by Perry 53 Replies latest jw friends
Perry, I also welcome you and commend you for your post. I salute you! We share your pain.
Doug
FreePeace
"The World is my country, and to do good, my religion." --Thomas Paine
TruthQuest: http://beam.to/truthquest
Who Am I? -How to Reinvent Yourself After Leaving the WTS
May I muse sociological perspectives with you at some time please?
Very good to see you here Perry, looking forward to sharing company.
Have a good 'un this week!!
Unfortunately my alma mater was extremely liberal and slowed the process a bit
I'm just curious what you mean by that?
Welcome to the board Perry!! What an eloquent first post. Something you said really struck a chord with me. You mentioned not knowing how people could live within the tenants the religion sets out! I completely relate to that. I don't know how I survived, even though I "chose" to be where I was. I feel like at the ripe old age of forty-two, I am just beginning to live. Better late than never.
TW
Six,
When I say that the university I attended was liberal, technically what I mean is that it taught secular humanism as the basis or template to test knowledge. I didn't know any better and never even heard of the term until I was out of college.
Secular humanism basically says that we are the center of experience and reality and that we are basically good. The reason we do bad things from time to time is because of the environment, social structure, ineffective government etc. - No need for biblical direction with that view. Government is highly prized. And the family is seen as fluid, its definition very relaxed, and really more of a nuisance to better world government, its true aim. This is the world view we see permeated throughout western culture and avidly taught in our academic institutions.
The WTBS teaches a similar world view in that it teaches the organization (governing body) is the center of reality, it gives lip service to the idea of fallen flesh but teaches that the real reason that we do bad things from time to time is because we are not keeping up with new light (governing body), not heeding the warnings, not doing enough personal study, field service... etc. This world view leaves out the institution of government altogether, though it must "do business" with it to survive. It cripples and minimizes the institution of family because it takes over many of the natural functions of family. How many times have we all went to a family member for some confidential solace and were met with a regurgitation of linguistic triggers used by the society. Words and phrases loaded with a psychological punch designed to threaten rather than comfort. Here's a few examples I'm sure will suffice.
1. "running ahead of the organization"
2. "personal study" - it's anything but personal
3. The use and definition of the word "Slave"
4. "independent thinking"
5. The word "truth" - how its used as a magical salve cure all
6 The word "world" or "worldly" - to describe a general concept of evil.
7. The very concept of "service" to our fellow man
The use of these terms (triggers) in normal family relationships allow family members to defer the emotional responsibility of parents, siblings, and children to the organization... effectively stealing its function - a place of refuge, comfort, acceptance and a low-risk environment to express deep affection. In short, it promotes the organization as the center.
An honest examination of the bible seems to present a much more balanced world-view. One where the institutions of government, family and religion are highly regarded as sacred and how they can all function together to maximize our happines and ability to live god-like lives. The bible describes each's function and puts limits on how much we are to allow each area to influence us. Briefly the biblical world view:
1. Says we are sinful by nature and do good things because we imitate God.
2. Christ is the center.
3. Family is a gift God has given us so we can practice and hone his qualities in a small unit and thereby have a greater chance of success. Family is an institution highly regarded by God and he gives us a lot of latitude in it, recoginizing its ability to make us feel strong, loved, and secure. God loves to give authority away whenever possible.
4. Religion is a tool used to congregate for the purpose of futher developing the fruitages of the spirit. As a tool it is not worshipped and given an identity. People are encouraged to be on the alert for abuses of authority within it. Our membership is based on its usefulness in our lives. Never are we to equate a social and authoritarian structure with God or Christ. That is idolatry. As a tool....say a hammer, if its broken it may be discarded. We are not to discard the building of the house of God though or the development of the fruitages of the spirit in our lives.
5. Government is a God ordained institution to:
a. provide justice
b. defense
c. order
d. its success is in relation to how closely it administers it duties in a christlike way.
e. it functions until Christ establishes his government...until then we are to do what we can for it while still keeping it in it's God ordained position.
It wasn't until I dated a young lady several months ago that it all came together for me. She went to a private christian school while growing up. She was constantly puzzzled by my quandries and loaned me her senior year textbook entitled, "Understanding The Times" by David A. Noebel
The book compares and contrasts three world views, Secular Humanism, Marxism and Leninism, and Biblical Christianity. It take each world view and applies it to the fields of Theology, Philosophy, Ethics,Biology, Psychology, Sociology, Law, Politics, Economics and History. It is a very through work and I highly reccommend reading it. It made me understand that I do have a choice in how I view the world and reality in general instead of just having on handed to me as the "truth".
