Jehovah's Witnesses' Interpretation of the Harlot in Revelation

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So I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness from age 10 until I left for college, at which point I left the JW’s. One thing that was drilled into my brain as a teenager is that Catholics are evil. When we studied the book of Revelation, we were told that the harlot who drank the blood of the prophets is the world empire of false religion, and Christendom in particular. I don’t understand where this hatred comes from, but ironically, because they told me that Catholics are the enemy, the more I wanted to learn about Catholicism (talk about your ultimate backfire!)

One thing that truly helped me was traveling to Europe and visiting Catholic churches and even going to Vatican City. It really broadened my horizons, and it got me in touch with the church of my pre-teen years.

I’m curious if there are any other former JW’s on this board who have become Catholic. I’d like to know how they overcame the brainwashing and the guilt that came from belonging to the group and what has helped them to move past all of that.
 
I’m not a former JW, but I was talking about this on another thread just minutes ago, so here it is while it’s fresh in my mind.

The Whore of Babylon is more than likely pagan Rome or apostate Jerusalem. These both were very licentious, persecuted Christians, and were huge economic centers of the ancient world. A lot of people have tried to argue that this is Vatican City, but Vatican City is not Rome; it is an independent city-state. The Whore “rules over the kings of the earth”. But the Vatican hardly rules over any land. It’s existence has even been threatened by Italian nationalism in the past two centuries.
 
I “studied” with the jws 25 years ago during my searching period. I was raised a lutheran but found no committment to God in my heart there and no joy either.
When I started with the jws, I was flumoxed by thier extreme hatred of all things Catholic but not knowing a single Catholic, didn’t think much of it. I DID think much of their twisted “theology” and really tried to understand how they came up with their odd conclusions and interpretations; but when compared to history, none of it made any sense.
What turned me away initially was the hypocrisy of so many of their members and the constant urging to “rat out” other congregants to their elders so they could be humiliated in public at one of their meetings. Also, the child beatings in the kingdom hall vestibules.
After renouncing the entire shebang, I just went back to what I was doing. (don’t ask 🙂 - I did eventually find what I was looking for though in HMC.)
I saw many jws during that period of my life that had that guilt and fear of leaving. Perfect description of the cult that they are.
Some were able to move on but rarely to other Christian religions if they had been indoctrinated for a long period of time.
jwism is a very scary trap!
I understand that there is a forum for former jws but, unfortunately, do not know the web address. It should be easy to find though if you just type “former jehovah’s witness’s” into Google.
If I were you though, I would just stay here and learn learn from Catholics why Holy Mother Church is The One True Church given to us by Christ Himself. :cool:
 
kdragonfly said:
One thing that truly helped me was traveling to Europe and visiting Catholic churches and even going to Vatican City. It really broadened my horizons, and it got me in touch with the church of my pre-teen years.

I’m curious if there are any other former JW’s on this board who have become Catholic. I’d like to know how they overcame the brainwashing and the guilt that came from belonging to the group and what has helped them to move past all of that.
Click to expand...
This sounds somewhat like what happened to me, although I was a cradle JW. By God’s grace, my family and I will hopefully start RCIA this year. I “faded out” from being a JW about 15 years ago. In my opinion, this made it much easier to look at the Church with objective eyes. I believe with all my mind and heart that the CC is the church founded by Christ. The best way to overcome the brainwashing is to read Sacred Scripture (a REAL bible, not the NWT), everything you can get your hands on in regards to Church history and also the Catechism. Watching Fr. Corapi’s TV series on EWTN on the Catechism is immensely helpful. One of the reasons we as JW’s were brainwashed is because we were ignorant of anything outside that organization. This goes away once you become more educated. History not only disproves the WTBS, but more importantly, proves the Church is THE Church established by Chirst. If you haven’t done so, read the Early Church Fathers. Very illuminating!
 
www.catholicxjw.com is a Fellowship of Catholic Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses
kdragonfly said:
So I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness from age 10 until I left for college, at which point I left the JW’s. One thing that was drilled into my brain as a teenager is that Catholics are evil. When we studied the book of Revelation, we were told that the harlot who drank the blood of the prophets is the world empire of false religion, and Christendom in particular. I don’t understand where this hatred comes from, but ironically, because they told me that Catholics are the enemy, the more I wanted to learn about Catholicism (talk about your ultimate backfire!)

