Are Some Witnesses Becoming Scary?

by metatron 7 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  metatron

  Perhaps many of you are out of touch with large numbers of Witnesses. I think it is fair to say that

  much of the 'fire' has gone out of them, in recent years. However, I also notice that some of them

  are getting frightening in that they seem to be ever more fanatical in response to the deepening

  failures of the organization. I realize that this may simply be an appearance - or that they may be

  wildly oscillating between radically different opinions.

  I can recall that, amidst the tension of Bethel service, there were brothers we called "SRs"

  - short for "self-righteous". These jerks were always reproving others and ratting other brothers

  out - for drinking, owning porn or whatever.

  Yet, the funny thing was - that they were usually the ones who suddenly cracked up and left Bethel!

  Guys who drank a little too much and secretly visited 42nd St. blew off enough steam to survive

  and the fanatics didn't.

  Fanatical, scary Witnesses may be the next to 'crack'. It could be the final response to a reasoning

  mind that is reaching the end of its rope.

  metatron
• 

  IsaacJS2

  I'd consider that a pretty standard response to the situation. Psychologically, people tend to dig in even deeper when their beliefs are challenged. The human mind seems to have trouble letting go of something, especially if that something is based on a major decision - like, "The WTS has the True Religion and I'm dedicating the rest of my life to it!" Studies have actually been done on this sort of behavior. This is why I don't think protests and such are a good idea.
  
  Of course, there were plenty of fanatical, Uber-Witnesses back in the 90s when I was a Witness, too. So I wouldn't get too excited. I know a lot of people have been posting stuff about how the WTS is going down any day now, but I seriously doubt it. They'll bounce back. Even if they don't, somebody will jump in and create a new corporation claiming to be a continuation of "The Truth" almost overnight. No one will care about legal or corporate technicalities. It'll just be Jehovah's way of testing the faithful.

  Shame really.

  IsaacJ
• 

  minimus

  Those that rail the most against sex, homosexuality, rules, etc......are the ones that are usually the biggest hypocrites!
• 

  Gregor

  Those that rail the most against sex, homosexuality, rules, etc......are the ones that are usually the biggest hypocrites! So true. Also, as has been pointed out here many times, the ones who leave as 'apostates' are those who were considered the 'strong' JWs. The weak JWs cling to the org like glue and the more ignorant they are of what the WTS teaches the more difficult it is to shake them.
• 

  WTWizard

  This is what I do not trust:

  A family that was really into the "truth(??)" during the 1980s and 1990s. They take an interest in you, primarily to make sure you do not stray. They have other family in the "truth(??)", and even offer some assistance in token ways. This is usually, if not always, an attempt to rack up some kind of "debt" which is paid off by remaining a Witless. Of course, the "debt" cannot be cleared. If you stay in, they might continue doing those "favors" to increase the "debt".

  This is magnified since the whole family is all pioneers, and the father is a prominent hounder in the congregation. They have given up much in the way of material comforts, like cable TV, to make room for pioneering. This adds a measure of envy to the already tower-biased mindsets they already had. As they are going to be near retirement age within 10-15 years, and the kids are in their mid and late 20s and still living with their parents (and have crap jobs to maintain a pioneer lifestyle), they are going to see me not spending a penny on gas for field circus. And they are going to envy my Internet, Christmas decorations, and huge music collection. And that's when the hounding is going to start.

  Putting the "debt" with the envy, I think they are going to make a serious attempt to initiate force to drag me back into the Tower. Envy makes a person desire to destroy goods owned by someone else, and they are going to use that "debt" to create a guilt trap. Plus, they will likely find ways to back up their attempts when the guilt fails and they have trouble getting in touch with me (they don't know I have a computer yet, and they get my answering machine when they call). This, to me, is the scariest thing any of the Witlesses are potentially capable of doing with me.

  No, I would rather get disfellowshipped.
• 

  mentalclearness

  Yes I also noticed this ALOT!!! The fanatical unbalanced JW's (elders, co's etc) are always the ones that end up getting DF'ed. Usually for the very thing they bothered others about. Porn, inmorality....

  I think that people who turn apostate are actually that are probably the most sincere christian-like people. When asked to constantly judge and criticize others we can't because our love for people as a whole is too great. Not really good for someone who is in a religion that thinks everyone will die except them.
• 

  M.J.

  The fanatical ones in the org are sort of analogous to the most ardent and fanatical "moral majority" type conservatives in American politics.
  
  They are the ones who LOVE their own idealized image of America, but hate what they see and hear about going on in their precious nation in real life. Thus they take it upon themselves to do what they can to condemn and purge the bad and undesirable!
• 

  M.J.

  I'm a conservative myself, btw. So I understand the thought process, as I myself have experienced those feelings.
  
  I've also been a part of a college fraternal organization, let's call it, where there were those that became hyper-vigilant about screening the types of people who should be a part of it, and the image they wanted to project. These people became the most vocal and confrontational when they perceived that things were drifting away from the "ideal".
  They criticized members who were slackers.
  They criticized the cultural shift that the younger members were bringing into the organization.
  They were in favor of purging the organization of those who didn't fit the "image".
  Etc.
  
  I swear when I heard this wacko elder's wife not too long ago going off on all sorts of "brothers and sisters" and the "young ones" in the JW congregations, it reminded me so much of all that petty stuff I lived through back in college. Same mentality.
  
  "They don't fit the image"