Drawing Conclusions—Why we Believed what we Believed

by The wanderer 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  The wanderer

  Drawing Conclusions— Why we Believed what we Believed

  Inspired by another thread questioning why we believed in the “garbage for so long”,
  I have drawn some conclusions about this issue.

  A Vacuum Society

  As a captive of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the beliefs taught did have a “ring of truth”
  around it and therefore anything that stated was unquestionably accepted.

  The Big Lie

  Adolph Hitler once commented the bigger the lie the more readily
  the masses would come to accept it as truth.
  
  The big lie of eternal life in a paradise earth repeated thousands
  of times helps cement that statement.

  It Could Not Happen to Me

  To believe and admit you are in an organization that deliberately misleads
  their followers has a high emotional cost attached to it.

  What else can you think of why we believed what we believed?

  Respectfully,

  The Wanderer
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  sspo

  Bible questions are answered and they all make sense until now you realize even paradise earth is only backed up by just a few scriptures taken out of context .
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  RAF

  the JW system is related to fear ... (fear of God not fear of Satan - which is funy when you think about it)
  My mother got in but it was a before 75 (emergency) around 70 a guess I was about 3 or 4

  Fear is the best motive to make people reacting without really thinking first ...
  and the JW in some ways was those who was answering lots of question that other religions didn't seemed to answer to (regarding to the bible) ... this have always be my mother argument for living adventist and even why she left the catholics to become adventiste - they knew better (they not her).
  
  So it's all about the hability of the WTBS to get you in their basket They used every technics to get there (you can be the smartest, but if you don't check for real and just accept a theorie in emergency by fear - you can be fooled anyway).
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  fullofdoubtnow

  I liked the idea of living forever in paradise, and it took me a long time to realise that I wasn't going to, it was all just a beautiful dream. I coped with the less pleasant aspects of the religion because I had that hope in front of me.
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  RAF

  fullofdoubtsnow : I had that hope in front of me.

  right !

  (fear +) hope
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  AK - Jeff

  We believed due to the utter disintegration of reason by a slow, methodical mind control system.

  Paradise is the 'hook' that got us thinking contrary to reality [and contrary to true Christianity]. All previous 'religious experience' if we had any, left us with personal responsibility toward out belief platform. The cults work to provide security in place of responsibility. It is comfortable to have a security blanket, woven for us, warm and cozy. Only when we see that the silk is really serpents do we understand that it is time to discard it.

  So did we believe? Belief being the end result of investigation? Or did we just accept because it was warm and comfortable?

  Jeff
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  heathen

  I think those that are raised in it, they have it beaten into them, that they must obey the book publishing corporation and it is a form of child abuse . I think some people were just not happy with the alternatives and thought they could be popular and fit in, if only they did what they were told .The WTBTS does alter it's history so you really didn't have the evidence to show they are a fraud . Now a days there's no excuse for ignorance , all you have to do is look on the web on watchtower history to get the real story.
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  zack

  Fear of dying. Other Christian religions tell you you are going to heaven to be with Christ. The only way to get there, however, is to die. Well, no one likes death, no one likes to think of death, no one WANTS to die--- so along come the JW's and tell you that you need have NO FEAR any longer, you WILL NOT die.

  You will receive the reward of eternal life without the complication of death. And you do not have to go to heaven because it is really quite boring anyway, all people do there is rule as kings and priests, and who wants to do that when you can screw your youthful, beautiful and perfect wife forever and make perfect babies and never have an a**hole boss and own your own home and have the big cats as pets and everyone you loved that's dead now will be there too and you'll eat perfect fruit and veggies and have ETERNITY to get really good at canasta or piano playing!! WOW!!!!!! I DO NOT HAVE TO DIE TO BE IN PARADISE! SIGN ME UP!!!

  Fear of dying.

  I didn't realize how anti-Christ the whole thought of it is 'til I wrote that. Thanks JWD!

  Zack-------
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  MeneMene

  "I think those that are raised in it, they have it beaten into them ..."
  
  That is soooo true. Even as I got older, I never really questioned the doctrines. Never researched. Never entered my mind it was not all true.
  
  I was told that in Paradise there would be no children and there would be no sex because the earth would be full and there would be no reason for either.
  
  That plus there were some JWs that I really really did not want to live forever around, I found myself going less and less.
  
  I just decided somewhere along the line I did not want to live forever in a JW paradise. An endless sleep didn't seem as bad as living forever with no sex and with people you didn't care for. :)
  
  It wasn't until my daughter started researching the WTS so she could prove her boyfriend wrong about them that she learned things were not right and started telling me what she was learning. I was probably about 40 by then. If it weren't for her I may have never really learned it was not the 'truth'.
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  OUTLAW

  Wanderer..I am a "Dub Kid"..Raised in it..I wonder why anyone would join the "Jehovah`s Witness`s.....Perhaps those who join,feel they need guidence..There are corporations that will take advantage of that..Our lives are proof of that...OUTLAW