Well what do you know gb finally understanding social isolation or shunning.

Yomama

Update some upstanding jw are experiencing social isolation isnt that what df and da people feel?reap sow karma.

Listener

Yes, in the latest GB update (2022 No 1) Kenneth Cooky explains the problems with social isolation and that even the bible talks against it.

He says

- One cause for anxiety is social isolation

- Proverbs 18:1 "Whoever isolates himself pursues his own selfish desires, he rejects all practical wisdom"

- There are ways of fighting back at the anxiety that isolation can cause in our hearts such as turning your camera on and waving when connecting to zoom meetings, turning it on earlier, leaving later and going into break out rooms.

They are blatantly aware of the importance of socializing and serious dangers of isolation (or shunning), and well know that their df policy is based on isolation. This shows what an unloving organisation this is.

smiddy3

Who the bloody hell is Kenneth Cooky ?

Listener

Smiddy3, it's Kenneth Cook, I just added the y as I thought it sounded better. He's the most recent Governing Body member.

This is the link to the video

https://www.jw.org/en/library/videos/#en/mediaitems/FeaturedLibraryVideos/docid-702022003_1_VIDEO

slimboyfat

I think they understood it already, and what a powerful weapon it is, that’s why they use it.

StephaneLaliberte

Proverbs 18:1 "Whoever isolates himself pursues his own selfish desires, he rejects all practical wisdom"

I found this quote interesting as it can be both a good and a bad thing. Under the influence of a group, individuals will forfeit personal beliefs, logics and desires to please those of the group they belongs to. In some cases, this is a good thing. For instance, some people would live in filth if they were alone; however, due to their friends who visit from time to time, they'll clean up. And then, there's the JWs where under pressure from their group, parents will shun their children for the rest of their lives if they dare to smoke a cigarette, express disbelief in the GB, play the lottery or put up Christmas lights.

hybridous

Of course they understand it...

That's why they're so strident about using it

This shows what an unloving organisation this is.

You're not wrong about this. But can you point to an 'organization' that IS loving? I can't. At the end of the day, it all just comes down to people, and the choices they make about who they will listen to, and what they will do.

We talk about the WT like it's our arch-enemy for the hurt we've experienced at its direction...but people (our 'friends'/relatives) have chosen to LISTEN and OBEY.

The WT can't throw you in jail or garnish your wages. All they can really do is level DISAPPROVAL at you and call you a 'bad person'. It's our (supposed) friends and relatives that have chosen the WTs approval as more important than us.

That's the bottom line. Hold individual JWs accountable for their actions. Each one makes a choice. Everyone in the cult CHOOSES to be in the cult, just as much as we have CHOSEN not to be.

The WT is a great and evil scam, no doubt. But our real battle about the shunning policy is with the JWs that believe what the WT says and obey it, even at our expense. Without belief they they 'speak for God' and adherence to their utterances, who would even care what stupid crap the Tower has to say about anything?

We must acknowledge they worst of the situation before us. The shunning works only because those who shun value the WTs approval over their relationships. And this is why most JWs (IMO) are miserable, sick, and lost. Because an Organization cannot love, no matter how much you bow & scrape...so ultimately, they HAVE no real relationships.

BluesBrother

“We must acknowledge they worst of the situation before us. The shunning works only because those who shun value the WTs approval over their relationships. “

O k I get what you are saying, it is like the old song that “It’s the Universal soldier who really is to blame....without him Hitler would have stood alone”.

However, I can feel some sympathy, we were once members who practiced shunning, because we thought it was the right thing to do. They are duped . As Ray Franz said .. “ we are victims of victims “

road to nowhere

Prov 18:1. The upper echelons are certainly isolated from real life and seek power and reject common sense.

As for zoom, it is a poor substitute for real interaction. Loud unintelligible conversation, mis focused and aimed cameras, break rooms without your interests being discussed. Meanwhile the world is working, going to stores, eating out, visiting. while true believers are under the bed sucking their thumb waiting for everyone to die.

Disillusioned JW

Hi folks I decided to return to posting to this site, so I could participate in interesting discussions about the Bible, the WT, and science. I guess you could say I decided to stop isolating myself from this site (at least some sections of it), since there are some good informative topics on this site. Cheers!

I've 'always' (that is, since my teenage years) strongly disliked Proverbs 18:1 (and some of the the WT's applications of it), especially during my youth. That is because I knew that pursing one's own selfish desires isn't always a bad a thing, at least if by the word "selfish" one means "self interests". You see, as a teenager and as an adult in my 20s and 30s I wanted lots of free time to pursue harmless hobbies. I wanted to spend much less time in JW activities (and even in social activities) so I could "isolate" myself in my bedroom to do the following: study science books and science articles, study books about inventions, perform science experiments (I had an electronics kit and a chemistry kit) and attempt to make scientific discoveries and to invent some things, write computer programs (in BASIC) to perform useful tasks, and to figure out how to make lots of money in the stock market. Science my preteen years the types of people I admired the most, in regards to their intelligence and accomplishments, (and who I wanted to become like, in regards to success) were famous highly accomplished scientists and inventors (such as Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Michael Faraday, Nikola Tesla, and fictional scientists-inventors in various science fiction movies).

Adhering to Proverbs 18:1, at least as sometimes interpreted/'explained' by the WT, hinders people from attaining successful careers in science, in inventing/engineering, in business, in sports, and in other areas. You see, to become successful people need to spend a lot time (often by themselves) to study, to contemplate, to experiment, and to practice. Adhering to Proverbs 18:1, at least as sometimes interpreted/'explained' by the WT, also hinders people from spending an adequate amount of time in critically examining the claims of the WT to see if some of the claims are erroneous. Since decades ago, I have thought that the human writer of Proverbs 18:1 wrote Proverbs 18:1 in part to keep people mentally trapped in Judaism and in continuing to practice Judaism, by trying to prevent Jews from having enough time by themselves to think about their religion independently.

If I hadn't been so active as a JW (due to the guilt the WT produced in me when I wanted to pursue personal 'selfish' intellectual interests (instead of JW meeting attendance and WT study and preaching) I probably would have done more study about evolution (from science publications) and realized as a young person that evolution is true.

Well what do you know gb finally understanding social isolation or shunning.

Share this