After shopping at Costco for years and years, I just realized I don't even check the prices anymore to compare them to those at other stores. Somewhere along the way I got into the habbit of assuming that they always have the best prices and best products. It dawned on me that it's sort of like that with being a Witness especially if you were raised as that way. You just accept anything that you are told to believe without checking it out to see if they have the facts straight. Everything is pre-packaged...user friendly...and you don't have to think about it. The Congregation I attended has split 4 times in the last 20 years. Only one couple that I can recall, were actually found in the door to door work, the rest were "born in" Witnesses that grew up and had families of their own or who moved to the area from another congregation. It seems to me, most of the growth in the organization is from Witnesses having babies that grew up and became Witnesses as well. I would venture to say, most of them don't bother to check into things for themselves, or even listen that closely to the talks and assemblies anymore. It's a way of life more than a belief system. All the changes in the beliefs and colateral damage I've seen to almost every Witness family over my lifetime as a Witness, makes it possible to realize how something is amiss with this organization. I remember when I was a kid back in the pre 1975 days, some people's bible studies used to go to the library to verify things for themselves. These were the ones that took the longest to "come in" if they did at all. Those who became Witnesses as adults did so out of their own choice. If things didn't work out for them (ie Armegeddon didn't come in 1975) they had some social skills and still had some connections to fall back on. The ones that were "born in" are the ones that suffer the most. Not having lived through the history of the organization, they don't see the full scope of things. I had no idea of what it must have been like for the Witness that came before me back in 1914 and each subsequent decade that saw the societies predicitons of Armegeddon fail. This next group of Witnesses comming up now, are second and third generation Witnesses who likely don't have any family outside the organization. Their personal histories are so entrenched in the Organizaton, for them, leaving would be social suicide.
Being a long time Witness is like shopping at Costco
by exwhyzee 19 Replies latest jw friends
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NiceDream
Excellent analogy
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The Oracle
let me get this straight.
are you saying Costco doesn't have the best prices?
The Oracle
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changeling
Great post! :)
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beksbks
Hehe I always check!!! I compare ounce prices!
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MrMonroe
I agree with you. I was one of the few who were "contacted at the doors", began studying the Live Forever book and got baptised. The first couple of years were actually good (though I see now how much of a zombie I was already becoming). The next five years were miserable but I persisted, the following 12 years were even more miserable and my wife and I finally came to the realization that we could actually just walk away. And so we did.
In all my time in the religion I know that it was very unusual for someone to actually join the religion rather than be raised in it. Although I considered myself studious while I was in it, I was only studying what the WTS told me. Only at the end, and afterwards, did I actually start reading books by Franz, Penton and others and then went back to reading the stuff Russell and Rutherford wrote, and later delved into more recent WTs and read them with a completely different view. I wonder, "Did I really read that stuff? How could I not have seen through it?"
The recent comments by people going to the current DC are quite revealing -- people sitting with glazed eyes through the final talk as the new interpretation of the generation teaching is provided. No one is actually listening! Of those raised in the religion, NONE take any objective view of what they're being taught and all just plod along, not realizing how fraudulent the whole teaching is and not realizing what freedom there is outside this control system. Many don't even realize how much they are being controlled and would deny it if confronted with the evidence.
I go through stages of feeling a bit sorry for Witnesses, but for the most part I'm not. They all have the responsibility of examining their own beliefs and lifestyle (as the WTS tells them to do!!) and deciding who is control of their lives and why. They simply choose not to. The September 1 WT article on deception (page 10) should be a wake up call to them all, but for them it is easier to be part of the pack and follow lamely as they're told what to do next.
I find it very frustrating that former close friends in the org pity us for leaving. One condemned my wife for being a hypocrite for not going to the memorial after we left. She said she told another friend we'd left and that friend cried. That friend, needless to say, has done nothing to contact us to have a chat. Witnesses are too well trained by the fear and suspicion about "apostates" to do that. In the end, it's not so much sad as sick.
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metatron
This is an excellent post. I would have said "Walmart" but I haven't been to Costco yet. (!)
We had the C.O. a while back and I had to step out 'cause I just couldn't take it anymore. The lies, the halftruths, the utter nonsense he comes up with and the dolts just eat it up. It's no wonder why they are such victims of every scam that comes by - they have no critical thinking ability.
metatron
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thetrueone
It's no wonder why they are such victims of every scam that comes by - they have no critical thinking ability.
Very true and valid point.
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startingover
Great analogy! I've noticed the same thing, as long as you are captive of the concept that you are in an organization directed by god you feel no need to check the "prices".
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