Why can some question and others not

by joelbear 44 Replies latest jw friends

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  joelbear

  Yoyo brings us back to the original question in my post by saying:

  My goal is simply to make it through to a new system of things. That's it. Many questions will be answered then.

  Joel adds:

  This is the heart of the point. Yoyo gladly admits imperfections, inaccuracies and/or incomplete answers to questions. Yet Yoyo is willing to wait for his answers. Stop denigrating Yoyo for this. It is his choice. The point of this post is, what makes Yoyo different from us.

  I do not accept the answer Yoyo is stupid.
  I do not accept the answer Yoyo is a coward.
  I do not simply accept the answer, well Yoyo is under cult control.

  There is something about Yoyo and others that make them willing to leave questions unanswered while there is something about us that makes us unwilling to do so. That is the question. What is the difference?

  Joel
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  concerned mama

  What a fascinating and intuitive thread!
  As an outsider looking in, I have no relevent insights into JW life. I only know that with any group, or religion or culture with its own strong rules there is a state of unity and belonging. For some people there is a need to feel that they are part of something "right". That as long as they follow they rules they are "good" is vital to their feelings of security and safety. The stronger the rules, the stronger the sense of righteousness in being part of it.

  I don't feel we can underestimate how important it is to "belong" and how terribly hard it is to change who you belong to. Often much of a person's vision of themself is tied into the group they belong to, so changing the group involves a huge evolution in your whole vision of "self".

  On a much milder scale, look at the cliques that teenagers form. For some, the security of belonging is more important thhan questioning the behavior or values of the clique.

  So, I have no answers, but the security of belonging may be a factor.
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  LDH

  Ginny and Waiting I agree.

  My personal opinion is that people like my parents have far too much invested in the WBTS to try to second guess them now!

  For myself, being raised in the 'spoof'--I had no choice. Like many other youngsters I was assimilated at birth. It wasn't until I geographically moved away from my childhood home, and had to start associating with NEW JWs that I started to think.

  Yes, up until that point I was able to rationalize "Well it's just my congregation that's so messed up." Then when I moved, I tried to find a new congregation. Went to several. Since I didn't know anyone, I couldn't rationalize their actions. So I sat looking around at all these dumbasses in their Sunday Finest thinking that they're worshipping the Grand Creator. When really they're pawns for a publishing company.

  Now take my parents for example. They're rabidly anti-apostate. I mentioned to my sister, as hard as I'm trying, I'm not able to put a chink in the WT Armor. Why? I told her, as hard as it was for me to break free, I had no choice in the matter. They were full grown adults when they sold their souls to a publishing company, and their children's soon after.

  THAT's why THEY could never question. The answer would be too much for them to bear.

  Lisa
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  Trotafox

  Joel:

  To get back to intent of the thread, most likely the answer is FEAR , CONFUSION, and INSECURITY. Others can just plain HAVE A QUESTIONNING NATURE.

  Some are afraid to question because they are afraid of the results. It can upset their apple cart and then what do they do. It's safer, more secure, and less of a hassle to stay and just keep plugging away then to have the courage to question and act on their findings. It takes courage to become a Witness (when you're not born into it), but it takes even more courage to leave.

  There are others, however, that just plain do not trust easily and are in the habit of questionning everything. You might wonder why someone who is like that would even agree to enter the organization because if they did any research, they probably wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. This happened to me. I usually question everything but in this instance, I did not. Why? Probably because my best friend(?) of 26 years was the one who indoctrinated me. I blame myself, however, for acting out of character and not investigating outside the organization. Believe me I asked plenty of questions but they were always answered from the society's literature. That seemed to satisfy me and that's exactly what they counted on. I played right into their hands! Me angry...you bet...at myself. I hope one day to get it out of my system.

  Trot

  "Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love".... Aristotle. You can love and obey Christ without intervention from an organization.
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  termite 35

  why some question and others don't ? I think everyone questions, but most choose to ignore their own doubts in favour of 'religious unity'.It's a false self deluding fantasy of unity that they need SO badly to help them to cling to the belief that they are God's org.So many witnesses that i have ever had deep honest conversations with have told me so many doubts (some i had'nt even thought of and merely added to my own doubts that i'd found 'it')there are so many out there ignoring so much. Me, well i was finding it so hard to believe the HYPOCRACY in the cong i went to; and when the probs were swept under the carpet again and my integrity crapped on i decided to sod off and so i did. and here i am .Perhaps we're the ones who were told to question and took it LITERALLY!!!!!!!!!

  "Only two things are infinite- the universe and human stupidity, and i'm not too sure about the universe."