I found this on a pro-witness site http://pastorrussell.blogspot.com/2008/07/seeing-onself-as-victim-denied.html. Do you think this is a fair assesment of "Apostates"? I think he fails to see the whole picture.
Apostasy
By Nathan Unger, 2003
Because of strict adherence to Biblical tenets, Jehovah's Witnesses operate at a moderate to high level of tension against their surrounding environment. This has caused some to push for change in areas where there is ubiquitous community opposition to certain doctrines in an effort to reduce such operational tension. The same is often true of an individual who places greater authoritative weight upon secular sources of information when this data challenges Biblical inerrancy and concord. However, where no change occurs, and the mindset of an individual remains fixated upon communal unanimity rather than the greater responsibilities inherent in obedience to the Christian faith, there often occurs a strong tendency to feel victimized by those taking the lead among us.
As a result of seeing oneself as a victim denied, there can occur a powerful drive toward disaffection and apostasy. As is almost inevitably the case, there is a great need on the part of a leave-taker to validate their oppositional stance, and the victim-victimizer scenario greatly assists a person in justifying their course of action. Blame shifting may therefore temporarily relieve a person of accountability, but it will only succeed in sanctioning a person's actions so long as their position is given greater exposure over that of their (former) religious fraternity. Thus, the importance placed upon maintaining a heightened level of awareness toward the apostate's unique view works to reinforce the reasons for their departure by maintaining the consequences of blame and continuing to scrutinize it in the object of hostility. It is not difficult to see then why an apostate so adamantly rejects information that contradicts the typecast that they have worked so hard to establish. Bryan Wilson, Oxford Professor of sociology observes the apostate mindset similarly:
"Sociologists and other investigators into minority religions have thus come to recognize a particular constellation of motives that prompt those who apostasize in the stance they adopt relative to their previous religious commitment and their more recent renunciation of it. Such a person needs to establish his credibility both with respect to his earlier allegiance to a religious body and his subsequent relinquishment of that commitment. To vindicate himself he needs to explain his volte-face." Further endorsement is seemingly found when an apostate locates a support coalition that corroborates a person's disparate or despondent view, which in turn opens new hostilities forged as a result of collective negative experiences. Consequently, apostasy is then empowered and grows exponentially as the individual continually finds reasons to authenticate the rationale of their departure. Part of this rationale is often seen in the "atrocity story" which is tweaked and recounted through various media, and carped upon by those all too willing to overextend their trust when it comes to subjective discourse. However, the "atrocity story" is almost always rejected by sociologists who study the apostate phenomena today.
Perhaps to placate their own sensibilities, but more usually to maintain the semblance of a devoted faith, the apostate must of necessity attempt to convince others that their motives for disaffection were sound and that their new credo is scriptural. Yet, in doing so they must conspicuously evade the clear Biblical injunctions against dissent and contrary expository views. (compare Romans 16:17; 1 Timothy 1:3) Paradoxically, in attempting to establish themselves as providers of spiritual edification, an apostate is forced to break the very commands that a Christian is sworn to keep – commands that their former brethren still keep.
By thus breaking God's explicit commands the apostate commits an act of betrayal against Jehovah and must therefore confront the fallout of their indiscretion. And like any sin, the inevitable fallout is the separation of the sinner from God. However, such thinking is rarely entertained by the apostate due to the angst at having to confront their own error. They must therefore reconstruct their shattered experience in such a way that it favours a new ministry rather than a repentant one.
This is in keeping with the fact that much apostate information is presented under the guise of Christian love with a view to helping others appreciate a clearer truth, yet in actuality the apostate feels impelled to propagate their dissent in order to validate their new self image and fortify their religious convictions. Of course, the welcome reception that such information may receive only grants further recognition to an often aberrant viewpoint, which in turn continues the cycle of disaffection.
As a result, the apostate is able to exploit those who misunderstand the scriptural reasons for the operational tension that exists between Jehovah's Witnesses and the moral majority, and subsequently uses this ignorance to their own advantage. By Nathan Unger, 2003
Apostasy "seeing oneself as a victim denied"
by whereami 16 Replies latest jw friends
-
whereami
-
The-Borg
"Operational Tension"
BULLSHIT
-
Quandry
I think he is being disobedient to Mother and getting involved in the internet.
They always feel they are above the "rules."
-
Honesty
Nathan's an idjut.
-
SirNose586
He lost me at the first sentence, sorry. Not a good sign when you can't even begin an essay in a good manner....