One thing that truly helped me was traveling to Europe and visiting Catholic churches and even going to Vatican City. It really broadened my horizons, and it got me in touch with the church of my pre-teen years.

I’m curious if there are any other former JW’s on this board who have become Catholic. I’d like to know how they overcame the brainwashing and the guilt that came from belonging to the group and what has helped them to move past all of that.
Click to expand...
 
originally posted by T More
One of the reasons we as JW’s were brainwashed is because we were ignorant of anything outside that organization. This goes away once you become more educated. History not only disproves the WTBS, but more importantly, proves the Church is THE Church established by Chirst.
Click to expand...
Absolutely!!
Jws discourage higher education so most are only HS educated and many I met were only 8th to 10th grade educated.
As Cardinal John Henry Newman said, “To be steeped in history is to cease being protestant” - or anything other than Catholic. 👍
To those who posted those exjw sites, thank you.
 
catsrus said:
I “studied” with the jws 25 years ago during my searching period. I was raised a lutheran but found no committment to God in my heart there and no joy either.
When I started with the jws, I was flumoxed by thier extreme hatred of all things Catholic but not knowing a single Catholic, didn’t think much of it. I DID think much of their twisted “theology” and really tried to understand how they came up with their odd conclusions and interpretations; but when compared to history, none of it made any sense.
What turned me away initially was the hypocrisy of so many of their members and the constant urging to “rat out” other congregants to their elders so they could be humiliated in public at one of their meetings. Also, the child beatings in the kingdom hall vestibules.
After renouncing the entire shebang, I just went back to what I was doing. (don’t ask 🙂 - I did eventually find what I was looking for though in HMC.)
I saw many jws during that period of my life that had that guilt and fear of leaving. Perfect description of the cult that they are.
Some were able to move on but rarely to other Christian religions if they had been indoctrinated for a long period of time.
jwism is a very scary trap!
I understand that there is a forum for former jws but, unfortunately, do not know the web address. It should be easy to find though if you just type “former jehovah’s witness’s” into Google.
If I were you though, I would just stay here and learn learn from Catholics why Holy Mother Church is The One True Church given to us by Christ Himself. :cool:
Click to expand...
Very interesting. I once had a JW roommate and I remember he and I would at times go out-of-town to enjoy a beer. So I asked him, " Why do we always need to go far to simply drink a beer?" His reply, “I do not want anyone from my hall to see me drinking.” Mind you not this was coming from the mouth of a 33 year old man. Indeed the JW’s are a mind control cult.
 
T_More said:
This sounds somewhat like what happened to me, although I was a cradle JW. By God’s grace, my family and I will hopefully start RCIA this year. I “faded out” from being a JW about 15 years ago. In my opinion, this made it much easier to look at the Church with objective eyes. I believe with all my mind and heart that the CC is the church founded by Christ. The best way to overcome the brainwashing is to read Sacred Scripture (a REAL bible, not the NWT), everything you can get your hands on in regards to Church history and also the Catechism. Watching Fr. Corapi’s TV series on EWTN on the Catechism is immensely helpful. One of the reasons we as JW’s were brainwashed is because we were ignorant of anything outside that organization. This goes away once you become more educated. History not only disproves the WTBS, but more importantly, proves the Church is THE Church established by Chirst. If you haven’t done so, read the Early Church Fathers. Very illuminating!
Click to expand...
Hello T More! I think that is the first and the most difficult step for any JW-to step outside the JW brainwashing and mind control.
 
