JWs: No Room for Misgivings?

by Room 215 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  Room 215

  It seems to me that in years past, a JW who admitted to having doubts, etc.,but who affirmed his/her belief in say 80 percent of the doctrines, but couldn't bring himself/herself to acccept the balance, while at the same time pledging not to ``cause trouble'' over his/her misgivings who be more or less left alone.

  Today, however, it seems to be more of an ``all or nothing'' paranoia that prevails. I guess my question is whether a ``comfort zone'' for wavering but basically loyal JWs to wriggle around in, or must they be resigned to eventrual epulsion? I guess much, if not all, depends on high enlightened the local elders are.

  What say you?
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  zenpunk

  I think there are a lot of other factors to be considered, like the doubting person's position in the social pecking order. For example, the "all or nothing" philosophy may be applied to Mr. Ordinary Publisher, but an elder's wife with some doubts who promises to keep her mouth shut for the sake of her husband may be given lots of room for independant thought.

  One thing I realized when I was a JW is that the congregational playing field is not level for everyone.
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  Amazing

  Hi Room 215: I don't recall any level of doubts ever being permitted ... but I recall that the Elders at one time were encouraged to assist those with doubts ... but that is maybe a doubt or two over minor doctrine ... such as whether women should wear head coverings when praying or whether resurreted JWs will be allowed to marry in the New System ... but wholesale doubts about the authority of the Watchtower was never tolerated that I am aware.

  I think Zenpunk is correct in saying that certain JWs might get away with more if they have an influential position that cannot be gotten rid of ... they are told to keep quiet. Although, while I could have been DF'd or DA'd, and eventually I was DA'd, I was told for about a year or two to "believe anything I wanted to believe, just keep my trap shut" ... even though this violated the 1985 BOE letter that mere belief or thinking that is contrary to Watchtower teaching is an act of apostasy.
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  Dismembered

  Hi Room215,

  Up to this point, I have found that so long as one, as Amazing quoted "just keep trap shut" ... has been what has worked in my case. As hard as that has been to do. So far none of the "Storm Troopers" have tried to interrogate my thinking so far.
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  Room 215

  Amazing, Dismembered, Zenpunk,

  Thanks for your insights. II know that the Watchtowe was never exactly a bastion of enlightened intellectuality, but still I'm of the opinion that the spiritual/intellectual climate within the JW community has deteriorated. I know that when I was in Bethel, we used to sit around with friends and openly discuss misgivings, but nobody impugned or threatened another for such. The tacit understanding was that it was healthful to air these concerns, but not to cause disturbrances among the locals with these concerns or `push too hard or too loud.'' But, as Ray Franz pointed out in COC, even Knorr wondered about several major doctrines (I heard him more than once say things quite similar to what Ray quoted him as saying re 1914: ``we may well be right; I hope we are... the main thing, however, is to serve Jehovah.'' Other bigwigs were also known to say things like: `we're not serving a date; dates aren't important; Jehovah is,'' etc.

  Until the Franz/Dunlap/Sanchez witchhunt, Bethel was actually quite a hotbed of fundamentally loyal but quite liberal thought, especially among the younger family members. It's been all downhill since.
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  Room 215

  btt, for additional comment
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  freedom96

  I always thought it was an all or nothing policy. As a witness, I never would have expressed doubts unless I wanted to be booted.