there is apparently rampant apostacy in my ex kh

by unbeliever 27 Replies latest jw friends

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  Fangorn

  Wow, I know a congregation in Northeast, Oklahoma with a reduced attendance. Wonder if it's the same place? Starts with M.
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  uninformed

  Give me an 'i'

  Brant
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  yaddayadda

  This is interesting. It highlights there are more doubters starting to talk to each other in the congregation. Little pockets of dissent are congealing.
  
  There is going to be an increasing polarisation occuring in the organisation between the fearfully loyal and the doubters.
  
  Three persons being announced as no longer JW's (later revealed to be for 'apostasy') is tremendously damaging to a congregation and in fact an entire circuit, especially if the persons who left were in good standing and/or reputable, eg, elders or pioneers. Morale plummets in the whole circuit and others who are struggling with 'doubts' find encouragement to do forbidden research. These three obviously went down in a flame of fire by writing letters to friends and family. The congregation will probably never recover. (The die-hards will just take it as evidence of the congregation being tested and sifted by Satan and proof the end is near.)
  
  JW's crave this kind of juicy gossip. Some will go no ends to unearth as much detail as they can about exactly what 'apostate' ideas these 3 left for. There own confidence in those particular beliefs will thereafter always be dented.
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  freyd

  I find this very interesting. Can anyone explain the psychological dynamics that would make this so devastating to entire circuit and to the congregation so that it could never recover?
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  jgnat

  The Tipping point. http://www.gladwell.com/tippingpoint/index.html
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  freyd

  Interesting. I had been very active in a number of congregations over a long period. Interestingly I only heard of one person in that time that had ever walked away and he was before my time. Every once in a while his name would come up in hushed tones that had him labeled apostate like it was some loathesome disease or the way Benedict Arnold made a name for himself. It's like walking away is a crime like treason in their eyes. I picked up a tape years ago that talked about the dynamics of how groups form and how a deep traumamatic offense affects individuals whether that offense was caused by a person, organization or event. If there is no resolution to the offense eventually the person drops out and forms new associations. This is the whole history of groups. They are offended people seeking support from others similarly offended. I wonder about it though in terms of the group, when it is offended and seeks resolution but finds none like when a parent deserts a family. It has to deal with the internal conflict presented by one of it's own, by in effect saying that their intellectual underpinnings might be vulnerable and are wrong when they are convinced that they were absolutely right. It means that their confidence in being absolutely right may not the case and makes their world vulnerable to total collapse. It's what makes what happened to the Titanic still bone chilling to masses of people three generations removed because they all have doubts about certain things regarding safety but don't dare express them. The one who leaves is what exposes their unspoken fears that individually everybody in the group realizes they may be in real trouble and can't resolve the fear because in a worse case senario it may be real and there's nothing they can do about it. The dike is still leaking and putting their finger is the hole is futile. A very helpless feeling.
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  KAYTEE

  Unbeliever

  Great stuff. This is what my wife and I did a few years back. We sent about 14 letters to what we thought we friends at that time, regarding the UN, failed prophecies etc. this basically was our resignation letter, a few days later we sent the same copy to the body of elders. Thus giving the "Bros & Sisters" the opportunity to hear the truth from us before it got distorted.

  Even though we didn't get a reply form any of the "Bros & Sisters", it at least allowed them to read our version before we were put into the category of apostates.

  KT

  ps we found that it was better to send the letter to individual elders, as in "possibly" some congregations, it could get no further than the PO. (recorded delivery of course)
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  stapler99

  I heard recently that about 5 people in a nearby congregation DA'd themselves for apostacy (if that makes sense), and there was a local needs talk on the authority of the GB afterwards. I can't be specific either but it was in the British Isles, north of London.