Well said Vidiot!
LIVE! from the 2014 International Convention, its 'Your Girl Brooklynn!!'
by j dubb 26 Replies latest jw friends
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Magnum
steve2: I never thought I'd say it but here goes:
These sorts of displays make me pine for the 1960s and 70s Witnesses when deported themselves with a kind of hard-nosed, contained decorum when out in public - at least it demonstrated they were trying to use "reason" - and not emotion - to defend their beliefs.
Nowadays, they are a couple of cartoons away from the cheery-eyed disneyfication of their religion.
I've been thinking for a while that I miss those old days when JWs seemed more serious and dignified. I think that in those days JWs really felt they were doctrinally right and that they could back up their doctrine. Now, they're not sure. They can no longer defend themselves. So they can't carry themselves in a dignified, serious, hard-nosed manner. They are becoming more of a social group trying to be more mainstream, and yes, they are becoming more disneyfied.
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jw07
What the hell is this? Reminds me of an Amway convention.
This is so scripted, normally anyone with a camera and microphone is turned away from the venue for fear of being an evil, fire-breathing apostate. Someone pulled some strings to get this psuedo journalist to feature the convention in such detail.
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jw07
Notice that it's also her longest video. Definitely seems like a propaganda peice!
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steve2
Yes Magnum I agree. I recall the little pocket-sized blue "bombshell" publication, The Truth That Leads To Eternal Life. It was actually very well written and the chapter on the last days of this system packed a punch with its arrowed time line from 1914 to the mid-1970s.
Of course, hindsight tells us this was pure hokum - but at the time, man, it was tightly argued with no gimmicks.
I felt proud as a young Witness to be able to persuasively argue these points and what stood out is opposing doctrinal voices were extremely rare. I was likely a pain in the backside back then - yet no way could the calibre of argument have been damned as simplistic or like a parrot. We lived and breathed "our" beliefs and did not run for cover when anyone dared question us.
Perhaps I am developing old man's syndrome ("Back in my day...) as I near my 60s. But we were a different breed back then and stood in sharp, uncompromising contrast to the world. Still, the simplifying of the religion is a sign it's lost a lot of doctrinal weight with the passage of time...and Witnesses in general are not readers...or thinkers because to be either would jeopardize their faith in the organization's flimsy house of cards. Funny that.
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WingCommander
@ Steve2:
Oh, it's not you "getting old man syndrome", I am 35 yrs old and totally agree. Today's breed of JW's are emotional, brainwashed, simple-minded half-wits with no ability to argue or defend their beliefs. Any objection or threat to their internal belief system is cause for immediate shut-down and running away with their fingers in their ears going, "A-lalala-lalalala-lalalala", like a little kid. I think growing up in the 1980's, there was still an ability to decisevly argue the belief structure and doctrines using WT literature. You know, Aid book, etc, etc. Now, there is dumbed-down pamplets and JW.org site. Got questions that are "too deep"? Well then, you are too SMART to be a JW and are probably a "goat". Baaah. In hindsight, with the passage of time, I think it is becoming increasingly evident that 1995 was a crucial deceleration point for this cult. The jig was up, the Governing Body (kind of) admitted it, and after a few years the Sheeple caught on and started to leave and/or die. What's left are a new breed of JW born around that time or converted after the fact, that know NOTHING of the deep spiritual slop we were fed and led to believe. It's a cycle.....a vicious cycle. How many of you in your 60's remember the fallout of Rutherford's 1925 end of the world prophetic bullcrap? CT Russell's 1914? Not many, and hence history repeated itself in 1975.
- Wing Commander
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Vidiot
jw07 - "What the hell is this? Reminds me of an Amway convention."
I know, right?
I actually attended an Amway convention once, back when I was stil active (long before the current trends at JW conventions started).
Even back then, the similarities were disturbing; I felt like I'd slid into this weird-ass semi-secular capitalism-oriented mirror universe version of the WTS.