Jehovah's Witnesses Mind Control

Cognitive dissonance theory was first proposed by Leon Festinger in his book entitled "A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance" (1957). His basic hypothesis is that people who experience psychological contradiction -- resulting from conflict between information, group opinion, beliefs, feelings, or behavior -- will [suffer] discomfiture, and consequently will be motivated to correct it by creating consonance (1957:3; Groenveld, n.d.). The higher the magnitude of dissonance, the more pressure the person experiences to reduce or eliminate it (Festinger, 1957:18).

When people are exposed to information that causes dissonance, they are placed into a position of either making the decision to accept the new information (thereby altering their perceptual reality and behavior), or to reject it. Information that is easily verified -- scientifically or experientially -- causes smaller dissonance than information with lesser verifiability (ibid., 179). There are several responses a person may make after receiving dissonance-increasing information. He may accept it or avoid it, misperceive it, deny its validity, forget it, disbelieve it, or seek out consonant information (ibid.,138-176). Following that decision, the person will then seek out information to justify his conclusions -- strengthening consonance (ibid.,83). Once a decision has been made, the person will be less likely to change to another opinion. ...

Cognitive dissonance theory explains why, when presented with arguments that contradict WatchTower Society teachings, but are convincing, the Jehovah's Witness still will maintain his WatchTower Society convictions. There are several evasive techniques that Jehovah's Witnesses will use when presented with cognitive dissonance creating information. They will most likely try to seek out consonant information by searching WatchTower literature, or asking their Elders for answers. They may ignore it, or play down its significance, and they will probably go back to their social support network -- Jehovah's Witnesses family and friends) for confirmation of "the truth".

Festinger also notes that if a person has made a decision about what to believe which has a cost involved, that person will fight all the more to maintain their decision. The Jehovah Witness who has given up all of their former social networks, who has divorced their unbelieving spouse, who has sacrificed their finances to do field ministry, or who has otherwise paid a significant price for their current beliefs, is not going to want to admit that they are wrong -- due to the cognitive dissonance aroused between new beliefs and past behaviors (Gleitman, 1983).

It is difficult to persuade people using only "information", but social psychologists agree that if you can change a person's behavior, often their thoughts will follow (Myers, 1996:484). Festinger's theory proposes that behavior, thoughts, and emotions are components all interlinked within the individual's identity (Groenveld, n.d.). If one component is changed, and sustained in a position of conflict between the other components, the others will tend to follow to effect consonance (ibid). If behavior changes, then thoughts and feelings will most likely follow.* A priest, who for theological reasons disagrees with baptizing infants, yet baptizes a baby for a friend will experience dissonance and may likely alter his views and feelings about infant baptism to conform with his behavior. ...

[*For example, a 40 year-old third-generation Jehovah's Witness Male (only child and no children), whom had never attended any type religious service other than that of the WatchTower Society, and had no intention of ever doing so, was so moved by the accidental death of his one and only niece (the only child of JWMale's converted JW Wife's only sibling) that JWMale accompanied his converted JW Wife to the funeral home services, but remained in areas outside the main chapel, and avoided directly interacting with anyone expressing false religious beliefs. Pacing the adjoining corridors during the funeral service, JWMale's growing emotional discomfort was temporarily eased as JWMale easily dismissed point-by-point the sermon of the Baptist Minister, including the Baptist Minister's repeated assurances that the little five year-old girl was "with Jesus in heaven". However, JWMale had been impacted by the earlier conversations he had overheard, and by his earlier observations of the reactions of family and friends to the unexpected death of the beloved five year old girl. JWMale was eventually overwhelmed emotionally by something that he had not anticipated -- the music and the singing. Obviously, over his forty years, JWMale had sporatically heard briefly on the radio and television some of the music and songs of "Babylon the Great". Out in the corridor, JWMale already had been fighting back tears for 10-15 minutes when the Baptist choir launched into a special rendition of "Jesus Loves Me", which JWMale had never previously heard, and has not heard since. JWMale went from sniffling, to crying, to nearly breaking down emotionally. Two of the funeral home's employees rushed to calm JWMale. Once his composure was regained, JWMale left to sit in his car. Later, on their way to the cemetery service, JWWife told JWMale that as attendees exited the ended service, several people were inquiring who was the "stranger" who was bawling out in the hallway. At the cemetery, JWMale threw caution to the wind, and stood in the back of the crowd, while the Baptist Minister once again assured everyone that the little girl was "with Jesus in heaven". Thereafter, JWMale never again viewed "Babylon the Great" and "false Christians" the way that he had been trained by the WatchTower Cult. It took nearly a decade, but JWMale eventually began attending a Baptist Church, and today is a born-again Christian.]

