by TerryWalstrom 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Great post, Terry.
It's a very observable reality - once the individual has been emptied from any individuality, having ultimately become just an empty recipient of whatever propaganda the Watchtower wishes to fill it with, once the person leaves the cult, all that's left is a huge, empty hole of what used to be the Watchtower indoctrination. An empty hole, the empty outer shell of an empty soul ...
Eden
TerryWalstrom - "KENOSIS is a black hole of the soul."
Dibs on the band name.
Terry a like! a question in the 3rd last paragraph you write: " --Few can replace this emptiness with anything resembling a formal worship ritual. --"
why should formal worship ritual be so important?
Terry a question in the 3rd last paragraph you write: " --Few can replace this emptiness with anything resembling a formal worship ritual. --"
why should formal worship ritual be so important?
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The first time an EX-JW decides to participate in Christmas, Easter, Halloween, donating blood, voting, etc. can be quite a neurotic crucible of existential angst!
I vividly recall the day I donated blood for my newborn daughter who was experiencing severe jaundice. I had to run a 'mental gantlet' of self-talk to arrive at that decision. It was nothing more than superstitious reaction to a bugaboo! Any other parent would not have hesitated even a half-second! I even knew intellectually it was the correct thing to do--and it disturbed me emotionally for a while afterward!
We tend to formalize important things in our life with ritual: weddings, funerals, graduations, etc.
My essential thought centers on the absence of alternatives for Ex-JW's to formalize through ritual practice because of the TAINT psychologically implanted by association with Watchtower doctrine.
Thank you for this post Terry.
It's very true that once a person has emptied themselves out...so to speak.....in order to take in the religious instruction of the JW religion; only to find they are a very cold breed of people who are confused about their own teachings and afraid of their history.........And once a person starts to investigate this religion and finds the many many changes to doctrine......Well. Everything sort of falls apart for them. Myself included. We have become so hollow we don't know where to turn. I think there is a saying from a Jesuit source about " ...give me a child until he's seven......and you can have him back after that...." Not the best paraphrase I fear, but close enough to the point. A child raised in this religion will rarely find freedom or the peace "within" once they have been taught that everything outside of their version of Godly living is wicked or evil........especially other religions.
This was the case in my family where only one remains fully fixed into their beliefs and practices. Nothing can shift this sister of mine when it comes to extending the sort of kindness or mercy to "all" that believe in the Christ. No matter how nice they are, they are not good enough and very likely they are blinded by Satan and their good deeds are suspect........, for they are still in "the world". She has been avidly awaiting the end for so long now that both she and her husband are unable to think in any other way. Interestingly, they have recently taken out insurance for their respective funerals. This says a lot me about whether they can allow themselves to re-enact the 1975 fiasco that they completely bought into.
In those days, and unbeknown to me.........Armageddon loomed hugely for them. They were planning their lives around it. She was particularly cold toward me in those days, refusing to have me visit. ( I wasn't baptised or close to it. Just living my life and raising children) I had no idea that the end was just around the corner..........It was three years ago, after commencing to study again. That I discovered all of this incredible turmoil and change that had occurred. I feel they were shaken up when all of this happened but they re grouped around their faith or religion even tighter in some ways...(barring the funeral fund) Now it is totally impossible for them to leave, for what will they go to? Their entire lives are coloured by the associations formed in the kingdom hall and the shifting doctrines. They are not happy people by any standard, they have one son who is an elder.........a snotty upstart type and another who was gifted but didn't quite make it and so is on drugs and very likely damaged to the core with an inner guilt.
Must stop here for I didn't intend to go on and on and on...........
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I was talking to a current, active JW on Monday.
I was asked, "What would it take, in your opinion, for the average JW to hear, learn, become aware of, which would make them suddenly 'wake up' and decide to abandon the whole religion?
Here is how I responded.
I said, "I think of Jehovah's Witnesses as passengers who have boarded a large jet airplane. They are confident of their ultimate destination and very happy with their Pilot and Co-Pilot.
Now observe! What happens if a series of errors on the part of the Pilot brought them into the middle of a terrible electric storm, with bad weather buffeting them about?
Do you think everybody on board would ask for a parachute? No way! Just the opposite!
They'd fasten themselves in tighter than before and place even MORE confidence in the flight crew because--as they see it--TRUSTING THE FLIGHT CREW IS THEIR ONLY HOPE OF SURVIVAL!
This is human nature: to FEAR LOSS more than taking a risk for GAIN.
Cognitive Dissonance describes the process perfectly. When a person's most cherished beliefs are challenged--it causes them to cling more tightly and defend against loss no matter what.
WAKING UP for a JW is like the thing which happens to an alcoholic. They have to hit bottom and see there is nothing left to lose and everything to gain.
Terry your story is exposing the antitype to jesus' comparison of a de-demonized man that then is victimized by a worse infestation, so, as you said, it is mind- poisoning reaching even into the lives of the escaped ones.
Brain-washing is only the first step, filling it with current wt unity doctrine is the ongoing goal.
