Are we no different than JWs when it comes to expectations?

by undercover 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  undercover

  I find it interesting that a lot of people who came out of the JW experience still have expectations of "big" things to come.

  As ex-JWs, we can quote WT publications and list references showing all the instances where the "end" has been predicted and we list all the failures of their predictions and hopes.

  A lot of us use those failed expectations as a basis for no longer accepting the WTS as God's organization on earth.

  Yet, a lot of people leave the JWs, then become infatuated with the notion that the "end" of the WTS or JWs is imminent.

  Threads pop up from time to time about "How long can the WTS last?" or "What big changes are about to happen?" etc.

  When I read some of these, I'm reminded of JWs and how they use the "evidence" of earthquakes, famine, disease and wars and reports of wars as "evidence" for the "end" being so close.

  Have we traded on "end times" belief for another? Do we think that we have stumbled onto some great happening just as it is getting ready to happen, much like JWs think they happen to live in the time of the "end"? Do we feel the need to be part of something bigger than ourselves?

  What is it about the possibility that nothing big will ever happen to the WTS that gnaws at us? Why can't we accpet that maybe the WTS and JWS will survive long after we're dead and buried?

  Have we not learned anything?
• 

  megsmomma

  I was under the impression that since the proof of the WTBTS being misleading can be found easily, it will definitley affect the numbers of those being tricked. I don't think any of us are awaiting the "BIG END" at all....rather, happy that not so many are getting tricked.
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  hambeak

  I'm really not sure what to believe any more. I do believe in God and archeology has proven a lot of things in the Bible. However a lot of mans interpretation has been misleading.
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  BabaYaga

  Bah, I think it's the same reason that all news is becoming "FOX" news... i.e. rediculously sensationalized, even when there's really nothing to report. People look for something more exciting to happen to take them out of the day-to-day.
  
  It definitely sells... sensationalism is big money, but it it definitely not NEWS... and certainly not TRUTH in journalism...
  
  Good point, though, Undercover, I have had similar thoughts about all of the "stirred-up, something's happening" posts around here myself.
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  fullofdoubtnow

  Well, I must admit I'd like to see the end of the wts, and all other cults for that matter. They don't benefit their followers in the slightest, and I think society as a whole would be much better off without them.

  As for "big events" in the wts, it depends on one's perception of a big event. In the wts's case, the label hardly fits the organisation, as there are only just over 6 million of them after all. Anything happening there is hardly going to be earth - shatterring news for anyone but the jws themslves. If the wts collapsed tomorrow, I doubt that the majority of the human race would even be aware it had happened.
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  minimus

  "Have we not learned anything yet?".....Sounds a bit condescending Great Teacher.....I don't believe any single thing will bring down the Watchtower, either. I think some might believe the religion is so awful, it just HAS to implode or be destroyed. Undercover, is it wrong for one to hope or even expect that the WBTS will be brought down??? (Giving Undercover a dose of his own meds)....
• 

  undercover

  "Have we not learned anything yet?".....Sounds a bit condescending Great Teacher

  You kill me, O mini one. As a district overseer once pointed out: "being tactful while counseling is like stepping on someone's shoes without scuffing them". I guess I scuffed yours just a bit...I'll get you some shoe polish, okay? You can still be one of my disciples. Put down your burdens and follow me...

  Undercover, is it wrong for one to hope or even expect that the WBTS will be brought down???

  It's not wrong to hope that it will come down, whether brought down or just fell down. But, in my humble, non-condescending () opinion, it's unrealistic to expect it to be brought down or fall down any time soon. Not that its impossible, just most improbable and without any hard facts to substantiate the expectation of it...much like the JW belief in an imminent Armageddon.
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  minimus

  But still, to wonder how long the WT. will last or wonder what big changes are about to happen, is not a bad thing. I think you assume a lot, Great Teacher.
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  greendawn

  That thought pattern might continue to be there and influence some ex JWs subtly but we may well be centuries away from it, to mainstream Christians it makes little difference since they look forward to the afterlife and don't care much about what goes on in the world now and if there will be an end or not. The JWs who do not believe in an afterlife except for their tiny number of "elite" are motivated, have an inclination to expect an end soon.
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  undercover

  But still, to wonder how long the WT. will last or wonder what big changes are about to happen, is not a bad thing. I think you assume a lot

  You're trying to bait me into that old joke aren't you? Well, it won't work...

  But in reply...to wonder how long the WTS will last or wonder what changes, big or small, can happen, no that's not a bad thing. It's the people who do wonder about those things that discover the real problems with the WTS and share them with others for enlightenment. That's good.

  But the expectation...there's that word again...that something "big" is going to happen, and happen soon is, to me, unrealistic. Hoping for, wondering if, those are all natural reactions, especially for those of us who came from inside the bOrg. But OTOH, especially for us, we should know better than to get all excited about some extraordinary event that has no real basis in fact.

  And it's in that respect that sometimes I think some ex-JWs are no different than JWs(in general). Expecting some big event to happen based on rumors and the gossip of others.