Cognitive dissonance theory explains that when individuals are involved with a group which holds unanimous ideas, they will often experience cognitive dissonance if their ideas do not align with the ideas of the group. The larger the group, the more pressure to conform. To reduce dissonance in a group, the people can align their thinking with those of the group, influence others to change their views, or differentiate themselves from the group (Festinger, 1957:182).

For Jehovah's Witnesses, group pressure to conform their beliefs and behavior with WatchTower Society ideology and standards is great. Most individuals will not argue with the group, but rather avoid cognitive dissonance by simply agreeing with the "party line". For the new recruit, less dissonance results if they just believe whatever the group teaches. The WatchTower Society endeavors to make its group seem large and authoritative, and seeks to demonstrate the appearance of like-mindedness within all members. The perceived large size of the group, made apparent by fellowshipping only with Jehovah's Witnesses, reading only WatchTower literature, and attending assemblies and conventions with thousands of Jehovah's Witnesses in attendance, makes it more likely that group opinion will over-ride any dissonance creating thoughts.

A newly baptized convert will be expected to join the "Theocratic Ministry School", which he is told will improve his evangelizing skills, and eventually lead to his being a "public speaker" in the congregation. What the new recruit may not realize is that preparing such "talks" forces the new recruit to thoroughly study and internalize one of a growing list of WatchTower Society topics, some of which were not considered during the recruitment process. If the study of certain new topics produces any doubts in the mind of the new Jehovah's Witness convert, the very fact that he is presenting and advocating the WatchTower Society's teachings to the congregation will likely increase the chance of his altering or suppressing any doubts, so as to minimize dissonance (cf Festinger, 1957:231). By encouraging individuals to enter into WatchTower Society prescribed behavior that aligns with WatchTower Society beliefs increases the chances of the people accepting WatchTower Society doctrine.

The new Jehovah's Witness recruit likely had already experienced cognitive dissonance during his initial meetings with the Jehovah's Witnesses, when he first purchased WatchTower publications, and when he agreed to a "Bible study". The new recruit may have had serious doubts in the back of his mind, and even may have had friends or family warn them about becoming involved with Jehovah's Witnesses, yet he had reasoned that engaging in a six-month course of "Bible study" held weekly in his own home was harmless. That recruit soon learned that he must thoroughly study and prepare what turned out to be WatchTower Society literature rather than the Bible. The new recruit is gradually taught that it is NOT desirable for him to put in his own words the answers to pre-prepared questions on each paragraph. Rather, it is the reading back of the exact words in the paragraph as his answer, which will trigger "praise" from the study conductor. That, and other gradually learned "expectations", will earn additional praise for the recruits "wise judgement" and "desire to discover the truth". Any inconsistencies between the recruit's behavior (buying WatchTower literature, engaging in a Bible study, regurgitating the WatchTower material, etc.) and his beliefs about the Jehovah's Witnesses caused discomfort, and the recruit found themselves needing to make a decision whether to continue in the socially rewarding Bible study and aligning his beliefs with the Jehovah's Witnesses, or stopping the study (or beginning to argue about the recruit's personal convictions) and facing the discomfiture that such will likely cause. The course of action usually pursued is "the one that offers the least resistance" (Boyden, 1987). Before long, the study conductor will be accompanied by other members of the congregation, such that in a few weeks, the new recruit will already know a core group of devout members, which will be very convenient when the recruit is invited to his first meeting at the Kingdom Hall.

