Comments You Will Not Hear at the WT Study (10/15 Teach Children)

by WT Comments 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  cultswatter

  Just a subliminal promo piece so the dubs breed and breed to make more dubs
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  Metamorphosis

  i've grown to hate remarks like:

  train your children to love their Christian brothers and sisters

  because they don't really mean 'Christian' they mean Jehovah's Witness. They should truly be taught to show love to all but instead they are taught to view them as lesser if they don't have a JW label.

  Morph
• 

  WTWizard

  Here is what they mean by "straightening the arrows":

  (1) Children have no right to play. As soon as they are able to walk, they have to actively participate in field circus all day. There is never time to play or sleep. These children need more sleep than the parents at this time, and yet all they do is ring the doorbells all day. And they still have to make it to the evening boasting sessions, that often let out after 10 PM.

  (2) Dress them up all day. This means no making messes (do you really expect a 2-year old to be neat and clean? They do. It is also hot and stuffy in summer.

  (3) No activity outside the main curriculum at school. No vacations that aren't packed with meetings and field circus. No playing at recess. No parties of any kind. They are discouraged from going on class trips of any kind for bad association and so they will be back at the Kingdumb Hell at 3 PM for field circus.

  (4) Get them baptized as soon as possible. I bet they are going to push 6 year olds to get baptized in order to inflate their numbers. This is much too soon. At all costs, they are to be baptized before they are able to analyze the consequences of the decision. And, then they are held to this decision which was made under coercion and death threate.

  (5) No college after. They are to stay with their parents as long as possible so they can help each other pioneer, and save money to put in the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund. Anyone getting into careers that could make decent money will be hounded and harassed, and so will anyone that leaves home at age 18. Note that the definition of a "nester" is a child, now an adult, still living permanently with their parents on an indefinite basis. This is very common in the organization, as we see children not leaving home at a decent age (which is when they are supposed to be going away to college or a job). Some reach the age of 40 still living with their parents. This is actually encouraged by the Watchtower Society since it makes it harder for the now-grown children to leave the organization.

  All this would be harmless if I were making and programming robots. But, when you have potentially conscious humans being treated like mindless robots, it is a crime. These people are supposed to grow up to create value. In order to create value, they have to be trained to think independently and in an integrated fashion (ideally, beyond what even school teaches). I do not call it creating value when they spend all their time going out in field circus day in and day out. I have been to enough of the programming meetings to know that none of it is training to think in an integrated fashion. They tell you what to "think"--fine for a computer or a robot; not for a child. Teaching your children means teaching them to integrate percepts into concepts and bigger puzzle pieces, not to tell them what to think.
• 

  Awakened07

  I feel sorry for my parents who will have to sit through this study and feel that they've failed as parents. And for all other parents with inactive/disfellowshipped children.

  And I feel sorry for myself for the heightened frequency of "please come back to the Truth"-calls I'll most likely receive.
• 

  moomanchu

  And I feel sorry for myself for the heightened frequency of "please come back to the Truth"-calls I'll most likely receive.

  Too true. I can tell when there was an assembly or co visit by the extra excitement for the "truth" that my parents exhbit afterward.

  Likewise, parents have only a relatively short period of time to develop in their children heartfelt love for Jehovah.

  And why is this?

  Children stay children to parents forever. If a belief system is logical, beneficial, reasonable, good and true,

  someone of any age will respond to it. It's when your young and inexperienced that the Watchtower wants to lock you in.

  Why should parents have regular family Bible discussions?

  Every parent knows the number one unspoken reason to have family bible studies.

  It's to count "TIME" on the little score cards that Jehovah loves.
• 

  Sirona

  This article just makes me feel really sad.

  but the children had to work together to research the subject and to give direction about school dances." What was the result? "We were amazed at how responsible our daughters (in their role as the parents) were when explaining to us (as the children) their Bible-based reasons why it would be unwise to go to the dance," the father continues.

  How totally AWFUL. A child cannot attend a school dance? The Watchtower organisation is responsible for putting out into the world some really socially inept kids. If those kids do choose to leave the JW organisation, they are ill equipped to deal with REAL LIFE and more likely to go running back to the JW organisation, because its the only place they can feel "comfortable". Rather than really providing protection, the JWs just teach the kid that normality is JW life - and that is the biggest lie - JW life is far from "normal" and anyone raised a JW who leaves has some work on their hands to function in life.

  Dawn
• 

  blondie

  After I turned 11, my mother stopped studying with us kids. We didn't even have a personal copy of the WT because our funds were so tight. We had to read my mother's. We got a copy when we walked in the door of the KH.

  Prayer: Just like the prayers at the KH are rote and without true meaning, so are family prayers. Some parents even use the few prayers to chastise their children. When was the last time you heard a good public prayer? That is what parents imitate.

  Once again, the hypocrisy children see in their parents at home turn the vast majority away from the WTS or turn them into little hypocrites.

