The urge to convert people

by J. Hofer 41 Replies latest jw friends

  • J. Hofer
    J. Hofer

    where does the urge to convert people to ones own view come from?

    i grew up a jehovah's witness and jehovah's witnesses are always right. that's where i learned to always be right and it took me years to realize that i could also "agree to disagree", although i still often forget about this. but JWs are by far not the only ones to try to push their own belief system on others (think dogrulz for example).

    i wonder where that urge comes from. i tend to think it does not have necessarily have anything to do with religion, although religion might be a root factor to the problem.

    did you ever detect that sort of behaviour on yourself? have you found a way to overcome that urge? do you have any suggestions for dogrulz to overcome this urge? (optionally you could apply that to me too)

    PS: i want to express my respect to people like PSacramento, Nickolas, steve2 and many more (i know i forgot you, dear reader, please forgive), whose believes or lacks thereof are not reconcilable in any way, still they have a very calm, often humorous way to approach any topic, offering their view very unobstrusively and implicitly leaving everyone the right to disagree, that's what i call tolerance. everyone has a different personality, but that's some thing i admire.

  • talesin
    talesin

    did you ever detect that sort of behaviour on yourself?

    NO. and I think your vids are AWESOME,, but sometimes you let your 'evangelistic leanings' take over here on the forum.

    *said with the utmost kindness and respect*

    t

  • J. Hofer
    J. Hofer

    my vids? my evangelistic leanings? care to elaborate? rofl...

  • unshackled
    unshackled

    I think perhaps talesin confused you with someone else?

    On the OP, I've observed it seems very much human nature to want to push their way of thinking on others. You see it all the time in a basic form of arguing over brands. You prefer Chevy? Ford is way better. You mix Pepsi with your rum, Coke is way better. Even on behavoir levels, extroverts don't get introverts and apply negative labels because they don't act like them. Or vice versa. And we quickly judge others based on dress, appearance, lifestyle, what they drive....all based on a perception that our own ways are the "best" ones.

    Politics and religion are the more extreme forms of this negative nature. That's when things get ugly.

  • talesin
    talesin

    Yes, I was confusing you with someone else... apologies. :)

    they are good vids, though, and the guy looks something like you on his avi .... lol ... in my defense.

    t

  • J. Hofer
    J. Hofer

    i guess you mean dagothUR (although i haven't seen his vids if he has any, and don't know of any evangelistic leanings for that matter), who got another GB member as avatar. but Lösch is from my home country and i think he's pretty much the pope of JWdom at the moment.

    unshackled, mixing rum is an absolute no-go!

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    The urge to convert ???

    How about the simple unbending belief that they are right.........therefore everybody else has to do what they do in order to get salvation, life or whatever you call the reward.

    Of course the poor saps do not know that yet...so we had better get out there and tell them "What a responsibility we have !"

  • LostGeneration
    LostGeneration

    I think it is the desire to "be right" that is imbedded in the genes somewhere. People seem to get off on "being right" more than almost anything else. Of course being right can mean huge rewards in life. The JW gamble is that if they are right they get everlasting life in the world's greatest petting zoo. If it were true, I guess its worth 70 or 80 years of cult life. But as most of us now realize, their gamble is pretty risky and no way I'm going to bet on that horse.

  • NewChapter
    NewChapter

    I think it's kind of rough when they have convinced themselves that everyone else is going to hell if they don't warn them. I don't know if I try to convert people, but I know I love arguing my point. I'm not sure what motivates me---perhaps I'm just opiniated---or perhaps I want them to see it my way and agree. I don't know. Mostly I suspect I like to exchange ideas. Tec and I had a nice exchange, and in the end all though we didn't say it, we just agreed to disagree. Still if my thoughts are met with someone obnoxious, well I tend to dig in deeper and drop some of the tact. LOL maybe I'm just a contrary b*tch.

    NC

  • J. Hofer
    J. Hofer

    it makes sense to defend your current position to some degree, as there should be some reason that you believe what you believe right now. but one should also - and especially someone who left the JW or any other mind controlling religion, but that's something that doesn't apply (yet) to dogrulz - be concious that one does err, and not too seldom. having that in mind, it's probably easier to "live and let live"?

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