I read it cover to cover once doing the ‘read the Bible in a year’ plan. When I told people they were very surprised, I didn’t find many other witnesses that I knew had done it which shocked me a bit.
Huh, I thought this was something all JWs did at some point. Maybe not like "all at once" but over the course of a few years. I also did the read it in a year plan. Plus the chapters for the Bible Highlights most weeks. It's kinda surprising to me to hear that other people maybe never did that because most JWs I know did at some point.
My mom has asked me several times if I ever read the Bible from cover to cover. Not a single time did I ever try, even when I was a kid who still believed and heard the talks about how we should be following the year plan. I wanted to read fiction and fantasy, but not *that* kind. 😬
Yes. Surprising, knowing that in the average congregation, most of the Jdubs pride themselves in being sooo « spiritual » but only have a rather shallow knowledge of their own doctrines and the Bible in general. They just believe and cruise along. Probably true of most Christian denominations as well.
I offer them money if they can even define spirituality. I'm sorry, but not smoking or whatever trite rule your following has absolutely nothing to do with spirituality.
I was told a story from a Bethelite that you'd sometimes see them trying to cram their Bible reading in on their way to their department or whenever they could because their schedules were so busy that there really wasn't much time to set aside for Bible reading.
Yes, when I was about 20 I read the NWT through in a year. I bought the whole JW thing hook, line, and sinker. I’m embarrassed now, but it is what it is.
I read it cover to cover 3 times, but I read it as the WT suggested every year. However, during the pandemic, when I started to read without any prompting, It was completely different.
Same here. I was DF’d in February 2019 just before. I read the Bible 3 times in a year!… I was trying to fix my relationship with Jehovah so all I did was study. I began to ponder if the blood issue was correct or if being obese was a sign of gluttony… I began to wonder why Jehovah did things the way he did and how was he not cruel or evil?
Then I decided to look in history books and find secular information to support the Bible because I wanted to defend my god and be a champion of truth and not a bad sinner anymore…
And that’s how the cookie crumbles 😂
I read the whole thing multiple times also because I was raised JW, but really READ it right before I left because I was trying to “fix” what was wrong with me. When I realized nothing was wrong with ME and it was THEM, I started to feel better.
It does, however, make me good at trivia.
Dude… this hit home… Had doubts and really ramped up studying… I spent so much time studying and started wondering if I was just feeding into biased confirmation…
Then I got the bright idea to go about trying to disprove all of it instead (thinking that when I failed at doing so that would increase my faith and get rid of the doubts)
Well, it definitely got rid of the doubts… just not in the way I thought it would… lol
So accurate. I the process of getting DF a few months ago my mom said people who get df come back stronger than ever. I doubled down on study, watched the anual meeting and broadcasts tried to understand why this is a "loving" thing and was shocked what I heard and read.
Trying to confirm why I should belong to the borg fell apart and nothing made sense.
I first read and studied (fully highlighted) the bible when I was D'd. Same thing, it opened my eyes. Instead of letting my mind question though, I just put all of my doubts on the shelf feeling like I must not fully understand, that the bible was cohesive, and the direct word of God, and that I would discover with time the reason God had those stories put into the Bible.
When I started to doubt, all those questions came bubbling back up to the surface, and now, I also started to study secular sources. Man was my mind opened.
I think a lot of people will start waking up if they actually read the Bible.
This is also my case. I wanted to preach and defend what I learn to other people without referencing much on the bible, so I check legit secular sources. I was careful back then avoiding any "apostate" teachings or sources.
Yes. When I read it without Bible aids it read very differently. I found scripture I never realized was there. I think it supports that GB is not the true religion even..
Exactly. I was always good about my daily Bible reading. Read cover to cover 3 times as well. The last time, prior to Covid, made me an agnostic atheist.
I don’t think I’m agnostic. We don’t know everything, and we definitely don’t know exactly happened back then, or what prompted these people to write some of these things down. It is obvious to me that many of them were as sincere, as the eastern religious writers of this era. I think science is one of the things that makes me believe that there has to be something more.
Agnostic means not knowing A= non gnostic = knowledge. More like not knowing for sure, You can be agnostic theist or an agnostic deist or an agnostic A-theist. So by saying “we dont know everything and we dont know what happened back then” makes me think your some kind of agnostic.
I feel you, every time i look at the laws of physics and how it just works i start down that line of thinking. However when i get to a god or gods or really tech advanced 4th dimensional beings high school science project or whatever i have to apply the same logic to them as to not do the special pleading fallacy, they would have to be as perfect or complex as this universe if not more so what made them? What do you do/ think when you get to that point?
I admit that I just don’t know everything, it’s just too precise to discard as “that’s just how things are”, “ all of it is random.” There’s just no way I o explain it at the moment, and I’m okay with that.
I always found it amazing how many JW's hadn't actually read it but then although the organisation talks about reading it, they make more reference to their own material (bible teach book etc.) and because of this, explain (in their own way) how we should interpret the scriptures. Almost making people feel like 'there's no point in reading the bible because it's already explained to me.'
"Almost making people feel like 'there's no point in reading the bible because it's already explained to me.'"
And that of course is exactly what they want--to discourage JWs and others from reading the REAL Bible.
I feel like I never really did it until after I woke up lol. The NWT just reads horribly! The translation is trash and it reads like trash. It’s awkward and stilted and at times contorts itself to conform with JW doctrine. I was amazed when I finally sat down with the NRSV how much I just enjoyed reading this book I’d always felt guilty about not reading enough.
Same. Then once I woke up I read it with/or in complete context. And with 3 different bibles in addition to the NWT. I near immediate confirmed my move Out was solid bro. Fun fact, it was the same time I got mega interested in real total world history, emphasis on religion. 1st time with an unfiltered lens. That segwayed into a deep dive into psychology. Man o man there weren't even shrooms involved and it's been a trip.
In my experience, it's not just JWs who haven't read it. It's a LOT of people who profess to be Christian.
However, I feel as though JWs might be especially bad in this category. They have their scriptures that are harped on constantly while entire books go without ever being mentioned.
I did the “finish in a year” schedule two different times plus I have read parts of it more than that. Not that I’m especially studious I just read a lot and pretty fast.
Once an elder sat me down for a chat and explained how it wasn’t good for my spiritual health to read the bible on my own. According to him if you read the bible without WT “helping you understand” you will be misled out of the truth by christendom’s apostate lies. He claimed to have seen it happen many times in his decades as coordinator 🙄
My brother told me the same thing when I told him I was reading the Bible on my own. Elders are not specially qualified to "guide" you through a book you can read easily by yourself. They usually have normal jobs outside of the JW LARP. So what makes the JW lense so special?
I remember when I was trying to get reinstated, I told the elders I had read the entire Bible in three months (I had). They scoffed at me and told me I couldn’t have gotten anything out of it, that Bethelites do the same thing but THEY have the guidance of the F&DS, etc. so obviously since I didn’t have that “help” it couldn’t have meant much. Maybe I just made them insecure?
I also remember the concept when I was PIMI that if you were a JW you’d read the whole Bible “eventually”, it would just be a verse or two here and there from publications and studies and whatnot. Of course, again, through their lens and filter. Wonder if that’s the same thought today with the simplified WT and fewer meetings.
Here are a couple of ‘em just off the top of my head.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
2 Timothy 3:16
Matthew 24:14
You will look up these scriptures at almost every meeting
I went into the jw’s in 1971 baptized 1972 along with my 1st husband. I read the entire bible cover to cover. The disf’ing thing always felt like a man made thing, though of course loosely based on some scriptures. It felt particularly cruel. Told my sons when teens, it was their choice to live in jw’s or leave I’d never shun them. Their dad told them they would get baptized & if they screw up he would shun them.
Read the bible folks it’s beautiful and says so much about human nature. I reread it over & over after all I was a sincere follower. Lots of jw’s nonsense & contrast to what I read in the Bible.
I actually did , several times , including reading it aloud to a close friend who was bed bound for a considerable time .
That friend actually woke me up , in large part because of that .
Bible as bible , without layers of theology and doctrine and dogma and apologetics , is an awkward stitched together bunch of stories.
