... And a Very Fond Farewell

To the Elders of the St. Ann Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses:

Let me first be clear that I bear you no malice. I believe that you are acting in accordance with what you believe to be the truth. I cannot fault you for following your conscience, and ask for the same consideration. I have loved you as brothers, even long after we have ceased our acquaintance. I respect you as men; as men who are intent on being Christ-like. 

Secondly, I want to clearly state that I do not believe my baptism at the age of fifteen to have been valid. The decision to be baptized was predicated on the incorrect assertion that it was an informed decision. I have been able to determine that I was in fact woefully misinformed, and in fact coerced into forming a covenant with the Society that cannot be validated. 

I was taught the doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses from the time I could sit up on my own. I was taught that they were the actual Truth. I was taught that we were guided by God’s Holy Spirit. I was taught that we knew things that the world did not. It is no exaggeration that this is the only “truth” I was exposed to until I became an adult. This is analogous to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Reality is incomprehensible unless one is free to examine it, and there is no version of my upbringing that can be qualified as “free”.

Even so, I was pushed towards baptism by every rung of my social ladder. My parents, peers, and spiritual leaders (you, or your forebears) all aimed me toward a singular path – dedication and unwavering devotion to Jehovah and his earthly organization. It was obvious to me that I would not have a place in the social structure of Jehovah’s Witnesses unless I was first baptized. A fact evidenced by my lack of association with my contemporaries. 

Had I been fully informed as to the nature and origins of Society doctrines, I’d have chosen differently. However, as a minor, I was not granted access to life-altering information. I also entered into the aforementioned covenant ignorant of the fact that if I ever became informed, I would be shunned for disagreeing with what you regard as “truth”, irrespective of whether it was factually correct. Certainly you are aware that once you are baptized as a Witness, there is no way to cease being a Witness, even for well-founded reasons, without sacrificing ties to your family.

Jehovah’s Witnesses support only one truth, and that is the one espoused by the Governing Body. It has been established in a court of law that Witnesses uphold the practice of disfellowshipping to preserve “unity at all costs” (Walsh v Clyde; Scotland, 1954), even when doctrines may be wrong. So, regardless if I had evidence handed down by God himself, if I disagree with the Governing Body, I am to be disfellowshipped. If I disassociate myself, for any reason, I am to be treated exactly as a disfellowshipped person. Brothers, literally the only way for me to have a relationship with my blood relatives is to live and die as a Witness.

Perhaps there will be members of your body of Elders who remember the first talk I ever delivered in the Theocratic Ministry School at the age of five… I certainly do. Job 2:1-13 – I discussed the theme of integrity for three minutes and twenty-six seconds. It was not until I was grown and had faded from the organization that I began to understand what integrity really meant to me. I used to think it was doing what God wanted of me, no matter what others may say. I used to think it was upholding the Society’s teachings, no matter what apostate lies I was confronted with. 

Gentlemen, integrity is doing what is right, no matter the sacrifice. Integrity is standing against an untruth or an injustice when those around you disagree in their ignorance, even if they are ignorant by choice. It is the moral fortitude to make the hard decision when every consequence comes at great [personal] cost. 

It is to my integrity which I owe my first duty. 

I will not belabor you with details in which you have no interest. Perhaps it will be enough to say that you do not need to delve into apostate circles to determine logical errors made by the Society. You only need to exercise critical thought and validate the Society’s views against empirical evidence. The conclusions of the Society are frequently wrong, and continuing to use their publications as a reference point leads people farther astray with each iteration. 

The February 2017 Study Edition Watchtower (Who is Leading God’s People Today, para. 12) says that “The Governing Body is neither inspired nor infallible. Therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.” In fact they have erred, are continuing to err, are promulgating those errors as God’s will and occurring at His direction. But if they are not inspired, how can they perceive such things? The very definition of inspiration precludes the assistance of the Holy Spirit based upon the admission at the start of this paragraph.

Paragraph 14 of the same study article presents an inference of Angelic assistance as “evidence” of divine favor. Brothers, I implore you to examine the metrics of the world wide preaching work over the last several years. The effectiveness of your efforts has waned significantly. Every measure of success, the very “evidence” of Angelic assistance, is in decline! That is not a topic that is up for debate. It is simply the truth.

Paragraph 16 continues with a blatant plea for you, the sheep, to continue praying for men who, by their own admission, are not inspired. Should you not be praying for inspired representatives to lead Jehovah’s people instead of the Governing Body? Geoffery Jackson, of the Governing Body, testified before the Australian Royal Commission [into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse]. When questioned by Angus Stewart if they saw themselves as Jehovah God’s spokesperson(s) on earth, he replied “that I think would seem to be quite presumptuous to say that we are the only spokesperson that God is using.” 

Brothers, we all know Brother Jackson's statement to be patently false! We have held to the immutable truth of the Governing Body (and the Society) being God’s only earthly representatives for as long as there have been Witnesses. Did Brother Jackson lie to the Australian government, or have they been lying to us? In either case, critical scrutiny is the only reasonable response. But you and I both know that if you follow that rabbit hole, you’ll be chastised, at best; disfellowshipped, at worst. Silence is the only option afforded to any of us.

It is, unfortunately, incumbent upon you to do what the Society requires of you. I am an apostate, which I do not deny. I have lost faith in uninspired men, who are not God’s only mouthpiece, and are not infallible. Do they mean well? Certainly. Do I owe them any fealty? Certainly not.

When I began this letter, I did not intend to be so verbose. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”, however (Luke 6:45). Brothers, it is with the greatest humility that I ask you to examine your faith with an objective eye. All things come from God, including actual truth. There is no sin in seeking it out. For my part, I can no longer in good conscience identify myself as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. My integrity would be one sacrifice too many.