by M.J. 35 Replies latest jw friends
I think the biggest reason someone maintains their faith in the WTS is because the WTS is the "Ticket" to Paradise Earth.
How did you deal with the prospect that the "ticket" salesmen weren't totally reliable?
Did it cause you to let go of your hope in Paradise Earth? Did it redirect it to another hope?
How have you dealt with it? What made you overcome this obstacle in seeing the WTS for what it really is?
Paradise lost it's appeal when I realized that the cruel, gossipy, hypocritcal JWs at the KH would be there too.
Blondie
Blondie, that's a great point and I've seen it mentioned more than once here. Seeing that people who are on the paradise train are no better, or actually worse than the folks that will be wiped out could go a long way.
I've actually had the wonderous opportunity to visit many places around the globe. I see the paradise everyday in the wonders that surround me. It's already here. It's not the world that has to change...it's just us.
For me, I've overcome the 'allure' of the forever paradise. Can you just imagine living forever in the dubset? I always felt that if I was happy all the time, I wouldn't appreciate being happy. Not that I enjoy trials or tribulations but it does make you keenly aware of the happy times you've lived as well.
I don't know...I guess now I've learned to treat every moment as precious...because I only have so many more moments to go before oblivion. Make the time you have count. Find paradise in your own ways and in your own places.
Forsharry of the "Paradise can be in a good margarita" class
Blondie is correct, the allure faded long ago.
I think that is true for most witnesses. I very rarely hear them talk about paradise, they may use it at the door sometimes but they don't talk about it like they think it's comming. Maybe they just hope it doesn't come as they can't live up to the WT standards.
Hi MJ,
I think it depends on how much of their personal identity is wrapped around that "hope." If something like that could be expressed as a percentage, it would probably be quite high for some people.
Really when you think about it, it's not the allure of paradise in and of itself that's objectionable. There's nothing wrong with private little fantasies if they help to keep us sane and many people have them.
It's the JW belief that their organization is the gateway to that paradise coupled with the idea that the road is paved, as it were, with the bones and carcasses of even "nice" (but not sufficiently nice) unbelievers that's objectionable.
Is there some way to gently disentangle the "good" (= harmless) from the "bad?" (= social alienation)
Wow, you must be talking to different witnesses than me...The ones very close to me are COMPLETELY fixated on paradise. I don't know if there is any amount of reasoning that could trump that overwhelming emotional desire.
"Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise"
Thanks, TD. Yes, I'm starting to think that that percentage number you mentioned might correlate with those who are inclined to leave vs. those who will never be swayed.
But I do know that some people simply redirect their hope from a paradise earth to the more Biblical hope of wanting to be with Jesus, wherever that paradise may be.
Untangling is the key, I agree.
One thing that really did it for me was the promise of all the "fulfilling" hard work we would be doing to turn the earth into a paradise. If you'll remember, "toiling in the field" or somesuch was the punishment for losing paradise in the Garden of Eden. All my life I've hated yardwork.
On top of that, like blondie says, I remember a comedian whose routine went something like this:
"One of those resplendant Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door today. 'But sir, don't you want eternal life?' I was like, 'Not if it's going to be a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses everywhere!'"
