by stuckinarut2 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Oh man!
Seriously?
The April broadcast is so manipulative when it speaks about ENDURING.
The very premise makes witnesses feel burdened with a martyrdom and heavy hearted complex!
Now if a witness feels that they are actually enjoying life, or that they are not experiencing trials, they will change their mindset due to this broadcast!
It is as if they MUST feel burdened and downhearted in order to be a "faithful witness" like the broadcast implies....
And HAVE YOU HEARD THE CORNY MUSIC VIDEO.??????
That is it....they have lost their marbles......
The org will implode from stupidity I'm sure! (Well, I hope anyway)
It is easy to convince people times are bad when:
1. They are prevented from having an education and meaningful, (and likely well paying), employment.
2. They are not permitted to pursue their interests and dreams.
3. Everything not coming from "mother" can be presumed bad, or at least questionable.
For any JW that does not follow the manipulative "counsel" that produces the three outcomes above, listen up:
You have a chance.
d4g
As the Author of The True Believer wrote:
"Not only does a mass movement depict the present as mean and miserable - it
deliberately makes it so. It fashions a pattern of individual existence that is
dour, hard, repressive and dull. It decries pleasures and comforts and extols
the rigorous life. It views ordinary enjoyment as trivial or even discreditable,
and represents the pursuit of personal happiness as immoral. (p. 69)"
This thread reminded me of Jesus' words in Luke 11:46: "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them."
What religion does that today more than the WTS?
JWs can't express their own thoughts and even feel guilty for thinking their own thoughts privately. They have to attend endless meetings, go door to door their whole lives, please the elders, please the circuit overseer, live in fear of Armageddon... the list goes on and on.
They have to endure to the end or have a lifetime of service count for nothing. They have to somehow attain to perfection in the millennial kingdom. They have to pass a final test by Satan or be wiped out. Even that final test isn't final. After that, if they choose to sin like Adam did, they'll be annihilated.
As long as you submit to that kind of system, life IS hard, and it will never get any better.
Boy, this takes me back...
x
I remember when I first started to realize that if life for JWs was hard, it was probably because the WTS made it hard (indirectly or otherwise).
Our special talk was more of the same, out of a 30 minute talk 25 minutes were bitching about how awful life is, I kid you not. Even the speaker was finally like well lets talk now about something positive... then he kept going about depressing stuff...
