Surrendering to the Watchtower fade

The "watchtower fade" is the result of that little voice that tells us that whatever project we are involved with, whatever life-course we might be on, it is devoid of any spiritual value whatsoever. Worse, it has become hazardous to your health and well-being, both inwardly and outwardly. It's all those things - misgivings and niggles - that we keep tucking out of sight in order to be able to carry on with what we're doing. Eventually all those things pile up until they become impossible to ignore. The little voice inside us swells to a mighty roar, and it screams, "What.The.Fuck.Am.I.Doing?"

101 ways Jehovah's Witnesses are the embodiment of George Orwell's 1984

Victory Mansions/cigarettes/gin/Square
Anything Jehovah's Witnesses get to name is either "Watchtower," "Kingdom," or "New World," be it road, house, farm, forest, hall, or Bible.

Victory Gin

He took down from the shelf a bottle of colourless liquid with a plain white label marked VICTORY GIN. It gave off a sickly, oily smell, as of Chinese rice-spirit. Winston poured out nearly a teacupful, nerved himself for a shock, and gulped it down like a dose of medicine.

Instantly his face turned scarlet and the water ran out of his eyes. The stuff was like nitric acid, and moreover, in swallowing it one had the sensation of being hit on the back of the head with a rubber club. The next moment, however, the burning in his belly died down and the world began to look more cheerful.

The experience of drinking in the "pure water" of spiritual "truth" is more akin to having a shot of Victory gin.

The Catholic Church or Jehovah's Witnesses? Too close to call

There was a court case a couple of years ago concerning Menlo Park Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in California, the details of which I couldn't quite fathom. It seemed that a member of the congregation who had been removed as an elder was contesting the decision in court. (This link will serve as a jumping off point if you want to find out more about the case itself.) While representing one of the defendants during a trial held in San Mateo County Court in Redwood City, California, on February 22, 2012, Calvin Rouse, who described himself as "general counsel for the National Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses out of Brooklyn, New York," made this astonishing admission:

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't be here, but this is one our 13,000 congregations in the United States. We are a hierarchical religion structured just like the Catholic Church. And when the order from the Pope comes down defrocking a priest and kicking him out, he no longer has any say in any matter in the local parish."

He added,

"We brought our organizational bylaws book, our rule book here, and we are prepared to present witnesses that this is a hierarchical organization. It is governed from the top down."

There was a time when I used to think that the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses was the Catholic Church done right. Now I think Jehovah's Witnesses are just the Catholic Church done the same...and sometimes worse.

Occupy Jehovah's Witnesses: When the 0.1% are the 99.9%

On the evening of Monday, April 14th, after sundown, some 19 million people will meet in Kingdom Halls around the world to celebrate the Lord's Evening Meal. Of those 19 million less than half will be fully-fledged Jehovah's Witnesses comprising men, women, and children, who have dedicated their lives to the cause, amounting to some 7-and-a-half million - a mere 0.1% of the world's 7 billion population.

Ghostworld of the Excommunicated

I died on Wednesday, April 4th, 2012.

Time was called at a little after 8 o'clock in the evening.

"Rory Sullivan is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses."

Brief exchange with a circuit overseer

It was certainly my experience that when I was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses, personal spiritual conversation with those closest to me - primarily my wife - shut down, and everything was placed in to the laps of those in an official capacity. The elders can handle it. As long as the elders were handling it, what more could be done. Part of the efforts to readjust my thinking included a meeting with a circuit overseer. He was not our own circuit overseer, but a friend of the family. In our brief conversation it soon became apparent that he had nothing groundbreaking to offer. It was all familiar territory: "What are the governing body getting out of it?" "Who really is the faithful and discreet slave?" "Where else is there to go to? If Jesus were to come down, this is the religion he would belong to." I came away no less convinced.

When I sent my letter to the body of elders, I also forwarded a copy to Anton. This was our brief exchange:

Too much power, and yet no power at all

After the decision was made to remove me from the congregation, but before the announcement was made, I sent this letter to the three men who made up the committee, and several other elders.

An Open Letter to the Body of Elders,
Sudbury (Suffolk) Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses

On Wednesday, April 4, 2012, the decision will be carried out to announce to the congregation that, “Rory Sullivan is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses.”

Men, I urge you not to make this announcement.

This action serves to highlight a crucial problem with the elder arrangement among Jehovah's Witnesses: You are called upon to bear the burdensome contradiction of having both too much power, and yet having no power at all.