Crisis of Conscience
Page 54
110
25:9-11
521
Romans
1:14
41
1:24-27
58
2:5-10, 16
457
2:17-21
432
3:8
374
5:1-11
456
6:14
377
8:6-9
331
8:14
331, 336, 377, 383
8:16-17
330
8:28
468
8:31-39
456
9:1, 3
13
10:10, 13
455
10:12
446
11:33
462
12:2
395
12:17-21
50
13
160, 170, 518, 522
13:1
78
13:6
518
13:7
171, 517
14
412, 415
14:1-3, 23
171-172
14:7
443
14:10-12
443, 455, 457
1 Corinthians
3:5-7
465
3:6, 7
433
3:21
95
4:2-4
370
4:3-5
457
4:5
443
7:23
509
8:9
313
9:1, 19
454
11:1
51
11:26
377
12:4-11, 25
313
13:3
7
13:9, 10, 12, 13
463
14:40
313
16:13, 14
313
16:19
460
2 Corinthians
1:24
53
4:5
312
4:7, 15
433
4:16-18
433
5:10
457
5:11, 12
49
5:14
433
6:4-10
27
6:10
433
7:2, 3
49
10:5
395
10:12, 18
457
12:11
14
Galatians
3:28
446
5:1, 13, 14
454
5:18
331
Ephesians
3:16-19
462
4:2, 3
459
4:4-6
377
4:11-16
456
4:25
456
5:1
51
5:21
456
6:5
464
Philippians
3:7-8
311
3:7, 13, 14
468
Colossians
2:3
462
3:11
446
3:17, 23-25
454
4:15
460
1 Timothy
2:3-6
456
2:5
377
2 Timothy
2:19
457
3:1
378
4:1
457
Titus
2:1-14
465
3:1
507, 521
3:1, 2
159
3:1-3
517
Philemon
1:2
460
Hebrews
5:13-14
383
5:14
313
10:24, 25
460
11:1-7
332
11:16
379
12
323
13:6
466
13:17
145
James
1:22, 26-28
465
2:12, 13
356
2:14-17
465
3:1
119
5:10, 11
51
1 Peter
1:10, 11
461
2:9
446
2:13
159
2:13, 14
517
2:21-23
42, 50
5:3
312
5:7
454
2 Peter
1:12
294
3:15-16
374
1 John
1:5
160, 256
2:19
412
2:27
503
3:14-16, 18
383
3:17-18
465
3:18
466
4:21
463
5:20
503
2 John
1:7
480
1:7-11
412, 480-482
Jude
1:7
66
1:12
460
Revelation
7
330, 394
7:4
53
7:15
407
11:3
206
14
394
14:1, 3
53
16:3-6
197
19:10
461
THE COPYRIGHT OWNER’S STORY
I felt completely empty inside as I returned home from a 12 hour encounter that I knew would surely change the course of my life. I had received credible information showing me that my 29 years involved with Jehovah’s Witnesses had been based on an illusion. In a state of shock and exhaustion, I arrived home with my back covered with stress-induced hives.
I had been introduced to the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a young child. I was taught that Jehovah’s Witnesses were the only true Christians in the whole world. As I went through my teen years, I embraced the beliefs published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society with all my heart, being baptized in 1969, at the eight-day, International ‘Peace on Earth’ Convention in Buffalo, New York, on July 11th, at 17 years old. In my young adulthood I was a regular pioneer and then a temporary special pioneer. I often say that I believed that Jehovah’s Witnesses exclusively had the “truth” from my nose to my toes. Every life decision that I made was influenced by what they taught; from decisions on whether to go to college, who to marry, postponing having children, or even a simple thing like whether to purchase a two or four-door car, were all influenced by the Watchtower Society. They were my present and future as I looked forward to life with them on a paradise earth in the near future, just around the corner. Throughout life’s problems and challenges I considered the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a rock under my feet. I believed I had a firm foundation in life because I had the “truth.” Through the teachings of the Watchtower Society, I was sure that I had the answers to almost everything or anything concerning the Bible or my life.
Even though I believed that I had the truth; it did not mean that I did not see problems within the local congregations. I did. Over the years there were many things that deeply troubled me. I knew of several elders that had been removed for sexual sins with adults and children, and within a few years were back to being elders again. I knew of teenagers that used illegal drugs and others that had abortions. I witnessed an elder abusi
vely yelling at the congregation with everyone accepting it as normal behavior. In all of it, I found it hard to understand how these situations could occur within our “spiritual paradise.” Nevertheless, I carried on, feeling the problems were merely local and due to imperfect men, being confident that in time Jehovah would surely straighten all matters out.
In 1988, I had many religious discussions with someone that I met through my place of employment. This person was confident that my views as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses were wrong. To the contrary, I trusted that my beliefs were solidly founded and were true. After reaching an impasse in our discussions, this person asked me to meet with some former Jehovah’s Witnesses that regularly attended their church. I emphatically insisted that I would not under any circumstances meet with people who once had the “truth” and then abandoned it. This person persisted in a desire to inform me that my beliefs were not true, as I believed them to be. I was asked if I would meet with the pastor of the church they attended. (The church was First Baptist Atlanta and the pastor was Charles Stanley.) To their surprise I said, “yes, I would.” I explained that I would be more than happy to share the “truth” with Charles Stanley. In spite of him being a famous Christian pastor, I was confident that I would be able to enlighten him with the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The next week this person called me to ask if instead of meeting with Charles Stanley, would I meet with someone else; a man named David Henke and his wife, Carole? I was informed that David was a businessman who had never been one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and was a Christian who simply enjoyed talking with them. I agreed to meet with them. I explained that just as I would have been more than happy to share the “truth” with Charles Stanley, I would likewise be happy to share that “truth” with these people. The only obstacle to my meeting with them was that they lived in Columbus, Georgia, which was more than a two hour drive from my home. I said that I would make the drive, explaining that I had a lifetime dedication to share the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses with others. With Armageddon just around the corner, it may mean someone’s life. If the Henke’s were willing to listen to what I had to say, I was willing to share it, even if that meant driving over two hours to convey it.
