Although it’s a subject I would most definitely like to move on from eventually, and I definitely will do so, my life has been so affected these days by the whole “leaving Jehovah’s Witnesses” thing that I keep coming back to it as a subject to write about. Sorry ’bout that, it’s temporary.
I got an angry email from my little sister not too long after I had gotten a different one from my younger brother. Both of them seem to have made the same general comment, namely, that they would have been perfectly fine with me believing whatever I wanted to just so long as I kept my mouth shut about it. They would have been sad for me, of course, because they believed that I would be killed by Jehovah at Armageddon but they would not be angry with me. As soon, however, as I posted my analysis of the first couple of chapters of the “Creation” book on this site they became furious and probably no longer want to have anything to do with me. Initially I was upset, logically, but when responding to Robbie’s email I came to realization… they do this all the time.
The entire training of any Jehovah’s Witness in all of their meetings is a training to go into the door-to-door ministry work, start Bible studies with people and help them develop into Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves. In order to do that they are trained specifically to attack the dismantle the belief systems of others whether it’s attacking the trinity, evolution, homosexuality, holidays, blood transfusions or any other subject. Their job, and one that many are quite good at, is to show people why the things they believe are wrong and teach them why the things the Witnesses teach are right. The big difference between my website here and their door-to-door work when it comes to promoting a viewpoint (say, evolution) or debunking others (say, creationism) is that I have no problem with allowing them their right to go door-to-door but they have a huge problem with me posting information on this site and they do not see that as a contradiction.
I know why they don’t think it’s a contradiction. They think that they are justified in their anger because they’re right and I’m wrong. End of story. They think it’s a matter of opinion and theory and that I’ve chosen the wrong side. I, on the other hand, do not consider this to be a matter of opinion. Is it a matter of opinion whether or not there are ice sheets in Greenland or Antarctica? No? They are there, right? Well, that means a global flood 4000 years ago simply could not have happened. It’s quite impossible. This isn’t an opinion matter, this isn’t a toss-up-your-hands-and-guess-your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine situation. No, it’s simple physics. Ice floats. Submerged ice would break up and float to the surface. The ice sheets have annual layers laid down over tens of thousands of years. They were not submerged 4000 years ago. It’s simply a fact. I still still say they have the right to go door to door and declare that Noah’s Flood was actual history and was an actual global deluge if they want to look so silly as all that but I also say that I have my right to say, um, no, it isn’t history and if there was any flood at all it was local and how can you possibly believe such an obvious myth?
The problem is that I’m speaking against what they believe and when it all gelled for me just how hypocritical that was for them to make such a demand I told my sister something along the lines of what I will say now. I will stop speaking up on behalf of reality just as soon as they stop going door-to-door spreading mythology as fact. I will show my respect for their beliefs by not getting angry with them or insisting that they change them. I will not force them to confront reality but neither can they insist that I shut up here on my own web site while they work day in and day out to spread their message to other people.
If they wish to deny reality and go try to get others to join them, fine and dandy, knock yourselves out. Tell people that god created each “kind”, killed pretty much everybody and every thing in a flood because of the Nephilim, that the Garden of Eden was real and the fruit story was literal and that’s why Jesus was sent, that languages trace back to the Tower of Babel, that the Gospel accounts of Jesus life are trustworthy eyewitness accounts and that the Bible is the literal infallible word of God. Ignore the mountains of evidence that contradict every single one of those core teachings. I don’t care. Teach people the moon is made of green cheese while you’re at it, just don’t try to tell me that I can’t agree with all the biologists, archaeologists, paleontologists, geneticists, historians, Bible scholars and plain common sense that happen to disagree with you and say so right here, in my own forum. If you don’t like what I say here, don’t read it. Simple as that.
More From Ryan Sutter
- Jehovah’s Witnesses Literature Banned as “Extremist” in Russia
- my last post as vioman
- an actual personal entry…
- what’s goin’ on…
- Certified Apostate
