If you are reading this title, everything you know needs to be questioned

by King Solomon 54 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  King Solomon

  The title of this thread is like one of those bumper stickers, "if you can read this, you are too close".

  It's true: if you are reading this, you accepted certain assumptions in the past, or NEED to do so.

  The JWs deliver a well-honed message that is targeted to individuals who's prior experiences and psyche makes them pre-disposed to accept their version of reality; attending meetings is really just a way for individuals to correct their thinking so as to be more in accord with the beliefs of the group.

  BTW, the process of aligning one's thinking to a group is NOT inherent evil, eg doctors attend continuing education courses so they can stay abreast with their colleagues in new findings of research, thus enabling them to deliver the best possible care to their patients, NOT practicing using turn-of-the-century ideas (blood-sucking leeches, etc).

  HOWEVER, when it comes to religion and faith, accepting assumptions into one's World view without critically-analysis leads one to a conclusion that may be flawed. Stack enough flawed assumptions on top of each other, and soon you have a Leaning Tower of Assumptions that is horribly unstable.

  So the point of this thread is to think of and offer ONE assumption that you once accepted without question as a JW, but you now know to be false. Think of them as the bricks in the wall, the individual thoughts or memes that contributed to the flawed conclusion.

  (i.e. it's probably better NOT to offer a MASSIVE conclusion, eg "the JWs are a GREAT LIE!" since that's not one of the elements that JWs teach or rely upon: that IS the entire Tower).

  I'll kick it off, using one I've seen recently:

  "Children are born with an inherent morality, a sense of right and wrong. Therefore, it's never to early to discipline them, since no infant is too young to learn the "correct" behavior."

  That's soooo wrong, so strongly disproven by scientific studies of child psychologists, that spanking an infant SHOULD and IS considered as child abuse. However, it's a belief that is unquestioned by JWs, which leads to such parental behavior.

  Get the idea?
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  The Oracle

  I once believed in the concept of meat in due season, or food at the proper time - coming from God to the faithful slave class and then to us.

  This allowed my mind to rationalize all kinds of failed prophecies, and allowed me to accept new teachings without questioning anything.

  When I started uncovering flip flops, new light that was actually old light - that entire concept unravelled and fell apart like a house of cards.

  It gave me"permission" to start researching past teachings and the "foundation" of the "truth". Once I started discovering the real truth, the fog began to rapidly lift and it was the beginning of the end for watchtower mind control.

  The Oracle
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  King Solomon

  Oracle said:

  I once believed in the concept of meat in due season, or food at the proper time - coming from God to the faithful slave class and then to us.

  Interesting, that's the idea.

  And lying underneath that manifestation, would it be proper to say if we dug deeper that we'd find you accepted the concept that all things had to happen for a reason, i.e. that all events had an ultimate cause, and nothing could happen randomly, due to chance? That assumption is a biggie that lends one to be pre-disposed to the JW lure...
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  The Oracle

  Interesting question. I remember having a deep discussion on this very question while I was still in.

  The conclusion I came to, and argued in favor of, at the time was that - no I did not believe all events had an ultimate cause. I believed that Jehovah controlled the general flow of events, but only as they impacted on the outworking of his purposes. All other events and happenings were uncontrolled and therefore very random.

  I now feel just a little bit dirty for having visited my former state of mind, although I pretty much hold the same belief today except for the Jehovah and his purpose part.
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  The Oracle

  I do have another one though.

  I once believed that a man was the head over a woman and therefore superior. Although I treated women well, deep down I held the belief I was superior and needed to guide and protect all women.

  This of course is fundamentally incorrect.

  With my new viewpoint I view women as 100% my equal as a starting point - and then form any opinions on a person only on merit and not on gender.
• 

  King Solomon

  Oracle said:

  Interesting question. I remember having a deep discussion on this very question while I was still in.

  The conclusion I came to, and argued in favor of, at the time was that - no I did not believe all events had an ultimate cause.

  Thanks for your response.

  Your accepting of their message that channels of communication between FDS and God exists is based on on many other questionable assumptions (eg that the FDS exists, that God exists, and God wants to send messages to humans, etc). I suspect it can be picked apart, disassembled to it's individual elements.

  I guess what I'm trying to do is drill down to the fundamental beliefs that you held BEFORE you accepted the JW bait i.e. they cannot lure anyone in who fundamentally doesn't accept certain unstated permises, on some level.

  See what I'm getting at?
• 

  King Solomon

  Oracle said:

  I once believed that a man was the head over a woman and therefore superior. Although I treated women well, deep down I held the belief I was superior and needed to guide and protect all women.

  This of course is fundamentally incorrect.

  Yup, that's the idea. I'm looking for IDing of predisposing beliefs that makes one susceptible to what they're selling. And presumably you believed it BEFORE you were offered the JW bait, and hence it was easy to accept that element of their message?

  And really, my goal in posting this is not to get others to share their own (although I think it WOULD be helpful for lurkers), but to give examples of the kind of self-analysis that EVERYONE should do, whether they're still in or not.
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  The Oracle

  Nope. I was born in.

  Once I decided to leave I needed to do some serious deprogramming on myself.

  It took a while to shake free of all the strange teachings and the warped sense of morality, but I've recently declared myself clean and ready for active participation in the real world.
• 

  King Solomon

  It took a while to shake free of all the strange teachings and the warped sense of morality, but I've recently declared myself clean and ready for active participation in the real world.

  Well, welcome aboard the SS Human Race! Where ya' been? :)

  It's actually amazing you broke free; I dunno if I'd be here now, to be honest, had I been born into a family with both parents hard-core JWs. The resiliency of your human spirit should give encouragement to others.
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  sseveninches

  The Oracle - I once believed in the concept of meat in due season, or food at the proper time - coming from God to the faithful slave class and then to us.

  This allowed my mind to rationalize all kinds of failed prophecies, and allowed me to accept new teachings without questioning anything.

  When I started uncovering flip flops, new light that was actually old light - that entire concept unravelled and fell apart like a house of cards.

  It gave me"permission" to start researching past teachings and the "foundation" of the "truth". Once I started discovering the real truth, the fog began to rapidly lift and it was the beginning of the end for watchtower mind control.

  I think that this is the basis for every other problem with the beliefs. Once they have you think that they're the "truth", you will readily accept anything and everything they tell you.

  For me personally, it's based off The Oracle's comment, just as I said:

  • I once believed that questioning the WT doctrine was out of the question, since they've already done all the research and have gotten everything figured out. However, I think a lot, and started questioning certain things that didn't add up (questioning kept to myself). The more I did my research (online), the more I was finding out that not only there are other people with the same doubts, there are answers to those doubts as well. I also thought to myself: 1 John 4:1 gives me the right to question my beliefs, as well as any doctrine. Why then would I be disfellowshipped for doing this? This is definitely contrary to what the Bible says.
  • I used to think that the WT doesn't lie, they just misunderstand. But I read on JWFacts.org how the WT deliberately lied in their publications about how long they've been teaching the current doctrine about 1914, and how they've also been inconsistent with their death told figures for World War 1, as well as lying about it being the deadliest war at the time. Those are BLATANT lies, easily disproved by the real facts from many historical sources. The same was said about earthquakes - how their claim that since 1914 major earthquakes have been on the rise, whereas the USGS, which keeps a record of these things, have said that the number of earthquakes have been steady. They BLATANTLY lie about these things to support their 1914 doctrine.