The fact that 99% of Jehovah's Witnesses remain loyal to the WatchTower Society even though time and again history has proved their prophecies undeniably false, has baffled many an outsider. Studying similar millenarian groups, Leon Festinger attempted to answer the question of why people remain loyal to their religious group and its beliefs, even when they experience massive cognitive dissonance due to prophetic failure. Festinger notes that people with firm convictions are extremely difficult to convert: "Show him facts of figures, and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic, and he fails to see your point." (Festinger, Riecken and Schachter, When Prophecies Fail, 1956 quoted by Watters, n.d. [a])

People often go to extreme measures to protect their beliefs. There often have been large sacrifices (i.e., financial commitment, time commitment, philosophical commitment, etc.) that have reinforced the validity of the people's beliefs; thus to abandon the beliefs would cause further cognitive dissonance between the people's past beliefs and their present scepticism (Gleitman, 1983 quoted in Cognitive Dissonance, n.d.). The people become trapped with a life and mind-set shaped around their "unshakeable" beliefs and contradictory evidence.

Festinger notes that to reduce dissonance the members do two things: [1] they turn to each other for support, [2] they increase proselytising (by converting others to their beliefs they add consonance) (Festinger, 1957:200, 247). Prophetic groups often do not deny their prophetic mistakes, but rationalize or re-interpret it (ibid). Festinger's reasons help explain why the vast majority of Jehovah's Witnesses remained loyal to the WatchTower Society even though their predicted *1975 date for Armageddon* failed to eventuate (Bowman, 1995:12).

*EDITOR'S NOTE: One phenomenon rarely mentioned by anyone, and certainly never studied by anyone, is the historic "mobility" of the Jehovah's Witnesses community. It seems like 25% to 50% of Jehovah's Witnesses in the United States are constantly on the move. This editor traces his WatchTower roots back to a great-grandfather who was converted to "Russellism" around 1908, after being job-transferred to an adjoining state #2. After firmly establishing himself in "the truth", around 1911, GGF decided to move back home (state #1) and preach the WatchTower gospel where "the need was great". When the WatchTower Cult's prophecies for 1914 and 1915 failed -- making GGF the FOOL in his community -- GGF moved his family to State #3, in 1916, where he took a top management position with an airplane parts manufactuer. GGF stayed away from all the mess that surrounded Russell's death, Rutherford's rebellion, WW1, and the Sedition Court Case, from 1917 to around 1920. However, still suffering from the "date prediction addiction", GGF joined in with the WatchTower Society's 1925 predictions. Once again made the COMMUNITY FOOL by the WatchTower Society, in 1926, prominent GGF gave up his great job and moved back to his home state -- but to a different area near to where he once had lived. There, GGF started a new business which soon had six locations in three adjoining counties. When the Great Depression of the 1930s only barely slowed his business, GGF figured that he had "Jehovah's blessing", and he once again started trumpeting Rutherford's "any day now" predictions to all his customers, etc. GGF quickly went bankrupt. Of his eight kids, only the three daughters remained Jehovah's Witnesses after that last date failure -- and they all three were sex addicts and alcoholics, including my GM. Which rasises another rarely researched topic -- the large percentage of WatchTower converts who are females.

Ten Step Program To Liberate Current Jehovah's Witnesses From the Watchtower Society's Mind Control

Worldwide there are MILLIONS of former Jehovah's Witnesses, and MILLIONS more lives which have been affected by the self destructive mind control that has led some to commit suicide, while others suffer silently for years once leaving or being expelled from the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I was in the movement twenty years, and have firsthand personal experience, and that of working with hundreds of other Jehovah's Witnesses while I was a Ministerial Servant and since leaving. In my own personal experience, I had reached a point in my life that I felt powerless to direct my life, and lived in a state of constant depression. I had done everything I had been told to do. I had pioneered where the need was great. I could count on both feet and hands the number of meetings I had missed in a fifteen-year period. I had gone to all assemblies. I had read all my publications, and even spent countless hours researching past Watchtower Society literature for pearls of wisdom. I lived a simple life, while still trying to simplify it even more. I felt a pervasive guilt for not pioneering again, even though my family obligations prevented me from that. I had bought into a flawed bill of goods that limited me from making choices there were in my personal and family's best interests. What follows is a model that can be used to make you proactive and give you a map to follow in your own personal evolution, as you break free from the shackles put upon your mind and soul.

