Do JWs trust and rely on bad reviews? Why should they? How could it be coherent?

by psyco 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  psyco

  JWs are taught that all bad reviews about them made by exJWs are false and sick, so they must not read or listen to them.

  So, when JWs decide on joining, applying, or buying whatever product, service or organization: are they reading and listening only to good reviews about people still satisfied with that product, service, or organization because they consider false and sick all bad reviews made by people who abandoned that? Why not?

  Do they trust and rely on all bad reviews reported in documentaries, on Internet, on TV, on magazines etc. about people who left Scientology, who left that house, who left that job position, who left that hotel, who left that restaurant, who left that medical treatment etc.? Should they? Why?

  How could all this be coherently explained?

  P.S. - The big issue is that Satan controls all bad reviews about everything: how could they be trustworthy then?
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  Simon

  It's not logical, they have a huge blind-spot where their normal rational reasoning abilities get suspended when it comes to the WTS.
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  psyco

  The big issue is that Satan controls all bad reviews about everything: how could they be trustworthy then?
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  Vidiot

  The fact that it's statistically impossible for all bad news to be a lie, the realization that at least some of it therefore had to be true was, in retrospect, one of my little wake-up moments.
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  truth_b_known

  The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society posits the claim that any negative statements about the organization referred is a lie. The claim continues that such negative reviews come from either 1) News media organizations controlled by Satan or 2) government entities (e.g. courts) controlled by Satan or 3) former Jehovah's Witnesses (i.e. "apostates"). The Watchtower does site positive reviews from news media organizations and government entities.

  The claim has at least 2 logical fallacies -

  • The Double Standard Fallacy
  • The Appeal to Motive Fallacy

  If an argument seems to make sense it cannot be valid unless the form is valid.

  The Watchtower has regularly cited news sources in their publications which feature favorable reviews of Jehovah's Witnesses. An example would be when a newspaper publishes an article praising Jehovah's Witnesses during a local Regional Convention. However, that same news source may publish a story about Jehovah's Witnesses attempting to cover up child sex abuse cases. Such articles are condemned by the Watchtower as apostate lies.

  How can a newspaper be good enough to cite in a Watchtower publication, but the same newspaper be condemned as declared forbidden reading?

  In addition, if a newspaper article publishes a story that puts the Watchtower in a negative light, to challenge the claim by calling into question the motives of the proposer of the thesis is a logical fallacy.
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  truthlover123

  I dont know if anyone is getting google reports on the org.. reason I say this is its always good news now - their pr department is going overtime.. no negatives, no child abuse only love and new bib les and personal experiences
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  joao

  Mind control and money from mind- controlled believers take care of all those problems. Google doesn't care about truth, only money. Being the WT the same.
  
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  TonusOH

  How can a newspaper be good enough to cite in a Watchtower publication, but the same newspaper be condemned as declared forbidden reading?

  I think it depends on how your worldview is shaped. If the idea is that the whole world is effectively against you (because it is under the control of God's main enemy), then you can claim that any good news has to be legitimate, since Satan is loathe to allow anything positive to be said. Conversely, bad/negative news or information cannot be true, since Satan would want to put the JWs in the worst possible light, and doesn't hesitate to lie.

  If you point out the absurdity of this concept, you are likely to be bombarded with a flood of "what about this" objections and cherry-picked examples that only prove the point to someone who is already inclined to believe it. If your worldview is that Satan controls the world and the media, and is determined to bring the WTS down, you are willing to accept some very thin premises in order to maintain that point of view. Confirmation bias is a very powerful thing.
  
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  truth_b_known

  If your worldview is that Satan controls the world and the media, and is determined to bring the WTS down, you are willing to accept some very thin premises in order to maintain that point of view. Confirmation bias is a very powerful thing.

  So true. Ultimately what it comes down to is not a matter of what is true and what is not true, but a matter of protecting the concept of living forever on paradise Earth. Everything that is done is self-deception to protect the idea of living forever on Earth. The anxiety of that idea being proved false is the fuel source for all of it.