Hello SickofLies
This is all a bitter pill to swallow right now, but this to, will pass. You are young, and the education you have, has taught you how to process information. My wife and I spent a total of 85 combined years in the organization before we finally drew a line in the sand and decided to go no further. One night on the way home from the meeting, I told my wife, "This Organization is scaring the Hell out of me"!!, "They have so much control, that with the stroke of an elders pen, my family can be ruined." "I do not want anyone holding that kind of power over my life, or my family". So for the next two years, we studied 5-6 hours every day, seven days a week. We kept telling each other,"We're not wrong in doing this". You are not guilty of wrong doing either, nor is it wrong for you to ask question after question. Questions are the minds most powerful tool. The Catholic church had exactly what the watchtower is seeking now. It was called the
"Dark Ages".
Who knows, one of these days the society may get one of their flashes of light and announce that
"All children reaching the age of two will be disfellowshiped as Apostates because they ask far to many questions".
This of course would be a blessing in disguise, as it would save all involved a lot of valuable time, and the elders could be at home with their families parroting answers for the Watchtower study.
Proverbs 14:15 states:
"A simple man believes every word he hears; a clever man understands the need for proof."
(The New English Bible) I wonder, "Would a group of simple men
be called
simpletons"???
You may find this information from the 1978, Aug.22 "Awake" entitled Do others do your thinking? of interest.
Who fits the profile of Propagandists in your experience?
Do Others Do Your Thinking?
Propaganda has power. Does it overpower you?
Or do you have a mind of your own? EDUCATION teaches you how to think. Propagandists tell you what to think.
True educators present all sides of an issue and encourage discussion.
Propagandists hammer hard on their view and discourage discussion. Many times their true motives are hidden. They sift the facts, tell the favorable ones and conceal the others. They distort and twist facts, specialize in lies and half-truths. Your emotions,
not your logical thinking abilities , are their target. Many fall easy prey because it takes no effort to feel, whereas
thinking is hard labor . And the propagandist sees to it that his message is made to seem wise, the right and moral one, and gives you a sense of importance and belonging if you follow it. You are one of the smart ones, you are not alone, you are comfortable and secure—so they say.
Propagandists have little respect for people’s thinking abilities
. Hitler wrote: "The intelligence of the masses is small. Their forgetfulness is great. They must be told the same thing a thousand times." Lenin was more discriminating. He used historical and scientific arguments to persuade the educated minority, but slogans and half-truths to arouse the masses, whom he considered unable to grasp complicated ideas. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but oftentimes it is used to prepare the way before the sword.
I hope this helps! "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use". --- Galileo Galilei
ROCKHOUND