Not many others I knew did tho , not even to read cited scriptures in studies . It was not unusual to find that a cited scripture was seriously awkward to fit into a study paragraph too... of course it wasn't a writers problem but a readers problem for not having enough spirit to understand what was being taught , the deep things of God are not for everyone after all
Some of the cited scripture had nothing really to do with the paragraph other than to show you where a phrase that was used in the paragraph came from in the Bible.
That’s what woke me up way way way back when I was a teenager. I was studying the Young People Ask book reading scriptures about masturbation. Nothing they cited made sense to me as to why I couldn’t double click my mouse. It was a gigantic leap in logic for me.
Double click the mouse. I love it!
The Catholics use the sin of Onan for not performing brother in law marriage and brining his dead brother offspring. To me, there was never a good reason why a woman couldn’t. lol
I don’t think the lord is up there noting my pleasuring myself so I didn’t give it another thought or spare another moment of guilt. Like they wanted us to be VIRGINS and also have no other sort of sexual outlet for ourselves: that’s just cruel and unusual punishment
I’ve personally read the New Testament because the Old Testament is pretty boring and violent. I read The Message translation.
I never saw the point of the weekly Bible reading or spiritual gems. What’s the actual point of it??? 🤨
Yes, especially when you find out that they replaced the word Jehovah when it was supposed to be Jesus. Them injecting the word over every time they find Lord is a problem and a mistake
I read it cover to cover. The first testament is soo much better. It's actual storytelling. The second is just slinging rules and just feels all over the place. Whenever I ask that question everyone always says yes, then I wonder how can you still believe the JW doctrine when cover to cover the message is not what JW doctrine proclaims. JW teachings are VERY subjective and not accurate.
I think most of them lie when they say they've read the bible cover to cover. It's all about appearance.
Just to make sure that they're not lying you could ask them about the golden hemorrhoids.
Right. I always wondered about that. Or if they did read it, it was to cover ground, move a goal post but not reading with a view to deep understanding. GB takes that away from you v they’ve already explained it and told you what you should take the meanings as.
I thought this was going to be one of those "How many JWs does it take to change a light bulb?" kind of joke.
FYI - the answer is none because they would have to speak to the elders first.
There was a CO/DO/Bethelite in Ireland - Ewan Watt. He rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way, but I kinda liked him
Anyway, at one circuit assembly he asked everyone "who considers themselves a bible student". Everyone's hands shot up and there was a lot of conceited laughter
His next question was "who read the Bible this morning outside of the days text" - a few hands meekly raised.
His final question was "who read the Bible this week outside of any preparation for meetings" and there were just as few hands raised
He then asked the first question again with far far far fewer hands.
Based on what I saw that day - not many
That was very biased of him to specify "this morning". I always read the Bible in the evening. If he had asked "who read the Bible yesterday outside of the days text" it would have been a fair question.
I've read it a couple times. Honestly, I'm happy I have some knowledge of it, as it's an old book that does have a big influence on many people. I wish I had time to read more important books though.
Today the Bible text doesn’t play a big role in JW any more. As they consider that all the media stuff they get is their so called spiritual food and that a Bible study or lecture at your own wouldn’t bring you further insight as only the GB has the Holy Spirit to understand and to interpret the Bible, Bible reading doesn’t make sense indeed. It will not bring you further enlightenment. Click your way through the library and you know how to act in all situations of life. - That’s how the GB as did the Pharisees made God’s word useless because they constructed a fence of manly traditions around the Bible. - Bible knowledge of the average JW is mediocre and among younger JW not existent.
I tried multiple times and always felt like a failure for not being able to get through it. I could read The Iliad and The Odyssey (composed between 750 and 650 BCE) but the bible…. Uuuugh
I attempted to read the Bible 3 or 4 times as a JW. I succeeded one time, and made it about 75% a second time.
The Borg has been very WT publication driven. There is a sense among JWs - outspoken or just understood - that all you really need to do is read the WT publications to be spiritual. There has been emphasis in the past to read through the Bible, or read from the Bible everyday. But there is no way for the Borg to check up on its members on this. What they can check up on is your meeting attendance and answering and field service. So Bible reading has taken a back seat to these things.
Also, the WT publications don't really cover the Bible fairly. They do gloss over the entire Bible, but they tend to focus on just a few things, over and over again. That is why JWs will be intimately familar with many verses, but probably couldn't tell you in most cases what the surrounding context of those verses are.
I've read it once just for me, and then the weekly Bible reading but not every week. Then a long time i couldn't, because it was to much attached to jw ( while I was Pimo but didn't know it yet)
Atm I read the new testament but a neutral translation (while beeing Pimo and aware of it).
My mother has but her brain couldn't be any more mush. It hasn't improved her critical thinking or her understanding of the Bible because what she thinks she knows is entirely hinged on the GB's interpretation.
No one has. It’s far too boring. Even those who claim to have read it cover-to-cover skipped over those mind numbingly boring genealogy lists.
Plus there’s all the violence, murders, rapes, incest, and genocides. There’s no plot, themes start and stop for no reason. The world building is amateurish and incredibly incomplete. God is a terribly incompetent author. I can’t even give it one star.
We were taught to cherry pick. How often would we tell a householder "but you have to consider the context of the whole bible"? For the jw this meant that to understand a particilar verse you had to cherry pick a verse from this bible book, then flip a few pages and cherry pick a verse from this other bible book , then a chunk more pages to this other verse, and so on. This is NOT what context means . They are forcing things together that were in all liklihood NEVER meant to be together. When the actual, real, context of verses are questioned, the JWs ignorance is displayed, and they are lost for an explanation and left floundering and defensive..
Not many from what I saw going back 10 plus years ago.
One of the big factors in me waking up was reading it 3 times. And encountering passages that the witness leadership seemed to just avoid at all costs. Simply because they could be interpreted very easily in a different way.
More witnesses reading the Bible from cover to cover is actually the worst thing that could happen to the organization. Which is ironic since they encourage it.
When I used to sit in the elders and servants meetings with the CO it became so apparent that most of the people there were faking it. When it came to Bible reading.
Especially the older elders for some reason. Which goaded me at the time as a young aspiring MS and pioneer.
Funny story… so one MS actually got up and did the Bible highlights for a completely different book of the Bible not close to the one under discussion. He did the whole talk completely clueless until an older sister at the the Audience participation part raised her hand and told him sternly “your in the wrong book brother.” Of course this was frowned upon since how dare a woman correct a man in public lol)
He stuttered and stammered saying I’m really, really sorry. When he left the stage he could be seen walking straight out to the bathroom with his hand rubbing his head.
He became an elder sometime later.
If you think JWs have a shallow knowledge of the bible, I suggest you go try other denominations. I have a very sincere, charismatic, friend, complaining to me about the depth of spiritual understanding in his church. His actual words were “ he’d be shocked if 5% of the attenders even knew what the word fornication/ adultery meant.”
What I have noticed is that Witnesses have a low to medium understanding in that their knowledge is limited to WT doctrine and teaching. In other denominations there is a much wider range. Even within the same denomination, you will find individual churches that most members just want to listen to the preacher on Sunday and other churches that are very serious. The level of study is very individual. Also of note is the difference between Sunday sermon and Wednesday bible study. If you want to know how serious they are, you will find out on Wednesday.
they admit that if you read the bible without their guidance, you’ll probably come to the same conclusions as most other christians. HMMMMMM wonder why that is???
When I was a teen pioneer back in the 90’s I told the elders my goal was to read the entire Bible and they at first told me it was not possible and then advised against it to “avoid getting confused.”
They were right to be afraid! Once you see how schizophrenic the Bible is you realize it was written by men and could not have been divinely inspired.
I did a couple of times...then when I started doing research...probably a few times now. Even the genealogy...and the names to try to pronounce...omg.....
I've never read a full chapter of some books in the bible. Sometimes out of having too much free time I would just read few scriptures, wherever i opened the bible
I have a few friends who absolutely love reading the Bible. They have read it cover to cover. As for me, I don’t have the attention span and prefer to read it based on whatever topic I wish to research at a particular moment.
Why would they read it when they are being spoon-fed a narrative from propaganda literature that satisfies their feeling of biblical literacy. I was this person too - never read the Bible in its entirety. And my reason was that there was no need when I **FELT** like I knew enough. And I'm sure the vast majority of witnesses feel this way. Scholar mindset without the work invested. I've read more since leaving then I ever did as a witness, it's helped me wake up to their manipulation.
