Dang - just noticed I wrongly spelled "Absalom" above (I spelled it "Absolom") (too late to edit). Just had to correct it; my spelling OCD was getting me.
How many *educated* adults are being converted into the Jehovah's Witnesses nowadays?
by EdenOne 23 Replies latest jw friends
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EdenOne
It seems to me that the majority of those few who
a) Were adults
b) Without *any* family ties to the JW's
c) Possessing a higher education degree
and still decided to become baptized Jehovah's Witnesses did so in circumstances of emotional vulnerability: Either they were emotionally engaged with a member of the congregation, or they had suffered emotional damage (abuse, divorce, loss of a close relative, solitude) and were impressed with the "love-bombing" they've experienced when coming to the congregation. Very interesting - and very telling.
Eden
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Apognophos
That's probably the case. Actually, I think there's an additional personality trait that has drawn some of these people to the religion. I think we don't talk about this factor enough. It's a tendency towards conspiracy theories. People are attracted to the idea that we can explain the events of the world as the result of shadowy conspiracies. For some people the conspiracies are political, but even intelligent people are often willing to accept supernatural explanations for conspiracies. The idea of finding the "true cause" of evil in the world, or knowing what the world is "really about", is thrilling. So when a Witness is offering someone secret knowledge about "who really rules the world" and how it all revolves around the issue of "universal sovereignty", I think some are willing to suspend critical thinking in order to have the security that these answrs give them.
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WTWizard
All it takes is for someone to be unfulfilled, with lack of access to the information (Internet II, anyone?), and to be promised fulfillment (usually by joke-hova) if they become jokehovians. For me, joke-hova exploited the lack of the opposite sex in my life the first time, and promised to take care of that if I became a jokehovian. Obviously, that thing did not fulfill it. Some might be promised money, or better health, or something else they are lacking if they become jokehovians. Even well educated people of above average intelligence are not safe from this effect.
And, with the advent of another Sagittarius spell for Saturn, it would not surprise me if the jokehovians (and other, some even worse, cults) have a field day again. Hounders need only find one bad judge to rule that the baptism constitutes a signed, legally binding contract, and anyone they feel fit to drag back into the cancer will be forced under court order. Lawsuits and even criminal contempt charges could result if they fail--it only takes one bad judge for this nightmare to happen. And, as for the public, Saturn in Sagittarius makes it more likely that people will be dissatisfied with where they are now. This is good for cults (provided they lack the information). Yes, if that were now, all they would need is to research through their favorite search engine, and find 10,000 alternatives. Let Internet II come (and they are trying feverishly to impose Internet II), and such research would be biased. It would be reduced to a big cable network similar to Comcast or Time Warner. And the information would once again be controlled by the washtowel.