I remember all the “worldly” people I worked with at my job over the years, how they always would get me cute little Christmas or birthday presents but were respectful and would say ‘we know you don’t celebrate, but this gift is just because we appreciate the hard work you do and not for Christmas/your birthday’ and then I would never get them anything and never thanked them for their gifts because they were “pagan” or how I absolutely had to have meeting nights and summer convention and circuit assemblies and assembly days and the memorial off, but they were extremely short-staffed at work and everyone would jump through hoops to get my shifts covered. Jehovah’s Witnesses really turn us into selfish gasholes.
Amanda, Yes, we WERE selfish assholes as co-workers and as employees as JWs!!! And I, too, am ashamed of how "superior" I thought I was as a JW. 😢 Disgusting.
@@amandabomination691 similar things happened to me over the years when people would buy me a Christmas or birthday gift, knowing full well they didn’t have to and that they wouldn’t get a gift back. This shows that they were giving a gift out of love, not out of a sense of obligation as the WT say. Some would ask me if I would be offended if they got me a gift, and I was taught to tell them that they could by all means but that they wouldn’t be getting one back in return, they still went ahead and got me one! These people were very kind and I was taught to be an asshole! SAD
the topic of this video really resonates with me. About 6 months ago, after being a witness for years, I started to question my faith. I was very defensive of the religion still and would fervently defend any claim made against the organization. One night i couldnt sleep and after pondering my beleifs for hours i finally, after years, decided to listen to "apostate" material, and see what their problem was. I found one of your videos and by the end of literally one video I went from being a devote witness who was questioning things, to someone who relized I was in a cult. It took me being in my room, in the dark, by myself to let my gaurd down and genuinly listen to the opposite sides claims, and the video i found of yours was so effective for me because of how calm you are. I didnt feel like you were a crazy ex jw but I actually listened to what you were saying because you sounded so genuine. I have been disassociated for 6 months now and Ive never regretted leaving even once.
There was a guy who was studying and attending meetings. We were talking in the lobby one meeting and he said "You people constantly talk about going out door to door and getting more people to join, but you don't seem to care as much about the people who are already here." Hmm, interesting.
Simplified Life 8607, WHOA!!! I never thought of it that way... but it's so sadly TRUE!!! In fact, once you have officially joined, all you seem to get is CRITICISM, JUDGMENT, and being GOSSIPED ABOUT behind your back!!! 😢
Oh I remember one. I had a boss at work that knew I was a JW. He knew I didn't celebrate any holidays, but after Christmas, we passed each other and he stopped and said "Aren't you going to ask me how my Christmas was?" I said no, I don't celebrate Christmas. He said "But I do". Then he smiled and walked off. That made me think.
I hope you get lots more replies I wasn’t baptized but studied the red “Live Forever” book when I was a young mom with small kids, and the changes in me nearly destroyed my marriage and other relationships. One of the things that helped me was an EXJW talking about the JW brag points, like, 1. Worldly celebrations. God doesn’t tell us we mustn’t enjoy our traditions. The Old Testament is full of celebrations and festivals. 2. Not going to war. If someone was trying to break into your house, wouldn’t you do your best to protect your family? If it was your village, don’t you think the men would get together and fight for their homes and families? If it’s your country that is threatened, same thing! AndChristmas… we know it’s not Jesus birthday, but isn’t it wonderful how’s Christians have taken the pagan festival and turned it into an opportunity to share Jesusbirth?
My worldly friend asked me if a person had to be a JW to have a relationship with God. I never thought of it before, but later I realized anyone can have a relationship with God.
I worked with a born again Christian. I was POMI at the time and still dreaded Armageddon. When I told him I was raised a JW but no longer went to meetings he said in a very kind/surprised way “good for you!”. I was taken aback and it made me curious by what he meant by that. He really knew his Bible and when I brought up all those proof texts the Witnesses use to justify their prophecy he told me to read the Bible and not the literature and you won’t feel scared by what the Witnesses tell you and he was right!