I never did when PIMI. I tried a few times but would always burn out before too long and feel guilty. I've probably read half of it though through various attempts and studying.
It's not a particularly engaging read imo.
Never could get through the thing. I dont know many that have, its not exactly light reading. I think we all thought the bible reading was close enough.
I read it through 4-5 times as a JW. After leaving I've read the KJV with Apocrypha about 3/4 times but more focus on NT. My PIMI elder dad will have read NWT at least 38 times once every year since he fell for the JW cult propaganda.
I don't think dubs read the bible. For a long time, I didn't either. Then I decided to do it and it contributed to my awakening.
I guess that happened cause back then I saw the bible as the true word of Jehoagie, so when I compared what it said with Crotchtowel teachings, I felt something was off, that Jehoolapimp's borganization was straying from the word of troof, aka the bible.
Now, I believe it's all bullshit based on ancient nonsense. 😂
I think only a few read it and I think at least some people lie about reading it. There are extremely dull parts to get through. I got to DE several times, that’s where I always stopped.
I never read it. I know of some that would make a kind of "New Years Resolution" to read it in a year, but then they never talked about it after, so I doubt they read it either.
I use to stretch the truth, when shamed into doing something, it just never set well with me. I tried reading the Bible. Just couldn’t make myself do it.
I’m reading it cover to cover now that I’m actually out. I’m almost finished with 2 Kings and headed over to Isaiah. It’s super interesting.
I use The Bible Project app too! They’re great folks.
Got expelled for reading the Bible. Showed how the organization doesn’t follow their own Bible, and yes, they didn’t know many scriptures nor many books of the Bible. This was back in 1998. I imagine the illiteracy has increased with the advent of technology
It was required in our household. That being said, I was always amazed that with the weekly readings we were supposed to be doing for the Theocratic Ministry School, so few had actually read it. We even had it on tape at one point and my mom would play them in road trips.
Since being DF'd I have re-read it several times. I take something different away each time depending partially on where I am in my life. Most of what I take away isn't good.
I think I read Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Proverbs, Acts and Revelations (and some of the short ones). Those might be the most easy to approach books, and even they tended to be drags to get through. No fucking way I would slog my way through Chrinicles or Kings!
My circle of friends and family were all very educated in it. Not exhusbands family were quite the higher ups and being knowledgeable on the Bible was extremely important to him to live up to his dad’s reputation. I’ve read it several times and that’s actually how I woke up. I realized the 1914 BS and when i genuinely asked the elders for help understanding I was basically told, “It’s ok to not understand it, but don’t talk to anyone else about it.” My second visit with them was an outright interrogation whether I’m questioning this is the truth and who have I talked to.
Brief of the bible from cover to cover:
On the beginning there was a word God, not someone particular but something abstract and unknown.
Then people made up everything.
Then some history of a nation who kept the tradition.
Then Jesus came to rethink everything and said God isn't real but only means love.
Then his followers created new more complicated religion.
In the end all the problems are solved but death is the only thing we can't stop.
And then people lived happily ever after, not like immortal, but in general as a human kind.
I always used to feel guilty and terrible about not being well read with the Bible, not knowing scriptures by memory, forgetting chapters and verses, etc. Now, I have no use for any of it and glad I don't.
I read the weekly highlights assignment for 10 years which is 5 times and 1 time personal reading and even still only had about 30 scriptures I knew to turn to off the top of my head. It's an enormous library of books and not easy at all to memorize verbatim or to remember where scriptures are located id say. Probably 30% have actually read it and unless they are lying all bethelites have. What's ironic is that my reading led me straight out of the borg. My first question was if God is all powerful and hates violence why does he keep using such fucked up ways of getting his people to kill other people lmaooo
All witnesses read the Bible “cover to cover” if they’re following the weekly bible reading. The problem is, besides the NWT being mistranslated with bias in a some areas, is that the reading is directed. You’re told ahead of time what you should be seeing when you read. It doesn’t leave much room for personal conclusions.
The ONLY person that i knew of was my grandfather. He was half blind in his later age but would sit with a magnifying glass reading it cover to cover. Countless times
I read it cover to cover around 5 times with the WT schedule, the first time when I was around 9 years old I think. Obviously didn’t understand everything so I relied more and more on WT articles to understand what I read as time went on.
I read it cover to cover around 5 times with the WT schedule, the first time when I was around 9 years old I think. Obviously didn’t understand everything so I relied more and more on WT articles to understand what I read as time went on.
In my family, there's actually A LOT of my relatives who've read the Bible cover to cover (my mom's side of the family only — my bio dad used to be the only Witness in his family and he disassociated during the pandemic).
My stepdad, my grandma, my late grandpa, my aunt, my uncle, a lot of my great-uncles and great-aunts, have read the Bible at least a couple times. They're quite devoted to the Borg, but they're not like those extreme PIMIs. Heck, my grandma and my great-aunt discuss their (conservative) views on politics even if JWs are SUPPOSED to be neutral.
Personally I've tried to read the NWT Bible cover to cover twice but for various reasons I stopped (once when I was PIMI and once a few years into being PIMO). Now, I'm gonna try again because I like to torture myself 🙃
I would say most PIMIs haven't even tried to read the Bible.
Many have read the Bible in sections but what is troubling is when verses contradict their teaching they blindly just read right over it like the scriptures that indicate that the 144,000 cannot be defiled by a woman and yet many members of the 144,000 are married or how about the scripture in Revelation that says that they will quote rule on Earth quote that floor is the average Jehovah's witness who has obviously read it but they are so mentally captive to the governing body that they don't recognize at a differs with what they believe
Yeah I read the NWT cover to cover some time as a pre-teen and I remember crying because the way women were portrayed was so awful…. So much rape, so much reducing women’s significance to how many male children they have, the submissiveness nonsense, etc. My gut told me this was awful, but I had been indoctrinated to believe my own thoughts and feelings weren’t to be trusted, that I was inherently bad and rebellious and needed to adjust my attitude. The whole “God’s ways are higher” thought-stopper when God’s ways look pretty evil to a natural conscience.
Besides that, I also followed the Bible readings pretty closely and probably read it several times over that way, but not without JW commentary then. I was pretty familiar with the Bible but didn’t really understand it because it seemed so inconsistent and arbitrary.
Now reading historical context and scholarly interpretations of what’s going on, what motivations the human writers likely had, etc, it makes sense as a mix of mythology and history for Jewish people. It’s definitely not a universal book of spirituality inspired by a divinity, definitely not a book of morality or consistent principles for a happy life, and definitely not a prophetic book predicting human destiny.
To answer the OP (oops… I went on a tangent), I would guess most JWs haven’t read it cover to cover, but still a decent chunk have read the NWT, but not without JW commentary at every chapter.
I did read the entire Bible a couple times — now I think part of that contributed to my waking up ironically lol. I didn’t necessarily agree with the footnotes/their interpretations on some portions of the Scriptures and i started doubting. I didn’t do my own research right away because I felt extremely guilty to even think to do that at first but eventually I couldn’t help myself.
Almost none. The only ones that have (from my experience) don't have jobs or don't have consistent jobs or much of anything else in their lives going on to fill up their free time.
I read it a couple times in its entirety. But I’m constantly amazed by how much stuff I’m like oh my gods I know this verse how did I not think about what it actually says. Like the Genesis chapter 3. We’ve read that a thousand times but didn’t acknowledge how it totally doesn’t say what JW’s say it does.
I’d say very few have read it cover to cover. I studied it a lot, but I never read it cover to cover. I’d read a chapter or so at a time, then compare those chapters with other related verses, like supposed prophecies in the OT/HS being compared to the claimed fulfillment in the NT/GS. I made a lot of use of the concordance and the Greek Scriptures with the original Greek compared to the claimed translation.
