Are Jehovah's Witnesses (and most theist in general) SELFISH? Or are apostates the selfish ones...

by Joliette 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  Joliette

  I was thinking about this at work...for years I wasted time feeling gulity because I wasnt living my life the way that Jehovah wanted me to live it. Now that I have researched what mind control means, I've come to the conclusion that JW's are very selfish. There is this girl that I grew with here in Milwaukee that is a musician now. EVERYTIME I see her parents, they always say to me: she's out in the world, she's spiritually dead, she's not doing what Jehovah wants her to do. Is it that she's not doing what 'Jehovah' wants her to do, or is she not doing what YOU GUYS want her to do. (Most) Jehovah's Witnesses are the most self centered people on earth. They live in their own world. They think that everyone is suppose to do what they are doing. The funny thing is, is that most Jehovah Witnesses think the same thing about apostates.

  Just a thought, but what do you guys thinks? I'm not saying that every single JW's and theist are selfish, but just overall.
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  Black Sheep

  How can she possibly be doing the will of someone who doesn't exist?

  What she does has nothing to do with our will. Apostates don't have a collective will about anything. Does 'herding cats' ring a bell?
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  Joliette

  Explain that again black sheep. Picturing cats being herded....lol.
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  EmptyInside

  I was just wondering the same thing. I've often heard some Witnesses remark on those that left as being selfish. My own mother considers me selfish for no longer believing. They feel the one who has left the religion is being selfish, and they are causing their loved ones sadness and pain by leaving "the truth".

  But,isn't it more selfish to expect someone to sacrifice their own happiness just to please you. We all have to find our own way.

  Does it matter to them,that someone's life is less than it could be by remaining in this religion? No,because they expect others to make sacrifices for the religion,that they may not even have had to make,such as,remaining single,or sacrificing friendships and material things.

  But,I hate being called selfish for just wanting to live my life and find my own way.
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  Black Sheep

  Is it that she's not doing what 'Jehovah' wants her to do

  No. Watchtower Jehovah is just a fiction of the Watchtower.

  , or is she not doing what YOU GUYS want her to do.

  US GUYS can't agree on anything except, (for the most part), that the WT isn't what it claims to be. LOL

  Chris
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  steve2

  The virtue of calling someone selfish is to shame them into wanting to win back your approval. It's an age-old emotional blackmailing trick hardly invented by JWs even if it is milked to death by them. Most people hate being criticized for being selfish and will do anything to prove they're not.

  On the other hand, you can show the critic that you're onto their game.

  "Well I suppose if you can't win her back with love, try doing so with some emotional blackmail" or

  "Calling someone selfish is a clever way of showing others how you'll talk about them if they ever do anything you disapprove of" or

  "Thank you for helping me see that your daughter is so selfish. Where do you think you went wrong?" or

  "You're daughter's selfish, is she?! Is she more like you or her father in that regard?" or

  "What?! Your daughter's selfish! You must be so dreadfully ashamed of having raised a child to be so selfish. I admire your courage in being able to look yourself in the eye in the mirror in the morning knowing that your parenting style produced a thoruoghly selfish child. You have my deepest pity".

  Cry and the parents will out-flood you with their salty tears, laugh out loud at their judgments and they'll despise you more than they do their selfish child who will look so much better by contrast.
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  talesin

  Joliette, I would say they are "self-absorbed".

  We all need to take care of ourselves first; otherwise, we wouldn't be in any shape to relate to others. The problem with JWs is that they do not have a concept of healthy self-care (selfish).

  Instead, they are constantly consumed by useless paranoid thoughts about 'worldly people hating them', 'armageddon', 'satan the devil', 'doing more', and are truly self-absorbed.

  tal
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  Phizzy

  Maybe they will absorb themselves completely and disappear !
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  talesin

  Phizzy,, a likely, and most satisfying, possibility! Perhaps their isolationist techniques will finally work, and *poof*, they will disappear. hehehe

  tal
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  Sulla

  Joliette, I have suggested that the central motivating vice of the JWs is pride: the gulping maw of selfishness and pride within the religion is is hard to miss, really. It isn't so much a desire to control, though that also exists, as a desire to feed the pride by asserting superiority over everyone on the planet. The attempts at control are based on the selfish person's view of others as instruments for some other goal.