3124: Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program w/ Brian Mitchell

[Michael's Servant]

Religion, divorce, hypocrisy, and real love

Guest:
Brian Mitchell



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[Archimedes_Screw]

Please have him on again! So good. So interesting.

[SpareBen]

Jehovah is missing the h. Doesn't seem to matter much but just think of all those Jehovah's Witnesses who won't hear this episode cos it won't show up in search results. Sad.

As an ex-Jehovah's Witness cough medicine abuser, I feel very seen by recent episodes. Looking forward to the Two Drunk Minimum with Lucas.

[Skyler]

What a delight he was! Seemed super comfortable and open.

[bag of lazers]

Brian's ex-religious and a Trekkie? Awesome!

I love the ex-religious guests and discussions; it's therapeutic and I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates it. I read Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness: Escape from the Watchtower Society awhile back and it's worth a look if anyone's interested.

[panicBoy]

I suspect the true purpose of door-to-door evangelism is not to bring in outsiders, but to galvanize insiders. You go out into the world with the Good News, but no one wants to hear it. Slammed doors, anger, indifference everywhere. Makes you beyond grateful to finally return to the safety and validation of your own people.

That’s the real point. You might rope a rube once in a while, sure it happens. I just don’t think it happens often enough to be worth the effort, unless there’s another, more insidious, albeit clever motive at play.

[SpareBen]

Another book (slightly more humorous than the previous recommendation & this guy was in their Brooklyn headquarters)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S292JS2...ng=UTF8&btkr=1

Regarding door-to-door (oh god, the indoctrinating song is still in my head), ostensibly it's because "Jesus told his followers to “make disciples of people of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19, 20) When he sent out his early disciples, Jesus directed them to go to the homes of the people. (Matthew 10:7, 11-13)."

Even after exiting, I don't think the leaders are duplicitous - they base their beliefs on a flawed text & the problems are compounded by isolationism and legalism.

Oh, and the "we believe in Jesus" thing is a little simplistic - with JWs, there is no trinity - Jesus is not God, simply a son of God and an angel.

Haven't gotten to the most troubling aspects of the religion yet - refusal to accept blood transfusions and sticking to scripture which requires more than one witness to a crime - which has resulted in untold suffering to child abuse victims.

[NotARegularMom]

I was a member of an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church/Cult (think Duggar Family) and if you got someone to visit from these door to door visits you were praised by everyone for several weeks. Especially, if it was a middle-upper class family with lots of kids. More sinners to save and cash to grab!

Listening to most of these episodes really makes me reevaluate so many things in my life. In a good way.

Brian is great and I hope you have him back!

[Enunciated Piffle]

There are so many examples of religion dividing people. The go-to being Judeo-Christian VS Muslim. It’s nice to change it up. I’m adding Brian’s childhood story of having to sit alone because his religion doesn’t allow Birthday parties.

Brian was a delight. It’s good to see people leave Jehovah Witnesses and not end up as angry/ jaded as Kurt Metzger, (who I love - just saying)

[NotARegularMom]

I forgot Michael Jackson was a JW. This page https://jwfacts.com/watchtower/exper...on-jehovah.php goes into more detail about how being a “Witness” basically fucked him up while trying to survive as a kid in both worlds. Not excusing anything the sicko ever did just found it interesting.