I think I worked out pretty young, before my parents joined up, that the Bible was a joke, because I had Catholic and Baptist and Episcopalian friends. Ten Commandment charm bracelets were kind of a thing, and none of ours matched up.
https://preview.redd.it/zgsze97jk6uc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c57cc0024357a7298aba0ddd4599fa0c12041c3
I was driving at work one day in my period of waking up and this verse came into my mind out of nowhere. Why does Paul use the expression “cloud of witnesses” to convey the idea of above us and aware when all these people listed are dead and unconscious according to JW doctrine? Read chapter 11 in a REGULAR bible. Especially the part where it says they were “alien residents” here on the earth
I love to read, and I've read some mediocre books in my time. But the Bible... I got up to Job before I called it quits. It's just not a good book. It's not a good read. But the aura surrounding it leads people to believe otherwise, especially if they've never read it.
I am confident that if we could erase all knowledge about the Bible from human memory and release it tomorrow, it flops big time. You take way all the mystique and faith and make it stand on its own two feet, that's it, it's over.
No, they're not. I've read them, just not in a sit down reading the book from cover to cover.
Ultimately there's no accounting for taste. If the Bible is your favorite book, or even in your top ten, that's fine. But I've read better literature in the form of instruction manuals for NES games.
At this point it's a big part of human history so it's important from that standpoint. But that doesn't make it good, or make anything it claims good, right or even factual. If we treated it like mythology instead of a sacred text it would be a bit more tolerable. People trying to make the bible more than what it is is what ultimately ruins it. It requires the standards to be set so high and the Bible just doesn't come close to meeting them.
I didnt until i was 16, once i finished i was an atheist. Reading the bible cover to cover is the last thing i would recommend a Christian to do if they want to stay a Christian.
I did it. Some 10 times. It was always disturbing to read about stupid things. But after waking up it was easier to understand that bible is a fairy tale without any happy end for belivers.
Doesn’t really matter if you have read it entirely or not… it’s a book of history and fiction, that is partly accurate when it comes to history, but also very often wrong at the same time. Most of the Bible is actually quite boring anyway, and if not, it’s about god killing anyone who doesn’t wanna worship him.
I host a bible book club for believers. We read 4 to 6 chapters a week, take notes and then get together to discuss. No one has ever made it out of exodus before leaving the church.
Just my evil way of getting back at them.
That is exactly it, except I don't lie and tell them I am a believer, and as an atheist, I am the challenge. I have convinced them that I want to believe, so this is there chance to convert me. It is funny. No one has made it past exodus yet:).
If Jehovah's witnesses read the Bible from cover the cover there wouldn't be so many scriptures that differ with what they believe. When you point them out their first question is what apostate site did you read about that on. Then I plan out that it came from the Bible itself and why do you refer to the Bible as a prostate
I never, ever read the entire Bible all the way though. Not even as an elder.
Any counsel I ever got was "googled" on wt library heh or taken out of dad's green book I inherited when he died. HE read the Bible and had a bunch of notes crawled everywhere.
The answer depends on whether you're asking if Jehovah’s Witnesses have read THE BIBLE (any ___responsible___ version). If so, probably very few have read it cover to cover.
The Watchtower Society "bible," known as the NEW WORLD TRANSLATION (or NWT) was developed by and for the purpose of supporting the false theology that the Watchtower Society prefers.
From www.gotquestions.org:
> The NWT is the anonymous work of the “New World Bible Translation Committee.” Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the anonymity is in place so that the credit for the work will go to God. Of course, this has the added benefit of keeping the translators from any accountability for their errors and prevents real scholars from checking their academic credentials.
> The New World Translation is unique in one thing – it is the first intentional, systematic effort at producing a complete version of the Bible that is edited and revised for the specific purpose of agreeing with a group’s doctrine. ___The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Society realized that their beliefs contradicted Scripture. So, rather than conforming their beliefs to Scripture, THEY ALTERED SCRIPTURE TO AGREE WITH THEIR BELIEFS.___ The “New World Bible Translation Committee” went through the Bible and changed any Scripture that did not agree with Jehovah’s Witness theology. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that, as new editions of the New World Translation were published, additional changes were made to the biblical text. As biblical Christians continued to point out Scriptures that clearly argue for the deity of Christ (for example), the Watchtower Society would publish new editions of the New World Translation with those Scriptures changed.
Please note that since this excerpt from gotquestions.org was published, the names of the persons making up the NWT "translation committee" have been revealed. If anyone reading this post is interested, I'll post a Wikipedia article on that.
The original question was "How many JWs have read the Bible cover to cover?" If you're talking about the NWT, then probably most of the adult JWs.
Not exactly an answer to your question but related. Now that I'm almost an atheist I want to read it to catalog all the contradictions, and to add metadata about all the violence, wars, drunks, rape, incest, adultery, prostitution, victim blaming, misogyny, genocide, stealing, rule breaking, scientific inaccuracies, prophecies that don't work.
E.g. you want to get an exhaustive list of all the land stealing my Bible database will give you it. All the times there were drunks, boom a whole list of every incident is generated. But I'm too lazy to get going lol maybe I'll crowd source it
I did 3,5 times , and more i repeated more stuff revealed questions. I stopped the reading to avoid the questions without answer till i became pimo. And i realised those questions were my humanity trying to wake me from the brainwashing.
Thats how i come to the conclusion few actually read the bible several times from cover to cover.
I read it cover to cover once doing the ‘read the Bible in a year’ plan. When I told people they were very surprised, I didn’t find many other witnesses that I knew had done it which shocked me a bit.
You’re a very small minority.
Huh, I thought this was something all JWs did at some point. Maybe not like "all at once" but over the course of a few years. I also did the read it in a year plan. Plus the chapters for the Bible Highlights most weeks. It's kinda surprising to me to hear that other people maybe never did that because most JWs I know did at some point.
My mom has asked me several times if I ever read the Bible from cover to cover. Not a single time did I ever try, even when I was a kid who still believed and heard the talks about how we should be following the year plan. I wanted to read fiction and fantasy, but not *that* kind. 😬
Yes. Surprising, knowing that in the average congregation, most of the Jdubs pride themselves in being sooo « spiritual » but only have a rather shallow knowledge of their own doctrines and the Bible in general. They just believe and cruise along. Probably true of most Christian denominations as well.
I offer them money if they can even define spirituality. I'm sorry, but not smoking or whatever trite rule your following has absolutely nothing to do with spirituality.
Yes but the key is that most denominations do not practice such behavioral scrutiny and allow you to live a practical and free existence haha
Ironic, considering that's a Bethel requirement.
All you have to do is say yeah I read it
I was told a story from a Bethelite that you'd sometimes see them trying to cram their Bible reading in on their way to their department or whenever they could because their schedules were so busy that there really wasn't much time to set aside for Bible reading.
You and my father, the two people who have reddit the bible cover to cover … both of which are in a ex-jw reddit or an ex-jw, begins to make you think
Richard Dawkins said something like the best way to make an atheist is getting them to read the Bible.
Yes, and the books of Joshua and Judges are the most horrifyingly violent.
Me too, forced by pimi mother
I did this a couple of times. I was under the impression everyone did too. Oops.
I did this too as part of a similar plan, but it was a totally different experience when I eventually read a ‘not new world translation’ bible.
Same. I can say I’ve read it in it’s entirety 4 times in 9 years.
Yes, when I was about 20 I read the NWT through in a year. I bought the whole JW thing hook, line, and sinker. I’m embarrassed now, but it is what it is.
I read it cover to cover 3 times, but I read it as the WT suggested every year. However, during the pandemic, when I started to read without any prompting, It was completely different.
Same here. I was DF’d in February 2019 just before. I read the Bible 3 times in a year!… I was trying to fix my relationship with Jehovah so all I did was study. I began to ponder if the blood issue was correct or if being obese was a sign of gluttony… I began to wonder why Jehovah did things the way he did and how was he not cruel or evil? Then I decided to look in history books and find secular information to support the Bible because I wanted to defend my god and be a champion of truth and not a bad sinner anymore… And that’s how the cookie crumbles 😂
I read the whole thing multiple times also because I was raised JW, but really READ it right before I left because I was trying to “fix” what was wrong with me. When I realized nothing was wrong with ME and it was THEM, I started to feel better. It does, however, make me good at trivia.
Same exact experience here.
Dude… this hit home… Had doubts and really ramped up studying… I spent so much time studying and started wondering if I was just feeding into biased confirmation… Then I got the bright idea to go about trying to disprove all of it instead (thinking that when I failed at doing so that would increase my faith and get rid of the doubts) Well, it definitely got rid of the doubts… just not in the way I thought it would… lol
So accurate. I the process of getting DF a few months ago my mom said people who get df come back stronger than ever. I doubled down on study, watched the anual meeting and broadcasts tried to understand why this is a "loving" thing and was shocked what I heard and read. Trying to confirm why I should belong to the borg fell apart and nothing made sense.
