I believe that the greater percentage of JWs-You Will Not Be Able to Help, no Matter What Facts You Show Them. (page 5)

Village Idiot

Some people will never have the integrity necessary to make this choice:

LisaRose

They are choosing a comforting lie over the truth. The Watchtower has conditioned them to think that way so it's not surprising.

"Where shall we go?" How about wherever you want?

"It's chaos out there in the wicked world." Yes, there are problems in the world, why not work to fix those problems?

"The Watchtower takes care of us and makes us feel safe." Right, except that its an illusion and that feeling of safety comes at the cost of your freedom and integrity.

What can you do when people display that level of stupidity? It's their life.

John Aquila

blondie

How often can someone slap you in the face before you realize that you have to get out of slapping range?

That's so true!

sparrowdown

Good point VI - the integrity to know what's right and the courage to act.

What an idiot. I've realized most people would stay in no matter what and it's because they are afraid of admitting that they don't have the answers themselves to an extreme degree. I say leave them. If they heard it all and still stay, they deserve their pointless life.

Marvin Shilmer

And it won’t matter how many facts you put in front of me because facts won’t change my mind.

Not too long ago someone very near and dear to me (currently a very active JW elder) said that and one other thing to me. The other thing he said was that there were some things he didn't want to know about, namely anything negative about the organization.

My response was simple and straightforward. I told him that he an I were apparently different when it came to fact finding and learning about things both good and bad. In my case, whatever is out there to know I want to learn about, and if whatever I learn turns out to be factual then my sense of morality and ethics demanded that I let that new piece of information influence me, whether a lot or little depending on the nature of the information. I then told him that my take on what he said is that he prefers to make himself intentionally ignorant based on preferential ideas, and that to me was being dishonest with oneself. He wanted to say a prayer for me. I said I'd like to say a prayer for both of us. He declined.

You can't help a person who wants to stay in a shell of ignorance, or who refuses to let factual information influence their life.

fiddler

John Aquila, that was a difficult read and I have no doubt even more so experiencing it in person. There were, however so many assumptions. Not all exJW's are atheist for instance. There are other 'hopes' for an afterlife that are just as good if not better than the JW 'new system'.

I left the org just as my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 non Hodgkin's lymphoma. 14 years ago it was still pretty much bad bad news and basically terminal. At the time I was looking into reincarnation and other ideas involving what happens after our earthly demise. Suffice it to say, I found several other ideas far more comforting than being resurrected to a theocratic dictatorship! I still hold on to the idea that there is something more...my fantasy... but it gets me through this life AND I Can grow and live each day free.

Personally, I don't want to take away their hope. I just want the shunning stuff to stop.

Sabin

ME & MY family are happy, I have a job, I have a home, I have 2 great kids, what else do I need, why would I want to disrupt that. theres a lot of I`s in there. this is the thing, a lot of Jw`s are in not because they want to see suffering of others come to end but for themselves. They want more, they want it all. F... the poor starving kids in other countries, F... the abused kids, infact F.... everybody else, it`s all about me. I sure hope nothing happens to his kids, cause that's the type of farther who wouldn't believe they were telling the truth. He wouldn't want his life to be disrupted. How very sad.

millie210

I have to laugh and shake my head at the man in the OPs conversation,

I WAS him just a few short years ago.

That whole line about "yes there are things wrong in the Org but basically what is better?" is designed to make yourself feel aware without having to really do anything different.

I think it works best for JWs who mainly use the Org as a social network. They are too aware and realistic to deny the problems but they dont want to take action - not really.

Many times it is family and fear of the unknown.

I still dont know if I would have been as brave as some here if I hadnt been smacked in the face, I might still be spouting that same line.

I believe that the greater percentage of JWs-You Will Not Be Able to Help, no Matter What Facts You Show Them.