A simple mental exercise can calm many of their fears...

by ILoveTTATT 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  ILoveTTATT

  So one of my "closet apostate" friends is a young girl. She's only in her mid teens, and knows TTATT... but sometimes she holds back because of the fear... the crazy amount of fear... she reads a lot of conspiracy theory/illuminati stuff... so that doesn't help

  So she said "so many prophecies are being fulfilled!"

  And I was like... "really??? like... ???"

  Then when I debunked two of them, I had the idea of pretending it was 1974...

  We reviewed all the things that the WT said about 1975, and we pretended like she was 18 in 1969, when the infamous Awake "you will never grow old" article appeared.

  Then, (and here's the important part), we reviewed what happened in the world in the 1970's... the Watchtower had plenty of sh!t to scare people with...

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s

  Thankfully, the Wikipedia article also showed the good things of the 1970's... like MRI's, cell phones, in-vitro fertilization, couple of lunar landings... etc..

  And, of course... the conclusion was that... the world goes through many tragedies and trials... but generally always survives... and that, if the JW's living back then would have listened to the WT, they wouldn't have LIVED... they would have been DEAD although they were alive... losing out on opportunities and LIFE!!

  So people... enjoy your life. Be good to others. That's about it...

  ILTTATT
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  jgnat

  That's genius! Play time-traveller and ask them to put themselves in to the shoes of those who have gone before. When hubby spouts end-time stuff, I try and wait him out, but of course, that's a waiting game without end.
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  jgnat

  You could also play "Volkswagon", "Volkswagon", "Volkswagon". Ask how many they saw last week. Then ask them to count how many she sees this coming week. Whatever she dwells on, that is what she will see.
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  Vidiot

  ILoveTTATT - "Then, (and here's the important part), we reviewed what happened in the world in the 1970's... the Watchtower had plenty of sh!t to scare people with... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s Thankfully, the Wikipedia article also showed the good things of the 1970's... like MRI's, cell phones, in-vitro fertilization, couple of lunar landings... etc.."

  The media focuses disproportionally more on the negative than on the positive ("if it bleeds, it leads", after all), and sometimes I think that's the biggest thing out there that stokes a fire under apocalyptic millennialists' collective ass; they hone in on it like sharks on chum.

  ILoveTTATT - "And, of course... the conclusion was that... the world goes through many tragedies and trials... but generally always survives..."

  Sometimes I also think apocalypticism is at least partially fueled (in addition to general feelings of disenfranchisement) by an impatience too see everything "fixed" right away, instead of accepting that it takes time for the world to improve itself.

  ILoveTTATT - "Be good to others."

  "Be excellent to each other."

  (my kids just discovered this movie and absolutely loved it... "Dad, Bill and Ted are... kinda stupid.")
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  ILoveTTATT

  Lmaoooo Jgnat!!

  I should play the Volkswagen one a lot... With plenty of ppl... Get them thinking of other things...
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  jgnat

  Hubby and I both are fond of Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" for different reasons. He, for it's confirmation bias. Me, that it was written in 1965 and Barry is still with us today!
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  PaintedToeNail

  bump