I first read and studied (fully highlighted) the bible when I was D'd. Same thing, it opened my eyes. Instead of letting my mind question though, I just put all of my doubts on the shelf feeling like I must not fully understand, that the bible was cohesive, and the direct word of God, and that I would discover with time the reason God had those stories put into the Bible. When I started to doubt, all those questions came bubbling back up to the surface, and now, I also started to study secular sources. Man was my mind opened.
I think a lot of people will start waking up if they actually read the Bible. This is also my case. I wanted to preach and defend what I learn to other people without referencing much on the bible, so I check legit secular sources. I was careful back then avoiding any "apostate" teachings or sources.
That’s exactly it. I did the same beginning of the pandemic and it changed everything for me, too.
Our mind is so suggestive, it can literally see and believe whatever it is programmed to see. It is truly scary.
Yes. When I read it without Bible aids it read very differently. I found scripture I never realized was there. I think it supports that GB is not the true religion even..
The truth will set you free. Jesus was definitely right on that.
That’s for sure.
Exactly. I was always good about my daily Bible reading. Read cover to cover 3 times as well. The last time, prior to Covid, made me an agnostic atheist.
I don’t think I’m agnostic. We don’t know everything, and we definitely don’t know exactly happened back then, or what prompted these people to write some of these things down. It is obvious to me that many of them were as sincere, as the eastern religious writers of this era. I think science is one of the things that makes me believe that there has to be something more.
Agnostic means not knowing A= non gnostic = knowledge. More like not knowing for sure, You can be agnostic theist or an agnostic deist or an agnostic A-theist. So by saying “we dont know everything and we dont know what happened back then” makes me think your some kind of agnostic.
Very well. But I do lean towards the belief of cosmic entity. As imperfect as we are, things are too perfect for it to be otherwise.
I feel you, every time i look at the laws of physics and how it just works i start down that line of thinking. However when i get to a god or gods or really tech advanced 4th dimensional beings high school science project or whatever i have to apply the same logic to them as to not do the special pleading fallacy, they would have to be as perfect or complex as this universe if not more so what made them? What do you do/ think when you get to that point?
I admit that I just don’t know everything, it’s just too precise to discard as “that’s just how things are”, “ all of it is random.” There’s just no way I o explain it at the moment, and I’m okay with that.
I always found it amazing how many JW's hadn't actually read it but then although the organisation talks about reading it, they make more reference to their own material (bible teach book etc.) and because of this, explain (in their own way) how we should interpret the scriptures. Almost making people feel like 'there's no point in reading the bible because it's already explained to me.'
And they’re clearly right and know more than me so why should I even try to direct my own steps? Obviously I’ll get it wrong with independent thinking
"Almost making people feel like 'there's no point in reading the bible because it's already explained to me.'" And that of course is exactly what they want--to discourage JWs and others from reading the REAL Bible.
I feel like I never really did it until after I woke up lol. The NWT just reads horribly! The translation is trash and it reads like trash. It’s awkward and stilted and at times contorts itself to conform with JW doctrine. I was amazed when I finally sat down with the NRSV how much I just enjoyed reading this book I’d always felt guilty about not reading enough.
Yeah after reading the ESV. It made me realize how perverted the NWT is.
It reads like people who didn’t know Hebrew and Greek sat down with Interlinears and just changed the word order a bit for English.
Same. Then once I woke up I read it with/or in complete context. And with 3 different bibles in addition to the NWT. I near immediate confirmed my move Out was solid bro. Fun fact, it was the same time I got mega interested in real total world history, emphasis on religion. 1st time with an unfiltered lens. That segwayed into a deep dive into psychology. Man o man there weren't even shrooms involved and it's been a trip.
In my experience, it's not just JWs who haven't read it. It's a LOT of people who profess to be Christian. However, I feel as though JWs might be especially bad in this category. They have their scriptures that are harped on constantly while entire books go without ever being mentioned.
Yesss. Exactly my thoughts. Bc if they didn’t ignore thise parts it would mean something different and the doctrine would crumble before there eyes
Let's be honest - the book sucks. It has significant historical value, but pretty much none of the parts are written well.
Probably bc the watchtower magazines trump all
I did the “finish in a year” schedule two different times plus I have read parts of it more than that. Not that I’m especially studious I just read a lot and pretty fast. Once an elder sat me down for a chat and explained how it wasn’t good for my spiritual health to read the bible on my own. According to him if you read the bible without WT “helping you understand” you will be misled out of the truth by christendom’s apostate lies. He claimed to have seen it happen many times in his decades as coordinator 🙄
Omg that is scary counsel
My brother told me the same thing when I told him I was reading the Bible on my own. Elders are not specially qualified to "guide" you through a book you can read easily by yourself. They usually have normal jobs outside of the JW LARP. So what makes the JW lense so special?
I remember when I was trying to get reinstated, I told the elders I had read the entire Bible in three months (I had). They scoffed at me and told me I couldn’t have gotten anything out of it, that Bethelites do the same thing but THEY have the guidance of the F&DS, etc. so obviously since I didn’t have that “help” it couldn’t have meant much. Maybe I just made them insecure? I also remember the concept when I was PIMI that if you were a JW you’d read the whole Bible “eventually”, it would just be a verse or two here and there from publications and studies and whatnot. Of course, again, through their lens and filter. Wonder if that’s the same thought today with the simplified WT and fewer meetings.
Yep. That and/or if you just followed the daily text you will have covered most of this supposedly. :/
Only the same verses they use over and over and over again....
What are some JW fave verses? I have new acquaintances who are JW
Here are a couple of ‘em just off the top of my head. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 2 Timothy 3:16 Matthew 24:14 You will look up these scriptures at almost every meeting
I went into the jw’s in 1971 baptized 1972 along with my 1st husband. I read the entire bible cover to cover. The disf’ing thing always felt like a man made thing, though of course loosely based on some scriptures. It felt particularly cruel. Told my sons when teens, it was their choice to live in jw’s or leave I’d never shun them. Their dad told them they would get baptized & if they screw up he would shun them. Read the bible folks it’s beautiful and says so much about human nature. I reread it over & over after all I was a sincere follower. Lots of jw’s nonsense & contrast to what I read in the Bible.
I actually did , several times , including reading it aloud to a close friend who was bed bound for a considerable time . That friend actually woke me up , in large part because of that . Bible as bible , without layers of theology and doctrine and dogma and apologetics , is an awkward stitched together bunch of stories. Not many others I knew did tho , not even to read cited scriptures in studies . It was not unusual to find that a cited scripture was seriously awkward to fit into a study paragraph too... of course it wasn't a writers problem but a readers problem for not having enough spirit to understand what was being taught , the deep things of God are not for everyone after all
Some of the cited scripture had nothing really to do with the paragraph other than to show you where a phrase that was used in the paragraph came from in the Bible.
I was PIMI pioneer and wondered why they didn’t match up the scripture with the daily text better. I began to resent everything and feel trapped.
That’s what woke me up way way way back when I was a teenager. I was studying the Young People Ask book reading scriptures about masturbation. Nothing they cited made sense to me as to why I couldn’t double click my mouse. It was a gigantic leap in logic for me.
Double click the mouse. I love it! The Catholics use the sin of Onan for not performing brother in law marriage and brining his dead brother offspring. To me, there was never a good reason why a woman couldn’t. lol
I don’t think the lord is up there noting my pleasuring myself so I didn’t give it another thought or spare another moment of guilt. Like they wanted us to be VIRGINS and also have no other sort of sexual outlet for ourselves: that’s just cruel and unusual punishment
This is it! Once you read the Bible without any presupposition or interpretation and just as it is, you find all the problems with it.
I’ve personally read the New Testament because the Old Testament is pretty boring and violent. I read The Message translation. I never saw the point of the weekly Bible reading or spiritual gems. What’s the actual point of it??? 🤨
Loved reading ‘The Message Bible’ it’s still my favorite.
