Worse than being stupid is thinking you are smart WHILE you are stupid.
I should know.
For many years I was a special category of "stupid"; I was JEHOVAH'S WITNESS STUPID.
What does that entail? Listen and I'll tell you.
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Jehovah's Witness Stupid is a category reserved for members of a religion who have been emptied of ambition
to succeed in a competitive world through higher education.
If you are Jehovah's Witness Stupid you have been systematically led to believe Watchtower and Awake! magazines
have a superior evidence source carefully filtered to remove contamination.
In fact, somebody who is Jehovah's Witness Stupid is convinced the information flowing from the Watchtower corporation's publications is ALL THE EDUCATION they will ever need for the rest of their life!
Consider first the attitude which compares and contrasts the BIBLE as your source vs the WATCHTOWER as a source of spiritual knowledge:
1910
"If the 6 volumes of 'Scripture Studies' are practically the Bible topically arranged, with Bible proof-texts given, we might not improperly name the volumes- 'The Bible' in an arranged form. That is to say, they are not merely comments on the Bible, but they are practically the Bible itself...Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible itself, but we see also that if anyone lays the 'Scripture Studies' ... after he has read them for 10 years-if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone...out experience shows that within 2 years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he has merely read the 'S.S.' with their references, and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years." (Watchtower, Sept 15, 1910)
1967
"The Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind." (Watchtower, Oct 1, 1967, pg. 587)
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What about simple "thinking"? Not just about the bible-about anything?
1983
"Avoid independent thinking...questioning the counsel that is provided by God's visible organization." (Watchtower, Jan. 15, 1983 pg. 22) 1983
"Fight against independent thinking." (Watchtower, Jan. 15, 1983 pg. 27 )
__________Now I ask you: Did that sound a little bit like Mind Control?________________________________________
QUESTION:
Does the Watchtower corporation understand that indoctrination is not the same as education?
2000
"THERE is a difference—a big difference—between education and propaganda. Education shows you how to think. Propaganda tells you what to think. Good educators present all sides of an issue and encourage discussion. Propagandists relentlessly force you to hear their view and discourage discussion."
- Awake!, June 22, 2000, pp. 9-11Apprently, the answer is "Yes!"
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We can be fairly certain the Governing Body authority knows exactly what it is doing when articles are published which specifically discourage higher education.
March 15, 1969, Watchtower pages 168-173 titled "What Influences Decisions in Your Life?".
"Many schools now have student counselors who encourage one to pursue higher education after high school, to pursue a career with a future in this system of things. Do not be influenced by them. Do not let them "brainwash" you with the Devil's propaganda to get ahead, to make something of yourself in this world. The world has very little time left! Any "future" this world offers is no future! ... Make pioneer service, the full-time ministry, with the possibility of Bethel or missionary service your goal. This is a life that offers an everlasting future!"
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WHY would responsible leaders create policy that disables its young members from being able to support themselves and their family? Clearly, it is the End Times doctrines which clouds judgement! In the theology of Jehovah's Witnesses THIS LIFE means little at all. No provision is made for old age, illness or retirement! The END is always "near".
For the last 100+ years members of the Watchtower Society have defied all official pronouncements to the contrary (such as: Millions Now Living Will Never Die) by aging, growing infirm, getting ill and dying in poverty!
For the last 100+ years members have been JEHOVAH'S WITNESS STUPID by working at meanial labor employment and living a hand-to-mouth existence for the most part.
Wouldn't you think a century of counter-factual evidence would soften the Governing Body viewpoint just a little?
This is as "soft" as it gets:
"This magazine has placed emphasis on the dangers of higher learning, and justifiably so, for much higher education opposes the "healthful teaching" of the Bible. Further, since the 1960's, many schools of advanced learning have become hotbeds of lawlessness and immorality. "The faithful and discrete slave" has strongly discouraged entering that kind of environment. It must be admitted, however, that nowadays youngsters meet up with these same dangers in high schools and technical colleges and even in the workplace." The Watchtower, November 1, 1992, pp. 16-20
Oh, so it is ALL bad. Does that mean you should not send your child to school AT ALL?
Don't be surprised that a great many Jehovah's Witness parents resort to HOME SCHOOLING! Can you imagine what kind of blind-leading-the-blind "education" that Witness child will receive that will help them earn a living or socialize with normal human beings?
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Unfortunately for me, I chose the Watchtower version of what was laughingly termed "accurate knowledge". This consisted of random factoids about history, science, society and the world at large. Do you suppose the Society's "accurate knowledge" was really accurate? Hell no!
In 1968 a worldwide effort directed by Nathan Knorr and Fred Franz at Watchtower Headquarters urged all members to look to 1975 as a CULMINATION of man's existence on earth! Education? What good would it do?
"Therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!"
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Do I need to tell you 1975 was the year NOTHING took place to verify the above wild claims? No--I didn't think so!
Jehovah's Witnesses are one thing and one thing only: AMATEURS!
The leaders are amateur theologians. As you might suspect, no Seminary diploma attests to proficiency in bible languages, hermeneutics, early church history, document analysis, etc.
The leaders are ABOVE ALL THAT sort of accredited education for themselves.
Every layer of direction and oversight is crammed with amateur ideas, misconceptions and hubris.
This is a do-it-yourself latter day "prophet" which is embarrassed frequently by mis-steps.
Not one publication has lasted as much as ten years without falling into discredit and replacement. Are you surprised? You should not be.
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What does a JEHOVAH'S WITNESS STUPID person have to look forward to in life?
Well, mostly I can say I was compelled by duty to go door to door passing along amateur guesswork about End Times to unwitting people who had better things to do.
I worked low-paying jobs to feed my family. I spent tired evenings sitting in folding chairs listening to more amateurs speak confidently about "accurate knowlege" which would eventually be replaced.
If you tried to tell me I should "go back to school" and learn a better paying trade I'd have argued with you, of course. Time was short. And...I was short....of cash!
So, it is 44 years later. I suppose time wasn't all that short after all! All the young people of my generation are getting a belly and white hair. Several of my former "brothers and sisters" have died without seeing Armageddon come.
I've watched with great sadness as faithful JW families grapple with caring for aging and dying parents without much financial preparation or mental preparedness.
They, for the most part, are tired and depressed and bored with the whole damned religion.
The problem is--they are still JEHOVAH'S WITNESS STUPID and too stubborn to admit it was all a phony amateur flim-flam by under-educated men full of themselves and too proud to admit to failure.
The only escape they might have had passed them by.
There are in it to win it or die trying.
Like sad gamblers laying their rent money on the roulette wheel's spin--the JEHOVAH'S WITNESS STUPID person will go down swinging....to their dark and lonely grave.....poor and defeated and--worst of all........ confident to the end of how smart they were!