Many Member Just Want to Believe

OnTheWayOut

If you are/were an active JW, you are now here on JWN so, for whatever your reasons, you woke up to some degree- hopefully a great degree. So what I am saying may not apply to you.

I know that if I had not already left, I would have stormed out on the day they studied "overlapping generation." I am quite confident I couldn't have stayed for such an obvious switcharoo just to make the end seem imminent and try to explain how WTS was wrong, but not entirely wrong in the past.

But I had to wonder how that change (or others) didn't cause most JW's to walk out. My best theory is that they are too invested in WTS and just have to hang on and believe. They want to believe, no matter how ridiculous the doctrine gets.

Here's a great magic example from Penn and Teller that shows how really simple it is to trick people:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H81A3bU68k

Part of the success of magic is that the audience wants to believe, despite their deep-down knowledge that it's just an entertainment trick. The point of the revealing is that, no matter what nonsense the Watchtower prints, many members simply don't question it.

Here's an even simpler trick where a fast eye could catch the moving of the rabbit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSOQfAEVRbc&NR=1

I loved the television show, "Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed" that was on a few years ago.

I think it's because the show reveals that complicated tricks really are not so complicated. It's similar to the WTS tricks with the Bible and twisting of logic. It seems complicated until you know the trick. JWN and other sites reveal the trick, but only if you want to know.

OnTheWayOut

Much of the problem for those that "Just Want to Believe" is that they are so deeply rooted. They cannot even consider that the "trick" is just a trick.

Most of us can see that the idea that "Jehovah" is God, and a group that uses the name and even carries the name as a badge of honor (Jehovah's Witnesses) have a very deep level of belief in the religion and that virtually anything that tries to upset the belief causes great cognitive dissonance.

To even suggest that Witnesses of [the named God] are wrong is just so heavy on their dissonance. To suggest that a group of people that carries the name of their God are being misled is like suggesting that everything they know is wrong, gravity doesn't exist, up is down, the sun exploded.

I am not asking for debate on whether God is "Jehovah" or "YHWH" or "Yaweh" or whether the Bible is the Word of God. I am just rambling a bit because in many cases, such as mine, some cannot even get past this deepest level in ANY discussion with our JW loved ones. To argue against the Bible is to argue against "Jehovah" and to argue against the WT's take on the Bible is to argue against a people that carry the name of God with honor.

It isn't a trick to them. Jehovah puts the rabbit in the hat.

We have to find non-threatening ways to penetrate the deep level of belief in anything WTS says. I use everyday conversations to make my wife think. She knows that college/education is extremely valuable to get by in today's world, she is upset at newstories of robbing people of their rights or making women secondary citizens to men. I encourage her independent thinking. I strike nerves on her dissonance but try to keep her religion out of it.

You can't always go right to the "trick." Sure, with actual magician tricks, they know deep down it's not real. But with Watchtower doctrine, they just want to believe. They don't consider that it's just a simple trick.

OnTheWayOut

Here's the trick:

Members are asked to think like this-

A. The Bible is "right."
B. There is a "right" way to serve the God of the Bible.
C. The God of the Bible is "Jehovah."
D. To be serving God "right," you must recognize Jehovah.
E. WTS recognizes Jehovah and uses the Bible, therefore they are the "right" way to serve the God of the Bible.
F. If WTS is "right" then all others are "wrong."
G. Any deviation from this simple "logic" that causes dissonance should just fall back on repeating the steps above.

Dagney

That's about it. They want it to be true...talking snakes or golden tablets...it's magic and a fairy tale they want to be true.

Apognophos

I hadn't thought about it this way before. Now that you bring up the analogy of a card trick, isn't that especially what happens at step C?

C. The God of the Bible is "Jehovah."

Psalms 83:18, bam! Or whatever verse in their Bible has the Name. It's like saying to a kid, "But, oh, what's this?!" and pulling a quarter out of their ear. "Wow, how long has that been there?!"

It puts the householder in awe of the JW for their superior Bible knowledge -- "Wow, these people knew the name of God, and I didn't ever know it was right here in my Bible! What else must they know?"

