Perhaps the cruelest lie of all: resurrection of your loved ones

by King Solomon 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  King Solomon

  Of all the lies espoused by the WTBTS, perhaps the most seductive, most cruel and downright evil, is to tell grieving people that their loved ones WILL be resurrected, and will rejoin them in a paradise Earth, forever and ever. Of course, the easiest lie to be accepted is one that people WANT to believe.

  But taking someone when they are at their weakest, their most vulnerable, and offering such a false hope is FAR MORE CRUEL than anything contained even in account of the first sin, with the serpent tempting Eve with the forbidden fruit. That was simply the serpent mucking up the Divine Plan by appealing to her ego: no harm, no foul. In essence, Eve showed hubris, a desire to be something more than she was, only to be put back in her place...

  A more convincing story to make the serpent into an evil character would be if the original sin had been for the serpent to approach Eve AFTER her beloved son Abel had died (maybe of natural causes), and to offer Eve a false hope of Abel's resurrection, perhaps by tempting her to steal some of the forbidden fruit (from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) to put in the mouth of her dead son to bring him back to life. Of course, it wouldn't have worked, and she'd still have to pay the penality for disobeying God's rule. That would make the serpent into more of a deceiver, and Eve into more of a victim.

  But back to the main point:

  There must be MANY of you who have experienced delayed grief after you "awoke", realizing that you hadn't grieved losses experienced in the past, since you fully expected to see the person again in the New System? The late-onset realization that they ARE really gone?

  I know this is a very personal issue, but I suspect it would be helpful to share feelings on this subject, as it's not often mentioned. HOWEVER, it IS part of the lure of being a JW, and as such, it SHOULD be exposed as part of the cruel and evil hoax which fuels some to refuse to accept TTATT (The Truth About The Truth), by clinging to a false hope.
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  sir82

  JWs are not the only religion that teaches belief in a resurrection.
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  leavingwt

  There must be MANY of you who have experienced delayed grief after you "awoke", realizing that you hadn't grieved losses experienced in the past, since you fully expected to see the person again in the New System? The late-onset realization that they ARE really gone?

  Yes, I had to grapple with my mortality after giving up belief in life after death. I was unpersuaded by the available evidence and remain such today. It was a little umcomfortable at first, but ultimately it's one of those things that I cannot change, so I shouldn't spend too much time dwelling on it. It also made what life I have left so much more meaningful. Plus, when I contemplated what slim odds there were of me being born to begin with, I felt lucky to have been born. I operate under the assumption that death will be as inconvenient as not having been born yet.

  The JW theology offers an infinitely more peaceful doctrine about death, when compared to the flames of literal Hell.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annihilationism
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  James Brown

  I havent been a witness since 1983.

  I believe when I die, I will be reunited with my loved ones based on the bible.

  It feels good.

  It feels bad when I spend my time disproving the bible and blowing out my candle of hope.

  The bible teaches of life after death, it says it is based on faith.

  So, if you want to feel good, you need to believe in Jesus.

  Or if you want to feel empty and hopeless keep compiling list and reasons why Jesus and the bible are wrong.

  Become an atheist and when you cant figure out whats bothering you get some anti-depressants.

  In the end what I believe doesnt effect anyone but me. So, why should I embrace a belief that makes me feel bad?

  I dont go to meetings, I dont believe in the Jehovahs witnesses, I believe in Jesus and I believe when I die, I will live

  on with Jesus in a better world.

  That doesnt stop me from living life to the fullest today. I have the money and time to do whatever I want.

  Still I believe in Jesus.

  Some people will say the cruelest lie of all is when you die there is nothing.

  Its just a matter of what we read and who we listen to.

  I prefer to feel good.

  And I've lived long enough to know that no one knows, we are all full of shxt.
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  Yan Bibiyan

  Mrs. Bibiyan is currently a successfully faded JW. Both of her parents have died while she was relatively young and still a JW "in good standing".

  KS, your assesment of a delayed grief is spot on - I am no psychologist, but in Mrs. Bibiyan it seemed to result in a depression that still has lingering effects....

  The cruelty of the timing was unbelievable, just as you write, when immediatelly after the death of her grandmother (another lifelong JW), the "friends" showed up at our doorstep in an ill-disguised attempt to "offer hope".
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  cedars

  King Solomon - you're absolutely right. This is a little-known strategy that is VERY effectively used by the organization, i.e. the notion that our loved ones are "in Jehovah's memory", and we will only see them again if we stay faithful to the organization. This reasoning impacts on me personally, because I lost my mother while still a young adult. In the relatively short period since my "awakening" I've already had my mother's memory dangled infront of me as a reason to come back to the fold. Fortunately I can rise above those sorts of suggestions and not get too angry. I realise that those making such suggestions are only saying the sort of thing I would have said to someone under similar circumstances only a couple of years ago.

  What REALLY gets to me is that other close family members are clinging to their faith almost entirely out of a desire to see someone again whom they will never see again anyway. I often wonder whether, if there truly IS life after death, whether my mother would be looking on the rest of my family in complete despair. Obviously, I realise that death means death, but it still crosses my mind from time to time.

  It's a cruel, cruel cult that uses dead relatives as currency and emotional blackmail in such a cynical way, but it's something I'm slowly having to get used to.

  Cedars
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  joyfulfader
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  King Solomon

  I probably should clarify by saying i read an account on another thread of someone's GF who lost his wife and four kids within a short period of time. The JWs really were shooting fish in a barrel, as there could be no message easier to 'sell' to a grief-stricken individual than telling him he has an opportunity to see them again in the NS, and live a life that never was.

  Thanks for the comments, everyone...

  Sir82, sure they're not the only ones selling that hope, but saying others do, too, is an appeal to common practice: moms always say, "if other kids jump off a bridge, would you?"

  Leavingwt, they've sure sweetened the pot on the "offer": got rid of hell, AND made the offer too tempting to pass up!

  JB, I dare say there's more JWs who suffer from depression than atheists. As an atheist, I find the thought of living a life based on lies, where I'm not allowed to make up my own mind, as truly depressing! No amount of anti-depressants or alcohol can fix that!

  Yan, there's a group reinforcement element going on, where the group figures that if they can just muster enough believers to confirm the belief, it will be true. You can see how seductive the lie is, and the ferocity with which believers will try to defend it from all challenges....

  Cedars, Thanks for your poignant and sobering "hostage" tale... Truly twisted reasoning they use...
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  James Brown

  JB, I dare say there's more JWs who suffer from depression than atheists. As an atheist, I find the thought of living a life based on lies, where I'm not allowed to make up my own mind, as truly depressing! No amount of anti-depressants or alcohol can fix that!

  Jehovahs witnesses are very bad and big liars.
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  tootired2care

  Interesting thread...So just to play devils advocate here for a moment. How can you prove that their claim of ressurection is a lie in the confines of bible reality/fantasy?

  More specifically, what did they change in the bible in making the NWT to support this idea of ressurection? Because John 5, Isaiah, Corithians and other texts do speak of a some sort of ressurection, albeit just very scant on the details.