Thank you Perry.
I really enjoyed your post.
Welcome.
Dino
It's just amazing to me how many young men examine the "truth" and discover its many flaws and outright lies and then - in the end - it's only a small straw that finally does it. For so many of us, me included, it's the beard issue that does it.
I've wondered a long time about that; the strangeness of it. I've come to this conclusion and I'd like to know if you (any of you) might share it.
In the beard issue comes together all the distortions in all the other issues with the organization that plague us. As you said, there really is no reason, no scriptural reason, to refuse beards in the congregation. But in order to enforce this totally organizational rule, it is necessary for the Borg to engage in coercion, distortion, lying, misrepresentation, power-plays, threats, and bullying. It has not the truth on its side.
I was told that the beard policy was "organizational" and when I asked where in the scriptures "organizational requirements" and the "conscience of the elders" could replace my own "bible-trained" conscience, there was no answer. Just as there is no answer for so many of the Borg's positions: on blood, on pedophilia, on a syncretistic approach to it's "truth."
Thus the beard issue perfectly concentrates, focuses, and illustrates all the man-made bullshit that informs most - if not all - the JWs teachings. In fact, the only thing I can think of that the JWs get right is the utter absence of a burning hell. But then, who needs a burning hell in the future, when we JWs were in a living hell now, especially when we were frustrated and "marked" each time we claimed the right to engage in the actual practice of the "freedom of the sons of God."
It's small wonder why after all the analyzing, the questioning, the searching, the discoveries of truth as opposed to the "traditions" of the men of the Borg, that for so many of us the beard issue is the final straw.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. (And be careful out there on New Year's Eve with all them amateur drinkers on the road.)
Francois
Hi Perry,
Thank you for taking the time to share your insights. This one is a keeper. I look forward to reading more of your posts!
Warm regards, laura
Hello, Perry. Glad you're here.
Very nice bio. Very nice outlook as well.
I just clicked on your thread a minute ago, so I'm coming a bit late to the discussion. There's a lot I could say about your post -- it's conjured up some questions and insights -- but I've enjoyed your dialog with Six. Like him, I feel as though I know you already. I look forward to your contributions to the discussions here. They are certain to be informative.
I do have a question, though, and perhaps with your background as a 4th generation Dub and your academic history, you have an answer.
I was raised in the truth since the time I was five in the early sixties. My mom was/is a very loyal dub, but she's softened her stance on some issues over the years. For example, whenever the family gets together now, she truly doesn't care who's-doing-what in the truth. We are now, after almost forty years, becoming the family we never were because of "the truth's" intrusion.
I'm... let's say, very inactive (not df'd or da'd but haven't been to a mtg in years, although my wife, step-son and daughter attend regularly). Like Six (and loads of other people), starting in the early 90s the Net helped me to 'examine my religion.' I cared little about all the theological arguments involving blood, cross/stake, 1914, etc.
I researched one question: if Jesus, a lover of truth and righteousness, came to examine his earthly temple (The International Bible Students) in 1918, what did he find? Then, finding what he found, would he be pleased and confer on this organization "all his earthly belongings"? I didn't like what I found but it was a good experience overall and I am at peace w/ the outcome.
All that said, my perspective of the WTS is very philosophical and it's more to the question I have for you. I see someone like you (and me, to an extent) who has come to see a greater range of REAL truth, but at what cost?
Your family has little contact with you. Your association with your brothers is nil. If you have kids, or if they have kids, contact with Uncle Perry is zero, and their lives will not be as rich as a result. Friends who you grew up w/ view you as a traitor against God. You and I both know the list of negatives that has resulted following your leaving 'the truth.'
My question: Your departure, you separation from the Organization... at the end of the day, is it worth it?
Peace, my friend.
tj
Perry, that last post was excellent! Very informative. You are obviously very bright, and that book you read sounds amazing. I might have to pick that up.
Teejay- I would just like to mention a few scritpures relating to your question (even though you weren't asking me!
"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel
will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them,persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
and also.....
34 Then he [Jesus] looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
Penn
