Why does it seem to be unhappy people who are attracted to the JWs? (page 4)

Darkknight757

Funny that it seems more and more the friends at the Kingdom Hall are super depressed. I think this whole "system coming to an end soon" thing is really wearing on people.

I went on a call about a year ago to who I thought was a very happy and upbeat sister. All she could do was cry at how depressed she was and the sad thing is, she couldn't figure out why she was so sad all the time.

Had another call a few months ago to another sister who was a pioneer and had everything going for her. Same thing!! She was super depressed and couldn't put her finger on it.

Many others at the hall are the same way. This is really becoming the norm for many witnesses as their little promise of mass death by God doesn't come to fruition.

zeb

'with few friends and no real family to speak of.. ' and why might that be?

new boy

'with few friends and no real family to speak of.. ' and why might that be?

Her mother died trying to give herself an abortion with a coat hanger when she was only 8. My mother was then shipped to her grandfather's house were she was his servant/sex slave. She was just 17 when she moved to California during the war. She had only her sister out there. Of course she wasn't very trusting of people and thought the "world" was an evil place. A place that god should clean up.

just fine

They prey on those going through emotional times. That is how they got my parents. Both of them were going through things and the witnesses knocked. It sounded so much better than what my parents situation was and they were hooked. I don't blame them, they thought they were doing the right thing at the time. I can see how it happens.

bradford

Thinking back to when I joined and the people that joined my congregation it is a similar pattern:

Me: just been arrested twice, friend got into car accident and would end up having permanent brain damage, Iraq war started and a couple friends were headed there. .could say I was vulnerable.

Person no. 1: recently divorced, having "demon" attacks

Person no. 2: single mom, recently divorced, new to the area, worked in a warehouse, no education

Person no. 3: alcoholic, recently in jail, no job, no car

Person no. 4: debilitating illness, illiterate, elderly

I remember dreading the nicer areas where people had an education, families, nice homes, nice cars. Subconsciously I was thinking why the hell would they want anything to do with this. .let's hope they don't answer the door so I don't have to try and engage them in a conversation.

ToesUp

Can you blame them all? They have been promised countless times that they would be in Paradise. No paradise is here. I believe some of them really don't believe it anymore. They have taken everyone's hope away. It's like telling your kid you are taking them to Disney for many years and you never do. After a while they do not believe you.

We see so many people who are depressed and some who can't even get out of bed. So much for the happiest people on earth.

ttdtt

Not only unhappy, but predominately poor or lower economic class, with very little hope of improving life status.

Almost always uneducated, and low information people. Thats what I have noticed in the past 10 years.

I don't know 1 college grad with a decent career who has converted in at least the last 10 years in my area.

Darkknight757

I don't know 1 college grad with a decent career who has converted in at least the last 10 years in my area.

I think the jig is up with the young people in my area. They can see through the deception and the lies and yet they stay in.

Many in the local area are going to college and getting good careers saying that they will pioneer and never do it. So hopefully this religion will finally fall apart with this newer generation of young people.

bafh

Religion is the opiate of the masses. - Karl Marx

In my experience spirituality tends to promote growth, self-awareness, responsibility...religiosity tends to promote dependence, and victimhood.

If you don't want to be responsible for how your life turns out, then religion is the answer because it tells you: 1) whatever bad is happening is not your fault and 2) someone (GOD) is coming to rescue you.

Spiritual people I know who are also religious tend to not hold extreme views of good/evil, right/wrong or to shift the blame to someone else when things don't turn out. They also don't expect that they can just sit on their hands and wait for someone else to rescue them. Instead, they promote the idea that we are all responsible for ourselves, and the community. They look for and see the good in people, and support them to be their better selves. In fact, many of them seem to hold the view that God expects you to live up to your potential.

Especially among JWs, the viewpoint that "this world is so horrible" seems to comfort them because they think the worse it gets, or the worse they perceive it to be - the closer everyone is to having things get better because God is going to wipe it all out and start over. This outlook, I think, accounts for the reason why JWs put everything on hold - I won't __________ until the New System. In the New System, I'll learn to (cook, play music, dance, etc) Understandably then, the majority of their expenditure of time, energy and focus is on "surviving" to the end.

The reason why people are't happy is that their needs aren't being met. I'm a firm believer in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

JWs tend to be uneducated and low skilled workers, so they are in fact working harder than people with education and skills because what they can do is less valuable to the marketplace. In this way, their perception becomes their reality. On top of that, they are trained to ignore or devalue any good that may exist in the world - what is accomplished by non-profits, individuals or evidence of basic human good. They focus on and see the bad, ignore the good.JWs are not allowed to pursue (at least not openly) the natural process of self-actualization.

As I was doing some research related to Maslow, I remembered the account of the Sermon on the Mount. The first thing Jesus did with that crowd was feed them. I've always wondered why he would do that. Then I saw Maslow's chart. Of course, if people's physical needs aren't met -hungry, thirsty, need to pee - they can't sustain attention to meeting more sophisticated needs like spirituality. I don't even know if this story is true, but I think it is very insightful into human nature. If it is true, and it was put there as an instruction - it is even more telling that JWs do not follow this example in any real way - they do not have homeless shelters, food banks, etc. They blantantly ignore the example of the man they proclaim to follow.

It would be nice to see JWs be able to get to a place where they can both acknowledge and promote the good that humans do accomplish while at the same time promoting spirituality based on self-respect, growth and community engagement. It doesn't seem reasonable to me to have the perspective that because the system is broken and we are expecting something better, we can't work to accomplish the good we can while we wait for something better.

It also doesn't seem reasonable to me that a person has to prove their Christianity by having a hard life. In fact, many Christians believe that living a good life - doing good for others, demonstrating Christian qualities in their everyday lives is the way to draw people to the way of life. Not condemning them for the wrong they do but speaking to the potential they hold. I'm afraid that day will never come.

The either/or thinking is childish,limiting and at the crux of everything that is wrong with how JWs operate.

Why does it seem to be unhappy people who are attracted to the JWs?

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