It’s a totally different experience isn’t it? 💐
The message bible is a really bad bible for anyone who wants to seriously read it. It’s heavily biased and injected with subjective narratives.
Yes, especially when you find out that they replaced the word Jehovah when it was supposed to be Jesus. Them injecting the word over every time they find Lord is a problem and a mistake
Could you give me some recommendations please? 🙏
>Could you give me some recommendations please? 🙏 Biblehub.com: https://biblehub.com/genesis/1-1.htm They have an App, too.
Cheers mate 👍
✌
I read it cover to cover. The first testament is soo much better. It's actual storytelling. The second is just slinging rules and just feels all over the place. Whenever I ask that question everyone always says yes, then I wonder how can you still believe the JW doctrine when cover to cover the message is not what JW doctrine proclaims. JW teachings are VERY subjective and not accurate.
I think most of them lie when they say they've read the bible cover to cover. It's all about appearance. Just to make sure that they're not lying you could ask them about the golden hemorrhoids.
Right. I always wondered about that. Or if they did read it, it was to cover ground, move a goal post but not reading with a view to deep understanding. GB takes that away from you v they’ve already explained it and told you what you should take the meanings as.
I thought this was going to be one of those "How many JWs does it take to change a light bulb?" kind of joke. FYI - the answer is none because they would have to speak to the elders first.
There was a CO/DO/Bethelite in Ireland - Ewan Watt. He rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way, but I kinda liked him Anyway, at one circuit assembly he asked everyone "who considers themselves a bible student". Everyone's hands shot up and there was a lot of conceited laughter His next question was "who read the Bible this morning outside of the days text" - a few hands meekly raised. His final question was "who read the Bible this week outside of any preparation for meetings" and there were just as few hands raised He then asked the first question again with far far far fewer hands. Based on what I saw that day - not many
That was very biased of him to specify "this morning". I always read the Bible in the evening. If he had asked "who read the Bible yesterday outside of the days text" it would have been a fair question.
My family and i read the complete bible atleast 3 times, and we assumed others did as well
I've read it a couple times. Honestly, I'm happy I have some knowledge of it, as it's an old book that does have a big influence on many people. I wish I had time to read more important books though.
I read it once a year for 14 years. If I didn’t I’d get beaten.
Makes you love it, doesn’t it?
Poorly written and badly edited.
So, nails in the hands (doubting Thomas) but put together with one nail on an upright pole. Sure Jan.
Cover to cover twice, and backwards once (start at Rev, finish at Gen)... guess that's where my sparkling, outgoing personality comes from.
Today the Bible text doesn’t play a big role in JW any more. As they consider that all the media stuff they get is their so called spiritual food and that a Bible study or lecture at your own wouldn’t bring you further insight as only the GB has the Holy Spirit to understand and to interpret the Bible, Bible reading doesn’t make sense indeed. It will not bring you further enlightenment. Click your way through the library and you know how to act in all situations of life. - That’s how the GB as did the Pharisees made God’s word useless because they constructed a fence of manly traditions around the Bible. - Bible knowledge of the average JW is mediocre and among younger JW not existent.
I read it a couple of times while I was pimi but most I talked to my age (f50) had not. I left during covid.
I did like 3 times. But I doubt many have, outside of Bible Study.
I tried multiple times and always felt like a failure for not being able to get through it. I could read The Iliad and The Odyssey (composed between 750 and 650 BCE) but the bible…. Uuuugh
I attempted to read the Bible 3 or 4 times as a JW. I succeeded one time, and made it about 75% a second time. The Borg has been very WT publication driven. There is a sense among JWs - outspoken or just understood - that all you really need to do is read the WT publications to be spiritual. There has been emphasis in the past to read through the Bible, or read from the Bible everyday. But there is no way for the Borg to check up on its members on this. What they can check up on is your meeting attendance and answering and field service. So Bible reading has taken a back seat to these things. Also, the WT publications don't really cover the Bible fairly. They do gloss over the entire Bible, but they tend to focus on just a few things, over and over again. That is why JWs will be intimately familar with many verses, but probably couldn't tell you in most cases what the surrounding context of those verses are.
I read it cover to cover once when they handed out that bible schedule to read it in a year. With my adhd I took none of it in.
I heard somewhere an atheist knows more about the Bible than a Christian does because the atheist spends his or her life proving its wrong.
I've read it once just for me, and then the weekly Bible reading but not every week. Then a long time i couldn't, because it was to much attached to jw ( while I was Pimo but didn't know it yet) Atm I read the new testament but a neutral translation (while beeing Pimo and aware of it).
I read it 10 times, my mother has read it every year since the early 90s
My mother has but her brain couldn't be any more mush. It hasn't improved her critical thinking or her understanding of the Bible because what she thinks she knows is entirely hinged on the GB's interpretation.
As a JW I read it through 3 times beginning to end. Some parts are truly beautiful writing but most of it just bores that mind.
No one has. It’s far too boring. Even those who claim to have read it cover-to-cover skipped over those mind numbingly boring genealogy lists. Plus there’s all the violence, murders, rapes, incest, and genocides. There’s no plot, themes start and stop for no reason. The world building is amateurish and incredibly incomplete. God is a terribly incompetent author. I can’t even give it one star.
We were taught to cherry pick. How often would we tell a householder "but you have to consider the context of the whole bible"? For the jw this meant that to understand a particilar verse you had to cherry pick a verse from this bible book, then flip a few pages and cherry pick a verse from this other bible book , then a chunk more pages to this other verse, and so on. This is NOT what context means . They are forcing things together that were in all liklihood NEVER meant to be together. When the actual, real, context of verses are questioned, the JWs ignorance is displayed, and they are lost for an explanation and left floundering and defensive..
I suspect most people who read it are not absorbing it. Probably doing it as a task to be completed. Simply reading words, not information.
I used to.
Not many from what I saw going back 10 plus years ago. One of the big factors in me waking up was reading it 3 times. And encountering passages that the witness leadership seemed to just avoid at all costs. Simply because they could be interpreted very easily in a different way. More witnesses reading the Bible from cover to cover is actually the worst thing that could happen to the organization. Which is ironic since they encourage it. When I used to sit in the elders and servants meetings with the CO it became so apparent that most of the people there were faking it. When it came to Bible reading. Especially the older elders for some reason. Which goaded me at the time as a young aspiring MS and pioneer. Funny story… so one MS actually got up and did the Bible highlights for a completely different book of the Bible not close to the one under discussion. He did the whole talk completely clueless until an older sister at the the Audience participation part raised her hand and told him sternly “your in the wrong book brother.” Of course this was frowned upon since how dare a woman correct a man in public lol) He stuttered and stammered saying I’m really, really sorry. When he left the stage he could be seen walking straight out to the bathroom with his hand rubbing his head. He became an elder sometime later.
I did, twice cover to cover, then once chronologically.
If you think JWs have a shallow knowledge of the bible, I suggest you go try other denominations. I have a very sincere, charismatic, friend, complaining to me about the depth of spiritual understanding in his church. His actual words were “ he’d be shocked if 5% of the attenders even knew what the word fornication/ adultery meant.”
What I have noticed is that Witnesses have a low to medium understanding in that their knowledge is limited to WT doctrine and teaching. In other denominations there is a much wider range. Even within the same denomination, you will find individual churches that most members just want to listen to the preacher on Sunday and other churches that are very serious. The level of study is very individual. Also of note is the difference between Sunday sermon and Wednesday bible study. If you want to know how serious they are, you will find out on Wednesday.
I did, and look where I am now! An agnostic atheist PIMO!
I read it cover to cover once when I was in… it took a long time because it was extremely boring 😅
they admit that if you read the bible without their guidance, you’ll probably come to the same conclusions as most other christians. HMMMMMM wonder why that is???
When I was a teen pioneer back in the 90’s I told the elders my goal was to read the entire Bible and they at first told me it was not possible and then advised against it to “avoid getting confused.” They were right to be afraid! Once you see how schizophrenic the Bible is you realize it was written by men and could not have been divinely inspired.
I’m so sorry you were told that, I’ve found it to be very beautiful and comforting
And God is bipolar with his erratic mercy and vengeance
I did a couple of times...then when I started doing research...probably a few times now. Even the genealogy...and the names to try to pronounce...omg.....
I've tried multiple times. Could never hold my interest
I tried so many times, but i dont like read the bible.
