gfs@uunet.uu.net (Greg Shay) (11/17/90)
Peace and Greetings, Allow me add another story to the tale of 1975 from my personal experience. I was a Jehovah's Witness from the age of 3 to 23 (from 1964 to 1984). Baptized in 1975 at the tender age of 14, I led a devoted life, spent many hours going from door to door every month, participated in the ministry school, and was an active and participating member of the congregation. To tell the end of the story first, I am now Roman Catholic, and have been since 1985. Let me tell you, that was quite a transition to make! The priest giving the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) classes said that he had had many people from many backgrounds, but that I was his first Witness! It is totally in my heart to never wield my knowledge backwards and attack that which I used to be a part of. I give credit to my dad and the Witness training for a lot of good training, decent living, and knowledge of the Bible. What I reached was a plateau in the Witnesses system of thought, I tasted some of more classic theology, and wanted to learn the other side of the arguments too. Low and behold, given the information as to what the Witnesses believe, and what more mainstream religions believe stripped of the anti-Catholic wrapper that I had previously been presented, and add the one most important ingredient, honest prayer, I made a clear decision to leave the Witnesses and join the Catholic Church. In my experience, I found that about 85% of my faith, meaning those things that I truely believed in, did not have to change in making the transition. Now I ask you, if two churches that are about as opposed as can be, only differ by 15% in the heart, should not the emphasis be put on mutual understanding and reconciliation? You see, I could not stay part of the Witness` organization because they indeed have some serious, very serious flaws in their theology and organization. Every organization made up of men has flaws. Do they admit that? The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society does not about itself. As a Witness, you do not think idependently, ever. You do not question seriously, ever. Everything is handed down from above in the publications. But what about the promptings of the Holy Spirit to our hearts? What about the personal relationship with our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, that He may prompt us to say, do, speak on his behalf? The witnesses have a close personal relationship with the Watchtower Society. Somewhere along the line, the individual lost his most highly valued Christian Birthright, the personal relationship FOR REAL with God. This fact is most evidently demonstrated in the way the witnesses celebrate what they call "The Lords Evening Meal", and what Catholics call "Mass". Once a year, on the anniversary of the passover, it is the most important event in the witnesses year because of the direct command from Jesus to "Do this often in rememberance of me." All the witnesses gather, the bread is broken, wine poured, prayers are said over these, scriptures read, and then is passed around to everyone and not a single person takes any bit of it. No one takes the body and blood of Christ. Why? Because according to their theology, only the "144,000 of the anointed class" are supposed to partake of our Lord. By the reasoning upon reasoning, they have managed to somehow explain away the most fundamental point. If there are any Jehovah's Witnesses reading this now, and I know there will be some, ask yourself the most honest question you can, do you not desire to come closer to Jehovah God? Does not your heart burn to be in union with him? Do not let anyone tell you that God is far away, or off in the future. God is real. Now. Here. Love God. Get to know Him and you will Love Him with the divine Love. Get to know that the Holy Spirit is real. Powerful. Active. We can have the Holy Spirit act through us, be in us. Now, Today, not sometime in the future in the New System of Things. Christ`s work was completed with his death. We are living in the benefits of what He did for us. Take this for yourself. Do not let anyone deprive you of it. Above all else, Pray. True prayer from the heart will change your life. Believe my testimony. Pray and don't repeat prayers that others have said. Pray and don't repeat phrases and ideas that were given to you. Pray honestly and earnestly. Pray and ask God through his Holy Spirit to help you be sure of your love for Him. Pray and ask God to draw you closer to Him. Pray and tell God you love Him and that you want to Love Him more, and open yourself to what He does in your life. Do not be afraid. You will not lose Jehovah God if you leave the Witnesses. Catholics are "Jehovah's Witnesses" too, with respect to Isaiah`s proclaimation "You are my witnesses, says the Lord [Yahweh, YWHW, JHVH or Jehovah]". So are true Godly People of other denominations. We are all learning together. The fact that you are reading this open network discussion shows we are growing together, hand in hand helping one another. Think of the 12 year old Jesus teaching in the Temple. On that day, had I been alive, I would have wanted to be Jewish, to be able to have been in the Temple with Him, and hear Him teach. Wherever God is, I seek to draw near. And now on to the 1975 story. My father was devout and read every word of every book ever published by the Witnesses. He would find nuances written that others would not find on casual reading. My father was convinced that the Society had proclaimed 1975 would be Armageddon. I remember as early as 1972 my father making statements like "This will be the last Christmas, because conditions will be so bad by next year [due to the Great Tribulation], that people will not be celebrating it". The next year he said the same thing. In 1973 we sold our house and began renting. The money from the house sale allowed my father to not work for about a year and a half as he worked full time "missionary work" (being a "Full Time Pioneer" in JW lingo) in northeast Ohio where we live and down to southern Ohio where there were not enough witnesses to cover the territory. I went many times too. I remember quite clearly a discussion my father had on the back porch with