Yeah, I agree somewhat with Hillary Step,
What I have found is that we all went through a process which gradually stripped us of any critical thinking skills if we were 'converted' to the faith, and allowed few critical skills to develop if we were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Both my wife and I are University Educated and did quite well through University. But I think its those "critical thinking skills" that have been stripped are ones that have any type of Criticsm of the Watchtower Organization. We are told consistently to trust the Watchtower, resist independant thinking and that the Governing Body is Jehovahs channel of communication. We start to think about how miniscule we are in relation to the Governing Body in knowledge and "how could I even doubt them" is the thoughts which race through our minds. So when a good friend of ours is DF'd for having doubts about what is said in the WT magazine we "Learn" to not question anything. Of course, I don't have to explain the severity of treatment one has to comply with when a member is DF'd, but we will all think about what that former member must be going through or feeling in his or her mind. And we don't want to feel the same thing.
One thing I have learned about being in Sales and this applys to what the Jehovahs Witnesses are doing: The majority of people will do far more to avoid losing what they already have, then they will to get something they don’t have. So in other words the fear of loss is a much greater motivator then the possibility of gain. People make decisions based on emotions, then they rationalize those decisions afterwards.
When people are in a group, they are like sheep waiting for a Sheppard to direct them. They will comply with whatever the leader is proposing because there is a feeling of safety within that group. All humans want and need to feel wanted. The people we have Bible Studies with, they will perceive you as someone who truly cares for them if we make them feel wanted. People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. And what do all active Jehovahs Witnesses do (i'm one of them) when a new person comes into the Kingdom Hall for the first time. We shower them with so much love and attention that they will have a desire to come back. When they finally get baptized, What do we do? - Nothing. We invite them over once and a while for a token dinner. We forget to show them all that Love and Attention that they once had, and we learn that it is so much better to give then to receive.
I guess I'll conclude with a statement that I learned in University, I forget who said it, but here it is:
"The law of consistency keeps us from being intelligent, if we are wrong we should admit to it, but we don’t. Once somebody passes up an opportunity in the present they will most likely pass up that opportunity in the future as well."
So I guess now that I have my thoughts on this post, I do fully agree with Hillary Step, just needed to add a little bit.