Nicea325 said:
Very interesting. I once had a JW roommate and I remember he and I would at times go out-of-town to enjoy a beer. So I asked him, " Why do we always need to go far to simply drink a beer?" His reply, “I do not want anyone from my hall to see me drinking.” Mind you not this was coming from the mouth of a 33 year old man. Indeed the JW’s are a mind control cult.
Click to expand...
That is funny to me because JW’s actually don’t forbid drinking in moderation, just drunkenness. Maybe he didn’t want just “a” beer lol. But yeah, very much a fear-instilling group.
 
catsrus said:
Absolutely!!
Jws discourage higher education so most are only HS educated and many I met were only 8th to 10th grade educated.
As Cardinal John Henry Newman said, “To be steeped in history is to cease being protestant” - or anything other than Catholic. 👍
To those who posted those exjw sites, thank you.
Click to expand...
And I made a LOT of people in my congregation angry not only by my going to college, but a private ***CATHOLIC ***college. gasp :eek: :extrahappy:
 
kdragonfly said:
And I made a LOT of people in my congregation angry not only by my going to college, but a private ***CATHOLIC ***college. gasp :eek: :extrahappy:
Click to expand...
:amen::bluelite:

Good for you, you went off to college.

Are familiar with the show The Journey Home? It is about stories of different converts to the CC. Just google EWTN and look for Journey Home, and you will find a link to their library of past shows.
 
pablope said:
:amen::bluelite:

Good for you, you went off to college.

Are familiar with the show The Journey Home? It is about stories of different converts to the CC. Just google EWTN and look for Journey Home, and you will find a link to their library of past shows.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip!
 
Just a note:

The hatred that JWs have for the Catholic Church is a result of “Judge” Rutherford’s hatred ( he took over after C.T. Russell died ). Rutherford hated anyone ( and I do mean hate ) who did not become a JW or critcized the organization and the biggest critics were the Catholic clergy ( Msgr Fulton Sheen especially ). He was an absolute tryrant. In 1944 an article about the JWs appeared in Reader’s Digest magazine. In the article was the statement “Under Rutherford the JWs hate everyone and everything. They make hate a religion.” Needless to relate what the result was.

PAX DOMINI :signofcross:

Shalom Aleichem
 
Hi kdragonfly
I managed to get out rather easily from the JWs when I was 18 because only my mum and me were JWs, and she left my dad (not a JW) , with whom I remained. I did go to meetings a little after she left, but I lost all motivation when the elders came to visit me to tell me off for wearing trousers to a book study. I said I had questions and they said they the problem was that “I was doubting”, and never came back to answer the questions.
Then I went to college but ended up agnostic, and really had no faith for about 1.5 decades. My mum shunned me and i moved to another country, so we hardly kept in touch.

Now in my mid thirties and a mum, I checked them out for a year and did not swallow the no blood transfusion doctrine after i ran into it for the second time (I would be dead without 4 that I needed 10 years ago!!). So researched the Governing Body and the history of the Watchtower and figured it was all rubbish. My mum has passed away a few years ago, so by leaving the JWs I was very lucky that I had only some conditional friendships to lose.

I prayed to Jesus to show me where to go and he led me to his Holy Church. I wrote a letter to the JWs and even said where I had gone…I don’t expect to hear from them anymore!
Excellent research tools are: www.jwfacts.com, www.freeminds.org, www.sixscreensofthe watchtower.com.

But only the Holy Spirit can guide you! I found myself going to the CC and decided to leave behind all the prejudice that the JWs had tried to instill in me. I don’t have anything against it as an entity, I am ready for my RCIA program.

have wondered about that interpretation of the harlot on the beast but I don’t really care enough to try to pull it apart as an apologetic because I know that most of what the Watchtower teaches cannot be trusted anyway.

Nice to read your story!
🙂
Mariana
 
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