Humility and the average witness

by moanzy 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  moanzy

  Doesn't the Society have it all wrong?

  Each of us is in charge of our own person. We are responsible individually for our actions and evolvement as a person.

  If it is true that we stand before God individually,(society won't be their explaining for us or defending us) then aren't all JW"s doing the soicety a "favor" by deciding to adopt and support "their" view of God and everything that goes with their religion?

  They Society acts like "they" are doing everyone else a favor by their very existence even.

  Do the JW's understand that submitting to the society is NOT humbleness, but rather their LACK of responsibility for their own lives? I believe that humbleness is shown in how we treat others and recognize each and every person as an equal, deserving of love.(despite the bitterness and meaness of some- We are all at different stages of understanding life)

  Does the Society recognize that by their demand for full obedience to them, they have not done their job of teaching TRUE humbleness?

  It seems really weird that 6mill people can't seem to recognize this. Could you imagine if they all recognized this, how much good 6mill people could actually accomplish in this world without one single day of door-to-door service?

  Moanzy
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  lovelylil

  moanzy,

  Amen, and thank you for that powerful and thought provoking post! You really hit the nail on the head about our having personal responsibilities and the fact that the WT is not a good example for humbleness. Great job.
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  moanzy

  I don't know about everyone elses parents, but for sure my mom think this way. She equate humbleness to submission to the society. EVERYTHING the society says is correct whether it is reasonable or not.

  It really looks like my mom lacks a brain. Even as a little girl I understood that the societys humility didn't make sense. Why is it such a hard concept?

  Moanzy
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  DanTheMan

  An experience:

  Around 1995 or 1996, I signed up for a membership at a small workout facility that was located in a local strip-mall. "American Muscle" I think it was called, and the people who ran the place were these sorta rough, biker type people.

  They always had the radio on there, and tuned to a heavy metal station. Well, I always felt ambiguous about this, because prior to my becoming a JW, heavy metal music had been a big part of my life. But as is the case with many new converts to JWism, I had adopted a puritannical attitude about many things, music being one of them, and so I had given it up. But try as I might I couldn't stop myself from enjoying it, and so I found myself really enjoying my trips to this place because I got to hear music that I wouldn't otherwise listen to. The fact that I enjoyed the music being played there made me feel guilty though, the one emotion that I experienced more than all others during my miserable JW years.

  So one day I'm there working out, and it was just me and the lady who ran the place. The radio was turned to the usual station, and the song "Don't Fear the Reaper" comes on. Well, my Bible Trained Conscience™ demanded that I take a stand for Jeehoover. And so I asked the lady if she would change the station, because I found the particular song that was playing to be offensive. She gave me a strange look that in an instant turned my feelings of purity and religious zeal into embarrassment. She reached down and with visible disgust turned the radio to a different station. Then she asked me if I was religious or something, and in a weak voice I told her that I was a JW. She responded by telling me how she had been raised in a strict Baptist tradition, and how she didn't want to have anything to do with "religious shit" any more.

  I went back to working out, feeling really stupid about what had just transpired. I had felt that I was being such a good and humble Watchtowerist by asking the lady to change the radio station, but it turned out all wrong, and I made myself look like a fool more than anything. The lady had been friendly with me prior to this incident, but after that she and her husband made me feel pretty unwelcome there, and I stopped going after a few more weeks.