Expecting Armageddon - Dissonance in Action

by jgnat 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  jgnat

  I am reading "Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy" edited by Jon R. Stone. I am just on the introduction, but already I see there is plenty of evidence that Festinger's thesis is correct (at least in broad sweeps). When faced with an embarrassing contradiction in their beliefs, people go to extreme, sometimes very illogical measures, to reduce thier discomfort.

  Here's an example from the book about another cult, BUPC:

  "..unlike their enthusiastic leaders, who continuet to prophesy doom despite repeated failures to predict exact endtime catastrophes, BUPC members had become increasingly desensitized to repeated endtime predictions and preferred instead to continue expecting the end in theory while advancing their Baha'i faith in practice."

  Sound familiar? It reminds me of the Witness shuffle. The slow dance of evangelism that everyone secretly knows is a complete waste of time. But the social aspects, well. The coffee breaks almost make it all worthwhile, right?
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  compound complex

  Thanks for this, jgnat. I was trying to remember "disconfirmation" and the name that went with it, i.e., Leon Festinger.

  Thanks for ringing the bell.

  Looks like a worthy read ...

  CoCo
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  carla

  Let us know what you think of the rest of the book if you have time, thanks.
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  Satanus

  It invovlves the bahais? Do tell.
  
  S
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  jgnat

  Oh, the book mentions dozens of different end-time groups. I can't repeat it all here. Get the book. More on BUPC:

  http://www.bupc.org/
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  Sunnygal41

  Sound familiar? It reminds me of the Witness shuffle. The slow dance of evangelism that everyone secretly knows is a complete waste of time. But the social aspects, well. The coffee breaks almost make it all worthwhile, right?

  hit the nail right on the head, JG. that's all being a witness is about anyways, the sense of community and social life that it gives you, just like most churches.
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  cameo-d

  Baha'u'llah is the founder of the Baha'i Faith. He fulfills prophecy as the Second Coming of Christ (Mark 8:38). Just as Jesus the Christ did not come fulfilling the peoples expectation, neither does the Second Christ, Baha'u'llah, appear as the people might imagine.

  And all these religions, with all their different beliefs, claim to be the only truth and have divine rights to god.

  I am so ready for the world to be over this, get past it, and lets get on to productive things. All these religions don't seem to change anyone as far as their actions. It just all seems to cause more diversity and debates.

  Is "end-times" a death of the planet...life not being able to return from brink of extention and too many contaminants in soil and air?

  or is end times the death of religion, political, and financial systems only?
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  jgnat

  Cameo, the book suggests that in Western culture at least, anticipating the destruction of the current world followed by the establishment of a paradise ideal, is a centuries-old obsession. The editor suggests that we've influenced a good part of the third world with the armageddon ideal. Africa also has had it's own share of armageddon cults.

  Similarly regarding our propensity to hang with each other. We are communal beings. We may put ribbons and bows on it and call it religion, but I think people would congregate and set up rules of community regardless of any existing institution. Rather than fight our nature, I figure we educate ourselves to choose healthy institutions over the oppressive ones.