Trouble in the Spiritual Paradise

by Victor_E 7 Replies latest jw friends

  • Victor_E
    Victor_E

    Sow and act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap character; sow character, reap a destiny G.D. Boardman

    Nathan Knorr the great JW merchandiser coined the phrase The New World Society to give the JWs a special identity and to have a catchy slogan that new recruits would want to be a part of. To kick off the new marketing campaign he set out with an entourage of people on tour to personally make his pitch at international assemblies. He then commissioned Fred Franz to come up with proofs of why JWs were so special and different from the masses of mankind. Thus for years JWs were sold on their special status ala spiritual paradise only among themselves.

    Time after time JWs were told how in this spiritual paradise Jehovahs spirit was protecting them, with dire consequences if you should ever leave it. Some sixty years later the reality is far different from that envisioned by the architect of the New World Society. The morality of JWs is no better than non-JWs and in some cases worse. In a sexually repressed subculture as JWs are, it is common to have a higher incidence of sexual infractions. While I was a JW I knew of incidents of wife swapping, elders preying on women, people living double lives, financial fraud, backbiting, constant petty fights, animosity among elders, alcoholism, nepotism, abuse of power, pornography, suicide, depression and many other social problems.

    Of course since this was not to exist in the spiritual paradise you just denied it and pretended as though it didnt exit, if you dared to speak about it you quickly found yourself in the library being censured for gossip or slander. With recent developments of the lawyers and hardliners circling the wagons and becoming more totalitarian with their membership they will continue to have a brain drain and lose those sincere members who know better than the smoke and mirrors being used to give a squeaky clean image to the outside world.

    We couldnt possibly know where it would lead, but we knew it had to be done.

    Betty Friedan on the Womens Movement

  • Faraon
    Faraon

    I agree with you Victor.

    Unfortunately, many of their members are afraid to sever family ties and keep on believing because of the Jehovah thing, not believing in the trinity. They do not realize you can prove just about anything with the bible because it is so full of contradictions. You can explore different sections from

    http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com but the one I am showing is from contradictions.

  • Matty
    Matty

    Faraon, I love the SAB too! It certainly made me think.

    I also bought the spiritual paradise thing! I felt like everyone at the hall was looking out for me, supporting me. The camaraderie of witnesses has a bizarre strength to it, in that you can feel like it's there, but it's just a fantasy. I felt it at the convention, it's still there within me and that bond is difficult to break free of.

    The Spiritual Paradise and New World Society brings the new order conditions that we look forward to right now in the congregations, almost as if Armageddon isn't needed. It's just as well isn't it?

  • Faraon
    Faraon

    Matty,

    I also bought the spiritual paradise thing! I felt like everyone at the hall was looking out for me, supporting me. The camaraderie of witnesses has a bizarre strength to it, in that you can feel like it's there, but it's just a fantasy. I felt it at the convention, it's still there within me and that bond is difficult to break free of.

    True, but then you realize that it is a conditional love, not agape, based on your staying in the Borg. Even divorced couples are not forbidden to speak to each other in the real world.

    It really hits you when you realize that this shunning includes relatives. This is emotional blackmail in the part of the "truth". I do not know of any other religion that does this. I always make people aware of this fact when talking about JWs.

    Rene

  • metatron
    metatron

    Realizing that Witnesses are no better than others is an important step
    on the path to mainstreaming. I certainly hope the wave of scandal does not
    abate or pause because this will wear them down into realization that their
    spiritual paradise is a myth.

    The next generation of Witnesses will require a huge dose of deception to maintain
    the spiritual paradise myth. Video games, internet porn, college generated thinking,
    marijuana, and fornication will not be overcome, in the main. It's too late for the
    Society to take the "Amish road" - they don't have the money or the zeal to make
    a separate subculture work. Actually, things are going in the opposite direction
    as Bethel is being downsized.

    I do wonder how, eventually, they will deal with the lack of a paid, professional
    clergy. Even born again churches generally have somebody trained and renumerated
    in charge. Getting sued in a hostile environment makes it all worse.

