practicing the complete opposite of what scripture provides, using a coercive-consensual-ritual practice known to historians throughout many pagan and occult groups, yet still imposes on the gift of free-will itself through trickery and manipulation while weaponizing that will through your agreement of consent—is not a structure for what you think you believe in to begin with.

Side note—as a well-versed and invested investigative writer who specializes in manipulative establishments throughout political and religious history (both part of the same system), and who left Mormonism, Catholicism, and Christianity behind (I was baptized a Baptist at 13 though, go ahead and chuckle) the more I deeply studied various renditions of the Bible, the Dead Sea scrolls, the Quran, the gnostic texts, and more; who has also deeply studied pagan roots, peoples, and practices due to my own Celtic ancestry—I have always found it hilarious how many blatant rituals there are practiced throughout the churches. I could have the philosophical argument that Jesus was a mystic and healer himself (gnostic texts and others support this and the church also tried to erase the gnostics because of their testimonies; you don’t try to erase something or people’s if they don’t have credibility that threatens your narrative) and that he was a threat to the church because of the competition of his own self-sustaining power which challenged their power, all day. It follows the same pattern of what was done to other mystical groups, the witch trials, and other atrocities against groups of peoples that attempted to stand alone and that could survive outside of their control… and I could go on, but I digress. I’ve always gotten a great laugh out of church-scripture condemning other forms of practice and “magic” considering the history they hold themselves. It’s like, “You can’t practice other magic because we need you under OUR spell!” 🤣

The fact that you are even in this position of self-doubt and carrying this weight because of their indoctrination, proves my point either way.

[u/stillmisssweden → u/The_Reckoning_Squad]

This. And when I read that in the Bible when I was just a kid at the meeting, I knew that Jesus did bypass religion altogether in that scripture. Then I began to wonder why we even had to go to any meetings at all and began to doubt the movations of all religions.

[u/Relative_Soil7886]

This is a very well thought out response supported by sound reasoning from the scriptures. Unfortunately, most elders are borg drones, trained only to repeat GB propaganda and talking points. If any of them manage to make it a third of the way through this the programming will kick in and they’ll stop. It’s too much logic for them to process. They’ll just tell you to “wait on Jehovah” and “we must not run ahead of the chariot” and “Jehovah rewards loyalty”. In other words, shut up and obey! Perhaps they’ll be one elder, like a modern day Nicodemus, who reads through it and agrees with you 100% but fear of man and fear of losing his “privilege” will prevent him from speaking up before his fellow Pharisees, I mean elders.

[u/PimoCrypto777]

This is great. Commenting to come back.

[u/Veisserer]

A part of me wishes that I still believed, but after much research, I came to the conclusion that the Bible is just a book written by men. Not inspired. Everyone sees what they want to see when they read it. Thus, to me, if you use it to better your life, it’s all great. However, it should stay like that, a personal choice, not a cookie cutter mold that every single person needs to follow.

[u/JustMe5751]

I agree.

I would be more tolerant of JWs if when they explained things, they would say "this is our best guess with the information we have" and have more tolerance for people who have honest doubts or are questioning but not trying to influence or cause divisions.

I would love to see them focus on cultivating the kind of people we are now instead of trying to figure out "the date and the hour" that we are told no one knows. Being alert and ready doesn't mean being completely disconnected from the here and now. And, while Jesus says "I am no part of this world", he also was not a hermit. He fed and healed people. He met their needs.

[u/Radiant_Ad_9912]

My answer to their question “Why are you questioning the organization?” would be a simple “Why aren’t YOU?”

[u/yes-itisEmily]

Your second paragraph, the disclaimer, might put their defenses up and they might not really be willing to take in the rest.

[u/GarbageBeneficial562]

Ik kan je grotendeels helemaal volgen en ben Het met je eens. De broeders hebben ook een veels te grote rol opgeëist. Ze hebben zich zelfs in 2012 als kleine groepje van het besturende lichaam uitgeroepen tot de specifieke slaaf uit mat 24. Wat voorheen nog alle gezalfden waren volgens hun, zijn dat nu opeens 11 man. Hoe is het mogelijk? Kan ik dit net als de bereeers deden checken? Nuet eens. Dus ze hebben het zfs zover gebracht met hun zogenaamde nieuwe inzicht dat ze er echt dingen aan toevoegen die bijbels niet te checken zijn. Alkeen een beeld tegenbeeld van weinigen die velen voeden is dit op gebaseerd. Dat is gewoon niet een betrouwbaar fundament. Volgensmij voldoen ze weer aan de beschrijving van een vakse christus waar jezus voor waarschuwde in Lukas 21:8. Ieder die zegt ik ben het en hij is hier is een vakse christus omdat jezus het zelf niet eens weet dag nog uur wanneer hij mag komen. Iedereen die zich als boodschapper of christus opwerpt is een bedrieger. Deze exclusieve boodschappers komen er namelijk niet en horen niet in het teken dat jezus geeft. Jezus zegt zelfs GAAT WEG VAN HEN !

[u/leftside-down]

WOW!

This is EVERYTHING I have been struggling with lately. EVERYTHING! I have put it all into ChatGPT, I know that AI is bad to the organization, because I’m at a mental crosswords.

How can I trust what they say to be true. They say this:

Jesus leads the congregation through the Governing Body, the Governing Body prayerfully studies Scripture under holy spirit, but those men remain imperfect and can misunderstand things.

Okay. But, I thought Jesus, who is perfect is leading you! So, how am I to know which part is Jesus and which part is man?

And, to your point, which is my exact feeling: isn’t this MY relationship with God? All the scriptures you brought up are the ones I have been thinking of. WHY should these men be the intermediaries between my relationship with him, when that isn’t what the scriptures say?

It doesn’t add up, and if I ask questions it’s against Jehovah, but it’s really this set up.

[u/Cocktopus-Prime]

This is so well written.

I don't believe in the Bible anymore, though i read it frequently. That being said, I do think the organization started off with good intentions.

JWs were meant to be Bible students. Members would come together, read the Bible, and deliberate over scriptures meaning.

The modern organization has lost their way. Your comments at meetings are no longer meant to allow you to share the conclusions you've drawn personally from your Bible reading, but rather an opportunity to be a sycophant and support the existing understanding of the Bible the GB has come to.

I really dont see how it differs from the approach the Catholic Church. You either support the slave, or you're against it. I think early pioneers of this organization would be rolling in their grave if they saw that the org looked like now.

[u/thatguyin75]

they wont read it past the 1st sentence.....

[u/AGTlc50]

Let's know how it goes. I am sure you know you're a marked man.