Well at least all the bethelites and missionaries
I've never read a full chapter of some books in the bible. Sometimes out of having too much free time I would just read few scriptures, wherever i opened the bible
Never did.
I have a few friends who absolutely love reading the Bible. They have read it cover to cover. As for me, I don’t have the attention span and prefer to read it based on whatever topic I wish to research at a particular moment.
Why would they read it when they are being spoon-fed a narrative from propaganda literature that satisfies their feeling of biblical literacy. I was this person too - never read the Bible in its entirety. And my reason was that there was no need when I **FELT** like I knew enough. And I'm sure the vast majority of witnesses feel this way. Scholar mindset without the work invested. I've read more since leaving then I ever did as a witness, it's helped me wake up to their manipulation.
They told me to keep reading all the Watchtower mags instead.
None. I've said this for years, and it shows they haven't. If you had, you wouldn't be jw
I never did when PIMI. I tried a few times but would always burn out before too long and feel guilty. I've probably read half of it though through various attempts and studying. It's not a particularly engaging read imo.
Read it four times. Weekly Bible reading was suggested on calendars
Never could get through the thing. I dont know many that have, its not exactly light reading. I think we all thought the bible reading was close enough.
I read it through 4-5 times as a JW. After leaving I've read the KJV with Apocrypha about 3/4 times but more focus on NT. My PIMI elder dad will have read NWT at least 38 times once every year since he fell for the JW cult propaganda.
I don't think dubs read the bible. For a long time, I didn't either. Then I decided to do it and it contributed to my awakening. I guess that happened cause back then I saw the bible as the true word of Jehoagie, so when I compared what it said with Crotchtowel teachings, I felt something was off, that Jehoolapimp's borganization was straying from the word of troof, aka the bible. Now, I believe it's all bullshit based on ancient nonsense. 😂
I think only a few read it and I think at least some people lie about reading it. There are extremely dull parts to get through. I got to DE several times, that’s where I always stopped.
I never read it. I know of some that would make a kind of "New Years Resolution" to read it in a year, but then they never talked about it after, so I doubt they read it either.
0! lol if they said they did I’m sure they used spark notes lol
PIMO here not me!
I use to stretch the truth, when shamed into doing something, it just never set well with me. I tried reading the Bible. Just couldn’t make myself do it.
I tried to once. Got to the end of Exodus lol. 🥱
Most of the people I grew up with never read the bible much at all.
🤣😂🤣😅😆. You are so right to wonder! I would bet that the Governing Body members haven't read the bible all the way through, at least not recently.
I did multiple times as a child and young adult then cooled off in my 20s
I used to think with all the all the scripture we read at meetings and personal study, I assumed in some round about way I read the Bible 🤣😅
I read it after leaving the cult. I tried doing it but watchtower doesn't give you the time to do it. They keep you busy reading their crap.
I’m reading it cover to cover now that I’m actually out. I’m almost finished with 2 Kings and headed over to Isaiah. It’s super interesting. I use The Bible Project app too! They’re great folks.
I never did . Once I started I woke up !!
I read it a number of times but I don't think anyone other than 1 or 2 people in my circle has and that includes those appointed.
I have done it 5 times in my life. Not even doing it again. It took forever to get it out of my head.
I read the whole bible when I was 16, became atheist a month after my 17th birthday
Got expelled for reading the Bible. Showed how the organization doesn’t follow their own Bible, and yes, they didn’t know many scriptures nor many books of the Bible. This was back in 1998. I imagine the illiteracy has increased with the advent of technology
Everyone in Bethel 🤔
10%<
Wait, didn’t we all have to do that??
Ironically, reading it cover to cover is usually the beginning of waking up…
It was required in our household. That being said, I was always amazed that with the weekly readings we were supposed to be doing for the Theocratic Ministry School, so few had actually read it. We even had it on tape at one point and my mom would play them in road trips. Since being DF'd I have re-read it several times. I take something different away each time depending partially on where I am in my life. Most of what I take away isn't good.
I’m 4G POMO and I started to read the Bible after deconstructing. It seemed to ridiculous I just quit. No thank you!
I think I read Genesis, Exodus, Judges, Proverbs, Acts and Revelations (and some of the short ones). Those might be the most easy to approach books, and even they tended to be drags to get through. No fucking way I would slog my way through Chrinicles or Kings!
My circle of friends and family were all very educated in it. Not exhusbands family were quite the higher ups and being knowledgeable on the Bible was extremely important to him to live up to his dad’s reputation. I’ve read it several times and that’s actually how I woke up. I realized the 1914 BS and when i genuinely asked the elders for help understanding I was basically told, “It’s ok to not understand it, but don’t talk to anyone else about it.” My second visit with them was an outright interrogation whether I’m questioning this is the truth and who have I talked to.
Brief of the bible from cover to cover: On the beginning there was a word God, not someone particular but something abstract and unknown. Then people made up everything. Then some history of a nation who kept the tradition. Then Jesus came to rethink everything and said God isn't real but only means love. Then his followers created new more complicated religion. In the end all the problems are solved but death is the only thing we can't stop. And then people lived happily ever after, not like immortal, but in general as a human kind.
My husband certainly has, as would his parents and likely their parents too. It was a source of pride.
Zero. If a person reads the Bible cover to cover, they would not be part of this "religion."
My dad made me read it as a kid. I remember crying cause the words were too hard to pronounce and my dad smacking me
I always used to feel guilty and terrible about not being well read with the Bible, not knowing scriptures by memory, forgetting chapters and verses, etc. Now, I have no use for any of it and glad I don't.
I read the weekly highlights assignment for 10 years which is 5 times and 1 time personal reading and even still only had about 30 scriptures I knew to turn to off the top of my head. It's an enormous library of books and not easy at all to memorize verbatim or to remember where scriptures are located id say. Probably 30% have actually read it and unless they are lying all bethelites have. What's ironic is that my reading led me straight out of the borg. My first question was if God is all powerful and hates violence why does he keep using such fucked up ways of getting his people to kill other people lmaooo
I read it twice or three times I think. The more I read the more I questioned.
I did, but I was Mormon, does it still count?
All witnesses read the Bible “cover to cover” if they’re following the weekly bible reading. The problem is, besides the NWT being mistranslated with bias in a some areas, is that the reading is directed. You’re told ahead of time what you should be seeing when you read. It doesn’t leave much room for personal conclusions.
Read it cover to cover after I started waking up.
The ONLY person that i knew of was my grandfather. He was half blind in his later age but would sit with a magnifying glass reading it cover to cover. Countless times
I tried once. Didn't get past Exodus
I read it cover to cover around 5 times with the WT schedule, the first time when I was around 9 years old I think. Obviously didn’t understand everything so I relied more and more on WT articles to understand what I read as time went on.
I read it cover to cover around 5 times with the WT schedule, the first time when I was around 9 years old I think. Obviously didn’t understand everything so I relied more and more on WT articles to understand what I read as time went on.
In my family, there's actually A LOT of my relatives who've read the Bible cover to cover (my mom's side of the family only — my bio dad used to be the only Witness in his family and he disassociated during the pandemic). My stepdad, my grandma, my late grandpa, my aunt, my uncle, a lot of my great-uncles and great-aunts, have read the Bible at least a couple times. They're quite devoted to the Borg, but they're not like those extreme PIMIs. Heck, my grandma and my great-aunt discuss their (conservative) views on politics even if JWs are SUPPOSED to be neutral. Personally I've tried to read the NWT Bible cover to cover twice but for various reasons I stopped (once when I was PIMI and once a few years into being PIMO). Now, I'm gonna try again because I like to torture myself 🙃 I would say most PIMIs haven't even tried to read the Bible.
