I've never met a JW who had confidence....

MegaDude

....about their beliefs

've talked with many JWs since I began having doubts years ago:

Sincere publishers

Long-time pioneers

Elders

Professing Annointed

Bethelites

Writing Dpt (Colin Quackenbush, one of the Awake editors)

Never have I met one that didn't start falling apart emotionally when I slowly, graciously, kindly, began presenting evidence that destroyed the JW fantasy that they are the one true religion. You would think that in all those people there would be one Jehovah's Witness, just one, that could rationally, seriously and calmly discuss the blood issue, the chronology problems, et cetera, without getting nervous, without becoming fearful, without getting that deer-frozen-in-the-headlights look. I mean, for goodness sake, if you have "The Truth," what is there to be afraid of. But so far, no matter how calmly I present my facts, JWs run the hell away from me. (is it my breath? )

I am about due for my annual elder visit to invite me back to the Borganization. It's a yearly thing, so I understand. The last time the elders visited me, they became so embarrassed by my questions on the blood issue, they became completely silent, unable to say another word. They seemed ashamed.

If they actually call on me this year, I am not going to bring up any doctrinal JW issue to discuss this time. I am only going to talk to them about the apparent fear and panic JWs have when the tables are turned on their denomination and their beliefs are held under the magnifying glass. If JWs truly had Holy Spirit eminating from the most powerful all-knowing super powerful God they call Jehovah, why do they lack the obvious confidence such a person should have?

Anyone ever discuss this with a JW before?

Shutterbug

I know exactly what you are talking about Dude as I once had the same insecurities as the folks you are describing. Funny thing, I thought there was something wrong with me. See you in Dallas. Bill

RandomTask

A witness life,

Think about it this way, we all die, every human that has ever lives has died or will die in the future. There's no stopping that fact. Death is a fact of life. Every witness knows this, but they also have this belief that somehow they will be saved from this universal human fate. They may have become witnesses when they were younger or were even raised in it. And they have this belief that somehow they are going to cheat death.

So they pour all of their whole life, all of their effort, free time and energy into their religion which is supposed to keep them from dying. Normal human activities pass them by, but they are reaching out for an even better reward. Then it starts happening, they inevitably start getting older. People they may have known, maybe even their parents succumb to their fate. They realize that these people had the same mind as themselves, that they also believed that they could cheat death. That they also spent their life selling magazines as slaves to a religious corporation because they thought that god's kingdom was coming "soon".

It starts to really eat on them as the years go by. They turn 40, 50, 60, the "end" that they expected to come before they graduated from High School seems nowhere in sight and now they have children of their own and in some cases their children have children. Time marches on and so does society. There are down times and there are up times as well. Things don't seem to be changing, the world is as it always was, but as the witness looks back they see that what they have done their whole life is everything but enjoy it. The gift of a relatively short amount of time on the earth has been squandered on a gamble of a future reward.

At this point it may seem that one would be disillusioned by what they have believed for so long, that they might feel that their life has been a waste and try to enjoy the last few years they have left, but too much has been invested at this point, they stubbornly move on not willing to admit that they have been on the wrong path for so long. They press on with more zeal than ever.

Finally, its their turn, they succumb, like all of us will one day to that which has been waiting since the day of our conception. The witness is surrounded by family, all doing what he did his entire life, devoted to a religion. He looks back on all of the things he could have done in his life to truly enjoy the gift that he was given, but there was always a meeting, there was always service or an assembly to attend. So many things he wanted to do, but all chances expired. Life slowly fades away while he awaits his promise, a promise that goes unfulfilled. But the grandchildren are there. They are being taught to believe by their parents that the end is coming soon. They are so young and have so much life ahead of them, surely they will be able to cheat death, surely the end will come before they are out of high school.

Edited by - RandomTask on 4 November 2002 18:5:49

freedom96

It has got to be difficult when presented with a valid reason why it isn't the truth. Somewhere, it has got to eat at them.

I think the biggest problem, is fear. They are not allowed to talk about it with anyone, even the closest of friends, let alone a spouse.

I have heard before "Where else would we go?" and that is brought out by just plain old fear.

The fear to change, ranks right up there with the worst fears of all.

RandomTask

I think a lot of Witnesses have a fear of living their life without being told what to do or what to believe in. They never want to remove life's training wheels. The simple idea that there is "nowhere" to go but to live your own life is completely foreign to them.

DanTheMan

When I was a JW I had no confidence that I could defend my faith if I had to. This gave me a lot of anxiety. I usually kept my JW affiliation quiet, unless I knew that I was telling someone who wouldn't try to prove me wrong or anything.

Funny thing is is now that I'm out, and I've learned the truth about the troof, I'm not tremendously anxious to go toe-to-toe with certain JW's in my area. They can rationalize anything.

Edited by - dantheman on 4 November 2002 18:42:24

MegaDude

When I patiently discussed the blood issue with the elders on their last visit, they said they would not discuss any specifics about their doctrine after a while. Why not? If it's the TRUTH, why not discuss it? It should be easy to defend the truth....if it is the truth, and if people are expected to die for that truth.

pettygrudger

I would ponder a guess that because they have to rely so heavily on WTBS publications to understand the bible, no real understanding can happen.

I also think the WTBS has a habit of kindergarten school all in the Bible, therefore it makes it extremely difficult for those who want more than a superficial knowledge - they have to do that pretty much all on their own.

So, when confronted, most (like me) couldn't defend their faith adequately if their life depended on it. If they stop talking about a certain topic, its because they have to go home to "research" as they don't have all their volumes of WTBS literature with them for index referencing.

RandomTask

Yeah, read 1984. Chilling similarities

Joyzabel

Personally, dude, I think its your breath!

But good points. Now that I think back on how inadequate I used to feel about defending any issue, especially the blood issue, that should have clued me in! ( I just thought I wasn't the bightest candle on the cake!)

j2bf

I've never met a JW who had confidence....

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