    I also see the Awake disappearing or changed radically. I'm amazed that it's survived
    this long because it is a waste of paper for cult indoctrination purposes. Not even
    'Watching the World' is alarmist anymore. They are running out of things to say -
    except oblique responses to 'apostate' exposures. More than that, they aren't even
    sure of their own doctrine - do they still believe human history is only 6000 years?
    do they still deny evolution? Who knows? I doubt they do either!

    metatron

  • pomegranate
    pomegranate

    Did Jesus appear to the eleven or to the twelve apostles after his resurrection?

    Consider:

    1 Cor. 15:5 Paul claims that Jesus was seen by all twelve apostles (including Judas) after Judas' suicide and before Jesus' resurrection. (Mk.16:18 says he was seen by "the eleven.") It should be noted that this was before Matthias was selected to replace Judas.

    1 Cor 15:5
    ...and then to the Twelve.

    Please note, Paul DOES NOT CLAIM in ANY SENSE in this sentence that all these men who Christ showed himself to were APOSTLES. He says he was seen BY TWELVE, of which eleven WERE APOSTLES and another was Judas brother of JAMES, who WAS NOT an Apostle. Paul saying Christ was seen by these twelve doesn't make one who wasn't an Apostle an Apostle does it? Or could someone explain to me how Jesus showing himself to the eleven Apostles and Judas (who just happened to be present) who wasn't an Apostle, makes him an Apostle? It doesn't. This is a CLASSIC WRONG ASSUMPTION.

    Judas brother of James was NEVER an Apostle, but was with the eleven Apostles when Christ showed himself to the eleven.

    Mark 16:18 - Mark only mentions the 11 Apostles, (though Judas brother of James was present.)
    1 Cor. 15:5 - Paul mentions both the 11 Apostles and the 12th (Judas) who was present (though NOT an Apostle)

    That's the way I see it.

    Edited by - pomegranate on 20 August 2002 15:35:47

  • Faraon
    Faraon

    Pomegranate,

    Did Jesus appear to the eleven or to the twelve apostles after his resurrection?

    Consider:

    1 Cor. 15:5 Paul claims that Jesus was seen by all twelve apostles (including Judas) after Judas' suicide and before Jesus' resurrection. (Mk.16:18 says he was seen by "the eleven.") It should be noted that this was before Matthias was selected to replace Judas.

    1 Cor 15:5
    ...and then to the Twelve.

    Please note, Paul DOES NOT CLAIM in ANY SENSE in this sentence that all these men who Christ showed himself to were APOSTLES. He says he was seen BY TWELVE, of which eleven WERE APOSTLES and another was Judas brother of JAMES, who WAS NOT an Apostle. Paul saying Christ was seen by these twelve doesn't make one who wasn't an Apostle an Apostle does it? Or could someone explain to me how Jesus showing himself to the eleven Apostles and Judas (who just happened to be present) who wasn't an Apostle, makes him an Apostle? It doesn't. This is a CLASSIC WRONG ASSUMPTION.

    Judas brother of James was NEVER an Apostle, but was with the eleven Apostles when Christ showed himself to the eleven.

    1 Corinthians 15

    15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

    15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

    15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of thetwelve:

    15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

    15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

    Note that it does not say that he was seen by twelve, but by THE twelve. The insertion of the definitive article THE between "by" and "the" indicates a known group of twelve. By the context, this could not be any other but the apostles.

    Note also that on verse 7 it is claimed that he was seen by James, and then all of the apostles. In this case no number is given.

    My point is that there are many contradictions in the bible. This was proven. I know many more not mentioned in this site, but I am not going to go thru this now.

    You can compare these verses in 12 different bibles at

    http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?language=english

    (of the apostate class)

    Edited to add pomegranate's quote/yellow

    Edited by - faraon on 20 August 2002 23:44:13

  • minimus
    minimus

    hi Victor, That was very good! I hear and see JW's walking around in trance-like states wondering where everybody went.There is trouble in paradise and I am hearing how so many are starting to get discouraged by elders leaving and Halls getting emptier.

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