When I called David Henke to set up a time to meet, he told me that in discussions he had with Jehovah’s Witnesses in the past, the subject jumped around so much that progress was not made in any direction. He asked if he could suggest three subjects that we might want to explore, and we could discuss whatever we wanted to afterwards. I agreed. He then went on to suggest the three subjects to be:
1.The deity of Christ
2.The bodily resurrection of Jesus
3.The prophetic record of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
David suggested that in the time before we would meet, we could both research each subject and be prepared for a thorough discussion. I thought this was a thoughtful, reasonable and logical approach.
For the first two subjects, I was armed and prepared with answers from Watchtower Society literature. However the third subject, having to do with the prophetic record of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society was a concern. Six months prior to this time, I had been questioned about the prophetic record of Jehovah’s Witnesses and I did not have any clear answers for it. In preparation for my discussion, I called Tom, a well-respected elder in my congregation. I told him that I had difficulty with this question in the past and I was going to have another discussion with someone about the same subject and wanted to have a good answer. I shared with him that I had a piece of paper to make notes for reference later. Tom mentioned that the first thing I will want to put on my paper was: “We never call ourselves a prophet.” This was great, as I knew I was not ever calling myself a prophet and I never heard anyone in the Kingdom Hall or door to door call themselves a prophet, therefore, that made sense. I happily put “We never call ourselves a prophet” at the top of my paper. Tom went on to list scripture after scripture where first century Christians were looking forward to the second coming of Christ in their day. He said that we as Jehovah’s Witnesses have shown the same kind of faith and hope that the first century Christians had. At the end of my dialogue with Tom, I felt equipped for the discussion ahead of me.
On the morning of July 23, 1988, I loaded many Watchtower Society reference books into the trunk of my car in order to be prepared for my discussion. I wanted to be ready for whatever would come up in my time with the Henke’s. Before leaving for Columbus, Georgia, I said a heartfelt prayer that I would in some way bring blessings to David and Carole. Confident, I went on my way.
Upon my arrival at the Henke home, I was pleased to meet a pleasant couple that lived in a modest home with their two children, a boy and a girl. We carried my trunk full of books into their kitchen dining area. For easy reference, we lined the books up on the floor against the wall just behind the chair that I would be sitting in. Before we sat down, David motioned to me to come into his library, just off the kitchen area. I was surprised to be met with a whole bookcase of Watchtower Society books! Many of the books were very old, going back to the inception of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Some of the books had been written by Charles Taze Russell. I picked up and looked at Studies in the Scriptures, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Vindication and so forth. I was happy to see these books, as I knew few people had them. Looking at him in amazement, I asked where he had acquired all these extraordinary books. He said he had collected them over the years from various garage sales and other places. Delighted, I said, “I can see I did not need to bring all my books from home and I think your collection of books could be helpful in our discussion.” David smiled and replied, “Yes, I think they will.” All the while I was thinking that this man has an interesting hobby of collecting Watchtower Society books.
For the first two hours of our discussion we discussed the first two subjects on our list, the deity of Christ and the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Around and around the discussion went. David did not make any headway with me and I did not make any headway with him. Then the discussion turned to the prophetic record of the Watchtower Society. I confidently got out my notes from my previous conversation with the elder, Tom, and read the heading at the top of my paper: “We never call ourselves a prophet.” David started to get up from his chair to head over to his bookcase. I stopped him and asked him to hear me out as I finished my list of scriptures, demonstrating that Jehovah’s Witnesses are no different than the first century Christians as they eagerly anticipated the return of Christ. Once I finished sharing my references, he quietly went over to his bookcase and pulled out the Watchtower bound volume 1972. He turned to the April 1st Watchtower page 197 to an article entitled “They shall know that A PROPHET WAS AMONG THEM.” The article went on to say:
“So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet? … This “prophet” was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. They are still proclaiming a warning, and have been joined and assisted in their commissioned work by hundreds of thousands of persons who have listened to their message with belief. … Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a “prophet” of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?” (Bolding added.)
This article was actually inviting the reader to examine the record of the Watchtower Society. Then David asked me if I was willing to examine the record of the Watchtower Society as a prophet? I told him that I was. We examined prediction after prediction by Charles Taze Russell, the International Bible Students and Jehovah’s Witnesses from 1874 to the present. Time after time a prediction was made and nothing happened. (Today these predictions are easy to look up on the Internet, however in 1988 this informa
tion was not readily available.) As we went from one date to the next, I became progressively more uncomfortable. Prior to this, I had not realized how from the very leadership of the Watchtower Society, prophecy after prophecy, for Armageddon’s arrival had been made. Not only that, but each and every prophecy had failed! Example after example, of Watchtower Society prophecies were presented, all from their own publications. I was astounded! It was hard to believe but there they were right in front of me and in the original publications. I thought there must be a good explanation for them being God’s modern day prophet, even with one failed prophecy after another. Turning to my library of books that I had right behind my chair, I picked up the Watchtower Society’s book Reasoning from the Scriptures. I turned to page 136 under the subheading “Have not Jehovah’s Witnesses made errors in their teachings?” The first paragraph said: