A jw thought trap

purrpurr

I've been watching Louis therouxs documentary about scientology. One of the thought traps they createn in people is that they make them belive that all good things come from following the doctrines correctly and all bad things come from not doing so. And in this way it becomes a thought trap where the person is self regulated mentally by trying ever harder to be more indoctrinated. so that they can get these good things in their lives.

And I thought about the jw doctrine of all good things come from Jehovah and all bad things are persecution from the devil. It's exactly the same thought trap. If something's gone wrong, well maybe Satan went after you because you missed some meetings? And if you get a pay rise well it's Jehovah blessing you because of how well you're doing spiritually.

scratchme1010

I agree. In fact, if you look at the way the WT teaches thing, a great portion of is is fear mongering about "the world". Also, note how they depict and the examples and stories they give about people who leave and what "happens to them for leaving" their Jehovah.

I believe that part of the process of getting rid of the JW mindset (at least that was my case) involved a great deal of learning the truth about the world outside the WT bubble, realizing how much BS the WT teaches about how the world is and what people who leave are supposed to become.

schnell

I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things. -- Isaiah 45:7 (New Living Translation)

life is to short

I totally believe this to be the case and one huge reason I had a hard time leaving. I was a born in who truly believed it with every ounce of my being. If they said jump I said how high. Seriously, I could not understand why ones my age got married and had children as the system was so close to the end. Not going to collage, no problem as the end was so close. Working at a dead end job making nothing, spending all the money I did make in car gas driving around aimlessly drove me crazy but I did it because I was told that is what Jehovah wanted.

I forced myself to read all the WT's and Awakes, study for all the meetings no matter how much it was just mind numbing and not what I wanted to do in the least. I longed just to be able to read a novel or study something that I was interested in but nope I did as I was told and beat myself up for not being able to do more. I always thought if I could just read faster than maybe one day I would have time to read what I really wanted to. But there was always something more to read in the JW land, the newest WT or a new book released at the convection always something more..

Than one day I woke up and really looked around and realized that hardly anyone in the "truth" was doing half of what I was, most were not pioneering, most bought and sold homes, almost everyone had children, none of the elders were pioneering, many had good jobs with 401K's and saved for retirement. If I beat myself up like I did and I was trying to do what was demanded of me and everyone else got the same information that I did than there has to be a lot of screwed up people because it is impossible to do it all.

Having children is natural, getting paid reasonable is normal. At the hall I always heard Satan did this or caused this problem in my life, it was because they were not doing what they were being told. They were not pioneering or living poor. It totally missed with everyone's mind.

Every time something bad happens and bad things happen to everyone the JW's blame themselves for it because they did not do enough. It was Satan that caused because they were not doing enough for Jehovah, not the fact that car accidents happen to everyone, or the washing machine, or fridge goes out at the worst time. Or you lose your job, everyone loses their job at some point but a JW will beat themselves up over life happening thinking it is because they bought a home and had kids and work. If they had just did more for Jehovah than this bad would not have happened.

It is so unhealthy it is crazy.

LITS

GrreatTeacher

I love the descriptor "thought trap."

Pete Zahut

I always thought of what you described as a "Thought Trap", more as being Superstitious.

As a JW there was always an ominous significance to most everything one did. Missing a meeting or field service could result in things going wrong in ones personal life. Even if one was regular at meetings or in service there was a concern that you weren't participating enough or weren't doing it with the proper "heart condition". When an earthquake happens in an area, magically the only ones who weren't hurt were the ones who were at the meeting.

Thought trap or Superstition....the end result is the same.

WTWizard

The real bad thing about it is that so many bad things happen because you are obeying joke-hova. Just the 2016 Grand Boasting Session highlights that. You refuse a necessary blood transfusion, you croak. You need to make all those boasting sessions, you lose your job instead of getting a raise. You need to do more field circus, you cut back on employment, you become poor. You give up all fun, your life becomes dreary. And that is because you obeyed joke-hova, not because the Demons are causing problems.

Not to mention, what happens if you follow Satan and His Demons? Because you are doing this, you follow the laws of Nature. Working with nature usually produces the best results--that is, unless joke-hova meddles and rulns them so Satan never gets a fair and proper chance. Instead of going to Israel, you go to New Zealand, and for vacation (no boasting sessions, no field circus). You enjoy the trip, you come back refreshed, you work better during the next few months, and your health improves while everyone else is getting blood pressure meds and stents in their heart because of the stress coming from the Israel mission. You get that Fenix LD22 flashlight and a good battery system instead of trusting joke-hova, and you are safe when the power goes out at the store while everyone that obeyed joke-hova stumbles. You got that bright yellow Blunt umbrella (they are very expensive and worth it) instead of a cheap crap one. So, the driver in a car sees your umbrella and stops well short of you, hitting those that got the drab umbrella because they were not visible--you also avoid a blood transfusion. (Not to mention, your umbrella doesn't blow inside out while everyone else's does).

Normally, good things happen when you obey the Laws of Nature (coming from the Belt of Orion), and bad things happen when you disregard them (or joke-hova intrudes). Since joke-hova is against the rules of nature, bad things usually happen when one obeys that thing.