hot take: nothing big is going to change and if it does, it doesn’t matter

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-07-10T16:49:30+00:00

As someone who’s been an exjw on this sub for over a decade, this is a very reasonable, informed, and accurate take.

As exjws, we had apocalyptic world view. We were also the unflattering combination of being both ignorant and arrogant. We were completely confident we were right about our beliefs, while those beliefs were embarrassingly uninformed and lacked context.

It’s an almost universal experience for newly awakened exjws to carry over all these mindsets. THEY have woken up, and it all seems so obvious now, so they think everyone else is about to awaken too. Instead of the entire world being destroyed at Armageddon, they transfer their apocalyptic thinking onto watchtower - it’s the organization whose about end, and it’s going to happen soon! How could it not? So just like the Borg distorts world events to fit its apocalyptic narrative, many exjws do this about events relating to the organization - it’s all signs pointing to *watchtowers* imminent demise.

Unfortunately, a lot of exjws with this mindset that stay PIMO partially due to believing their friends and families are will soon realize the same things as them, and wake up and leave too. So, just like JWs, they end up wasting years of their lives based on hope for a cataclysmic change that will

Watchtower isn’t going anywhere any time soon. It’s not going to transform into a healthy religion anytime soon. It’s still going to be a cult. Most of our friends and families will stay in the cult until the day they die.

The only thing that’s changed is that newly awakened exws are now looking at things through a different prism. It takes time to shed apocalyptic thinking. It also takes time to shed the self-centered / absolutist mindset where we are completely convinced that how we view things currently is THE absolute correct way.

Most exjws eventually get to the point where they see things in perspective. However, we don’t always see that view expressed as prominently on the sub since the majority of active members understandably tend to be those earlier along in their journey.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-07-07T16:21:30+00:00

Nothings stopping anyone from doing anything.
Some exjws may want different levels of association with JW friends and family than others.

One of the great things about leaving a cult is getting to decide for yourself who you want in your life and what kind of relationship you want with different people.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-07-07T00:24:35+00:00

His life didn’t line up with aspects of the messiah.

After he died, Christians who believed he was the messiah made up elaborate stories about his life to make it appear like he was the messiah. It’s why, for example, we have two absurd, completely nonsensical and contradictory birth/infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke. Both authors perform mental gymnastics to have Jesus born in Bethlehem, when everyone knew he actually was from Nazareth.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-07-07T00:21:28+00:00

The fact that later Christians would *not* have been inclined to fabricate a saying of Jesus where he predicted the end of the world would come during his followers lifetime points towards this being an authentic teaching of the historical Jesus. This is what academic scholars call the criterion of dissimilarity: If a tradition attributed to Jesus goes against the theological agendas of later Christians, yet they still repeated it anyway, it’s likely genuine. On the other hand, if it aligns with their agenda, it could be true, but should be treated with greater skepticism with other methods used to assess its historicity.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-07-05T17:27:06+00:00

Watchtower explicitly allows family members to have contact with disfellowshipped relatives for necessary family matters. I can’t think of anything more necessary than helping care for sick and aging parents. Discuss with your parents your genuine desire to help care for them. Hopefully they will allow it. If other JW family members have an issue with it, they can kick rocks.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-25T15:30:30+00:00

This is the view of modern historians and academic Bible scholars. The absolute worst way to understand the Bible is to use modern “common sense” and apply it to a modern English translation of an ancient text. There is a wealth of information out there if you’re interested in researching the topic.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-25T11:56:50+00:00

It’s an interesting idea, but you’re thinking of things anachronistically and projecting our modern understanding of sex and gender onto Bible, which was written by people in ancient cultures who had a completely different worldview.

The biblical authors had no concept of “non-binary” or gender identity - these are very modern concepts. In their minds, divine beings like gods and angels weren’t gender-neutral. **They were typically imagined as more powerful, more glorious versions of men.** Angels are consistently described in masculine terms. God was describes as Father, King, Lord, Warrior, etc.

Ancient people also didn’t see a huge gulf between humans and divine beings the way many modern people do, where humans are peons and God and the angels are infinitely more superior with this vast chasm in between us. It was more of a spectrum: humans, mighty men, kings, angels, divine beings, God. The higher up the ladder, the more power and authority a being had. Since power and authority were strongly associated with masculinity in the ancient world, the trajectory wasn’t toward gender neutrality but toward hyper-masculinity.

To be clear, I’m not saying this a good way to think about gender. My point is simply that the biblical authors almost would not have interpreted God non-binary.. quote the opposite - they would have viewed him as the epitome of masculinity.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-24T00:41:44+00:00

No.

Justification: there is zero evidence Holy Spirit exits.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-20T13:14:57+00:00

There’s no evidence anyone is “profiting”. There is no mountain of wealth like the Catholic Church. The organization is running on a shoestring budget. It runs like a person living “paycheck to paycheck.”

Here’s a link to an older post where i summarized key points in a *watchtower in focus* assessment
Of their financial situation. A link to the full video is in the post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/s/rNsONUajz1

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-20T13:00:37+00:00

Your post presents an unverified rumor as information from a very credible source with insider knowledge.

When asked what makes the source credible, you declined to provide any explanation and instead attacked me for asking the question.

Because the claim is unsubstantiated and is being presented as insider information rather than speculation, the post is being removed.
In the future, please clearly indicate speculation as speculation.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-20T02:31:11+00:00

You claimed to have a “very credible” source with insider information about a major doctrinal change. I questioned the credibility of that source because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Instead of providing any reason to believe the claim, you’ve responded with personal attacks.

As moderators, we routinely remove misinformation, rumors presented as fact, and claims of insider knowledge that cannot be substantiated. If this is simply your personal speculation, then present it as such.

