Leadership is missing among the xJWs!

by IslandWoman 35 Replies latest jw friends

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  IslandWoman

  I know the word, "organization" has a bad taste. But it is a fact of life that to get anything done on a grand scale in this world, good leadership and organization are a must.

  We lack organization, much of what is said and done is a hit and miss thing except for the U.N. problem. Thanks to those who took a lead and the others who followed their lead some damn good work got done! That's my point! We could do a lot more good work, great work, if we were organized enough to follow a band of renegade and "smart" xJW leaders!

  The Watchtower I am sure is very grateful for our disjointed efforts, for even these have given them much trouble. Imagine what an organized effort could accomplish, what a publishing effort could accomplish! IMO, we should imitate their example. We should organize, publish and co-operate with one another.

  Fighting fire with fire!

  IW
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  AlanF

  There's no way that any kind of organization could work among the diverse personalities of ex-JWs. More importantly, to organize beyond a simple short-term coming together to accomplish a specific purpose would be self defeating for most ex-JWs. It would also play directly into the hands of Watchtower spinmeisters who see "Satan's organization" behind every effort to tell the truth about them.

  The fact that a great deal has been accomplished to show the world the true nature of the JW organization, and that a lot more will soon be accomplished by only a few of the right people getting together temporarily, proves that grass roots efforts are the way to go. These somewhat haphazard individual efforts leave the Society nearly defenseless.

  The simple fact is that there is no "we". There are a bunch of "I's" who sometimes find they have a common goal, and they work together as needed to get to it. This is something completely foreign to the thinking of most JWs, especially to the leaders who haven't had an original thought in 60 or 70 years. They cannot understand it, and they come up with all sorts of hare-brained conspiracy theories to explain away what they don't comprehend. Thus, over the years JWs have invented rumors that Ray Franz started his own religion, and that various other prominent ex-JWs did the same. Why feed this idiotic mentality?

  I know one thing: if anyone decided to become a leader of a group of ex-JWs, or if he or she became a de facto leader because a number of people decided to follow him or her, for whatever reason, I'd run like hell the other way. I think that most of the people I've cooperated with over the years would too.

  AlanF
• 

  Fredhall

  AlanF,

  Follow me!!!
• 

  Seeker4

  I've thought about this quite a bit over the past few years. Of course, when we were JWs, the idea was that it was the lack of holy spirit that prevented those who left from organizing themselves against the WTS.

  But now I see the truth about this, and I think it's something you'll find as well, IW. Many of us have absolutely NO desire to organize ourselves against the Witnesses. Personally, I am through with being a part of a group like that. I was a leader among the Witnesses, but I have no compulsion to ever take a leadership role like that again.

  I've worked with several who post on here on various projects, and will do it again. But to be honest, I'm way too busy recreating my life to devote a lot of it to anti-Witness work. At the same time, though, I am involved with personal projects that will tell my story and why I left. And to be honest, some of the people taking an anti-JW stance do so in such poor taste that I wouldn't risk my professional reputation by getting involved in their effort. Others, like Randy Watters, Bill Bowen, Ray Franz, and a few others have done huge things with very limited outside help.

  I think once you've been in a high control group like the Witnesses, you become incredibly wary of ever joining another group again. Hell, I won't even register as a Democrat or Republican, but remain proudly an Independent.

  There is another factor as well. When we leave, we do so for a lot of different reasons. I consider those who left the Witnesses but who've joined some other church as idiots, and they consider those of us who've become atheists or agnostics as pathetic and foolish (I'm exaggerating a bit here on both sides of this - but there is some truth to those statements). We simply are such a diverse group that becoming a unified group of ex-JWs is impossible. And to tell you the truth, that's wonderful. It's just the way it should be.

  S4
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  edster

  Interesting point IW. I'm quite satisfied about the way we're organised at the moment, it's liberal and not as adhoc as it seems. Everyone is equal. The last thing we need is an old fashioned hierarchical organisation with linear relationships much like the borg where a pecking order is present. In an organisation like the borg, information is tightly controlled and flows up and down only in a very slow and inefficient manner. Compare that with the global network of XJW's on the internet where a flat structure exists and information can be exchanged directly.
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  Jehovah_God

  Hey! I'll lead you! I'm kind of tired of this whole my witnesses thing they are getting a little too full of themselves. So whos up for some nomadic wandering in the desert for oh, say 40 years or so?
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  Seeker4

  Alan,

  Somehow I knew we'd come to the same conclusions on all of that! Well put.

  Sorry I didn't follow through on that last phone call we had. I've been busy in the extreme. Did you ever get anyone to do anything with that disk?

  Once I'm through with a few pressing projects, I might see what I could do with it.

  Hope you had a great winter. Was out there just south of you in January for a while.

  S4
• 

  dungbeetle

  Leadership is not 'missing' among ex-jw's because it has been rejected and replaced by disribution of personal responisbility.

  The existance of the xjw community and the incredible work that is being done and has been done is a statment of success. xjw's have what the watchtower does not...EQUALITY, to a greater or lesser degree.

  The existance of this community proves the Watchtower statement a lie---that you must have a top-down leadership pyramidal (or reverse pyramidal, just as bad) arrangement to get things done. Also, that you must have large bank accounts, tremendous amounts of real estate, and be a whore to the governmetnal authority in order to accomplish your goals.

  The Watchtower states that to get its goals accomplished it must be WHAT it is and do things the WAY they do....and our xjw/jw/non-jw community prove this to be a lie. And we will continue to do so!!!

  Enjoy it, Island W.

  In 1975 a crack team of publishers was sentenced to death by a judicial commiteee. They promptly escaped from the cult and now live life on the run. If you have a problem ... and if you can find them ... maybe you can contact the A--postate Team"
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  Simon

  The trouble is, unlike *some* leaders we could mention, every one likely to be a candidate is also likely to have a job, a family, a life etc... that they have to take care of as well.

  I does tend to be a coming together of individuals and I think this works well - we would be very hesitant to join any official group although like many other we contribute what we can.

  Look at it this way ... they never know where the arrows are going to come from next!
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  IslandWoman

  OK, I see.

  IW