With refined awareness you can understand your personal search process, and the steps and stages in it. How you can get stuck and unstuck at each stage can be very freeing and hope inspiring for those who refuse to give up the search for greater clarity and wisdom. Understanding and applying these principles will allow you to test their wisdom yourself.

1. Intentionally decide to seek for deeper, clearer understanding. Seeking means the unbridled devotion of our whole attention to discerning the details and depths of any issue we need clarification.

In your search for clarity you will be faced with the biggest obstacle, which is fear. This emotion is useful in keeping us from taking unnecessary risks that might endanger us. The Watchtower Society filled your mind with fear. Time and again you were told that God would destroy those who would oppose or leave the spiritual ark.

This was a ploy to keep you from ever seeking the love and freedom that comes from having a personal relationship directly with God. God in his infinite love and mercy does not destroy nor castigate those that are pure of heart and seek his loving direction.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have become a full-fledged organization of spiritual tyrants who spiritually abuse their members leaving them with no one to turn to for relief from this oppression.

2. Open your mind and heart to see the unexpected, a new level of insight or understanding about what you seek. Assume that your current understanding is distorted, incomplete, or that you can know more -- that there is always more to know about what you seek to understand.

Understand that you are a product of the diet of false theological beliefs programmed into your mind by the Jehovah's Witnesses. Your beliefs are now acting as filters that keep you from seeing through your own eyes. You are looking at yourself, others, and life in general, through the beliefs of very judgmental and intolerant people who think they are the only ones favored by God. In order to gain greater freedom and clarity you will need to once again look through the eyes of a child. A child does not have all the years of flawed beliefs that keep one from feeling and following one's instincts.

3. Become still in mind and body. Watch, wait, become prayerful, contemplative, and receptive, humbly ready to shiver in the draft of an open mind.

This is a skill that must be cultivated, by doing so, you will learn to be a silent witness without judgment of yourself others and life in general. This will give you objectivity and allow you to see other choices for your life you may need to consider. You are neither your thoughts nor your feelings these are just aspects of your being and they do not have to define nor determine who you are or what you become.

4. Assume that there is always a higher wisdom, which you can access and grasp. To presume otherwise is to be presumptuous in a small way. If you are to be presumptuous, do it liberally and open yourself to larger anticipations and discoveries.

Mankind has thousands of years of recorded history of pain and suffering. Feed your mind and spirit by studying others who have been down a similar path and learn from them. Search for a good self-help Christian book. (CHRISTIANBOOKS.COM) Develop the mindset of a seeker of wisdom by seeking out wise persons. Pray and have faith that God has not abandoned you. He may be leading you towards your destiny if you let him guide you. Take inventory and see just how far you have come from living in a fishbowl thinking that was all life was about, when you were a Jehovah's Witness.

5. Ask a specific question, or request specific light to be shed on exactly what you need. The more specific and intense the focus, the greater will be your opening to receive.

One of the most powerful forces known to man lies within you, your unconscious mind; it is your loyal servant. If you ask it specific questions, it can search for specific answers. You do get what you ask for so be very careful what you ask for. If you ask it, why am I in this condition it may say because you got yourself into it, but if you ask it what would it take for me to overcome this adversity, it will now have something to work on. Have faith that the mind will work even when you are asleep or doing other conscious tasks.

6. Believe that it is possible to receive wisdom, guidance, and even truth in relation to the issue you are wrestling with. Seek and ask, believing with an undivided mind that it is possible for you to have breakthrough thoughts, no matter what you happen to be feeling at the time.

This may require you to have faith in God. The simple fact that you are alive is a miracle in itself since the odds of you being born are astronomical. You were born with innate talents and resources so start to appreciate and to love yourself. Once you do this you can accept the love from others, and from that higher source of power that wants you to find the truths you are seeking to be a whole human being.

7. Wait for as long as it takes. Wisdom, clarity and resolution come more and more as we dedicate ourselves in an ongoing way to the process of discovery.

As one famous minister says "God's delays are not necessarily God's denials". Before you can find clarity you must overcome your fear. Once you do this things will look different to you, you will be able to see hidden agendas, but don't let this clarity blind you. With greater clarity comes power but don't become intoxicated with power but develop power over power so you can use your inner power in a benevolent way.