I was POMI for a while, as well. A coworker really got me thinking after hearing about my situation (disfellowshipped, shunned) and innocently asking, "Wait, so when someone's having a difficult time and needs encouragement, that's when the church and the leaders STOP talking to them? Most people can count on their church to support them through the tough times." Almost 14 years later, I often think of that as my first "light bulb" moment that lead to my deconstruction.
@BrianBlight-n9g Is that supposed to make social ostracization better...? "Yeah, they're cut off from the only social connections they had as a JW, including their own family, but the men who made the decision to shun them are allowed to make phone calls to them!" Doesn't really help your case. And in my personal experience, the 3 elders never reached out to me. They wouldn't so much as look me in the eye after they told me I was being DFed. I had viewed them as family, and they never contacted me again.
One of my experiences that stuck was in service- I asked the women the common question “what hope is there for the future?” She gave a good Christian answer that sounded familiar to our beliefs just tweaked a little. She believed that humans would live forever on earth. I thought that was only a JW belief and I started really wondering what other groups believe. I went back to see her a few times, she rejected a study but was still opened to talk. Then Covid hit, then I woke up. I ran into her since and I shared my story, we cried and now we are good friends. So much more to this story but this is the summed up version!
My worldly next door neighbor was so sweet and kind to me. 50 years later we are still friends, but when I was a JW, I knew she would die at Armageddon, because I knew she would never convert, no matter how much literature I gave her to read. It hurt my heart that God would kill such a sweet kind person for not being a JW. Geez, how brainwashed I was. She is a better Christian than most Jw's I know.
Agree! Imagine in my congregation there is still an Elder who doesn’t take care of elderly, even his wife! One day I couldn’t take their behavior so I took along that elderly sister in front of that elder’s wife and tried to approach her, Aren’t WE true Christian that love each other! But that elder’s wife walked away as if we were not in her sight! She is a long time pioneer, attending pioneer school this week😂I wonder what do they learn actually in that so-called Pioneer School too😅
@@eyeswideopen8570 As a child, we were poor as dirt. Our neighbour's better financial position did not bother me one bit because during Armageddon my house would float in the flood waters and hers would sink. "Heh heh heh" I said like a gashole.
Another one: I gave my friend a watchtower to read. He brought it back a few days later and said it was just propaganda. I was shocked because first of all, he is a very intelligent person, and second, I'd never ever heard anyone say our literature was propaganda. That made me think. Now I know that it really is just that.
When I stood on his doorstep with magazines in hand, all the "householder" said was, "I feel sorry for you." That comment stayed in my mind for many years.
As a child, i was out in field service and i knocked on a door and this one gentleman's response really stuck with me. He first asked why I was preaching, but he said specifically me, not the witnesses, but actually me as a person. I gave him the same simple reply witnesses would teach us and showed him 2 scriptures to preach to the whole world. He wasn't confrontational but I remember the look in his eyes where I felt where he meant well and although I didn't trust him as he was a stranger, he seemed like a respectful and wise man. To finish our brief discussion, he said, "keep on studying, but always ask questions and keep on looking for the answers." Or course with the JW mindset i felt i was defending my beliefs, but it always stuck out to me because even though I felt I was defending for Jehovah as well, the gentleman was very kind, he didn't have any snark remarks, and wasn't trying to "snare" me away. He was the opposite of what the witnesses would say would be someone who would try to pry me away from the organization, let alone God. I really wish I could go back and find the man and personally thank him. I thought I left a mark in him with JW doctrine but he actually gave me the mark instead that led me to questioning many things in the Bible, organization and other things in my life that led me to broaden my critical thinking even to this day
