Prejudice taught by spirit not by speech

by DJPoetech 3 Replies latest jw experiences

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  DJPoetech

  If someone told you directly to hate something, would you do it?

  Probably not, because you don't want to be told how to think. You also have the sense to recognize that the person may not be working with a full deck.

  So how do we gain our prejudices? This is not a racial subject. I mean the prejudices we have toward differences of opinion or foreign ideas.

  We get prejudices through the consistency of message. If we constantly see something we don't initially agree with, we become accustomed to the thought and it becomes apart of us. Repitition is a powerful mind molder.

  This means anything that is apart of our lives over time can become apart of our prejudices.

  This is why the influences we grow up around become apart of us and, if we are aware of it, becomes what we fight against for the rest of our lives.

  For me, I fight against a constant presence of Jehovah's Witness programming.

  Even though I haven't seen a Kingdom Hall in almost 3 years, I struggle like its yesterday because I have family that attend and believe. Every contact with them reminds me of how they view their little silly misguided family member, although their speech "seems" encouraging.

  Again this is why I reiterate that prejudice is not taught by speech. It’s taught by spirit.

  This is the reason that prejudice doesn't go away when you no longer hear it every day.

  This is also why it becomes difficult to present ideas to someone who has a society-driven-opinion of disfellowshipped/disassocicated people.

  They may not agree with certain policies and voice that opinion but when it comes down to listening and critically understanding a certain point of view, the prejudice rears its head.

  Your examples and proofs get filtered through this process to become some sort of mental issue. Which results in a patronizing tone as you share what is in you heart. Only to be met with a tacit show of support for your "issues". When in the end, the only thing in their head is "everything will be OK if you only get your ass back in the Kingdom Hall".

  This is what burns me the most!

  Of course this issue is not only related to former witnesses but this is the most prevalent in my life now.
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  Satanus

  So, it's equivalent to racism? Yes, i could see that. It would be hard to deal w, up close, day in and day out.

  In my case, my jw family and i are in the same province, again. Not sure if they even know that i'm here, as i basically have reverse dffed them. I do face a bit of what you describe from some relatives that are fundy christians, since i was also christian for a couple of yrs, after exiting the wt. Those christian relatives will talk and be nicey nice, but they are always on alert, now that i'm a heathen, always dropping the accasional corrective hint, or religious tidbit.

  What makes it easier for me to accept this, is having grown up jw. Not only was i doing this to others, but the kids at school treated my as an outcast because, i basically was, because of the wt religion. I used to preach at the other kids. I'm so glad now, to be able to be just another 'worldly' person now. I can generally, be accepted, like anybody else, now.

  S
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  DJPoetech

  I'm so glad now, to be able to be just another 'worldly' person now. I can generally, be accepted, like anybody else, now.

  I agree very much with that. Prejudice has been used with the racial thing but it exists outside of that as well.

  The basic source of prejudice is fear. Witnesses fear that their beliefs will come under attack by everything outside of the Kingdom Hall.

  Its ingrained by statements of "keeping without spot" or "apostate teachings".

  They actually begin to hate the people of the world they live in.

  Jesus said the world would hate them.... I don't think he said they had to hate them back!
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  DJPoetech

  Prejudice synonyms:

  ageism, animosity , antipathy , apartheid, aversion , bad opinion, bias , bigotry , chauvinism, contemptuousness, detriment , discrimination , disgust , dislike , displeasure, disrelish, enmity , foregone conclusion, illiberality, injustice , jaundiced eye, mindset , misjudgment, narrow-mindedness, one-sidedness, partiality, pique , preconceived notion, preconception, prejudgment, prepossession, racism , repugnance , revulsion , sexism, slant , spleen, tilt, twist , umbrage , unfairness, warp, xenophobi

  I would add "sin" to that list.

  Seems to me that we cannot rid ourselves of prejudice. We simply shuffle it around to attempt to not have to deal with it.

  History seems to shows us that to rise above prejudices we must use greater prejudice.

  For instance, in order for African-Americans to have gained fair treatment, a movement was made to bring light to the unsavory behavior of the people perpetuating unfair treatment. This effectively allowed us to shift prejudice onto the bigots although the spirit of bigotry never went anywhere. Now, people who speak of anything with a racial subject, must do so carefully as to not become the subject of prejudice themselves.

  In the Watchtower, the movement is currently to make worldy, disfellowshipped, and disassociated people into unsavory characters. Being out, some former Witnesses have prejudices against organized religion, religious belief, believers, or just simply uptight individuals.

  By far love is the only thing that can eliminate prejudice. What we find in history is that love is not behind much of the changes toward certain mindsets but its a shifting of prejudices from one class to another.

  I have always advocated love as the best solution but I'm starting to see it is truly hard to apply. Because most times you may apply the love while the other person may never see your point or understand what the hell your doing. All the while treating you with contempt.

  The natural reaction is to return contempt for contempt. Of course, Jesus didn't advocate that. So what to do?

  If we rely on ourselves, we may decide to keep our prejudices few and quietly tucked away at home where the public can't get to them.

  If we rely on some of Jesus points then we have the additional option to use love in the face of what ever prejudice brings our way with extra benefit of eliminating the prejudices in our own hearts.

  This is one of the first posts I kinda let loose on...

  I apologize if its not relevant. I was just thinking about it and wanted to get it out.

  Off my soapbox!

  DJP