some of the Elders of the local congregation in 1973. He was pointing out how the written publication pointed to 1975 as the date. The Elders did not see it so plainly, and were confounded as to how if the Society really meant it, why did they not just come out and say it. The specifics were in a book of which title I cannot remember, but it would have been newly published in either 1973 or 1974. The book showed God's plan for there to be exactly 7000 years from Adam's creation to the end of the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth. (The witnesses believe that each of the creative days in Genesis 1 are 7000 years each long.) Armageddon would happen to usher in the 1000 year reign. Furthermore, the book pinned down through Bible chronology the date of Adam's creation to 4026 BC). My father was trying to use simple algebra to point it out: "Look... if A = 4096BC, and B= 7000 and C=1000, then B - C = 6000, and A + 6000 = 1975." It was quite comical. My father is not the mathematical type, he's a landscape design and gardener, and honest to goodness, this is the only time in my life I ever knew him to use algebra. The Elders scratched their heads and wondered why it wasn't said more plainly. The 1975 incident was a split within the ranks of the witnesses even before 1975. There were those like my father who were really paying attention and got the message, and then there were those who were willing to wait until someone hit them over the head with it. The cruel irony of all of this is that the ones who were paying attention were mostly the most devout of the witnesses and it was almost like a lack of faith to not believe the 1975 date. Well, 1975 came and went, I don't have to tell you. There was the definite unsaid smugness of "I told you so" on the part of those (including some of the Elders) who never went along with it in the first place. Not until 1979 was anything printed about the whole issue, when there was a Watchtower article that basically apologized and retraced the 1975 claims. It admitted that there were "elements" within the Watchtower Society that pushed "certain ideas about 1975" that were "inappropriate". My father saw this admission a vindication of his position since for the last 4 years everyone had been telling him he had been seeing things. Unfortunately, even the retraction was given less than prominent attention, tucked away in a Watchtower study one Sunday. Around then, 1980, there was a big schizm up at the Society's headquarters in New York City and one of the "Governing Body", was kicked out. Made Time or Newsweek as I recall. Seems there was a political cleaning house at the top in 1979. As I said above, all organizations of men will have problems. As a Catholic, I feel I know much more about the Vatican, what it is for, why it exists, how does it run, then I ever knew about the "Governing Body" when I was a witness. Well, that's my 1975 story. Hope it sheds some light from an inside point of view. When I was a child, I was taught that the Jehovah's Witnesses were the only true religion, and every other religion was false and hated by God, and the people would be killed when Christ came. Further, I was taught that ALL OTHER RELIGIONS believed the same thing about themselves, i.e. that they each were the only true religion. Then I was tought, there can only be one true religion, right? How many religions do you think there are in Heaven? Right, one. And which one is it? It must be the Jehovah's Witnesses, since they are the only ones who teach the Truth about the Bible. This is one of the great lies. All other religions DO NOT believe they are the only true religion that has an exclusive claim to God. I could write volumes about my Christian journey, for it has been an unusual one. I thank God every day for keeping me in his hand, and I thank God for the many good people who prayed for me while I was undergoing the difficult transition. You see, it has not been without it price. I am officially "disfellowshipped" from the Witnesses organization, which is why my father and may sister will no longer talk to me or visit, or allow me to visit. My father has a 3 year old granddaughter and 1 year old grandson he does not know beyond name. The witnesses demand that there is no association whatsoever, social, family, or otherwise, this is there official rule. And my crime? Apostasy. I became Catholic. Makes you wonder about their claim to being Christian doesn't it? But I do not judge, I pray. The last time my father talked to me he said "If you are right, then I will see you in Heaven, but not before. If I am right, this is it." Well, I pray for him and for all the other witnesses and ex-witnesses to seek God. Seek God alone. Thank you for hearing me out.... My Faith life has been a wonder the past year. My advice, in a word, discover Medjegore. Right now, today, on this Earth, a miracle is happening. It has touched me and has the power to touch and renew the whole world. I will share something very special with you all. While praying and studying the messages given by God through Mary at Medjegore, the concern on my mind was just how can anything done make any difference at all in this world where so many men hate and kill and there is so much corruption. I testify that I was given this message by the Holy Spirit: "Your Father will create love." And I understood two meanings in this message. The first is focussed on the word "create", that God is performing miracles in this, our day and age. In supernatural fashion, He creates love where there is none in the hearts of men. As God created light from darkness and life from lifelessness, He can and will create Love where there is none, and will transform this world full of evil into a world full of good. This is the sum total message of Medjegore, and it is in progress right now. The other meaning in the message focusses on the word "will". It is the Father's will to create love. We pray in the Lord's prayer, "Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." God's will is many things. We seek his will, to be in union with it whenever possible. We can rest in the truth that this new creation of Love in the world his His Will. What God wills, comes to pass. Sincerely, in Christ, Greg Shay