This most pleasant stroll through my neighborhood led me to thinking about the policies of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Their religious rules feel diversely opposite from the heart. I won’t be examining policies, but rather the harmful effects of Watchtower’s inverted policies. I ask the question. Is the Bible heart-based? Or rule-based? Really, the Bible is a book of rules.
Sign Posts — Mind or Heart?
I put up two signs in my office. one reads “Love” — the other reads “OBEY”. JWORG’s rules and policies have the power to literally over-ride the heart and cause folks to participate in the most evil and heinous activities. Their evil practice of shunning — that’s just one example.
That’s truly what I did when I obeyed the elder in my “Shunning Mom” video. An elder ordered me to shun my beloved mother. My heart broke open, but instead of going into my heart for guidance about how to proceed, I closed my heart. I chose to obey the elder’s command — and shun.
I couldn’t love and obey at the same time.
When I elected to obey, I closed my heart. The result was depression and eventually a nervous breakdown. These could have resulted in a death sentence for me, because depression can lead a person down a suicidal path.
Obedience makes humanity do all kinds of evil things. During the holocaust, the murderers at that time claimed they were “following orders” when gassing innocent people.
But, I digress.
Sovereignty? Or Obedience?
Giving up my sovereignty by turning off my heart, my common sense, my inherent conscience — all my inner guidance tools — caused me immeasurable emotional pain. I turned over my decision-making to something external to my Self — the elders, governing body, Watchtower policies, rules, orders, commands — or whatever one might choose to call it. I was no longer making my own decisions. What I did was turn over my power of decision-making to someone else not me.
So, how does one manage to reclaim their self-sovereignty after giving it away? First, I had to see the need to call it back. Next, I needed to find my heart before I could attune to it enough to start following it’s inherent guidance.
Opening My Heart to Love
In order to follow the guidance from my heart meant breaking open my heart again. That happened when I found myself shunned. Thankfully, I didn’t crawl back to my abusers who closed my heart in the first place — namely the Babylonian Watchtower cult. Think about it. Watchtower rules and policies have the power to over-ride our hearts — pure mind-control!
I’m so grateful that my soul got me out of that cult. That “getting out” occurred when I began taking dance lessons, which enabled me to get back to living in my heart, instead of the man-made religious rules to control the mind.
YouTube Link to Shunning Mom
Want to see this rant in vlog form on YouTube? Mind or Heart?
Read Esther's Memoir Phoenix of Faith Link to Twitter: _phoenixoffaith