Pull the Plug Already...

by megaboy 19 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  megaboy

  After reading and seeing so many detailings of the dealings with people in this religion, I have to wonder how to get people who are just extremely asleep. Reasoning doesn't seem like it works, there needs to be some kind of plug pull event, like the leaders doing something so uterly stupid that it causes the immediate downfall of the entire religion. But because I am naturally curious I want to know from people who have more experience with JW structure why they seem to have a resistance to an event like this? I have a friend who I maybe have a yearly convo with from another country (in Asia) who is one and it just doesn't seem like any of these barrages of negative occurences are effecting their perception of the org. I mean I see so many bethel HQ stories where its pretty obvious there is no super natural force guiding the place, but still they chug along. Why is this the case?

  Unfortunately to me, the only way to release a significant amount of the regular people in this cult is for some kind of "plug pull" event. I know individuals may have their own "plug pull," but I'm wondering about an overall one. I'm not particularly sure how they are still able to manage a slow death into irrelevance rather than a complete wipe out.

  I'm assuming there are many who are using it as a social hub, have most of their investment in it physically as well as completely brainwashed ones. The heads seem very VERY stupid from what I've seen, so I'm confused as to how they haven't tripped over the plug to their own matrix. How would such an event effect people I wonder.
  
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  sir82

  there needs to be some kind of plug pull event, like the leaders doing something so utterly stupid that it causes the immediate downfall of the entire religion.

  The state of politics in the USA serves well to illustrate that for some / many / most(?) people, such a "pull the plug" event is literally impossible.

  You will never go broke overestimating the idiocy of people, be it politics or religion.
  
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  megaboy

  Very good point sir82, VERY good point. I'd argue that this could be the dumbest mankind has been, as information is now readily available at your finger tips, so much so that colleges are struggling, yet people are WILLFULLY being stupid.
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  hybridous

  I have a friend who I maybe have a yearly convo with from another country (in Asia) who is one and it just doesn't seem like any of these barrages of negative occurences are effecting their perception of the org. I mean I see so many bethel HQ stories where its pretty obvious there is no super natural force guiding the place, but still they chug along.

  
  

  I have the same experience. Remember that if you are not a JW, your family/friends that are in are obliged to put up a front for you. As frustrating as it can be, there's no way my JW relatives can express any doubt or fatigue - come what may...
  
  Of course, that doesn't mean that they don't silently carry the burden of doubts raised by the poor optics of WT in the news. They can't express their doubts to outsiders, and they don't DARE express them to other JWs...
  
  They literally have nowhere to go.

  I'm not particularly sure how they are still able to manage a slow death into irrelevance rather than a complete wipe out.

  I think the religion demands comparatively less from its members now, as opposed to what JWs used to have to do a generation ago.
  
  No separate book study night. Shorter assemblies. Steps taken in the direction of becoming more of a 'phone-it-in' religion. Not enough for my tastes, though.
  
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
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  steve2

  Religious adherence is not amendable to correction. Your OP is based on a faulty premise; namely, that a sufficiently big pull-plug event will lead to many opening their eyes and leaving.

  You may not know that in the early 1920s JWs (who were called Bible Students at time) were losing significant numbers of active members - yet within a decade they had bounced back and thus began a period of exponential growth.

  In fact, oftentimes events that should lead to membership loss do not. Who'd have thought the organization would bounce back after its failed predictions on 1914, 1925 and 1975? Sure, there was short term loss but it soon reversed.

  While I acknowledge that the huge growth rates of JWs in the west are well and truly over, I doubt very much any big event will see a mass exodus. Big events can rock organized religions and they soon recover.

  Perhaps what can be done is accepting that people have a perfect right to belong to religious groups of their choosing and, if they are not receptive to scrutinizing their beliefs, that is their choice. I see no need to up the ante and force the issue when it could have the opposite effect of being perceived by JWs as persecution.
  
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  StarTrekAngel

  Where does the definition of "cult" goes if you insert "their choice" into the mix?

  Honest question
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  hybridous

  Where does the definition of "cult" goes if you insert "their choice" into the mix?

  Why exactly are these 2 things mutually exclusive?
  
  Honest question.
  

  
  

  
  
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  Splash

  When you are emotionally invested in something, facts and logic count for very little.

  Waking up is less about finding the truth about the WT, but more about dropping the emotional barriers in order to accept the truth about the WT.
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  compound complex

  As to the original meaning of "cult":

  The term "cult" first appeared in English in 1617, derived from the French culte, meaning "worship" which in turn originated from the Latin word cultus meaning "care, cultivation, worship". The meaning "devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829. Starting about 1920, "cult" acquired an additional six or more positive and negative definitions. [bold added]

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_(religious_practice)
  
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  StarTrekAngel

  Do I really have to explain what I really mean when I say cult? It shocks me sometimes when we can't have a conversation in the same lingo when most of us here come from the same background.

  Going back to the "choice". I don't believe an indoctrinated person can really make a "choice" that one would consider personal. Sure is a "choice" if we limit the definition to the dictionary as we did with cult. But is it really a choice you can hold them fully accountable for? If so, it pretty much brakes the well known usage of the word cult that we all talk about in this site.