by metatron 16 Replies latest jw friends
I am very much against the degree that Disfellowshipping is taken to. A number of ones have confided things in me and very carefully I have handled these matters on my own so that the person would be spared the emotional rape of a Judicial Committee, and spared the humiliation of being a second class citizen from then on. I don't feel at all guilty about having done this.
The point has been made that, "Its not a Democracy its a Theocracy." One thing is also true: Communistic force doesn't work.
entrapped people within an emotional prison and force them to work until they die
One Bethel elder expressed to me that the Society keeps them (the Bethelites) so busy, that they don't have time to "think" (meditate), so they can never find time to quietly check out their personal beliefs. Consequently, they rely entirely upon the publications.
Such true words, indeed! Strangely, this same Bethel elder is renowned as being one of the most "loyal" to the Borg, almost appears with blinkers on as far as his non-receptiveness to anything but "black and white"!!
Cheers, Ozzie
Most people stay in Bethel and/or Dubland for exactly the same reason a hen continues laying eggs.
Farkel hit it on the head. See CULT. It is all about control. If they allowed normal criticism and encourage constructive change this cult would cease to exist within a few conversations and meetings.
Grunt
Lionel,
You're quite right when you observe that JWs can and do hold to private misgivings. The problem here is that over the years the definition of ``private'' in this context has hardened and narrowed, from a close circle of trusted mature confidants of similar mind to the narrow confines of one's own mind at present.
Like a fermenation vat without a safety valve, this cumulative sublimation of doubts, concerns, etc., fed by JWs growing increasingly restive under the tick-tick-tick of the clock while awaiting the end that seems so tantalizingly close but which never seems to get here, has to be approaching the breaking point.
if you ever was at Bethel
G'day Jim,
Answer: Yes, I was!
Cheers, Ozzie
Room215,
I agree - in fact that was my intended point. In Jwdom, "private," in practice, means deep within one's own thoughts. Nothing else can be allowed. That's why I felt that metatron's suggestions, while so well intentioned, missed the mark of what is actually required.
I do appreciate the clarification -
Sincerely,
LPH
