by garyneal 58 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Got a sheperding visit from two elders. Told them the generation thing makes no sense at all to me.
One of them stared just blankly at me. The other, our CO, repeatet the current teaching (an got it only slightly wrong). He said it makes perfect sense for him. If I couldn't believe it, there's nothing one could do about it.
I doubt the majority of them are even aware of any dramatic change. They concern themselves only with the idea that the end is close. As long as that idea is continually re-enforced, the actual definition of 'generation' won't even register as a blip on their radar.
Thanks for the responses. It is hard to believe that perfectly reasonable people (otherwise) would just accept this doctrine (or pretend to) without question. The irony is that if another church preached something similar, they would be too quick to label it false teachings. If anyone has not yet read Captives of a Concept, I highly recommend it. It illustrates this point very well.
In regards to the fear of dying and uncertainty, I can understand why they may feel this way to a point. I just see, as leavingWT pointed out, that they are truly trapped in the belief that going to the kingdom halls is the only way to serve God. I won't defend Christianity but many Christians believe that they simply need to believe in Christ sans the church. My wife pointed that out in our conversation when she told me that during her field service she would encounter a lot of householders who believed in God but did not believe in having to attend church regularly.
But, I can understand somewhat, myself and a bunch of former IFB's are talking now about when we decided to leave those churches and why? They preach similarly that you must be in church (their church) to be in a good place with God. The fallout of that cult is just like the fallout of this one.
I know my BIL had big problems with it, thought it was absolutely ludicrous. His personal feelings are that Jesus' words are about Jesus' day and that's it. In the end, he's not walking away because of it - for now. . .
Most fall under two categories:
1-Won't discuss it, example: My mom simply won't discuss things she doesn't "get". If you bring it up, you can actually see her get physically uncomfortable and nervously change the subject; she doesn't like being shown she, or they, are wrong. My mom is an intelligent person, so how she can still hold onto their beliefs is baffling.
2-Too mentally lazy/Ignorant, example: My sister, whom I love dearly, and her husband will discuss this but they can only talk about what the borg has defined for them, if you try to get “deep” you can see the bulb dim and the spacey glaze start in their eyes. To them digging deeper and getting educated is too hard, so they are perfectly happy lazily living in ignorant bliss.
... living in ignorant bliss ...
If ignorance is truly bliss, then why isn't the average person in a constant state of ecstasy?
Believe it or not, I got this response from an experienced elder: "What change? There was no change. Just an explanation on what is meant by the word generation. The doctrine is still the same as it's always been."
I had to really bite my tongue because the only thing I could think of saying is: "Are you a f**king idiot???"
Really frustrating. There wasn't even a hint of cognitive dissonance in his head... just plain stupidity...
When I brought up the subject, they just tell me that the change is very logical. It just amazes me how they can never be wrong.
Jehovah Witness don't know or care about such details. I too have brought this up to my mother, and not surprisingly, she didn't know about it or what it meant. Then, again not surprisingly, once i explained it to her and noted that it was a ridiculous belief, she said it wasn't important.
Their minds are so focused on the TEST-REWARD concept that everything else seems expendable. In their minds, if they can stay "IN" the Org, they will get a place in paradise, and that is the goal. I feel sorry for my mother as i do for all the others, who are captives of such a delusional concept, but i've come to grips with the fact that in order to see the whole picture about the Org, you need to have an assertive mind and have good thinking skills, and the fact is that many Jdubbs, especially the older and less educated ones, simply don't have that.
It just amazes me how they can never be wrong.
God is never wrong, so the GB is never wrong, and the pubs are the ones who get it wrong, and have to be corrected.
