Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses
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Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses
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Narrated by:
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Owen Morgan
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Written by:
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Owen Morgan
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Hemant Mehta
About this listen
This book is part memoir, history, exploration, and critique of the Jehovah's Witness religion. I was born and raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Eventually, I found myself shunned due to actions considered unacceptable by the leaders of the religion at the time.
I lost everything except the shirt on my back and the shoes on my feet. I faced a series of personal setbacks as a result of being cut off from childhood friends and family.
After rebuilding my life about ten years later, I investigated the organization that caused me so much pain. I found that it wasn't just me but many others. I finally decided to examine the history of the religion, which would be a shunning offense if I hadn't already been shunned.
This book reflects my current understanding and beliefs about the religion and my critiques about its flaws, hypocrisies, and threats to peoples well-being. It also addresses the organization's history from 1844 to the modern day. Finally, the last chapter contains one hundred questions for Jehovah's Witnesses- questions that go unanswered.
©2024 Black Cat Publishing (P)2024 Black Cat PublishingWhat listeners say about Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jeff
- 2024-06-21
Essential Read for Ex-JWs
I also grew up in the JW religion. I never got baptized. I left in my mid-20s around 2010. Owen's book is a profound exploration into the history, theology, doctrine, and culture of this organization. Owen shares a gripping firsthand account of how the religion isolates its' members from the world - sometimes literally. JW children tend to be social outcasts.
The JWs are a high control group with a long list of moral transgressions such as no smoking, drinking, tattoos, sex-stuff outside of marriage, smurfs, fictional books about a wizard high school, and so on. Personally, I didn't feel like any of these things sounded particularly alluring anyway. I was content to watch TV and learn Humanist morals from Star Trek. I read Cosmos by Carl Sagan and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. A deeper understanding of modern Cosmology and natural history helped me leave this religion behind. I couldn't reconcile with the religion's denial of basic scientific truths like Darwinian Evolution.
Owen's personal story is a deeply moving one. He had a lot to deal with in his life. JWs think they hold themselves to a higher moral standard yet it is unsurprising that Owen was impressed by the unconditional love Sue, a non-witness, showed for other people. Unconditional love as the author describes it is sadly hard to find, especially among the ranks of the JWs.
For anyone seeking to understand the inner workings of such groups or grappling with similar experiences, Owen's book is an invaluable resource.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dave
- 2024-05-31
Great critical analysis of doctrine and hypocrisy.
an amazing history, doctrinal explanation and critical analysis of this high control group. Owen told much of the story as a first-hand survivor, which I am as well, but also told there's no way that would be understood by anyone. I think you should definitely read this book if you're at all interested in learning about this high control group.
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