by BonaFide 20 Replies latest jw friends
Your topic reminded me of a book that explains what keeps the JW in the Watchtower Organization...and why. The book is called, Captives of a Concept, by Don Cameron. I'm sure many on here have read it.
It's an excellent book, and explains that it is the CONCEPT-- that the WTS is God's true organization on earth -- that keeps the JW CAPTIVE to it.
Narkissos, I didnt notice that I wrote that "Even foreign branches are clean." I don't want to stereotype. The reason I wrote that is because in the countries in South America that I have been to, and served in for years, the countries were extremely dirty, really bad. Everyone throws trash on the ground, the walls in their houses are pretty gross, yes some of it is poverty, but some of it is just bad habits.
But the branches are always super-clean.
I will re-think that though, thanks for pointing it out.
As far as the other comments go, yes, some people are in because of the concept that we have the truth. I think also that some just follow the routine, and keep going without a thought that it might be wrong.
BF
All great comments. I think those who stay in even though they know that it is a dangeous and destructive cult suffer from something that was experienced by Patty Hearst--Stockholm syndrome-Watchtower style.
BF,
What keeps them in is Mind Control.
Everything else is small potatoes.
There is loaded gun pointed at their head, telling them that they'll lose God, their family and their friends, should they leave.
-LWT
I don't view myself as "staying in" because I am not a believer anymore. My service time is mostly faked, I go out in the car groups to bring up subjects to help them. I do nothing other than the minimum. And my goal is different.
I don't feel sorry for the Watchtower, I feel sorry for those stuck in it that are so unhappy and don't know why.
BF
There are those big buildings in Brooklyn, the huge Watchtower sign, that big clock facing Manhattan. Everyone in Bethel has those haircuts, clothes are pressed. Everyone is at Morning Worship. Brothers that have been in Bethel for 30 years are conducting the text. Everything is organized and clean.
I don't know why this is, but the structure itself makes you think it must be right, it must be the true religion. Look at that cleanliness, it's amazing
I'll speak for myself here and just give you my opinion. There is absolutely nothing that you have listed that would attract me to the WTBTS or make me think that it is the true religion. Those big buildings in Brooklyn are hideous and old. The huge Watchtower sign is tacky and very antiquated. The haircuts are dorky looking. The pressed clothes make me feel like I can't breathe. .. It is rigid and everyone is scheduled like clockwork. I feel trapped and imprisoned just writing about it. Organized and clean- that's not real life. Real life is messy and dirty and unpredictable. Organized and clean is a turnoff to me. Nothing about that makes it seem right to me. That cleanliness is not amazing;.. It's a coverup for all that's wrong with that cult. The lies, the deception, the fakeness, the rules, the legalism, the torturous treatment of children, the total lack of love.
If people are attracted to what you have listed, then I feel very sorry for them. I, for one, was a born-in and the things you listed are exactly why I left.
Go to any Funeral..The corpse is always Polite,Clean and Well Dressed..........Kingdom Halls are for the Spirtually Dead..........Jehovah`s Witness`s gave up thier lives years ago to the WBT$.....They are the Walking Dead..They just have`nt been buried yet......................................................................OUTLAW
Scarred for life, very interesting comment. This forum is great because it makes you think.
I am glad you got out, I am glad I saw the truth, but my point is that for so many, the routine, and the outward appearance of everything being clean and neat is what gives the illusion that all is OK in Witnessville.
But's its not
BF
To my son....
"Because of the shunning policy you do not know if the person on the platform speaking to you is a true believer or an Apostate trapped in the religion because he/she loves his/her family and doesn't want to lose them!, and this holds true whether the speaker is a 6 year old from your local cong. or a 60 year old travelling speaker from New York."
Silence............
I am still waiting on an answer for that one.
Reniaa??? What have you got to say???? Do you trust that everyone on your platforms are troooooo believers?
Cheers
Chris
BF,
I was joking on the "stereotype" thing.
But maybe I should explain what I meant by "clean vs. foreign". I think wherever and however we live we always construe our usual surroundings as a kind of "safe" zone. What differs feels strange and threatening; the more different the stranger and the more threatening. Think of a JW's growing uneasiness at the prospect of attending, say, a Catholic church, a Pentecostal assembly, or a voodoo ceremony (which of course are "home" to others). Not the reasons he might explain, but the underlying anxiety he cannot explain.
Now I feel part of the role of the ancient "clean vs. unclean" ritual distinctions was to culturally express and define a similar and common "safe" zone for everyday life; but in an intercultural setting it became also if not primarily an identity marker (us vs. them : strangers, foreign, alien).
Back to the relative cleanliness (and order, organisation) of Bethels, KH, and the JW system in general (e.g. suits and ties). I think it is very important for a subculture to look "cleaner" and "tidier" (not only in the literal way: moral, sacral and physical senses of cleanliness are still tied-in in the back of our minds) than the culture at large. It makes the newcomer feel "dirty," unfit, unworthy, and in need to conform. I remember my uneasiness when I was called to Bethel after being a pioneer in popular countryside and industrial working areas. It seemed more cleanliness/holiness than I could take. Fortunately this feeling quickly disappears once you're inside. However there remains a fuzzy notion of the "uncleanness" of the outside world which makes you cringe from getting out.
One verse I particularly enjoyed on the exit route was Acts 10:28: "God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean."
