by cptkirk 35 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Whoa... your study took the plunge close to three years prior to you?
Sorry . . . confusion here . . . I was his study.
But yes . . . I wore out three seperate study conductors with my endless debates and got baptised two years after my wife even though we began studying together. It took that long to overcome my cognitive dissonance and I was not actually studying at all when I became an "approved associate" as it was back then.
That's funny sizemik...I went through numerous study ladies...last count 4...plus tag ons of course. 10 years later....1 inch away from baptisim....on the edge of their seats...annnnnd.....whats this I hear about NGO's and the United Nations....oh no you didn't!!!!!!
when did you leave anyway?
I began to leave mentally in the early to mid '90s. I attended my last meeting 10 years later.
still in that mentality (back then) that you are a helpless entity, and whatever the adults say goes.
It was really the organization that I believed in; the adults were an extension of that. Or so I thought.
wow! this is a great topic! all of your insight and viewpoints so far are very interesting.
the question of disadvantaged ones being more prone to JW conversion is a facinating one. i certainly don't think a blanket statement or generalization can be made about it, because there are ALWAYS exceptions. as was already brought out, often people who seem to have it all together outwardly, have other internal issues others don't know about. it could be "issues" in the traditional sense, or emotional needs, or perceived needs- or even spiritual or intellectual ones if those can be considered needs, more like longings. and almost all people feel there's something they need. whatever the case, all those needs can be adressed by other means and for many they are. but the WTS presents itself from many different angles, covering all these perceived needs. line the correct approach up with the right person and you could have a connection.
i'm not saying that's how all conversion takes place. there are tons of other factors, just like the tons of factors that make up a persons personality, which are actually the same, since basically those factors determine if someone has the personality inclined to listen to a message.
i also think that that's more how it used to be, and still is in the 3rd world. but things are changing with education and the internet. people who would still be initially inclined to show interest, and follow up on that interest, will look up JWs on the internet which IMO is a near-certain roadblock. even at last night's meeting, the brother playing the part of householder in the service demo, said "thank you, i will look up more about that on the internet." (if only he actually would!)
in my case, i'm a born-in, so it doesn't count in this. but i've seen a number of converts come in, or be in the process. i would say that the majority of these are "loser" types, some downright bizarre people, or ones who have almost nothing going for them. there are also contrasting examples, such as one guy, albeit divorced, jovial guy, very nice and wealthy too, got baptized and is now an elder and made his 2 kids witnesses too. also, a nice 20something regular girl came out of nowhere, got baptized and is now pioneering-- BUT it turns out they both had witness links in the past (the divorced elder's mom was a witness but died when he was a kid; the pioneer girl also turns out to have some JW relatives living somewhere far away)
also a medical professional, very wealthy AND intelligent also, became an unbaptized publisher just recently. that one puzzles me still..
I have a feeling also that the demographic has changed over time. For those converting prior to the internet age . . . obtaining any external information at all on Jehovah's Witnesses was next to impossible . . . even my local library had nothing . . . not even a catalogue entry.
I live in a small country outside of the US . . . and publically available knowledge of this group was non-existent. For that reason I suspect that a greater concentration of troubled, uneducated and/or lazy-minded recruits tend to dominate the demographic in developed countries now more so than then.
Google has ripped aside the curtain for sure . . . it's a major factor.
For that reason I suspect that a greater concentration of troubled, uneducated and/or lazy-minded recruits tend to dominate the demographic in developed countries now more so than then.
thats a great way of putting it. whereas in the past, both troubled and successful (and anywhere in between) people would get sucked into the org, the internet age has put a filter over those on the top half of that scale, leaving only the lower half walking blindly into k-halls.
not "only", but mostly... you know... generalizing
Most of JWs are born-ins ... and some outsiders may have their lives changed for a while then turns into emotional hell and cult indoctrination some cannot escape ... it is truly demonic the influence one is under ... I see all my JW family, friends and others... they "appear" to be happy people but their homes are plagued by alcoholism, drugs, lies, adultery, fornication, hatred, sexual abuse, poverty, misery, depression, illnesses, dirty houses, teenage pregnancies, YET on the weekends they put on their "modest" dresses and go knock on people's door offering them "a BETTER way of life." The funny thing is that my family is convinced they live in a paradise already. I am sorry but the Bible says that we would recognize Christ's followers but its fruits. My mom is the only JW in her family, from her 3 generations of JWs have sprung, all of her brothers and sisters donot believe in her message because they see her fruits ... she has
alcoholic, adultereous, wife-beater, thieve, husband (now they are divorced);
alcoholic, drug addicts, in/out jail, DF'd; school dropouts sons;
alcoholic, topless dancer, school dropout, "rebelious" daughter;
2 older daughters married to alcoholic, wife-beater, adulterous, abusive, JW husbands - one impregnated my other sister (the topless dancer when she was 15 - so this a-hole had sex with my 2 sisters, got them pregnant at the same time, they gave birth one month apart). My other sister's husband used to frequent questionable establishment where you pay girls for sex ... yet the elders never paid any attention to her pleads for help as he would rape her while drunk, she was the one being neurotic, problematic, not a good christian wife etc etc etc ... anyway ... this is only my family, these are the children that have been under my mom and dad influence ... in my case and my youngest sister who listened to me... we are so different and guess what? we still believe in God, the bible, we follow Christ now not the Watchtower CORPORATION.
if I would take the time to tell you all the stories about my niece and nephews, their JW family on the part of their dad or their JW inlaws, the list would be endless ... from abortions to pedophilia, children the result of adulterous relationships yet covered by other JW family members, people with nerves breakdowns ending in jail ... my young niece a JW in "good standing "is dating a married wordly man as we speak ... yet she thinks she is way better than me and my children ... we are going to be destroyed in armageddon - the blindess upon these people is really demonic I tell you. They cannot think. They live in a different reality.
In contrast all of my family that are not JWs that are loving, prosperous, educated people with each generation being better than the last. I am ashamed to even visit them because they want updates on my crazy family ... but they understand that what happened to my mom and her offspring is because of that religion ...
I was very little when I saw the "fruits" of this religion and I vowed that I would be different, that I was going to break the cycles, that no matter what they said, I love God and God loves me.
there are a lot of reasons why someone in the medical field would be attracted to the jws. you're constantly exposed to the sick, blood and guts, etc. reminds me of mash. they had it all on top of being in a war zone. constant booze and women to relieve stress. i can definitely see people in that line of work being attracted to the jw message. "this isn't the real world, this is the fake world"...in the real world we will all be playing texas holdem with the dinosaurs.
I know of a family who came in at a time in their life that things were going well. They had just started having a family and were looking to have a moral, spiritual environment for their growing family. They had relatives who were JWs and admired them for their moral conviction.
DOC
