Jehovah's Witnesses Who "Get" It

by minimus 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  jaguarbass

  I think there are many that understand that alot of things are bullsh*t. I think they KNOW that the "Truth" is not everything it's cracked up to be. They recognize that many directions should simply be ignored. Just don't talk about it. Carry on and make believe it'll go away. Or wait on Jehovah.

  Whatever the reason, for those that "get" it, maybe s o m e t h i n g will force them out of this stupid religion.

  What do you think??

  What I think is, everyone has to work out their own salvation, or make their own way in this life. When I think back to my younger days in the organization back in the 60's and 70's and reflect on the people you describe. I hold them with some contempt in my memory. I think of them as hypocrites who gave fuel to the fire of deception of the wactower Society.

  But I didnt walk a mile in their shoes. If I did, I would probably be able to catch them and kick them in the asx.
• 

  MR. BORN AGAIN

  I had this one brother come to my house once and as we talked he said, "It may not all be true, but it will make your life better". Now growing up in the "LIE" I had never heard anyone say anything like this. I told my sister about it and she was like..."He can get in trouble for saying that". Looking back it's all so disfunctional...he can get in trouble for voicing his opinion. Who the hell was I to GO AND TELL on him...so stupid!
• 

  ex-nj-jw

  My JW friend said to me once "I didn't think I'd turn 50", I said why because The Big A is just around the corner, he chuckled and said yeah, but nothing anyone can say will convince me of the trinity Who said anything about the trinity???? Why does that always come up???

  nj
• 

  Terry

  MAYBE disfellowshipping can make one realize the truth but the fact that all their known association has disappeared might make them feel they have to go back.

  I almost went back!

  I was down and depressed and called the local Kingdom Hall to see about meeting with the elders (about 20+ years ago) for re-instatement.

  The conversation lasted about 5 minutes. What the presiding elder said to me was so filled with familiar bromides, cliche's, parrot-talk I immediately came to my senses!

  I thanked the overseer and told him he had helped me see the error of my ways! I realized I must have been crazy to consider going back into that mind-rape!
• 

  FlipThis

  Whatever the reason, for those that "get" it, maybe s o m e t h i n g will force them out of this stupid religion.

  What do you think??

  I think a lot of people 'get it'.

  It's just too difficult for them to face the 'music' for several reasons.

  Some being family. Some being friends. Some being that they couldn't care less, but it's just fun to be popular and have priviledges, etc etc etc.

  The boxboy at Price Chopper can actually have POWER at the KH. Even if that's just being the master of the mics...

  pathetic.
• 

  Metamorphosis

  5. It takes a deep depression, tragedy or personal emergency to push an active JW into CONSCIOUSLY examining the UNTRUTH of the "Truth"

  Not always. Though maybe my case is not the norm. I simply stumbled across the 607 date issue and from there it was just about discovering what else I needed to know, even after 31 years. Once I had all the information it was pretty easy to mentally disconnect. Sometimes it just takes exposure to the facts, and logic takes over. That's why it's important that we all present this information in as many avenues as possible - and make sure and keep it palatable at first as well. Presentation can make all the difference as seen by how well the WTBTS gets people sucked in to believing their stuff.

  Morph (truth trumps "the Truth")
• 

  slimboyfat

  I stumbled on apostate literature quite by accident. I was not previously in a crisis of faith, and I had no reason for going looking for reasons to disbelieve.

  Slim
• 

  minimus

  I too have "disconnected" mentally. I simply don't believe in it any longer. Nothing could make me logically return to these beliefs----not even fear.
• 

  funkyderek

  ex-nj-jw:

  My JW friend said to me once "I didn't think I'd turn 50", I said why because The Big A is just around the corner, he chuckled and said yeah, but nothing anyone can say will convince me of the trinity Who said anything about the trinity???? Why does that always come up???

  Because JWs are trained to give just such a response. The Trinity is such a ridiculous concept that JWs automatically reject any Christian church that teaches it (which is essentially all of them). That means there is no alternative for a Bible-believing JW who sees flaws in the religion. All other religions they are aware of teach the doctrines of the Trinity and hellfire (or don't hold to the bible at all) so however bad their religion may look to them, it still looks a lot better than all the others. Other unique JW doctrines such as the imperative to preach and the "paradise earth" also serve to draw a distinction between JWs and all other religions. Rather than see themselves as one point in a whole spectrum of belief systems, JWs are taught to see their religion as a single island of truth surrounded by a sea of homegenous falsehood. Terms such as "Christendom", "Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion" and "the world" further contribute to their separatist mentality.
• 

  Awakened07

  he chuckled and said yeah, but nothing anyone can say will convince me of the trinity Who said anything about the trinity???? Why does that always come up???

  I've heard this a lot too. I think it's because most (all?) other Christian denominations are trinitarian (well - if not, this goes to show how indoctrinated I became while active...), and so JWs can't see how they could leave and join any other Christian church. Leaving and becoming an atheist or join some other religion was not an option after all the bashing the WTS had done about those.

  Personally, I fit the opening post's description pretty well. Thinking back, there was always something I thought couldn't be right, but to sum up the things that made me stay in line, I think it would be these points:

  The name Jehovah. I thought this was God's name and that I had good evidence of this in the literature, and I thought JWs were the only ones who uses it. Prophecies. I believed they wouldn't lie to me(!), and thought we had good evidence from the literature that the prophecies had come true. Both those which 'came true' during biblical times, but I also felt that the end time prophecies very coming true before my eyes. Trinity (as mentioned). I couldn't believe in trinity after being convinced by the literature that it was wrong and pretty much laughably complex, and I believed JWs were the only ones not believing in it (among Chrisitans). Hell. Now it seems like pretty much no Christians believe in a fiery Hell anymore, but I remember a time when JWs were among very few who didn't think any Hell exists (except "being separated from God" by being dead).

  Probably some more - one such thing would of course be non-biblical, namely family and friends - none of them on the outside. So indeed - - where would I go? As you can see from my above points, they all hinged on a belief that the WTS wouldn't lie or distort, and that the literature was right. Extremely naive, but I was brought up to think that way. I didn't know what circular reasoning or a 'straw man argument' was until a few years ago. Wow.

  I must have been a used car salesman's dream customer.