8. Burn with desire to know more truth, more deeply. Allow your deepest desire to know to be kindled into a blazing laser search, scanning everywhere for anything that reveals itself as coming into focus to complete the puzzle of your understanding.

Truth will reveal itself in some places you would least expect. So use your awareness to dig and to mine nuggets of life guiding truths. Create your own inner test for what constitutes truth for you. Listen to your whole being find that inner alignment and resonance to something that feels right to you. Seek out people and situations that create those feelings that nourish your spirit. At some point, you may want to consider joining a local church. The larger the better. You, a former Jehovah's Witness, will not stick out as much. There will be multiple "assistant pastors" available for personal help. Wait until later to worry about minor theological differences. There will be time for those after the major non-theological issues have been addressed.

9. Find more truth and do not assume that you have "arrived" at perfectly complete understanding. Continue the exciting discovery of getting to know each answer's deeper and more lovely meanings and applications.

Ten years from now you will think and feel different about your own present truth. This is due to many factors. Understand that truth is relative to time, your own stage of your journey, and to circumstances in your life. Avoid any group that tells you they have the only truth. There are many paths and many truths being a free willed human being you have the delight of discovery. As Albert Einstein said, " Where the world ceases to be the scene of our personal (flawed) hopes and wishes where we face it as free beings, admiring asking and observing. There we enter into the realm of art and science.

10. Be grateful and don't give up! Thank "God" you get to be here at all, to ask, to seek, to find, and to be nearer to the Spirit of Truth that can prove itself more and more to be oh so true! Don't give up on your search process, and never stay stuck at one of the above levels.

Enjoy the freedom and the journey to be all of you without the constant judgmental criticisms of people that can only see in others their own flaws and weaknesses and who have no hope of being happy and well-adjusted free human beings. To err is human, to forgive is divine.

Here is an excellent read for those wanting to know more about how the WatchTower Society "mind controls" its new recruits. This is a chapter excerpted from a former Jehovah's Witness's autobiography.

Every year, in various ways, there are thousands of people leaving the WatchTower Society. Some just become inactive, others officially disassociate themselves. Still others are formally disfellowshipped for reasons that range from Scriptural wrongdoing to just talking to another disfellowshipped person about spiritual matters. Anyone who's been a Jehovah's Witness for any length of time knows it's never easy to just walk away. Feelings of anger, frustration, loss, and confusion are common. It is normal and to be expected.

Jehovah's Witnesses are indoctrinated or taught to accept a system of thought uncritically. But indoctrination alone is not enough to hinder a Jehovah's Witness from leaving should he or she choose to do so. What is an effective deterrent, however, is the social, psychological, and intellectual isolation the WatchTower Society manages to create in the lives of its members. Understanding how they produce this isolation and how it affects the individual, is useful in understanding one's own conflicting feelings and confusion upon leaving.

From a person's first contact with Jehovah's Witnesses, usually through a home Bible study, the isolation process begins. The Jehovah's Witness conducting the home Bible study does more than just instruct his or her student in the Bible. The Jehovah's Witness conducting the home Bible study prepares that student to become a member of the WatchTower Society by teaching him or her the Organization's thinking on Biblical matters. Both the student and even the Jehovah's Witness teacher themself are unaware of the subtle difference between using the Bible as a prop to back up the WatchTower Society's ideas and actually instructing a person in the Bible itself. And so, with the help of the WatchTower Society's literature, the Bible study conductor communicates a way of thinking -- a whole way of life that subtlety alienates the student from anyone or anything that is non-JW. The student soon comes to view whatever is taught as "obviously" the Word of God, for does not the Bible support everything that WatchTower Society literature proposes?

On the surface this seems reasonable enough. But what is not so easily detected is that there can be a great difference between an interpretation of what the Bible says using selective information, and what the Bible really says. And so gradually, without the student realizing it, he or she comes to view Jehovah, the Bible, the Organization and its literature as all interconnected. In the person's mind, the WatchTower Society becomes God's Organization, and to challenge or question it is to challenge God Himself.

