Can ‘fanatical religious people’ really be open-minded?

by be wise 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  be wise

  This is the main question really for any religious org. According to them – do it God’s way and close your mind to your own logic and reason and that of the world’s (given to us by the very God they believe in).

  Or be an independent thinker and reason stuff out – according to the Watchtower Satan influences independent thinkers and they warn against it as this is the Devils way of doing it. (btw I would just like to say I think you all are a bunch of nutters)

  It reminds me of a quote by Eric Hoffer,

  A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self. -- Eric Hoffer , The True Believer (1951)

  Fanatics believe that, their way, is the only way to go, yet they alienate themselves from the very things God gave them, applying no importance to anything other than what promotes there belief and taking all glory away from the God that they profess they worship because they discard every human emotion, instinct and trait in for what the men in their religion teach. This obviously applies to the way they view the rest of the world amongst other things. They think they give it with one hand but they take it away from him with the other.

  Do you think there is a lot of hope for people who get caught up in fanaticism? Does it all depend on the personality rather than on the evidence?
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  Brummie

  Do you think there is a lot of hope for people who get caught up in fanaticism?

  Yes I do think there is hope, fanaticism is cold, just love the person and they may eventually respond.

  Does it all depend on the personality rather than on the evidence?

  I think it does depends on both the personality and the evidence, for instance I know people who have examined the evidence and have left the Watchtower but still remain totally fanaticle.

  Brummie
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  drwtsn32

  Do you think there is a lot of hope for people who get caught up in fanaticism?

  Sure. Weren't we all fanatics about the WTS at some point?
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  Mr. Kim

  When REALITY sets in; it can be devastating! Other than that, keep working on REASON! That alone is very hard to do.
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  peacefulpete

  When the illussion no longer works, then more objective thinking takes over. By "works" I mean that it no longer buffers the person from pain. Usually this happens when they personally are hurt by policy or personalities within the org.
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  DannyBear

  **** applying no importance to anything other than what promotes there belief and taking all glory away from the God that they profess they worship because they discard every human emotion, instinct and trait in for what the men in their religion teach.****

  Excellent. Amazing recently wrote about the benefits of being 'a doubting Thomas'.....your thoughts only magnify the point.

  When individuals or groups surrender their doubts, their reasoning, they in effect say 'my God given talents are worthless'. Or to put it more succinctly they admit they have little if any self worth, without ratification from the object of their devotion.....usually some religion or 'way'.

  Danny
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  rocketman

  The deeply religious often turn their own minds and their own inquistivness off, or they seem to prefer not to engage them anyway. I was like that myself. When I was an active jw, I dismissed as untrue anything that did not harmonize with what I was taught, without investigation.

  I think that, very generally, many religious people seem to close their minds to evidence presented from the realm of science that may conflict with their beliefs. Look what happened with Galileo, for example.

  The process, as be wise mentions, is contrary to our gifts of inquistiveness, exploration, and reasoning that are viewed as God-given. Somewhere in the process of becoming religious (especially in cult-like religions like the jw religion) we shut down the process of using those gifts, and we then turn a virtual blind eye to evidence that may be contrary to our belief system.
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  Gopher

  A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self. -- Eric Hoffer , The True Believer (1951)

  This "our doctrine is right everyone else is wrong" enables Jehovah's Witnesses to go against human conscience and perform the unchristian and inhumane act of SHUNNING.

  Damn the WT Society for deliberately breaking up families. (The hurt doesn't go away very easily.)
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  DannyBear

  Amen Gopher!
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  ESTEE

  be wise........?

  Re: "Fanatical" ... and .... "open-minded"....

  See:

  Main Entry: ox·y·mo·ron
  Pronunciation: "äk-si-'mOr-"än, -'mor-
  Function: noun
  Inflected Form(s): plural ox·y·mo·ra / -'mOr-&, -'mor- /
  Etymology: Late Greek oxymOron, from neuter of oxymOros pointedly foolish, from Greek oxys sharp, keen + mOros foolish
  Date: 1657
  : a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness)

  ESTEE