Pulling The Trigger—The Watchtower's Discipline

by The wanderer 17 Replies latest jw friends

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  The wanderer

  Pulling The Trigger—The Watchtower's Discipline

  *Disclaimer:
  
  The approach of this topic requires that you “temporarily” disconnect your emotions
  connected to the Watchtower Society and view this case from a different perspective.

  The Perspective Of The Thread

  In my tenure as a Jehovah’s Witness, I knew some young people
  both boys and girls who came from disadvantaged homes.

  In other words, no father or mother and in one case no parents at all.
  My own upbringing was from a single parent household.
  
  For individuals who had little discipline or structure in their lives the Watchtower
  Society offered discipline, manners, and a clean-cut lifestyle if you followed the rules.

  In addition, The Watchtower was a place where an individual could gather some
  education, polish and exposure to individuals of different races to help reduce pre-
  judice.

  This is where I am grateful for the Watchtower’s influence in my life. However, I under-
  stand the bad points overshadow the good points.

  Question:

  Considering this perspective, I say it is better to have some structure and
  discipline even if it was from the Watchtower Society then none at all.

  How do you view this perspective?

  Respectfully,

  The Wanderer
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  Who are you?

  It's important what you are comparing. Being a member of the WTS is like a full time job. If you are going to compare the merits of organizations that provide structure and discipine, there are comparable models out there.

  Some one who joins the WTS and spends 20 years in the org leaves with a hearty handshake and a toodle loo.

  Some one who joins the military to learn structure and discipline gets a free all expenses paid education, job skills training in a variety of different areas. After spending twenty years in the military you can retire with a lifetime pension equal to 70% of your onduty pay, health care for the rest of your life, veterans benefits etc....You age 40 you can retire after 20 years and then go to work for the post office for another twenty years and at the age of 60 retire with 2 pensions that equal around $60K a year and play golf every day for the rest of your life.

  Compared to nothing, most things looks good.

  Oh, I forgot to add the $35K X 20 years that you are paid while receiving structure and discipline from the military, compared to the WTS.

  Oh, and I forgot the free/discount housing too.
• 

  The wanderer

  DearWhoAreYou?:
  
  Thank you for your perspective regarding
  this matter. Does anyone else have some-
  thing else to add or offer?
  
  Respectfully,
  
  The Wanderer
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  Odrade

  "Compared to nothing, most things look good."

  I agree. While the WT did provide structure, and certain skills for me while growing up, there would have been many ways far more beneficial to acquire that training. For instance, I could have learned social qualities of teamwork by playing sports, learned speaking skills by being on the debate team, learned a clean-cut lifestyle by going to most any church, etc. Those things are not necessarily dependent on circumstances such as being raised within WT framework.

  IF you are comparing it to NOTHING at all, then yes, I agree with your premise, being raised with WT values was likely better than nothing in those particular areas you mention. But it's a faulty argument, because think of all the other things you learned during your upbringing. You learned to memorize everything and research nothing. (Any research was done with an index and the WT volumes, where you would read the presented material. Full stop.) You learned to judge anyone, JW friend or "worldly" foe, if they stepped one millimeter out of lockstep with your "bible understanding/bible-trained conscience." You learned to get up and give a 4-5 minute speech, that you read off of a notecard, cobbled together from WT publications. (These are the most approved talks, TOO much "outside material" got you a talking-to after the meeting...) You were told not to blow your own horn when you did good, but learned that if none of the congregation heard about it you didn't get "credit." And that "credit," whether it was for more hours in service, talks, quickbuilds, bible studies, or informal witnessing, really determined your social standing.

  You learned that, while it wasn't okay to be prejudiced against a person's color, it was perfectly okay to be prejudiced against the stay-at-home mom who wasn't pioneering even though she "had plenty of time," the publisher who STILL hadn't joined the TMS, the 19 y.o. kid who STILL hadn't gotten baptized, and all of the Catholics, Jews, Baptists, Methodists, SDA, LDS, other protestants, Buddhists, atheists... oh yes, and WOMEN, who are not permitted to challenge anything spoken by an overseer.

  But yeah, compared to NO upbringing at all, I guess the WT training was better than nothing.
• 

  rekless

  Some one who joins the WTS and spends 20 years in the org leaves with a hearty handshake and a toodle loo.

  You are wrong, after 20 years and you leave you get a swift kick in the butt and a shunning from your family.

  Every Organization has rules but on the other hand you can question other orgs and get answers, you question the WTBTS you get marked or called an apostate.
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  OUTLAW

  Good Morning Wanderer!..That is a tough Question..For people who are institutionalized,I would say the WBT$ is as good an institution as any..You may as well be in jail,as in the Cult the Jehovah`s Witness`s..Do some people need to be in jail?..Yes...OUTLAW
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  sspo

  If you want to pay your bills and realize you better hold a job to do so it will provide structure for you.

  You have to be there every day, you have to listen to your superiors wether you like it or not, the ability

  to get along with people and many other skills you learn dealing with people.

  Keep in mind that not everyone of us that accepted the " Truth" were screwed up, on drugs, lazy, drunkards, adulterers and so on.

  When i look back and gave 32 years to the watchtower, i see nothing but a waste of time and energy and truly feel i would have done much

  better in every aspect of life if i would have stayed out of it.

  NO BENEFITS,
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  OUTLAW

  Wanderer..Just a footnote to my previous post.....I`ve heard some people say jail was the best thing that ever happened to them..LOL!!(No I`m not Kidding.)..I am quite sure any lessons they learned in jail,they could have learned somewhere else...OUTLAW
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  PrimateDave

  The problem with discipline and structure from a high control group such as the WTS/JWs, just assuming for a moment that it is "educational," is the degree of social investment required in such a group that demands you have no outside social support structure. When you widen your social network to the world at large, you risk losing the support of your "friends" who have been taught to stay inside the confines of the group.
  
  To put it simply, it's a bad investment.
  
  Dave
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  rolling rock

  Sometimes it takes rock bottom to start your climb out.