After a time, the Jehovah's Witness study conductor encourages the student to attend the five weekly meetings. At those meetings, and at every other Jehovah's Witness activity, the Organization sees to it that certain ideas are presented and reinforced continually. One of these is the teaching that the Jehovah's Witnesses have the "truth", and all other conflicting ideas are in error. When a person accepts this idea, he or she begins to perceive others with contrasting beliefs from an "us" versus "them" viewpoint. The Jehovah's Witnesses are seen as the in-group, and the rest of the world, family, friends, co-workers, everyone else, is perceived as the "worldly" out-group. Quite naturally, any further association with this out-group becomes limited to work, business, or proselytizing.

To strengthen its teaching that only Jehovah's Witnesses have the "truth," the Organization, through the literature, meetings, and assemblies, makes sure its members are well informed about the negative side of people and events on the outside. As a result, Jehovah's Witnesses see almost everyone and everything outside of the WatchTower Society in an unfavorable way. A Jehovah's Witness categorizes outsiders as either "sheep" (potential Jehovah's Witnesses), or "goats" (everyone else). He or she perceives the outside world as Satan's domain, and firmly believes any affiliation with it will weaken him or her spiritually. He or she is no longer interested in world, national, or local events other than to observe how such events support Bible prophesy (according to the Governing Body's interpretation of those events). Trust and communication with outsiders is severely limited. Consequently, the person draws closer to fellow Jehovah's Witnesses. In time he or she develops a strong sense of loyalty and identification to the WatchTower Society and to other Jehovah's Witnesses.

Another teaching that strengthens the WatchTower Society's influence over its members is that the Governing Body is the one and only channel through which a person can receive anything from God. The Organization teaches that this body of men alone have been appointed by Christ to feed God's people spiritually. Any person who rejects or questions their interpretation of the Bible, or their version of the "truth", is seen as prideful -- thinking him or herself as knowing more than those "appointed by God." The WatchTower Society brands such ones guilty of "independent thinking." Believing this, the Jehovah's Witness has no other recourse than to rely upon the WatchTower Society's Governing Body exclusively for all information of a spiritual nature. For not only does he or she view outside sources as untrustworthy, but a Jehovah's Witness is suspicious of his or her own thinking process as well. And so, through a logical, subtle, gradual process, the Organization succeeds in isolating each Jehovah's Witness -- socially and psychologically.

The WatchTower Society uses Jesus' instruction to "make disciples of people of all the nations" as a further way to isolate the individual. It does this by channeling the preaching work into a structured activity under the supervision of WatchTower Society leaders. This way of doing things keeps the Jehovah's Witnesses properly supervised and working together. This common activity, because rejection is the norm, serves to further bond them together. It also reinforces the "us" versus "them" mentality. As a result, Jehovah's Witnesses turn to fellow Jehovah's Witnesses for a sense of self-worth, security, and acceptance. Understandably, they also feel obliged to conform to the thinking, actions, and expectations of other Jehovah's Witnesses rather than to risk alienation.

Since the WatchTower Society considers the door to door preaching work to be of the highest priority, a Jehovah's Witness could not, in good conscience, spend time seeking a higher education or a career. The Organization warns that pursuing such activities takes away time that would otherwise be spent in the door to door work helping others. It also warns that association with outsiders unnecessarily exposes a person to "worldly knowledge" and conflicting beliefs. The Organization strongly discourages its members from engaging is such "dangerous and selfish" wastes of time.

By accepting the WatchTower Society's priorities, the Jehovah's Witness has shut off another avenue of outside input and influence. And the Organization has once again succeeded in cutting him or her off, this time intellectually. It now has complete control of all the information that a Jehovah's Witness, in good conscience, will consider. Regrettably, most Jehovah's Witnesses are completely convinced that this separation is exactly what Jehovah wants. For, as the WatchTower Society is quick to point out, "Did not Jesus say that his followers were to be no part of the world?"

The danger in cutting off all sources of information, save the WatchTower Bible and Tract Society, is that a person sees matters only from the Organization's point of view. He or she has no comparison for judgment; all information received is one-sided. As a result, what a Jehovah's Witness learns does make sense, but his conclusions are not valid, because they are based on incomplete information. For the Organization not only makes available only what is necessary to support its position, it also distorts and changes information according to its purpose.

