by Crisis of Conscience 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Dear EYZ,
In the scripture Peter asks "WHOM would we go away to Lord " , as he was asked are you leaving ME ?
I told a Witness who asked me the WT's twisted "Where should we go.." (which doesn't even follow the NWT) that I have not left Jesus, I haven't gone away in the scriptural sense. He did not reply.
Confuzzled said "they all goose-step to the same script" great phrase, and so frighteningly true.
for a large number of JWNers
it seems the answer is based on
our being unwilling to be disillusioned
about what the world has to offer in
terms of our development as humans...
"just about anywhere but there"
the b0rg wants its adherents to believe
that investing in one's "self" is a sin, so
an advanced education, a good job or
anything that develops the GENUINE
personality is an anathema in their
culture serving to make the timid and
the tenuous JW afraid to even consider
where/what/whom lies beyond the
dr0ne mindset
Thanks Wobble....yes that was John 6:67,68
Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [a]
I remember them always using that scripture as a warning to anyone who might think there was another path other than the Organization.
Chickpea...I like your comment...I was just thinking this same thing the other day when I was admiring many of my coworkers as I listened to them in a discussion at a staff meeting we were in. They were able to express their own ideas confidently and independently without apology or needing the approval of someone else. I realized that much of my unsureness about things comes from always having had a script to go off of...always having had prepackeged answers for every situation already provided for me. It seems like I spent my life looking up everything I needed to think about, in the societies publications.
WOW!! Thanks for the comments everybody. Sorry I couldn't respond quicker but I didn't have access to my "secret posting" station. LOL
I acknowledge people's comments about the real question in the past being "to whom?". But in the JW world, it is definitely more of a location thing.
It just seems so hopeless that people feel this way. The part that strikes me the most is to make one believe that happiness does not exist outside of the confines of the org. Or should I say "true" happiness.
The comments about how an abuser will use the same type of reasoning were right on point. I made a mental point of that. Too bad people still won't open their eyes.
CoC
It occurs to me that for many, religious indoctrination of one form or another starts very early on. Even if one does switch religion at some point, the original assumptions and programming don't necessarily change much, if at all.
As OnTheWayOut mentioned earlier - the assumption is often that there is a 'True Religion' out there somewhere,'I just need to find it' or 'God' will show it to me. Unless one can step outside tihs framework and think critically it seems to me to be easy, even perhaps unavoidable, that a person would end up back at the beginning of the circular thinking. Unless the fundamental assumptions can be challenged progress will be difficult, if not impossible.
As OMG mentioned, WT does a good job of poisoning the well as far as other religions are concerned, so unless it is possible to break out of the circular reasoning I can see how difficult it can be for a person to shake off such a carefully crafted and medacious strategy as the JW teachings.
Once out, for whatever reason, one has an opportunity to rationally consider the full picture, and these days there is a great deal of information around to help that process. I suspect that many react fearfully and grab for the nearest religion that matches their programming to fill the void. It is clear though that at least some do not, and remain outide orgnised religion as either atheists, agnostics or 'spiritual' and that others go back into orgnaised eligion of one form or another but with perhaps a more balance view.
BTTT
BUMP!!