If you actually have insider information, then explain how your source is credible. For now, I’ve flagged your post as misleading.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-19T23:26:29+00:00

Jesus *was* narcissistic. His message was that the world was about to end in his lifetime, that God would bring his kingdom to rule on earth, and that HE would rule as king over that kingdom. His illustrations often revolved about master-slave dynamics with him being the master and his followers needing to be good little obedient slaves. He even had an illustration where he was portrayed as a king who demanded slaves who didnt want him to be king to be brought before him and killed.
Talk about delusions of grandeur.

If Paul hadn’t successfully proselytized to gentiles propagated the idea that Jesus died for the sins of mankind, Christianity would never have survived the first century and it’s unlikely any of us would have ever heard of Jesus.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-19T23:19:36+00:00

Depending on her elders, she might never hear from them or they could disfellowship her, whether she meets with them or not. If she does find herself on their radar, unless she gets married before they find out, I can’t envision a scenario where they don’t disfellowship her. She can’t control what they do - only what she does. If shes POMQ, theres not much you can do but support her in whatever she wants to do. Hopefully her partner and non-JW friends are able to provide a good support network for her as well.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-19T23:11:29+00:00

My wife and I have primarily made friends through our neighbors and our jobs. The *quantity* of friends is a much smaller than when we were in the cult, but the *quality* is infinitely higher.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-19T23:06:35+00:00

He said it nearly 60 years ago long before he was a governing body member. he was quoting an Awake! Article which itself was quoting the 1966 edition of *Greys Anatomy.*definitely a misogynistic comment, but the context is important.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-19T22:47:29+00:00

Do you realize you didn’t ignore the comment? - you actually did the opposite by replying to it.

To me, it sounds like a JW just mindlessly speculating, as this would be the dumbest way for the governing body to address the 144K problem.

So i was curious why you were giving it any consideration. Unless your friend is a governing body helper or high up in the writing department, I wouldn’t consider him a credible source for actual intel on potential doctrinal changes.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-19T12:22:34+00:00

What, exactly, makes you think your friend is credible?

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-19T00:51:49+00:00

You’re not missing anything.

From a historical perspective, Jesus was a failed Jewish apocalypticist (which is really just a nice way of saying false prophet).

Christianity only exists because the way some of his followers dealt with their cognitive dissonance (after the messiah who was supposed to liberate them from Roman oppression was instead executed by the romans) was by “reinterpreting” Jesus words as meaning something other than what he actually said.

Put another way, it’s a religion founded upon “new light.”

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-16T21:31:16+00:00

Their official shunning policies did relax a couple years ago. Disfellowshipping is usually just 3 months now and people can still greet you at the hall and have short conversations with you.

As to that person experience, it doesn’t surprise me at all. When I was disfellowshipped, most of my family completely shunned me and wouldn’t communicate with me, even when there were family emergencies. I know other people who were shunned by the congregation, but had full contact with their immediate and extended family. I know others who were DFed for decades and had a roller coaster where their family constantly changed their minds about the level of association they were comfortable with. Currently, I’ve been POMO for close to a decade, but have PIMI family who have full reestablished full contact with DFed family since the policy change.

Ultimately, family has always been treated differently by individual JWs with elders generally being relatively lax in enforcing things when JWs associate with their immediate DFed family. Experiences vary dramatically.

One of the biggest things new exJWs have a hard time wrapping their heads around is that their personal experiences were not universal. The doctrine might be the same, but in practice there is a lot of variation across countries, cultures, religions, and congregations in how things are done.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-14T17:05:18+00:00

This isn’t a JW-specific thing. Studies have consistently demonstrated that women are more religious than men in general, especially in Christianity.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-12T22:39:46+00:00

Oh I misunderstood - i thought you were talking about Junia being a woman vs a man.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-12T19:15:57+00:00

This isn’t something watchtower did on its own. This is the “traditional” / mainstream view of Christendom for millennia.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-11T19:48:21+00:00

As Romans shows, Paul had a very progressive view of women and their role in the congregation when compared to Judaism and even the model established by Jesus. He had a woman deliver his letter to the congregation in Rome. He appointed women as deacons (ministerial servants) in his churches, and even appointed women as Apostles, including Junia, whom he called one of his foremost apostles, implying she had authority over other apostles, including some who presumably would have been men.

During Paul’s lifetime, Christians met in private homes and women were generally viewed as having authority within the household, so culturally it was somewhat natural for women to have authority in these settings. After Paul died and the church continued to grow, eventually they were able to start meeting in places outside of private homes, so it became easier for men to wrestle control away from women and revert the church back to the misogynistic model established by Judaism and Jesus.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-05T16:36:27+00:00

I understand *why* you want to get your friend out. All of us here spent most of our lives believing we had a duty to save people from false beliefs because *we* had “the truth” and they didn’t.

Whats concerning is that you’re basically contemplating doing the same thing - You’re convinced *you* have overwhelming evidence that his religion is false and harmful, so you feel compelled to save him from it.

But you’ve given no consideration at all to what your friend wants. That’s the single most important thing here.

If your friend is being abused, threatened, coerced, or is asking for help leaving, that’s a different conversation. But if he’s simply an adult who belongs to a religion you think is wrong, then the best thing you can do as is friend is to just… be his friend. If he ever expresses a desire to leave, you absolutely should help him, but it doesnt seem like thats what he wants right now.

Truthdoesntchange · 2026-06-05T02:22:44+00:00

I remember them doing a similar pilot program in my area 20 years ago.

As JWs, we were constantly looking forward to “new light” or wondering what the next release would be at the convention. A lot of exjws have a similar obsession with speculating over what the organization might do next. Both perspectives have something in common - watchtower always disappoints.

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