Of course, a Jehovah's Witness finds even the possibility of such an idea difficult to consider, for he or she strongly believes that Jehovah is teaching His people through the Organization. Therefore, as long as a Jehovah's Witness sees the Organization and Jehovah as inseparably entwined, he or she will reject any evidence that presents the the WatchTower Society in an uncomplimentary light.

To be honest, a Jehovah's Witness must admit that he or she pays a price (higher than is realized) for being "in the truth." Besides the obvious alienation from non-JW family, friends, neighbors, and community, a Jehovah's Witness must give up much of his or her own identity as well. Life is very matter-of-fact in the Organization, and the WatchTower Society frowns upon individual expression. People are like bees in a hive, all doing the same thing; all thinking and speaking the same way; all giving their lives for a cause they believe in -- God's. There is no place for personal dreams and goals, the development of talents and gifts, or even free religious thought and expression. These things must all be postponed until after Armageddon, which for the Jehovah's Witness, is always just around the corner.

A Jehovah's Witness pays a still higher price, one in which he or she is not even aware, because the WatchTower Society restricts a close, loving relationship with Jesus Christ to a comparatively few select ones. A Jehovah's Witness never truly comes to know his or her God. Jehovah is seen not through the eyes of Christ but through the eyes of the Organization. He is perceived as hard, unsympathetic, judgmental, and destructive toward those who do not adhere to the dictates of the WatchTower Society. A Jehovah's Witness always feels that he or she is never doing enough, never quite measuring up to God's (in reality, the Organization's) standards. A Jehovah's Witness never experiences the unconditional love of God and, as a result, learns to evaluate every individual, including him or herself, according to that person's standing with the Organization.

Because a Jehovah's Witness is so thoroughly indoctrinated and psychologically isolated, he or she finds it extremely difficult to leave the WatchTower Society and remain psychologically intact. For a long time he or she has equated leaving with turning one's back on God. Such thinking does not go away overnight. In addition he or she knows that leaving means being shunned by family and friends. For no "strong" Jehovah's Witness will speak to or even acknowledge the presence of anyone who has left the Organization. In most cases, this includes parents (if the disfellowshipped person is a parent). If a person leaving had other close friends, the shunning might be a little more bearable. But, because the individual was part of a group that strongly discouraged outside association, he or she has few, if any, close friends or associates outside the Organization.

In addition, when a Jehovahs Witness leaves, he or she finds life has lost its order; all rules and restraints are gone. Many ask themselves, "If the Jehovah's Witnesses don't have the truth, who does?" Or "Is there really such a thing as 'THE truth?'" Adding to this doubt and confusion, the person suffers the impact of leaving a group he or she has associated and identified with for a long period of time.

The WatchTower Society's standards still have impact long after a person has ceased to be a member of the group. Even if the individual leaves on his or her own, feelings of condemnation and guilt can still persist. It's much worse for a person who has been forced out due to unchristian conduct. For deep down, the belief persists that somehow he or she deserves the punishment meted out and that God, along with those whose association and support mean the most, has turned His back on him or her. The individual may not even admit this idea to him or herself consciously but, subconsciously, there exists a nagging feeling of worthlessness and dishonor. As long as any former Jehovah's Witness believes that the Organization does indeed represent God, he or she will always feel this way at heart. And that person will find little rest until he or she goes back to the WatchTowe Society, "repents" and is reinstated.

Many times, rejecting the WatchTower Society and its control consciously and intellectually, is not enough. A former Jehovah's Witness needs to be with those who have been there, who have gone through the same things and who can relate to what he or she is going though. A former Jehovah's Witness needs to talk, to be heard, and to be understood. And most of all he or she has to find God all over again -- apart from the Organization. This can be a difficult task, because a former Jehovah's Witness has a tendency to go about the search in the same way any Jehovah's Witness would -- intellectually. However, finding God is a matter of believing in Jesus -- a matter of heart. The sooner a person realizes that, the faster he or she will really find Him. Jehovah did not say, "you will find me when you seek me with your mind." He said "you will find me when you seek me with your heart." "I will give them a heart to know me." (Jeremiah 29:13; 24:7 NIV)