One of the things that bothered me as a witness was experiences of those who prior to becoming a Witness were bad people, some had been violent, others belonged to violent gangs and many had been serious drug addicts or dealers living a life of crime. When they started to study and progressed to baptism we were told that this transformation was the result of the Holy Spirit operating on them and was only possible to achieve due to Gods help. For years this made my faith strong, until one day I happened to see a young man on tv who had lived a life of serious crime, abusing drugs and women too. Then he started to attend church and shortly thereafter gave his life over to Jesus resulting in him completely turning his life of crime around and becoming an honest Christian believer. When I heard this it completely confused me. At that point I realised that I had been told a lie and that people could change for the better without becoming a JW. This was one of those thoughts I had to “file away” in the back of my mind as you said. 🇬🇧
I had two experiences with "worldly" people that contributed massively to my awakening. First one: I was 12 yrs old, at school and a teacher made us all read aloud our homework, which was a little essay titled 'what would be your solution to humanity's problems', or something along those lines. You can only imagine what a great opportunity that was for preaching (🤦♂), so I wrote about god's kingdom and all that sort of stuff. At the end of it, everyone clapped and the teacher quoted E. B. Hall saying 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'. That sunk so deep in me I still use the quote and the experience to point out the double standards JWs apply towards their cult beliefs (they crave the praise) and what they call 'apostate' beliefs (they demonise anyone/anything that disagrees with them). Second experience: nearly 20 yrs old, starting to have doubts but keeping them quiet, I go out in service for what would be my last time. And that's because of an encounter with an old man, a retired professor, such a calm, well-meaning and reasoning guy, who kept us at his doorstep for an hour because he wanted to know all that JWs were about; just pure curiosity, he never had the chance to talk to one until that day. He listened patiently, never expressing any judgement and at the end said 'your unconditional dedication and hope leave me so disarmed that I'm nearly afraid of saying anything that might insinuate even the slightest doubt in you, let alone ruin your faith'. Once back home, I thought 'I'm ready to have my faith tested, nothing can ruin it if it's true, right?' and, boy, what a rabbit hole I dived into! 😄
When I was 15 or so I went to a door and an older opened and listened for a moment and then looked at me with a sort of frightened look on his face and said "you are in the wrong religion and you need to get out as fast as you can" and then closed the door. It scared me at the time but it always stuck in my mind.
@@sarahyoung6799 I look back at my teenage years with a tinge of shame. Imagine going door to door to lecture grownups on how to live and change their wordly lives. Small wonder so many patronizingly and pitifully smiled while I foolishly spewed.
Once during "field service" a man told me that in the King James Bible if you go to Psalm 46, the 46th word from the beginning is "shake," and the 46th word from the end is "spear," so that's proof that Shakespeare wrote the KJV. Then he closed the door calmly. I was confused, because he seemed like an intelligent guy, and I wondered how anyone could think that. So, as you say, I filed it away. Years later I remembered it, and completely understood the point he was making. Gives me a laugh to this day.
I did what every good JW does when someone didn't accept my message: Question their ✨mOtIvEs ✨ "Of course they're not going to listen. They are PROUD." "They are not 'rightly disposed for everlasting life'." "Satan has blindfolded them." Etc, etc.
Wolfie 8012, Oh, yes!!! I remember telling myself those sorry excuses for "worldly" people not listening; it was all part of the "Watchtower Cult Programming." 😮
Imagine while was in school as JW thinking my worldly classmates here will not achieve their FUTURE PLAN. That was way back, and now it’s 2024. Most of my classmates had good job, has home, and some has grandchildren. Their plan were achieved😅I guess, some of my classmates who remembers me as JW is thinking, remember that student who was preaching the world will END, I wonder what she’s doing.😂
I love your channel, Phil. I think it may be the best exjw channel out there. Well, at least since Dubtown isn't making new content, haha! I love that you are so chill and you pursue topics that aren't flashy and sensational, but are just interesting to you. Then you dig into it, and bring out some real gems. So, thanks for your channel, I'm happy you're here and happy to subscribe.
@@cherylseebreth328 I'm not nice? That certainly wasn't my intention, I meant to give a deserved compliment. Dubtown was a very clever, funny, and biting satire of JWs done in Lego animation. I don't think Phil would take offense at the comparison. I would be surprised if it weren't one of his favorites, too.
I know what you mean, I have an older video "How WT inadvertently creates exJWs" along that line. We're well trained to proselytize, whether the message is JW or exJW.