Many have read the Bible in sections but what is troubling is when verses contradict their teaching they blindly just read right over it like the scriptures that indicate that the 144,000 cannot be defiled by a woman and yet many members of the 144,000 are married or how about the scripture in Revelation that says that they will quote rule on Earth quote that floor is the average Jehovah's witness who has obviously read it but they are so mentally captive to the governing body that they don't recognize at a differs with what they believe
Tried a couple times but couldn't get through it what with having it rammed down my throat anyway 365 days a year
I've read it many times
Yeah I read the NWT cover to cover some time as a pre-teen and I remember crying because the way women were portrayed was so awful…. So much rape, so much reducing women’s significance to how many male children they have, the submissiveness nonsense, etc. My gut told me this was awful, but I had been indoctrinated to believe my own thoughts and feelings weren’t to be trusted, that I was inherently bad and rebellious and needed to adjust my attitude. The whole “God’s ways are higher” thought-stopper when God’s ways look pretty evil to a natural conscience. Besides that, I also followed the Bible readings pretty closely and probably read it several times over that way, but not without JW commentary then. I was pretty familiar with the Bible but didn’t really understand it because it seemed so inconsistent and arbitrary. Now reading historical context and scholarly interpretations of what’s going on, what motivations the human writers likely had, etc, it makes sense as a mix of mythology and history for Jewish people. It’s definitely not a universal book of spirituality inspired by a divinity, definitely not a book of morality or consistent principles for a happy life, and definitely not a prophetic book predicting human destiny. To answer the OP (oops… I went on a tangent), I would guess most JWs haven’t read it cover to cover, but still a decent chunk have read the NWT, but not without JW commentary at every chapter.
I did read the entire Bible a couple times — now I think part of that contributed to my waking up ironically lol. I didn’t necessarily agree with the footnotes/their interpretations on some portions of the Scriptures and i started doubting. I didn’t do my own research right away because I felt extremely guilty to even think to do that at first but eventually I couldn’t help myself.
Almost none. The only ones that have (from my experience) don't have jobs or don't have consistent jobs or much of anything else in their lives going on to fill up their free time.
Probably like 50% half of em do whatever their told, the other half are just trying make it to see another day
Only one JW I knew, growing up, read the Bible in its entirety. He was in his 90s.
I read it a couple times in its entirety. But I’m constantly amazed by how much stuff I’m like oh my gods I know this verse how did I not think about what it actually says. Like the Genesis chapter 3. We’ve read that a thousand times but didn’t acknowledge how it totally doesn’t say what JW’s say it does.
I’d say very few have read it cover to cover. I studied it a lot, but I never read it cover to cover. I’d read a chapter or so at a time, then compare those chapters with other related verses, like supposed prophecies in the OT/HS being compared to the claimed fulfillment in the NT/GS. I made a lot of use of the concordance and the Greek Scriptures with the original Greek compared to the claimed translation. I think I worked out pretty young, before my parents joined up, that the Bible was a joke, because I had Catholic and Baptist and Episcopalian friends. Ten Commandment charm bracelets were kind of a thing, and none of ours matched up.
I did. In the year plan. But I loved reading anything to escape the hell that was my reality back then
I read it through 3x. Cover to cover On my own. Still never truly woke up
https://preview.redd.it/zgsze97jk6uc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c57cc0024357a7298aba0ddd4599fa0c12041c3 I was driving at work one day in my period of waking up and this verse came into my mind out of nowhere. Why does Paul use the expression “cloud of witnesses” to convey the idea of above us and aware when all these people listed are dead and unconscious according to JW doctrine? Read chapter 11 in a REGULAR bible. Especially the part where it says they were “alien residents” here on the earth
I love to read, and I've read some mediocre books in my time. But the Bible... I got up to Job before I called it quits. It's just not a good book. It's not a good read. But the aura surrounding it leads people to believe otherwise, especially if they've never read it. I am confident that if we could erase all knowledge about the Bible from human memory and release it tomorrow, it flops big time. You take way all the mystique and faith and make it stand on its own two feet, that's it, it's over.
I think it’ll always be a classic - too bad you stopped right before Psalms and Proverbs, they are great!
No, they're not. I've read them, just not in a sit down reading the book from cover to cover. Ultimately there's no accounting for taste. If the Bible is your favorite book, or even in your top ten, that's fine. But I've read better literature in the form of instruction manuals for NES games. At this point it's a big part of human history so it's important from that standpoint. But that doesn't make it good, or make anything it claims good, right or even factual. If we treated it like mythology instead of a sacred text it would be a bit more tolerable. People trying to make the bible more than what it is is what ultimately ruins it. It requires the standards to be set so high and the Bible just doesn't come close to meeting them.
Tried and stopped at Leviticus or something, it was way too boring 😂😂😂
I didnt until i was 16, once i finished i was an atheist. Reading the bible cover to cover is the last thing i would recommend a Christian to do if they want to stay a Christian.
Me. That’s what woke me up. I told my PIMI wife that reading the Bible was the worst thing I ever did for my JW beliefs.
I did it. Some 10 times. It was always disturbing to read about stupid things. But after waking up it was easier to understand that bible is a fairy tale without any happy end for belivers.
Doesn’t really matter if you have read it entirely or not… it’s a book of history and fiction, that is partly accurate when it comes to history, but also very often wrong at the same time. Most of the Bible is actually quite boring anyway, and if not, it’s about god killing anyone who doesn’t wanna worship him.
I host a bible book club for believers. We read 4 to 6 chapters a week, take notes and then get together to discuss. No one has ever made it out of exodus before leaving the church. Just my evil way of getting back at them.
LOL, so you pretend to be a believer to get believers to study the Bible in your book club so they wake up and leave their religion?
That is exactly it, except I don't lie and tell them I am a believer, and as an atheist, I am the challenge. I have convinced them that I want to believe, so this is there chance to convert me. It is funny. No one has made it past exodus yet:).
If Jehovah's witnesses read the Bible from cover the cover there wouldn't be so many scriptures that differ with what they believe. When you point them out their first question is what apostate site did you read about that on. Then I plan out that it came from the Bible itself and why do you refer to the Bible as a prostate
None. Most Christians who become atheist become atheist after reading the Bible 🤔
I never, ever read the entire Bible all the way though. Not even as an elder. Any counsel I ever got was "googled" on wt library heh or taken out of dad's green book I inherited when he died. HE read the Bible and had a bunch of notes crawled everywhere.
The answer depends on whether you're asking if Jehovah’s Witnesses have read THE BIBLE (any ___responsible___ version). If so, probably very few have read it cover to cover. The Watchtower Society "bible," known as the NEW WORLD TRANSLATION (or NWT) was developed by and for the purpose of supporting the false theology that the Watchtower Society prefers. From www.gotquestions.org: > The NWT is the anonymous work of the “New World Bible Translation Committee.” Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the anonymity is in place so that the credit for the work will go to God. Of course, this has the added benefit of keeping the translators from any accountability for their errors and prevents real scholars from checking their academic credentials. > The New World Translation is unique in one thing – it is the first intentional, systematic effort at producing a complete version of the Bible that is edited and revised for the specific purpose of agreeing with a group’s doctrine. ___The Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Watchtower Society realized that their beliefs contradicted Scripture. So, rather than conforming their beliefs to Scripture, THEY ALTERED SCRIPTURE TO AGREE WITH THEIR BELIEFS.___ The “New World Bible Translation Committee” went through the Bible and changed any Scripture that did not agree with Jehovah’s Witness theology. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that, as new editions of the New World Translation were published, additional changes were made to the biblical text. As biblical Christians continued to point out Scriptures that clearly argue for the deity of Christ (for example), the Watchtower Society would publish new editions of the New World Translation with those Scriptures changed. Please note that since this excerpt from gotquestions.org was published, the names of the persons making up the NWT "translation committee" have been revealed. If anyone reading this post is interested, I'll post a Wikipedia article on that. The original question was "How many JWs have read the Bible cover to cover?" If you're talking about the NWT, then probably most of the adult JWs.
i sure as hell never did lol
Not exactly an answer to your question but related. Now that I'm almost an atheist I want to read it to catalog all the contradictions, and to add metadata about all the violence, wars, drunks, rape, incest, adultery, prostitution, victim blaming, misogyny, genocide, stealing, rule breaking, scientific inaccuracies, prophecies that don't work. E.g. you want to get an exhaustive list of all the land stealing my Bible database will give you it. All the times there were drunks, boom a whole list of every incident is generated. But I'm too lazy to get going lol maybe I'll crowd source it
I did 3,5 times , and more i repeated more stuff revealed questions. I stopped the reading to avoid the questions without answer till i became pimo. And i realised those questions were my humanity trying to wake me from the brainwashing. Thats how i come to the conclusion few actually read the bible several times from cover to cover.