Tempering expectations to reality

by gravedancer 12 Replies latest jw friends

  • Amazing
    Amazing

    Hi GD: Good post, good points. I would add that unless a JW is close to a victim situation or an Elder involved, then the likelihood they they would watch these programs is reduced, and of those who watch, the likelihood they would believe it is low. The reason is that the Society through its Elders are good at concealing the issue. I believe that those JWs who are closely affected and who saw the program have a greater chance of breaking away from the religion.

    I think the real good from these programs is to help those who might have joined, or may yet be contacted to stay away from the religion ... and these programs give additional ammunition to ex-JWs to help those just starting to think for themselves ... so that maybe they can see this religion for what it is and leave a little sooner, and a little faster.

  • gravedancer
    gravedancer
    Besides, since you've admitted to having an IQ of only 35, I'm even more impressed!

    Farkel,

    I have raised it to 35.56 by studying like crazy. What was I studying? The questions on the test of course....think I am stupid or something?

  • blacksheep
    blacksheep

    GD, you've pointed out what I think is an interesting phenomenon. I think we all hope that something will be the final straw that causes the whole WT empire to crumble. It's the very same wish that some of us nurse that our JW relatives will somehow, someday see that the whole organization is a sham. Many of us have been through a painful journey of discovery, and the sham's quite crystal clear to us. And many of us have done considerable research to try to understand what makes our JW relatives/friends "tick". What makes them stay. Again, with the hope that all of a sudden they'll just abandon the org, give up the Armageddon fantasy, and try to become the people they were (or could be) without the cult influence.

    You know what? I've had to come to terms with the fact that it probably ain't gonna happen. A few years ago, my die-hard JW mom made a startling comment, sort of in passing. She said even if she died without ever having seen the JW's prophesies come to full fruition (she's been an active witness since her 20's and when she made the statement she was in her late 50's), she'd still prefer the life of a JW. She feels it's the right way to live.

    That was a revelation to me. After actively preaching the end, and basically living her life for the JWs, she showed a chink in her armour that somehow, at some level, it might not really be true (at least that's what I got out of her statement). Yet she'd do it all again anyway.

    Good greif, as someone who was raised in it but always felt deep down it was anti-human, that there's a heck of a lot of good and mysterious beauty in the world, hear that a person has CHOSEN to live a narrow, controlled, interpreted, BORING life because that's what they WANT, it was really a revelation...

    I think they such people really DO hate the world, don't feel accepted by it, cannot love themselves or perceive themselves as making a success in it, and therefore reject it. That only furthered the gap between my mom and me. But I have to accept that...

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