Are JWs trying to make dysfunctional kids and destroy their ability to live normal lives?

by C0ntr013r 35 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  C0ntr013r

  Are JWs trying to make dysfunctional kids that wont "fit" in normal society so they will "return to Jehovah"? Because there have been many stories about young people who have been out in the world only to find how bad it was and how correct the ORG was.

  A good JW kid with "good" JW parents will have many big issues, some examples:

  Fear of demons (fear, misfit)

  Fear of Armageddon (fear,misfit)

  Trying to be different (isolation, misfit)

  No holidays (misfit, isolation)

  Deprived sexuality (porn, masturbation, premarital sex, impure thoughts) (misfit, guilt, shame)

  Confessing shameful "sins" to elders (guilt, shame)

  Most of the entertainment is bad (video games, movies, music) (misfit, isolation, guilt, shame)

  No friends outside the congregation (fear, isolation, guilt, shame)

  Educating them about science with logical fallacies and lies (misinformation)

  Teaching them to fear anything that is not JW approved (Satan controls the world) (fear, isolation, misfit)

  Be happy when someone is bullying or mistreating them for JWs sake (isolation, misfit, shame)

  Preach to their worldly friends (if they have any) to either convert them or scare them away (isolation)

  No higher education (isolation, misfit, shame)

  No sports (isolation, misfit, shame)

  
  

  This and more is a perfect mixture of; [isolation, misfit, guilt, fear, shame, misinformation] that is going to make a very awkward child who is going to have big problems if they try to enter normal society, especially if they don't know TTATT. That is why the fear of doubts and fear of apostate are enforced so strongly, even if someone leaves the person might never dare to research the JWs online and will therefor suffer for all the damage they took growing up.

  The goal is probably to get people that leave to come back because of all the guilt and how misplaced the feel.

  Just imagine this persons view of the "world". Then consider the view a person from the "world" must have of such a person. IMO they are setting the kids up to fail in normal society so the can keep all their members. This is true for adults too but it is much more potent when the victim is a child.

  What do you guys think? Is this designed to remove the ability for young people to have normal lives and make them dependent on the ORG or is it a side effect of the Watchtower leaders self delusion?
• 

  sir82

  Are JWs trying to make dysfunctional kids that wont "fit" in normal society so they will "return to Jehovah"?

  I might agree with you, except for my observation that the WTS at best merely tolerates children, on the days when it does not actively loathe them.

  They have no "plan" for children. They are viewed as a nuisance at best.

  If the WTS could put kids in suspended animation until they reach age 20, ready to thaw out and begin pioneering, they would do so in a heartbeat.
  
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  Yes, the system is absolutely designed to isolate JWs from the world at large. Who needs a real cult-compound with real walls when you can train the cultists to put up walls between themselves and normal people on their own? I would also add to the list the use of loaded language - this constantly reminds a JW that they're different from the people they talk to - any time they hear the words "mass" "church" "pastor" "deacon" "father" etc it serves as a reminder that these people are worldly and they're not like me. It also makes them uncomfortable in normal conversations when they talk about where they were tuesday night - they either have to use the repulsive word "church" or they have to explain what a meeting or a kingdom hall is. Every aspect of the cult is designed to create drones that are so isolated from normal people that they can never fathom becoming a normal person.
• 

  tim3l0rd

  I don't think the borg designs anything very well and surely does not have the forethought to create this kind of situation by design. They don't employ psychologists or child psychologists. They hold to the Bible as the best guidance and dismiss any recommendations by man. The recent videos directed at youths and teens is a knee-jerk reaction to them bleeding young people each year.
• 

  ShirleyW

  They're not outright trying, but a lot of them sure end up that way.
• 

  campaign of hate

  The WT would die if it wasn't for born in kids.

  It's the born ins that are keeping the numbers up.
• 

  The_Doctor10

  There's definitely a huge in-group/out-group mentality that gets bred into JW youth that will carry on throughout their lives unless they "wake" up.

  Below I've attached a great link to an interview with former Westboro Baptist Megan Phelps. The parralels between Westboro and JWs is downright scary, some beliefs, doctrine, the indoctrination of youth, etc... Basically stop the WB from picketing or make JWs start picketing and any other differences are near negligible.

  http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/leaving-the-church
• 

  steve2

  Um, where have you been, my friend? Have you not perused the Watchtower literature from as far back as the 1920s and 1930s and seen the madness at work even then? I think of Rutherford's book, Children, released in the early 1940s that glorified giving your life in religious service (i.e., door-knocking) in the 'final months of this system'.

  Today, admittedly, their message is more airbrushed and colorful - but, man, it is not new this orchestrated move to render the rank and file totally dependent upon the organization and ill-equipped to survive in the world without the "love" and "support" of the brothers and sisters.

  Why across several decades have young ex-JWs had lots of problems adjusting to life after leaving? Your OP could be about them too.

  Only in more recent years, thanks to forums such as this one, has there been growing momentum about how to recover after leaving as more and more posters gone against the grain and made courageous progress in not only getting their lives back on track - but done even better than they had done in the organization.
• 

  wendym

  JW kids don't stand a chance unless they recognize how much and exactly what is wrong with their culture and upbringing and make conscious changes to how they function in the real world; just so they can function in the real world. IMHO that's by design and not accident. Screwing up lives does nothing but benefit the WTO.
  
  You can live in this world without thinking of the future, without planning, but odds are you will never live well.
• 

  C0ntr013r

  "JW kids don't stand a chance unless they recognize how much and exactly what is wrong with their culture and upbringing and make conscious changes to how they function in the real world; just so they can function in the real world."

  
  

  I think it is really rare that someone wakes up on their own, most of us either; got stumbled, fell through the cracks or saw/heard something. If the parents and the congregation do a really "good" job with the kids the chances of them waking up are very slim. And as the years go by it all becomes ingrained in them; the way of thinking, the way of living etc, until they cant leave...