by Londo111 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I remember as a kid in the early 80s walking with my mum through the cut in Riversdale Crescent, Murrayfield, and seeing all the evil apostates with placards shouting. My mum put her hands over my ears while we walked. She said they would drag me away and teach me about satan. At that age, i believed her. Shes horrified that i have done further research on "that apostate interweb". I feel so sorry and helpless for her...
GoneAwol..for good
I used to read "apostate" books and tracts etc when I was in, but they never got thoroughly through to me because I could see they had an agenda, getting me to believe their brand of christianity.
And usually that involved the dreaded trinity so I could dismiss them out of hand with a bit of JW circular "reasoning", i.e "The Trinity isn't true therefore everything these apostates say is suspect".
That is why it is not good to talk about doctrine with JW's. What we need is a way to get them to examine their religion in all aspects, but that "way" is very elusive, because of the Apostate Boogeyman thinking that keeps their minds fimly closed and inactive.
Phizzy - Fazackerly! Yes! Some of us used to take apostate flyers and read them on the coach home from the a$$emb£y. Even in those days I thought that if I had the 'truth' then nothing 'apostate' ™ could over turn it.
What I am hoping is that the GB are their own worst enemies and will burden the JWs to such an extent there will be a mass exodus. The GB are inciting hatred toward 'apostates' ™ and I'm hoping that hatred will be too much for genuinely loving JWs to bear.
May the GB go to the electric chair for vile crimes againt humanity.
Of course, as well all know, this hatred and paranoia toward those who leave is one of the universal hallmarks of a cult.
As Steven Hassan says in the outline of the BITE model: Never a legitimate reason to leave. From the group’s perspective, people who leave are: “weak;” “undisciplined;” “unspiritual;” “worldly;”
Of course, in the Information Control section of the BITE model, cults prevent people from talking to former members.
And, of course, this is also part of Lifton’s Eight Criteria for Thought Reform...
Dispensing of existence: The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious and they must be converted to the group's ideology. If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the members. Thus, the outside world loses all credibility. In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also.
Without the work of Steven Hassan and Robert Jay Lifton, none of this would make a lick of sense. Well, sometimes, on a certain level, it never makes much sense to me. But then psychological conditions such as thought reform do not lend themselves toward people making rational decisions, much less, humane ones.
Hitler made the Jews the Boogeyman, pouring all sorts of hate and venom, attributing to them the ills of society. The Watchtower does the same thing toward us and causes JWs to be the Persecutors.
It reminds me of the speech from Shakespeare, just replace Jew with Ex-JW, and Christian with JW: “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?”
Well said Londo. To me, this is the thing that finally convinced me that the WTS is a cult.
Hey Londo,
I think this is close to publication on JW struggle. Maybe just some refferences to assertions such as "the thoughtcrime of apostacy".
Use this as a rough draft and you and Raypub can throw this on JW struggle. Its well done.
marking for later
Thank you...This is just me venting...and is more 'secular' in nature then what is suited for JWStruggle. But I'll ask JJ/Ray/Eric.
Where are you getting all this stuff from ?
I cannot and will not accept anything said here at face value. No offense to anyone. In order to prove it to myself, I have to do the research myself. That way, if I am ever asked this question, I can honestly say that I have researched it and provide my own notes to back it up. I have an online notebook that I have been adding to based on my own reading of the Bible, statements I've come across in the publications, and a few things from here. If I am ever questioned, I will simply say: when I researched this and found out the Bible says this when the Society says that, I wondered to myself: what else is not as it seems? So I went back and questioned everything. From the beginning. Every teaching. Every doctrine. Every detail. I have even started a spreadsheet of teachings with columns "Believe", "Do Not Believe" and a place for brief notes as to why/why not. It's far from complete (this is years of WTS teaching that takes going through...)
I cannot and will not accept anything said here at face value. No offense to anyone. In order to prove it to myself, I have to do the research myself. That way, if I am ever asked this question, I can honestly say that I have researched it and provide my own notes to back it up.
"That's good! You've taken your first step into a larger world."
--sd-7
