How many of us remember the Jonestown massacre?

by james_woods 26 Replies latest jw experiences

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  james_woods

  By that I meant - how many remember being an active JW when this happened?

  What was the general reaction from the rank & file, the elders, even the CO/DO?

  Does anybody remember there being magazine articles on this?

  In my case, I remember just one very curious event. I was still an elder, but fading. One of my friends - also an elder - pretty much knew of my growing objections to the monolithic WT attitude.

  His wife, really a diehard JW, was quite shaken by Jonestown. She actually made this comment to me - "you know, James, I kind of see your point about the mind control issues. There actually are a lot of things we do as JWs which are quite cult-like."

  Of course, it did not stop her for one second in turning on me when I later left for good. And, of course, for most witlesses (at least the ones I knew) - they just called it "another sign of the times" -
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  MeneMene

  Jonestown was the very first thing that made me realize the WTS was a cult.

  There was a very long article in the newspaper. It so impressed me that I kept it and read it several times picking out all the similarities. So many things in that article sounded just like the WTS.
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  NewYork44M

  I remember the jim Jones event well. He lived in the town I grew up an even went to the same highschool where I graduated. When this happened there was a lot of local coverage.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones_%28cult_leader%29

  I remember when we were selling placing the Awake with the Jonetown coverage one sister in the congregation attempted to place the mag with a Jim Jones relative. I was not that old when this went down, but I don't remember any discussions relating the massacre to the witnesses. The difference was that we had the truth and Jim Jones was a cult leader. DUH!
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  james_woods

  I guess you have to already have a little of a questioning mind before an event like this wakes you up. I remember being just amazed that most of the dubs never even gave it a thought.

  But for a few of us - the comparison was very real: Jim Jones says "drink your koolaide" . Watchtower Society says "don't take a blood transfusion even if your legs are both cut off above the knees".

  Now - for the younger ones: Did Waco and the Branch Davidians have any effect of the JW populace? I was long ago gone from it when this one went down.
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  mkr32208

  I was born in 1975 so I was a bit young to remember jonestown. I DO remember Waco but I don't remember anything specifically being said... I seem to remember my father (elder) saying something along the lines of "that's what the government will try to do to KH's during the great trib..." But i could be remembering it wrong.
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  hamsterbait

  One chilling thought comes back every time I think of Jonestown:

  The JW blood and transplant bans have killed tens of thousands whereas Jonestown only managed nine hundred.

  HB
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  Wasanelder Once

  I do remember it. The news reports were impressively overwhelming. The death and waste of life just because of some whack job was chilling. I couldn't understand the attraction to the fool. I guess desperate people will swallow anything if it gets them out of the ghetto. The whole kool-aid thing was surreal. I guess many were fooled at first that it was just another drill, till the guns came out and enforced the drinking procedure. Eek! W.Once
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  RollerDave

  I was a little kid, and unaware it had happened and my older brother DF came in and asked my if I wanted to buy some land in Guyana, good for farming because it's pre-fertilized.
  
  I was puzzled, and mom elbowed him and said that it wasn't funny. I found out later what the story was and was horrified.
  
  I am not sure if he was demeaning the victims for being members of a competing cult, or being stupid, or for the idea that predominated our area that the victims were mostly black.
  
  With him, it could have been any or all of those things that made them so dehumanized that he felt free to walk around saying the most demeaning and horrible things about them, all the while being in a cult HIMSELF!
  
  sadly remembering,
  
  RD
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  tijkmo

  i remember it as a teen.

  recently i saw a documentary on it which was very informative.

  i am using some footage in a song of mine called liars and fools.- all about sects and cults etc
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  AK - Jeff

  Never fazed me! It is huge to me now in looking at the similarities - but at the time I just thought how much it proved that 'Christendom' was all under the Devil's control.

  Jeff