Believing It All EXCEPT...

by Ding 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Ding
    Ding

    I used to think that loyal JWs bought into the WT teachings 100%.

    That's certainly what the GB wants and expects and demands.

    But then I encountered some JWs who believe it all EXCEPT for the opposition to higher education.

    They think the GB is wrong about that, so all of the children are college educated.

    Others seem to believe it all but quietly celebrate family birthdays and various holidays.

    These aren't people who are fading; they just ignore a few WT teachings that they don't like (despite the risks of being disciplined).

    Have you seen similar examples of active JWs who are doing all the WT-approved stuff EXCEPT for specific areas where they just ignore what the GB says is required?

  • DATA-DOG
    DATA-DOG

    I have never seen anything like that. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I live in the mid-west. People from the Bible-belt tend to be very devout, whatever their faith. The people that I grew up around would not have tolerated secret birth-day parties. College?? Who knows?

    DD

  • DesirousOfChange
    DesirousOfChange

    I had never realized it, but that was my wife. She says there were always some parts of the JW doctrine that she just couldn't believe, so she just ignored them. I tease her saying she dined at Jehovah's table a la carte. Me on the other hand, I swallowed it all, 100%, hook-line-&-sinker.

    Doc

  • snare&racket
  • adamah
    adamah

    Yeah, the ability to cherry-pick what parts of the Bible or religious doctrines you wish to accept as truths (and then to create complicated post-hoc rationalizations to explain the particular choice you've made) is not unique to JWs, and not even unique to Xians (eg those who choose to ignore scriptures that personally make them feel uncomfortable, since they conflict with most modern's basic sense of morality, eg owning other humans, or females treated as mere chattel of the familial patriarch, lex talionis, mandated killing of gays and Sabbath violators, genocides, etc, etc). It's a tendency see in ALL humans, although some are more prone to it by not even KNOWING such a phenomena exists.

    Unfortunately, the tendency to cherry-pick (but then excuse it) is a prevalent human tendency to avoid one's personal responsibility and some simply don't care to learn about and/or control the tendency, since, in the case of believers, they apparently don't actually believe in omniscient omnipresent God(s), but instead want to "pass the buck" to others, esp those who point out the evidence which only causes cognitive dissonance. So when they protest, they're actually saying, "Don't point out the facts which induce pain in ME", which is tantamount to an admission of guilt.

    And THAT'S what letting one's cherished beliefs outweigh undeniable evidence that's presented leads to: a flagrant disregard for available evidence; this manifests in claiming to believe in deities, climate change denial, etc. All result due to cognitive blinders, and thanks to bias blind spots, we can even talk about it to others yet STILL not recognize that it applies to all of us.

    (Jesus referred to this trait of human psychology when speaking of those who see splinters in eyes of others, but can't see the rafter in their own eyes: that's an analogy for bias blind spots. Unfortunately, Jesus didn't offer any wise advice on HOW to overcome the trait, which is why it's still prevalently found today).

    Some adamantly act as if others are trying to tell them what to do ('bullies'), so they play the role of the victim (revealing an anti-authoritarian tendency). That's actually the height of irony, since it's claimed by those who've seemingly fallen victims to the ULTIMATE fallacy ever created by men: the 'appeal to DIVINE authority'.

    But in 2013, without infallible lie detectors, it's hard to tell who actually believes in God's existence or not, and some seemingly enjoy playing the make-believe game: they apparently think they can win at the game by using the system to gain personal power, or find it personally gives them comfort, or point out how they've updated religion for good, etc, etc. All post-hoc rationalizations which ignore the ONLY question of relevance: does God exist or not?

    Of course, the main rule of the believer game is you cannot publicly admit you don't actually believe in God(s_; that's an automatic loss, per the unwritten rules of the game which are followed by those who choose to play it.

    Adam

  • Billy the Ex-Bethelite
    Billy the Ex-Bethelite

    I didn't encounter any that said, "I don't believe...", or "I don't agree with..."

    Usually they would use an excuse such as, "We aren't celebrating Thanksgiving (or whatever 'worldly' holiday), we're just taking advantage of all of us having the day off to get together to visit." Or, "Bethel is requesting nurses (or whatever), so our daughter is going to school in order to use her skills in bethel. So that makes it okay for her to go to school." In actuality, many of them never applied after getting their degrees.

    Actually, the abundance of rules in bethel made it nearly impossible to get some things done. So we all jokingly spoke of "The Book of Angles". In order to get around all the restrictiving rules, you needed an "angle", some way to sidestep the bureaucracy. Among the first rules was to do what you wanted before asking whether it was right or wrong, because it's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

  • GoneAwol
    GoneAwol

    A young elder lives near us and has 3 very young kids. He celebrates their birthdays as a special day with presents and treats. He doesnt believe its a biblical command not to.

  • The Searcher
    The Searcher

    Higher Education - it's biting the Org in the backside, big-time!! Many are openly telling the GB "Get lost!".

    After a D.O. gave a talk at the C.A., he was cornered after the session finished by a group of brothers & sisters telling him that the Org had gone too far with this one!

    The blatant hypocrisy is mind-boggling - "All you lovely bros & sis with college degrees, please come and help us build our new HQ and the new Britain Branch Office with your Higher Education qualifications - free of charge of course, because we don't want to waste our hedge fund money on paying for qualified personnel!".

    You can't criticize a "prostitute" for her life-choices, and then beg for "her" services!

  • Billy the Ex-Bethelite
    Billy the Ex-Bethelite

    "You can't criticize a "prostitute" for her life-choices, and then beg for "her" services!"

    I love that line!

  • adamah
    adamah

    The Searcher said-

    You can't criticize a "prostitute" for her life-choices, and then beg for "her" services!

    Well, you COULD, and some preachers DO: eg Ted Haggert preached his anti-gay rhetoric venomously until he was caught in a scandal for carrying on gay affairs. But as you say, you cannot do it without risking being denounced as a hypocrit.

    Most JWs operate on a "don't ask, don't tell" basis, and most do it on the down-low: most quietly engage in post-hoc rationalizations (as Billy pointed out, by saying it's not celebrating Thanksgiving if they cook a turkey on Friday, etc) but they usually aren't foolish enough to advocate their non-GB-derived excusiology in the congregation, out of fear of being accused of "stumbling others" and being punished for sharing their seditious disobedient attitude.

    Adam

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