Was there ever a GOOD time to be a JW?

gaiagirl

Considering the history of the "organization", and how beliefs, practices and attitudes have changed through time, was there ever any time that a "International Bible Student" or JW was relatively MORE enlightened or had MORE freedoms than members of other religions? Or have they always been enslaved to one set of superstitious beliefs or another, to a greater degree than most other religions?

drew sagan

Like many religious movements based on apocalyptic speculation, the early days must have been exciting. The picketing, the conventions, radio stations, campaigns, ect.

What I find especially interesting is that the Watchtower seems to think it can recreate the excitement of the 1920's-1950's by simply telling people that they should be excited. You can't force that level of enthusiasm on people, mainly because it's spontaneous. It's of the moment, determined by history. I am actually quite surprised the Watchtower hasn't really caught on to the differences between the 1920's Watchtower and the 2008 Watchtower. There was a reason people were more excited back then and it's worth their while to figure out why.

OUTLAW

If you read WBT$ History..You will find they were Crazy`s from the begining.....Nut`s I tell you! Crazy Eyes .....Right out of they`re Frigg`n minds!!.. Woohoo 2 ................. Laughing Mutley ...OUTLAW

drew sagan

You will find they were Crazy`s from the begining.....Nut`s I tell you!.....Right out of they`re Frigg`n minds!

Yeah, but at least they were actually active in their crazy back in the day. Now they just make you sit through hours of boring sales meetings! Where's the excitement?

Jeremy C

Adolescence can be a good time to be a JW; as it was with me. The JW lifestyle - as austere as it was - did provide a rich social fabric that was satisfying in some respects.

Giving talks and helping out on construction projects did provide a gratifying sense of "being a part of" that other youths did not experience.

This phase of life allowed me to go along with the program, receiving approval and congratulations for my fine conduct - which was a boon to a low self esteemed youth. No critical thinking skills were necessary. Simply read, retain, and repeat was all that was necessary to be a good Watchtower Witness.

Entering adulthood is where the cognitive dissonance began to emerge and haunt me as I attempted to be an apologist for teachings I could not fully reconcile. Attaining the skills of reasoning, logic, and critical thinking is what began to make my JW life miserable.

It was like eating a horrible meal your friend has just cooked and sitting there trying to convince him / her that it tastes good.

halcyon

I was just reading a book called The Story of Christianity; it's written like a textbook and one of those easily found in the front foyer of Borders or B&N. In the chapter called "The Nineteenth Century: A Time of Fervent Faith", this first paragraph caught my eye:

"The 19th century was not an age only of unbelief. As enormous as were the advances of various atheisms and scepticisms towards the centre of Western culture, an equally powerful (and numerically far stronger) tendency towards renewed religious devotion also arose in those years. It was a time of great expansion for many churches, and of consolidation and revival for others. It was, for the greater Christian world, a century of faith. Perhaps the most enormous development in Protestant circles in the 19th century was the rapid growth of a kind of piety that had first appeared in England in the 18th century and that soon migrated to North America: evangelicalism. This was a movement associated with no specific denomination and not bound -- after its first few decades, at least -- to any standard theology. Its emphasis was upon the personal experience of conversion, repentence, redemption by God's grace and sanctification. Its typical expression was a certain type of worship marked by palpable fervour, and its chief emphasis was upon the cultivation of a life of prayer, a personal sense of assurance in Christ as one's saviour and evangelization."

(side note: the term "evangelical" originates in the Greek word evangelion, meaning "the good news," or, more commonly, the "gospel." )

I suppose to live in the days of the "palpable fervour" was exciting ....

What about the years in the earlier part of the 20th century where people could just see someone else out there, witnessing, and they could say, "hey, I want to do that with you!" and they'd join in and be considered a witness as of that day? I imagine the lifestyle restrictions were few at that time.

Cheetos

Yeah, back in 1970 it was fun telling people that ARMAGEDON was going to open a crack in the earth and the shit would hit the fan in 1975.

Honesty

Was there ever a GOOD time to be a JW?

Personally, it was when I walked out of the kingdom hall and never returned.

WTWizard

How about the day before they started the crap in the first place.

IronClaw

For me it was the early 70's. Lets face it, we all believed that it was the truth, and that the end was in sight. So we all did our best to please ~~God~~ the WTS. After 1975 things just started to unravel. I still loved the Dunkin Donut stops during service though.

The Claw

Was there ever a GOOD time to be a JW?

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