What about those INTELLIGENT JW's? Did you have any in your cong'? (page 3)

yadda yadda 2

Yep, lots. But they were all brainwashed and afraid to question.

Yeah there were some folks I thought were really intelligent. Interestingly, some of these are ones that were more willing to discuss some "uncomfortable" subjects for JWs. I had an elder friend who was talking about how only the anointed become immortal, the rest of us never do, or he'd talk about the horrible stories in the Bible, like the rape of the concubine in Judges or the cannibalism in Israel, or bring up some past discarded WT teaching.

Thinking about it later, I noticed that he frequently seemed to bring up these strange subjects and I wonder now, was he trying to get me to think? Because he really was too smart for the JWs. He went to college too.

Remember in Orwell's "1984" the guy that is writing the new dictionary, and Winston figures he won't last long because he's too smart, and at the end he's in the cell with the rest of the thought criminals? Hmmm.

wings

pretty much only me.....

S3RAPH1M

There was one "Intelligent" Ph.D dub I knew, and he left the organization before I did.

james_woods

There may be two types here -

One type would be the kind of person who has one particular talent or educational area - and even though they might be on a very high level on this one thing, their general life can be a total mess. For example - I knew these:

a) - A gifted aerospace engineer who drifted in and out of the truth for years. Simply could not decide it he wanted to be in or out. Last I talked to him, he admitted every bit of their wrong teaching, but he "missed his friends", so he just tuned it all out and went right back.

b) - A highly respected lawyer who really attached to the Society to get access to draft, flag salute, blood, and other landmark cases. He really knew little about witness theology, and was in fact an amoral drunkard. He managed to get one of my friends sentenced to the max on the draft issue while running off in mid-case to handle Muhammed Ali's. Which may have been a good thing, he was falling down drunk in court and also at the one meeting he showed up for at the hall. Got disfellowshipped, then dragged himself back in years later. Yes, this was the famous Hayden Covington.

c) - A Doctor, a flight instructor for FAA,many successful businessmen, etc. who went to meetings only because of family and did not bother with service, trying to be an elder, or anything else. Sort of like a token Catholic who was born into it.

On the other hand, I never knew any well-rounded and well-educated thinker who was versed on many topics that lasted very long with this nonsense at all.

Dorktacular

Nicolaou, I've known a few intelligent witnesses. In fact, when I was a child, there was a witness who was (and still is) a famous doctor and nutritionist. I liked his talks, because they were very intelligent and he always took the discussion to the next level. He was one of the few people who could actually hold my attention while giving a talk. Of course, the elders always came down on him for not explicity following the outline or indroducing material that didn't come from WBTS publications.

I will say that I have noticed that it is rare to find many intelligent JWs. Most intelligent people leave the org, most likely because they are too smart and they've figured out that it's all a bunch of crap!

BizzyBee

Without rancor, I can say that the notion of an intelligent JW is an oxymoron. If you feel that that is too harsh a statement or don't believe it - then you should go back to the KH.

As a young JW, I was enamored of the brothers who were well-spoken, seemingly educated and intelligent. I think now that there were educated/intelligent JWs who viewed being a JW like being a Protestant or a Methodist - you go and sit in a seat and go through the motions, give talks, FS, then you go home to your real life.

Another category of intelligent/educated JWs were people who were just basically bent. I mean, just odd-balls.

What about those INTELLIGENT JW's? Did you have any in your cong'?