  Blondie
• 

  InquiryMan

  Honestly, the depiction of JW childhood, seems vastly exagerrated according to my experience, or are the Scandinavian counterparts of JW in general less extreme in their way of practicing the religion. When we were in: children attended children parties frequently (albeit without presents, although that occurred at times) some kids took part in pre school activities children did go amusements parks, circus, movies etc witnesses travel a lot, not less than non-witnesses. In fact they travel so lot that a major newspaper had a specific aticle on the topic... (priori to christmas). however, in Scandinavia, employers have five weeks of paid holiday as a right, and only 1 day is spent for assembly, so there are plenty of days left for other pursuits. Field service hours are always lowest in holiday times, sometimes 20 per cent less than average months. That is just my impression of the average witness life in my country. Also, most witnesses do alternative things when society as such celebrate their holidays, e.g. constitution etc. Still: I wanted to leave, cause I did not reconcile the Watchtower teachings with my own ideas of being tolerant etc... I disapprove of a lot of the Watchtower, but have nothing against individual witnesses--- Many are nice people..
• 

  Younglove1999

  ...will the children continue to love and serve God after they leave home?

  As a JW my inital reaction was to truly consider this question as true food for thought. I mean, who doesn't want their child to cultivate spirituality and a love for a greater cause? This would help them in their growth to become well rounded individuals! As a rational thinking person, I soon realized that this was not the idea conveyed to us by the WTBTS. This question is not intented to help us help our children to become intelligent, well rounded people. So upon reading this question again keeping in mind the WTS view, it actually said "Will your child continue to serve the organization and thus allow me (as a parent) to continue speaking with them, or will they leave and thus force me to make a decision to shun them?"

  When I realized THAT is what I was faced with in terms of raising my daughter in the "truth", I knew it was time for me to abandon this religion.
• 

  BBOARD

  In my Kingdom Hall I notice a difference between Jehovah’s Witnesses who “came in out of the world” and those who were trained in this organization from youth up. Those from the world seem to be … still “like the world” meaning: not gullible, rude at times, self-confident instead of self-conscious, able to carry on a conversation without reminding yourself that you must be “clothed with lowliness of mind”, form cliques within the congregation, working at good paying jobs, etc … their only change is that they now believe all the slop from the KH/WTBS and occasionally say “Jehovah blessed me today.” But in many ways they are just like “the world” … there is just something twinkling in their eyes that tells me.

  Also, JW's who have serious connections with the elders in the congregation are some of the BIGGEST LIARS IN THE WORLD! Since they know no one will challenge them since everyone is to assume that no one is a liar within the congregation they are free to lie straight to your face knowing full well its a lie because they know that there is nothing you can do about it - without getting into trouble with their elder spouse/father/uncle etc ...

  Whereas some of those “raised in the truth” from youth up who followed the rules (often with no connections and by parental coercion) of the WTS in the KH often face one or more of the following:

  . Low Self-Esteem or Self Worth
  . Not able to stand out with any individualism
  . Rejection (from the many JW Cliques)
  . Manipulation (from those that know we were not raised with a worldly shrewdness/attitude)
  . Getting Used (i.e. ride people all around and give, give, give … when nobody else is doing a thing)
  . Confusion (they were raised not to think critically, only follow, because that might be a danger to the organization later on … well now as adults when they see wrong things like flip flops and double standards going on … well they don’t know how to deal with it properly which often leads to a mental breakdown)

  This seems to happen because:

  Jehovah’s Witnesses who come in “out of the world” into the organization know that there is a good chance that you are not street smart - and they are often right - you are not street smart due to the years of mind numbing “always be good and long suffering” JW programming hammered to them in the formidable youth years. So some in the hall simply cut them out of any after-meeting parties or trips because they don’t want to be around you because you either annoy them or you can’t “keep up” with them. (“worldly attitude” anyone?) So these kinds of JWs raised in it simply have meetings, field service, crap job, no real friends, no true JW friends, in a daze waiting for some end from Jehovah, and are in the mean time left to wonder … But how could this happen in “Jehovah’s loving arrangement”?.

  Excerpt from “Joining the Club - A New Perspective On Getting People Out of Cults” - by Randall Watters

  Q. What about those who are born into the religion?

  A. Those born into or raised early on as Jehovah's Witnesses are heavily persuaded that it's the only true religion from the start, and any doubt is equated with sin or personal pride. They may not have ever considered any alternate views regarding the truthfulness of the Watchtower, depending on their level of isolation from the outside world. They do not have another view of reality with which to compare. Parents are quite effective at controlling the minds of their children as to which thoughts are acceptable and unacceptable, and what emotions are acceptable / unacceptable. "Correct" behaviors are taught, incorrect behaviors are discouraged. The selection of reading material is usually carefully guarded. This is "mind control," whether one views it as proper for parents to use or not. For the young one raised in the Watchtower organization, it would require them to intelligently entertain the views of others before they could begin to understand the degree of bias present in their own indoctrination. This usually occurs in the teen years, with the result that many children turn away from the Watchtower.
  One question I hear given a lot to doubters is …

  Noah said that the end was coming just like us JWs today … and it came … so stay with us!

  Yes, Noah preached to –scripture about bad men--- that the “end was near” – and that was all he preached. Noah never had a hand in ruining the lives of people trying to live up to a Christian standard nor did he ever predict false dates for the end (like 1975). Why? Simple, it was because he truly was guided by God – unlike the GB of JWs. The end of the system was predicted in these years: 1874, 1875, 1881, 1888, 1914, 1915, 1918, (could occur in 1920), 1925, ("resurrection of Princes" in 1929), 1932, 1940, ("any day now" in 1942), ("why not now" in 1951), the infamous 1975, and finally before the generation that was born in 1914 dies, which was dropped in 1996 after it was clearly another false prediction.

  Satan had caused your mind to think differently ... come back!

  Well … this is a cultish tactic to keep its members who are afraid or unable to cope with life’s unknowns in line.