As a prerequisite, the person should be easily impressed (poor education) or prone to conspiratorial thinking ("There must be a whole world of secret knowledge that's been hidden from me all this time!").

Then we come to step D:

D. To be serving God "right," you must recognize Jehovah.

The reasoning point "How can you have a relationship with someone without knowing their name?" usually is all that needs to be said at this point.

Separation of Powers

Agreed....the individual witness believes that they are special. God has "drawn" them to the organization and God can't be wrong when it comes to people being special.....

leaving_quietly

It's interesting to compare magic with WTBTS teachings. I first noticed this sleight of hand last night. I've been wondering ever I caught it how I never noticed it before:

From the Bible Teach book, p. 27 (December 2014 printing... yep, a new one is out with a new cover and all... time to do a comparison!!!):

GOD’S purpose for the earth is really wonderful. Jehovah
wants the earth to be filled with happy, healthy
people. The Bible says that “Jehovah God planted a garden
in Eden” and that he “made to grow . . . every tree
that was pleasing to look at and good for food.” After
God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve,
He put them in that lovely home and told them: “Be
fruitful and become many, fill the earth and subdue it.”
(Genesis 1:28; 2:8, 9, 15) So it was God’s purpose that
humans have children, extend the boundaries of that
garden home earth wide, and take care of the animals.

Let's see what the references say.

Gen 1:28:

Further, God blessed them, and God said to them: “Be fruitful and become many, fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving on the earth.”

Nothing there about extending the boundaries of the garden. Oh, wait, man wasn't even IN the garden, yet. Hang on...

Gen 2:8, 9:

Further, Jehovah God planted a garden in E′den, toward the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Thus Jehovah God made to grow out of the ground every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food and also the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

Ah, now we see man placed in the garden. But still, nothing about extending its boundaries.

Gen 2:15:

Jehovah God took the man and settled him in the garden of E′den to cultivate it and to take care of it.

Once again, there is no command to extend the boundaries of the garden. To cultivate it, yes and to take care of it, yes. But to extend it? It does not say that. What of the word "cultivate"? The Hebrew word is lə-‘ā-ḇə-ḏāh (Strong's 5647) which means "to work, serve". Thus, some translations say: "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. " Cultivate does NOT mean extend.

This hit me like a ton of bricks last night. Take away God's supposed purpose, that of a Paradise Earth(TM) and what do you have left? There goes the carrot at the end of the stick.

But do you see the sleight of hand? The verses say one thing, and WTBTS says something that the Bible DOES NOT SAY.

minimus

Tif you have a critical mind, it's hard to just accept this spiritual slop. If you choose not to think too much, it's easy to coast along.........

Pete Zahut

Their beleifs are based on a premise that isn't provable in any tangible way and their circular reasoning takes them right back to that unprovable premise every time.

We all have seen what it takes and the residual damage that one has to recover from when we walked or were pushed away. As far as I can tell from my experience, most JW's stick with it much like an inexperienced or under educated employee sticks with a unsuitable job. They are afraid of the unknown and lack the personal confidence it takes to make a big change.

OnTheWayOut

Thanks, Dagney. That's it.

Apognophos, yup. Maybe not too many newbies fall for it with the internet at their fingertips, but the trick is already established in JW's and implanted in their children. Some newbies are still falling for it here and there.

Separation of Powers, that's how I felt. I almost broke free near the beginning of my eldership when my step-father (never a JW) was quite surprised that I was appointed. He pretty much let me know that God (or the Watchtower) might have rushed that a bit.

leaving_quietly, very good. You hit on one of the early points in indoctrination just as God's name is an early point. "Facts" are established that are not facts at all. It's a lot like the red scarf is just a diversion to add to the magician's trick.

Minimus, exactly. We can't always figure out the trick with a magician, but as long was we think for ourselves, we know that Teller wasn't broken into 3 pieces. A person has to remain in a "going along" state to fall for that.

Pete, circular reasoning is essential for the trick to work.

Many Member Just Want to Believe

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