-
Darklighter
This ridiculous joke of an essay assumes the "fact" that JWs so "obviously" have the "truth" and their interpretations can't possibly be incorrect. It's the same ol' line "the only reasons for apostasy are selfish ones". Judging by the tone of the letter, and the fact that he's even involved in JW apologetics on the internet (disobeying the org!), he'll soon be an apostate himself if he isn't already.
-
daniel-p
This guy thinks a good vocabulary equals logic. It doesn't.
-
jamiebowers
This just another a**hole who is trying to deny the true victims in the organization. Apostates couldn't possibly have been motivated to become such, because they were abused children, battered wives or just part of the oppressed rank and file. Oh, certainly not. Apostates are just weak people who couldn't hack serving the true God, the WTB&TS. What a bunch of bull**it. This guy's arrogance transcends that of the rank and file only by using a better vocabulary.
-
VoidEater
Allow me to reframe the essay (if you read this, please ask yourself: Do I spend too much time at the computer?):
Because of specious renderings of Bible text, Jehovah's Witnesses operate at a moderate to high level of tension against their surrounding environment. This has caused some to push for change in areas where there is ubiquitous community opposition to certain doctrines in an effort to bring sanity to constrictive Pharisiacal laws. The same is often true of an individual who places greater authoritative weight upon critical thinking when this results in challenging inbred, calcified rules and abdication of personal responsibility. However, where no change occurs, and the mindset of an individual remains fixated upon developing their own conscience rather than the responsibilities inherent in goose-stepping to self-appointed instruments of God's will, there often occurs a strong tendency to become aware of cognitive dissonance.
As a result of seeing oneself as a self-accountable individual, there can occur a powerful drive toward stating the obvious: that the Emperor wears no clothes. As is almost inevitably the case, there is a great need on the part of a leave-taker to acknowledge the facts of a case, and the victim-victimizer scenario greatly assists the organization to cast aspersions against the recovering individual. Blame shifting may therefore temporarily relieve the organization of apparent guilt, but it will only succeed as long as those that remain attached to the orgnaization remain in a trance. Thus, the importance placed upon maintaining a heightened level of propaganda and misdirection works to maintain a status quo by maintaining a hypnotic background sussuration preventing those left behind from clear apprehension and contemplation of the actual matters needing to be examined. It is not difficult to see then why an organziation so adamantly rejects information that contradicts the fantasy that they have worked so hard to establish. Many have noted the way such organizations as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society seem compelled to strike out at and discredit their critics.
Further denunciation is seemingly found when those loyal to the organization locate a platform to parrot illogical invective, which in turn reinforces the group-think trance with an esprit de corps of imagined discrimination. Consequently, dogma is then empowered and grows exponentially as the individual continually finds repeated hypnotic catchphrases to authenticate the rationale of their isolation from the greater world of reasoning. Part of this rationale is often seen in the "miracle story" which is tweaked and recounted through various media, and carped upon by those all too willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to approval of a parent-replacement figure. However, the "miracle story" is almost always rejected by anyone with a firm grip on reality today.
Perhaps to placate their own sensibilities, but more usually to maintain the semblance of a devoted faith, the organization must of necessity attempt to convince others that their motives for denunciating apostates were sound and that their credo is scriptural. Yet, in doing so they must conspicuously evade the clear Biblical injunctions against slandering their critics. (compare Luke 3:14; Psalms 109:3) Paradoxically, in attempting to establish themselves as providers of spiritual edification, an organization is forced to break the very commands that a Christian is sworn to keep – commands to bear the fruits of the Lord in all cases.
By thus breaking God's explicit commands the organization commits an act of betrayal against Jehovah and must therefore confront the fallout of their indiscretion. And like any sin, the inevitable fallout is the separation of the organization from God. However, such thinking is rarely entertained by those left in the organization due to the angst at having to confront their own error - in favor of pretending to have said nothing, or to reframe past inaccuracies in terms of "New Light". They must therefore reconstruct their shattered reputation in such a way that it favours a rehashed doctrine rather than a repentant one.
This is in keeping with the fact that much organizational dogma is presented under the guise of Christian love with a view to helping others appreciate a clearer truth, yet in actuality the organization feels impelled to propagate their past mistakes in order to validate their continued preying upon the meek and fortify their religious convictions. Of course, the welcome reception that such information may receive only grants further recognition to an often aberrant viewpoint, which in turn continues the cycle of waking up, and the call to bring attention to continuing error.
As a result, the orgnaization is able to exploit those who misunderstand the scriptural reasons for the operational tension that exists between Jehovah's Witnesses and the moral majority, and subsequently uses this ignorance to their own advantage.
-
whereami
touché.. Void Eater.