I remember a few instances where people made me think: 1. My 6th grade teacher- in our history book in one of the lessons it was talking about the history of the Israelites, archeology, etc. And it had some Bible verses quoted. My teacher was a Christian and she got upset that the verses were only partially quoted with the dot dot dot ... She made a comment about how they took some of the Bible verse out. I reacted internally with anger that she said that, mentally defensive of WT, bc as we all know, they have a habit of only partially quoting verses lol 2. There was a man who was evidently a Christian and he seemed very with it and sincere. He told us how one time God spoke to him when he was smoking and told him to stop and then he never smoked again. This was confusing to me because generally as a JW if you hear someone say God spoke to them you would think it was a demon. But this messed with my indoctrination bc logically a demon wouldn't tell you to stop doing something bad. And this thought came into my head- how do you know it wasn't God? Him and the JW sister I was with had a disagreement on a detail about something else in the Bible and he went and read the account later and humbly called the KH leaving a message saying she was right. One of the pioneers said she was impressed with his admitting he was wrong and that also stuck with me. 3. There was a woman out in service who tried to tell us about how she was clinically dead for x amount of time but came back to life. The JW she was talking to wouldn't really engage much in conversation with her, kind of cutting her off, but i remember this actually made me feel scared and uncertain bc what she was saying didn't line up with our beliefs. I can read people well and something inside of me knew she was telling the truth. But it was a foreign concept that i didn't know what to do with and couldn't mentally handle. Looking back now it seems like she had an NDE and was saying God brought her back. 4. Once i had dropped my wallet in the parking lot at my job and a man returned it. I was amazed that someone who wasn't a JW was honest lol
I remember as a PIMI showing a video to a friend and I had the same reaction-no reaction-and thinking, why not? Isn’t it obvious? But now, looking back, I can see just how convoluted our beliefs were! No wonder we didn’t get a reaction. Smart people don’t usually get sucked into cults, because they are aware they don’t need them.
I guess a big WTH moment for me was a circuit overseer visit back in the 80s who said from the podium, we have to strengthen our resolve to overcome objections at the door, because how will you handle someone in the future who was ressurected, and its time for those ones to learn the truth about history, and they decline because they reason if I was good enough to be ressurected I dont need you to tell me what God wants. I was looking around the hall and I thought is it me or did he just come up with the most preposterous BS I ever heard even as a witness? You mean even after armageddon we STILL have to go door to door and we are STILL gonna have ppl tell us to take a hike? From ppl who were ressurected? In other words nothing will change after armageddon and I still cant mow my lawn on saturday morning because I have to go door to door to preach to ressurected ppl who tell me to get lost? I had to think about that for a long time. It was nonsense.
I remember telling my dad that a friend asked me why we preach - and I repeated my response to my dad “we realize you have your religion and we are not here to change it - we are just doing what we were commanded to do by Jesus - preach the good news”. My dad was so upset at my response to my friend - told me “that is not true - of course we are trying to convert her!” Well I reminded him when we are out door to door - that is NOT what we are telling the householder. So we must be lying to them! That always stuck with me. Among other things thru the years….Love your channel Phil!
This was a long time ago, maybe 1974 or 75, when a co-worker talked about celebrating a birthday and we got to talking. I gave the only 2 examples of birthday celebrations in the Bible where bad things happened. The first ex. was when Harod celebrated his birthday and John the Baptizer was beheaded and the other ex. was Phar’aoh’s birthday- the chief baker was hanged. She replied: oh well, we don’t do those things at our birthday parties. I remember laughing but I had no idea how to respond. I did the same as you. I stored it in a nice little box (probably more like a big box!) in the back of my brain.
All those people in our lives were planting seeds. We never knew how or when they will germinate. I think back when I was in high school and our class had to present some information we had some knowledge about, and then address objections. Silly me, I decided I would preach my JW-isms. I had no idea how rude the class responses could be. And worst of all, I had no comebacks! I was humiliated. The teacher stopped the "debate" when I could not answer their objections. I could have crawled into a hole.
What an awesome subject for a video! EDIT: Okay, here’s one of mine. A study that I would go on with my dad: super kind older man. I conducted the study myself a few times, which made me feel special (lol). But he ended the study. He couldn’t get over the fact that God would allow so much violence, and that so much of the Bible documents violent wars on God’s behalf. It put us in the awkward position of having to defend the many massacres Jehovah made the Israelites carry out, and it always stuck in my mind.
Since woke when I started researching everything that I wanted to search, I actually find lot of documentaries of GOOD people around the world either a religious person or not. It amazes me especially other religious believers besides Bible believer and Athiest can be a BETTER person or group than JWs😅
Really liked this idea for a video. I have several times that ‘worldly people’ made an impression on me too that made me think. Enjoyed hearing your experiences.
I always respected my teachers far more than JWs. My bro had cerebral palsy. I greatly admired the CP center PTs and speech therapists. Looking back, it hurt me so intensely to be told we were not Christian. It spurred me to go use Brittanica . Drips and drabs kept brewing. Then my schooling was threatened. That was war. I got lawyers.
Absolutely. I visited an author and a humanist. He was always kind and never pushed his beliefs. We always talked a long time and it was mostly him talking.
I remember trying to convince a church minister who's response was Hmmm with a friendly look and simply took tract said "thank you" ..... This made me think!
And they recently just changed that “it’ll be too late when the tribulation comes!” To “hey … maybe y’know … when the tribulations happen maybe we’ll let you in”
Back in 2003 probably I was a witness, working full time and a part time student. I took a "gasp" Philosophy class. Logic. Debate encouraged. The final project was a essay you read in front of the class. I decided to do one on non blood medical treatments. I mean according to JW i should have been persecuted but everyone was polite, no one attacked me, they were a bit bored i guess. Just a single comment "theres no substitute " from a medical student. Even the instructor who was atheist was polite.
To quote the channel's 'About' section, "I named the channel The Blue Envelope because we talk about things which aren't always common knowledge. Special blue envelopes were used by congregations to send reports of judicial committees to Watchtower headquarters. The distinct color ensured that women working in Bethel mailrooms wouldn't open the correspondence. Service Department eyes only!"
If people don't respond when you show them information on the Bible, they are not hungering and thirsting to know God. They have the mark of the beast.
Even if you don't believe what Jehovah's Witnesses teach, a person who has a spiritual interest will respond. Watch "Messiah 2030" to see how much you didn't learn from Jehovah's Witnesses. The Org. teaches "replacement theology" when Jesus said "salvation is from the Jews".
Check out the video I did "My time in an american theocracy." In brief, the big plus is you never have to decide anything for yourself; everything is pre-selected for you: friends, morals, entertainment, sexuality, choice of jobs and education, pool of marriage mates, the answers to all of life's big questions. It's nice (until it isn't).
@@theblueenvelope Thanks. Do you still believe in God, or did your experience harm your relationship? I watched your video about "Figuring Out Reality" too and I would say I'm a heterodox Christian mystic, and a witness of a different kind. I'm also on a quest to figure out reality, and I value the freedom to do so, but sadly many are not willing to hear an opinion they don't agree with, even if in the process they could learn truth, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Did your religion teach you anything about the symbolism and hidden meanings in the Bible? Or is it more of a literalist religion, like many Christian denominations.
Wow, you lucky guy. The witnesses believe Jehovah sees „intelligance“ different than people does. It is kinda funny you missed this kind of view completely.
SO WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO AND TEACH PEOPLE WHAT EVER FOOLISH NONSENSE YOU WANT TO TEACH THEM AND JEHOVAH WITNESSES CONTINUE TO TEACH THE TRUTH? CATHOLIC CHURCHES teach whatever they want, BAPTIST CHURCH teach whatever they want, Jehovah witnesses ain interfering with them?
The Bible clearly states that before humans appeared on the earth only Jehovah's family of witnesses existed in the universe. The first witness to leave the family was the angel who became "Satan" the first apostate. Today either one is serving Jehovah or the adversary Satan. There is no sitting on the fence.
Oh no.. do we have another Vusi here that just copies and pastes the same ridiculous comment on every ex JW video 😂😂😂 I’ve read that “Jehovah’s family of witnesses” before. 😂 So utterly ridiculous.
Is the future more important than the present? Does Satan reward people for serving him now, and God will reward people in the future for serving him now?
